The sun was still trying to peek above the mountains when Luke woke in his bed, with Isabelle’s head resting on his shoulder. He had her wrapped up tight in his arms—exactly where she was supposed to be. Deep, even breaths drifted across his skin as she slept. Her naked body was tucked up next to him, one leg thrown over his.
A smile stretched across his face. His prickly, hands-off mate was a cuddler.
His mate.
He almost couldn’t believe Isabelle was now truly his. Not after the way they met and how afraid she’d been of him. But the matemark on his shoulder was proof, and it pulsed with a warm glow that resonated down to his soul.
His own mark on her left shoulder was somewhat hidden by her tangle of long, dark hair. He didn’t remember what had happened to her hair tie or who’d pulled it out. Like their clothes, it was probably a casualty of his desperation to claim her.
Gently, he smoothed her hair back and examined the bite mark on the delicate spot where her lovely neck met her shoulder. It was already healing, the wounds closed and pink. By tomorrow, it should be completely scarred over, and almost invisible to the human eye. But not a lycanthrope’s. More important, her scent had changed. Any shifter coming within scent range of Isabelle would know she was mated.
The thought made him so deliriously happy, his cheeks hurt from smiling. He wanted to stand on top of the highest peak in the Cabinets and scream it to the world: Isabelle Meyers was his mate.
The satin of her skin beckoned to him. Softly, he ran his hand over her shoulder, down her arm, then up her back, taking care not to touch the branding scar. As he ran his fingers through her hair and kissed the velvet of her forehead, she stirred, her thigh gliding over his leg.
He hissed at the pleasure that innocent move caused, and Isabelle’s eyes opened. Shining amber greeted him. “Hello,” he said to her wolf. She blinked and his mate’s whiskey-brown irises focused on him. “Good morning,” he said, his voice suddenly raw.
An enticing blush darkened her cheeks, and he wondered if he could coax that color to bloom all over her body. “I like waking up naked with you,” he said, pulling her closer with a hand on her hip. She gasped, and yup, the pink stained her chest, too. Sweet.
He shifted to press Isabelle to her back and she sucked in another breath. Not one of arousal.
“I bit you! Oh my God. Ohmigod, ohmigod, I bit you.” She shrank back in horror.
“Isabelle—” He caught her hands as she flailed, her sweet scent smoky and rank with fear and revulsion.
“No, oh no,” she moaned, tears running down her face. “I’m sorry. Oh God, no.”
“Isabelle, stop!” He put the power of the wolf in his voice and pinned her with his body. “I’m fine. Look at me. You didn’t hurt me.”
“I bit you.”
Reason and dominance weren’t working, so he tried something else. “Yes, you did,” he said slowly, his eyes at half-mast. “And I liked it.”
“Wh-what?”
Her eyes followed the slow glide of his tongue as he licked his bottom lip. The taste of her still fresh in his mind. He’d never forget the moment he claimed her. When he traced his mark on her shoulder, she jerked, then shuddered. “I bit you, too, sugar. Don’t you remember? It was right before I...” He rocked his hips into her, and thank you, Jesus, she moaned.
She shook her head and blinked hard, like she was trying to gather her wits and toss off the sensual haze their scents were throwing out. He couldn’t have that. Sliding a hand under her bottom, he canted her hips and pressed her against the hard edge of his arousal. “Feel that, sugar?” She nodded as if on autopilot. “Does that feel like you’ve hurt me?”
Eyes huge in her flushed face, she shook her head no. Her heart pounded against his chest.
“Damn right you didn’t hurt me. You claimed me. And it was hot as hell.” He ran his fingers over his bite on her shoulder again. The sound she made went straight to his head like hundred-proof whiskey, and his cock pulsed. Which in turn made Isabelle writhe, setting off a feedback loop of sensation and desire.
His wolf was thrilled with the situation, but Luke wanted to make sure Isabelle was clear on what had gone down between them. He raised himself onto his hands and knees above her, eliciting groans of frustration from both of them.
“These marks,” he said, tapping a finger to hers, then his. “These are matemarks. They seal our bonding and let the world know we belong to each other. Think of them as shifter wedding rings, but better, because these can’t get lost. We can’t get lost. Because our bond will always point us home.”
* * *
Home.
Izzy stared at Luke. Talk about shock and awe. He’d rapidly overwhelmed her panic with a spectacular display of sensuality, tenderness, and understanding, destroying her will to fight. If the military ever found out about him, they’d have him working for CENTCOM directing operations in the Middle East before he could blink.
“You smell like my mate now,” Luke said, drawing in a deep breath. His voice was a rumbling purr, and every cell in her body sat up and took notice. “Sniff me, sugar. Do I smell different to you? Last night you seemed to like the way I smelled. See if I smell like yours.”
The feelings he provoked shook her to her core. She clutched at him, twining her legs with his, and held on. It still wasn’t enough, because she had never even dared to dream of the life he was offering her on a silver platter. But Luke had given her a glimpse inside a whole new, shining world—an oasis of acceptance and security, glittering green eyes and hot demands. And she planned to drink him down. No more living in the dark alone, dying of thirst.
