Page 15

–Callum–

NOTHING HAD BEEN more terrifying than coming upon one of Tadc’s wolves pinning down Storm earlier in a cave on the outskirts of my territory, but she had proven she could take care of herself with dragon fire, and I had never been more proud. I knew it had been her first kill, but thus far, she was taking it well enough. If it meant protecting those she loved, she would kill as many as she needed to.

Now, here we sat in Mave’s Den of Dens with the grey pup enjoying succulent meat he had well earned, and I finally, at last, shared the details of the day Mave and I had been turned wolf.

The day Tréan had overridden Tadc’s bite.

Even though it was years ago, the moment was bittersweet and felt rawer than ever as I shared it with my mate because of what Mave had done for me tonight. I was about to go on about that fateful day years ago and praise how strong Mave had been afterward despite our young age, but the pup alerted us to someone coming before even I picked it up.

We had just stood when Broderick ducked in out of the rain with enough blood still trickling down him to speak of a battle well fought. Surprisingly enough, the grey pup flew in his direction, not to attack but quite the opposite.

“What the?”

Storm murmured as Broderick’s dragon eyes flared, and he crouched down only for the pup—his grey pelt flickering with silvery flames—to leap into his arms as though happy to see him.

I had seen some odd things in my time but nothing like that, and while tempted to order Broderick to put the pup down because he was no wolf, I realized my order came from my possessiveness of Storm rather than good sense.

After all, based on Broderick’s grin and apparent fondness for the pup lapping at his neck and cuddling close, they had swiftly built some sort of camaraderie I didn’t understand despite meeting for the first time.

“And it will be a lasting bond,”

Storm said softly, seeming to understand what was happening based on the fiery flare in her eyes that was wolven and dragon. She shook her head, amazed. “That’s what, or should I say who kept my dragon magic hidden from Tadc earlier, and wow, that speaks to his power, doesn’t it?”

I realized she meant the pup as she embraced Broderick, clearly relieved to see him, and while she had every right to feel that way, my inner beast still got jealous. This time, I managed to push past it, but it was near crippling now we were fated mates. My wolf didn’t want her arms around any male but me and certainly didn’t want that male to be the wolf pup’s new hero.

“Yet you know why I am,”

Broderick said into my mind, not wanting to ruin the moment. “And ‘tis not because either of them sees me in higher standing than you.”

I hated that he was the wise one right now when, until a few short days ago, I had tried to practice wisdom in all things save Storm. She managed around my good thinking, and now Broderick did, too. Yet when I pushed past my possessiveness and saw how deeply she cared for the Scotsman, I saw what the pup had done for her tonight and how it would make Broderick, a full-grown male dragon, an instant wonder.

“The pup soaked up her dragon magic when she went to his rescue mid-battle so Tadc wouldn’t see it and realize how powerful she was,”

I said aloud, awed despite myself because, as Storm had said, it spoke to the pup’s powers. “Not only did he soak it up, but his inner beast made it his.”

Storm grinned and patted the pup, who seemed to be smiling, happy as ever in Broderick’s arms, but why shouldn’t he be? He had gone from being a shy underling compared to his outgoing siblings to a pup brave enough to face the storm and protect his pack, only to soak up dragon magic, making him as unique and powerful as Storm herself.

“’Tis something to be very proud of.”

Yet again, setting aside my wolf’s issues with Broderick, I joined them and scratched behind the pup’s ear because he had more than earned it.

As the pup had with Storm, he leaned into my touch, letting me know he loved me as much as he did Storm and Broderick and all those he meant to defend over the years because I didn’t doubt he would. Especially when his cool fire rolled over my hand, no more harmful to me than Storm’s.

“Have you any word on my sister?”

I frowned from the sheet of rain beyond the cave to the Scot. “Is she with you?”

“Nay,”

he said softly, giving me a look I didn’t much like and offering something I was tempted to accept. “Say the word, and I will go after her. If they but see my dragon, then—”

“No.”

Storm frowned and shook her head at Broderick. “We’ve already talked about this. If you attack as your dragon, they’ll likely swarm you and—”

“End him, to be sure,”

Gráinne said as she and Conner ducked in out of the rain. She spoke to me in that matriarch aunt way of hers. “’Tis best to remain here until daylight when our adversary is weakened, and we know where we stand.”

I could tell by the grim look on Gráinne’s and Conner’s faces as they made their way to mugs of ale and the temporary solace it could offer they weren’t pleased with how things had gone.

“Mave’s last order was to pull back and defend not just Storm and the pup but you and the pack at all costs, Callum,”

Broderick said when Gráinne seemed unable to voice the words. “Half her pack listened, and the other half, including her female, went after her.”

The Scotsman surprised me when he gripped my shoulder and squeezed, offering the moral support I needed. “I might have only met her briefly in battle, but your sister is one of the fiercest warriors I have ever seen. She will be all right.”

