Chapter Fifteen

At seven o’clock Joselyn stood outside the door to Alton’s apartment—a place she’d never been to even though he’d lived there two years. She lifted her hand to knock before the door swung open, and she found herself tugged into the warm embrace of the man she loved.

She flinched when he kicked the door shut and plastered her to it, threading his fingers in her hair until the ponytail dislodged. And then he sealed his lips to hers. She dropped her purse to the floor and wrapped her arms around his waist.

This was her lifeline. This man was her story. Nothing else mattered.

His hands were everywhere at once, shoving her cardigan off her shoulders and then worming their way under her shirt without breaking the kiss.

She moaned into his mouth when his huge palms flattened on her back. Her eyes slid closed as her body ceased belonging to her and melded with his. The passion was still steaming hot between them. When they came together, they always seemed to become a third separate entity, unified somehow, though she didn’t know how to describe that in words.

“Alton…” she mumbled against his lips.

“Mmm.” He nibbled at her top lip and then bit it gently between his teeth, giving it a tug.

She moaned again, loving the pressure, the dominance.

He shoved his hands farther up her shirt and slid it over her head. When he dropped it on the floor without looking, he flattened his palms on the door at the sides of her face. His brow was furrowed as he searched her expression. “You’re mine.”

“Yes,” she breathed…as if there were any doubt.

“I never want you to doubt that again.”

She nodded slightly.

He cupped her face with one hand, his thumb stroking over her bottom lip to pull it down. “We’re done with this farce. It’s over.”

“Yes.” She kissed his thumb and then licked the tip.

“You willing to take this leap of faith with me?”

“Yes.”

“Now. Here. Tonight.”

“Yes.” Her voice was stronger. A part of her knew they would bind tonight from the first mention of her coming over. If he hadn’t suggested it, she would have pushed the issue.

“You’re gonna take a lot of flak tomorrow at work.”

“So are you.”

He shrugged. “I no longer give a single fuck. I asked myself, what’s the worst thing that can happen, and I didn’t come up with any answer that would give me hesitation.”

“You could lose your job.”

“Yep.” Obviously, that fell in the category that gave him no hesitation.

“I’ll probably lose mine. My pack is furious. They threatened to fire my dad today.”

“What?” Alton shouted. “Can they do that?”

“Yes.” She nodded. No sense pretending otherwise.

“But he’s the leader of your pack. That brewery is more his than anyone’s.”

She lifted her brows. “I’m not sure he has the numbers to back him on this. More members of my pack are opposed to making amends with yours than in favor. If there were any doubt, their true colors came out today.”

“What happened?” Alton stepped back, his hands sliding down her arms until he had a grip on her fingers and was luring her farther into his apartment. He sat on the couch and tugged her onto his lap.

She spun around, preferring to face him head on, lifting one leg to swing it over his so she straddled him.

He grabbed her waist, and then his hands slid up until his thumbs brushed the undersides of her breasts.

She ignored the way her body demanded they stop talking and start fucking. Things needed to be said. “One of my cousins went ballistic after you left. He was spouting stupid shit about you and me, and my dad told him he could pack his stuff and get out of the building. My dad threatened to fire him and anyone else who decided to talk smack.”

“That’s reasonable.”

“Yeah, except I don’t think even my father counted on the response he got, which was an indignant counter that if a vote were taken, the board would remove my dad instead of the other way around.”

Alton’s eye widened. “You think they would do that?”

She sighed. “I’m not sure. If you’re asking if they have the numbers, probably. But would they? I don’t know.”

“This is super fucked up, baby.”

“I know.” She bit her lip. “And I feel responsible. It’s impossible not to. What if my immediate family is shunned over my choice in a mate?”

He hesitated, prodding into her mind as she tried to give him an honest glimpse of her sincerity. “What will your parents say?”

“They’ll have my back. I know I have their blessing. They love me. So does my brother Isaiah. I haven’t spoken to Wyatt yet, though perhaps Isaiah has. After today, I wouldn’t be surprised. He has a right to know. He wasn’t in the meeting this morning.”

