Page 36 of The Guardian's True-Mate

“Everyone better behave,” I gasped for air, pleasure and memories fighting for my attention. “We’ll get them again like we got the Mundanes Before Magic. I’ll protect you.”

Cardian let out a hearty chuckle and nuzzled into my neck. He wasn’t afraid of dying. That was the least of Cardian’s worries as his emotions dripped down onto me over our mating link. He didn’t want to lose anyone else he loved.

“I’m heartier than you think,” I said and kissed his temple.

Our pleasure mingled together over our newly opened mating link until I couldn’t tell where mine ended and his began. Our bodies pushed forward, thrusting and rocking faster, stoking the fire in my belly. Every thrust pushed us closer to the edge. I tensed against him, my balls drawing up tight to my body. His mouth claimed mine in a hungry kiss as his thrusting picked up pace. I clung to him, and he reached between our bodies to take my hard, throbbing dick in his hand. He stroked me in time with his pacing until I howled in pleasure, spilling semen between our bodies in long spurts. We were a mess, but it was a happy mess.

Cardian panted above me seeking out his own pleasure, even as I writhed under him. He sank deeper and deeper and then his thrust became quick and shallow. His dick shook inside me, trembling before releasing its warm, sticky seed. Our bodies rocked until there wasn’t another drop of pleasure left to milk out of either of us.

Despite the mess, we drifted off back to sleep. Wrapped in his arms, I was safe and sound, even in heat growled in the recesses of my mind.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Cardian

We lost track of days at the matingmoon house. Time disappeared and neither the sun nor the moon ruled over our sleeping schedule. Instead, our desire and hungers ruled us. We ate, slept, showered, and romped as the moods came and went. Heat drove us together again and again – in the living room, the kitchen, all the showers and all the bedrooms. Over whatever piece of furniture was the most handy or right on the floor if that suited our needs best.

Those near two weeks in the matingmoon house was probably the longest I went without concerning myself with the safety of the group in all my adult life. Sooner or later we’d have to come up for air. Two days before Dakota’s heat began to recede. We ignored that little fact and continued to live on in our romping and late-night talk bliss. It’d be a lie to say that focusing only on Dakota wasn’t a nice change of pace.

The others brought baskets of food and bloodshakes and left them on the back porch every day. We might’ve stayed that way forever if Scott’s water hadn’t broken. It happened late at night while Dakota slept, and I wondered if we conceived a baby. Usually that’s what ended heat between true-mates. Sure, it lasted a long time and might’ve run its course naturally, but I liked to imagine a little baby inside of him. Babies were the hope of the future, right? Babies were definitely in our future, anyway.

Dakota smelled like soap and fur. A little smile tugged at the corners of his mouth as he slumbered. I should’ve been grabbing some sleep too. Since his heat ended, we had started working on trying to align our sleep schedules. It would probably never be a perfect system, but we wanted them as close together as possible so we could spend more time together. I scooted closer to him, rested my hand over his heart, and let my eyes drift shut.

“Brother!” Terrick’s voice sounded off in my thoughts seconds before several voices said Dakota’s name over the pack link.

I shook my head and rubbed my ear. I was still adjusting to being on the pack link since completing our claiming vows. Sure, the coven had a link, but it was mostly kept quiet and used for security reasons. The wolves used it for everything and there was a learning curve to tuning it out.

“Huh? What? You say something?” Dakota muttered and rolled over.

I rubbed his side, ignoring the urgency in the voices calling for us. Most first babies took a while, and I didn’t want to startle my mate awake.

“Baby,” I whispered in his ear.

“Not right now. Later,” he chuckled, “I’m too tired to go again. Heat is gone.”

“Are you two awake?” Terrick’s voice smacked into me again over our family link. “Scott’s water has broken. Dara is on his way.”

“We’ll be there in a few minutes,” I said and rubbed Dakota’s side a little faster.

“Don’t jack off my torso, Alpha,” he said and rolled away.

“Babe, come on. You gotta wake up. Scott’s water just broke.”

“Huh?” he blinked, rolling back over to face me, eyes open.

“They’re all over the group link and stuff. If we’re gonna be there we gotta get moving and put pants on,” I said, rubbing his side again as if I could massage the motivation to get out of bed and get going into his flesh.

“I need my swim trunks. Water birth,” he murmured and squeezed his eyes shut for a long moment. “Hopefully someone put on coffee over there.”

“I’ll put it on when we get there if no one else has,” I said, helping him to sit up.

“No, you have to stop Terrick from eating anyone,” he shook his head.

“Last I heard it was more likely to be Scott biting someone,” I chuckled.

“Well, people shouldn’t get into delivering shifter babies if they’re afraid of a little bite,” he yawned and swung his legs out of the bed.

“Maybe,” I laughed, “just don’t let it be you, okay?”

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