His to Mate Read online

  She decided she’d go see her mother tomorrow. Although, that brought its own stress. Her mother still seemed off, somehow, not her normal self, and she and Amanda did a lot of whispering now. It bothered her that they still didn’t seem to trust her, or thought she shouldn’t know something.

  What were they hiding? Was it about Rex? Was he causing more trouble with his ramblings about wolf superiority?

  She was so keyed up that by the time Rager came up to bed, she had turned off her music, put down her book, and stared up at the ceiling blankly.

  “What’s on your mind, Ann?” he asked as he dropped his clothes and slid into bed.

  “Nothing, really. Everything. So much has happened in the world, it’s hard to take it all in sometimes.”

  “I know, sweetheart. You were very young when this all happened. But old enough to have formed an idea of what you wanted your future to be. It must have been terrifying for you when the world started to rumble and tilt.”

  “It wasn’t fun, but it could have been worse, I guess. I still don’t know the full extent of what happened. Do you all know?”

  “We are forming theories about it. A lot of it had to do with plate tectonics, but some of it was caused by man.”

  “How so?” She turned her head to him and waited.

  “All of the fracking, the drilling, you all but turned your planet into a sponge with all of your mining and construction. It’s full of holes, and empty spaces that used to be full of minerals and rocks. All of that was a sign of the mess it’s been turned into.”

  “I’m going to have to think about that one for a little while.” She turned away, her eyes on the ceiling again. “It makes sense, and it was something I wondered about, but there was no proof, you know?”

  “Well, from what we’ve seen, and put together, it makes sense. I haven’t been given the final report yet, so we’ll see what it says.”

  “That sounds like a plan. Do you want to watch a movie?”

  “I don’t. I’d like to just lie here and appreciate my mate, if that’s alright with you?”

  “That sounds like a good idea to me.” She turned into his arm, put her right leg over his and her head on his chest. Safe again, that was the first thought to come. Peace was the second. He put his hand on her leg, to hold it in place, and squeezed her thigh gently.

  “This is nice,” he said softly above her head.

  “What?” she asked, her cheek pressed into his chest.

  “This, being here with you.”

  “Why do you sound surprised?”

  “I’ve never done it before you. I’ve been to bed with women before, but I’ve never cared enough about one to keep her in my bed.”

  “You care about me?” she asked it very carefully, as if it wouldn’t matter if he said no, to give him that escape. This was still new to them both, and they’d only been together for less than two months.

  “I do, Ann. Which is why I will do all that I can to keep you safe. I swear that to you.” He kissed the top of her head and she put her right arm over his chest, to cup the place over where his heart was.

  “I’m glad you do, Rager.” She didn’t know what to say other than that. I care about you too just seemed trite. She wasn’t ready to say love, but she did care. She turned her head enough to kiss his chest, and settled down a little more into the bed. She’d taken her robe off, and now it was just the silky feel of her nightgown and her skin between them.

  The night was warm, but the house was just cool enough that the covers weren’t too much. With a deep sigh, she closed her eyes, and just relaxed against him. She was happy she realized. Peaceful and happy. She thought about his smile, the way his eyes caught hers sometimes, and passed along a message without words. He’d tell her he was happy with a wink, or that he wanted her naked beneath him with a hot look. She had come to know him well in a short time.

  She even knew his parents were back on his home planet, that he had a brother and a sister, but he wasn’t in a rush to go back to his own world to see them. He was dedicated to this project, to repopulating Earth with people from all over the universe. He was also looking for a cure to the wolf situation. That still hadn’t been explained, but who knew what had been released from the depths of the planet during the cataclysm?

  They’d all learned one thing the day the whole thing started; anything was possible, and wolf-shifters were hardly a surprise at all. Now, if they could all just learn to reach for a common cause, that would really be perfection.

  8

  Ann ignored the sounds of giggles behind her as she headed for her homeroom class. There was a new rumor going around about her crush on Rex, and she was about to die from the shame of it all. She rolled her eyes as she walked into the classroom and stared at the gigglers as they walked in behind her and whispered comments to each other. It didn’t help that they all stared right at her as they whispered.

  With a huff and swish of her hair, she sat down at her desk, the one she’d been assigned at the beginning of the year. The idiot gigglers were behind her, at least she didn’t have to face them from up here.

  She wasn’t an overly proud girl, but this was high school, even if Jason Mamoa was their teacher. How he managed to act in Hollywood movies and teach was beyond her, but whatever, right? They had the hottest teacher in the nation. Despite his hotness, and the fact that she normally didn’t care about high school bullshit, being laughed at still stung, even if her brain said they were only silly teenagers and to ignore them.

  She wanted to start reading her schoolbooks, but they had somehow become glued to the ceiling and she stared up at the flapping pages with extreme confusion. How the hell had that happened, exactly? She turned her head, but still couldn’t figure it out.

  With a start, she realized that she was now the teacher, and five rows of students stared up at her. Wait, how had that happened? She was confused again. But then, she remembered she was mated to Rager and nobody could hurt her ever again. She loved him and that was all that mattered.

