EarthBorn (The Elemental Born Book 1) (13 page)

Chapter Eighteen

~

Kaia

All my training had been about holding my powers back, keeping them hidden, locked away deep inside me. Apart from the brief sessions I’d had over the years in the Circle, or in Grace’s protected barn, I had never been able to release my powers completely. And in recent years, with my powers growing stronger, even then I’d had to hold back. Finally being able to release them had sent a feeling of euphoria flowing through me. I’d been so happy to have that connection to the life around me that I might have used a little too much of my powers. I wasn’t at my strongest yet, not with the bond between Ethan and I being incomplete. But once it was, hopefully, I wouldn’t pass out.

The demon would find me now, of that I was certain. But without using my abilities to get through the maze, he wouldn’t have just known where I was, but would have been transported almost straight to me. At least now I have some time before he arrived.

Opening my eyes, I found myself back in Ethan’s room, wrapped in his arms, my head laid against his bare chest. Closing my eyes again, I snuggled closer, breathing in his scent.

This felt right. This was where I belonged.

I drifted back off to sleep for a while before the light press of lips and the flick of a tongue at the corner of my mouth awoke me. I opened my eyes, smiling as I was greeted with Ethan’s loving gaze before he continued to trail his lips over my jaw and down my neck.

“Hey,” he whispered, a slight growl to his voice. Tingles of pleasure pulsed through me, all the way down to my core as his kisses moved further south, nibbling and licking over the swell of my breasts. “I love the smell of your arousal,” he growled, “It drives my wolf crazy.”

I could tell. I could feel him.

“And while I would love nothing more than to indulge in the fantasies you invoke in me and my wolf, I have to be down in the vault in five minutes.”

He didn’t make it. It took over twenty minutes before he finally left, or should I say dragged out the door by Zak. He had to leave his mate. So as far as Zak was concerned, Ethan had to leave me too. 

Over the hours since Ethan had been gone, I was shocked to find many of the pack females at the door, coming by to check how I was. They seemed to be genuinely concerned about me. No one had ever cared before. I had pushed everyone away so well that no one had cared if I lived or died. And now here I was, being accepted by the pack.

They all seemed genuinely happy for me to be there, that I was going to be mated to their future Alpha Female. Well, apart from Chelsea. But she was long gone now, thrown out of the pack as a traitor. I think Ethan was still in shock by what she had done, and to tell the truth, so was I.

Hearing a light tap at the door, I went to answer it, finding Jennifer on the other side. “Hey,” she said, a nervous tinge to her voice. “Do you mind if I come in for a minute?”

“Of course not. What's up?” I asked, leading her over to the seating area and sinking down into the plush leather. I was still a little worn out from the large expanse of magic I had used and it felt like heaven to get off my feet and just relax. I felt like I could do that with her. I was more comfortable in her presence than the other females in the pack.

“I just wanted to apologise,” she explained, taking a seat beside me, “for what Chelsea did.”

“There’s no need. That was Chelsea, not you. You had nothing to do with it.”

“I know, but I feel like I should have done something, should have told the Alpha or even Ethan how crazy she was after what she did the other day. I never expected her to do something like that. I still can't believe she did.”

“Me neither. But you do not need to be apologising for her behaviour. You stopped her from hurting me the other day, and I'm in no doubt that had you known what she was up to, you would have done everything in your power to stop her again. Don't take the guilt of what she did upon your shoulders; it’s not your guilt to bear.”

She took a little more persuading, but eventually, she stopped trying to apologise. Jennifer agreeing to keep me company until Ethan returned from his session of punishment down in the vault, and we ended up having a pretty good time. You would think that after everything that had happened, his father would give him a break, but no such luck.

Getting to know Jennifer a little bit better, I realised how much I liked her. She was a few months younger than me and had only recently moved back to the packhouse after college.

“I haven't really spent much time here since I finished college. I get on with most of the females, but some of the males can be a little weird with me because I'm not
Were
. I tend to hang out at my dad’s place down south a lot,” she explained.

“How do the males act weird around you?” I asked. So far everyone had been fine with me.

