Page 24 of Tamed Wolf (Rejected Mates of the Shelter #4)
Lark, Now
A gentle hand on my arm wakes me up, making me realize I fell asleep in the rocking chair. Beckett takes the fully asleep Rowan out of my arms and lays him in the crib carefully, smiling down at him before reaching a hand out to me and pulling me from the room.
“I guess I was more tired than I thought,” I admit as I cover up a yawn in the hallway.
“Be ours,” he says in response, holding the sides of my neck with his thumbs brushing my cheeks, backing me into the wall right outside of Rowan’s room. “I’ve had to watch you charm my son for the past week, been forced to take a front row seat as my brothers fell for you as hard as I am, and I’m goddess damned tired of seeing you strutting around this house without our marks on you. Be ours.”
My throat is suddenly too dry to swallow, but that’s okay, because there seems to be an excess amount of moisture coming from my eyes. “What?” I ask incredulously.
“Make honest men of us, Lark. Put us out of our fucking misery. I want to feel you inside my head, want to spark a bond to life and erase the idiots that came before us.”
“You can’t undo a mate bond, Beckett,” I remind him. “If I let you do that, you won’t be able to take it back later.”
His eyes soften and he pulls me into his body, wrapping his arms around me. “Oh Lark, you’re still waiting for the other shoe to drop, aren’t you?”
“I told you I would always be doing that, nobody just lucks into this much goodness.” My voice is muffled against his shirt covered chest, but it’s still incredibly loud.
“Hard to drop the other shoe when we burnt it to a crisp weeks ago,” he says.
I have to laugh in spite of myself. “That doesn’t even make sense. That was a stupid analogy.”
“If it was so stupid, then why’d you laugh at it?”
I tip my head up to say something caustic, but he cuts off that notion real quick by pressing his mouth to mine. “Is it the orgasm count? We haven’t given you enough, have we? Okay, team meeting,” he announces. Then he turns back to me, face serious. “We can do better.”
He starts to wander down the hall, but I grab him by the arm and stop him, pulling him back into me. “I swear to the goddess if you guys give me any more orgasms, I might implode at a cellular level.”
His answering smirk says it all. “This morning was particularly creative, wasn’t it? I did not know you could bend your legs that way, my dear. See? We are still learning new things about each other. It’s so fun.”
“Stripper,” I remind him as I point to my chest. Then I clear my throat and look back to the door of Rowan’s room longingly, scared to ask for what I really want.
His eyes follow mine. “You know he’s part of the package, right? If you let us mate you, then he’s officially yours as well. Did we not make that clear? Yeah, we aren’t getting rid of the baby.”
I laugh again, finally realizing he’s completely serious in his demand, even if he’s still joking to put me at ease. I study his face and his eyes soften as I lock onto them, baring his whole soul for me to look over. “You’re not sick of me yet?”
He gasps dramatically and picks me up, wrapping my legs around his waist as he carries me to what has sort of become the master bedroom. I thought it would be weird to move in with them and had every intention of sleeping alone, but that definitely didn’t work out very well for me. Puppy pile it is.
Brooks and Blake are already in bed, reading books in an identical pose, legs crossed at the ankle as they sit against the headboard like old men. Oh my God, they’re wearing matching pajamas. So many of my dreams are coming true right now.
“Boys,” Beckett announces as he drops me in the middle of them. “We have a serious issue here. Cannot spare a moment of time to waste.”
Blake keeps reading and flips his brother off, Brooks abandons his book and pulls me in for the snuggles he loves so much.
“She just asked me if we were sick of her yet.”
“That’s dumb as fuck, Lark,” Blake says without taking his eyes off his book.
“Sick of you?” Brooks asked like he also thinks it’s dumb AF. “Sick of having the most beautiful woman that’s ever existed in my bed everyday? Of being able to feed her and hold her and watch her play with my kid? Hell to the no, woman. You feeling okay up here?” And he knocks on my forehead like it’s a door.
“She also asked if I knew that mating us was irreversible,” Beckett informs them like a total traitor.
“Lark, you’re smarter than this baby,” Brooks says as he squishes me tighter.
“I just wasn’t sure if—"
“We are,” Blake argues, finally putting his book down.
