Page 43 of Fated to the Warrior Wolf

“I need more. I need you now.” I pushed at the waistband of his black sweats—those things should have been illegal, because the way they clung to him was deliciously indecent—urging him to hurry up and get naked.

But he smiled against my skin, nipping me lightly. “This is the first time I’ve had you where we weren’t under a heat frenzy, and I’m not in any hurry.” He kissed me again, trailing his tongue up to my nipple, which was already beaded tightly with need.

I groaned. The sensation was a deep plucking at my clit, and I was absolutely going to die if he kept teasing me and didn’t get a move on.

“Gael,please—” I shoved at his shoulders, needy on a level I could no longer quantify with words.

He chuckled, the asshole, but finally started to move down my stomach, peppering kisses and nips down in a torturously slow trail. I wanted to be mad at him for ignoring myimpatience, but it did feel nice. Better than nice, truthfully… Heat was beginning to fill me, slowly suffusing my limbs as I gave in to the inevitability. I was not in control here, and it was a relief to just let go.

By the time he made it to the waistband of my leggings, I was twisting my thighs together, desperate for friction. Gael teased the skin just under the fabric with his fingertip, holding eye contact as he tortured me a little bit longer.

When he finally began to pull them over my hips, I wanted to weep with relief. But it was short-lived.

“Gael!” Reed sounded pissed off as he pounded on the bedroom door.

Gael’s eyelids dropped to half-mast, fury tightening his shoulders as he held his position hovering over me.

“Not now, Reed!”

“Yes, now, you ass! You didn’t tell me in my office that youchallengedthe two idiots! You just said they were fired. So now you get to come out of there and deal with the mess you made.”

I was pretty far gone with lust, but his words were like getting dunked in a bath of ice water. “Wait a second, youchallengedthe two guys in the gym? What the actual fuck, BD?” I swatted him on the shoulder as he let his head droop, forehead pressed against my stomach with annoyance. “Why would you do that?”

“You can’t keep calling me that. We’re fated now. You’re going to have to pick a new nickname.”

I wanted to be furious. I really did. But something about the utter absurdity of the situation wouldn’t let me. I threw my head back against the pillow and laughed my ass off.

After a minute, he started to laugh too—at first, a quiet shaking of his shoulders, which built into a full-blown belly laugh.

I laughed so hard, tears leaked out of the corners of my eyes, and when the moment finally passed, my stomach wassore. “So let me get this straight. In all the messed-up drama that is our lives, the thing you take issue with is me calling you my baby daddy? You know it’s still true, right?” I dropped a hand down to my belly, where Petal was tucked safe and sound.

“Baby daddy—” he started, but Reed pounded on the door again.

“I am dead serious, G, you are dealing with this shit, or I’m going to beat the door down! You do not want to mess with me today!”

“He soundsreallymad,” I mused, quickly shrugging back into my bra and trying not to hiss as I pulled the Velcro back into place. I really was sore already.

How does an invisible baby affect your whole body so quickly?

“He’ll live. But he’s unfortunately right. I do have to go deal with this. Stay here and rest?” he asked, a hopeful look in his eyes.

“Hell no. You’re about to spend the walk to the ring explaining to me why you thought this was a good idea. I want references.” My shirt was back over my head, and my best no-nonsense trainer face was on in seconds.

“No.”

I crossed my arms over my chest as that fury I hadn’t been able to summon earlier finally arrived, with bells and whistles. “Excuse me?”

“No, I’m not telling you why. You’re just going to have to trust me on this one.”

TWENTY-TWO

Gael

She’s pissed, and I can’t blame her.

If I cracked an egg on Leigh’s forehead right now, it would fry. But how was I supposed to tell her that I challenged them for calling her a mutt?

It was an ugly term, slang for a shifter who’s half-human. But more than that, it was derogatory. People in some circles looked down on a “mutt” for mixing up the species bloodlines, even though that was utter bullshit. They had a wolf, same as I did. There was no weakness, no flaw in someone who was mixed.

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