Claiming Shayla (17 page)

* * * *

It was late afternoon before Rory arrived home, dirty, sweaty, muttering angrily about code inspectors who don’t know their assholes from their armpits. Dinner simmered on the stove. Shay spared him a glance from the computer game she played at the kitchen table.

“Shower first, then dinner.”

Rory stopped and looked around. “You didn’t have to cook.”

She shrugged. “You worked. I cooked. It’s not like I had anything else to do.”

He scrubbed his face with his hands. “I’m sorry I had to run off—”

“Don’t,” she interrupted quietly. “It’s your job. I understand. There will be times when I’m called off to handle a project. Will I need to apologize for doing my job?”

“No.” He frowned. “We need to discuss the amount of traveling you do.”

Shay smiled. “After you shower. We’re on a schedule. What time is the pack arriving?”

He cursed. “I forgot. They’re not coming here. We’re gathering at our meeting place in the woods.”

Shay had a flash of her dream and prayed it wasn’t a premonition, though she’d never been prone to them. “Um, about tonight. There won’t be any public claiming, will there?” she couldn’t help but ask.

Rory’s forehead scrunched. “Claiming?”

“Fucking—you and me—in front of the pack.”

He sputtered, “No! Where would you get a ridiculous idea like that?”

“You haven’t been very forthcoming about tonight’s festivities. What am I supposed to think?”

“Not that.” He bent over, undid the laces of his work boots, toed them off, and set them by the door before rising and placing his hands on his hips. “We’ll go, I’ll introduce you to the pack, the council will acknowledge our mating, and the pack will submit to the alpha pair.”

“You make it sound simple. A mere formality.”

He began unbuttoning his shirt. Shay’s gaze was drawn to the flesh being slowly revealed. “It will be.”

She squeezed her thighs together. “Hurry up and get clean. I’m hungry.”

Rory glanced at the clock over the stove. “Be down in a few.”

Shay rose, gave the food a last stir, and turned off the burners on the stove. As the sounds of the shower reached downstairs, she set the table with place mats, ice-filled glasses, napkins, and silverware. By the time Rory’s footsteps sounded on the stairs, she was scooping food onto dinner plates.

“Smells good. I could eat a deer. Didn’t get a chance to eat today,” he said as he sat.

Shay set a plate heaping with food in front of him, then went to the fridge to get the sweet tea, pouring them both a glass before placing the pitcher on the table. She picked up her plate and settled beside him.

Rory glanced from his to hers. “I thought you were hungry.”

“I am,” she stated. “I never said for what.” The look she shot him was scorching.

His fork hung forgotten halfway to his mouth as his eyes narrowed, arousal tightening his features. Shay nudged his arm. “Eat. You’ll need your strength.”

They ate in silence. When Rory’s fork scraped the now empty porcelain, Shay rose and held out her hand. “More food?”

“No.” His gaze was intent as he handed her the plate.

As she set it on the countertop, she asked, “Tea?”

“No.”

Hands braced on the counter behind her, she commented, “You still look hungry.”

“I am.” He slowly rose to stand.

“There’s ice cream,” she offered.

He stepped toward her, shaking his head.

“Cookies?”

“Later.” He trapped her against the sink.

“The table—”

“Can wait.”

“Oh thank God.” Shay dived into his arms. “I’ve been going crazy all day.” She tugged on his jeans, frantic. “Inside me now. No foreplay.”

A few swipes of his claws and Shay’s clothes were shreds. He lifted her by the waist, and Shay wrapped her legs high around his. Hands gripping her butt, Rory swung around and began to lower her.

“Not the table,” she squeaked.

He smoothly switched directions and braced her against the wall. “Free my cock.”

Shay reached a hand down and pushed at his briefs. “Why are you wearing underwear? You never wear underwear.”

His cock sprung free and slapped her mound. Rory readjusted his hold, warning, “Hold on.”

The first thrust made her see stars. The second had her crying out his name. Then Shay held on as Rory took her the way she’d wanted to be taken since waking that morning—hard, strong, and deep thrusts that filled her to the brim and hit every hot spot. His pubic bone applied steady friction to her clit. Shay clawed his shoulders and, when the pleasure reached crisis point, buried her teeth in his neck. Rory howled as he came, grinding his hips sharply into her. Legs limp, they slid bonelessly to the floor, panting.