“You don’t even know what I was going to say.” Would it be too much if I folded my arms across my chest like I mean business? Never mind. I forgot I don’t currently have use of them, clingy ass wolf shifter.
“You were going to ask or insinuate that you weren’t sure if we were ready for a huge commitment like that to you.”
“Well, you haven’t—”
“Because we haven’t said anything in a few days, right?” Brooks finishes for me again, far too smug for his own good.
“Have you checked the calendar lately, Lark?” Brooks asks as he nuzzles into my neck and rubs his cheek against me.
Is that a trick question? “Why would I need to check a calendar?”
“Alright then,” Brooks says as he stands. “I owe you 10 bucks, Beckett.” And he whips off his shirt and his pants and strides from the room, leaving me very confused.
Especially when Beckett copies him, and then it’s just me and Brooks in bed with a whole lot of unanswered questions.
“Come on, love,” Brooks says as he sits up and pulls me out of bed. He strips down to nothing as well, and somehow, I just can’t stop staring at the chest in front of me.
I’m halfway to leaning forward to lick his nipple when he flicks me lightly in the forehead and snorts. “Outside, woman,” he says before throwing me over his shoulder.
“Not complaining about this angle,” I say as he carries me through the house.
The question about the calendar makes sense when we step onto their small back porch, because it’s a full moon. Not that we need the full moon to shift, but it always feels a little bit more magical to shift during it.
Blake and Beckett have already shifted, putting me face to face with their wolves for the first time. It’s been forever since I’ve been around other wolves like this, but surprisingly it’s not traumatic. They’re beautiful, dark wolves with white accents and bright blue eyes, identical even in animal form.
Brooks takes my hand and pulls me away from the soft puppies I was about to start playing with, leading me through the wooded area behind their cabin until we get to a space full of flickering LED candles where the moon penetrates right down to the forest floor in a perfect circle. There’s an arch set up with wild roses wound all around it, and standing under the arch is the Alpha and Luna of the pack.
“Welcome boys, wasn’t sure if you’d remember. Was starting to get impatient.”
The ‘boys’ shift back to their human skinsuit, pulling some sort of fabric coverings from a tree nearby. I look around trying to take everything in, feeling the moon beating down on me, wondering what's happening. And then their mother is grabbing me by the hand to pull me over behind a big tree nearby. “I had to kind of guess on style, but the boys helped. We made sure to get a dress that had a bit of stretch to it so that it would fit you okay, didn't want to risk something not fitting right. Not on a night like this one.”
“Rowan’s sleeping, we don’t even have the monitor with us. I need to go check on him,” I protest, suddenly scared out of my mind and feeling the need to run.
“Rowan is fine, Lark,” she assures me. “I have somebody I trust about to enter your living room to keep an eye on him. If he wakes, she’ll take care of him until you guys get back.”
I can’t even question her, because I know they love that kid as much as I do. If she says he’s safe, then he’s safe. Then I look at the dress hanging from a tree in front of us. It’s a beautiful silver dress, a mating dress. “I’ve never worn one of these,” I mumble as I let my fingers run over the lace detail at the hem. “With the silk, it reminds me of moonlight.”
“That’s why it’s traditional for mating dresses to be silver,” she explains. “Seems to be trendy nowadays to go with other colors, but I had a feeling you’d want to stick with this.”
I nod, not really thinking much other than to admire how pretty and simple it is. But it’s not boring; it has accomplished that perfect balance between looking extravagant and rich without overdoing it.
“Take your time, Lark. This is for you and them, so if you need to stand there for a bit and think through some things, then do it. And just so you know, if you decide that this is too much, that you need to leave, they’re going to try again next month. You not being ready is not going to be a deal breaker. You know that they’re going to understand, and you know that we’ll happily meet up again at the next full moon to help out. Of course, I’m hoping you’ll stay, because I sense that you want this but are just too scared to reach for it. Remember, it’s your life to live. If you let the past dictate what you do, then you’ll never get anywhere, and they win.”
She steps away and I hear voices back in the clearing talking in low tones, but I tune them out.
I know Beckett just asked me to mate him, but I wasn’t expecting something like this. Something somewhat formal that was clearly thought out ahead of time.
“How badly do you want to punch me right now?” Beckett asks from right next to my ear.
