Chapter 17
“Talk to me,” Miguel said once we were back in his makeshift den.
I looked up at him and opened my mouth, but no words came out.
“Ethan, baby, you haven’t said a word since we left that diner. You’re starting to scare me now.”
“I’m okay,” I said, none too convincingly.
“You’re shaking.” He brushed my hair off my face and kissed my forehead. “How about we lie down? A lot’s happened tonight, and I think some rest will do you good.”
“Okay.” I nodded and reached my trembling hand to my top shirt button. Unfortunately, I couldn’t control my fingers enough to get a grip on the button.
“Here, let me do it,” Miguel said. He moved my hand away and quickly had my white shirt unbuttoned, untucked, and on the ground. Then he divested me of my ragged jean shorts and sneakers and lowered me onto the mattress.
“Aren’t you going to lie with me?” I asked when I saw that he was still fully dressed.
“Of course I am,” he answered.
It didn’t take but a few seconds for Miguel to strip out of his black shirt and jeans and drop his briefs to the floor along with them. Then he kneeled down on the bed, unashamedly naked, and looked at me, his adoring gaze saying what he had yet to speak with words.
“I’m so sorry you had to experience that, Ethan. I know how much you care about your family.”
My bottom lip trembled and I focused hard on holding back tears. “Richie doesn’t think like his father, you know. And my folks, they ain’t like that either. You’ve met Crissy so you’ve seen how wonderful she is, how much she loves me.”
“Yes, I know, baby,” he answered softly as he combed his fingers through my hair. He lay down on his side, propped himself up on his elbow, and continued to pet me gently. “But they didn’t even tell the other shifters that you’d gone to be with me. You’ve told me that I’m your true mate and that shifters consider that rare and special—”
I turned my face and kissed his palm, the tightness in my chest loosening. “Yes,” I mumbled against his skin. “I’m real blessed to have that, Miguel, to have you.”
He sighed deeply. “Having me means they’ve essentially thrown you out of the pack,” he said regretfully. “You do know that’s what Richie was saying there at the end, right?”
“I do,” I answered. “But if you feel regretful about that, Miguel, don’t. I ain’t never fit right in the pack. This isn’t your fault.” I moved my hand to his chest, skating it over smooth brown skin, enjoying the feeling of muscles rippling beneath the surface. “You’re so beautiful,” I whispered as I eased forward and kissed his nipple.
Miguel took my chin in his hand and tipped my face back so he could meet my gaze.
“Knowing what we do now, how they plan to treat you, we don’t have to help them keep that land. They should be grateful we told them the land was being sold at all. Left on their own, they wouldn’t have figured it out until it was too late because they think they’re too good to talk to humans,” he scoffed. “They can buy whatever they can afford and deal with humans owning the rest.”
“No,” I gasped. “Please, Miguel. We said we’d help them. We gave Richie and Crissy our word.”
He looked taken aback. “Our word isn’t binding. Even if I had some old-fashioned notion of honor—” He paused and looked in my eyes. “Which I don’t, if the shifters won’t let you onto pack lands, they’ve changed the rules of the agreement. They can’t possibly expect us to buy land and let a bunch of shifters who won’t let you onto that land use it at no charge.”
“Sure they can,” I said. “They’re my pack, my family.”
“After what they said tonight?” he asked disbelievingly. “Even though they’ve kicked you out?”
“Well, yeah,” I said with a shrug. “That’s the thing about family. You stand by each other through the hard times.”
“They’re not standing by you, Ethan.” Miguel’s voice took on that angry note.
I gave him a small smile. “No, they ain’t,” I said. “But if I took care of them only when they were being good to me, well, that’d be right simple. Standing by them when they’re turning their backs on me…” I took a deep, calming breath, and then I looked into my mate’s eyes. “Well, these are the hard times.”
“They hurt you,” Miguel said, sounding pained at the memory.