Rory rested his forehead against hers. “If this is the way you greet me, I need to get called on emergencies more often.”

“Yeah…well…” Shay, her brain fried, was too sated to think of a good comeback.

Eventually she caught her breath, planted her feet on the floor, and shoved up. The angle left her naked, glistening sex in Rory’s face. Not one to miss an opportunity, he immediately latched ahold with his mouth, licking and sucking.

Shay let her head slump to the wall, angled her hips to give him greater access, and closed her eyes on a sigh of pleasure. No man had ever loved her the way this one did. The sex alone was reason to stick around.

Rory lifted her right leg onto his shoulder. Already weak-kneed with pleasure, Shay shot out both arms and called a warning. “I’m going to fall!”

Rory reclined on the floor, pulling Shay with him so that she straddled his face. For a brief moment Shay had a vision of his men walking in on them again, then all else was forgotten. She arched her spine, lifted her face to the ceiling, and let the orgasm rush over her.

After crawling from beneath her, Rory bent and picked her up, cradling her in his arms.

“Where are we going?”

“To bed to finish round two in comfort.”

“Whoopee!”

* * * *

Much later in the truck, Rory kept sending scowling glances at his mate. “I can’t believe you wore that.”

“It’s just a skirt—”

“That barely covers your ass,” he muttered.

“And a tank top—”

“So thin I can see the outline of your nipples,” he snarled.

“—and I’m wearing your shirt to cover it all,” she reminded. “You keep clawing the clothes off my body and soon I’ll be forced to walk around naked.”

In truth the ensemble she wore wasn’t that revealing. What was making Rory’s cock hard was the excuse for panties Shay almost wore beneath the denim and the knowledge that with one tug, she’d be bare for his possession.

He’d told Shayla there’d be no public claiming of her tonight, but by God’s truth, he’d didn’t know how he was going to keep his hands off her, especially once the celebrating began. An alpha taking a mate was a joyous occasion in any pack. According to his father, the Sparrowhawks had celebrated for a week when his parents mated, resulting in several matings and a few pregnancies. In addition, Shay being pregnant meant the future of the pack was well secured.

He believed much of the unrest among the older members would now disappear. They knew the importance of the pack having an alpha pair. Tonight there would be revelry, some of it sexual in nature. Shifters as a species didn’t have any qualms about public nudity, and the Sparrowhawks weren’t particularly private about sex. His father had seen to that.

Thinking about it, Rory wished he could have held this at the house where they could party in style with barbecue, beer, and dancing. But the pack couldn’t celebrate until their mating had been formally recognized by the council. In addition, as grounded in tradition as his people were, they wouldn’t be happy unless he made the announcement of his mating at the official meeting place where his father and grandfather and every other member’s mating had been made since settling in this territory in the 1800s. Maybe when they were done, he’d invite the entire pack to the house.

He drove up the narrow, winding road several miles before turning onto a deliberately overgrown track barely visible from the street. Even if any curious person noticed it, the rough terrain suitable only for pickups or four-wheel drives would quickly discourage them from going on.

Rory felt uneasy, his wolf agitated. Reaching out through the bond, he sensed Shay’s tension rising the closer they came to their destination. He reached over, snagged her hand off her lap, and brought it to his mouth for a kiss. “Calm down.”

“I am calm.”

He let the lie go. She’d see soon enough there was no reason to worry. “I can’t wait to show you off to my pack. My beautiful, sexy mate, Shayla Morgan, soon to be Shayla McFelan.”

Rory released her to turn into a small clearing where several all-terrain vehicles were already parked. Once he cut off the engine, he undid both their seat belts. “Come here.”

Taking her hand again, Rory tugged Shay to him and lifted her onto his lap, then simply held her close. She settled in his arms with a sigh. “Maybe I am a
little
nervous.”

“It’s just a formality, Shay. A necessary evil, if you will, to be dispensed with so we can get on with our lives together.”

“I know,” she said, but her tone stated otherwise.

Instead of decreasing, her anxiety escalated. To settle his wolf, whose agitation was also amplifying, he tugged on his link to the pack, only to discover the edginess he was feeling wasn’t emanating from Shay at all. Both of them were feeding off the pack, which was filled with uncertainty, dismay, and in some, downright anger and distrust.

