Mating Instinct: A Moon Shifter Novel (31 page)

He’d explained everything about the bonding process, so she knew that after tonight she’d be linked to him in a way she never would be with anyone else.

As she watched, he slid his palm down her spine, stroking her in a completely proprietary manner. His hand slid to her hip, where he clutched her in an almost bruising hold. Not too hard but firmly enough that he was silently staking his claim.

She was his.

And vice versa.

When he thrust his cock into her, she pushed out a long breath, letting her head fall forward at the intrusion. She felt as if she was completely surrendering to him.

It seemed that no matter how often they were together, she always needed a moment to adjust to him. Her sheath stretched and molded around his cock with a familiarity that made her entire body ache. When his hips rolled back, pulling out of her, she immediately felt the loss. Just as quickly he pushed back inside her.

Over and over, he moved inside her, filling her and pushing her over the edge. Even though she couldn’t see him, she could feel and scent the lust and love rolling off him. Dark yet sweet, the aroma surrounded her with its intensity.

As Jayce continued thrusting, one of his hands slowly loosened from her hip, as if he didn’t want to let go, until he cupped her mound and stroked her clit in that perfect rhythm he’d mastered.

Another orgasm swept through her. Her inner walls clenched, milking his cock as her fingers dug into the covers. Jayce palmed her stomach, bringing her suddenly back up against his chest.

A hard hand fisted in her hair, pulling her head back. His mouth crushed hers, his tongue tangling with hers for one intense moment before he tore away. Then she felt the sharp sting of his canines sinking into her neck, right where he’d lightly bitten her before in the shower. It prolonged her climax. She trembled as the sting turned into pure liquid pleasure. Jayce’s own cries mingled with hers as he released himself inside her.

His orgasm seemed to go on forever as he groaned her name until finally he stilled behind her, nuzzling and kissing her neck where he’d punctured her skin, soothing the small ache. His arm settled around her waist as he held her close, still buried deep inside her. She could feel his heart pounding out of control, the slight tremble that snaked through his body, and his erratic breath on her skin.

“Did I hurt you?” he whispered against her ear.

Shaking her head, she pulled forward, hating to break their contact and the feel of his cock inside her, but she needed to hold him. She twisted around until she faced him. “You could never hurt me,” she said, wrapping her arms around his neck.

He teased her lips open with his tongue, kissing her in leisurely strokes that made her tingle. Wrapping her body around his, she sighed in pleasure as her breasts pressed against his chest.

You are so beautiful.
Jayce’s words sounded in her head as clearly as if he’d said them out loud.

Kat jerked back and her eyes widened. “Did that just happen?”

He grinned, the look on his face almost mischievous. “Did what just happen?” he asked innocently.

She frowned, trying to read his expression. “Did you just project a thought to me?”

You tell me.
There was no denying that the deep, utterly masculine voice was Jayce’s.

“You did!”
Can I do it too?
She tried it, wondering if there was an art to projecting thoughts.

Guess so.
His grin widened and she realized she’d never seen him so relaxed before. Reaching up, Jayce brushed her hair back from her left shoulder. He leaned down and raked his teeth over her skin where he’d bitten her before, growling proprietarily. Her toes curled. Yeah, she could totally get used to this. What they’d had together almost a year ago had been intense, but there had always been a wall between them. Neither had been willing to let it come completely down.

Not so now. After what they’d just shared and how linked they were, there would never be any walls erected again.

Letting her head fall back, she groaned low in her throat as he began to feather kisses along her collarbone. She wrapped her legs around him, plastering herself to him like a second skin. His erection was nestled against her lower abdomen, still pulsing despite his recent orgasm. She shivered, knowing the night wasn’t close to being over.

That was when she remembered that he too was supposed to receive a mark after they bonded, something to let the world know he was taken now.

Hers.

Her inner wolf smiled at the thought. Curling her fingers against his shoulders, she lifted herself up, trying to get a better look at the back of his shoulders. On his left side, a tiny red rose bloomed. She ran her fingers over it, feeling the slightly raised mark. It was similar to a tattoo. He’d told her that their bonding would create a symbol on him but seeing it was amazing. The symbol surprised her, though.

“What is it?” he asked quietly.

She bit her bottom lip, hoping he liked it. It wasn’t very masculine. “Well, it’s a red rose.”

“Figures.” He laughed under his breath, his grip around her tightening.

