Claiming His Fate (9 page)

The pain brought clarity, and as my senses picked out more details of the surroundings, my Heavenly bubble burst. I smelled blood. Mine and Charlotte's. 

My mate was bleeding. 

I burst through the last of the fog around me with a brutal growl, paddling my feet as I tried to stand. I needed to find Charlotte. I needed to save her. I needed— 

“Easy, boss.” Shadow’s tone was calm, his words clear. “The pretty lady doesn't need to take a claw to the face just because you're a little disoriented.”

I froze, a whimper escaping my throat as the fear that I could hurt her myself grew. I met the solid gaze of Shadow, who somehow knew exactly what I needed to hear.

“She’s okay, Reb. Just got a little cut on her hand. No one hurt her.”

He glanced over my shoulder. I followed his gaze, rolling my head enough to see Charlotte sitting behind me. My neck rested against her thigh, and her hands nestled in my fur.

“Hi.” Her voice sounded rough, the simple word a strain. Dried tear tracks stained her cheeks and dirt darkened her chin, but she was still the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. I shuffled over a bit, remaining on my belly so as not to scare her again. She sighed as I placed my head completely in her lap and curled my tail around her hip. 

“Would you look at that?” Scab laughed. “She's made a damn lapdog out of him.”

I growled at my disrespectful denmate, but that just made him laugh all the harder.

“All joking aside,” Shadow said. “I do believe it's time for me to take a good look over ya. Let me make sure you're healing okay.”

Charlotte stiffened beneath me. “Shouldn't he go to a doctor?”

Scab laughed. “You mean a vet? Because right now, darlin’, he's stuck in this form.” 

Shadow approached slowly. “Don't worry. I'm well trained in field medicine.”

“You look like you're still in high school.”

He laughed. “Well, I guess that would be about accurate. Except my high school days ended in nineteen forty-one when I ran away from home to fight for my country.”

“You’re over seventy years old? How is that possible?”

Shadow darted his gaze to me before addressing her. “We shifters have a long life expectancy.”

“How long?” she asked. 

I growled a warning. The responsibility of explaining the details of shifting and shifter life fell on my shoulders. Even if I wasn’t the one to tell her the truth, I at least wanted to be in my human form when she learned about me. I couldn’t calm her fears or reassure her of my place in her life with only fur and claws. 

Shadow nodded once to let me know he understood. “Perhaps it would be best if Reb discussed that with you, being as you're his mate and all.”

Charlotte’s fingers stopped their soothing circuit along my neck and shoulders. “Everyone seems to know I'm his mate. Why didn't he tell me?”

Her voice lanced my heart. I’d hurt her by not explaining our connection, but I’d run out of time. I wanted to tell her why I had to leave her, why I didn’t tell her right away about us. I needed her to understand that I thought she knew I was a shifter and, when I realized she didn’t, that I had no idea how to tell her without scaring her. 

I needed my human form.

Fighting the pain still shooting through my neck, I whined and rolled off her lap. I crawled just far enough away to keep her safe from my changing body. I didn’t want to accidentally catch her with a claw or a kick. Cringing against the agony of a shift when my body wasn't ready for it, I suffered through the process until I was skin and bone once more, sans fur.

“Abraham.” Her gasp broke through the fuzziness my shift caused. I struggled to my hands and knees, exhausted and battered but desperate to soothe her. She must have felt similarly. We met in the middle, bodies immediately fitting together, arms wrapping around one another. Her head landed on my shoulder while I nuzzled into her neck. The pain lessened in her hold, the feel of her skin against mine bringing relief.

When her tears dampened the front of my chest, I squeezed her tighter.

“It's okay, Charlotte. I'm fine.”

She pulled out of my arms, sniffed, and smacked my shoulder, hard. “You were not fine a few minutes ago. I thought that wolf was going to rip your throat out.”

“Would’ve been your fault,” Scab said. I turned my head and glared at him, but he just shrugged. “There's a reason mated wolves don't ride. She made you lose your focus, and it almost killed you.”

A deep snarl ripped through me, and I prepared for another shift even as the other wolves backed away. That was until Charlotte crawled in front of me and put her hands on my cheeks.