  Suddenly, she was alone in their kitchen, the staff all gone, just her and the joy that came with preparing a meal. She made dinner for them both, set out a bottle of wine, and decided that it was time they had some fun.

  A gentle hum of appreciation from behind her let her know Rager had come in to join her, at last.

  He came up behind her, wrapped his arms around her waist to pull her close, and kissed her neck.

  “You not only look good, my love, you smell good too!” His face was buried in her hair, as he inhaled her scent.

  Dinner was forgotten as his hands reached out to turn her around to face him. She followed his guidance and let him take control. His kiss was deep and aroused, accompanied by a moan from Ann as he pushed her up against the countertop. Her legs wrapped around his waist to draw him closer.

  “I love you.” His words were whispered against her neck, a brush of silk that tickled her in just the right way. The touch made her gasp, the words made her heart skip a beat.

  “I love you too, Rager.” She pressed his head to her neck but he surprised her by pulling her away from the counter.

  Carrying her to the bedroom, he put her down on the bed, stripping down before sliding up beside her.

  “You’re lovely in your silk nightgown, my love, but I have to get you out of it. It’s not very useful when I only want to feel your skin.”

  Ann grinned at him and threw the gown away, somewhere across the room.

  “And where would you like to kiss me first?” She spread out on the bed and looked up into his eyes. There were some weird disco lights going now, but she ignored them.

  “Right here, I think.” He pressed the tip of his tongue softly to her chin before he sucked at her skin with his lips. “Oh yes, that was a very nice place to start.”

  She giggled and waited to find out where he’d go next.

  He hummed, but continued to move his lips around her body before he circled back to her breasts.
/>   “And here, of course,” he whispered as he gave each tip a very good dose of attention.

  Ann watched him with her breath held, her heart beat so frantically she was sure it would explode. It was just a game, just him and his playful side, but sex with Rager always ended up being so much more than… just sex.

  Rager cheated by going back to each nipple a few more times until Ann wanted to scream at him to fuck her. She wanted him inside of her more than anything else, the ache that filled her, the need, about to break and overfill her as he licked and sucked the tender flesh of her peaks.

  When his free hand slid down her stomach, down to spread her folds, she finally couldn’t hold back the need and she screamed as her body went taut.

  “Rager, oh please, I’ll die, please, don’t stop.”

  She encouraged him to send her even higher, the sweet torment of the rasp of his tongue against her sensitive nipples only added to her desperation, her pleasure.

  “You’re going to wake up the entire house if you aren’t quiet,” he laughed softly, and that’s when she became aware that she wasn’t dreaming anymore. Rager really was over her, his lips around her nipple as he teased her clit with exquisite precision.

  She tried to smother her moans, and to keep the sound of her begging quiet. But she soon gave it up as her pleas turned into demands that he give her what she needed the most.

  “Let it go, Ann, show me what you can feel.”

  Ann gasped when her body bowed into a tight curve as the tension deep inside of her exploded into waves of brain-bending pulses of pleasure. She breathed in deep to draw in a reserve of air as she blew apart.

  She wanted him to be inside her, to find that place of completion together with him, to ride that wave that she balanced on only when he was inside her.

  Because he was the only one she loved. He was her mate, her one and only, and she needed him. She gave in to the desire of her heart and her body as she pulled him down to her. She didn’t ask this time, she demanded he give himself to her. To take her with him.

  He did the only thing he could do for her when she was so insistent. He slid inside her tight heat, sinking in deep to her slick depths before he bottomed out.

  This was her nirvana, she thought, the only place where she truly belonged. With him.

  Their pace quickened, their breath became ragged, and their skin slick. She bit into his shoulder as he found that spot all over again. He gave a cry of surprised pleasure as he began to lose control. For a moment, Ann wasn’t certain this was real, maybe it was all a dream. But she’d worry about the whole thing later.

  She knew only pleasure right now. Later she’d worry about whether she’d said I love you to him for real, or if it was part of the dream she’d woken up from.

  When he rolled away from her, and she was calm at last, she began to wonder. He must have touched her in her sleep. He must have started to tease her at some point when she was asleep, and that had changed the whole direction the dream had taken. She didn’t think she’d told him she loved him for real. It wasn’t time for things like that. Not yet.

  She sat up and looked over at him. She could see him in the soft light from a small lamp over the bed. His dark hair was tangled sensually, a testament to how much her fingers had pulled at it. And his eyes were two bright orange orbs, filled with nothing but pleased happiness.

  “I’m going to take a shower, want to join me?”

  “I do, but no more playtime. You woke me up moaning my name, and I figured if you were dreaming about me, I might as well fulfill your dreams for you.” He kissed her shoulder as he followed her into the bathroom. “But I have to be up early in the morning, so no more shenanigans after this.”

  “Tease,” she whispered loudly, but turned the water on in the shower without complaint. They cleaned up, but by the time the soap was rinsed away, the need to touch each other was back.

