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“O nce I check on my mate and see how she’s doing, I’ll bring her over. Your mates can take her into town to the clothing depot. I’m sure Morlie is tired of being stuck inside.” Chanin picked up his jeans, which were still resting in a pile at the end of the pass.

Returning to the inhabited part of his territory had taken him and Bleddyn longer than when they left since Chanin refused to let his wolf out until they were far away from the Fang and their captive.

Even as they ran toward home, his wolf kept images of it ripping out Farkas’s wolf’s throat, and with the vision, the metallic taste of blood remained on Chanin’s tongue—his wolf was ready for the kill.

The brisk run home hadn’t diminished it.

“I’ll let my she-wolves know to expect her.” His Beta dragged a shirt over his head.

Chanin pulled on his shirt. “In about a couple hours, Faolan and his warriors should arrive with Farkas. Wolves will have questions once they see the rogue escorted through the streets. I’ll address the Pack as they get him settled in interrogation.”

Bleddyn stood adjusting the dials at the top of his handheld before snapping it onto his belt. “A couple hours is enough time to reconnect with my mates.”

He woofed at the sly smile his Beta gave him. They headed in the direction of their houses. “I never understood why you were compelled to get back to them when we were out or hesitant to leave them when we were surveying the territory. But now—”

Chanin’s words dropped. His chest was filled with so many emotions regarding Morlie that everything inside of him swelled, and his skin felt foreign to him.

How had the Great Spirit brought someone into his life who would become the entirety of his existence?

It confounded him, amazed him, and caused warmth to fill his gut and surround his heart.

A part of him thought he would never feel anything except pride in his Pack. Now he had her.

“Leaves you awed, doesn’t it?” Bleddyn pounded him on the back.

Still staggered by his emotions, he punched his Beta’s shoulder. “Only the Great Spirit knows how you have the strength to stand each day...with two.” Chanin lifted his hand, displaying two fingers.

“Extra protein at every meal...” His Beta winked.

They continued forward as they discussed various Pack matters needing their attention. “Once Farkas is handled for good, things around here can return to normal without the members constantly looking over their shoulders for a vicious, unprovoked attack.”

“Tracking him down couldn’t have come at a better time, with the lunar pull coming to its zenith in a few days. Nothing like a celebratory run.”

Chanin’s heart pounded as his wolf stressed and rolled to its back with thoughts of them claiming Morlie on the night of the run. He exhaled.

“I agree.” Chanin felt his gut tightening as he saw his home at the end of the break in the trees.

Mine . Chanin’s wolf panted.

Chanin knew his beast’s words didn’t refer to the actual structure before them but the person inside it.

Home. He’d never ascribed that sentiment to his residence. It was always where he met with his pack leaders or laid his head at the end of an exhausting day. But now, with the petite brown-skinned beauty inside waiting for him, it changed everything.

Chanin quickened his steps.

“I’ll meet up with you soon, Alpha.” Bleddyn took the split in the path and headed for his place.

Focused on one thing, Chanin may have offered his Beta a nod, but he wasn’t sure and didn’t care. Instead, he reached out to his mate. Open the door, little rabbit.

He’d barely taken the second step to his home when the front door was flung open, and she stood there framed by the entrance.

She dashed across the porch in a flash and launched herself at him.

In the next breath, he caught her as her small form collided with his.

Morlie surrounded him in warmth. She wrapped her legs around his waist and arms around his shoulders, and he captured her mouth in a demanding kiss. He took her mouth hard and deep.

The heat of her sex radiated through the materials between them and caressed his cock. He thrust against her and choked down the moan of her response as he ground his length over her clit. Her body shuddered.

He recalled what it felt like to have her pussy wet and tight around him as tremors raced along her walls and stroked his cock.

The thought that the fierceness of his kiss would bruise her mouth only made him kiss her harder, driving his tongue deeper. He wanted her marked by him in every way. When others saw her, he wanted the marks to scream that she belonged to him. She was his .

Never in his life had he felt so consumed, connected by another. Morlie had the power to destroy him. She could rip out his heart and leave him bleeding and dying on the earth, yet with his last breath, he would yearn for her still.

He'd laughed if anyone had asked him before his thoughts on that kind of devotion. Calling them a fool, nothing that intense between two individuals, could be anything but a sign of weakness.