“Why do you say that?” Kat continued tracing it, loving that it was there permanently.

“It’s what you smell like. All the time we were apart, every time I got a whiff of a rose, I got rock hard. Damn embarrassing,” he murmured.

She leaned back to look at him. “You mean that’s my natural scent?”

“Mm-hm, and it’s also the symbol of love.”

She smiled, thinking it was sweet that he knew that, but . . . “You really like it? I assumed you’d want something more . . . kick-ass.”

“Sweetheart, I honestly don’t care what it is, as long as you’re mine.” Before she could say another word he kissed her again, this time slow and sensual, as if they had all the time in the world.

And they did.

Chapter 21

J
ayce slipped his hand into Kat’s as they walked across the main yard toward Ana and Connor’s home. This morning Jayce had a feeling it would be empty except for the Alpha and his mate. Normally pack members milled in and out of the main home, but Connor had called Jayce earlier telling them they needed to sit down and talk.

They’d just come from visiting with Kat’s father, who was still worried about her safety even though the APL members had all been arrested. He was a guest at the ranch, so they didn’t have far to walk.

Even when they’d been dating Jayce had never held her hand. Not so casually, as if they were a normal couple. He’d always held a part of himself back. Well, no more.

Kat owned him, body and soul. Hell, he had her mark on his shoulder and carried her scent. Everyone would know they were bondmates now. While the thought of not always being able to protect her terrified him on a primal level, life without her was a hell of a lot worse.

Kat gently squeezed his hand. “You seem edgy.”

I’m not
, he projected, flexing his telepathic muscles.

“That is so gonna take some getting used to,” she said as they reached the front door of her Alpha’s house.

Before they could knock, the door flew open and Vivian jerked to a halt in front of them. “Are you guys in trouble?” she whispered conspiratorially.

“No, why?” Jayce asked just as quietly.

“Because I’ve been kicked out of the house for a while. Ana told me to go find Lucas and play,” she grumbled.

“Which is what you should be doing. I’ve already called Ryan and told him you’re on the way. You’ve got ten seconds to get over to their cabin,” Ana’s voice called out.

Vivian’s eyes widened and she sprinted past them, diving off the porch, her dark hair flying behind her.

Jayce glanced at Kat to find her fighting a smile. Shaking his head, he entered the house, Kat still holding tight to his hand.

They found Ana and Connor in the living room, sitting side by side on a long couch. Connor held Ana’s hand, idly stroking her palm with his thumb.

Jayce nodded at the couple as they entered the room and sat down. He didn’t care if this was a formal meeting; he pulled Kat into his lap and kept a protective arm around her anyway.

What are you doing?
she asked.

You’re mine.
It was the only answer she was getting because it was the only one that mattered.

“So, you two are bonded?” Connor asked quietly.

Jayce nodded and Kat said, “Last night.”

Ana smiled warmly. “Congrats.”

Connor murmured his congratulations as well, then continued. “We need to discuss your role here for as long as you live at the ranch.” His words were directed at Jayce.

Kat stiffened in his arms.
As long as you live here?

Jayce squeezed her hip, keeping his focus on the Alpha. Kat might not understand what Connor was saying, but he had a pretty good idea. “You’re Kat’s Alpha and while we’re here—which will likely be a semi-permanent situation—I’ll respect your land and your rules, but you’re not my Alpha.” He didn’t have one and never would. His father had been his only Alpha, and since he’d died, Jayce had known that another would never rule him. He just wasn’t wired that way. Either Connor accepted that or he didn’t.

“You’ve made a lot of enemies over the years,” Connor said. It was more a statement than a question.

Jayce nodded. “I have. If you let me live here, it’s a risk you’ll be taking on.”

Connor looked at his mate, then at Kat and Jayce. “As long as you support this pack, it’s one we’re willing to take. I don’t know if you saw the sectioned-off parcel of land next to December and Liam’s house, but that’s going to be your place. I’ve already spoken to a local crew about expediting the house. They’re going to be starting next week, and with the help of the pack, it shouldn’t be more than a month until it’s finished.”

That was pretty fast, but something told Jayce that Connor had made a nice deal with the contractors. “Just let me know how much—”

Connor shook his head. “Kat’s a member of the pack, so by extension you are as well. This is our gift to our newest members.”

It was his instinct to argue. Jayce had more than enough money to take care of his mate and he wanted to. With every fiber of his being, he needed to take care of her in every way possible. But this was a gift he couldn’t turn down without insulting Connor and Ana. He glanced from Ana to Connor and said, “Thank you.”