He was right, of course. The things Richie’s father said had hurt. The fact that I was no longer welcome by my own pack hurt. The knowledge that I didn’t know when or if I’d see my family again hurt. But I wasn’t ready to think about those things yet.
“I burned my tongue,” I said instead.
One side of Miguel’s mouth turned up in a grin. “You burned your tongue?”
“Uh-huh. I drank that coffee a mite too quick and got scalded.”
Miguel cupped my cheek and ran his thumb over my jaw. “Let me see,” he said.
I parted my lips and stuck my tongue out.
“Oh, I see,” he said. “How about I kiss it and make it better?”
I whimpered, and he smiled tenderly as he flipped his leg over my hip so he was straddling me. He cupped my cheeks and then dipped down, covering our faces in a veil of silky black hair. Then he started lapping at my tongue. Surprisingly enough, his licks seemed to make the burn less painful, like when he sealed the wounds made by his fangs. Those licks also made my shaft grow longer.
“Miguel,” I moaned.
He sucked my tongue into his mouth and moved his hands up my temples until he had tangled his fingers in my hair. I arched up as I dug my fingers into his back. When he finally pulled away, his eyes were full of heat, full of lust, and all for me.
“I want you,” I said.
He propped his forearms on either side of me and then straightened his body in a way that slid his skin against mine.
“Oh!” I cried out when his thick, hard shaft brushed alongside mine.
“I want you too,” he whispered huskily into my ear and rocked on top of me, giving us both the friction we craved.
I spread my legs wide and canted my hips up, causing his hot steel to press against my pecker, my testicles, and even the area beneath. It felt so good I nearly lost my breath.
“Ungh,” I moaned and tipped my head back, exposing the throbbing veins in my neck to my vampire.
He shot forward and pressed his lips to my exposed skin, sucking hard enough to leave yet another mark on my body. With me wiggling beneath him and his erection rubbing against me, I started to crave something we hadn’t yet tried.
“Miguel,” I said.
“Yes,” he answered.
“I want you to… Do you want to…”
“Oh, yeah,” he groaned and slid his hand between my legs, rubbing his fingers up and down my crease. “I want to.”
I couldn’t respond with words, just a sound that was part moan, part whimper, and all need. Miguel kissed and bit and sucked his way down my body, pinching skin his mouth couldn’t reach with one hand while the other maintained its place in my nether regions, rubbing, exploring, and every so often penetrating my hole with thick fingers. By the time he reached my groin with his mouth, I was shaking and panting, an almost constant stream of cries and moans pouring from my mouth.
“Look at you,” he said reverently from his perch between my thighs. I looked down to see him staring at the dark purple head of my swollen shaft. “Dripping for me.” He flicked his tongue out and licked up the moisture seeping from my crown. “Taste so damn good,” he whispered, turning me on even more. “Bet you taste delicious all over.”
He dragged his tongue down my prick and over my testicles. Then he pushed my knees up until my feet were planted on the bed, cupped the globes of my backside in his large hands, and spread me apart, exposing my hidden area to him. When he dipped his face down and started licking and nibbling at the sensitive skin there, I went wild, crying out his name, grasping at the sheets, and gasping for air.
“Oh, yeah,” Miguel said with a deep chuckle. “I was right. You are delicious everywhere.”
The words stopped after that because his mouth was too busy driving me out of my ever-loving mind. The licking and sucking didn’t stop, but it did get progressively more concentrated in a certain area until, finally, I felt my mate’s tongue pushing at my hole.
“Ah!” I shouted when that wet muscle entered my body, moving in and out and side to side. I grabbed for his hair, holding him in place as I pushed down and circled my hips against his face. “Yes! Oh, Lord, feels good. So good, Miguel.”
I didn’t know how long my mate stayed in that position, laving my hole and playing my body like a fiddle, but by the time he pulled his lips back and pressed his fingers in, I was dripping with his saliva and desperate to be filled.
He got to his knees and lifted my legs onto his thighs, spreading me open. “I’m going in now,” he said as he placed the head of his shaft against my hole.
