Mated to the Pack(10)

Yet his beautiful golden-haired mate was not just any wolf. She was the only one who could see him like this.

Vulnerable.

Unmoored.

And still fighting the baseless, clawing terror within him that despite  her new existence as a predator, he would be as unable to protect her,  just as he had failed his first mate.

Standing there watching him, Cassandra's face grew even softer. She  reached forward to slide a gentle little hand down his chest, raising  goosebumps on his skin as she did. He almost allowed himself to sway  toward her, let himself just relax into the moment. Soft despite the  strength he knew she possessed. Kind despite the sassy tongue. Gentle  despite the fact she'd been forced to kill her unwanted enemy earlier in  the day. He felt so drawn to simply let go, to let himself fall into  her embrace as he trembled with the finally released sorrow of these  many years.

But years of practice, regardless of the insanity that loosed his tongue  now, made him set his jaw instead, trying to step back from his sweet  mate.

The mate whose very existence was exploding every damned wall he'd raised over the years to protect not her, he realized.         

     



 

To protect instead his own reckless, foolish heart.





Chapter 8



Cassie felt Trevor move back from her as Mr. Granite Man took over yet again.

No. Nopey-nope-no. Not again. Never again. Not after what he'd finally  confessed, the admission tearing out her own heart. Oh, god, his face.  It had cracked, showing the vulnerability she knew he'd lived with for  all these years without sharing. Without allowing to come out.

Tamsin was right. Trevor had to let it out, let it go, or it really would destroy him.

Drawing on the strength and focus of the wolf within her, she shook her head and caught his arms in her hands.

"No," she said. The little tremble that had almost turned into tears  stiffened into strength and determination instead. "No. Not again. I  deserve more," she whispered in a fierce growl. "And so do you. You are  not leaving me again, dammit!"

Without warning, she lunged at his chest and pushed him backward onto  the grassy floor of the clearing. Caught off-guard, Trevor stumbled  backward and went down, with Cassie on top of him.

A startled "Oof!" yanked its way out of him, but before he could say  more, Cassie began her relentless attack. Her lips nibbled at his, then  kissed him. Her hands explored his long, hard body, loving the feel of  it as always. She slipped one hand along his hip, curled the fingers of  her other hand into his hair. His cock rushed to almost full hardness  when she reached between them to grasp it. First lightly, then with a  little more force. Almost angrily.

She needed to claim him for herself.

Trevor did not resist. His breath quickened as his eyes darkened. She  could still see whatever shadows were in there, but she was going to  force them out. Force them into the daylight-okay, moonlight-where they  would be exposed. Then eventually vanish. For good.

And this time, if he tried to run away again, she'd shift into her wolf,  grab him by the scruff of his neck, and pounce on him to keep him  still.

There had to be some advantages to being a wolf, after all.

Cassie slid her hand along the velvety skin of his shaft, marveling at  the contrast between the softness of skin and the steel-hard feel of his  sexy length. She would never get tired of it. Twirling her finger over  the head, she felt the small bead of liquid pooled at the tip.

Trevor groaned at her touch. The tension in his body was still there,  but she could tell it was becoming sexual tension. The slow, wonderful  kind that demanded luxurious release.

Grabbing her hips in his hands, her mate pushed her into him, his eyes  locked on hers. His expression was still guarded, but the cracks were  showing. That looseness, that loss of control when he was with her. The  wild, unleashed abandon she absolutely adored to see in him. She wanted  to know it was real, and that he would allow it to be a part of his  life. A part of their life, together.

"Cassandra." His voice graveled out over the clearing, rumbling up  through his chest and sending answering quakes through her own body.  Just the way he said her name was more than enough to set off a tide of  wet, slick warmth between her legs. The one spot she wanted him to fill,  to reclaim as his.

This time, though, she planned to lead the dance.

