Alcaeus
She was wet.
Thank fate and all that was holy, my fingers found a dripping wet, hot heaven as they glided down between my mate’s smooth lips. Oh, fuuuck.
Mine.
Slow, I ordered my wolf. Gentle, I told him.
Remember to ask her name soon, I reminded myself.
I focused on her panted breaths, on the sound of her heartbeat, and on the scent I’d waited my whole life to inhale.
My mate was a werewolf, not a werelock. This made her more fragile. I had to remember that—especially with a gun still in her hand. She also smelled quite young in werewolf years. Young and confused. I wasn’t sure if she understood the meaning of what had happened between us. She’d clearly felt something, though. She’d been startled enough to shoot me. Five times.
She was definitely into me. And absolutely adorable. Gorgeous. Dark and exotic—the most exquisite combination of beautiful races.
“Oh, God,” she moaned as my thumb rolled over her slippery, swollen nub and my middle finger sank inside her.
My balls tightened painfully and my teeth raked down the side of her neck, even as I forced myself to go slow—slower than I sensed we both wanted. My dick jerked, leaking more precum. I’d never felt so desperate to bury myself inside a woman before.
Because this was no mere woman. She was my woman.
My mate.
My mate who was rolling her hips into my hand, riding my thumb and finger with increasing abandon. I fed her another digit, murmuring words of nonsense and encouragement as her tight, wet sheath stretched to accommodate me, contracting and squeezing around my fingers. Fuck, she was perfection.
“This okay?” I checked again for good measure.
“Just get my jeans off already.” Her free hand scratched down my flank to settle on my ass.
Jesus. I’d won the mating lottery. My composure unraveling, I withdrew my fingers and tugged so hard that I shredded her jeans and panties from her.
“Shit,” she exclaimed, her gold-flecked brown eyes wide with alarm as she pulled her mouth from mine. “My jeans.”
“I’ll get you new ones.”
Damn. She looked like she might be pissed.
To reassure her and recover the mood, I conjured jeans for her. Her eyes widened further before flying down to take inventory of the new pair of form-fitting jeans now hugging her luscious curves.
“See?” I said. “Nothing to worry about.”
I wasted no time in shredding the second pair as her mouth attacked mine once more. But when I gripped the hem of her tank top, her heart rate spiked and she pulled away again.
“No.” Her hand that’d been groping my ass cheek flew to my wrist. “Not the top.”
I couldn’t decipher the look of apprehension I glimpsed in her eyes. Maybe it was a favorite shirt? Possibly sentimental.
I nodded. “I’ll be careful taking it off, okay? I won’t rip it. Promise.”
“No,” she growled, her eyes glowing a defiant yellow that was so hot on her I almost blew my load right then. “It stays on.”
I paused. Swallowed. I would find and kill whoever had made her feel self-conscious about her breasts. “I swear to you, your breasts are the most perfect breasts I’ve ever seen in my entire life. And I’ve lived a very long time.”
Her dry laughter came out sounding like a mini choking fit. “You know? You know this without seeing them?”
“Yes. Everything about you is perfect.”
She gave me a measuring look. “You’re serious.”
“’Course I am. I wouldn’t lie to you.”
Her brow furrowed and a lost, faraway expression eclipsed her features. She bit her lip and broke eye contact. “I—I have to go—”
“We’ll keep the tank top on,” I interjected, fisting her hair and reclaiming her mouth before she could continue with whatever train of thought had made her look so sad.
Half-naked was fine for now. We’d deal with her body image issues later, I assured my wolf. It was more important to appreciate the fact that she’d given us access to her lower half. Because fuck—that tight pussy.
That ass!
Wedging my knee between her naked, shapely limbs, I palmed her rear, pulling her into me so that she straddled my upper thigh.
High, tight, and more than generous in size, her ass was everything a man could ever hope for and more. It was the stuff of wet dreams. And I was going to worship it until the end of my days.
