Page 26 of Chasing the Wolf (Dark Wing #7)

Chapter 26

Mackenzie

F orgiving Xavier wasn't something I thought I'd ever be able to do. But I have forgiven him. Because you can't hold on to hate when your heart is full of love. It's something my grandma always used to say. Something I never thought I'd actually believe. But it's true.

"What you did for your pack...It's noble. What you did for me? Protecting me from your father and protecting my family... That's something I will always be grateful for."

"I don't want you to mate me because you feel indebted to me."

"No, I...I would never. You know that's true. I think if I hadn't left after college, I might have. I might have been a cub who couldn't think for herself. But leaving? Coming here? Having to start over, knowing no one? It took leaving to realize how much I love my family. Maybe they did plan for me to leave. Gave me a boost out the door. Maybe they didn't. Either way, it doesn't matter. I left, and it was good for me. But the one thing that was always a constant was having feelings for you. Even when I shouldn't have, even after all the things you said, I still had feelings for you. I still saw the good things you did." I have my hand on the side of his cheek, resisting the urge—the need —to kiss him until I get everything out. "I want to mate you. Even without the pull of a fated mate. Or the queasy stomach it's giving me now. Though, lying here touching you does make me feel better."

I drop my hand, and our lips crash together. It's all-consuming. A buzzing vibrates all around me. Xavier's hand grips me.

I'm dizzy when our lips separate. There's a buzzing in the back of my head.

Xavier stands, holding me to his chest until my feet hit the floor. "I think we should?—"

"Race you." I drop his hand, and the buzzing sensation vanishes. I'm out the cabin door, through the waiting area, and down the hall in a flash. Xavier's right behind me. When did running become fun? I swipe the door. "Colton?" But the cabin's empty. I'm pulling off my shirt and my shorts next. I pivot just as Xavier makes his way through the door, slamming it and throwing the dead bolt.

"You're fast." His beast flashes behind his eyes.

"When I want to be." My wolf's going bonkers under my skin. Her mating chant's all I can hear. I pull at Xavier's clothes. He grabs my wrists and locks them in front of me. I need his clothes off, and now. "You have too many clothes on."

"Yes." His wolf stares me down, and my wolf's cry echoes in my head. And this time she's not the only one. "I'm going to ask you this one last time because I'm not the sort of male who mates and then is willing to not live with his mate. I've heard of fated mates who do that, and I'm not one of them. I need you to understand that, Mackie. When I take you in that bed, you're mine."

"And you will be mine."

"I've always been yours. But yes, now and forever."

"I'm repeating myself, but you have too many clothes on."

"I want this to last. My clothes stay on to start with."

"So you can torture me? That's not fair."

"Right. It was your father who told me things with a mate aren't always fair. Sometimes you give more than you get."

I growl at him. "Fine, but don't bring up my parents again when I'm not wearing clothes."

Xavier laughs. "Fair enough." He's still holding my wrists with one hand, and he walks me backwards.

My body's on fire. I want to touch him so much. "Take your shirt off. Just your shirt, please."

"Fuck." With his free hand he grabs the back of his T-shirt and, in an effortless swift motion, pulls it off and tosses it on the floor. "What?"

I cock my head and reach for his abs with my wrist still firmly in the grasp of his one hand. But he jerks my hands away.

"Not yet, Mac. You can have your hands all over me later, but not yet."

"I like the sound of that. Well, not the 'not yet' part." I lean into him and do my best purr. Which just has me on the verge of giggling.

He smirks at me. "You're trouble."

"You've known that for a long time."

"Yes." He bends down and kisses the soft spot behind my ear. His lips move down my jugular to my collarbone. He licks along the lace of my bra. "I've known you were a handful for a really long time. I'm going to let go of your hands, and you're going to place them on your head."

"Am I under arrest?"

"Something like that. Just do as you're told, Mackie. Just this once, for me."

I bat my eyes at him.

His tone drops. "Please."

"Oh, I see what you mean. Please, from your lips, is dangerous."

He lets go of my wrists, and I place my hands behind my neck. Xavier shifts one finger to a claw, and with a quick flick, my bra falls away.

"Hey!"

"You're rich now. You can buy a shipload of bras and panties."

My panties fall to the ground. I'm seconds away from shifting a claw or two myself and taking his pants from him. His thumb hitches under my chin, and his eyes hold mine. Our heartbeats sync up as he holds his thumb there long enough for me to feel myself being pulled inside his dilated pupils. What is it like in there, the mind of a male who knew enough to save me and my family, who saved the whole town?

"Mackie, don't start thinking too hard." His lips smash into mine. He slows and controls this kiss until my fingers leave my neck and sink into his silky hair.

