She raked a hand through her hair. “I don’t want to give it time. I don’t have the patience to sit around and ponder shit. I like to know the facts.” But there was really only one way to know. “You really truly believe we’re mates?”
“I don’t have a single doubt in my mind.” He rested his forehead on hers. “Just admit that it’s possible, Gwen. That’s all you have to do. You’re already mine, and I’m already yours. Nothing will change that. Not a thing. I wanted you for keeps before I realized we were mates. I am keeping you, no matter what.” He kissed along her jaw to her ear and whispered, “Admit it’s possible. For me. For you. For us. Admit it.” He and his wolf both stilled, holding their collective breath.
Gwen swallowed hard, wanting it to be true . . . hoping. “It’s possible.”
Zander’s knees almost buckled as the mating urge kicked in hard and fast—lust slammed into him like a fucking freight train, and black spots dotted his vision. His blood thickened, and his cock went instantly hard. The need to take and mark and claim crawled over him, demanded him to act. The only thing that stopped him from leaping on her was that she looked a little disoriented.
A mating between true mates was supposed to be wild and explosive. He’d never lost total control with her before. He’d come close to it, but he’d always managed to retain that one bit of sanity and remember their difference in strength. He wasn’t sure if he could do it this time—not while the mating urge was riding him and his wolf was going insane for her. But there was no way to fight it. Zander slid his fingers into her hair. “Gwen, I need to fuck you.” The guttural words came out through his teeth.
She took a shaky breath, fisting his shirt. “Then fuck me.” His mouth slammed on hers, and she moaned. The kiss was deep, hot, and hungry. Need was like a wildfire in her veins, burning and consuming every part of her. She felt shaky. Feverish. Desperate. Her nipples had tightened to the point of pain, and her pussy was already slick and quivering.
Stumbling around the room, they yanked off each other’s clothes in record time—until he was naked and she was wearing only her panties. His skin was warm and sleek beneath her hands, and she dug her nails into his chest just to hear him growl.
The breath whooshed out of her as her back slammed into the wall. Opening her eyes, she found Zander staring at her, his face set into a mask of dark, primitive need. Her pussy clenched. He tore off her panties and cupped her hard, and she almost cried because she’d needed his touch so badly.
She’d never felt like this in her life. Never felt like she’d die if she didn’t come just once. But even as she was out of her mind with need, it wasn’t just anyone she wanted; it was Zander. It had to be him. Some primal part of her needed him, needed his come inside her. “Zander.” It was a ragged plea for more, for anything. He drove a finger inside her, and she literally melted between him and the wall.
As he thrust his finger in and out, Zander licked over her bottom lip. “I love this mouth. It looked so very pretty wrapped around my cock.” He sank another finger inside her, groaning at how wet and hot she was. “No other cock will fuck it again. Only mine.”
Gwen licked her lips, remembering the feel of him in her mouth. “And your cock will never fuck any part of anyone else.” She kissed him, trying to ride his hand. He let her. Growled encouragements. Sucked on her tongue. Then his free hand fisted her hair, snatched her head aside, and he bit her neck. Like that, she came.
“I love hearing my baby scream,” he rumbled into her ear. Withdrawing his fingers, he sucked them clean. “I want more of your taste, but I can’t wait—I need to be in you.” Cupping her ass, he lifted her and poised her over his cock. “I’m going to fuck the absolute hell out of you. Right here, against this wall.”
Curling her legs around him, Gwen sifted her fingers through his hair. “Do it.” Instead, he lifted her a little higher and sucked her nipple into his mouth. Every tug on the taut bud sent a bolt of pleasure to her clit, making her pussy ache. She pulled on his hair hard.
“What do you want, Gwen?”
“I want to feel you in me. I want to feel you come in me—”
Zander slammed her down on his cock just as he drove upward, seating himself to the hilt. Her pussy contracted possessively around him. “Jesus, baby.” He powered into her, unable to stop. Every thrust was hard and almost savage, driven by his wolf and the compulsion to possess what belonged to him, to claim this one thing that would always mean more to him than anything.
