Chapter Eight
Luna
Luna woke up shortly before midnight. Jason mumbled in his sleep but kept on snoring. She grimaced slightly when she stooped to find a pair of sleeping pants and a tank top. Jason had proved to be both an energetic and tender lover.
Grabbing her tablet, she snuck into the living room of Little Yellow. This was always the hardest part of releasing a blog. Making sure she had enough people awake, enough people engaged, and enough people to retweet. Midnight Sunday east coast time worked for her audience. Most were still awake, and it was still relatively early across the country. It would give a chance for the news to travel and be prime for the news cycle on Monday morning.
Just as she settled down with a cup of hot tea, Lacey and Quinn knocked on her door. “Hey,” Lacey greeted, placing her finger to her lips. “Jason is still asleep.”
“Not anymore.” His voice was sleep rough, and his beard was dark and shaggy.
Luna smiled at him. “Hey, you.” She wasn’t sure of the protocol of greeting your lover in the middle of the night.
Not seeming to care about protocol or even the fact he wasn’t wearing a shirt, Jason approached her and kissed her upturned lips. “Did you really think I’d miss your blog going live?”
One by one, people poured into Little Yellow. Cree and Tamara were next. Then Hunter and Hadley. Daniel and Kimber with their baby Anthony.
“No Melody?” Kimber asked as she found a comfortable spot on her husband’s lap.
“No.” Lacey made a little face like she missed her best friend. “She and Rafe finally went on a small honeymoon to the beach.” Just then, her phone chirped. “Oh! Look at that. She’s online. Okay. We’re all set to tweet and retweet.”
“We all could have stayed at home instead of coming to the Love Shack,” Quinn grumbled but chuckled when his mate pushed his shoulder.
“Beast,” Lacey accused.
“Me? I’m innocent,” Quinn proclaimed, tugging her onto his lap. “Now, come and tame your savage lover.”
“Love Shack. I like that,” Kimber commented as she gently rocked Anthony’s carrier with one toe. “It fits.”
“Oh, how so?” Luna asked, eyes bright with curiosity and excitement as the clock ticked down to midnight.
“We all stayed here at one point or another. It’s how I met Quinn. He only rents the cottages out to other shifters. Mostly to give them a place to rehab or find some quiet. Or explore the mountains in their animal forms.” Lacey twitched lightly on Quinn’s lap. “So, naturally he was a little peeved when I showed up.”
“Not for long,” Quinn returned.
Cree snorted something that sounded distinctly like “bullshit” but no one called him on it.
“That’s so cool! This is going to have to go into my next entry.”
“Lacey is convinced there’s magic in the cabin. That’s why she painted it, decorated it, and renamed it.” Quinn moved his mate’s hair out of the way to place a kiss on her neck.
“Okay, T minus five, four, three, two, and go!” Jason said.
“Okay, it went live.” Luna’s voice was hushed as she waited for the views to rack up. “Okay. I Tweeted it. Now I need you all to comment and retweet.”
One by one, each of them tweeted, retweeted, and tagged senators and congressmen alike.
“I’ve got a hundred views already,” Luna called. “Keep it up.” She bounced up and down in her seat as the comments added up and the retweets went into first the double then the triple digits.
“We’ll give that Kim Kardashian chick a run for her money,” Tamara said as she commented on someone’s post.
“Oh, it looks like Lacey’s dad got it,” Luna said. “He’s tagging a lot of people in it.” She paused. “Holy. Oh my.”
“What’s up?” Jason asked, looking up from tapping another reply.
“I just hit two million retweets, and it hasn’t even been out half an hour.” Luna was stunned as she stared at the number on her tablet. She brought up her blog page. “Oh. Remember how I told you I was hoping for two million followers on my blog once this went live?”
Tamara nodded. “What’s it up to?”
“Past three million! I think I can say I’ve officially gone viral!”
Quinn stirred. “That’s a good thing?”
“That means Father has something to go to his PAC with and show that this is a popular idea. Once we get it out there and normalize it, public opinion will follow,” Lacey said. She stood. “It’s late. We’re going to head to bed. We’ll talk in the morning and get phase two in motion.”
Dan groaned. “Is phase two where several of us make appointments with state senators to show how normal we are?”
“Pfft, you’re a war hero, Dan. You’ll be first up.” Hunter teased.
“Thanks for coming. All of you. It meant the world to me.” Luna hugged her tablet to her chest, hoping her words could convey her thoughts to this new family she’d created.
Hadley hugged Luna on her way out. “You’re doing this for us. The least we can do is volley a few tweets around and answer some questions.”
One by one the assembled group left until only Cree and Tamara hung back. “I’m sorry I was rude,” Cree began. “I’m protective of Tam and the rest of my family here.”
“I know. I didn’t mean to make anyone suspicious. I figured I could poke around, maybe get a lead on where he was.”
Cree and Tamara exchanged a long look. “I know what it’s like to live without my mate. I can only imagine the years of hurt both of your grandparents must be feeling. And I have no idea why Nick would do that to either himself or his mate.”
Luna felt her eyes fill with tears. For so long, she blamed Nicholas Lowell for hurting his wife and mother of his only child. To think maybe he was hurting just as bad was a new concept for her.
“Here. This is the only contact information I have. It’s just a generic email address, but when there’s a problem at the bar, I email him and a week or two later he calls.”
