Mate Bond

He’d stood very still, looking at her, Kenzie gazing right back at him. She’d stared at him, and he at her, until one of Kenzie’s younger cousins had called to her, needing her.

Bowman had let her go, but the slight nod of his head acknowledged her and the spark that had danced between them. His nod was also a dismissal, an indication that he considered her submissive to him, no matter that he’d never seen her before in his life.

Arrogant, insufferable . . . Kenzie had muttered to herself, but for the rest of the time they’d spent in those temporary quarters, she hadn’t been able to keep her eyes off him.

Bowman had been chosen as Shiftertown leader by the human government’s Shifter Bureau. Kenzie’s uncle Cristian hadn’t liked that one bit, because he’d thought that, being older and from a bigger clan, he should be leader of all Shiftertown. But the two other Lupine clans, smaller and less dominant, had conceded to Bowman’s authority. The Felines and bears had wanted to challenge Bowman to put one of their own in the top position, but the Shifter Bureau had decreed Bowman leader. In the human government’s view, that was good enough.

Uneasy peace had ensued for a couple of years, but Uncle Cristian couldn’t leave well enough alone. Cristian was a dominant wolf, and he chafed under Bowman’s leadership. He was also a crafty devil, good at stirring up trouble. Kenzie had always been grateful to Uncle Cristian for taking her in, but she wasn’t blind to his personality. He could be a total bastard.

It was too easy to return to wild ways out here, and Shifters over the next years had started reverting to clan loyalty above all else. Uncle Cristian had started turning the Lupines from the lesser clans against Bowman, even joining with Felines who wanted Bowman out. Bears always did their own thing, but after a while even they’d stopped agreeing to obey Bowman, even though Cade was already his second.

Bowman kept everything together by his strength and his smarts, and all would have been right after a while, but the humans got wind of the problems. Kenzie had no doubt at all that Uncle Cristian and his most loyal trackers had made sure the humans had heard about the unrest in their Shiftertown.

The humans had come to Bowman and given him an ultimatum. He either calmed things down, or they’d close this Shiftertown. They’d split up the clans, packs, and prides in order to fit them into other Shiftertowns, deciding that the dominant families would cause less trouble if they were scattered.

When they’d gone, Bowman had walked over to Kenzie’s grandmother’s, where Kenzie had been living, strode straight into the kitchen, ignoring that it was the territory of a rival clan, and told Kenzie that he was taking her as mate.

Kenzie had gotten in his face, saying she didn’t simply roll over and obey when an alpha wolf walked in the door.

Never mind that her heart had been hammering like crazy, her breath gone, every need she possessed screaming at her to leap on him. She’d yelled at him—like hell she’d jump to obey him when he’d been fighting her uncle and every other Shifter in Shiftertown.

His eyes had been white gray with rage, his hard face, with its brush of dark whiskers, speaking of years of kicking the asses of every Shifter who confronted him. But Kenzie wasn’t afraid of Bowman.

And yet, she was. But her fear was more of herself, of something primal in her that responded to him.

Female Shifters wanted him—human groupies did too. Bowman hadn’t been celibate—he’d satisfied his powerful libido plenty since they’d moved to this Shiftertown, and Kenzie had known it. But never with Kenzie.

Bowman had stood his ground in that kitchen while Kenzie shouted at him. He simply watched her, just as he’d gazed at her that first night in the gym, as he’d looked at her every time they’d crossed paths in the five years since.

Not until Kenzie ran out of words had she realized her grandmother and cousins had quietly departed. They’d left the house empty, and Bowman and Kenzie were alone.

Bowman had waited until she’d finished, then he’d caught her around the waist and crushed a kiss to her mouth.

She didn’t honestly remember how they’d gotten into the living room, but there she’d been with Bowman on the floor, her mating frenzy kicking into high gear. They’d torn off each other’s clothes, barely able to stay in human shape. Kenzie’s back hit the carpet, Bowman’s strong arms cushioning her fall, and then everything became a blur. She’d heard herself crying out, heard Bowman’s voice joining hers, as her body awakened into unbelievable pleasure.

Her hands had gone down Bowman’s bare back, raking his flesh. His mouth bruised hers, his eyes, darkening as he’d taken her, not looking away, not letting her look away.

They’d grappled on the carpet until Kenzie’s back was raw. Bowman spilled his seed into her with a groan, but he was hard again at once, and began thrusting again without withdrawing.

All afternoon and well into the night they’d made love in that living room, sometimes rolling over so that Kenzie rode Bowman, his callused hands on her arms or cupping her breasts. They’d taken it to a chair when the floor got too hard, Kenzie just fitting into it with him.

In the end, when the sun was rising and neither of them could move very much, Bowman had cupped Kenzie’s face in his hands.

“You’re my mate,” he’d said in a voice broken by their long night.

“Yes, all right,” Kenzie had growled, and that had been that.

They’d been mated in the ceremony under the sun that day, and then held the moon ceremony at the next full moon. They’d said prayers to the Goddess in firelight, and then Kenzie had moved in with Bowman.