“It's hard to explain. At first, they all seemed really friendly, constantly coming up to me, talking, asking how I had been, what I had been up to. Then I noticed them watching me strangely when I walked by and scenting me when they got close. Then after a while, they just stopped talking to me altogether, seemed not to notice me. A few are still friendly, but most just ignore me nowadays.”

“That's really weird.”

“Tell me about it. I think the only ones that never went all creepy on me were Ethan, Zak and Frankie, but to be honest, I've never really spent that much time with them.”

The way she spoke, her body language, gave me the feeling she wished otherwise. Did she have a thing for one of them?

Well, with me being with Ethan, I doubted she would talk about it with me if it was him she liked. And Dyanna was my best friend, so it couldn't be Zak she had a thing for, surely? Did she like Frankie? “Why not?” I asked, not sure if she would open up to me enough to tell me. I mean, we had only recently met.

“It’s silly really.” Pushing her hair out of her face in a nervous gesture, she explained. “It’s just that I kind of had a pretty bad crush on Frankie when we were kids, and it's never really gone away. I get so terrified by just the thought of being near him that I tend to find excuses to leave as soon as he turns up. Which is most of the time. He's never far behind when you see Ethan or Zak, so I tend to avoid them too.”

As if the gods were mocking her all three decided to walk through the door just a few minutes later. She instantly stood up, hugging me goodbye, before rushing out the door. I noticed her face had grown a few shades redder when we passed Frankie at the door, but what really got my attention was the reaction of Frankie’s wolf.

“That’s why he’s pinning,” I mumbled to myself, but, of course, with them being wolves they heard.

“Who’s pinning?” Zak asked, pacing the floor, returning to the door to look down the hall every five seconds.

“Will you just sit down? She said she would be here in a minute,” Ethan barked at him as he sat down and pulled me into his lap, burying his face in my hair. “I’ve missed you,” he growled in my ear, his wolf backing up his statement.

“Please tell me that was your last bout of punishment.”

“Afraid not, we have another tomorrow. Anyway, what were you saying about someone pinning?”

“Oh yeah, I was talking about Frankie’s wolf.”

Frankie’s head snapped towards me when he heard my words. “What about my wolf?”

“At the celebration, you said he was pinning for his mate, but that you hadn’t found her yet. Well, you have. You’re just not listening hard enough to him to catch the signs.”

“Sweetheart,” Ethan said, stroking my face. “I think we would all know if he had met his mate. You saw the way Zak reacted to Dyanna.”

“Someone mention my name.” Dyanna breezed into the room, only to be swept back out and pinned against the wall by a mauling, horny Zak.

“Woman you take too long to get ready,” he snarled. “See you guys later.” Grabbing Dyanna, he slung her over his shoulder and marched down the hall.

Once they’d noisily made their way down the hall and into Zak’s room, I turned to Ethan, slightly pissed that he didn’t believe me. “But his mate is human… and avoiding him, so his wolf barely has time to react to her before she runs off. If we could get her to stay in the same room as him for longer than a quick second, you would see what I am saying is true.”

“What do you mean avoiding me? And who are we even talking about here? What hu…” His words cut off as realisation hit him. “Jennifer?”

“Jennifer,” I confirmed.

“But she hates wolves, doesn’t she? I mean she’s never here. She avoids all of us.”

Stupid men. 

“She doesn’t hate wolves! She was just telling me that when she returned from college all the males were really nice to her, but then they got all weird, scenting her and watching her every move. But now they all ignore her. I got the feeling that she feels unwanted by the pack, unwelcome.”

“I know what you’re talking about,” Ethan sighed, leaning back into the sofa. “When she first came back it had been years since anyone had seen her. She was a scrawny kid the last time she was here. Then, all of a sudden, she returns from college all grown up and a lot of the males decided to see if she might be their mate. The reaction to a human mate isn’t as instant and violent as it is if your mate is
Were.
Once they realised that she wasn’t mate to any of their wolves they left her alone. I never realised she felt that way.”

Of course he didn’t, he was male.

“And you’re saying that Jennifer is mine?” Frankie asked in disbelief.

“From what I sensed from your wolf when she ran by, I would say so. Didn’t you feel it? Feel him begin to rise inside you, his senses begin to reach out?”