Next to him, Kat joined in. “Thank you so much. Do you think . . .” She trailed off, the scent of her concern filling the room.

Jayce looked at Kat in confusion, but Ana smiled, kissed her mate, and stood up. “You want to pick out your own tile designs and appliances?”

Kat’s cheeks tinged a delicious shade of pink. “Well, yeah.”

Ana’s smile widened. “I’d be the same way. Come on. They left a book for you to look at.”

Jayce waited until Kat and Ana had left. From the murmur of their voices he knew they hadn’t gone far, only to the kitchen. The knowledge soothed his wolf. He didn’t really want his bondmate out of his sight. Maybe that would change later, but for now the thought of her being too far away made his beast claw angrily at him.

“It doesn’t get easier, but you do learn to tame your wolf,” Connor said quietly, as if he’d read Jayce’s mind.

Jayce grunted, tearing his gaze from the empty doorway and focusing on Connor again. “I can pay for the construction.”

“I know you can, but you’re not going to.” His words held a slight bite.

“Fair enough,” Jayce replied, settling back in his seat. “That’s not all you want to talk about, is it?”

Connor shook his head. “I need to know what your plans for Erin and Leila are, and I want to talk about the issue of humans trafficking vamp blood.”

Jayce had known this was coming. The first two issues were easy. “I plan to continue training Erin and I want to start soon with Leila. However, I have a job I think Erin can handle without my help. It’s in New Orleans. She’d need to leave in a few days.”

Connor’s eyebrows rose. “That’s where Noah’s old pack lives.”

“Yep.”

The Alpha gave him a calculating look. “You want him to go with her, don’t you?”

“Yep.”

Connor was silent for a long moment. “They’ll probably come back as bondmates.”

Jayce hoped so, but he didn’t say that out loud. He wasn’t sending Noah with her because he was a fucking matchmaker. Noah seemed to calm Erin in the same way that Kat calmed Jayce. Everyone of their breed needed an anchor, and though Erin wouldn’t admit it, Noah anchored her. If he didn’t, she wouldn’t hang out with him so much. “Are you willing to give up two of your warriors?”

Connor immediately shook his head. “I can’t. Not without temporary replacements.”

“Done.” Jayce had already put out a few feelers. In addition to enemies, he’d made a hell of a lot of contacts over the years and a lot of people owed him favors. He wasn’t sure if he would really call any of those contacts friends, but he trusted the men he was thinking of enough that he didn’t mind them being around his mate. That said something about their sense of honor.

“How many men?”

“Four males, two of them mated, so six total. Only two of the males are alpha in nature, but no born Alphas. If you’re willing, it wouldn’t be a temporary arrangement.”

Connor was silent for a long moment. “You trust them?”

He answered without hesitation. “With my life. They’re all related. Lost their Alpha a couple years ago and haven’t joined another pack since.”

“A couple years ago . . . You mean the Gomez pack? I thought they’d all found new packs.”

Jayce shook his head. What had happened to the Alpha of the Gomez pack and his second-in-command had been a tragedy. Ambushed by rogue vamps—who’d since been put down by Jayce—they’d been brutally killed, but at least they’d put up a vicious fight. “Not everyone, but now that the females are pregnant they’re all looking to put down roots.”

Connor’s lips curved up slightly. “So technically it’ll be eight new additions?”

Jayce couldn’t hide his smile. “Nine. One of the females is expecting twins.”

Another long silence. Finally Connor scrubbed a hand over his face. “We’re already hiring a local crew to build you guys a house—might as well build a few more. It’ll put more money back into the local economy. And it’ll be nice having more cubs around.”

Jayce knew that wasn’t the reason Connor was saying yes. He was an Alpha, a protector. It was in his nature to take care of others and he was a better Alpha than most of the ones Jayce had run across.

Before Jayce could say anything, Connor continued. “I’m going to check them out first and interview each of them individually. If for any reason I think they’ll be a threat or a bad fit for the pack, no deal.”

“I understand.” And he did. Once Connor made them part of the pack, there was no going back. He wasn’t the type of Alpha to kick anyone out without a damn good reason, and he took his position very seriously. Once in, they were in as long as they wanted to remain members. Jayce had a feeling that would be for life. Sensing that the topic was settled, Jayce moved on. “You wanted to talk about the trafficking of vamp blood?”

