Chapter 37 - Staking Her Claim

Flint rubbed the scar on his neck with his knuckle. Hard, as if it would somehow stop his mind from reeling, his heart from aching. It was crazy enough spying the door in the atrium he could swear hadn’t been there before, but then to find this whole room that was so obviously Goldie’s, with her belongings already moved in and arranged? That was some straight trippy shit.

The gargantuan bed with the pumpkin accents, the other pieces of furniture so perfectly crafted to reflect her strength and whimsy, it all added up to a room that Flint felt right at home in. A big sofa in the nook between the bathroom and the closet looked like the perfect place for lounging, and if he wasn’t mistaken the French doors that opened off the back wall led to the courtyard with the grill and garden, which meant this room was just a short walk from the kitchen. No stairs.

What bummed him out, and why Goldie’s words made his stomach churn, was that he was wondering the same thing she was. Sure, there was the sturdy bed, the oversized tub, the man-sized couch, but all that was just fuel for fucking. In this whole room there was not one bit of evidence that the two of them were in love. It was a painful reminder that as a shifter it didn’t matter how heartbound Flint was, switches weren’t beholden to anybody until and unless they agreed. Until they made it official with a Claiming. And as much as Flint wanted that, he couldn’t stand the idea of putting any more demands on Goldie when she’d already changed so much, given up so much, just to be here. “Probably down in my room.”

The look in her eyes when she heard him… fuck. Flint could tell she didn’t understand, and her sad question confirmed it. “You’re not going to stay up here with me?”

Flint stepped closer, pulling Goldie right in front of him so that he could look into her confused blue eyes. Every word was like a gut punch but he got them out evenly. “I’ll be here every night. Anytime you want me. But my stuff stays down in the barracks. Jameson is up here because he Claimed Cora.”

She nodded her head but Flint could tell Goldie still didn’t understand. Worse, she probably assumed he was saying he didn’t want to do the same to her. Oh, Bear. Flint was going to have to take a serious leap. “I want that for us, too, Goldie. Forever.”

Goldie’s eyes flew up to his, the joy so sparkly he couldn’t help but grin. Damn, what this woman does to me. She held his gaze with that shy smile, his kryptonite, the only substance on earth his grizzly heart wasn’t impervious to. “You do?”

Flint felt his bear pulse inside him. Was she really considering-? He took Goldie’s hands, kissing her knuckles, laying her palms against his chest so she would feel how strong his heart beat for her. Her limber fingers crept lovingly to the scar on his neck, grazing across the puckered flesh with a reverence that humbled him, the pulse of his blood so close to her touch Flint swore he could feel her inside him. Her scent spiked and thickened, the live, green, lush herbal complexity rushing through Flint, his mouth watering for a taste.

He raised his hands to Goldie’s face, saw the wanting in her clear blue eyes. One of his fingers traced the line of her neck down to where it met her shoulder, to that sweet spot where the veins rushed so near the surface. “It’s unbreakable, as far as I know. So we’re not doing it just so I can keep my stuff up here, Goldie. Only if you want it as much as I do.”

Her small, slender hands wrapped around his waist, her head coming to rest against his chest. “I’m telling you what I want. Claim me.”

Flint’s heart stuttered. He put a finger to Goldie’s chin, lifting her face to look deep into eyes that had never been able to hide from him. All he saw was complete acceptance shining back; of her destiny, of Flint, of their love for each other. She said she wanted it. He wouldn’t insult her by asking again.

Flint took Goldie’s mouth, emotion overwhelming him. How quickly Goldie had changed his life and priorities; how grateful he was that she had. Flint lifted her up right in the middle of the fairy tale bedroom, wrapping her legs around him, gripping her ass so he could carry her to the enormous bed and set her gently on its edge. Every breath he drew came from Goldie’s mouth as their lips stayed locked, breaking away only long enough to shed the clothes between them.

Looking down at Goldie’s petite, slim-hipped, naked body sitting perched on the bed’s edge, Flint’s cock flooded with lust and stood to attention. He saw her reaching for it and stopped her progress, lightly holding her wrists as he slowly dropped to his knees before her.

He released her wrists, hands going to her knees to press them wide. Goldie’s breath accelerated and her nipples pebbled so hard he wanted to suck them into his mouth and roll them around on his tongue like the fresh, ripe raspberries in the atrium outside her door. Their door. But first there were other delicacies he was hungry to taste.

