Page 46 of Rugged Hearts: Part One

“Faster,” I beg. He must see whatever he needs in my expression as he begins to move faster. I can feel his knot start to swell. Holy shit how is he going to fit? That panicked thought is buried as he keeps moving and that knot teases my entrance. I’m holding his hand against my face so tightly as he fucks into me with abandon. My body is screaming at me, more, need more. Need the knot, the connection. I feel lost to this moment as I shout, “Keelan, now!”

Without waiting, his knot finally enters and locks in, triggering one of the most intense orgasms of my life to wash over me. On instinct, I turn slightly to the hand I’ve been holding onto and bite into his wrist. All I hear is Keelan nearly roaring above me and then I feel pain at the left side of my neck. The pain is washed away as the connection that my body was craving this whole time forms. I thought it meant the connection from a knot. It was the bond.I just bonded Keelan.All I feel is pure love from him. It’s everything and too much all at once. We’re locked together with his knot still inside me.

I lick and suck at my bond mark. Tending to it seems to be instinctual. I feel him doing the same. After a minute or two of that he maneuvers us so he’s lying down on his back and I’m completely on top of him. We’re both breathing heavily and basically still fully clothed. It’s such an odd sensation feeling someone so deep inside yourself, and I don’t mean his knot. The bond is always described as a soul-deep connection. I never really knew how to interpret that. I mean, how can you without feeling it for yourself? His scent feels more intense now. The emotions filtering in from him are pure love and happiness. He’s so happy, I’m surprised. I bonded him without asking. Hell, we never even talked about it. We literally just admitted to falling in love and now we’re bonded. What do I do? Is the pack going to hate menow? What if something happens to him, like Connor? I really won’t survive it now.

“Hey, what’s going on? Your emotions are all over the place,” he says and then a horrified look crosses his face. “Do you regret the bond?”

“What, no! Aren’t you mad at me? You should be, I didn’t get your permission. None of us talked about bonding and I just did it. You all should hate me,” I say, not able to hold back the few tears that escape as I come down from the mini heat and rush of emotion.

He’s running his hands up and down my back, his fingers making little scritches that I can feel even through my sweater. “First, I am most definitely not mad. You’re right about not asking permission but I forgive you for that,” he says teasingly. “Baby Girl, I’ve been okay with the idea of bonding with you for longer than you’d probably be comfortable with. You’re my scent match; I’ve taken that seriously since the beginning.” He raises his hand, the one I marked, and brushes some hair out of my face. I can’t help but turn into the action and then kiss my mark on him. A lightning of pleasure courses through him and I think his cock jumped inside me. Good to know for later.

After taking a deep breath, he says, “Second, the pack will not be mad for the same reason I’m not. We’ve been all in from the beginning. Take things at your pace, we never wanted to rush you before you were comfortable for something. And last, we’re bonded so if you ever doubt how I feel, just reach out and feel it for yourself, understood?”

Looking at him and feeling the truth in his words helps push down and silence more of those panicked thoughts. “Yes sir,” I can’t help but say, immediately feeling what those words do to him. Yup our first time outside a mini heat where we can take our time. It should be interesting.

“Whatever you’re thinking, maybe pause that because it’s not helping my knot go down any time soon.”

Laughing at that I relax fully and rest my head against hischest. I send my own feelings down the bond to him, the ones I voiced earlier and maybe some unspoken ones too. The return wave of emotion he sends feels like it’s filling that deep dark hole in me, even just a little bit.

I don’t know what’s going to happen next but I don’t regret today. I stopped running like I wanted. Maybe everything happened a little too fast but it feels right. Well, if Connor is haunting me, I hope he enjoyed the show.

37

ELI

I’m pacing the living room with my anxiety through the roof. Keelan texted a while ago and said everyone needs to come home ASAP. Last time he did that was when Thea broke down on the anniversary of Connor’s death. Did she have another panic attack like at the bowling alley? I was working in my home office. Parker is sitting on the couch, knee bouncing up and down as he picks at his nails. He’s just as much of a mess as me right now. Ben files in, then Jake, who I think was sleeping since he’s had odd shift hours lately. Just Micah, Liam, and Keelan are missing. Micah begrudgingly arrives with the same sour expression he’s had the last few weeks. Liam takes the longest which is understandable since he was at his office, I think.

Now we’re just missing Keelan. I pull out my phone and call him, too impatient to text. He answers quickly. “Everyone home?” he asks right off the bat.

“Yes,” I bite out, “where are you?”

“On my way, one minute.” He hangs up. Everyone is looking at me expectantly. Before I can say anything we hear someone coming down the stairs. Has he been home this whole time? What the hell?

He walks in slowly, his hand behind his back in a weird position. He stops at the doorway. I seriously do not have the patience for this with how worried I am. He’s wearing sweats and it looks like he just showered. It’s the middle of the day. Kind of weird for him, but he makes his own schedule.

“I can see you’re all worried, don’t be it’s nothing bad. So relax,” he says.

“Why did we need to rush home in the middle of the day?” Micah barks out, not that it has any effect on us. I notice something shift behind Keelan, I can’t tell what, but Micah’s tone definitely seems to have pissed him off.

“Maybe ask nicer and I’ll tell you,” Keelan taunts.

“Come on Keelan, you scared most of us with that text, out with it,” Ben the peacemaker says.

“I saw Thea today.” I notice Liam stiffen a little. What’s up with that? “We talked and some developments happened,” he continues.

“For fuck’s sake, did you have us come home just so you could tell us you two fucked?” Micah growls, anger evident in every word.

The growl that escapes Keelan even has me taking a step back. I’ve seen him angry. Hell, he even punched Micah last year after everything happened with our ex. But this is something else. Looking around the room, I see that I’m not the only one surprised, Micah more than anyone else, which is hilarious. He’s so oblivious.

“You say something like that again and our little fight last year will look like child’s play.” Micah actually looks contrite.Again, there’s that movement behind Keelan but the fucker is so big it’s hard to notice or tell what it is.Could it be Duke? No with Micah here, he’d be cuddled up with him.

“As I was saying there were some developments—the long and short of it is we bonded,” he says and the silence in the room even from Micah is deafening. Someone always has something tosay in this pack at any given point. How the hell did that happen? Did he bite her without permission?

I must not be the only one who thought that Jake is suddenly standing and walking towards Keelan. “Did you mark her without her okay?” Jake growls out.

“Of course I didn’t,” Keelan says, obviously offended we would think that of him, but how else did it happen?

“There’s no way she would have done something like that, she’s been so tentative about all of this. Something isn’t adding up,” Ben says.