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She went around the room, flicking on lights, and he understood it was more out of habit than a need to see. Their canine vision made the extra light unnecessary.

“Talk to me.”

“When I was younger and ill, Kai did everything for me. Even her decision to leave the Wall territory was because she wanted to protect me from what was killing me and whatever plans our government had for me. Even when I was better, she mothered me among the Drahks, where it was safe.” She met his gaze from across the bed, still laden with breeding furs, and he couldn’t help but wonder how soon his mate would carry his child.

He focused back on her words. “And me?”

“You. But as soon as Minsi became a threat to me, you did exactly what Kai always did.” Her arms waved around as she spoke. “You put bumpers, by way of guards, around me, ensuring nothing could come near me.”

Chanin stepped toward her, his shins touching the bed that sat large between them, a barrier.

“I wanted to keep you safe—” He lifted a hand to forestall her when she started to speak.

“Not in the way you think. You needed time to become stronger and merge with every level of your wolf. We all need that. It wouldn’t have been fair for me as your mate or Alpha to give Minsi such an unfair advantage.

She could have killed you.” He set his hands on his hips. “And I would have killed her.”

She nodded. “I know.” She shoved a hand through her hair, wincing.

When her pink tongue darted out and swept over her lower lip, he stifled a groan at the small sight. He’d missed his mate in the long hours he’d been away, and there was an insistent desire to taste her and reconnect.

“But that shield, even if it had been necessary...” She folded her arms over her small breasts. “It still didn’t give me the space to figure out how to keep myself safe or get my ass kicked.”

He growled. “I’ll never allow that.”

She pointed a finger at him as she gingerly stomped around the foot of the bed toward him.

“See. Right there. That’s what I’m talking about.

That's why I waited until you were gone to do this. I’ve heard from you, Rieka, and Lovel, about what it means to have the respect of the Pack as the Alpha female. Your mate.”

“Yes, mate,” he growled, taking two long strides toward her. “You have to prove that you’re bad-ass and strong, but you also need to know like every wolf in this Pack that I’m Alpha and I won’t fucking tolerate my mate being hunted and attacked when she is not one hundred percent at her best.”

“And I’m the Alpha’s claimed-mate...” She closed the distance between them and shoved into his face, not letting the fact that she was practically two feet shorter than him stop her.

She let that statement hang in the air between them.

“I won't cower from anyone or anything. Minsi and everyone needed to know I can protect myself and stand on my own without your shadow. I’m the Alpha Bitch of the Omega Pack because I earned it.”

That was true now because of her actions, which she left unsaid.

Whether he liked her methods or not, Chanin understood why Morlie chose to do it the way she did. She was making points on multiple levels, and he was now damn sure their Pack received them loud and clear. So did he.

He smiled, pride filling his chest as he took in the pint-sized spitfire. “You’re right. I wish I had been here to witness your brilliance.”

Morlie’s full lips curled into a smile. She hissed in pain as the split in her lip reopened, but joy at his words still lit her eyes.

When he gripped her side below one of her breasts and she winced, he sighed.

“Shift, mate,” he commanded.

Her brows furrowed. “What?”

“Shift,” he ordered.

“Why?”

Chanin spotted the slight flexing of her muscles as her wolf fought to obey his directive, even as the human female before him stood her ground, waiting for explanations.

“I can tell you want me, Alpha.” She pressed her palm over his heart, then slowly began to drag it down, down, down.

He caught her wrist, an inch from his hard cock, twitching, begging for her touch.

“I always want you, little bunny,” he whispered. He lowered his lips to her temple, then placed light kisses along the side of her face, finally hovering over her mouth. “But you need to heal.”

She whimpered as she brushed her lips over his. “I’m fine. I’ll let my wolf out after—”

“You’ll listen to your Alpha.” He licked her bottom lip.

When she turned her head and attempted to capture him in a kiss, he moved back.

“I need you to rest now, because when I spread your knees wide, and shove your face and breasts down into the mattress with nothing but your round, sexy ass and soaked pussy high in the air for me, I’m going to fuck you.

The only reason I want you whimpering and crying out is because of the deep, no-holds-barred way I’m fucking you as you beg me not to stop, little bunny. ”

The sweet musk of her need perfumed the air as she dropped her forehead against his chest, panting. “Fine. But you don’t play fair.”