“Please,” I answered.
Not wasting a second, he rocked forward and penetrated my body in a new way. He didn’t stop until his testicles were squished against me. Then he lay on me, wiggled his arms under my back, and held onto my shoulders, keeping me still as he dragged his shaft out and then shoved it back in.
I wrapped my legs around him, resting my heels on his backside, and clung to his arms as I met each and every one of his powerful thrusts. We grunted and moaned, our lips meeting for kiss after kiss as Miguel impaled me over and over again. With his stomach pressing and rubbing against my hard length and his erection dragging against that wonderful spot inside me, I fell into a sea of pleasure.
“Miguel, ungh, I’m going to… Miguel!”
Hot white seed shot from my shaft and left a slick path between us. Miguel roared and rose to his knees. He pushed my thighs up and spread them out, then he started jackhammering into me—hard, fast, and relentless. Soon he tipped his head back, stretched his neck, clenched his jaw, and ground against me as he shouted my name and pulsed his life essence into me.
When his body had released all its seed, he dropped on top of me and nuzzled my throat. I tilted my chin up in invitation, and Miguel accepted my offer, sinking his fangs into my vein and taking long, slow pulls. We lay together, him drinking, me petting his hair, and I realized that despite what had happened at the diner earlier that night, I was happy. Really and truly happy, deep down. And it was because of the man who was, at that moment lapping at my neck.
He flipped onto his back and pulled me on top of him, yanked the blanket over us, and then held me tight, so tight.
“Are you doing okay, baby?” he asked, sounding warm and relaxed.
“I am,” I answered, knowing that though I’d lost a lot that day, I’d gained much more. “I’m great.”
“Where’re you going?” I asked when I felt the bed shift as my mate climbed out. My tongue felt thick in my mouth, my words came out slow, and it was all I could do to open my eyes. I was exhausted.
“Shhh, you sleep.” Miguel petted my hair. “I’m going to go get you some food.”
I draped my arm around his waist and laid my head on his thigh. “’M not hungry,” I mumbled.
“You will be when you wake up. There’s a few hours yet till sunrise. I’ll go get you something to eat.”
I rubbed my eyes and started sitting up. “I’ll go with you,” I said.
Miguel put his hand on my back and kept me in place. “No. Tomorrow’s a big day. We’re leaving Kfarkattan at sunset. You need all the rest you can get.”
“We’re leaving?” I looked up at Miguel’s handsome face. “So soon?”
He traced my eyebrow with his finger. “It’s time, wolf. Now that Richie’s father knows where you are, after what happened with him, you’re not safe here.” He moved his hand to my nape and massaged me. “Besides, there’s nothing left for us to do. We bought the land like we promised. I’ll get word to the humans that we want to expand the plot size.” He grinned at me. “And now we need to go home.”
“Home,” I repeated.
“Yes. One of my houses is near a lake. It’s warm there this time of year, and we can swim at night. Would you like that?”
I scrunched my eyebrows together. “I ain’t ever been swimming, but I’ve always wanted to try. I like the water.”
Miguel’s expression lightened and he beamed at me, all the while continuing to run his fingers through my hair. “Good. Then it’s settled. We’ll go there and see if you like it. There’s a really nice caretaker’s cottage at the edge of the cemetery. It has plenty of space and all the modern amenities.”
“How will we get there?” I asked.
“We’ll drive.”
“You have a car?”
Miguel nodded. “I do. It’ll take a few days, so we’ll need to make some stops along the way when the sun’s out, but I know of some good inns, so that won’t be a problem.”
“That sounds nice,” I said softly, the gentle strokes of my mate’s hand lulling me back to sleep.
“What’s that?” he asked.
“Going on a car trip with you. Holing up in fancy hotels during the day. Living in a house by a lake, just the two of us.” I sighed wistfully and closed my eyes. “Sounds nice.”
I felt Miguel get up, but I was too tired to protest again, so I just fell back to sleep, hoping he’d be back by the time I woke.