She inhaled and reeled, overwhelmed by his scent. He was right. He smelled different. His essence of pine and stone had grown sweeter, spicier. Cloves and maple syrup. Mmm.
In her head, her wolf sang with joy as Izzy pushed Luke over onto his back.
Last night, she’d been too far gone, seduced by the call of the mating dance, to truly explore Luke’s body. She’d seen him naked a couple times now, but she’d never allowed herself to really check him out.
Classically handsome, with high cheekbones and a firm jaw, he had golden skin that was velvet soft under her mouth and hands. She had a special fondness for the long, strong column of his throat and the graceful curve of his broad shoulders.
“You’re so beautiful,” she said, drawing a surprised laugh out of him.
“I think that’s my line.”
She didn’t respond. She was too busy examining the matemark on his shoulder; fascinated by it now that she knew what it was. As soon as her fingers made contact, he sucked in a breath between his teeth. Izzy froze. Had she hurt him? No. When he touched her mark, electric desire had rippled through her.
“Do it again,” he demanded.
Guess that answers that. She quirked a brow. “Like this?” Light as a feather, she outlined the two semicircular curves, and grinned when his head banged against the pillow and groaned. “Or did you mean like this?” Rising on her hands and knees above him, she used the tip of her tongue to trace the mark.
With a shout, Luke jerked, then grabbed her hair. “Again.” His voice reverberated with the wolf’s growl, the two voices one.
Izzy obliged, loving his wild and instant reactions, and the burgeoning power she had over him. Again and again, she kissed and licked the mark, her hands wandering aimlessly over his chest and arms. When she scraped her teeth over him, he roared and flipped her onto her back.
“Hey! I wasn’t done yet.” There was still so much left to explore.
“Later,” he growled. “My turn, little mate.”
He didn’t give her a chance to argue, his mouth descending in a hot, delicious slide over her lips. His tongue teased until she opened for him and he plunged deep. She moaned and he caught the sound, lapping and taunting, driving her higher until she writhed beneath him.
Moving to her jaw, he nibbled and rasped his tongue over her skin, nipping and sucking his way to her ear. “So good. You smell like cookies fresh from the oven, sugar. I want to taste you everywhere. See if you’re as sticky and sweet as you smell.”
He clamped his jaws over the tendon between her neck and shoulder and she bucked. His smug chuckle raised goose bumps all over her body.
Apparently claiming him had snapped the chains of Luke’s iron restraint and manners. Bye-bye, civilized man. Hello, feral beast. And she loved it.
Digging her nails into his back, she arched under him as he nibbled his way over her chest to her breast. He cupped it in one strong hand, shaping and petting. He circled closer and closer to her nipple.
“Luke!”
Another laugh and he swirled his thumb over the taut peak, causing her to pant. When he finally closed his teeth over it and sucked, she screamed. Mindless with lust, her heart pounded in time to the pulse between her legs.
She tangled her fingers in his unruly hair and tugged. He growled. Whether it was a threat or promise, she didn’t know or care. She just had to have more, because something huge and devastating was welling up inside her.
Luke switched to her other breast, treating it to the same exquisite torture as the first, before shifting to slide down her torso. He placed openmouthed, sucking kisses over every inch until she was ready to scream in frustration. “Luke, please.”
He lifted his head and green-gold eyes studied her face. “What is it, mate of mine? What do you need?” His fingers danced lazy circles over her stomach, around and around her navel. “Tell me.”
She squirmed, trying to find some relief for the empty ache. “Please,” she said again.
“Is this what you want?” His big, hot hand cupped her between her thighs, and lights exploded behind her eyes. He pushed the heel of his palm into her pelvic bone as one long finger played in her curls. She whimpered and bumped her hips up. “More?”
Thankfully, she didn’t have to answer because she was pretty sure the power of speech was beyond her. Slowly, so slowly, he sank his finger inside and they both moaned at the penetration. Then his mouth was there, replacing his fingers, licking and tasting her. She screamed and bucked. Too much and not enough. But his wide shoulders kept her legs splayed, his strong hands digging into her hips, holding her just where he wanted her. His every touch, every kiss, screamed possession and she understood now what it meant to be claimed by this Alpha. Totally consumed by his passion and need.
She was almost crazy with desire, when he nipped her inner thigh. “Need you now,” he gritted through his teeth. “Need inside. Now.”
“Yes,” she hissed. God, yes. Hurry the hell up.
Rising above her, Luke hooked one of her legs over the crook of his arm. He positioned himself at her entrance and looked into her eyes. “I love you, Isabelle,” he said, as he pushed inside.
“Luke!” Grabbing his shoulders, she pulled him down for a kiss. He loved her? He loved her. Tears rolled down the sides of her face into her hair as they rocked together in a relentless rhythm. She wanted to give the words back to him, let him know how much she felt for him, too, but they jumbled all up on her tongue. So she cupped his face and stared into his eyes, trying to convey everything that was tangled up inside.
He kissed her tears and buried his face in her neck as he moved harder and faster. She cradled his head to her and met each of his thrusts as best she could until his movements became wild and unstoppable.
Pressing a sucking kiss to her mark on his shoulder, she said, “Mine” as they both shattered.