“Oh, Jos, this is so unfair. Why the hell do our private choices have to affect so many lives?” He held her closer, his grip on her rib cage tighter.

“Except you’re looking at it the wrong way. This isn’t a choice. It’s not that simple. It’s not something we can deny and walk away from. It feels like a clock has been ticking at our backs for years, chasing us down. And time has finally caught up with us, overrunning us, getting ahead of us, even. We either keep up…or we die.”

He stared at her.

“Not literally of course, but our souls. Our hearts. I wouldn’t be able to live without you. A part of me isn’t whole without you. Something’s always missing.

“I assume for those who have never met their mates, they don’t feel this pressure, but anyone I’ve ever heard of who knew who they were meant to be with couldn’t go on without binding.”

“And yet we’ve done exactly that for years. Too many to count,” he pointed out.

“Exactly.”

He tugged her forward until her pussy pressed against his cock. Even through the two layers of denim, the heat was intense. The pressure made her breath hitch. “Doubts?”

“None.” She lowered her face to his and kissed him briefly. “We can’t worry about everyone else anymore. I’m done waiting. We have to worry about ourselves now.”

He smiled wide and then spread one hand up her back and into her hair. He tugged, hard enough to get her to tip her head back and to one side, exposing her throat. He licked the spot where her neck and shoulder met, his breath sending a shiver down her arms.

She gripped his waist, her heart racing with the anticipation.

He whispered against her skin. “You won’t go back to your parents’ house after.”

“Of course not,” she muttered.

“Ever.”

“I wouldn’t want to.”

“You belong in my bed. We won’t ever spend a night apart. Not ever, Jos.”

She swallowed, her arousal growing higher with every word. “Yes.”

“I want to finish the binding first. Then I’m going to fuck you.”

“Please…” Her voice was shaky with desire.

He nuzzled the spot again, nibbling the area until she shuddered. “Open your mind to me, baby. Let me in.”

Her fingers flexed against his lower back where she’d wiggled them under his shirt. She inhaled deeply and then blew out the breath as she let him in. She felt him delving instantly, poking around in her thoughts.

“Oh, baby.” He kissed her neck again. “I love you so much.”

“I love you too,” she told the ceiling. Her head was still wrenched back, his grip firm in her hair. Did he think if he let go she might be able to get her teeth on him and beat him to the punch?

She could. She could have done so at any point over the years. No law said he had to be the one to bind them together, but there was a law that said no one could be bound to another without permission. She bit her lip between her teeth, willing him to bite her. Now.

His cock throbbed against her pussy, driving her so close to orgasm she thought she might come before he finished the binding.

She lowered her walls a little more, knowing how important it was to him for her to let him into her mind. And she reached into his at the same time, feeling the intensity of his love and devotion. He wanted nothing but amazing things for her, as she did him.

When his teeth grazed her skin, she gasped. “Please, Alton. I’ve never wanted anything more in my life,” she communicated.

The second his teeth broke the skin, she arched into him as much as she could in his grip. Her lips parted in anticipation, her breath hitching. Instead of the sharp sting she expected to feel when he broke the skin, she felt nothing but need. Her mind pleaded with him to let his serum enter her bloodstream. That last step was necessary to complete the binding.

A moment later, her wish was granted. The instant he sealed them, a wave washed through her, like an adrenaline rush that took her by surprise and made her entire body tingle. The need to be naked and impaled by him made her skin itch. She moaned, gritting her teeth, wishing they had at least removed their clothes before taking this final step.

Alton released her neck only to lick the bite. His serum would seal the wound, but the small scar would forever mark her as taken. Not that anyone would need to see the scar to know she was bound to another. They would scent it on her. Every single shifter she passed from this moment forward would know she was in a permanent, committed binding with another.

She loved that fact about their species. Pride raced through her bloodstream. She was his, and she never needed to announce it.

She released his waist and fisted his shirt, tugging it over his head.

“In a hurry?” he mumbled against her lips as he lowered her head to kiss her.