“That's enough out of you. I think you need some time to heal. Plus, we've got a little talking to do.” She glanced over her shoulder at the others. “Do you have someplace to stay, or am I taking him to my house?”

Shadow spoke up first. “We're staying out at the Roadside Inn, just up the expressway.”

“What about the barkeeper?” I asked.

Charlotte shivered. “You mean Caleb?”

I pulled her tight and shushed her. “Don’t worry, kitten. He’s not getting anywhere near you again.”

“He can’t. Fucker’s out cold.” Scab smirked. “We can grab some of those kinky handcuffs from downstairs and toss him in the back of the war wagon. I’m sure Blaze will have some sort of plan for him. Pup’s awake enough to sit in the front. Numbers and I can bitch-ride back later to grab his bike.”

“Sounds like a plan.” I met Charlotte’s watery gaze. “You ready to go?”

Charlotte nodded and pulled out of my arms. “Think you can walk back to the club? We can take my car to the hotel.”

“Of course,” I said, still pissed at Scab for blaming my lapse of attention on Charlotte. And yet a part of me, some niggling traitorous corner of my brain, agreed with him. Because I would happily die over and over again if it meant keeping Charlotte safe. And I would fight my club brothers to make sure they respected her place in my life.

Cherry

“Thanks, Shadow. I'll make sure he drinks this.”

The guy laughed at me. “Good luck with that, missy. Boss man has never exactly been one for following the rules. But let him know the Cleaners are coming to deal with Caleb, yeah? Our job here should be done within a few hours. We just need to know when we’re riding out.” He closed the door with a smile and a nod, leaving me alone in the hallway.

I trudged back to Rebel’s room, my mind focusing on all the things wrong with this situation. Rebel was a wolf shifter. He was also the leader of this group of other wolf shifters. I was his mate, which still hadn’t been completely explained to me. And he would live for a hell of a long time. Though for how long, I had no idea. 

There was so much information I needed from him. How old was he? Where did he live? What did being his mate mean exactly? How did he picture a relationship between us working? Or did he no longer see that as a possibility? Did I see it as a possibility? After everything I'd witnessed, I was still attracted to him. And not in the normal hot-guy-captures-my-attention way. The pull went deeper, felt stronger. Everything about him called to me. 

But no matter how strong the attachment pulled me to him, I didn't know anything about him. How could he expect me to run off and follow him to wherever he lived? Or would he move to where I lived? Or would we end up riding across the country on a motorcycle with a pack of…well, wolves? And what about my brother, who Rebel still knew nothing about? 

Shaking off my frustration, I marched up the stairs and down the hall toward Rebel’s room. I needed to put everything on pause. Rebel and I could get to know each other on my terms, in my town, and then see where things would go. But until then there would be no more kissing or licking or sniffing or snuggling or growling. I lost my head when he started growling, all my thoughts disappearing as my libido reigned over my actions. 

I had to put a stop to all of it so we could have serious discussions about shifters and motorcycle clubs and mating. I knocked on the door to Rebel’s room, my decision made; ready to tell him exactly what we needed to talk about and how we should proceed. 

Until he opened the door wearing nothing but a threadbare towel wrapped around his hips. 

Water darkened his hair, made him appear older and more dangerous. I swallowed hard and stared, unable to pull my eyes away from his body. The way the muscles in his neck curved to meet his broad shoulders. The way the light hair on his arms and chest shimmered in the overhead lighting. How the water droplets cascaded over the curves and dips of his muscled abs as gravity took them toward the floor. 

I wanted to lick every fucking inch of him.

“What’s up, kitten?”

His whiskey-rough voice didn’t just push me over the edge of reason; it tied me to a hang glider and sent me soaring out past the point of no return and into the land of pure animal instinct. I restrained myself for all of six seconds, which felt like a major accomplishment. 

And then I sprung into his arms with a murmured, “Oh, what the hell.”

ELEVEN

Rebel

One second, I stood in the doorway watching Charlotte eye-fuck me, the next, her tongue was in my mouth and her hips were pressing against mine, making my cock practically weep in happiness. I kicked the door closed and returned her kiss with fervor, matching her tongue stroke for stroke.

“Jesus fuck,” I growled when she dropped to her knees. She yanked the towel from my hips and ran her hands over my thighs. “What are you doing, kitten?”