“Well yeah, but he always…” He drifted off, his mouth hanging open a moment before he met my gaze. “He always does that around her. But why is she avoiding me?” he asked, his eyes beseeching.

“Because she likes you,” I smiled. “She said she had a major crush on you when she was younger and that it had never gone away.”

He looked on the verge of running after her, but after dithering by the door for a few moments, he flopped down on the sofa, defeated. “What do I do?”

Depositing me on my feet, Ethan stood and approached his friend, pulling him up off his ass and pushing him back towards the door. “What you are going to do is go talk to her.”

“But…”

“If she tries to get away, lock her in the damn room with you for all I care. Just go talk to the girl.”

“But…”

“But nothing,” Ethan snapped. “I'm ordering you to go find your mate and stake your claim before she vanishes off to that damn cottage again.” Pushing him out the door and slamming it shut.

“And while he does that,” he said, turning to me, his eyes heated with desire. “I'm going to claim my mate.”

Chapter Nineteen

~

Kaia

This was really going to happen. I had been telling myself for weeks that under no circumstances were I going to complete the bond between myself and the one chosen to be my protector, but here I was, on the verge of losing my virginity and bonding with the only man I had ever loved.

Correction… Male. I was really going to have to get used to that. Werewolves didn’t use the terms man and woman to describe themselves. They used male and female.

Stalking towards me, his wolf in his eyes, he warned, “I don’t know if I can hold him back much longer, Kaia. Please tell me you want this.”

I did. It had taken a while, but being with him over the past few days, living with the pack, I’d come to realise how much I wanted the life being offered me. I didn’t want to go down without a fight anymore. I didn’t want to spend what could possibly be my last few days, weeks – years if I was lucky enough – on this earth alone.

Everything happened for a reason. Ethan coming back into my life the night before he had been chosen was proof of that. We were always meant to be together.

“I’ve never wanted anything more,” I told him, taking a small step towards my future. “I love you, Ethan. I always have.”

Moments later, Ethan moving faster than I thought possible, I was pinned against his body, surrendering to his impassioned kiss. Fisting my hands in his t-shirt, I moved back, taking him with me until my legs hit the edge of the bed and we fell upon it. Grasping the bottom of the summer dress I was wearing, Ethan pulled away, looking at me for permission before raising it. Helping as much as I could, I lifted my hips as he pulled it up and all the way off, leaving me in just my panties, having forgone wearing a bra.

Lying there almost naked before him, I suddenly felt insecure. What if he didn’t like my body? What if I was no good and couldn’t satisfy him? I had never done this before. What if I did it wrong?

Looking away, not able to meet his gaze, I began to chew my bottom lip. It was a nervous habit that I had never been able to break, much to my mother’s annoyance.

“Look at me, Kaia.” His voice was soft as he lightly grasped my chin and turned my eyes back to him. “What are you thinking?”

“I…I’ve never done this before, Ethan.”

A heart-stopping smile formed on his lips. “I know, sweetheart. And you have no idea how happy that makes me. Knowing that I'm the only one to see you like this, to see your incredible body, it makes me want to howl with joy.”

“But what if I'm…” I started to ask, only to be silenced when he left the bed and stripped off his jeans and t-shirt, leaving him all but naked except for the tight black boxers that left nothing to the imagination.

Holy Hell he was big. It would never fit.

“You’re my mate, Kaia. My perfect mate. Anything that happens between us will be amazing.” A mischievous smile pulled at his lips, his eye sparkling with glee. “Now if I remember rightly, didn’t I say the other night that the next time I tasted that delectable honey of yours, it would be from its source.” My pussy clenched at his words as if seeking something to grasp. “I think the next time has arrived.”

Oh God.

~

Ethan

I couldn’t hold back anymore. My wolf was snarling and clawing me to take her, but I knew I had to hold off. She was a virgin, completely innocent in the most amazing way. The last thing she needed her first time was for me to pounce on her. She would also need preparing if she was going to take me into her body.

Slowly, I slid my hands up her smooth thighs, hooking my fingers in the sides of her cream lace panties, I kept my gaze locked with hers. Pulling the damp fabric down, I removed the last barrier keeping me from the source of her arousal that was so intoxicating to me. My mouth was watering at the thought of tasting her, of pushing my tongue through her pink folds.