“No. But I play to win, mate. And I won the day I met you. I love you, little bunny.” He wrapped his arms around her, holding her tight and close. This female was his life.

“I love you, my Alpha.” She snuggled into his embrace.

They stood there for a moment, cocooned in their raw emotions.

Her soft hands caressed his back as she met his gaze. “I can feel something is bothering you. Will you tell me about the meeting?”

“Yes. Once you’ve shifted and you're in bed.” He swatted her on the ass.

In two blinks, a beautiful, maple-brown wolf was before him, leaping up onto the bed.

He watched it paw around in a circle, trying to find the right spot to curl up in. Once Morlie’s wolf was settled, he let his smoke-gray wolf join hers, curling around her and resting its large head over her shoulder.

The meeting?

He didn’t hold back. Morlie was his Alpha mate, and he no longer treated her with kid gloves. We’re going to war.

~YH~

“Mate?” Aodh stepped up behind Kai, circling his arms around her thick waist as she stood before the fireplace in the living room. It was still dark out, the sun would rise soon, but Aodh liked this quiet time of day when the territory was calm and most Drahks were at rest.

He especially enjoyed waking his beautiful mate-wife with flame licks along her slit until her clit was swollen perfectly for him to suckle and having her coming with the dawn. But she hadn’t been there.

Now, he found her lush curves covered by a robe, her body tense before the fire.

Kai remained silent.

“What’s weighing on your mind, love?” He lowered his head and nuzzled along the side of her neck, taking in the musky sweetness of her vanilla-dragon-flower scent combined with his own.

Remembering all the ways he’d painted her body with his scent last night had his cock hard.

It was difficult for his horny mind to focus on much else with her warmth in his arms, without conspiring all the ways he could carry her back to bed so they could start the long day right.

There was a long day ahead, correction days on the horizon, and stolen moments with Kai would help keep him balanced. This female was his world in every way, and their little one on the way was the stars.

He stroked over her swollen stomach, feeling his offspring shift and angle towards his touch. “Is it the little one?”

She sighed, tilted her head to the side, allowing him more access as she slid her hand over his forearms until she was linking her fingers with his over her stomach. “It’s not the baby. Although it was moving quite a bit last night; thankfully, I was exhausted.”

Aodh chuckled. “I planned to exhaust you again this morning. You need rest.”

“Trust me. I rest enough and eat enough for ten babies.”

“Hmm.” He nipped at her lobe.

“Don’t you dare.” She tapped the back of his hand in a playful swat. “Let’s get through this one first.”

“Fine. But you say the word and I’ll have the building team start on a larger dwelling.” He drew her tighter against him, letting her feel the thickness of his cock along the top curve of her ass. “We can keep this place for an afternoon tryst away from the younglings.”

Kai’s husky laugh filled the open space.

Fuck, he loved that sound as much as her moans.

“Then, if not our child, then why are you up so early? Do I need to grab you something from the kitchen, or radio Tana for food?”

She angled a soft glare at him over her shoulder. “Don’t you dare disturb her. That Drahkelle already does so much for us.”

“It brings her dragon happiness to serve the Mckenna.” He dragged their linked hand around her stomach. “She is beside herself with joy over this little one coming.”

“Not predawn joy,” she argued.

They stood silent, watching the flickering flames in the hearth. Dragons loved the heat and ambience of fires. It was part of them, and since Kai had conceived, she reveled in their sight and feel, so Aodh ensured that he or Tana kept the fireplaces always filled when Kai was in residence.

Talk to me.

It’s... she sighed through their link and aloud.

He looked from the fire to his mate and saw that Kai’s gaze was no longer on the large blaze but at the illuminated broadswords hung crisscrossed above it.

Yesterday, when he returned from the meeting, he sat down and shared with her everything that happened at the meeting, so he didn’t have to stretch his mind far to know what had her up walking the night.

He’d hoped his loving would have distracted her much longer.

“The war.”

She nodded. “I just can’t help but think about all those poor humans in the district that will die in the fray. It’s always the innocent who don’t have the means to protect themselves that suffer in conflicts.”