She grinned up at me, a little demon in her angel eyes. “I’m sucking your dick. What do you think I’m doing?”

Before I could respond, she had her lips wrapped around the head of my cock. And then she sucked. Hard. I fell back against the wall as my knees nearly buckled, pleasure shooting from my toes to my fingertips. 

“Kitten, I…”

She slid a hand up my thigh and over my hipbone as she drew my cock farther into her mouth. I growled long and deep, her touch making my balls draw up tight to my body. The sound only caused her to intensify her actions—more suction, faster head bobs, her hands gripping my ass and pulling me closer. She had me completely at her mercy, and I reveled in it. I would happily submit to her every day if it meant she’d suck me off again.

My hips pistoned of their own volition, my hands fisting in her hair. There was no directing her, though. I held on more for my own control than to try to make her do what I wanted. Because her own style of giving head was fucking phenomenal, and I didn’t want to interrupt her. So I let myself get lost in the feel of her mouth—her lips stretching around me, the hot, wet suction, and the flat expanse of her tongue running along the underside. 

“Yes, kitten. Fuck, just like that.”

I tried to push her off me as my rush to orgasm approached the unable-to-stop phase, but she brushed me off and sucked me deeper. Her actions changed as if she knew I was getting close. She pulled me almost all the way out of her mouth, cheeks concave from the force of her suction, then flicked her tongue against the head before pulling me back inside. Three more times she repeated the pattern until I felt the telltale tingle in my balls. I grabbed her head as gently as I could and pumped my hips, fucking her mouth until I finally came in long, hot spurts. She swallowed around me, causing me to groan rough and loud as I reached my release.

After several moments of savoring the aftermath of one of the best orgasms I’d ever experienced, I found myself sitting on the floor with my back against the wall. Charlotte sat between my legs, her head on my chest, her fingers drawing patterns on my arm.

I pulled her closer and kissed the top of her head. “Not that I’d ever complain, but what the hell got into you?”

She shook, her chuckle muffled by the way her face rested against me. 

“I couldn’t help myself. I was all ready to tell you we needed to quit this, but then you answered the door in that towel. I had to have you.”

My heart froze when she mentioned quitting, though I was unclear on what the “this” entailed. She couldn’t be ready to quit on us; we’d barely even started.

I braced myself for an answer I wouldn’t like. “What were you ready to quit?”

“This. Us…kind of.” She pulled back, her eyes serious as they met mine. “There’s so much I don’t know about you, so much to talk about. But every time I’m around you, all I want to do is get naked. That’s not normal.”

I fought to hold back my smile. Apparently I didn’t fight hard enough because Charlotte’s serious expression turned angry.

“This isn’t funny.”

I leaned forward and pressed my lips to hers, just enough to knock the frown off them.

“Of course it’s not funny. But what you’re feeling is normal for mates. It’s part of why the Rites of Klunzad began.” I pulled her in tighter and bent my legs to make her more comfortable. “When the inner wolf of a shifter finds their mate, the two go into a hyperactive attraction state. Every touch”—I ran a finger down her cheek—“every scent”—I pressed my nose into her hair and sniffed—“every taste”—I placed a wet kiss to the corner of her jaw—“entices us to bond through sex. We call it the mating pull.”

She shifted in my arms, leaning her head back to meet my gaze. “And that’s what these Rites of Klunzad are?”

“No. The mating pull is the reason the ancestors created the Rites. To give the wolf and mate time to bond properly. The two are sequestered for three days while the rest of the pack stands guard over them.” I leaned down and nibbled my way from her chin to her ear. “Three days. All alone. With nothing to distract us from giving in to the pull we feel around each other.”

She moaned and tilted her head back as I continued my journey down her neck. I slid my hand up her T-shirt, ending when my fingertips brushed against the lace of her bra. When she didn’t protest, I cupped her breast and kneaded the heavy flesh. She wriggled and pulled on my shoulders, a whispered groan escaping her lips. The sound drew a rumble out of me. Her nipple hardened against my palm, and her hips rotated against mine. I wanted to flip her over, to cover her delicious curves with my body, but before I could make my next move, she jerked backward and put her hands up between us.