But it was power.

He felt it surging through his veins and strengthening his soul.

As he shifted his mouth to take her deeper, he plowed his hands into her hair, fisting her short, wild, sexy curls to hold her closer as her moans vibrated along the sensitive skin of his mouth.

He understood why the Great Spirit put mates together.

Not to become one but because the creator knew that both people became their greatest formidable selves as they walked beside the other.

I missed you, mate.

Oh, little rabbit, I know just how you can show me how much.

He slipped his hand from her lower back to her ass and squeezed the firm globe. She was small in stature, but her ass was a work of art. Refusing to end the kiss, he mindlessly carried her up the remaining stairs and into the house. Swinging one foot behind him, he kicked the door closed.

“One moment, he just returned...” Rudie’s voice came from the direction of the living room. “Alpha.”

Chanin groaned as he drove his tongue one last time into Morlie’s mouth.

She whimpered when he ended the kiss.

Still standing by the door, holding Morlie, and ready to make a beeline to the bedroom, knowing his assistant would get the hint and find her way out, Chanin glanced at Rudie.

His assistant stood a few feet from him with the radio in her hand. “Whoever it is, it can wait.”

He began to turn toward his destination, growling as Morlie licked a path up his neck to his ear.

Chanin prayed for strength. His cock was a steel pole in his jeans, begging him to lay his mate down on the first available surface and take her.

He’d slam his cock into her so deep and hard she’d scream in pleasure until her pussy was quivering around him, and she was gushing, soaking them both in her essence.

“It’s the Drahk.”

Not ‘Drahks,’ as in it could be anyone from the dragon-shifters’ communication team. No, it was Aodh.

Morlie gasped.

Chanin could not ignore a call from the shifters, among whom his mate’s sister lived.

He sighed and loosened his hold until she slipped from his arms and stood before him.

Morlie’s eyes were wide, and curiosity brightened them.

As he looked at his mate without the lust that was clouding his gaze, he noticed she had a bruise on the side of her face, and her nose was swollen.

His wolf growled.

Someone would answer for what he was seeing. Right now, he needed to focus on the call.

Chanin and Aodh had never discussed the unique situation involving the two sisters they were mated to and the appropriate time before contact happened between the females.

However, the Preternatural Council treaty agreements laid out the importance of new shifters and their mates having time to complete the change process and become acclimated to their new world.

So, this better be damn important. More than just Aodh’s mate entreating the massive dragon to talk to her sister. Chanin shielded those thoughts from Morlie.

“It must be fucking leader day.”

Rudie and Morlie frowned at his words. He’d explain Dov's contact and Farkas to them later.

“Hand it here.” Too horny to be polite, Chanin held his palm out for the device.

Rudie gave it over.

Holding Morlie at his side because he knew she wouldn’t go far knowing that someone from the Drahk territory was on the radio, he growled, “Aodh? Over.”

“Chanin. I wouldn’t contact you during mating time if it weren’t important. Over.” The head dragon’s heavy, gruff texture that always sounded like the male was a breath away from spitting out a flame of fire came through the radio channel.

“I’d hope not.” Aodh’s words caused Chanin’s grip to tighten around the device. “What’s going on? Over.”

“The situation is too long to share in this form of communication.” Aodh paused. “That’s part of the reason I’ve reached out. Over.”

“I’m still not following. Over.” Chanin frowned and caressed a hand up the back of Morlie’s shirt, drawing comfort from touching her.

“There will be an end-of-life ceremony tonight in my territory. Over.” There seemed to be weight to Chanin’s council member’s voice.

“Is it Kai? Has something happened to my sister?” Morlie’s lips trembled, and fear filled her pretty, light-brown eyes as she clutched his shirt.

“Aodh, my mate is present. I’ll warn you to choose your next words wisely. Over,” Chanin growled, not giving a dozen fucks care if his words came out as a threat. When it came to his mate being hurt, he’d handle any force to protect her.

“Roger that.” Aodh’s textured baritone came through. “Our oldest dragon’s flame is snuffed out. The connection to your mate is familial.”

Family? Morlie met his gaze, confusion in her eyes.

Chanin tightened his arm around his mate’s waist, drawing her closer.

“Say again.”

“Our oldest Drahk passed. That dragon was kin to your mate and mine. Over.” The dragon-shifter repeated.