She ignored him, flattening her palms on his shoulder blades in an attempt to draw him closer, not that they could get any more plastered together while they both wore jeans.

Alton tucked his hands under her ass and lifted them both off the couch. He took brisk steps to round the couch and headed out of the room. She didn’t take her gaze off his. She hadn’t seen a single aspect of his apartment yet. She didn’t even know the color of the couch they’d just vacated.

In seconds, they were in what she assumed was his bedroom, and she was falling through the air to land on her ass.

“Jeans off, baby. Now.”

She scrambled to unbutton and unzip them with shaky hands, lifting her hips to slide the denim and her panties down her legs while she watched him shrug out of his at the same time. His eyes were dark and piercing. And when his cock was finally released, it bobbed between them thicker and harder than she ever remembered.

She popped her bra off next and tossed it aside.

In a flash, he was over her, climbing between her legs. He grabbed her wrists with both hands, lifted them over her head, and pressed them into the mattress. One second later, he thrust into her.

She screamed. The walls of her channel were more sensitive than she’d ever noticed before. Every stroke of his cock made her more aware of her sexuality. Her vision blurred as he claimed her mouth.

She squirmed beneath him, needing to touch him, but he held her hands tighter. Her breasts ached from the need to be touched, but only her nipples received any sort of contact as he pulled partway out and thrust back in deep.

A grunt escaped his mouth.

A sound she didn’t recognize left her lips. Every single stroke pushed her to a new cliff. As if she had a new awareness of her body and was more fully alive than before, she came hard around him.

He groaned as she milked his cock, the first orgasm never fully ending as her arousal continued to build to a new height. The fact that he held her arms shot her desire through the roof. His torso pinned her to the bed, not permitting her the opportunity to arch into him or lift.

More importantly, he knew this. He knew how fucking hot she found this binding because she let all her walls down and permitted him to delve into every corner of her mind.

As he plowed into her faster, he set his forehead on the bed next to hers and whispered into her ear. “Love you… So much…” Some of his words were garbled, and she didn’t understand them, but the sentiment was there. And the emotion that wafted off of him and into her was palpable in the room.

When he came, stiffening inside her, she was right at the edge of a second orgasm. “Come with me, Jos,” he communicated one second before letting go. His body repeatedly spasmed as he leaned more of his weight into her. She followed right behind him, milking his cock with the pulsing of her channel.

“Joselyn…” That one word slid from his mouth, strewn out as if it were a sentence. He finally slid to her side, his cock pulling out, one thigh remaining between her legs. He released her hands and cupped the side of her face, even though she couldn’t see his eyes because she didn’t have the energy to turn her face toward his.

She nuzzled into his palm instead, speaking into his mind while trying to catch her breath. “That was amazing. Why did we wait so long?”

He chuckled into her head. “Stupidity?”

She smiled. Sated. Never happier. And sharing that with him without blocking him in any way.

“Love you letting me into your mind. So much.” He pressed his palm tighter against her face.

She took deep breaths, trying to find the energy to move. Failing.

“Hope you like my apartment,” he whispered, nibbling on her ear.

“No idea what it looks like, but if you plan to be in it, I won’t care.”

He chuckled out loud this time, seeming to recover enough strength at least for that. “We’ll move. Soon. We’ll build something or pick something out together.”

She giggled. “Stop worrying. I’m sure this will be fine. We don’t have to hurry.” She finally turned to face him and kissed his lips. “You know it doesn’t matter. I only care that you’re with me. I wouldn’t care if we lived in the back of a car as long as you were there.”

“Good, because we might end up fleeing town with nothing more than the SUV.”

She sighed. “Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.”

He lifted onto one elbow. “I haven’t shown you the bathroom yet. The shower is an incredibly amazing two-foot-by-two-foot space with fantastic water pressure. You’ll almost be able to turn all the way around if I ever let you use it alone, but not today.”

