Mine for Eternity [Council Enforcers] (Siren Publishing Classic) (10 page)

Tessa sighed and snuggled closer to his warmth. “I’ve never been better. Where is Nico?”

“I left him sleeping downstairs on the couch. Ry was watching him for me so that I could talk to you.”

Tessa froze. “Mitch, please tell me they don’t know what we were doing up here.”

Mitch laughed before responding. “Baby, with the way you were screaming, I’m pretty sure half the state knows what we were doing. Don’t worry. Ryan and Kenneth are mates, so they know what claiming is like. Ben is the biggest perv around, so I wouldn’t be surprised if he was listening at the door.”

Masculine laughter sounded in the hall, and Tessa could only bury her face in Mitch’s chest and groan. She could feel his chest rumbling as he laughed. She had no idea how she was going to face his friends with a straight face ever again, but she couldn’t bring herself to be angry. She would do it all over again in a heartbeat. Mitch chose that moment to run his tongue over the bite mark on her neck, causing Tessa to scream.

“Jesus, Mitch! What was that?” It felt like electricity was coursing from her neck straight down between her legs to her cunt. Tessa shivered and clenched her thighs.

“That is my claiming mark. It will eventually heal, but the sensations will always be there. From now on the spot will be an erogenous zone for you.”

“I knew there was a reason I allowed you to claim me,” Tessa joked. “Do it again.” Tessa spared a moment’s thought hoping Nico wasn’t frightened by her screams, but all rational thought flew out the window at the feel of his mouth on her shoulder again.

* * * *

Tessa giggled when Mitch’s hair tickled her nose as she bent down to sniff him. “Why do you suddenly smell so good?” She had woken up that morning to the wonderful smell. It had taken her a moment to figure out where she was, but once she had regained her memories and realized she was in Mitch’s bed, it didn’t take her long to figure out the smell was coming from him.

“It’s a part of the mating bond. You will gain a few shifter abilities like I told you last night.”

“Will I be able to change like you?” Tessa wasn’t sure how she felt about that. On one hand the thought of being able to turn into an animal seemed kind of cool, but on the other it was truly frightening.

“No, you won’t be able to shift, but you will get other things. You will have more strength. All of your senses will increase. It looks like you have already discovered your sense of smell has been magnified.”

Tessa nodded. She was starting to smell more than just Mitch. It was almost overwhelming. “What else?”

“Well, you will heal a lot faster now, and now that we are mates, your life span will increase to match mine.”

That bit of information had Tessa sitting up. She remembered him explaining the night before that he was semi-immortal, but the thought never crossed her mind that she would be, too, after mating him. His comment also reminded her of what she had wanted to ask him the previous night before she had become too distracted by the thought of having sex with him. “How old are you, Mitch?”

The man winced. “Keep in mind we can possibly live forever so age doesn’t really matter when it comes to mating. Also, my friends and I are new-generation enforcers, so we are younger than most.”

Tessa held up her hand to stop him from stalling. “How old?”

“I’m seventy-two.”

In her opinion Mitch didn’t look a day over thirty. She must have spoken out loud because he confirmed her thoughts.

“We stop aging in our late twenties and early thirties. It’s different for each shifter, but you won’t see a shifter that looks older than thirty-five. Now that you and I have mated, you will no longer age past today.”

It was a lot to take in. Mitch had made her crazy the night before with all his kisses and touches, and she wondered if she hadn’t fully thought things through. Still, she couldn’t bring herself to regret mating with Mitch. To know that she would look forever young at the age of twenty-three and never have to grow old was a check mark in the plus column.

All of Tessa’s enthusiasm deflated when she thought of her son. She felt tears in her eyes when she realized she hadn’t given him a single thought when she agreed to mate with Mitch.
How could I have been so cruel and thoughtless?
Her tears quickly turned into sobs when Mitch pulled her into his arms.

“Hey, baby, what’s wrong? Tell me why you’re crying.”