I yelp because I was not paying attention to my surroundings, too lost in thought. “Beckett! Don’t sneak up on me like that. I’m having an existential crisis right now. Can’t you respect that?”
He snorts. How rude. “No, you’re not,” he tells me. He reaches for the hem of the oversized shirt I’m wearing and pulls it over my head. Then he takes my hands and places them against the tree, pulling my hips back.
He braids my hair and ties it off with an elastic he must have had on his wrist, placing the braid over my shoulder, making me frown.
“How do you know how to do that?”
“Don’t worry about that right now. Hands on the tree, Lark. It seems I have a nice opportunity here to convince you to go through with this ceremony while the moon is still high.”
He peels my leggings down my hips and shoves his face between my legs, licking me indecently.
I give in to it before I realize his parents are about 30 feet away. “Beckett!” I snap again. “We can’t do this here. I’m not going to let you get me off while your mother and father are right over there.”
“Wow, it sure is a beautiful night,” his mother suddenly says far too loudly. “It would be a shame if I kept talking really loudly for a few minutes and ruined the solitude of it, wouldn’t it?”
There’s soft whispering I can’t quite make out and then his father is in on it too, speaking loudly with his mother about nonsense.
“They fully support this plan,” he says she continues shove his tongue into me.
“Oh my gods, fine . Put the damn dress on me.”
He pops up immediately, wide fucking grin on his face, cheeks glistening from me, and shoves the tongue that was just deep inside my cunt into my mouth. Lovely.
Beckett carefully removes the shimmery dress from the velvet hanger and unzips the back, holding it out for me to step into. It seems like it’s got some sort of built-in support system, so I don’t even bother asking for a bra, I simply stand there and try not to cry like a baby as he zips me up. It is tight; everything with form is going to be on my ridiculous boobs, but like his mom said, it has a bit of a stretch so it’s still mostly comfortable.
He runs his hands up the outsides of my thighs, under the skirt, feeling my bear pussy and cupping it. “Not sure if you’ve been to a mating before, but I get to do fun things to this after,” he says as he taps against me.
I can feel my wolf bristling under the skin, dying to shake out her fur and run. The pull of the moon is calling to her heart, making me think that I probably could shift if I wanted to.
For years I haven’t felt that ability in my fingertips; it’s been beyond my reach since I was rejected. But tonight feels different. And I’m hopeful, because this feels right, as much hesitancy as I’m showing.
“Yeah, we'll see about that, with you guys springing this on me like this.” I saunter off to find my other guys, feeling like hot shit in this dress. I don’t know what it actually looks like on me since there's no mirror in the forest, rude, but if we’re going by the guys’ reactions, I look pretty fire.
“It wouldn't be a mating ceremony if I didn't ask you if you were here of your own free will,” the alpha says to me.
I narrow my eyes at the guys because of their coercion, unable to hold it long because I'm here and I'm not letting this moment go. “Yes alpha, I'm here of my own free will. Let’s get this show on the road.”
“Brooks, Beckett, and Blake, it has been the absolute joy of my life to watch you grow into the wolves you are today. Your mother and I are so proud of the direction you're taking the pack, and of the choices you're making.
“In front of me, I see wolves perfectly matched for each other. The things the goddess asks of us are not always easy, but all of you have taken her lessons in stride and are making this pack so proud.
“I know that when the time is right, the four of you are going to lead the next generation of our pack to great heights. Beckett, Brooks, and Blake; if you do anything to harm this woman the goddess is giving to you, there is nowhere that’d be out of her reach for reconciliation.
“My wish for all of you as you start your new life with your new mate, is to always find joy in the small things. To remember the good moments as they happen, and to also save them for the days when frustration seems to bleed through in everything you do.
“Lark, we're just getting to know each other, but I would challenge you to go into this mating with your eyes as open as your heart. I hope you find peace and healing and love and come to learn how joyful a good mating can be. I hope you smile more than you do anything else, and I pray that the goddess blesses this new family you're building together tonight, easing your path as much as possible.
“We gather under the full moon because that's when mother moon can reach us the best. I would ask that my sons gather the hands of their new mate and bow their heads so they may pray to the goddess for a blessing.”
