Page 58 of The Alpha's Rejected Mate

Billie

We turned the picnic rug into a blanket as the night descended. The cool grass of the bank was welcome on my overheated skin. Gavin pulled me into his side and wrapped his arm around me as we lay down and looked up at the stars blinking into existence. I pressed my cheek into his chest, adoring the feel of the hard wall of muscle. My knee hooked over his powerful thigh as my body still wanted to be as close as possible to him.

I want to stay wrapped around him forever.

His spicy scent was intoxicating. I burrowed my nose into his chest as I listened to our hearts beating together and returning to an even pace as we came down from our sex high. The one I’d just experienced for thefirsttime.

I breathed out a contented sigh. “Wow, that was—”

“Like pancakes?” Gavin suggested with a mischievous tone.

I huffed a laugh against his chest. “Mind-blowing.”

He kissed the crown of my head. “It was, my love,” he agreed in a deep rumble that had my core tightening again. Somehow,hearing him call me “love”now was even better than it had been in the heat of the moment.

I grinned like a lovesick fool. Because … that’sexactlywhat I was. I was deeply and madly in love withmy mate. Gavin’s mark stung a little on my neck, but it was a kind of pleasure-pain, reminding me that I was the luckiest woman—and wolf—in the whole wide world.

Because Gavin is my firstandmy forever.

I had the urge to pinch myself. The fact that I’d just lost my virginity to this hot-damn delicious Alpha seemed like something out of a dream. Another goofy smile wound over my face as I thought of how I would never have believed this future possible when I’d had my Moondream showing him to me.

I totally lucked out in the fate game.

Of course, I hadn’talwaysbeen lucky. The shadows of my past lingered over me, especially as the truth about my parents’ brutal murder was still so raw. But, as I looked through the branches of the cottonwood, watching the glinting stars and snuggling into the strong arms of my mate, I felt a deep contentment settle in my bones.

With Gavin, I felt as ifallthe things that I’d missed growing up—a home, friends, and being part of a family were all going to be mine. Here in Grandbay, with Aislin and the rest of the pack, as well as Muriel, of course, I’d experienced what it was to have friends and belong to a community. But, as my mate’s arms encircled me, Ifinallyknew what it meant to truly be loved.

My life in Dalesbloom had been a shadow of an existence. Whereas here, just like the flow of the Gunnison and the breezesstirring in the cottonwood, what we had was real and palpable, filling my senses and making me greedy for more of it. This man beside me made me want to live to my fullest—body, soul, and wolf until I couldn’t take any more.

A bit like … when his cock had filled me, and his tongue had stroked mine, and his hand had kneaded my breast, and that earth-shattering feeling had rocked my entire body.

“What is that stunning blush for?” Gavin asked roguishly as he felt the heat radiating from my cheeks. My face suddenly felt like a heater turned up full blast.

“Just thinking about what your body does to me,” I said throatily, looking up at him.

“Oh, yeah?” He arched a dark brow. My pulse spiked at the knowing look on his face. “Are there any particular parts you like?”

I licked my lips as my thoughts lasered in ononeparticular part of his anatomy that I liked very much and had played the central role in the mind-blowing, earth-shattering orgasm I’d just had.

Gavin’s eyes homed in on my mouth, heat already hazing them. I felt his cock hardening against my thigh as if it could feel how intensely I was thinking about it.

My eyes widened. It couldn’t have been more than five minutes since we’d climaxed, and Gavin was ready to go again. Wetness started to slick my thighs as my body responded. His nostrils flared, and I knew he’d scented how turned on I was.

“You’re ready to go again?” I asked with awe.

“Formy mate, I’m always ready,” he growled, already pulling me onto him so that I straddled his hips.

He stroked the mark on my neck, his eyes flaring as the pads of his fingers lingered over his mark. Then his hands swept down my torso, teasing one of my breasts. I gasped as they were extra sensitive after he’d already sucked and massaged them so much.

“You’re like a fae princess in the moonlight,” he whispered.

Never mind, princess, the adoration in his hazel stare made me feel like a queen. I felt as if I were melting into the warmth of his gaze.

“There’s something so primal about fucking you outside .…” he uttered as he dipped one of his fingers through my wet folds and let out an appreciative groan at the slickness. “My wolf loves it. I love this pussy,” he added, working his fingers through me and hitting my clit, so that I already felt the first stirrings fluttering through my core.

My pleasure-hazed eyes wound over Gavin’s chiseled features, limned in the moonlight as if even Vana, goddess of the moon, couldn’t help stroking his handsome face. I didn’t blame her. The fact that the goddess had given this man and wolf to me, I knew, would always make me her loyal disciple.

“I love you, Gavin,” I uttered, my heart overflowing with devotion as my eyes held his.

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