Page 34 of Heartless Wolf (Wolf Moon Rejected #1)

CHAPTER 34 - DASH

Fuck, what a savvy, brilliant mate. I was still on a damn high from Liv brokering deals better than a solicitor. Pride raged through my body at her letting go completely, empowering herself and taking charge for once. At following where her wild soul led her. Beaming like a proud papa, I hugged her waist tighter, squeezing her thighs with mine from my bitch position behind her on my bike. Her wolf responded with pleased purrs, oozing through my leathers and under my skin.

Damn her father’s cowardice for making her feel powerless and helpless when she was the fiercest, strongest person I knew. Throw me into that category for flipping everything on its head, depriving her of a say in our relationship, for destroying the stability and safety a mate owed his partner. The rescue from her fated marriage which she sought in me. The weight of dampening her moonlight made it hard to breathe.

No wonder she established a sanctuary for shifters. The one place in her life she could control. The only place that provided her refuge. A place to disappear to if she needed to escape her arranged marriage. Determination zinged through me to be her sanctuary from now on.

Dark thoughts fell away as the bike climbed the steep mountain terrain of Newnes Plateau, giving rise to the highest sandstone tableland in the state. Bushland blended with sandstone bluffs and cavernous grottoes, the scent of stone and eucalyptus hitting me.

The roads turned rougher and rockier with altitude, forcing Liv to slow my Shadow around sharp, windy cliff edges. A few times she pulled over to admire the spectacular pagoda-shaped rock formations crowding rocky gullies. I bathed in her joy of riding with me, her wonder at the precipitous beauty, and her appreciative squeezes and kisses for trusting her navigation of tricky topography. Hard going for a first-timer, but her natural skill damn well impressed me. The woman was born to ride. With me. Always.

A mile back, we pulled over and swapped positions, Liv taking the reins despite her not having the appropriate license for riding a bike. Cops didn’t come up here unless they got a report of stolen camping gear from a tourist, so I wasn’t concerned about us being pulled over and fined.

At the top of the escarpment, I guided her off road, into the sea of Eucalypts and Pines. Damn Christmas tree farmers cultivated plantations of pines west of here, and the bastards infested the national forest, demanding rangers cut them down and poison them. Now their numbers amounted to too many and they lost control of them.

Unstable turf made it hard for her to handle, and I urged her to pull over and switch with me again. Front and center, I piloted us to a secret path beyond a metal guard blocking our path. I stopped, got off my bike and adjusted the unlocked barrier, waving at Liv to nudge it through, before closing the gate, taking over and continuing through. Alpine grass, twigs, leaves, and forest litter crunched under the bike’s tires. Denser clusters of Blue Mountains ash and black ash trees ended our ride, and we walked the rest of the way.

Engine killed, I dismounted the Shadow, aiding my mate off, and sliding her helmet free for a long kiss full of rewarding, flicking tongue. “You did good, Mooncrack.”

Liv groaned and shrugged off her jacket. “Can I please get a new nickname? I don’t want to think of thongs chafing my ass crack every time you use it.”

I laughed so hard my belly cramped. When it wore off, I set my helmet down on the seat. “All right. How about Moonlight? Your scent reminds me of it and wilderness.”

Frown lines creased her forehead. “Moonlight doesn’t have a smell.”

I tucked her to my side and tickled her. “Yes, it does.” I leaned down to sniff her teal-streaked blonde hair. “It’s the scent of night.”

She snorted and thumped her palm against my stomach. “Weirdo.”

I crushed her harder to me. “That’s what you love about me, isn’t it?”

Her giggle filled me with damn moonlight. The moonlight I stole from her sky and restored to its rightful place. “I love that you’re a bad boy.”

I tickled her again. “Does that have a smell?”

She howled at me. “Yeah. Spicy. Sweet like honey. Tempting like chocolate.”

“Oh, yeah?” I lapped at her neck, tasting her sweetness. “That sounds pretty good, Moonlight.”

Her lips curled into the most seductive smile. “Now that’s better.”

I spanked her ass, loving the bounce of it under my greedy palm. “Glad you approve of my bad boy ways.”

I collected the key for my bike, stuffed it deep into my jacket, taking my helmet with me. Collecting her hand, I towed her to a nearby brittle gum with a split in the trunk, hiding our helmets inside. The likelihood of some asshole coming across my bike was slim but not impossible.

Never back yourself into an impossible situation, Father taught me.

Before we went in search of the flower I owed Castor, I crowded my mate against the eucalypt, grazing the back of my knuckles along her soft, pale skin. “Watching you negotiate the balls off the Guild got me so hard, Moonlight.” She snorted into my chest when I banded her in my embrace. “I’m proud of my brave mate for taking what you needed instead of putting the needs of others before yours.”