Her pussy squeezed and spasmed around him, so inferno-hot and deliciously slick that he’d never get enough. Never. Her nails raked over his scalp, and Zander growled. “Is this pussy yours? Is it, Gwen?”
Trick question, her foggy mind warned her. Defiance rose up inside Gwen, but it was immediately crushed by the primal need consuming her. “No.”
“Then whose is it?”
“Yours.” She moaned as he upped his pace, rewarding her. God, she was so close to coming. The friction kept on building and building, winding her tighter and tighter until she thought she’d implode.
“Can you hear that?” he hissed into her ear. “The sound of me fucking you? Owning you. I fucking love that sound.”
She jolted as he slipped a wet finger in her ass. The burn felt good, like when he sank his teeth into her skin—a good kind of pain that just made her hotter. Her release crept that little bit closer, so close she could almost taste it.
“My baby wants to come for me, doesn’t she?”
Hell, yeah, she did. But she was beyond words, so she leaned forward and dug her teeth into his neck. For a moment, Zander froze. Then he was ramming himself into her like his control was gone. Something primitive in her made her bite him hard, draw blood, and suck until she left a mark.
Zander shifted his angle to hit her G-spot. “Mine.” He sank his teeth into her neck, and white-hot pleasure swept him under, made him explode in her pussy with a force that almost sent him to his knees. At the same time, she came with a choked scream of his name. He sank his teeth even deeper, tasting blood, and sucked hard to leave the ultimate, definitive mark that would brand her as his.
Licking her lip, Gwen panted. “Fuck. Jesus. Shit.” She’d never in her life been so thoroughly fucked. “How long does it take for the bond to—” Her breath caught in her throat as a burning pain sliced through her head. It lasted only seconds, but it was like her world had tilted. She blinked, feeling off balance . . . and then her vision blurred around the edges, and darkness came.
As she sagged in his arms, Zander swore and scooped her up. Neither he nor his wolf panicked. They knew she was fine; they could feel her through the mating bond. Still, they didn’t whatsoever like the sight of their mate unconscious. It was only then that Zander remembered hearing once that the intensity of the moment could be difficult for a human to bear. Shit.
Acting on instinct, he carried her into the bathroom and got into the shower with her still in his arms. He stood under the hot spray, hoping it would help her wake. It was no more than a minute later that she opened her eyes. His mouth curved. “Welcome back.”
Gwen blinked. “What happened?”
“You passed out for a minute.”
“I don’t pass out.”
“You did just now. I’d forgotten that the bond’s formation could be hard on a human. You okay?”
She nodded, meaning it. Where before there had been pain, there was now peace and tranquility. The feelings washed over her, smoothing away all the tension in her mind and body. And there was the mating bond, so vibrant it almost seemed alive. “This is so weird. I can feel you.” Inside her and outside her, like he was a shadow. She could feel Zander on the other end of the bond—a strong, solid presence. Even feel an echo of his emotional state.
“Our scents have mixed,” he told her. His wolf rumbled in satisfaction. “That doesn’t usually happen straight away. I’m guessing that hoping was so difficult for you that it gave the bond added strength. It’s not fully formed ye
t.”
“What will happen when it is?”
“Our connection will be more intense. We’ll be able to feed each other energy.”
Gwen quieted, letting herself get used to the bond. That feeling she’d always had that something was missing—a feeling she’d attributed to the absence of her biological family’s love—was totally gone. “So, true mates really are two halves of a whole, huh.”
“Yes. That feeling of completeness will get stronger when the bond is fully formed.”
As they got out of the shower and dried themselves off, she asked, “Does it bother your wolf that I don’t have, you know, a wolf for him?”
Zander snorted at the stupid question. “He adores you just as you are. He wants to rub up against you right now. You good with that?”
She swallowed. “Okay.”
Once they were out of the bathroom and she was wrapped in a robe, Gwen stood back and watched as Zander shifted forms. She winced at the sound of bones popping and snapping. In a flash, Zander was gone. In his place was a large, familiar wolf, but he wasn’t snarling like last time. Her heart pounded, though she felt no fear.
