Page 26 of The Fated Mate Bandit

“I love you,” Silver says.

Deep down, I know that Silver loves the boy I was in high school. He doesn’t know me well enough to love who I am now. But I don’t care. I want his love so badly, I’ll take whatever version I can get. After all, I get a month of happiness. This is a part of that, isn’t it?

“I love you too,” I whisper back.

For a horrible moment, I wait for Fate to strike me with lightning or take Her revenge in some other way. I don’t deserve Silver or this mind-blowing sex. But nothing happens.

Then Silver moves. Just a little at first. He’s so big, that’s all I can handle. I close my eyes as he slowly pulls out halfway and then pushes back inside. We moan together again, and I can’t help but smile.

He lets out a breathy laugh. “See how good we are together.”

All thoughts of Fate and what I deserve fly out the window as our bodies move in tandem. We’re slippery with sweat and slick, and my is neck wet from his saliva. It’s messy, raw, and wonderful. He sucks at my scent gland with abandon, biting down every time he bottoms out inside me. He doesn’t bite hard enough to break the skin, but that doesn’t matter. I feel claimed all the same. When his knot starts to grow, I whimper from the stretch of it. He grabs my hips and thrusts hard inside me, his knot swelling all at once. I sob, the relief so sweet I can barely stand it.

He bites my scent gland deep enough that his teeth finally sink into my skin. My vision goes white, and I scream his name. In the back of my mind, I know there’s a reason I shouldn’t do that, but it doesn’t matter. My body is nothing but sparks and light. My orgasm goes on and on, Silver shuddering as he comes, too, grinding his glorious knot into me. It’s animalistic in a way sex never has been, and maybe that should make it less romantic, but I love the way Silver grunts in my ear as he ruts into me. I rock back to take him deeper, my breath coming deep and fast. The mattress screeches underneath us, the headboard banging against the wall.

“You’re mine,” he growls in my ear. The possessiveness makes my inner omega preen.

“Yes,” I whisper.

He slams into me one last time, pushing so deep inside me, I feel his cock’s claim of me as intensely as I felt the mark of his teeth. He buries his nose into my scent gland and inhales loudly.

When I glance over at him, my blood is on the tip of his nose. The sight of it makes me come. Not because it’s sexy, but because it’s feral and wild, like we’ve given ourselves up completely to our animal forms. My inner omega yearns to shift—to run across the packed dirt of the prairie with him like we used to.

Silver rubs his right palm along my chest. The touch is possessive like the way he sucked at my scent gland. He’s a raccoon shifter, so that’s how he’d bond to me if he were in his raccoon form. Tears well in my eyes because I want that so badly. I would give anything for a life with Silver—absolutely anything.

Could he be happy with me? Would I ever be enough for him? Or would he regret his generosity the moment he finally realized what being stuck with me and three young pups truly meant?

“I love you,” I tell him again, my voice breaking with emotion.

Despite how selfish it is, I lift my hand and place it on top of his across my chest in a silent invitation.

“Baby, does that mean—” he starts, but I shake my head. I won’t trap him like this. Even if every fiber of my being is screaming to be his. He deserves better than that.

12

SILVER

We lie on our sides, our bodies tied in the most intimate way.

I love you, too.

The words echo in my head like a mantra, impossible to ignore. His scent gland, puffy and bleeding from my bite, is only inches away, reminding me of our connection only moments earlier. He agreed he was mine. The way our bodies came together was pure perfection.

We have to talk about this.

For now, Lucas is sleeping peacefully in my arms. He drifted off almost immediately after we rolled onto our sides. I don’t blame him, of course. Growing three pups inside your body must require a lot of energy.

I guess we’ll have to talk tomorrow.

As we lie there, my hand naturally rests on his belly. I consider moving it because I’m not sure how Lucas would feel about me touching him there if he were awake. He seems ashamed of his big belly. A gentle flutter pushes against my hand. Is that one of the pups? I press my hand down, and I’m rewarded with a little kick against my palm.

When Quin was pregnant with Chime, he used to let me feel his belly when she was kicking. I’d talk to her in the womb so she’d know the sound of my voice once she was born. All of my brothers did. We wanted her to feel our love even before she took her first breath.

The pups in Lucas’s womb aren’t mine. I know that. And he’s asleep, so I can’t talk to them without him waking up. But I maintain a little pressure on his belly, just to say hello. The little pitter patter against my hand feels like they’re saying hi back. Maybe someday Lucas will let me introduce myself to them while they’re still in the womb. Maybe he’d let my brothers introduce themselves, too. Coin can play songs for them on his guitar and Tin can play them different animal sounds, just like he did for Chime. Quin used to roll his eyes when Tin explained bird calls to his belly, but I thought it was sweet.

My brothers are the best uncles a kid could ask for.

I fall asleep to the gentle kicks of the pups I hope I’ll be allowed to love someday. The scent of Lucas, and his warm body in my arms are just as comforting as those little kicks. I drift into such a deep sleep that I barely register the alarm blaring from my nightstand the next morning.

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