“You have to take it back.” She hiccupped.

“Take what back? You’re scaring me, baby.” He rubbed her back, trying to soother her. “You have to calm down, Tessa, and tell me what’s wrong.”

“You have to take the mating back!” Tessa shouted and tried to wiggle out of his arms. “How could I have been so stupid? I didn’t even think of what this would do to him. I can’t watch him die, Mitch, even if it’s a hundred years from now. There is no way I can sit and watch my baby grow old and die while I stay young.”

Tessa gave up her struggle to stand when Mitch’s arms tightened around her, refusing to let her go. Instead she gave in to her sobs again when she heard her son’s giggles coming from downstairs with her heightened hearing.
What have I done? How can I ever live without that sound?

“Tessa.” Mitch gave her a shake to get her attention. “Listen to me. I was going to explain later. You don’t have to watch Nico grow old. I would never do that to you.”

His words broke through her hysterical panic faster than anything else. “I don’t?” she asked, peering up at him. “Can you make him like you? Can you turn him into a shifter?”

“No, baby.” Mitch laughed. “Shifters are born, not made, but there is something I can do for him. Since you’re my mate, that makes Nico mine as well. I can claim him just like I did for you. It’s not anything sexual, but I will bite him and mark him just like I did for you. He will gain the same abilities that you gain as my mate.”

“Oh thank you, thank you, thank you.” Tessa climbed to her knees and punctuated each thank-you with kisses all over his face.

“Like I said, I would never do that to you. You never have to live without your son.” Mitch grimaced and rubbed the back of his head. “I’m not going to lie though. When I bite Nico, it will hurt.”

“You didn’t hurt me.”

“It was different with you. You were distracted with sex, and I was able to turn the bite into pleasure. I can’t do that with the cub. Normally this is something that we would do when he was older, but I don’t want to wait. With the danger following you, I would rather know he had a few extra abilities making him safer.”

“I understand, and we will figure something out. I feel the same way. I want him safe and protected, but knowing I don’t have to lose him is enough for now. I’m sorry I freaked out.”

Mitch lifted Tessa in his arms and headed toward the bathroom. “Come on. There will be plenty of time to think later. Right now, I plan on cleaning every inch of my dirty little mate.”

Tessa shivered and felt herself preparing to take Mitch again. She had a feeling damp panties were going to be an everyday occurrence whenever he was around. Somehow, she couldn’t bring herself to care.

“I meant to ask you, are your other friends lions like you or are they different kinds of shifters as well?”

Mitch looked up from where he had been running a soapy finger around one of Tessa’s nipples. “If you are asking questions, then that means I must not be doing something right.”

He pinched the nipple he had been fondling, eliciting a moan from her. “To answer your question, Ben’s animal is a wolf, which you already know. Ryan is a lion like me, and Ken is a bear.”

“Bear? Aww, a big, ole teddy bear, how cute. Is it wrong now that I know about him I want to give him a big hug and squeeze him?”

“I’ll give you something to squeeze.” Mitch growled and nipped Tessa’s mating mark. “How about letting that tight pussy of yours squeeze my nice, hard cock?”

He didn’t give Tessa a chance to respond. Her comment had set him off. He was fighting back jealousy at the thought of her touching another man. Mitch lifted Tessa against the shower wall and ran his hand along the folds of her cunt. His mate was already soaking wet. “I know I promised you slow and easy, and we will get to it, but just not this time.” He placed his cock at her entrance and looked up at her, seeking permission.

Tessa met his lips with a kiss, thrusting her tongue in his mouth. Mitch moaned and flexed his hips, burying himself inside his mate with one deep thrust. “Damn, baby. You feel so good.”

Tessa moaned and wrapped her arms around his shoulders pulling him to her. The bite of her nails in his back traveled straight to his cock, making it twitch. Mitch felt his balls drawing up tighter to his body with each thrust and knew he wasn’t going to last long. He angled his hips, giving him room to slip his hands between them. Mitch slid his finger along Tessa’s slit before circling her clit.

