Page 11

–Callum–

THE MOMENT STORM made clear she was ready for me to claim her, giving me permission it felt like I'd waited my whole life for, I swept her up into my arms and headed deeper into the caves behind the cliff on which we had just been standing.

I might know nothing of virgins, but I knew everything about Storm, so I would make this good for her. As good as possible because she deserved it. Everything if I could give it to her. Yet, as I carried her further into the caves, it simmered in the back of my mind that I couldn’t give her much of anything now I was exiled.

Simmered despite her making clear it didn’t matter.

A part of me knew I should stop and bring her to her cousins whether she liked it or not, but a bigger part, my inner beast, knew it was far too late for that. She had granted me permission and wanted it as much as I did, so I couldn't stop from taking what had been offered to me. What had been mine since we first connected beneath the fiery and stormy waters of the worst day of her life.

This cave system was less traveled and more desolate than the last, so it was unfamiliar to me, but my wolf seemed to know where to go because I took several turns into smaller caves before coming to one that was intimate and unique, suiting us both.

“This is beautiful,”

she said softly when I set her down in nothing more than a large bed-sized alcove of moss encompassed in roots that ran up as high as we could see, vanishing somewhere that allowed fresh air to sweep down. Not much, but enough to cool the skin. Storm’s eyes were glassy with emotion when she looked at me. “This is perfect.”

“As are you,”

I said just as softly, reeling her close again so she could feel the heat of my body. The strength and protection I would forever offer her because she was my queen in every sense of the word. We might not be wed yet or even fully mated, but I belonged to her, and I wanted her to feel that in every kiss.

Every last touch.

So I started there with a simple touch, keeping my eyes with hers, letting her see the desire I felt for her. How beautiful she was. How precious and untouchable. I hated how she had felt less than that in life because she was stunning—far more than her cousins, in my opinion.

I lightly traced one of her delicate eyebrows, then ran my fingers just as feather-light over her temple and along her jawline because I knew she preferred a light touch to a heavy one. At least at certain times, and this was one of them. I trailed my fingers just as softly down the side of her neck before wrapping my hand under her ear to the back of her neck, noting how her eyes drifted a little when I did, telling me that area pleasured her.

Then I did what I’d wanted to do since first laying eyes on her and released her hair from its binds, mesmerized as it cascaded down her back and over her shoulders, framing her face in pure fire. I swallowed hard at the sight of her because she was every bit as gorgeous as her inner beast, the emerald green of her eyes brighter still when framed by the blaze of her auburn locks.

I struggled to breathe as I sifted my hand through its silkiness, wanting it all over me. Against me. I wanted to see her surrounded by it when I took her and wanted to be surrounded by it when she took me.

While tempted to undress her slowly and enjoy looking at every last inch of her, preferably when kneeling before her, I knew even though she should, she didn’t have the confidence for that yet. I needed to build that within her until she saw herself clearly, and the best way to do that was to push her past thinking to simply feeling and letting go. She needed to feel sensual and beautiful until all her insecurities were stripped away.

To that end, I returned to where we left off that morning and scooped her up again before laying my fur cloak on the moss. Then, I sat with her on my lap and closed my lips over hers before she grew too nervous because I knew she would.

After that, despite being determined to go about this a certain way, our inner beasts took over because kissing her was like nothing else I had ever felt. Like losing and finding myself all at once. Hot and delicious, and I wanted more. Everything. And my cock agreed because I grew painfully hard as our kiss deepened and our tongues tangled. Both of us groaned, needy and desperate for more.

So desperate I hardly realized I chanted away our clothes when I’d meant to go much slower until I felt her flesh against mine, and I was lowering her to the fur. It didn’t matter, though, because our lips barely separated as our kisses only grew hungrier.

Giving her no time to think, only feel, I gently ran my fingers along the soft contours of her lush body, grazing her skin enough to please her. Then, I delved into the warm, wet folds between her thighs, kissing her more deeply still when she tensed. Within seconds, she relaxed and released a throaty little groan of approval when I stroked her flesh and rolled the pad of my thumb over the nub at the center of her pleasure.

Desperate to taste more of her, I kept working at her sensitive flesh, pleased by how wet she was, and kissed, nipped, and flicked my tongue down her neck, groaning at the feel of her beneath my lips.

I liked that she wasn’t as slender as her cousins but more full-figured with lush, round breasts and flared hips. She was built for pleasure, and I soaked it up as I caressed a breast and pulled a pebbled nipple into my mouth. When Storm groaned louder this time and arched against me, I slid a finger inside her slowly, pleased when she didn’t tense but spread her thighs wider and accepted me.

I reined in my overwhelming need to sink far more than my finger into her hot, tight sheath and suckled her nipple while stroking, mesmerized by the expression of bliss and desire on her face.

I knew she was close when her cheeks flushed, and she drew in a ragged breath. So I pressed a second finger in and nearly let go myself when her eyes rolled back in her head, and she cried out, her sheath clamping down hard, as she soared over the edge.

Mesmerized by the ecstasy on her face as her head thrust back and her lips parted, I watched her for a moment, then made my way down her body, kissing and cherishing every curve, eager to taste her pleasure. And she tasted as good as she smelled, not fighting me when I put my mouth where my fingers had just been, drinking up every last bit of her.

