Alyx

I raised the bottle of water to my lips to keep myself from melting into a puddle right then and there. Reid was back! I should have known something was up when Cap cut our workout session early. And I had just overheard Reid tell his team that I was his top priority.

“Alyx!” Reid launched out of his seat and placed himself between me and the rest of the team. “What are you doing here? And why are you dressed like that?”

I looked down at my top. “I’d think that would be obvious.”

I saw the moment realization dawned. “You? You’re the new guy?”

I grinned as Cap said, “Reap, Bones. Bones, Reaper.”

Suddenly, I was weightless and moving at approximately the speed of light down to the bunk room. Reid slammed the door shut behind him, then tossed me on the bed.

“Is this some kind of joke?” he asked, pacing back and forth in the small space.

I frowned at him. “No.”

“You’re on the team?”

“Yes.”

“No. I won’t allow it,” he said firmly.

“You don’t get a say,” I shot back. “You walked away.”

He winced, then stood taller. “You’re my mate.”

I was grateful for my grandmother filling me in on the whole mate thing. He had claimed me, but I hadn’t claimed him.

“But you aren’t mine,” I told him.

He reeled back as if slapped.

“Not yet, anyway,” I added with a sniff.

He growled, and my panties instantly dampened. I crossed my arms over my chest to hide my hardened nipples, but it was too late. His nostrils flared, flames dancing in those deep green eyes.

“Not yet?”

“Nope.”

He took a step closer, his scent growing stronger, too. The area between my legs throbbed in sync with my heartbeat and the spot on my neck where he had marked me. He looked dark and feral, and was the sexiest man I had ever seen.

“How about we take care of that right now?”

“No,” I said, breathier than I had the first time.

He took another step, and I held up my hand in a stop gesture. If he got any closer, I would forget everything I had planned to say when I saw him.

He stopped and stared at my hand like he had never seen it before. His scent intensified, sending tingles of potent arousal through me, but I had to remain strong.

“First, some ground rules. I am a member of this team now, whether you like it or not.”

“Not,” he said immediately, crossing his arms over that broad, muscular chest. His heat and scent enveloped me, weakening me, and I knew I didn’t have much time. “It’s too dangerous.”

“I can handle myself.”

He laughed. He actually laughed. “How are you going to handle yourself against someone like me?”

“Come at me and find out.”

He hesitated for a moment, then accepted my challenge and lunged. Before he could get a hold on me, I stepped quickly to the side, summoning all my healing energy and focusing it to a single point. I opened my palm toward him and let it rip.

A bolt of energy shot out of my hand and into his chest. Shock registered on his face, his eyes widening as his muscles seized and locked. Then he was thrown back against the wall. I watched in horror as he hit it hard, then went down.

“Shit! I’m so sorry,” I said, rushing over to him. Panic clawed at me when I saw my strong, powerful wolf man lying so still. “Shit, shit, shit!”

I went down on my knees beside him, forcing myself not to freak out. This was not the way I had envisioned beginning our relationship.

I had been preparing for this moment since the morning after he had left when Cap sat me down for a heart-to-heart reality check. After hours and hours of talking and a few nights to think about Cap’s incredible offer, I had put in my resignation at the hospital, kissed Gram goodbye, and had begun the hardest, most grueling training program I could possibly imagine. I still had a long way to go, but no one doubted I could eventually become an asset. My real motivation was currently lying prone before me.

I was not about to lose my mate now that I finally had him back again.

I was a freaking healer, for shit’s sake. I could and would fix this.

With one hand on his chest, feeling for a heartbeat, I leaned my face close to his to check his breathing.

Without warning, big hands grabbed me and pulled me on top of his body.

“Rule number one,” he growled, his face a hair’s breadth from mine, “never take your eyes off the enemy.”

With one large hand, he cupped my bottom, securing my hips. The other splayed across the middle of my back. Pressed against his hard planes, feeling that particularly long, stiff part of him pressing into my womanly regions, there was no place in the world I would rather be.

“Are you my enemy?” I breathed.

He moved the hand on my back up, palming the back of my head and simultaneously pulling me down and to the side. His lips pressed against the mark he had made, sending shivers of white-hot need coursing through me. I shuddered. He chuckled, a husky sound that told me he knew exactly what he was doing.

“I tried to stay away,” he said.

“I know. I’m hard to resist.”

