Page 23 of A Twist of Luck (Shifter City Fated Mates #2)
CHAPTER 23
EMME
S lade didn’t adjust his gaze. “I know almost everything about you, Emmeline Anders. The secrets I haven’t uncovered yet remain only because I’ve been too busy keeping you safe to dig through my sources. But rest assured, I will figure it all out.”
This fucking dragon.
“Did it ever occur to you…” I started way too loudly, cutting my annoyance back only when Hunter stirred behind me. Weirdly, Finley didn’t move at all. I lowered my voice to a hiss: “…that if you wanted to know about me, you should have just asked. I don’t like you prying into my past.”
The dragon leaned even farther forward in his chair, and whatever relaxed casualness he’d displayed was gone. “You’re my fated mate,” he said, and his tone instantly sent goosebumps over my skin. Hunter’s hold tightened over me as he pulled me onto his side of the bed and away from Slade.
I had a very brief freak-out that I’d pushed the dragon too far, before remembering that he’d never hurt his brothers. Or me.
I was almost positive.
“And you’re keeping secrets from us.” His tone remained flat, but with an undercurrent that had my quite full bladder ready to evacuate its contents.
Kellan and Hunter were in real danger of being peed on if Slade continued in the same reverberating tone. Which he absolutely did. Of course.
“It’s my role as your mate to ensure that you are safe, and to do that, I need all the information about you. I need to know the threat before it shows up. Fuck! ” Fire flashed in his eyes. “I need to eliminate the threat before it shows up. I almost failed at that once already, and not even you can stop me from protecting you.” He paused briefly, and a fraction of his dominance crushing the room eased. “As I said, I know almost everything about you, Snow. You better get used to it, because if I could crawl into your fucking head and live there… I would. Hacking into your past is a poor, second-best option.”
My heart slammed in my chest, but when Hunter’s hold relaxed, I figured Slade was no longer in danger mode. I took the opportunity to roll over Hunter and slide to the floor. Not only did I desperately need to pee, but I also desperately needed to escape this room. And my feelings.
“I’m going to shower,” I mumbled, feeling pathetic as I fled Kellan’s room clad only in my underwear.
As I exited into the hallway, I heard Hunter say, “When is her birthday? You haven’t told us that or updated her file.”
My file . Yeah, these fuckers were all going down. I needed to figure out a way to get back at all of them—not Kellan—for their various and varied assholeish behaviors. It would take some planning, and maybe a little help from Cora, but there would be a way.
I’d figure it out. Starting with Slade Riverson.
In my room, I decided I needed more than a moment to get my head right, which led me to the bath—my place of relaxation and rejuvenation. With how off balanced I currently felt, I’d never needed this reprieve more. It was hard to believe it had been less than a month since my entire life was upended.
I’d thought my life was over the day I got captured and charged as a rogue, and then again when Hunter had scented me as his mate, along with the unsuccessful and successful kidnappings.
I’d fit a lot of drama, stress, and fear into my time in Golden Claw, but I’d also found real joy. Real friendships. And a pack who treated me like I was important and worth their time and care.
Pack , my wolf whispered, her tone content after our run and pack bonding session in Kellan’s bed. Our pack.
I know , I told her, and for the first time in a long time it felt like we were on the same page when it came to being part of this quintet.
After I got the water running to fill the massive tub, I searched through the jars of oils and salts sitting on the ledge, noticing a few new selections. One was a light brown salt mix, and when I removed the lid I was hit with the scent of chocolate and coffee. The oil next to it smelled like toasted marshmallows, and I wasn’t surprised to find the other new addition was caramel and cinnamon. The alphas had snuck in their scents, with Finley’s the only one missing.
As the scents of pack filled the room, I debated what one to use. My favorite was Kellan, of course, because I missed him so damn much. I could really use a hit of him on my skin.
Not that I wasn’t tempted to add all three, because the other two weren’t far behind in the favorites scale these days. Hunter and Slade had wrapped me up in their particular brand of care lately, and it was destruction and perfection in one .
When the water was full and steamy, I added the caramel salt, stripped off my underwear, and sank into the heated depths. The stress and unease that had been plaguing me vanished as fast as the salts into the steaming depths. There was very little in the world that could compare to this feeling.
A groan slipped out as all my tense muscles relaxed, and when there was a responding rumble, my eyes shot open to meet a stormy gray gaze. I jerked up splashing water over the side of the bath and onto Hunter’s pants.