Gwen crouched down. “You’re a handsome thing, aren’t you?” The wolf padded to her and literally shoved himself right into her space, almost knocking her over. He rubbed his jaw against hers as she petted his neck. His fur was thick and much softer than she’d expected. Her nose wrinkled as he licked at her jaw. “Ew.” She gave him a gentle shove, and he backed up with a playful growl.
She remained still as the wolf circled her, rubbing up against her just as Zander had warned her that he would. She smiled. But that smile soon faded when he started clawing at her door and furniture, marking his territory. “Hey! You’re going to wreck the room.” He either didn’t understand the words or didn’t care, because he didn’t stop.
When he was apparently satisfied that the space was well and truly marked, he padded back to her and licked at her face again. Before she could give him another playful shove, he backed away. Bones snapped and popped, and then Zander was in front of her.
“You weren’t exaggerating when you said he wanted to rub up against me.”
Zander drew her to him as she stood. “You’re gonna have him wrapped around your little finger.”
She smiled. “He’s a menace.”
“He’s happy.”
That made her chest ache in a good way. “What about you?”
“You don’t need to ask me that. You can feel through the bond that I’m happy.” He brushed his nose against hers. “And I can feel that you are too.” Which meant that all was good in Zander’s world. Not even the threat that lingered over them could spoil the magic of what he’d found in Gwen. Not a single thing could.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Zander.”
The whisper snatched him out of sleep a few nights later. Zander blinked. There was no one there, except for the female sleeping peacefully at his side. Still, tension began to creep into his muscles. Something felt . . . wrong. Like the air was charged with something.
The sound of fast footsteps was quickly followed by knuckles rapping on the door. “Zander, we got company coming our way,” warned Derren, urgency in every syllable.
Motherfucker. Zander shot out of bed and reached for his jeans. “Ally had a vision? What did she see? Moore?”
“Shifters. Lots of shifters.”
Zander stilled, frowning. “Shifters?” Fuck.
Gwen’s eyes flickered open. “You okay?” Whatever she saw in his expression made her bolt upright, fisting the bed sheets. “He’s here, isn’t he?”
“No,” said Zander, watching as she practically leaped out of bed and yanked on a tee. “The bastard must have hired shifters to do his dirty work for him again.”
“Z, we have to go,” Derren called out.
Gwen swallowed. “I’ll be okay. Go.”
He could hear in her voice that she didn’t want him to go, but she wasn’t going to ask him to be something he wasn’t and remain behind. He couldn’t leave his pack mates to face the trouble alone, but he didn’t want to leave his mate either. His instinct was to stay with her, protect her. His wolf felt just as torn.
Gwen tugged on her jeans, noticing that Zander was staring at her, jaw hard. “Really, I’ll be fine.” Snatching her handgun from the top drawer of the dresser, she said, “I have claws of my own, remember.”
Hooking his hand around her neck, Zander pulled her close and skimmed his fingertips along her jaw. She meant fucking everything to him, more than he’d thought anything could. “You know what to do.”
“I know.” They’d been through the plan countless times, and Gwen hadn’t forgotten.
He gave a short nod of satisfaction. “Be safe for me, yeah?”
“If you get hurt, I’ll be super pissed. Just note that.”
He kissed her, clasping her nape tight. “I’ll be back.” Since he’d be shifting soon, Zander didn’t bother dressing. He just headed out into the hallway, where his pack mates and the Phoenix Betas were waiting.
As they crossed to the staircase, adrenaline spiked within him, and his pulse began to quicken. He was ready for this. Wanted it over and fucking done with. “Did anyone wake Yvonne?”
“I knocked, but I didn’t get an answer,” said Jaime.
“Gwen says she often takes sleeping pills,” Zander told her. Marlon was staying at his boyfriend’s house, so that was one less person for Gwen to worry about. “What breed of shifter are we dealing with, Ally?”
“Multiple,” she replied. “Seems like Moore hired himself a group of mercenaries. In my vision, they were coming from the east.”
