He jolts when I wrap my now human arms around his shoulders, pulling him close, his slick, wet skin cold against mine. “I’ll keep you warm.”
Laughter bursts from his mouth, his whole body seeming to brighten with the sound. “That is the cheesiest line I’ve ever heard.”
I tug him closer until his groin and hardening cock meet my leg. “Well, it worked, didn’t it?”
He throws his head back in another laugh, then glides his hands up my sides, wrapping them around the back of my neck as he pulls my face downward to meet his lips. I answer his kiss, running my tongue over the seam of his mouth, then push it inside to tangle with his.
Keir lets out a small sigh and goes up to his toes so he can deepen the kiss. I smooth my hands down the damp skin of his back to cup his ass, lifting him so he can wrap his legs around my waist as he rubs himself against me, his breath quickening into soft pants. Without releasing his lips, I move the two of us toward a wide tree until Keir’s back rests against the trunk.
“Okay?” I ask, pressing him harder against the rough bark.
He nods eagerly, then pulls my mouth back down to his.
The fingers of my right hand glide down his side and around to the crease of his ass, once again finding that odd—and amazingly convenient—slippery substance dripping from him. We’ve made good use of the stuff over the past couple days. I coat my fingers with it and press one inside him, moving slowly as I open him up. Adding a second finger, then a third, I gently thrust into him as he gasps against my neck.
“Julien…” he says, half breathless and almost whining. “Please. I need you.”
“You have me,” I reply as I remove my fingers and position myself at his entrance.
Keir’s head tilts back to rest against the tree, exposing his neck as I push into him inch by inch until I’m fully inside him and his rigid cock is pressed tight against my abdomen. I start up a steady rhythm, thrusting into his body over and over as he lets out a low, keening sound of pleasure. My movements gradually speed up and Keir’s cries grow in volume until he lets out a stuttered groan and tightens around me as his cock spills between us. I follow him a second later, releasing inside him as he continues spasming around me.
Slipping from his body, I slowly lower his legs until he’s standing on his own, his back still against the tree. He’s red-faced and panting, but a wide grin stretches across his lips and I can’t help but lean down and kiss him again, simply enjoying the feeling of his mouth.
“I really needed that,” he says as he rests his cheek against my sweat damp chest.
“Me too.”
“Do we have to go back now?” he asks, sighing.
“Not yet,” I say. “Remy can handle things at the house for now. This time is for us.”
So, we shift back into wolf form and chase each other through the woods for most of the day, only moving back toward the main house in the early evenings. Upon reaching to the backyard, we return to human form, hunt down our clothes, then get dressed and walk up to the house. Keir tucks himself into my side and I slide my arm around his waist as we share a contented smile.
But both our smiles drop away as Remy steps out onto the back deck, his expression grave.
Apprehension twists my stomach. “What is it? What’s wrong?”
“I found something,” says Remy. “And you’re not going to like it.”
Forty-Seven
Keir
Nothingcankillmyfloaty, contented post-orgasm slash post-run feelings than bad news. By the look on Remy’s face, whatever information he has to impart is not only going to kill those feelings, but violently murder them. That’s kind of how my life has gone lately—amazing highs immediately followed by crushing lows. Thankfully, my mate and my new family are worth every bit of it.
I just hope I get to keep them.
I glance up at Julien, then rest my forehead against his arm. The longer I can avoid literally facing whatever Remy has to say, the longer I can avoid it altogether… Right? Too bad my mate isn’t really the avoidant type.
“What did you find out?” asks Julien, wrapping an arm around my shoulders as he pulls me closer to his chest.
“I looked as into as many pack codes as I was able. The older they are, the more extreme the restrictions when it comes to mating alliances, especially regarding omegas. Depending on which set of laws we’re working with, we might have a problem even if we can prove the abuse.” I feel Remy’s eyes turn to me. “Any ideas exactly which laws your old pack follows?”
“Not for sure,” I mumble into Julien’s chest. “But you can bet they’re whichever ones are the most backward.” I lift my head enough to meet Remy’s gaze. “Why does it matter so much which ones as long as they’re old? Wouldn’t there be more recent laws to supersede them?”
“Possibly,” says Remy. “But certain aspects of shifter law are entirely pack-based, one of those being anything related to the joining and leaving packs. The triumvirate enforces the overall shifter laws, the ones that govern all of us, and they help resolve interpack disputes, but they can’t interfere with something that’s technically outside their jurisdiction. Think of it like a ‘state’s rights’ thing versus federal law.”
Julien scoffs. “It would be a pack from the South making an argument analogous to state’s rights.”