He pulls us apart. "Not yet, Mac. Slow. Have patience." He picks me up and tosses me into the middle of the bed. I bounce once, twice, and when I am still, he's on top of me again. "Fingertips on the headboard or I'll tie your wrists to it." He kisses my neck.

The rebel in me wants to tell him no. The rest of me knows this is going to play out in my favor. I shoot my hands above my head and reach for the headboard. It's just barely out of my grasp, which has me stretching as far as I can. My fingers brush the carved headboard. There's no scooting up the mattress. Xavier's got one arm wrapped around a leg, and the other is pushing my knees open wider to fit his shoulders.

"Don't take your fingers off the headboard. I’ll be watching."

"Oh." I use all my strength to inch up the bed. It's no use, though. Xavier's got me in a viselike grip.

"Don't be naughty, Mac."

"What happens if I'm... I can't even say it."

"Naughty?"

"Yeah, that."

"You'll have to find out."

"Again with the not fair. You know I'm a curious creature who can't stand not knowing something."

"Curious cat," he growls. And his tongue hits my core.

"When you live with a lion shifter, you don't—" My brain fuzzes and glitches as Xavier swirls his tongue around my clit. I'm lost, sinking deeply into the mattress. But then he stops.

"Fingers, Mac."

"What?" My eyes click open. One of my hands is on my chest. The other is in my hair.

"Though you do look hot as fuck. Hands on the headboard, now." He grips my hip and pulls me away from the headboard.

I reach for it, and my fingertips brush along it again. "You can't be comfortable." His legs are off the end of the bed, his waist bending over the footboard.

"This isn't about me."

"Well then, crawl up here, take those shorts off, and fuck me. If you're going to give me what I want."

His deep laugh shakes the bed. "I do like bossy Mac. But not right now. Do as you’re told, Mackenzie."

"Yes, sir." My chest vibrates. He's not the pack alpha. But he's mine. And I'm his. I splay my legs open wider.

"That's it," he says before his tongue hits my bud again. My hips bounce, and I'm panting. He pushes a finger into me.

I lose the plane of the headboard, but he doesn't notice as I stretch back for it. His rhythm picks up, and stars pulse behind my eyes. The buzzing from before starts again. It's not painful, and in my state, I'm not feeling any pain anyway. I'm inches away from going over the edge. And he stops.

"Mac."

I've never moved my hands so fast in my life.

He chuckles, but he also puts his head back down. His fingers work magic, and he sucks down on my clit. I'm gone. My hips pull against his hands, thrashing all over the bed. I'm screaming loud and long. Words flow out of my mouth, but I have no idea what I'm saying. No idea. My fingers have long left the headboard. I'm grabbing the sheets firmly enough to rip them.

Xavier slides off the end of the bed. I'm limp, but when he disappears from view for only a second, my wolf panics. "Hey!" It's the only thing I can think of to say.

He rounds the corner, appearing beside the bed. "Hey yourself, " he says. He's naked, his veiny cock lightly bouncing at me. He laughs again. He's doing a lot of that. "After all those things you just screamed? Hey."

"Wait, what did I say?"

He leans over the bed and strokes my rat's nest hair. "You really don't know?"

"No." I suck in my lip, bite on it.

"Even better." He crawls into bed and pulls me to his side, his fingers lightly stroking down my side.

I crane my neck and pull his chin to mine. "Tell me."

"Later. Your wolf likes me."

"I like you." I hesitate. Because I think I more than like him. I love him. I mean, that's not normal, or maybe in our case it is. Most fated mates have never met. They have no idea. But we've known. Deep down, I've always known. It's why I couldn't put the things he said out of my head for the longest time. It's why it took me leaving to be able to heal. "She loves you."

"I love her too. I love both of you, all of you." He holds me for a long time. The two of us are not moving. "I've always loved you. I was just too scared to come up with another way to get Stanton out of our lives."

"I love you too. You were a cub yourself?—"

"Don't justify what I did. It was wrong," Xavier says.

"Don't be mean to the male I love."

"I'm going to mate you now, Mackie."

"Not if I mate you first." I lunge for him, pushing him onto his back. But then the sheet gets trapped between us, and Xavier has to lift me up while I pull it out. "I'm so graceful."

His hands are on my hips, holding me up. With the sheet gone, we're skin to skin. I take him in my hand and stroke him once, twice, before positioning him at my core. Slowly, I lower myself onto him, having him.

I'm on top, but Xavier's hands are on my thighs and his hips are driving our rhythm. My head tilts back. It's been a long time since I've had sex. But it's never been like this. "So good."