As they hurried down the stairs, Dante said, “Then we go east, cut them off.”
Their priority was to make sure the trespassers didn’t get near the house. Gwen and Yvonne would be hiding in the attic. But if any shifters got into the house, they would be able to follow their scents up there; they’d find them eventually. Zander needed to be sure that didn’t happen.
He yanked open the front door, and they all filed outside onto the porch. The night air was cooler than usual, and a mist was rolling along the river. “How long do we have before they cross onto the land?” Sometimes Ally’s visions were of something that would happen only minutes later; sometimes it was longer.
Ally pursed her lips. “I can’t be sure, because—”
A loud rumbling sound seemed to vibrate through the air, and then . . . boom, followed by a pained roar. Which meant someone had set off one of Donnie’s traps.
Harley hissed. “They’re here.”
As one, they shifted and ran toward the trespassers.
Stomach knotted, Gwen shifted from foot to foot as she stood in Yvonne’s doorway while the woman quickly dressed. She flexed her grip on her Glock, finding comfort in it. She wanted to pace and curse and fidget with nerves, but she needed to keep cool. It was damn fucking hard.
The house was so deathly quiet that she could hear the explosions, growls, roars, and gunshots—which meant Donnie had clearly joined the fight. Her stomach churned. Knowing Zander was out there, fighting for her, maybe even bleeding for her . . . it was hard to keep calm.
“Yvonne, we gotta go. Now. Come on.”
Yvonne placed a hand on her stomach and followed her out of the room. “I didn’t think the Moores would be stupid enough to do this. The shifters will eat them alive. Literally.”
“Ezra hasn’t come. He sent a bunch of lone shifters.” Fucking coward. Somehow, Gwen kept her shit together as she led Yvonne down the hallway. A smashing of glass from somewhere ahead of them made Gwen grind to a halt. Her pulse skittered. “Someone’s inside. Must have broken through a terrace room.” Shit.
“Go up,” urged Yvonne. The attic had a secure door and, even better, a decent-size fire exit.
Heart pounding, Gwen grabbed her hand and pulled her toward the staircase. But they didn’t make it. One of the bedroom doors swung open, and a heavy weight crash
ed into Gwen’s side, tackling her. She landed awkwardly, wincing as pain struck her shoulder.
The male rolled her onto her back and straddled her, and it was only then that she realized it was Thad. His big, beefy hand snapped around her wrist and bent it awkwardly, trying to make her drop the Glock. She balled her free hand into a fist and slammed it into the bridge of his nose. There was a nauseating crack, and he bit out a harsh curse as blood dripped from his nose.
Yvonne came up behind him and yanked so hard on his collar that it dug into his throat. Making choking sounds, his hands flew to his collar . . . releasing Gwen. She dug the Glock into his chest, right above his heart, and fired. He paused, eyes widening in shock.
Gwen propelled herself upward, shoving him out of her way, and scrambled to her feet. Bile rose in her throat. She’d never killed anyone before. Shot them, sure, but never killed. Maybe she’d feel bad about it later, when adrenaline and panic weren’t feverishly racing through her system. For now, getting Yvonne to safety was her priority.
“Let’s go.” Her hand hurt like a bitch, thanks to Thad, but she kept a good grip on her Glock as she ran for the staircase.
A door from downstairs crashed open. “That shot came from upstairs,” said a familiar male voice.
A gasp flew out of Yvonne. “Ezra,” she whispered shakily.
Yes, Ezra. Looked like he’d come, after all. He’d probably taken advantage of the moment when Zander and the others had hurried out of the house to face the trespassers.
“We have to keep moving,” Gwen said.
She and Yvonne raced up the stairs to the third floor. They arrived on the landing just as Gerard came skidding out of the room near the smaller staircase that led to the attic, pistol in hand. Raising her Glock, Gwen squeezed the trigger twice, wincing as the flexing of her finger sent pain radiating through her hand and wrist. She’d aimed for his head, but the bullets collided with his arm and shoulder. Dammit. Still, the pistol slipped out of his fingers and fell to the floor—that helped.