Wasting no time, I knelt on the floor, pulling her bottom to the edge of the bed. “So beautiful,” I breathed, pressing a kiss to the inside of her thigh and running my lips up towards temptation. Her body shuddered at my light, teasing touches. Urging her to widen her legs, I gazed upon her pink pussy, glistening with her arousal. I fought with my wolf, urging him to calm as the sight drove both of us near the edge of sanity. He would claim his mate soon enough, but first I wanted a taste of the heaven before me.

At the first touch of my tongue, she buckled, a cry falling from her lips. Holding her hips down, I licked up the seam of her moist lips.

“Oh that feels good,” she moaned.

“I'm just getting started,” I grinned, opening her folds to my questing tongue. Focusing my attentions on her clit, the little bundle of nerves already peeking out at me under it hood, I spent numerous minutes licking, sucking and nibbling on the sensitive nub, until she was groaning in pleasure, her hand buried in my hair as if she didn’t know whether to pull me away or push me closer.

Eventually, I began fucking her with my tongue, her moans and cries increasing as she got closer and closer to the edge. When she was on the verge of coming, I slid first one, then two fingers into her wet heat. “Oh God, Ethan,” she cried. Carefully I introduced another finger, stretching her further in preparation her for me. I had to make sure she was ready, that she was prepared as much as possible. I knew that this first time would hurt her, but I wanted to limit that pain as much as possible.

She was so close, right on the edge of her climax, all she just needed a little push. Wrapping my lips around her swollen bud, I sucked hard, giving her what she needed to send her crashing over the edge. Her pussy clamped down on my fingers, her body shaking with the force of her climax as she screamed with her release.

She was beautiful. I could watch her come all day.

As she came down from orbit, I quickly removed my boxers and repositioned her in the middle of the bed. She wasn’t aware of any of it. My wolf was preening with happiness that we had pleasured her so well. 

Climbing up on the bed, I settled between her open thighs. This was finally happening. After years of wondering, days of wanting, I was finally going to claim her as my mate.

~

Kaia

As I came down from what I could only describe as the best, most intense orgasm of my life – I’d thought the one he had given me the other night had been fantastic, but this one surpassed even that – I felt Ethan climb up onto the bed, his warm hard body settling over me. Capturing my lips in a heated kiss, he posed himself at my wet entrance and began to ease his way inside of me. He moved so slowly, taking his time as bit by bit his hard length made its way inside me.

Stopping, breaking the kiss, he looked down into my eyes. “You ready, love?” he asked.

Words failing me, all I could do was nod. I was as ready as I would ever be, passed it even. I needed him, needed him more than I needed air to breathe.

“I'll make it quick.” Thrusting his hips hard, he entered me fully, breaking the barrier of my virginity. The sharp pain of his possession took my breath away, making tears gather in my eyes. But as he steadied his movements, the pain, the burn, slowly began to fade, leaving only pleasure behind and the need for him to move.

“Are you okay?” he asked, his eyes searching my face.

“I'm fine,” I smiled, pulling him down for a brief kiss. “We need to complete the bond.”

“I know.” Sliding his hand under my lower back, he pulled me up into his lap. The movement causing his cock to rub against a spot deep inside me, making me gasp as a wave of pleasure ran through my body. “Let’s do this quick. I don't know how much longer I can hold back,” he groaned.

The spell to bond us completely was a simple one. A little blood, a few words, and done. Of course, it had to be done during intercourse, which was the one
non-simple
thing about it.

Lifting my right hand, the one I needed to draw blood from, I realised that I wasn’t prepared for this. “I don’t have a knife in which to cut my hand.” I hated myself for not having things ready beforehand in case this happened. I’d known that it would happen eventually. I should have taken the time to make sure that I had everything I needed within reach when it did.

“What do you need a knife for when your mate has claws?” He smiled, shifting one of his fingers into a sharp claw. Taking my hand gently in his, he drew his shifted finger across my palm, my blood pooling in the centre. “You okay? That wasn’t too deep, was it?”

“Not at all,” I reassured him, feeling his worry.