She tilted her head back to meet my gaze. “I’ll admit, my lady balls shrunk before they inflated.”

Chuckling, I bent down to snap off a white flower from the dwarf heath and slid it over her ear. “Seriously, Liv. You’re stronger than your father gives you credit for. The way you fight for Heather. Fight for your freedom. Fight to protect the vulnerable shifters.” I showed her with every loving stroke of her hair.

Her eyes slanted, preening at my praise.

So I gave her fucking more. “You think you’re a caged wolf, but you’re not anymore. You set yourself free, and now that you’ve had a taste of freedom and true power, you’ll never go back to the old Liv.” Every word fueled the growing fire in me, a fire that burned eternal for her the way the moon always rose at night.

She nudged me with her shoulder. “Yeah, well. I still might lose my lady balls when my father finds out.”

I thundered and swept her into my arms. “No one touches my lady’s balls!”

I needled her neck with my fingertips, eliciting a long groan that said she wanted more. When I was ready. For now, she deserved to know how special she was to me. How much I admired and respected her. How she changed me from a stupid coward into a true mate. That from now on, everything I did was for her. And fuck, I was desperate to know how she felt, when she hid behind her jokes.

I pressed my forehead to hers to brace myself. “I’m sorry that I was such a coward and left when you needed me. That I made you feel helpless, lost, and out of control.” The knives of my betrayal sliced my heart piece by piece.

Tears glistened in her eyes, and the ache in my chest nearly destroyed me. My heart stuttered to a stop like a bike that ran out of fucking gas. Beats drummed by, ratcheting my fear of her response. I slammed my mouth to hers, licking up every last drop of pain from her, sucking on her cries, drying her tears with my thumbs.

Calmed by my intervention, I drew back and went on to let her know how I felt. “I’m here for you now, Moonlight. Always. To ride with you when things get rough, not run away. I’ll never let you go again. Never let you lose control, even if we have to break from our packs to get our freedom.”

She tugged at my hair and sent me into a freefall. “Fuck, Dash. You’re rash and rebellious, but damn, you make me feel wild and free.” Tight circles of my palm on her back encouraged more from her. “I was so fucking tired of living up to the expectations of others. Playing by their rules. Not having a say.”

I went through this same realization years ago and worked at my goal of making the club a business, gaining independence from my father. Live by my own rules, and then I would never have anyone to disappoint but myself.

Fingers hooking on the collar of my shirt, she dragged me down for a searing kiss that burned like chili. Contented rumbles sounded in the back of her throat as she showed me her gratitude with her lips and tongue.

Panting, she broke away to add, “You’ve shown me how to take what I want. Make decisions for my life and future.” She gestured animatedly with her hands before bracketing my face. “To take back control, and it’s the most addictive, grounding feeling.”

Yeah, it was. Living up to my father’s expectations crippled me as it did Liv. That was no way to live. We were the same in that regard, trapped in our position as heirs but not wanting the expectations that came with it. Why we bonded so many years ago and still felt that pull.

“I fucking love you, Moonlight.” I sounded like a lovesick chump, but I didn’t care. “I loved you the minute I saw you on the Fall Dance floor. I never stopped loving you, even though my heart died the day I said goodbye to you. My heart started beating the day you entered my sphere again. Without you, I fall back into bad patterns of my past. I am stronger with you by my side.”

She sucked in a rough breath, and air sawed in and out of her lungs as if the memory burned her. I cradled the back of her neck and lifted her eyes to mine, easing the strain on her chest.

Finally, she put me out of my damn misery. “I’m glad to hear that.” Her arms locked over my neck. “Because I fucking love you too and haven’t been able to forget you.”

Relief struck like a lit match catching kindling on fire.

“Thank fuck, Liv.” I bit her bottom lip then tongued it to ease the sting. “I still want to kill every last asshole who touched what was mine.”

Her husky laughter burned away my bitterness. I traced her face with my fingers, feeling worthier of her by the second, the mate she deserved.

I had more to get off my chest. To address what else I’d been to chickenshit to face. “You’re not the only thing I’ve run away from, Liv.”

Her gorgeous gray eyes came to mine, giving me the courage to admit my faults.

“I’ve run from responsibility and leadership in the pack.” I crushed her hair in my fingers. “I’m not going to run like a coward. I’m going to be the Umbra heir my father wants.”

“What about your club?” Liv brushed away the hair plastered to my forehead.

“I’m going to try and do both,” I said. “I owe it to Chase, to my father, to you. You’re Umbra heir of Pack Hester, and as my mate, assimilating into my pack, you deserve the same rank and honors.”

She leaned her head under my chin. “I don’t care about that.”