Connor nodded and glanced toward the door. “Yeah. Liam should be here in a sec. I want him to be part of this conversation.”

Jayce knew the two brothers could communicate telepathically in human and wolf form, a gift that not all related shifters possessed. Moments later, the tall shifter strolled in, a giant smile on his face and the scent of his mate all over him.

Instead of sitting, Liam headed to the fireplace and leaned against the mantel. “You got a plan for finding the fuckers trafficking that shit?” Liam asked, jumping right into the conversation.

Jayce nodded. He’d been waiting until the APL mess was settled in Fontana before moving forward with finding the source of this operation. “If you’re willing I want Ryan’s help running down some of the financial information from the names we got the other day.” He was referring to the drug dealers that he and Connor had practically hand-delivered to the cops.

Connor nodded. “He’ll help.”

Liam snorted softly. “You could just ask Leila; from what I hear she’s pretty skilled.”

She was also only sixteen. Jayce didn’t want her involved in any of the shit he planned to investigate. Connor shot Liam a sharp look and his brother just shrugged.

“The Council will pay your pack for using Ryan as a resource.” Jayce had been very insistent about that when he’d informed them that he would be staying down here on a semi-permanent basis.

Connor nodded. “Fine. They can double Vivian’s and Lucas’s college funds.”

“Fair enough. Unless something’s changed in the last hour, Ryan still hasn’t cracked the encryption of that laptop I gave him, but he did have something interesting to tell me earlier today.”
Very
interesting.

Connor’s mouth was set in a grim line, as if he already knew, which didn’t surprise Jayce. “You mean about those dealers?” the Alpha asked.

Jayce nodded. The very same guys who’d turned themselves in were all dead. “I guess you already know they were killed their second day in holding.” All of them had been gutted. He was still having Ryan run their financials in addition to the names that the dead guys had given. The fact that they’d all been killed so quickly said a lot about whoever was behind this vampire blood trafficking business. And there was no way in hell Jayce believed the two things weren’t connected. His former contact Ned Hartwig had vanished, as if he’d never existed, and now four other people connected to the trafficking were dead. It wasn’t a coincidence.

They continued talking about his investigative plans, but Jayce was only half focused, something he had no problem admitting to himself. The majority of his attention was on the woman in the other room.

All he could think about was getting her home, stripping her naked, and losing himself in her for hours. Considering they wouldn’t be able to take much of a honeymoon, especially with this vamp blood business, he wanted to take advantage of every second he could spend with her.

* * *

Kat set the third dessert plate on the kitchen table, then sat, picking up her glass of wine as she settled across from Leila. Jayce had decided to cook for them—his cooking talent was something she was still trying to come to terms with—and now it was time for dessert.

He had spent most of the day training Erin, then going over some sort of business with Ryan, which he’d promised to fill her in on later. Kat had spent the majority of her day with her dad. It still stunned her that he was in town, but he’d been really worried after seeing her on the news. That made her happy, considering that they hadn’t talked in so long. Unfortunately he’d had to leave because of work—she didn’t even want to think about what that might mean—but he promised to come back to visit when he could. She’d kept her distance from her father for the past year because of her issues with his illegal activities, but in the end he was her father. She might not agree with what he did, but she could deal with it. After seeing him again, it had hit her how much she’d missed him.

“You think I could have a glass of wine?” Leila asked quietly, as if Jayce couldn’t hear them from where he stood by the stove a few feet away.

“Uh,
no
.” Kat had begun developing more of a big-sister relationship with the young shifter, but that didn’t mean she would let her do whatever she wanted. “So have you decided what you’re going to do about school?”

Leila shrugged and absently pulled on one of the blue-highlighted pieces of fake hair she’d clipped in. “I was thinking I might take a few months off until I figure everything out. Maybe I’ll apply and sign up for some online classes, but for now, I . . . don’t want to leave the ranch.”

Kat breathed a silent sigh of relief. She didn’t want her to leave either. Even though she already had more college credits than most kids her age, she was still too young to be out on her own. “Good. Speaking of, Jayce and I were thinking, uh . . .” She trailed off, unsure how to continue. She didn’t want to overstep her bounds. She worried that maybe Leila was perfectly happy where she was and Kat didn’t want to ruin that. Or put her in the awkward position of saying no. Kat glanced at Jayce, who was pulling tiramisu out of the refrigerator.
Freaking tiramisu.