She giggled again as he heaved himself off the bed and scooped her up in his arms to pad across the room. Where he got the strength was a mystery. When he swung her around to let her slide down his body until her feet hit the floor next to the shower, she snuggled against his side, waiting for the water to heat up.

Her first glimpse of his apartment was the bathroom. It was a rental, so the standard off-white paint job was boring. The sink and toilet and shower were crammed into a small space. There was no tub. “How big is this place?”

“About seven hundred square feet.” He smiled. “Cozy, right?”

“Why the hell didn’t you get someplace you could stretch out in?” He’d been living there two years. She had never realized it was so small.

He kissed her cheek and lured her into the water. “I saved every dime I made in the last two years, Jos.”

“Seriously?”

“Yep. So, no matter what happens in the next few days, we have a nest egg. We can leave town if we need and never look back.” He angled the showerhead over her hair, tipping her head back.

She closed her eyes as the warmth spread through her body.

“We’re educated. We can find work. And we can take our time doing so if need be.”

She leaned forward, wrapped her arms around his middle, and plastered her cheek to his chest. “I didn’t even have rent to pay. You should see my bank account.”

He smoothed his hands up her body and back down to cup her ass. “See? We’re fine. No worries at all.”

She sighed. “Except for the stress of excommunication.”

“Well, there’s that.”

They had showered together a few times in the past. They almost always did when they were in a hotel, not wanting to waste a moment of their precious time separated by a glass wall. But never had they washed each other in a space this confining.

She reached for the soap and ran it over his chest while he shampooed her hair. Together they easily completed the task in synchronized motions that were innate to them.

By the time they stepped out, she was at least as aroused as she’d been when she set foot in his apartment an hour ago. Perhaps more. She rubbed her sensitive skin with the towel, moaning around the contact of the material against her nipples.

He dropped his towel on the floor before he managed to swipe it over his hair and yanked her against him. “Damn, they were not kidding?”

“Who wasn’t kidding about what?” She licked a line of water from between his pecs.

“The increased need to fuck after binding. I’m so hot for you right now, I can’t think of anything else but getting you back under me again as fast as possible.”

“What if I want you to be under me?”

“Mmm.” He backed them out of the bathroom, steering their combined bodies toward the bed. “We’ll see.” And then his mouth was on hers again. He devoured her, making it difficult to breathe, which was highly overrated anyway.

When the backs of her knees hit the bed again, she grabbed his arms to keep from tumbling backward. Pulling her mouth away from his, she whispered against his lips. “Let me be on top.”

He licked the seam. “Why would I do that? You obviously like a bit of kink. It makes you hotter than ever. I say you climb up on your back, spread your legs, and let me tie you to all four corners and blindfold you.” He grinned.

She groaned. There was no way to hide the flood of arousal that leaked from her at the suggestion. Blindfolds? Ropes? Was he planning to amp up the kink now that they were bound together?

He pinched her ass, making her clench her butt cheek, and spoke out loud to the thoughts he read in her head. “I’m going to add to the kink because you enjoyed it so much the first time. And because the mention of it made your pussy wet, your pulse speed up, and your nipples pucker.” He looked so proud of himself as he bent his head down to flick his tongue over one nipple and then suck it into his mouth.

She threaded her fingers into his hair and held his head to her breast. Every single thing he did to her was amplified to an entirely new level of pleasure since the binding.

When he slid a hand from her ass to reach between her legs from behind and dragged a finger through her wetness, she bit her lip and lifted onto her tiptoes. “That all sounds amazing. And you’re welcome to do whatever you want to me some other time. For now, I want to take care of you the way you just did me. On top.”

Alton released her nipple with a pop, pulled his finger away from her pussy, and climbed onto the bed, teasing her by sucking that finger into his mouth.

She shook her head as she followed him, straddling his enormous body with her own and setting her hands on both sides of his face in an absurd display of control she knew he was only humoring her with. She hoped she was at least coherent enough to block her plans and keep him off balance.

He confirmed as much when he narrowed his gaze. “What are you plotting, imp? You blocked me.”

She wiggled her eyebrows. “Trust me?”

