Filed to story: The Wolf Prince’s Fated Love
for-you, so-handsome-I-couldn’t-breathe-half-the-time-if-I-looked-at-him-too-long, and yes, grumpy-and-domineering-as-fuck kind of good man. He was alpha, after all.
But none of that was who he was. He was good, honorable, respectful, and caring. He’d stepped up for Petal and me without question. Defended me from judgmental males who I’d been fending off and getting put down by my whole life. My bottom lip began to tremble, and I cursed the pregnancy hormones.
“Shit,” he cursed, wrapping me in a hug. “Too fast. I’m sorry. I just thought?-“
“No, no.” I sobbed as I spoke, burying my face in his neck and dragging in deep, soothing lungfuls of his beautiful sweet, musky pine scent. “You’re perfect. That’s just it, BD, you’re perfect. And I’m so not. I’m a hot mess, I put my foot in my mouth constantly, I’m barely sufficient at this adulting thing, and you’re over there keeping people safe, shouldering real responsibility, and I’m just not good enough for you. By any standard. And if it wasn’t for Petal…” I swallowed hard, breaking the eye contact because it was just too raw and too damn much.
“Don’t hide from me, princess.”
His fingertips on my chin were gentle but persistent as he urged me to look up at him. I resisted at first-let’s add petulant to my list of less-than-fine qualities-but he stayed patient, gentle. Finally, I conceded and looked up again.
His gaze was smoldering hot enough to put that cartoon guy to shame and send another wave of hot need tingling straight to my clit.
“If it wasn’t for Petal,” he started slowly, letting his fingertips trail lightly down the front of my throat until his grip was a loose collar around my neck, “it might have taken us a little longer of circling to figure things out, sure. We’re both too stubborn for our own good.”
I snorted at that. He wasn’t wrong.
“But we were drawn together because we’re mates-meant to be, blessed by the Moon Goddess. If the legends are to be believed, you hold the other half of my soul.”
That made me shiver for a different reason. I’d heard the legends, sure. But was it true? Was he quite literally my other half? The only one who could make me whole?
He continued, unaware of my mental gymnastics. “Petal or no Petal, I was always going to find you. Because you’re mine. And because you’re exactly what I need. And hopefully, in time, you’ll see that I’m exactly what you need too.” His thumb stroked the side of my throat, and I bit back a moan.
My wolf was on high alert. She was dominant, but something about our male being just that little bit more dominant really did it for her. For me. I wanted him to take that choice, take control. Make me his so thoroughly I couldn’t ever deny that we were meant to be again.
Because the truth was, I already knew. He was everything I’d never dared dream I could deserve. When you grew up being told you were a mutt, a worthless half-breed barely fit to hold a wolf, let alone to belong, to matter
… having someone as perfect as Gael be your mate was intimidating.
I didn’t feel worthy. I felt ashamed. Ashamed of my past, of my alcoholic mother, my unknown wolf father who’d abandoned me. Ashamed of the fact that I’d been dumped by an asshole like Marcus. Ashamed that I was pregnant and broke, working among humans for barely more than minimum wage.
Shame was so deep under my skin, it was practically part of my DNA.
So how could he not see it? How did it not look like one of those red capes in front of a raging bull, a blinking neon sign saying, “Reject me because I’m not good enough?”
He was silent, studying me as he waited for an answer. And I, the girl who was never shy of words, who had too many words, couldn’t think of a damn thing to say.
“I already know,” I admitted, then bit my bottom lip. “I already know you’re everything I need. I’m just not sure I’m brave enough to take what I want.”
His lips lifted into a slow, sultry grin, his grip on my throat tightening just a little as he towed me forward. “All you have to do is let go. Do you trust me?”
Gael’s eyes were so fierce, his wolf’s glow lighting me up in more ways than one. I wanted him, wild and free and giving me every scrap of warrior’s strength he was holding back right now.
“I do,” I managed, sucked in by his magnetism.
Our lips crashed together, and I knew I was lost.
THIRTY-SEVEN
Gael
Her taste was like nothing I’d ever experienced before. She was a high I never wanted to come down from, sharp espresso with soft, sweet cream… I wanted to fuck her until it was embedded in my pores, sleep next to her at night, and wake up the next day twined together. I wanted to be so far under her skin that she never had those questions in her eyes again.
I could see them. Every insecurity, every perceived flaw. They dragged at her like lead weights, when all I wanted was to cut her free. If it took me a lifetime, I would cut her free. I’d show her, with teeth and tongue and passion, with claws and fang if necessary, what she was worth.
She was priceless.
I released my grip on her neck to fist both hands in her silky hair, tilting her head to the side and demanding entrance to her lips. They parted on a moan, deep and sultry and making my cock pulse with need. She was burning me up, one little whimper of need at a time. But all we’d ever had was hard and fast and urgent. I wanted more with her.
There was no enough. But I wanted more.
Once I had her lips occupied, I skated a hand around to the neck of her T-shirt, concentrating hard enough to shift one claw. I hooked it under the neck of the shirt-making sure not to nick her sensitive skin with the sharp point-and tore the shirt open.
She gasped against my lips, but only rode me harder, starting to bounce on my lap with her need. She was so wet, I could feel the heat seeping through the pants, that little bit of added friction between us making me groan into her mouth. Good Goddess, she was going to kill me if I didn’t get inside her soon.
Patience, fucker. We’re going to make this good for her. I shifted my claw away, pushing the rent shirt aside, baring her perfect breasts for my palms. I cupped first one side, then the other, delighting in every little noise and shift she made against me as I lightly thumbed her sensitive points.
Her breasts were perfect, small and high and tipped with light rose nipples that I could spend the rest of my life worshipping. But tonight, she was restless. Her hips seeking more than what she was getting in this position.
I released her hair and scooped her up, using her hips to lift her off me.
She groaned in distress as I set her on her feet in front of me, but that distress vanished as I knelt on the rug and peeled off her pants. My palms skimmed the outsides of her thighs as I followed them all the way down, cupping one calf to lift her foot free of the fabric, then the other as she used my shoulders for balance. Her pussy was bare, the perfect little lips glistening with her need.
Goddess, I needed to taste her with a ferocity that banded around my chest. I lifted her again and spun, settling her into the chair where I’d been sitting, then spread her wide, so her pretty pussy was open for me. She blushed, a hot flush starting at her breasts, working its way up her chest and neck.
“You’re so damn beautiful, I’d have you painted exactly like this if I wouldn’t have to kill the poor fucker for looking at you,” I murmured as I traced the lines of her muscles up from her ankles, letting my fingertips play over the back of her knee and then up the insides of her thighs. She was so responsive, and I loved every single second. My dick was trying to punch a hole through my pants, but I had to be patient. Had to show her there could be more between us than a quick fuck or a heat-induced haze.
So much more.
I spread her lower lips with my thumbs, tracing, learning the shape of her.
“Gael, please,” she begged, her hips jumping under my touch.