I hated that even now when he offered me solace, I felt a nugget of frustration, yet I did because he was everything I should be at the moment in front of my mate. I raked a hand through my hair, not seeing things clearly at all. I felt outside of myself in ways I should not right now. Torn in different directions when, normally, I mastered my emotions.

“I will go out and see to those brave enough to defend us,”

I ground out. “I will stand with them this night and—”

“No,”

Conner said before Gráinne had a chance to. He took charge in a way I knew my aunt appreciated because Mave being out there somewhere in heat with Tadc on her tail and only half her pack to defend her was beyond dangerous. “Right now, the best place for you is right here with Storm and the pup. Gráinne and I will rally the troops and set up a perimeter inside and out and lock this place down tight.”

When I started to shake my head, Conner arched his brows and narrowed his wolven eyes. “Remember what I said about killing you myself?”

He pointed from Storm to me, his eyes narrowing even further. “Leave my niece’s side tonight, and I’ll shove your dick down your throat first and make sure you choke on it. Not a noble way to go for an alpha, is it?”

“I could not have said it better,”

Gráinne said, her wolven eyes flaring with lusty approval as she grabbed a piece of meat off the table and strode after Storm’s uncle.

“Well, then that’s that, aye?”

Broderick stared after Conner with amusement and quirked the corner of his mouth at me before heading for the food with the pup in hand, throwing over his shoulder, “Good luck with your new in-law and his mate, laddie.”

Seeming to understand the avalanche of emotions both my human and wolven halves couldn’t make sense of, Storm slipped her hand into mine and pulled me back to the fire. Sitting me down, she crawled onto my lap, wrapped her arms around my neck, and rested her cheek against my chest, seeing into me like no other. She understood how difficult it would be to listen to Conner and Gráinne when Tadc and his men were likely pursuing my sister right now.

“You need to have faith in her,”

Storm said softly, inhaling so deeply I knew she dragged in my scent because she had no choice. Wrapping her arms more firmly around me, grounding me, she went on, saying everything I needed to hear. “Mave knows what she’s doing. You and I both know that. And we both know she’s one hell of a fighter, not to mention smart, so trust she knows what she’s doing.”

“I want to have faith,”

I rumbled, pulling in the sweet aroma of her hair along with a scent of arousal she couldn’t help despite the circumstances because we were mates in every sense of the word now and needed to lose ourselves in each other’s bodies more than ever. “Yet ‘tis hard not to go. Hard to sit here when I should be out there protecting her.”

I eyed our surroundings as more and more wolves filtered in, taking advantage of the food. They fell into a formation around Broderick and the pup I knew all too well. The little one would be better protected tonight than most and be treasured above all.

“Then let’s not sit here,”

Storm murmured in my ear. She met my eyes and traced her fingers along my jaw in a way that told me everything I needed to know. “Let’s try to rest, then wake when our enemy is at his weakest and decide our next steps.”

When I shook my head, wondering how I could make love to my woman while my sister was out there so vulnerable, Storm crawled off my lap and held out her hand. “Let’s just take each moment as it comes, okay? Moments alone somewhere we can rest, mate. Somewhere that I can comfort you until we fight once more.”

Something about the way she said that, with her vibrant green wolven eyes flaring at me, helped the fear inside me simmer down, and I slipped my hand into hers before letting her lead me into another cave, then another.

Seeming to understand where she was now, no doubt because of our ever-growing connection, Storm stopped in a small cave that wasn’t all that different from the one in which we first made love. This one, however, had a larger opening overhead, allowing more moisture to drift down.

Something she seemed to need, and I well understood as she tossed her fur to the ground and slowly untied the front of her tunic, clearly overheated with arousal based on the steam rolling off her skin.

I struggled to keep breathing, but it was impossible as she left her tunic open just enough to tempt me and bent over to pull her boots off one at a time, letting my eyes feast on her full cleavage. The more I watched her, the more everything else faded away. Especially when she pulled her tunic over her head, letting her full breasts spill free, only to tilt her head back, close her eyes, and open her mouth to the fine mist drifting down.

Swallowing hard, I fought the pain of my cock straining against my trousers and imagined licking the moisture off her lips, nearly groaning when her little pink tongue snaked out and did it for me. Grinding my teeth against my near-rabid need now, I trailed my eyes down as she slowly untied her trousers and let them fall, pooling around her ankles.

Where she had been self-conscious when we first lay together, the woman before me now caught in the vibrancy of my wolven sight was anything but. She reveled in her beauty and ran her hands down over her voluptuous breasts, the soft curve of her belly, and the flare of her hips in the wake of icy droplets that steamed on her hot skin.

Flesh, that was too hot for most, but not for me.

Or so I could only hope.

I couldn’t stop from drifting her way, as taken with her at this moment as I was when I first saw her through the fiery waters of a nightmare, only a thousandfold now. She was the most beautiful woman I had ever laid eyes on, with her brilliant red hair around her shoulders shimmering with a million tiny raindrops.

