Rafe raised a hand to his brother before turning his full attention on his little mate. He was growling. He could feel it in his chest but he couldn’t seem to stop. Not even as he watched Zoey walk away from Michael and towards him. Coming back to him, which filled him with relief but still didn’t wipe out his irritation.

He'd been forced to let his mate go off with his brother. With his brother who loved her. And she loved him too. He could feel the warmth between them through the bond he had with them both. He could feel it like a thorn in his side that he knew would never go away, not fully. Because even though Zoey had made it clear she chose him, wanted him, the feelings she and Michael shared would never go away.

They were best friends. Family now. He’d heard her say that and it had made him want to smile and cringe at the same time.

It was one of the only things he’d heard because he’d had to put up with that asshole Enforcer glaring at him and making snide comments the whole time Zoey was talking to Michael. In fact, the bastard had talked so much that Rafe had barely been able to catch any of his brother and his mate’s conversation. He’d known Darius since they were all kids but they’d never been friends. Darius was usually a man of very few words and Rafe didn’t doubt for a second that the bastard had only bothered talking to him to keep Rafe from eavesdropping.

He was a good Enforcer. He had Michael’s back. Rafe could respect that. He still flipped him off as he climbed into the truck.

“Stop scowling at your brother.” Zoey grinned as she bounded up the steps and straight into his arms.

He let out a rough breath and caught her. He pulled her in tight but the growl in his chest worked up his throat. She smelled all wrong. Like Michael. He scowled, hating it.

“Rafe.” She giggled when he nuzzled his face into her throat. “That tickles.”

“You smell like him.” He growled in response and continued to rub himself against her.

“We only hugged.”

“You should only ever smell like me.”

Zoey giggled again, as if it were funny, but it wasn’t funny. He was serious. Completely serious. He nuzzled her neck and stroked his hands over her body. He rubbed her against him, needing to remark her with his scent in every way. His wolf rubbed up against his skin and he groaned when he felt Zoey’s pulse stutter and then race. He could feel her wolf respond too, lunge for the surface and she moaned too.

Done. He was done for. He hitched her up easily. Tiny little mate. Fit him so well. She wrapped her legs around his waist and he slipped his hands to her ass. He rubbed her against his already hardening cock, ignoring the engine that fired up in the drive as Darius and Michael left them alone. Zoey moaned.

“Wolves are sensitive to touch and smell.” He gave into the urge to lick the pulse hammering in her neck, “No more hugging other men. You’re mine.”

Her arms tightened around his neck as she arched against him “Mmm, are you going to do this every time I come home with another male scent on me?”

He growled and she giggled again.

“Because if so, it’s not really a threat.” Her voice was breathy and she pulled on his hair, “Oh, God, Rafe, please… I want you. Please.”

He grinned and nipped at her ear. His mate was perfect. Absolutely perfect. Beautiful and sassy too. Funny. Sweet. And his, all his.

“Need you.”

It was the day of a full moon. It heightened both of their emotions. Good and bad. He knew that. But he didn’t think it was just the moon making them want each other like this.

Everything between them was so new. Her wolf was newborn. The bond and the heat and everything that went along with being mated, with being a wolf, it was all so new. But it was strong, so damn strong.

He’d never been mated before so he couldn’t know for sure but he thought it was more than just the bond, just their wolves. He couldn’t get enough of her. Couldn’t imagine he ever would.

He thought he was falling for her. Him. The man. It had nothing to do with his wolf. He was falling for this woman that made him feel so much, so easily. Made him feel like he could have everything he’d ever wanted.

Rafe turned and pushed her up against the side of the house. He took her mouth with his and she opened for him immediately. He would never get used to the kick of adrenaline when he tasted her sweetness. He wanted her on his tongue all the time, never wanted to taste anything that wasn’t her.

Zoey writhed against him, breaking the kiss to gasp for air, “Rafe, please…”

Since he could hear the truck with the others down the road he knew they were far enough away not to see, he ripped the jacket she’d put on off her shoulders and pushed her shirt up. Her perfect little tits spilled out and he lowered his head to take a perky pink nipple into his mouth. She gasped his name and he sucked on her, hard.

He curled his tongue over the hard nub, “So damn responsive.”

Rafe moved to her other breast and gave it the same treatment. He loved the way she moaned and sighed when he touched her. Loved that she writhed and begged for more. He loved these sweet little nipples, all red and standing at attention for him, loved the way her arousal spread a flush down her neck turning her pale skin pink.

It was gorgeous. She was gorgeous. The only way she would be more gorgeous was if… Rafe sank his teeth into the smooth curve of her breast.

“Rafe!” She screamed his name but it was more pleasure than pain and he groaned as he released the new mark and licked it. She was a wolf now. It healed almost instantly. But she’d have another silver scar to match the one on her neck. One only he would ever see.

“So sexy.” He kissed the spot as she shivered in his arms, “Want to mark you everywhere.”

“Please…” Zoey’s head had fallen back against the wall, her eyes closed and her skin flushed, “Please, please, please…”

She was close. He could feel it. She was already shaking. Begging. She was still wearing those tiny little shorts so he slid his hand down her belly and beneath the waistband.

He growled, “So fuckin’ wet. You need to come, baby?”

“Rafe.” His name was a pleading whimper.