“Implicitly.”

“Then why are you worried?”

“I don’t like surprises.”

She giggled but ignored him to scoot down his body until her face was level with his once-again erect cock. She licked the length from the base to the tip, eliciting a low groan from deep inside him.

Empowered, she sucked the head into her mouth, wrapping her fingers around the base and stroking up and down in sync with her lips.

“Joselyn,” he warned.

“I need to taste you. Don’t fight me,” she communicated without breaking her suction.

“I’m so aroused I’m gonna come too fast if you do that.” He wrapped a hand around a section of her hair.

She’d grown to crave the slight tug. But she had plans and didn’t want him to thwart her efforts. The way he made her come after binding them made her want him to have a similar experience. And now was the time.

Releasing the head of his cock, she continued to hold the thick length in her palm while kissing a path down to his balls. She flicked her tongue over one, pleased when he flinched on a moan. When she gently sucked it into her mouth, he nearly shot off the bed.

He outweighed her significantly, so any attempt to control him was fake but still heady.

As she let the sac fall from her mouth, she slid her tongue to his thigh and shoved his knee out farther so she would have more room to maneuver.

“God, that feels so good. Lick my cock again. I want to be in your mouth.”

She ignored him, thrusting her hand loosely up and down the shaft faster while she nibbled on his inner thigh.

He didn’t balk. If he had any idea what she was about to do, he didn’t let on. Although he also didn’t share any thoughts at all. Nor did he pull away.

So she took the opportunity, licked a spot high on his thigh, and punctured his skin with her teeth. At the same time, she pumped his cock harder.

He stiffened. His body arched off the bed, but she was aware of his hands dropping to his sides to fist the sheet. His head tipped back. His mouth fell open, but no sound came out.

So heady. She let the binding serum run into the small puncture wounds to seep into his bloodstream. It wasn’t precisely necessary for her to bite him as he’d done to her. In fact, it made no difference whatsoever. They were fully bound for life. But many couples enjoyed doing it simultaneously or soon after. And she’d felt compelled to participate equally.

A new rush consumed her, like a drug, as her serum entered his blood stream. Amazing. If she’d known how damn good it would feel, she might have pressured him to do this years ago.

He groaned as she licked the small mark on his thigh at the same time as he came. The force of his orgasm shook his body. She lifted her gaze to watch him shudder with every pulse from his cock. Before he was finished, she sucked him back into her mouth, anxious to swallow the rest of his orgasm.

“Jesus, Jos…” he somehow managed to convey.

When he was spent, she released him with a pop and climbed back up his body to straddle his hips. Her pussy rubbed against his still-erect length, and she shocked herself with the amount of sensation that spread through her body. With both hands on his chest, bracing herself, she masturbated against his cock. Her clit was swollen and sensitive, but she wanted more.

“That’s it, baby.” His hands landed on her sides, gripping her hips, helping her slide back and forth. “Take what you need.”

Her head fell forward, her eyes closed, as she concentrated on how incredible it felt. Her orgasm grew at the same time his erection fully returned. The second she was about to come, he lifted her off him, grabbed his cock, and lined it up to thrust into her.

She screamed. It was exactly what she needed. The last second of contact against her clit came from the base of his cock, pushing her over the edge while he filled her.

She didn’t raise her body, but she did lift her face to his, blinking around the pulsing grip she had on his length.

“So sexy.” His words were gentle.

When she was spent and her arms would no longer hold her up, he eased her to one side and tucked her against his chest.

“That was hot,” he said as he rubbed up and down her arm and then cupped her hand against his pecs. “I was a little worried when I realized your intention, but it turned out explosive.”

“Mmm, I’m glad. I needed to bite you too. The need was crawling under my skin. I hope you didn’t freak out over my location choice.” She spoke against his chest.

“It went straight to my cock.”

“That was the plan.”

He smoothed his hand up and down her body and kissed the top of her head. “You want to rest, or are you hungry?”

“I can’t move.”

He held her tighter. “Sleep, then.”