“Harder, Mitch,” Tessa moaned against his ear and reached down to grab his butt. She pulled him against her, emphasizing her command. “I’m close.”

He was close to coming as well. The tight velvet heat of her pussy wrapped around his cock as it clenched and pulsed, massaging his cock, was almost too much to bear. Mitch pinched Tessa’s clit between his forefinger and thumb at the same time as he bit down on her mark, causing her to scream as she came against him. The tingling at the base of his spine signified that Mitch was no longer able to hold back his own climax. He roared his release at the top of his lungs as he filled Tessa with his cum.

By the time they had recovered, the water had turned cold. Their shower was fast, but Mitch still found ways to fondle his mate, and they dried off and dressed. Between kisses and small touches, they were finally able to make their way down to the kitchen. For the first time since Tessa had come into his life, his lion was fully sated and calm. There were no smart-ass comments coming from him, not that Mitch was complaining.

“Kitty!”

Mitch heard the yell before a small body launched itself toward him. He caught Nico and pulled him to his chest as he groaned. The kitchen was silent for about a second before erupting in peals of laughter. He knew that his friends would never let him live the name down, especially when he heard meows coming from Ben.

“Hey, little man. Have you been a good cub for your uncles?” he asked, ignoring the laughter.

Nico nodded his head hard enough to shake his whole body before reaching out for his momma. Tessa took the boy and hugged him before kissing Mitch and taking her seat at the table. Once she was seated, Mitch finally looked up at his friends. They all had smirks on their faces that let him know they had every intention of teasing him later on. He knew the teasing would all be in good fun, but he could also see a little jealousy in their eyes as well, including Ben. Even though Ben often preached that he was against monogamy, there was a small part of him that wanted his own mate. That sentiment existed in all shifters.

“Hey, Nico, not only do you have a kitty to play with, Ryan over there is another kitty, Ben is a puppy, and Ken is a big, ole teddy bear.” Tessa never looked up from buttering her toast as she explained to her son what kind of shifter everyone was.

For the second time since they had entered the kitchen there was complete silence. It took all of his strength to hold his laugh in, but when his feisty little mate looked up at him and winked letting him know exactly what she had been doing, Mitch lost it. He doubled over on the table laughing until he had tears streaming down his face. He looked over to see Ken and Ry laughing as well and Ben looking over at Tessa with a look of awe on his face.

“I don’t know whether to be scared of you right now for putting us in our place so fast or a little turned on,” Ben told Tessa, who laughed.

Mitch had to agree with the second part of Ben’s statement. Even after recently coming so hard in the shower, his cock was rock hard at the thought of his mate taking up for him. He felt pride that Tessa was willing to protect him even from something as simple as his friends making a joke at his expense.

Tessa just smirked and lifted her eyebrow but otherwise ignored Ben’s comment. “Mitch told me you guys were mated,” she said, referring to Ken and Ryan. “Do your mates not travel with you?”

Ken frowned, confused, but Ryan answered, “Kenneth is my mate.”

“Oh…ohhh.” Tessa blushed.

“Is that a problem?” Ken asked.

Mitch held back the urge to growl at Ken’s tone toward his mate. Same-sex matings were rare, but not unheard of. Still, there were a lot of older shifters who had a problem with it. Ken was very defensive when it came to anyone insulting his mate.

“No. God, no. I didn’t mean any offense. Mitch just said you were both mated, he didn’t say to each other. I was just confused.”

“It’s okay,” Ryan answered as he rubbed Ken’s arm, trying to soothe him. “We just normally get a negative reaction when people find out we’re together. Hopefully when we find our third things will be different, but I doubt it.”

“Your third?”

Mitch answered for Ryan while he continued to soothe Ken. “Baby, neither Ken nor Ryan was gay when they met. They didn’t deny each other, but both believe there is a woman out there meant for the both of them.”