Goldie fell back to the bed with the first touch of his tongue to her sweet, pink flesh, her back arching in pleasure. Flint may have only been with Goldie for a short time, but already he knew how to unerringly bring his woman straight to the edge, and how to ride it with her pleasure so tightly in hand that before long she was cursing his name as much as she was praising it. After today she would be his to please as often as Flint could.

Her taste would never leave him. Her scent, the feel of her body in his arms would be his constant companion. Every time Flint went into battle, it would be with Goldie by his side. His bear surged and he drew deeper on her clit, loving the way she thrashed and squealed on the bed above him, her hands in his hair to hold him close.

Goldie’s body went from undulating waves to strung tight, her hips working minute circles against Flint’s mouth as he licked and sucked her into abandon. It was his favorite thing, seeing his normally reserved woman chasing her pleasure. She propped herself on her elbows, meeting his gaze as his tongue flicked and made her gasp. The little wrinkle between her eyes, the one showing up just now before she climaxed, that fucker would be one of his favorite things until the day Flint died, he swore to the Great Bear. Goldie’s jaw dropped and a silent scream emerged as her core shook and spasmed against his mouth.

When he felt her release, Flint stood. He flipped Goldie to her knees with one hand and pressed her chest to the bed as the other took hold of his cock and slid it home before she had even stopped quaking inside.

He grit his teeth and took them both on the ride of their lives, slamming into Goldie’s gorgeous body, feeling the tremble of her channel that never stopped pulsing around him. Where usually she filled their lovemaking with sweet, soft words, this time she was wild, moaning and screaming with what he did to her.

Every thrust pushed Goldie further up the bed. Flint climbed on behind her, keeping his pace, feeling every surge of lust that moved through Goldie’s body and brought them closer together. He eyed the curve of her neck from behind, thinking of how it was going to feel when he sank his teeth into her flesh. Flint loosed his bear just enough for his canines to grow, the longing so intense when he did that it almost doubled him over. Now.

He pressed all of his front to Goldie’s back, pushing her down into the mattress, and struck fast, before she even felt him coming. His teeth sank into her skin, glancing off bone and blood vessel. Flint felt like he had put his dick in a light socket. A buzz that was all pleasure with the thinnest edge of pain ran through him from top to toes, like that time he’d touched an exposed wire in the workshop and gotten the shock of his life. Only this time he had no desire to break away.

His body continued pumping into Goldie’s but all of Flint’s focus was on the connection. He could feel her filling him, him filling her, as if they were two halves of a whole, the completion of a circuit that had been broken until this very moment. Green light spilled out, filling him, them, the room with its emerald power, and still Flint couldn’t break away. Not that he wanted to. The bliss he was feeling at this moment was more intense than a dozen orgasms, gave him the strength of a dozen bears.

Just when he thought it couldn’t get any better, the feeling intensified tenfold. His body was taken over with a flash of emerald just as Goldie screamed beneath him and her core clamped down, milking him like a silken fist as Flint came and came for what felt like minutes. His fangs receded from Goldie’s skin and he kissed the already-knitting wound gently, his breath coming under his control once more.

He withdrew from Goldie and somehow got the blanket pulled back from the bed and her underneath it before collapsing and pulling her close to his side. Already she was dozing off.

Flint was still breathing hard when he heard Riot’s motorcycle speed by the window closest to the driveway. Not two seconds later Flint’s phone chirped from his pants on the floor by the bed. He stretched one long leg out and hooked the garment with his toe, fishing his phone out of the pocket. A text from Jameson: Are congratulations in order?

Flint’s protective instincts rose. Cause or not, his and Goldie’s relationship was theirs alone. He texted back to J: A gentleman never tells.

Jameson’s reply made Flint laugh, then just as quickly slapped him sober: Yeah? So what’s your excuse? Another meeting tomorrow. Get some rest.

Another meeting tomorrow. Another step along the path to war. He had proof now, that the Mountain Man was out there. Hope for finding out which Fatherborne bloodfucker - not Vlade, if vampires could be trusted to tell the truth, which they couldn’t - had killed his family, tried to kill him. He also had a lot more to lose.

Flint yawned mightily, then turned his phone all the way off. Rest was something they both needed.