Shay stroked the side of his face, capturing his attention. “You’re snarling,” she told him.

“I’m reading the pack. They’re not happy.” It didn’t even occur to him to keep it from Shay. They were a unit now, and mates didn’t keep secrets from each other.

“Did you expect them to be?”

“Yes, damn it!” He slammed his hand on the dashboard. “They’re supposed to be happy and excited for me, not all this bullshit I’m sensing.”

“Maybe some are, but you can’t blame them for being uncertain, or even suspicious. I’m an unknown. Human. They don’t know what to expect.”

“That’s no excuse. They—”

Shay silenced him by slanting her mouth over his. She slid a hand into the hair at his nape and deepened the kiss. His dick, always semiready where his mate was concerned, went stiff as a board. In seconds their tongues and teeth came into play as the kiss turned ravenous.

When they broke for air, he reminded reluctantly, “They’re waiting.”

“Let them.” Shay climbed to her knees before shifting to straddle his lap. With the movement, her skirt rose until the crotch of her thong was visible. “You’ve felt what they’re feeling; now let them feel us through the bond. Feel how right we are for each other. Let them see it doesn’t matter what anyone thinks or how they feel about our mating. It’s here to stay.”

Then she worked that oh-so-short piece of denim material over her hips to her waist and ripped the crotch out of her panties. The scent of her arousal filled the cab.

“You’re sure? One of my men or the council may come looking for us if we don’t appear soon. They know we’re here. They can sense me just as I can sense them.” Even as he spoke, he stroked the soft curls between her legs.

Shay untied the knot on his shirt she wore and shrugged it off as she glanced out of all the windows. Seeing no one about, she whipped her tank top over her head, tossed it to the side, then slid her arms inside the sleeves of his shirt. Anyone observing them would see his white dress shirt and not the bounty he saw—perky, brown-tipped breasts, skirt bunched high, and the moisture-slicked curls between her legs beckoning him.

“Last chance,” he warned, feeling his beast rise.

In response Shay bared her shoulder and tilted her head to the side. “Mark me.”

Wolf off its leash, Rory lunged forward and sank his fangs into the tendon between her shoulder and neck, feeling in that moment more vamp than shifter. Shay let out a soft, gasping moan that went straight to his cock, and reached up to clutch his hair in a tight grip while rocking her sex on the hard bulge in his pants. “God, that feels good,” she panted.

“This will feel even better.” He eased a hand between them and undid his pants. His engorged cock sprang free, right into Shay’s greedy little hands. In an instant she had him positioned for penetration. As she lowered, Rory surged up, clamping hard hands on her hips to keep from bucking her off his lap. Their ride was short, rough, but extremely satisfying. When it was over, they wore matching bite marks and the scent of sex clung to them.

He blasted the link with his pack wide open.
This, this is what my mate gives me. This is what you in your selfishness seek to deny me!

Rory made sure they felt the love, peace, joy, and sheer contentment he found in Shay, and his displeasure that anyone would seek to disallow his right to be loved and love in return. Then he shut the link down, shut them out.

“What was that?” Shay asked, rubbing her chest lightly.

“You felt it?” he asked, surprised she was sensitive enough to pick up on his psychic connection with the pack.

“Some. I could tell you were communicating with someone and whoever it is, you’re not happy with them. Of course, this scowl would have told me that.” She kissed the side of his mouth and did a little shimmy on his lap, smiling when he hardened inside her again.

Still frowning, this time at his mate, he asked, “Are you always going to use sex to coax me out of my bad moods?”

She arched a brow. “It works, doesn’t it?”

Smiling reluctantly at her logic, he brushed a lock of hair out of her face and said with a sigh, “Put your shirt back on and straighten your clothes. Let’s get this over with and go home.”

PISSED ON HER mate’s behalf, Shay did as instructed. Shannon was right. The Sparrowhawks weren’t simply going to welcome her with open arms, no matter how much Rory might wish differently. Hence this little lovemaking session she’d engineered. She needed to rub it in their faces that she and Rory were mated and nothing they said or did would change it.