“Thank you,” Luna choked out. She gripped the piece of paper as she and Jason said good night to Cree and Tamara.
“You okay, Cinderella?”
She nodded, her voice too full to speak. It was just an email, but it was a start.
Jason
He didn’t want to doze off without her, but Luna decided she had to call her grandmother about the lead. He couldn’t blame her but, damn. A few hours with her in his arms and he was hooked.
She opened the door and padded across the hardwood floors. “I talked to her.”
“Did you wake her up?”
“No, she knew about the blog going live tonight. She was still up and part of the Twitter volleyball match we were playing.”
Luna crawled into bed and snuggled into his chest. “You’re so warm.” She nuzzled his chest hair and gave him a gentle bite on his ribcage.
“Careful, there, Cinderella.”
“Or what?” she smiled up at him, a teasing half-grin on her face.
Jason growled and turned, so she was effectively tucked under him and pinned. “Or this.”
Luna snorted. “Like I’m afraid of you being on top of me?”
“For a woman who was a virgin only a few hours ago, you’re a saucy wench, aren’t you?”
“Me?” she blinked innocently.
“Hah. What if I were to pin you down and not make love to you?”
“Think you can hold out all night long?” She reached up and licked his neck before sucking lightly on his earlobe.
Jason laughed, feeling free and alive with his woman by his side. His very capable woman who was never going to let him get lazy or complacent. “What did your gram say?” he asked. He moved off her slightly, so he was no longer pinning her down.
“She’s going to look into a flight south.” Luna bit her lip. “I wanted to tell her about you. About us, but I didn’t. I want her visit to be about finding her mate.”
Jason stilled, feeling a momentary uncertainty. “You don’t want to tell your family about us?”
“Not that I don’t want to. She’ll figure it out in person when we pick her up at the airport.”
Jason grunted and nuzzled her neck. “Damn right she’ll figure it out. Especially once I get a ring on your finger.”
“Oooh. That will make me Luna Fox.” Her eyes lit up. “That’s a sexy name.”
“A sexy name for my sexy mate,” Jason agreed, pulling at her pajama pants. “As long as she stays my Cinderella.”
“Always.” Her hands tightened around his wrists. “I think I am a little too sore for round three,” she said with a regretful smile.
“Mmm. Let me kiss it better,” he whispered against her skin. “If it wasn’t so late, you could soak in the tub. Ease the pain out of all those newly used muscles.”
“Show me,” Luna invited, easing her pants down and baring herself to him. “Soothe me.”
Jason smiled wickedly. “With pleasure.” He got down from the bed and placed a pillow on the floor so he could sit comfortably. “Come to the edge of the bed. A little closer.” His hands gripped her hips until he had her just the way he wanted. “Perfect.”
He folded her legs up and was greeted with the exquisite vision of her delicate pussy at the perfect level. “You’re beautiful, love. All pink and wet and waiting for me.”
Luna moaned at his words of praise. “Do you like that?” His thumbs traced the plump outline of her pussy and parted it, revealing the flushed interior. “Put your feet on my shoulders. That’s it. Look at you, all ready for me. Just relax, Cinderella. Let your prince charming kiss it and make it feel better.”
She laughed weakly. “I feel so exposed.”
After adjusting her feet on his shoulders, Jason lowered his head to her sweetly glistening pussy and gave it a soft kiss. “You’re delicious, Luna.” He closed his eyes. “If I could conjure up the perfect nectar for that gods, it would be you.”
“As long as you’re the only one I feed,” Luna said with a little pant that drove Jason wild.
“You’re so wet, love.” He lapped at the sweet juices trickling out and down her body. He licked the sweet nectar from her outer lips and then darted the tip of his tongue in her pussy. As he touched her inner lips and clit, she just jerked as if an electric current hit her.
Her moans hit him like a one-two punch. Desperate and needy. Anxious for more. Jason nuzzled the tip of his nose into the soft floss of hair. His mate was a perfect match for his needs.
He sucked lightly on her clit before flicking it with the flat of his tongue. Luna moaned softly and arched her hips closer to Jason’s mouth. Her little button was swollen. Needy. After one teasing lick, he dove tongue first into her channel. Sucking gently on her lips before fucking her with his tongue.
She whimpered something that could have been half prayer, half curse before seeking a deeper contact. By instinct, Luna ground her pussy on his face, moaning when she felt the scrape of Jason’s beard against her sensitive flesh.
Using both hands, Jason cupped her ass and let her set the pace. When she stilled, he sucked and licked her tiny clit. When she begged and grunted, he fucked her with his mouth, teeth, tongue, and imagination. Her movements grew uncontrollable, and she was lost in the intoxicating pleasures Jason provided.
“You going to cum for me, love?”
“Yes, oh God,” she screamed. Her moans grew louder, and Jason knew she was close. He slid one finger inside her tight channel while he sucked her to completion. The sound and sensation of her orgasm hit him, dampening his face. Drenching his finger.
He brought her down slowly. Kissing her pussy. The insides of her thighs. Moving up he kissed her flat little belly. She was liquid in his arms as he lifted her to adjust her on the pillow.
Jason spooned her close and said a prayer to whatever god was listening. Thanking them for letting him find this small woman. For giving him the opportunity to love her. Forever.