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She yelped but rolled her eyes.

“I need to get ready to go soon. How are you, mate?” He dragged his other hand down her spine until he palmed both cheeks.

“Good.”

When he squeezed her ass, slid out of her an inch, and pressed back in, she gasped as heat spiraled up from her sex into her core. She couldn’t help but flex her walls around his hardening length inside her.

She moaned, then teased, “I guess I should get up so you can get ready.”

“Or you can shower with me.” Not waiting for her answer, Chanin managed to roll up to his knees with ease, still holding her body fused to his.

She gasped in surprise at his agility and strength as she grasped his shoulders and linked her ankles at the small of his back.

He moved with fluidity as he got off the bed and strutted them to the bathroom. Chanin never set her down as he continued entering the shower. Once inside the gigantic stall, he cupped her ass in one large hand as he turned the lever for the water.

Morlie shrieked when cold water rained down on them from the showerhead above them. “It’s cold.” She shivered against him.

“No worries, little bunny, I have wicked plans to warm you up.” He lowered his head and claimed her mouth as his hands lifted her halfway up his shaft.

His tight grip kept her pressed to him and immobilized as he began a slow, deep drive inside of her walls.

His seed and her cream still combined inside her eased his way.

The water began to warm, and the air thickened with steam, and she wasn’t sure if the actual temperature had changed or if Chanin’s lovemaking had her body heating up so much they were changing the atmosphere.

Either way, she didn’t care because of what he was doing to her. His fierce thrust and spine-bending cadence were tumbling her straight to ecstasy. She slipped her hands around his neck and let him lead them both into the pleasure gates.

An hour later, after he’d fucked her and then finally allowed them to wash, only to bend her toward the wall and retake her, they dressed and exited the bedroom to the inviting smell of toast. Her wolf was starving.

“Morning, Alpha. Morlie.” Rudie was slicing oranges at the kitchen island as two pieces of bread popped up in the toaster behind her.

Unlike last night's greeting, Morlie smiled at the short-statured woman. “Hi. Thank you for last night.”

Rudie continued slicing oranges. “No worries. New wolves are temperamental and territorial. We’ve all seen it before.”

“Too many times to count.” Chanin stepped close to Morlie and placed a kiss on her temple. “Mate, I’ll see you soon.” He made eye contact with Rudie. “Runt, take care of what’s mine.”

“Yeah, yeah, Alpha. Grab your toast.” Rudie pointed a thumb over her shoulder to the counter. “Bleddyn said he would meet you at the pass.”

“Got it.” He snagged his bread from the toaster and headed to the front door.

Everything about Chanin drew her. Morlie couldn’t help watching him strut toward the door.

The confident movements of his broad shoulders and the play of muscles of his back beneath the cotton material of his shirt had her swallowing back a moan.

Her mind remembered gripping those muscles in her hands as he overwhelmed her with passion.

Her gaze was on its way to his perfect ass in his worn jeans when she realized his body shifted back toward her.

Little bunny, I don’t need to meet my Beta with my dick hard.

Her gaze shot up to Chanin’s face, her cheeks on fire. She was embarrassed to be caught fantasizing about him. For a moment, she forgot that he couldn’t only hear her thoughts but also feel her intense emotions.

But I promise to fuck you when I return. Chanin winked at her and left.

Heat ran down her spine and bloomed in her core. She fanned herself and turned to face Rudie. Rudie's face gave away nothing if the other woman picked up on anything between her and Chanin. Morlie was grateful for that.

“Can I help you cook?” Morlie asked, trying to keep herself busy so her thoughts wouldn’t get carried away by sexy images of Chanin. Or worrying about him out hunting his cousin.

“Yes. I’d love that.” She looked at Morlie. “You want to handle the juice or prep the spaghetti squash to go into the oven?”

Morlie chuckled. “I have zero experience cooking, so if you want edible food, I better handle the juice.”

Rudie laughed with her. “Okay. Then I’ll handle the vegetables.”

After Rudie explained and showed her how to place half of the orange into the handheld citrus squeezer, Morlie took it over.

Rudie grabbed the butcher’s knife from a block and placed the sizeable, yellow gourd on a board.

While Morlie continued to press out the juice into a pitcher, she watched the other woman slice the dense squash with ease and prepare it with oil, salt, and pepper. She quickly chopped other veggies with it. “You seem so at ease handling things in the kitchen. I feel so inadequate.”

“Don’t.” Rudie placed the item in the oven and then picked up a towel to wipe her hands.

“I was so young, and smaller than most for way too long. I felt as if I didn’t fit or belong anywhere but tagging along behind Chanin.

So, when I couldn’t hide behind his shadow, I found solace in the kitchen.

No one cares if you’re a runt when you’re cooking.

Chanin liked eating, so it worked. When he became Alpha and I got old enough, he told me I could better serve the pack as his assistant. It worked.”

Morlie gathered the orange peelings and dropped them into the trash at the end of the counter. “I wonder how I’ll fit into Chanin’s life, the pack.”

“The easy answer. I’ll teach you to cook. To feed the Alpha. If that is something you want.”

“I want.” Morlie nodded and exhaled with relief as she leaned back against the island. “I don’t mind you being here. You’re fairly unintrusive. But I would like to know I can do something as domestic as provide for him and any children.”

“That’s understandable.” Rudie went to the refrigerator, took out a wedge of cheese and roasted rabbit, then set them on the counter. “In the bigger picture...you’re his mate. Period. You’ll rule beside him once you adjust to all of this, and you’re fully claimed.”

Rule? Claimed? Morlie’s head was spinning. Rudie made it sound as if there was something else she needed to do or accomplish.

Knock. Knock.

Before she could get clarification, the knocking drew both of their attention.

“Are you expecting someone?” Frowning, Morlie glanced from the door to Rudie.

“Nope.” Rudie started to move toward the door.

“I’ll get it.”

“You sure?” Rudie’s face was tight with concern.

Morlie saw the worry on the younger woman’s features. However, she was sure Chanin’s assistant was apprehensive about who was on the other side and if that person was Minsi.

For her, Morlie was more inclined to hope it was Amira and Lovel, not someone who came to cause her harm while Chanin was away.

If it were Chanin’s ex, Morlie would face it head-on.

Even knowing that with only twenty-four hours to her credit as a shifter, she probably still could not beat the she-wolf in a fight, but she wouldn’t back down.

For a moment, she did consider grabbing the knife, just in case. Instead, she headed to the front.

“We’ll both go.” Rudie followed a couple of steps behind her as they crossed the dining room then the living room.

At the door, Morlie inhaled, but she couldn’t pick up any of the person’s scent through the heavy wood. She gripped her bravery with both hands and then opened the door.

Morlie stared at the woman on the porch before her.

The woman’s sharp, intense stare held Morlie’s.

The stranger’s pride and confidence were evident in the upward angle of her chin, and her shoulders sat back and proud, even as she stood with both hands shoved into the pocket of loose-fit pants with a wide stance.

“May I help you?”

“Hello, Morlie. I’m here to teach you how to kick Minsi’s ass and finally put her in her place,” the woman declared.

Stepping up beside Morlie, Rudie gasped, but a broad smile still stretched the assistant’s mouth. “Morlie, let me introduce you to Rieka, the Alpha’s mother.”