She patted my cheek. “I know you do. You’re a good boy, Charley. You just need to grow into your true self. Just…” Her voice broke a little. “Keep in touch, please?”
That was a promise I could keep. I nodded jerkily. “Of course.”
Perhaps it should have felt strange, waving goodbye to the only home I could remember, but from my position in the passenger seat of Luc’s SUV, as we rounded the corner, Nita and David disappearing from view, I knew I was doing the right thing for once in my life. And with the right person. Luc was my future. Whatever happened from now on, he would be a part of it. I couldn’t imagine, and didn’t want it, any other way.
EPILOGUE
Two months Later.
LUC
“You’re trembling. We don’t have to do this. Why did you want to do this again?” Charley peered down at me through his increasingly messy fringe — he still hadn’t got a haircut, and smoothed a gentle hand through my own locks. His hands and knees bracketed my body, his eyes glowing rich sapphire in the light that penetrated the deep-set windows at the exact angle to hit the bed we were on. Dalziel had insisted on opening up some of the rooms in the old castle wing of his house for our use, to give us more privacy. At golden hour, the bedroom lit up like the inside of our own personal sun.
“I’m not trembling. It’s just a bit chilly.”
“Liar.” But he climbed off the bed and added another couple of logs to the fire burning in the grate.
He straddled me again, but this time knelt, then sat back on my thighs. “I don’t want you to be scared of me,” he mumbled.
It was no use denying I wasn’t racing towards this with a beaming smile. I shuffled back, dragging Charley with me, until I could lever myself up on the headboard. I shoved an extra pillow behind my head, and captured his hands in mine, caressing the tender skin between his thumbs and forefingers.
“I’m not scared ofyou,” I corrected. “But I am a bit nervous. And you know that. Which is why delaying isn’t helping.”
He leaned over to kiss me, which stole my breath and ratcheted my heart rate up to a gallop. Every time he touched me, I damn near combusted with love and lust, and if anything it was getting more intense, not less. Our bodies and minds apparently didn’t understand the concept of the honeymoon period.
Hence my tentative suggestion ten days ago.
Charley slithered down my torso, nipping and nibbling at my neck and collar bones, sucking my nipples into his talented mouth, and drawing them into stiff, angry peaks ofwant.Because he was a mean fucker, he totally ignored my rock-hard, weeping dick. When he began sucking a line of bruise-bites along my hips, I swore, and grabbed him, flipping us so he landed with anoofunderneath me. He chuckled, and waggled his eyebrows. “Feeling macho, sir?”
I growled, and sucked his earlobe between my teeth. “I’m always macho, you little shit.”
“Then grab the lube and bloody well show me.”
I coated my fingers and slowly pressed two inside him. He was still loose from the last time we’d fucked, but even so his eyes rolled back in his head and he moaned. “Oh fuck, yeah. More.”
“You’re such a greedy slut,” I purred, angling away from him to enjoy the visual. “Another?”
His eyes flashed. “Just fuck me already. The sting makes it all the better.”
I wiped my fingers on his hip, and shoved a pillow under his arse, notching the head of my cock against his rim. “Your wish is my command, my love.” I didn’t give him time to think, before pressing until resistance gave way to tight heat and I pushed deeper.
Charley groaned, and canted his hips to meet me. “So good.” Another half withdrawal and another thrust and I bottomed out. “Luc?”
“Yeah?”
“Fuck me like you mean it, babe.”
Who was I to deny him?
At some point I realised he’d wrapped his legs around me, anchoring himself with his ankles digging into my lower back. He was chanting under his breath, a steady stream ofuh, uh, uh, yeah, uh, yeah, fuck.A quick glance at his face showed me his eyes were glassy, and beads of sweat were pooling at his temples. Wrecking Charley was my absolute favourite pastime, but I wanted, needed, to take this final step. I just had to stop overthinking it and go with my instincts.
As if he’d read my mind, Charley got my attention with a scrape of his fingernails over my nipple. “C’mere. Closer. Take what you need.” He tilted his head and bared his throat to me, the ultimate sign of submission to my wolf. His blue eyes were steady as he focused them on me. “I love you, Luc. Fucking bite me.”
Mine. Ours. Take. Mate.The noise in my head was all my wolf. My fingers tingled and I could feel the shift bubbling under the surface. Why was I hesitating?
I growled, and my fangs pricked my lower lip. “You’re mine, Charley.”
“Yessss.” His breath and his hips stuttered as I placed my mouth against his neck. “Yours. Do it.Please.”