“Callum,”

she whispered, calling out to me, but she didn’t need to because I did away with my clothes with a chant and yanked her against me. I needed to be rougher than before in a way I didn’t understand, but it seemed she did because her wolven eyes met mine, and she released a low growl of not just need but acceptance.

Understanding as only fated mates could, I lifted her with one arm, encouraging her to wrap her legs around my waist, and dug a hand into her gorgeous hair. Where it should be wet, it wasn’t. It was warm and welcoming, a wild mane around her face and my shoulders, touching my skin with her inner fire, making blood pound all that much more intensely into my rigid erection.

Pulling her lips close, I hovered my mouth over hers and breathed in her taste. The sweet, hot, eager deliciousness that made me want to devour her. To pull in every bit of her arousal for me. Thunder crashed, vibrating the rock beneath, and rain poured even harder, creating a steady stream over us.

We grew slick against each other, and steam off her heated skin cocooned us in a private conclave of fog made of desire. I flicked my tongue over her lips and tasted her, groaning as her flavor pooled on my tongue, then slid down my throat. In turn, she did the same, flicking her tongue over my lips, her eyelids drifting as she savored my taste with a throaty groan of approval before flicking her tongue again and murmuring against my lips, “Back up, mate.”

Doing as she asked, my back hit the cold rock wall, creating a pleasant contrast when combined with her hot body, hotter still as fire curled over her. Dangerous fire born of her arousal, but flames I was willing to risk all the same, knowing I would face eternal fire if it meant feeling this for one more minute.

I sensed she had no way of knowing any more than I did what these newfound flames born from the power of fated mates would mean, only that neither of us had any choice but to face them. Give into them. Especially when she gripped the rock above me, dug her hand into my hair, forced me to meet her fiery wolven eyes, and sank onto my eager cock.

I braced my legs, willing them to hold us up, and inhaled at the exquisite sensation of sinking into her tight, blazing-hot sheath. It had been so perfect and mindblowing and untouchable before, but now...now it made me a slave to her in every way possible. I had never felt anything like this.

Anything like her.

And everything got better and better as her hungry sheath hovered halfway down my cock, teasing and tempting as she kissed me softly. Finally, eventually, drawing out the moment, her gaze locked with mine, and she sank all the way, letting me see the way her eyes rolled back in her head at how good I made her feel. She let me see my wolf was just as powerful as her dragon, and her flames would never hurt me but cherish and caress me. Pull me ever closer.

After that, I sensed we both wanted it to be slow and romantic so we could savor every moment, but our beasts thought otherwise, and it became a mad frenzy of desperation. Of taking and giving melded into pure craze as she rode me, and I rode her, steering her up and down my thick, swollen arousal, needing to burst inside her so much I was caught somewhere between terrible pain and unthinkable pleasure. One second, my back was against the wall, the next hers, then mine again, then hers.

We rolled against the rock wall, oblivious to its cold, hard edges until they were no more, and we ended up on warm, plush grass made of our magic that hadn’t been there before. Soon enough, she ended up beneath me, her back to my front, and my primal needs took over, made entirely of my inner beast.

I wanted to yank her back onto her knees and slam into her until she was swollen with my offspring, but I understood that wasn’t how this should go. Not at first. Rather, I rolled her onto her side with her back to my front, tilted her chin until I could close my lips over hers, and kissed her deeply.

She groaned with approval when I slipped my hand between her thighs and teased her sensitive, swollen flesh, pleased by how soaked she was. Waiting until she was close to the edge, her breathing choppy against my lips, I wrapped an arm under her knee, lifted her leg, and filled her in one long, hard thrust.

Releasing a long, low, broken cry, she sailed over the edge, trembling against me, her sheath clamping down so hard on my cock it was a wonder she didn’t take me with her. Yet, I somehow managed to hold back, nibbling my way down her neck as she milked me so intensely my tether snapped, and I had no choice but to move, desperate to ease the terrible ache that had built since last I had her. Desperate to let go and fill her again and again.

Clutching the grass, she released a lusty little groan of approval that drove me wild, and I moved faster until she cried out in another release, and I pressed deep inside her, exploding with a hoarse roar. Yet again, the sensation of emptying myself inside her was impossible to describe. The best sort of rush. And it seemed she felt the same based on the way she let go even harder this time, shaking in my arms, her breathing as harsh as mine.

After that, we drifted in each other’s arms for a time, relishing how we made each other feel until our lips connected again, and we started all over. I couldn’t say how many times we brought each other to peak that night, only that every time somehow outdid the last. Nothing compared to being in my fated mate’s arms and experiencing everything she made me feel. There could be no doubt I would crave her every hour of every day for the rest of this life and all to follow.

Lives that would soon have to sustain me, given what we woke up to after drifting off at some point, and I made the only decision I could, no matter how difficult.