Her inhibitions faded under how I continued making her feel. I licked, nibbled, and tasted, building her up all over again, and her desperation grew. Her need for all of me. Yet I would see her let go one more time first, and it came swiftly when I combined my fingers with my mouth and sent her over the edge again.

When she came down this time, my mouth hovered close, and my eyes locked with hers when they finally drifted open. Giving her no time to think, I took advantage of the dreamy, sensual bliss in which she drifted, closed my lips over hers, and settled between her thighs.

As she returned my deep, hungry kisses, I rubbed my cock slowly back and forth over her sensitive, soaked flesh, readying her for me. I was larger than two fingers, to be sure, so this would be an adjustment, but based on the way she pushed back against me and groaned, it was time, so I pressed forward. Clenching my jaw against the extraordinary feeling of sliding into her, I prayed I didn’t hurt her.

“It doesn’t hurt,”

she managed hoarsely, her loving gaze finding mine. She tried to say something else, but the words died on her lips, and her eyelids fluttered as I pressed deeper, doing away with her virginity. She inhaled sharply, her pupils flared, magnifying the brilliant green within them, and she gasped, “Don’t stop,”

when I thought she might want otherwise.

Never hearing sweeter words, I couldn’t help a deep rumble of approval and pressed forward, filling her completely, pleased she could take all of me. More pleased still by the immense pleasure I felt being inside her. While it was safe to say my cock liked it, my mind, heart, and inner beast did too because I nearly let go then and there, desperate to fill her with seed and claim her as mine. May another wolf never go near her again.

When she inhaled shakily, adjusting to my intrusion, I steered her mouth back to mine, cupped her cheek, and kissed her again. Kissed her with everything I felt, which was so very much. So much more than I had ever felt, not just physically but emotionally, and I knew she felt the same as her body eased and her hands drifted to me. They trailed over my shoulders and down my back, touching me so affectionately, in all the right places, learning me as I learned her, and I instinctively pressed further.

She gasped against my lips in what I thought was pain but ended up being pleasure because she spread her legs wider, shifted her pelvis, took me deeper still, and groaned for more.

Needing no further coaxing, I moved, thrusting slowly at first while she continued adjusting to me until she started moving, and I had no choice but to thrust faster. Harder. I felt the much-welcome sting of her nails on my back as her pleasure grew, and she held on tight, urging me on.

“Oh, God,”

she moaned by my ear as I lowered myself down, careful not to crush her, so she felt all of me moving against her. The sweat of our bodies in the heat of passion. The hair on my chest against her sensitive breasts. The strength of my body inside and out. Her own inner strength and sensual power in how much she owned every inch of me as I covered her with my scent, and she covered me with hers.

She claimed me as I claimed her when we let go together in an explosion unlike any other. I felt her inner beast roaring to the surface and buried myself in her, holding on tight because I had no choice when fire raced down my spine and seized my ballocks in painful need. I might be an alpha king, but at that moment, I needed her permission to take everything she offered me.

Her permission to claim her in the best way possible.

“Callum,”

she whimpered, locking up against me as her pleasure crested sharply, the wolf flaring in her glorious green eyes when she froze in limbo in my arms, understanding what I had just realized. “Let go.”

At her command, at least this first time, my inner beast met hers, and I locked up against her, roaring under the primeval, raw, wild sensation of pouring myself into her and the untouchable rush of pleasure that came with it.

I had no concept of time after that, only that I seemed to find endless carnal relief inside her. In turn, she milked me so long and hard, drawing every last bit of me deeper, our groans of release unending, that I knew my seed would quicken in her womb swiftly if I took her when she was in heat.

Although we were nowhere near talking about offspring, I sensed it would be unnecessary because of how she had been with Ceara’s pups when they were in the twenty-first century. What I sensed from them, in turn, after having spent so little time with her, was wholesome and loving. They had taken to her every bit as much as she’d taken to them, telling me all I needed to know because I sensed it in her even now. She would make a wonderful mother and would like to have children, even if they were born with the curse of the wolf.

“It’s no curse,”

Storm whispered raggedly in my ear. Her voice was choppy, and her body trembled as she struggled to breathe, holding onto me like she never wanted to let go. “Nothing about being a wolf is a curse.”

While glad to hear her say it, I still wouldn’t have wanted it for her. Yet when I kissed her temple, cupped her cheek, and gazed into her eyes, I found them glistening with unshed tears. Understanding what she couldn’t say because emotion thickened her throat, I remained deep inside her and brushed my lips over hers, glad she had embraced her inner beast so swiftly. Glad that she was grateful she’d been turned wolf because it had brought her to me.

Though I had meant to kiss her softly and then reassure her I understood and felt the same, she seized my lips and took the words out of my mouth, hungry for more. Hungry for how we had just made each other feel and for the life we could have together. Hungry for the wolf inside us and the chance to meet again when embracing our inner beasts once more.

While I worried it might be too much too soon if I took her again, Storm made it clear in all the best ways possible that it was not. Moreover, she ignited the beginning of a night that would change so very much.