I wanted to do right by her. Give her a life worthy of her. Be a mate worthy of her. Face my triumphs and failures with her by my side.

“I do.” I brushed the back of her neck. “I’ve rebelled enough. It’s time to embrace fate.”

She lifted my hand, running her thumb over the letters on my knuckles. “What about fucking fate?”

I laughed and rubbed at the ink on my fingers, reading Fuck Fate. “That’s too many letters for my fingers.”

She grinned. “Yep.”

“Fuck fate can stay.” Only in ink, though.

“I’m glad you’ve come to this conclusion.”

Only four years too late. Better late than never.

She leaned into my touch like she couldn’t get enough, her body melting into mine, her curves soft against my hard edges. Her thighs rubbed together, burning for more friction that only I could give her, and I dragged my nails along her jeans, turning her into a shivering, whimpering mess. Her nipples brushed across my chest like fucking paint strokes, branding me with another tattoo, denoting I belonged to her. Flames licked at the log in my core, setting my body alight just for her.

My palms drifted in small circles on her back, drawing the tension of the last few days from her body. I wanted her languid, soft, and aching before I took her. Rough, needy kisses ravaged her mouth, promises of what I intended to do to her when we finally came together in Lunar mating. Bolts of lightning electrified my dick at the softness of her beneath her shirt bunching in soft folds as I kneaded her, cranking up the volume of her keens. She gasped into my mouth at my dragging of nails down her belly, leaving my mark on her.

Her heady scent told me what she needed from me, and I gave it to her, pawing at her breast, roughly teasing it, grabbing handfuls of her ass to earn a breathy squeak. Explosions burst in my chest at every little noise she made. That I gave her this pleasure, owned her pleasure.

The fire in my core hit its peak, and I breathed into her air, “I need you, Liv.” She murmured her approval as I pushed her up against the tree.

Greedy fingers scratched open the button and zipper of her jeans, burying my hand in her panties, rimming her throbbing, wet core. Her breath sped up and the pulse of it on my neck scattered tingles across my flesh. She nudged her hand between our grinding bodies to palm me through the denim and I nearly came from her hot touch.

“Fuck, Squeaky,” I panted in between nips to her neck. “I’m gonna make you squeak like you never have before.”

“Is that so?” she challenged, biting me back. Fangs dented my skin to the point just before breaking. My nerves fired with a sharp sting. I fucking loved it when she got rough.

I loved that she was willing to fuck out in the open, not a care in the world, and certainly not shy about her curvy body. Thirty seconds was all it took to have her free of her clothes and me naked before her. Lifted in my arms, I hitched her legs around my hips and pinned her to the tree.

A strange prickle crawled across my back, giving me pause. I scanned over my shoulder, taking in every scent. Eucalyptus, loam, dried leaves and grass, flowers, stone and more. A crow cawed as it flapped overhead.

“What is it?” Liv brushed my face, calling my attention back to her.

“Nothing.” In one swift move, I hilted myself balls deep, waiting for her to catch her breath, then sawed my cock in and out of her. Every motion cost me greater than the last and my strength failed me. The same weakness draining me as the full moon.

I paused, gasping, catching my breath and preserving some strength. Low blood sugar. I fed Liv most of her and my meal. Spent most of my energy making love to her under the moon. All the more reason to finish up here, get the flower, and get back to Bathurst.

“Are you okay?” Liv’s eyes paled.

“Fine. I don’t think I ate enough.”

“I feel weak too.” She tuned into my weariness through the bond.

“Want me to stop?”

“Fuck no!”

I pushed on, pounding into her, making her eyes roll and her head tip backward, spiraling her clit until her first climax hit.

“One squeak down.” I counted with my fingers. “Let’s see if I can get another two.” I breathed on her neck, and she shivered.

“Cocky wolf.” Warmth flashed in my abdomen and core at her sexy, half lidded smile.

“Not heartless?”

“No.” Back arched, she peaked a second time, her pussy clenching down on me.

That broke me, lightning shooting up my spine as I came, jerking up into her, legs shaking with my release. I held her for a long while, just wanting to be entwined with her. Forehead pressed to hers, I kissed her nose, whispering sweet sentiments that won smiles.

We took our time unwinding our bodies, leveling our pulses and heartbeats, stretching into our clothes in between soft, glowing kisses and sweeps of palms.

Liv caught my jaw between her fingers, luring my gaze to hers. “I want you to have some of the proceeds from the dagger.” She slipped the thing from her pocket, the rubies like fire in the sunlight. “To set up new protective wards. But I want the sanctuary included in the deal.”

I brought her into my arms. “Whatever you want, Moonlight, it’s yours. But I’m gonna negotiate your ass off first.”