“
Show them graphically you two belong to each other
,” Shannon had said. “
Wear his mark proudly. Arrive at the howl covered in his scent. Be obvious. Let them all see your mating’s a done deal
.”

With Shannon’s instructions ringing in her ears, Shay used her torn underwear to wipe the excess cum from between her legs, then tucked the scrap of material in her front skirt pocket. She tossed Rory’s shirt to the side and slid on her tank, knowing it left her shoulders bare and marks visible. Over the course of the last few days, Rory had marked her so many times that the scars were visible to the naked eye, despite the healing saliva in his glands. Wearing his possession like a shield of armor, Shay indicated she was ready.

“You going like that? What happened to the shirt?”

Shay wrinkled her nose. “That thing swallowed me.”

“And you’d rather be half-naked instead?” he asked, scowling at the length of her skirt. “When you’re not wearing panties?”

“I’m covered,” she argued, glancing down to be certain.

“Barely.”

“I thought you shifters considered clothing optional,” she teased.

“As long as it’s not my mate, I do.”

Laughing, Shay reached in and grabbed his shirt, tying it around her waist. The material fell to her knees, covering all but a small portion of her thighs in the front. “Better?”

His gaze fell to her breasts, and her nipples responded by tightening. With a sigh, he muttered, “It will have to be. I just hope no one dies tonight. Pack’s small enough as it is.” Rory placed his hand on her lower back and escorted her forward.

As they shoved through the heavy foliage with Rory leading the way, Shay caught a branch before it could slap her in the face. “You guys ever think of trimming the underbrush or cutting back the overgrowth?”

He glanced over his shoulder. “We get a lot of tourists in the area. The last thing we want is some noisy human, thinking they’ve found a new hunting or hiking trail, discovering our existence.”

“Other than the noisy human comment, which I’ll let slide, that makes perfect sense, but still, do you have to keep it this bad?” She slapped at a bug that landed on her arm.

“It gets better up ahead.”

He was right. A few yards ahead they stepped out into a large clearing with a knoll in the center. The area was filled with people standing around in groups talking. The minute she and Rory came into view, Shay found herself the center of attention. Their animosity hit her like a body blow.

“
Show no fear. Don’t let them sense any discomfort or uneasiness you might be feeling. Shove it down, way down inside and lock it away
.”

As Shannon ’s words drifted to mind, Shay straightened her shoulders and slid on the attitude that came as naturally to her as breathing. She didn’t walk. She strutted into the midst of them like she owned the place and the people and didn’t care who didn’t like it. These people didn’t know her, and she wasn’t here for them. They could take their hostility, their suspicion, and stuff it where the sun didn’t shine.

A path opened before them. The loud talk dropped to barely a murmur. King of all he surveyed, Rory led her through his people. She’d seen the concerned brother, the nagging pest, the lover and caretaker, and his wolf and half-shifted forms, but Shay had never seen him in true alpha mode.

Once they reached the centermost, highest point of the rise, Rory turned to face them, holding Shay with her back to his chest. He looped one arm across her chest, and the hand of his other rested on the slight swell of her belly; his hold was both protective and possessive.

Shay relaxed, allowing Rory to support her weight as she glanced over the motley group. Upon closer examination, Shay discovered they weren’t as intimidating as they’d originally appeared. Well, as long as she didn’t think about the fact that the majority of those present could rip her throat out before she could blink.

The members present comprised all ages and races, though there were very few young children. The ones she did see were male. Some of the women offered hesitant smiles. The younger, unmated—Shay assumed from the way they were acting—males were checking her out: face, tits, and thighs. Males were the same everywhere, no matter the species.

Standing to Rory’s right were the men he’d previously identified as his second and third, Caleb and MacDougal. To his left were three older gentlemen, which by process of deduction and Shannon’s detailed descriptions, Shay concluded must be the council. They reeked of arrogance and barely concealed hostility. Shay smiled, a big teeth-baring grin, laughing inwardly when the middle one stiffened in outrage.

Rory did some type of metaphysical mumbo jumbo that had her heart pounding faster and the hairs on her arms and nape standing at attention. One by one, silence fell as gazes lowered in recognition of his power.

“Tonight I introduce to you your alpha-fem. My mate, Shayla Morgan!”