“Shit. Fuck. What the fuck are—?” My breaths heaved in and out, and I had no idea why I was so shocked—these alphas had no boundaries. “What are you doing in here, Hurricane?”
Gold flickered in his eyes as his wolf came out to play, and I remained motionless under his predatory stare. The CEO, suit-clad, highly controlled man was no longer here… I had the beast.
Hunter’s long legs propelled him the extra step to the side as he snatched me up. My wet, naked body was plastered against his bare chest, and when he kissed me I forgot everything.
My name. My past. My worries.
Hunter’s kiss was my entire personality until he stopped devouring my mouth like it was the literal air he needed for existence. “Little omega,” he murmured, his chest shaking. “I fucking knew it would be like this. I knew you would wreck me from the depths of my soul .”
I’d never seen his control snap so thoroughly, and it both terrified and thrilled me. Along with a healthy dose of lust and need. The ache in my core was so intense that as Hunter tightened his hold on my ass, until his strong hands bit into muscle, I rocked against the hard length pressing into my center. Yep, I was about to come with very little other stimulation.
I’d never been able to bring myself to orgasm—even with the help of toys—as quickly as Hunter managed with a single fucking kiss. He thought I was wrecking him, but this alpha was about to obliterate me, and I was ready to sign myself up.
“Sleeping next to you,” he thundered, kissing down the corner of my lips, his tongue tracing every inch of my skin that he touched, “was beyond my fucking control. I need you in my bed, Emmeline. I need you naked and under me every damn night, before my beast goes completely feral. The man as well.”
My core spasmed, and I arched harder against him, the swirls of pleasure in my gut building and building. When he bit into my neck, almost breaking the skin, I cried out and came so hard that my vision went blurry and dark.
Hunter’s growl echoed loudly around the room, and I whimpered through my continued pleasure, trembling and shaking in his hold. He didn’t stop marking and kissing along my throat and onto my shoulder, and I leaned back until I got my tits right where I wanted them. In his mouth.
He sucked my nipple, his teeth pressing against the areola until I wanted to scream. Pleasure or pain, they were both perfection.
“I need to see my bite on your skin,” he said, moving on to my other nipple. “Are you ready to beg for my claim, baby girl?”
Yes. No. Yes. No. The dueling emotions were a continuous chant in my head.
“Fuck, Hunter,” I cried, and he slowed his assault, his teeth grazing over the tip of my nipple.
“What is it, Emme? Use your words, baby girl. Tell me what you need.”
I needed him to fuck me. I needed it now . I needed it to happen even if it meant he was going to bite me during the throes of pleasure. Dramatic or not, there was a real sense I’d die anyway if this intense, churning need inside me wasn’t met.
“Hunter, please. Alpha, I need you to fu?—”
There was a loud rapping on my bedroom door, interrupting me as I breathed heavily and tried to figure out what just happened. The lust had my brain clouded and slow.
Hunter’s mouth and teeth grazed between my tits as he lifted his head and snapped, “What is it, Finley? You better be dying.”
There was a brief pause, and then Finley shouted back. “The witch is here. She’s got information about Kellan’s condition.”
Hunter stilled, and then a long exhalation of air escaped the alpha. “Fuck,” he groaned, his head falling against mine as he straightened. “Only for that asshole would I interrupt our time together, little omega. For now, Kellan comes first.”
His expression was creased in disappointment and reluctance as he lowered me to the damp tiles. “Finish up your bath and come find us. I won’t let them make any decision until you’re in the room.” His gaze leveled me, eyes filled with dark swirls of gold once more. “And Emme…”
He paused, and I swallowed roughly, surprised to find my voice still worked. “Yes?”
“Use the mocha bath bomb.”
When he was gone, I remained in a trembling mess, clutching the vanity and staring into the slightly steamy mirror. I’d had one orgasm, but it hadn’t remotely taken the edge off—if anything, it was worse than ever.
I needed hours with these alphas without interruption, where they fucked me into exhaustion. All of which could absolutely wait until Kellan was whole and healthy once more. He was one of the alphas I desperately needed.
As I slipped back into the still-warm water, I reached out and lifted the white and mocha speckled bath bomb and dropped it into the water. Chocolate and coffee rose up around me as it dissolved, and with Kellan’s scent still present from earlier, I found a place of peace and serenity once more.
Just with shakier thighs this time.