  She decided to give him a gift of her own, and sank down to her knees. He was already aroused, thick and long, proud even. She took his length in her hand and began to do her best to swallow all of him. It was impossible, at least right now. She’d learn to take him all if that was what he wanted, but for now, he was happy with what she gave.

  He leaned back into the hot spray of the shower, a moan his only answer to her attention. His head fell back on the tiles, and his eyes closed, she saw when she glanced up at him. The hot hardness of his cock was all she needed to guide her, and she followed the pulses that came with each slide of her tongue over the head and the jerks that each slip of her wet mouth down his length caused. His body told her what he wanted more than his mouth or eyes did. He wanted the tight suck she lingered over as she explored the tip more with her tongue, the sucking vacuum of her lips around him. Her hand stroked the thick length until his hips began to move, and he fucked her hand and her mouth.

  She didn’t want him to hold back, she wanted to get him off quick and dirty. Not because she wanted the task over but because it felt good to make him lose control, to make him come in her mouth and hand. She felt like she was in control, knew she was in control, and that for once, the Supreme Leader of New Earth was little more than a puppet in her…mouth.

  She smothered a giggle and went back to work. His fingers closed on her head, and he grunted out a command. “Hold still.”

  Even now, that command wasn’t a command but a defeat. He couldn’t control himself, and it only made the satisfaction deep inside even stronger for her. She looked up into his eyes as he began to thrust his hips, her eyes full of her own pride and delight. There was also a dare there, to completely let go. All he had to do was let go, and he’d find relief as he came in her mouth.

  “Fuck, I can’t….” But she knew what he couldn’t do as she felt the first pulse of his release. “I can’t resist those eyes, Ann. Fuck.”

  She moaned around his cock as he let his head fall back, but his hips didn’t stop, not for quite a few seconds. She held onto him with her hand, but he still set the pace, until she’d swallowed every drop of him, and he’d sunk back against the wall. With a playful smile, she stood up, and stepped out of the shower. She turned back to turn the hot water off, and he looked up at her.

  “You’re going to kill me.” He didn’t exactly look like that was a bad thing.

  “You’ll die happy, then, won’t you?”

  “I suppose I will, Ann.” They climbed back into bed once they’d dried off and he put on some pajama pants, and she slid on a cotton nightgown.

  Cuddled up together, she turned to her side, tucked right up against him happily. Her body was sore, tired, but satisfied. He fell asleep before her, but she didn’t mind. She loved being there with him, so close and warm. This was what married life was supposed to be like.

  Maybe one day they’d not only say they loved each other, but they would actually be in love. She was fascinated with him, and she cared about him, but did she really know what love was? She thought about her parents, how they’d always worked together to provide for her, to make sure they were all safe.

  They hadn’t argued a lot, and if they did, they hid it behind closed doors. There were never any arguments in front of Ann. Disagreements, perhaps, but never all-out arguments. She wasn’t silly enough to think they’d never argued, she just knew they’d thought of Ann before anything and protected her from it. She hadn’t argued with Rager, but then, she wasn’t totally trustful of her position in his life yet to argue much.

  She was learning, though, that she could talk to him about matters that concerned her. She was slowly introducing the idea that the wolves needed to be treated better. She was also coming to see that the people of Earth had a lot to learn from the aliens. If the people here were willing to let go of old ideas, old ways, the new world could be the miraculous place they’d all dreamed of for so long.

  If they weren’t afraid to work, and listened to the new way of thinking that Rager and his people brought with them, war could be a thing of the past, and people could
live if not in some kind of hippy, flower-power commune of love, then in peace and something like harmony. Ann wanted that so much, even if it was a lofty ideal to reach for. Utopia would never be possible, she knew that, but maybe they could get close to it.

  She shifted a little, to ease the ache in her left knee. She had a lot to do the next day, but her brain wouldn’t shut up. Thoughts and plans for schools, a new clinic, and other advances filled her head. These ideas mixed with her brain suddenly reminding her of things she needed to get done. You have to see your mother tomorrow, you have to go to that meeting, there’s a kitchen mixer at that store that you haven’t gone back to yet. On and on it went, until she sighed with frustration and reached for her music.

  That was the one thing that could soothe her, distract her enough to help her get to sleep. Tomorrow would be busy, and she needed to sleep. She’d had her fun time with the man that was her mate, now she needed to rest.

  She put on some Fleetwood Mac and just as Stevie started to sing her into sleep, her brain decided to mess with her one more time. What if you’re pregnant?

  She groaned and turned on her back. The ceiling was dark, and for a moment, she couldn’t decide if her eyes were open or shut. She blinked just to see, and decided they were open. What was wrong with her?

  Maybe you’re pregnant.

  This time it came with her mother’s voice, not her own. Not that her mom had ever nagged her, but she could just hear her mother now. She wouldn’t know for another week and a half, and even then, she could only suspect. She wasn’t sure, even though she’d had the same health and sex ed classes as the rest of the girls in her school.

  If it had been two weeks since her last period, then they could have conceived a child, it was certainly possible. Had she actually had one since she’d been married though? Now that she thought about it, she wasn’t exactly sure. Maybe she had it all wrong?