Dipping a finger in the blood, I lifted it first to his mouth, smearing it upon his bottom lip, his tongue flicking out before sucking my finger into his mouth and licking it clean. “Behave.” After gather more blood, I drew my symbol, the symbol of Earth, upon his chest over his heart and my own.

“Soulmate of mine, let us bind.

Protect my body, protect my mind.

Watch over my heart, as only you can.

Make us one, never to be undone.”

Wrapping my arms around his neck, I crushed our upper bodies together, the blood on our chests smudging against each other as we kissed, gasping into each other’s mouths as the bond pulled tighter.

“Do you feel that?” he asked, his eyes wide with wonder.

“Yes, I feel it. Now please, Ethan, make love to me. Make me yours.”

As the connection between us completed, the final strands of the iron bond forming, he began to move, thrusting up deep. With his hands on my hips, he encouraged me to move, to meet his every thrust. My pleasure began to build. Every hit against that sweet spot deep inside was pushing me closer to an edge much higher than any I had had ever before.

“That's it, sweetheart. Ride me. Ride my cock,” he all but growled.

Lowering his head, he captured one of my nipples in his hot mouth, suckling and flicking his tongue over its tight tip, then repeating the process on my other breast. As his mouth played, I felt the sharp edges of his canines scrape against my flesh. Releasing my breast with a loud pop, he smiled, flashing me his is fangs. “I'm going to mark you now, Kaia. You know what that means?”

I did. As we came together he would dig his claws into my hips as his fangs pierced my neck, marking me as his mate. “I'm ready, Ethan. Claim me,” I begged, flexing my hips, forcing a growl from his chest. I was so close, my climax building with every pump of his hips.

Gripping me tighter, he began thrusting hard and fast, hitting deeper than ever before. “Touch your clit, sweetheart. Play with it while I fuck you.”

As soon as my finger came into contact with the little nub, the pleasure spiked, pushing me over into the most intense orgasm of my life. For real this time, the others couldn’t even come close to this one.  And then it took on a whole other level, as Ethan leaned forwards, his claws digging into my hips, piercing the skin as his fangs did the same to my neck, breaking through the sensitive flesh and marking me as his for all to see.

As Ethan and his wolf claimed me as their mate, I felt the powers of the earth moving through me, stretching out beyond my body to god knows where. It was released now, full access to the power inside of me had been granted. I could feel everything, every living creature, plant… everything.

Screaming his name, I clung on to his shoulders, trying to ground myself as I flew higher than ever before. Pounding into me one, two, three more times, he spilled his seed deep inside me.

“That was…was…” I panted.

“I know,” he groaned, crushing his lips to mine.

After long moments, he untangled us. As I shuffled back higher up the bed, my face flushed as the proof of my virginity and Ethan’s release showed its self.

Glancing up at him, I saw a look of horror slowly forming on his face. What was wrong? “Ethan?” I asked as panic ceased me.

Sensing my panic, he pulled me into his arms. “I'm sorry, Kaia. So sorry. I was in such a rush to be inside you, to claim you, that I forgot to use a condom.”

Releasing a breath in relief, glad that that was all that was wrong, I smiled up at him. “I'm protected, Ethan. When Grace and the others decided to have me do the ritual early, Dyanna dragged me off to the doctors to get the injection. And I'm clean. I’ve never been with anyone else… as you can tell,” I joked.

“Thank God.” Pressing his forehead to mine, he explained, “I don’t want to risk getting you pregnant, not with that demon out there. And there is also the fact that my friends are way too immature to have around pups, and I'm not ready to give them up yet,” he joked, making me laugh. “But you should know I have always used condoms in the past, and I have regular checks, so I know I'm clean.”

“I know you are,” I smiled “In fact, I know that you are completely healthy, but… if you keep eating crab sticks at dinner you won’t be. You’re allergic to them.”

“What? How do you know that?”

“I don’t know,” I laughed. “I just do.”

Snuggling under the covers a while later, after Ethan had cleaned us both and changed the sheets, I couldn’t help the smile that was permanently plastered on my face. I was claimed, bonded, everything I had fought and argued against for so long… and I couldn’t have been happier.