Their hands are warm in mine as they do as the alpha instructs, and I bow my head right along with them to give thanks to the goddess for this incredible blessing. It's not every day a wolf gets another chance like this, and there's an ember in my heart telling me that this mating will be one for the history books.
A tingle runs down my palm as we all finish our prayers, and then the alpha is asking us to repeat traditional mating vows, which I do on auto pilot. I'm promising myself to them body, mind and spirit, vowing to respect this union and to work for it.
In the darkness, three sets of identical eyes blink back at me, saying the same words I am, and it’s unreal to go through a ceremony I wrote off long ago.
When I come back into myself, the alpha is telling them to kiss their mate and I have three hungry wolves trying to ravage me, teeth elongating as they press kisses against my neck.
“Lark, the boys would like to leave it up to you as to whether or not you’ll accept your mating bites now under the full moon, or if you’d rather return home to do them in a more private atmosphere.”
I lift my face up to the sky, closing my eyes as the night breeze stirs the little hairs around my face. Anybody can have a mating bite when they’re at home being intimate, but not many go through the trouble of restraining themselves enough to get bites beneath the full moon during a formal mating ceremony.
I meet my mates' eyes, wishing I knew what they preferred, but thinking I have a good idea, nonetheless. “Sometimes, I think it's important to uphold tradition. I would be honored to receive my bite beneath mother moon.”
With tears in his eyes, Blake sinks to one knee and lifts the hem of my dress up to my mid-thigh, seeking out the place my old mate bite is still scarred somewhat. I've never told them where the other one was, so the fact that he knows exactly where to go means he’s been paying attention.
Blake maintains eye contact as he puts his mouth to my skin, caressing my leg and putting me at ease. Anticipation runs through me like a drug, lighting up my nerves and hitching my breath. As the sharp points of his canine teeth finally rest against the skin right above my knee, I'm more than ready.
I give Blake a little nod and close my eyes, crying out as he marks me as his, completely erasing everything that Trevor left behind. Now all I feel is hope and joy and yes, love. Maybe it's too early to say it, but he can't hide the way he feels for me.
He’s meticulous about cleaning the wound when he finally pulls his teeth from me, each brush of his tongue sending electricity through my body. Then Beckett is at my neck, behind me, ready to erase another set of marks then never should have been forced on me. He's quicker, as if he knows that it's taken a lot of willpower for me not to rip off my dress and mount them.
With Blake still kissing around my leg, Beckett sinking his teeth into my neck, and Brooks on the opposite shoulder from where Beckett is and sinking his teeth right into my shoulder, I'm inundated with them.
The spirit of them races through me right along with all the endorphins, making every little reservation that I might have been holding onto incinerate. When they're satisfied with their work, they step away, but I'm not left cold. I can feel them swirling through me, their consciousness wrapping me up in comfort while their parents congratulate us politely and leave us to be.
“Do you want to do the next part?” Brooks asks in a low tone that's hard to decipher.
“I'm not sure if I can, but I'd like to try.” I spin so Brooks can unzip me, and they all slip out of the robes they wore for the ceremony, placing a hand on me somewhere as I start to call my wolf forward.
I haven't been able to shift since my life was ruined, but when I reach for her, her legs tremble with the effort to get back to me. She's whining but eager, strong and unashamed.
Sweat dots my brow as I pull that last little bit to get her forward, falling to all fours on the soft forest floor. I suffer through an agonizing transition like it’s the first time all over again, fur and bones fighting for dominance with the human side of me. It's agonizing, yet the joy I feel when I'm finally in wolf form again is unmatched.
As soon as the guys shift, I'm ready to run.
My wolf and I are proud of our new mates, excited to be able to run with them under the light of the moon, to be wearing their bites and feeling connected to them.
We run around in large looping circles before I'm too fatigued to go on, at which point I shift and all but collapse as Beckett catches me.
“You did so good, love,” he says to me as he carries me to our home, suspiciously not even a little bit out of breath. “So damn proud of you, my mate.”
I'd like to say that we got down and dirty the second we walked through the door, but the exhaustion of shifting for the first time in so long and the long day has gotten to me, so after we clean up I get to fall asleep knowing that when I wake up, they'll all be there and they will be every day going forward. That I don't have to worry about being alone anymore, because I found pieces of my soul I didn't even know I was missing.