"I-I want-" He broke off his words, panting as she ground herself onto  him. Catching his lower lip between his teeth, he rocked his hips  beneath hers, still pressing his hands down on her. Trying to position  her perfectly above his fully erect cock so she could slide onto him.

"Yes," she whispered. "Yes. Let me."

Cassie nestled herself above him, teasing him by placing the wetness of  herself right over him, just barely touching the huge head of his shaft.  Trevor actually gasped, his breath whistling raggedly through his  throat. His eyes didn't leave hers, although his gaze was half-lidded.  The defined planes of his face were illuminated by the moonlight. His  hard mouth was soft, relaxed. Cassie felt another, even stronger bolt of  arousal at the sight of her masterful mate letting her lead.

This, she decided, was really nice.

Knees pressed into the earth on either side of him, his intoxicating  musky aroma mingling with the scents of the wild forest around them,  Cassie pulled his hands off her hips and gently lifted them above his  head. She crossed his wrists and pressed down on them with one hand.

Then she reached her other hand back to guide herself onto her mate, the  air sighing with their rapid breaths as she eased down onto him.







Trevor let his mate hold his hands above his head, even though they both  knew he could break her light grasp. It reminded him of the first time  he had touched her. From the look in her eyes right now, she was also  remembering that time.

Watching her do this, feeling her taking control of the moment just as  she had when he had given her the bite to change her, aroused him in a  way he wouldn't be able to articulate if he tried. Her hair fell about  her face and caressed his chest, awakening every last nerve ending he  had. Everything inside him bubbled into some enormous sensation he  couldn't describe, either. It was a mixture of longing, lust, regret,  fear, anxiety, deliberation-and the word that had slipped out of him  when he had held her earlier. The one that burned on his tongue even  now.         

     



 

With precision, holding his gaze as fiercely as he held hers, Cassandra  slid down onto him. Trevor pulled in a sharp breath as her sweet heat  surrounded his cock, enveloping it as she settled herself onto him all  the way down to the root.

His mate.

"I'm here, Trevor," she whispered. "Stay with me."

They both sighed, eyes locked together just as their bodies were. She  began to gently rock on him, lazily twisting her hips in a circular  motion that made his vision seem to shoot stars. Her hand pressed down  harder on his wrist as she balanced herself, while the other one rested  on his chest.

"Look at me." Her voice was commanding, although the small thrill  running through it told Trevor she was also somewhat awed by her own  daring.

"I cannot stop looking at you," he said in simple answer. "Never."

Cassandra threw back her head, revealing her smooth throat. Trevor  longed to lean forward and nip at it, but he let her hold him down. Not  only did she want to, it excited him as well.

The feeling of being held. Of allowing his own relentless control to relax, even if just for a moment.

Cassie began to move faster, her slickness gripping him with delicious  friction as she slid her sweet center up and down his shaft. Every now  and then she squeezed him with her inner muscles, nearly causing his  eyes to roll back in his head.

"Cassandra," he whispered in a jagged groan.

Her body shone in the moonlight like supple alabaster as she worked her  body on his, drawing out something huge and explosive within him.  Something that was building more strongly than mere physical release.

"Yes," she murmured, the clear blue of her eyes visible to him even in  the moonlight. "Stay with me," she said again, her voice a mix of  longing and hope, touched by the rising arousal he sensed galloping  through her as well.

Trevor moved beneath her, slanting his hips into hers. Her lips came  down to kiss his, wet and hot and rough with her need despite the  exquisite softness of her mouth. He kissed her back with all the passion  built within him over the many weeks since the sweet little vixen had  come into his life.

Abruptly tightening on him, her pebbled nipples pressed hard into his  chest, Cassie made the little noise into his mouth he knew meant she was  about to come.

Everything in him heated to an almost unbearable level. Every single  thing from this moment, this day, from his entire damned life until  right now, boiled over into a head-banging rush as he shuddered into his  mate. He grabbed hard onto the small yet strong hand still holding his  arms above his head.