He growled again, flexing his fingers over my butt as he licked my neck with his rough tongue. The vibrations travelled from his chest into mine, making my nipples pebble even more. At this rate, they would leave indentations in that rock-hard chest of his.

“You know what I am.”

“I do,” I confirmed.

“And you know what I do.”

“Uh-huh.”

“And you’re okay with that?”

“More than,” I told him. “Because I’ll be right there to have your six and patch you back up if you mess up.”

His brows furrowed. “I don’t mess up.”

“Great. Then we won’t have a problem, will we?”

* * *

Reid

My mate had a smart mouth, one I really needed to kiss.

I crushed my mouth to hers, not caring a lick how desperate it seemed. It was desperate. I was desperate. It had been twenty-five days since I had seen her, smelled her, and been deep inside her body, and that was twenty-five days too long.

I slipped my hands into those form-fitting pants and filled my palms with her perfect ass. We would be discussing this whole teammate thing later, but I wasn’t stupid. My instincts to protect my mate practically ensured that I would say something to get her back up, and I wanted her to mark me before that happened. The best way to accomplish that was to get her so fucking aroused she wouldn’t think twice about sinking her teeth into me and completing the claiming. Given the sweet, musky perfume filling my nostrils, she was already well on her way.

I stroked my tongue over the skin where I had already marked her, knowing it would feel like a stroke of my cock deep inside. She gifted me with a breathy moan and a full body shudder.

“Like that?” I growled.

“I know what I’d like even better,” she growled right back, raking her fingernails across my chest as she grabbed the collar of my shirt and ripped it open. As great as that felt, it couldn’t compare to the open-mouthed kisses and licks she trailed over my jaw, down my neck, and on my chest.

“Yeah? What’s that?” I grunted.

Her response was to continue her kissing, licking, biting spree downward.

Those glorious breasts rubbed over my rigid cock on the way, inciting visions of recreating this moment later without the cotton and denim between us. Getting her all worked up, sliding my dick between those beautiful, lush mounds. Yeah, that was something we would be doing.

Right now, her skilled fingers were making short work of the fastenings that were keeping my erection under wraps. She must have still had some juice running through those fingers, because every time she touched my bare skin, I got a little jolt, not unlike a release of static buildup. It was hot as hell.

She moaned when she discovered I had gone commando. The next second, she was pressing those open-mouthed kisses along the length of my shaft, and those sparking fingers were sliding down, cupping me between the legs.

I had never felt anything like it.

Fiery bolts of sensation shot through me, and I knew I wouldn’t last a minute if she kept that up.

As wonderful as it was, I needed to be inside her more than I needed to breathe. I reached down and caught her beneath the arms to pull her up my body.

“I wasn’t finished,” she said on a pout as I allowed my claws to emerge just enough to shred the clothing hiding her treasures.

“But I nearly was.”

That pout turned instantly to red-hot lust. The sweet, musky perfume of her arousal saturated the air around us. Perfect.

I grabbed her around the hips and positioned her over my cock. She wasted no time sliding down me in a smooth, eager glide until I bottomed out. She curled her fingernails into my chest as she breathed a sigh of relief.

I fought the urge to roll us over and pound myself into her. This was about her claiming me, and I had to let her choreograph this mating dance.

Sultry eyes peered at me from half-shuddered lids. “Still close?”

I nodded.

“Good. Because this first one’s going to be hard and fast.”

Thank God. She started moving, her body doing this exotic rolling, lifting wave motion that was as beautiful to watch as it was to feel. Her breasts bounced enticingly, and I couldn’t help fondling and licking them as she rode me into bliss. Toned thighs gripped my hips; nails pierced my skin.

She picked up the pace, each descent onto my cock growing more carnal as she chased down her orgasm. To our mutual pleasure, I sat up, changing the angle and deepening the penetration.

With one hand gripping her ass possessively, I reached down with the other and added the pressure of my thumb to the clit she was grinding against my pelvis. I felt her clamping down around me, felt the pressure building as I tried to hold back my own release. She was holding back, too, trying to make it last, but I needed her to fly.

I pushed deep, angling my hips even farther to hit her sweet spot. Her entire body went rigid a second before her teeth latched on to my skin and bit down hard.

My mate was marking me. It felt so fucking good I couldn’t hold back any longer.

My eyes rolled back in my head as I exploded inside her. At the same time, I felt her fall over the edge, too.