Her clit was so swollen he barely touched it and she cried out. So close. Too close. Because he wanted her to come while he was deep inside her. He needed to come with her. He needed to be buried inside her, filling her up with his seed. It was a pressing need on him, a weight he needed to fulfill. To make her his, to make them a family, to make them a pack.

“Not yet.” He pulled his hand free and spun them around.

He sank onto the bench by the door with her in his lap. Zoey hissed and tugged at his shirt. He helped her push it off and then she abandoned the urge to undress him. He worked his pants open as she peppered him in frantic kisses.

She kissed his neck, his chest. She sucked on his nipples and tormented him the same way he’d tormented her. Her teeth scored his flesh and he groaned as a flare of need shot through him and his wolf clawed his insides. He wanted it. They both wanted it. Wanted their mate to mark them the same way they had marked her. But she couldn’t shift yet, not until the full moon rose. No matter how much her wolf wanted it. She nipped at him but it wasn’t enough. Not nearly enough.

Rafe shoved his pants out of the way and shifted her shorts to the side. He positioned himself with one hand and helped her lift up with the other. When she sank down on top of him, it was like finding home.

“Yes.” He groaned as she took all of him with ease and then gave a roll of her hips at the end. “Fuck me, baby. Ride me. Take me.”

“Rafe.” Her head fell back and her nails dug into his shoulders and she rocked herself on top of him.

Each time he was buried deep inside her, she rolled her hips, grinding her clit against him. Her movements were erratic and he knew she was close. So was he. He gripped her hips tight and helped her ride him and God, it felt good, so good. So right.

He took her breasts back in his mouth and she moved her claws to his hair. Her claws! He groaned when she scratched him. Her nails had elongated. Impossible. She couldn’t change yet. Couldn’t shift. She definitely couldn’t control a half shift. He jerked back to look up at her and gasped.

Her eyes were gold. Her wolf was right there with him. With them. It shouldn’t be possible but it was. Her wolf was strong. So damn strong. She was forcing her way to the surface. She wanted him that much.

“Do it.” He growled as his own wolf clawed to get to her. “Do it baby. Mark me. You want it that bad? You take it.”

Zoey whimpered and her jaw fell open. He knew it must have been confusing for her. Knew it probably hurt. He couldn’t remember the first time he’d shifted, even a half shift, but it hurt when his teeth changed every damn time.

He leaned up and licked her longer canines, “Do it.”

That earned him a growl and then Zoey bucked hard and sank her teeth into his pec. They both jolted and came. He could feel her body squeezing him as the orgasm roared through her. The tight grip of her pussy around him, the feel of her teeth in his chest, the mix of pleasure and pain and the howl of his wolf as his mate claimed him, it was too much to hold back. He jerked her down hard on top of him and held her there as he spilled his load deep inside of her.

He blacked out for a second. He was sure of it. It was the most intense orgasm of his life. He’d thought it couldn’t get better than it had when he’d claimed her but this was better. Because she had chosen to claim him right back. Her wolf had fought to get to him. Rising to the surface when she shouldn’t have been able to. Not yet.

Rafe groaned and held Zoey tight as they recovered their breath, “Baby?”

“Mmm.” She moaned but didn’t move from where she’d collapsed against his chest.

“You okay?”

“Mmm.” She hummed again.

He couldn’t decipher if that was a yes or a no so he wrapped a hand in her hair and pulled slightly. She harrumphed but curled upward when he tugged harder. He used his other hand to tip her chin up so she would look him in the eye and he breathed a sigh of relief when they were back to that beautiful green color.

“Are you okay?” He asked again, stroking her scalp soothingly where he’d pulled.

Her tongue ran over her teeth visibly and he waited. They’d gone back to normal already too. But there was a look of shock on her face that worried him and her pale skin was nearly ghostly. She swallowed hard and her eyes dropped to his chest, to the puncture marks that were already healing.

“I… I think so.” She shivered and raised her hand to the mark, “Did I… I did that?”

“Your wolf did.” Rafe spoke softly, soothingly, “She fought to the surface. You let her fight to the surface. You let her bite me.”

Zoey’s eyes darted back to his, “I claimed you.”

His lips twitched slightly at the wonder in her, “You claimed me.”

“You’re mine.” Her lips curled upward and he nodded as he wiped a spot of blood from her chin, “You’re really mine.”

“I’m yours baby. Always have been.”

Zoey fell against his chest again, wrapping her arms around him and squeezing him tight. He wrapped his arms around her too. They’d just had sex on the front porch of the cabin. They were both nearly naked and disheveled. He was still buried inside her. And she’d claimed him.

His dick twitched.

She moaned and her hips automatically rocked into him, “Again?”

“Always.” He licked his mark on her neck and she shivered, her body trembling with aftershocks. “I always want my little mate.”

Zoey kissed the mark on his chest and sighed contently, “And I always want my big bad wolf.”

He chuckled at that and felt his heart swell in his chest again. Laughter. He’d laughed more in the last twenty-four hours than he had in years. She made him smile. She made him laugh. She made him happy. And he was going to spend the rest of his life making her happy.

He flipped her onto her back on the bench and she moaned. He shifted above her, inside her, driving them both crazy. And when she met his eyes he gave her his biggest, wolfish grin.

“And this big bad wolf is gonna eat you up.”