“Be still,” he grumbled as he held her hips still.

“I’m ready,” she said unable to obey him and continuing to wiggle against him. “I’m ready to bite you.”

Drake froze as he stared down at the flat stomach and smooth flesh he’d been reveling in only seconds ago. Bethany was everywhere. Her scent covered him and his wolf loved it. He rose slowly until he could look her in the eye. He had an arm under her head, supporting his upper body, bracing himself above her. “Do you really understand what that would mean? I’m not saying you aren’t capable of understanding. I just really need to know if you understand,” he said, his voice was thick with emotion and gruff with his wolf so close to the surface.

She nodded.

“Our lives would be tied to each other. If I died, you would lose your life as well and vice versa. Our souls would become one. Being apart would be very difficult, much more difficult than what we just experienced. Our need of each other would increase and touch would become essential to the health of our wolves. Do you really understand how serious and permanent this is?” He wanted her to bite him more than he wanted anything else, but he didn’t want her to do something in a moment of passion only to regret it later.

“Drake, I didn’t expect to have anything. I thought I would be a slave to those monsters until they finally drained me. You think I’m worried about being tied to a man who loves me, adores me, and needs me? I’m more scared that you’ll wake up one day and see how damaged I am and ask why the Great Luna gave you such a pathetic mate. But you want me now and I’ll take that. I want you for as long as you will have me.”

Drake leaned more heavily on one arm as he lifted the other to wipe away the tear sliding down her cheek. “Forever,” he said softly. “I will have you for all time. You’re mine.” He slipped his hand behind her neck and pulled her toward him while at the same time turning his head and lowering his neck to her.

As her teeth broke through his skin, he didn’t wonder how this was possible. Bethany wasn’t a full Canis lupus. But Drake trusted the Great Luna. If she had given Bethany to him as his true mate, then she would work out the details of the Blood Rites.

The bond grew stronger as the call of the Blood Rites was satisfied and Drake let out a relieved sigh. His wolf was practically rolling around with satisfaction. Of course, both wolf and man wanted to complete other things, but Drake knew Bethany wasn’t ready for that, not yet. She was curious, he caught that much through the bond when he’d been kissing and touching her, but she still had reservations and that was okay with him. He would wait centuries for her to be ready if that’s what it took. She was worth waiting for.

When it was done and she pulled back from him, he looked down at her and his heart was flooded with joy at the smile on her face.

“You are stuck with me now,” she said a little breathlessly.

He chuckled. “You were stuck with me the second I saw you.” His smile faded as he grew serious. “Bethany, my beautiful mate, please don’t ever forbid my touch again. It was torture.”

“Drake, my handsome mate, don’t give me a reason to forbid your touch.”

He groaned and laid his forehead against her chest. “Great, maybe Jen rubbed off on you more than I thought.”

She ran her fingers through his hair and he rumbled in pleasure at her touch. He would never grow tired of her touch.

“What now?” she asked softly.

Drake bit back the words his wolf was riding him to say. The last thing his little mate needed to hear was that now that they’d completed the Blood Rites, he was just as eager to complete all of their mating. His wolf was practically salivating at the thought of consummating their relationship. Not yet, he growled at his wolf, who snarled back at him. Stupid human, the wolf told him again. Drake nearly rolled his eyes. His wolf had become quite obstinate since they’d found their true mate. Before meeting Bethany, Drake had begun to wonder if maybe the abuse he’d suffered under the leadership of his former Alpha had caused the wolf irreparable damage. It seemed that since finding their true mate, his wolf was beginning to heal.

“Drake?” Bethany’s voice pulled him from his thoughts.

He pressed his lips gently to hers. “For now let’s just enjoy this part of our story. It will change quickly as time passes. We will never get this time back. Let me enjoy you. Let me meet whatever needs that you have.”

Bethany smiled warmly up at him. “Any need?”

The mischievous glint in her eyes gave him pause. But he finally nodded.

“I’m pretty sure I need a foot massage.”

Drake laughed. “Okay. I can handle that.” He sat up and pulled her feet into his lap. She had tiny, cute feet which were attached to sexy, shapely calves. Focus, Drake, he snapped at himself. Just her feet.

“Unless you really want to massage my sexy, shapely calves. I’m okay with that.” Bethany’s voice filled his mind.

Drake’s eyes snapped up to hers. She was staring back at him with a look in her eyes that was having an incredible effect on him. And he was pretty sure that she didn’t even realize it. “Behave,” he growled as he began to rub her feet. “Don’t start something you aren’t ready to finish, beautiful.”

Bethany laughed. “Just keep telling yourself that I’m not ready to finish it; maybe soon you’ll believe it.”

Drake decided not to examine that statement too closely and instead focused on his mate’s feet. It was such a simple act, rubbing her feet, and yet the fact that he was once again touching her—was free to touch her—pulled the breath from his lungs. He never wanted to stop touching her; he never wanted to be separated from her, not for any reason, even for a simple disagreement.

“Don’t,” Bethany whispered as she laid her head back against the couch and closed her eyes.

Drake stopped and looked at her. “Don’t what?”

“Don’t ever stop touching me.”

He felt his heart swell inside of him and his wolf laid down, feeling contentment for the first time in a very long time. “You don’t have to worry about that. I’ll never be far enough away from you not to be able to touch you.”

Chapter 14

“I’m safe. Well, at least that’s what they tell me. So why do I feel like something terrible is coming? It feels like danger. Danger to someone, but not to me. I wonder, not for the first time, if I was rescued from the lion’s den only to be caught in the wolf’s den?” ~Zara