Starting now.
I could scarcely breathe just contemplating how gorgeous the view would be when I sank into her from behind. And then she began riding my thigh that she was straddling. Grinding her wet, hot box into me.
I needed inside of her. Now.
Slow, I reminded myself.
Name. I needed her name.
I broke our lip-lock. “I’m Alcaeus,” I introduced. “Your name?”
There was little hope of me recovering any social finesse at this point. Fortunately, she didn’t seem to mind.
“I need this”—her slim fingers wrapped around my dick, squeezing lightly—“inside me.”
I groaned and nipped her jaw, nearly blacking out with the effort it took not to come all over her like a twelve-year-old boy.
With superhuman willpower, I made myself pull her hand away. I pushed my thigh higher into her, pressing her up against the door, and drew my head far enough back to look her in the eyes. “Name, sweetheart.” I said it with authority this time—as much as I was capable of with my heart and my balls in her hand. “Tell me your name.”
She leaned in and tongued my throat. “Mmm, put that big, veiny perfection inside me and I’ll sing it.”
Aw, shit. I always knew the ancestors favored me. They’d just done a poor job of showing it until now. But this extraordinary woman—this mate of mine—she more than made up for every perceived slight and bad turn of fate I’d ever been dealt in life.
“You’re worth the crazy long wait. Don’t want to rush it. Don’t want to take advantage, honey.” The words sounded witless falling from my mouth.
She must’ve thought so, too, because she giggled breathlessly—the sweetest sound. “Take advantage? I’ve got a gun pointed at your head, and I just told you to put your cock in me.”
Fair point. “We’re in a public bathroom,” I reasoned, brushing my lips against hers—unable to resist the temptation any longer. “It’s not good enough for your first time.”
“It’s not my first time.”
It was hardly a surprise, but it was also something I didn’t care to think too much about, let alone discuss with her.
“I need your name, honey.”
“Okay,” she acceded at last, her lips turning up in a shy smile. “It’s A—Cynthia.”
Huh. That smelled … exactly like a lie.
While the notion of true mates lying to one another wasn’t inconceivable, it was a prospect I’d never contemplated in my own mate-bond scenario.
“What?” Her forehead wrinkled as she looked at me, and I realized my own brow had furrowed.
“Nothing,” I muttered. Then I shook my head. This was no way to start off a relationship. “It smelled like you lied to me just now,” I told her truthfully.
Her jaw unhinged slightly. Her eyes were suddenly wary as she clarified, “It sounded like I lied to you?”
“Sure. Sounded like it, too. But mostly it smelled like you lied.”
Her throat worked. Her frown deepened. “When you say smelled, do you mean … figuratively?”
“No. I mean literally it smelled like you lied to me.” It came out harsher than I wanted it to, but I didn’t like it that she seemed eager to hide things from me.
Apprehension filtered into her scent, compounding my frustration.
“Hey, there’s nothing to be afraid of,” I reassured her, cupping her cheek. “If you’re not ready to tell me your name, that’s okay.” For now. “Just … don’t lie, all right? It’s a scent worse than your fear, and that’s killing me already.”
Her pupils narrowed, and she visibly paled before my eyes. Her head shook minutely from side to side. “You don’t … can’t … I’m not—”
“Whoa—easy, there, sweetheart.” Damnit. The scent of her panic flooded the bathroom. Her pulse beat wildly in her neck. “It’s okay; you have nothing to be afraid of. I’m your mate. I didn’t mean to embarrass or upset you.”
She kept shaking her head. “I’m already mated.” The lie rolled off her lips far too easily. And smelled just as bad.
She was absolutely not mated. She didn’t smell as if she’d been with a man in a very long time, in fact. It was a ridiculous bluff that further showcased how young and strangely unversed she was in the ways of her own species if she thought I would buy it.
Still, it called to my predator instinct to claim her—now—so that there’d never again be any doubt.