Page 25 of Mated to the Pride

“Fuck. C’mere.”

I lifted her with the ease my military training gave me, and pressed her carefully up against the smooth tiles of the shower wall. The sensation of her nipples against my chest drove me wild, but she told me what she needed. I wasn’t about to draw this out.

I reached down to my cock, aligned myself carefully with the joy-slick wetness of her sex, and pushed carefully inside.

Her shuddering groan spurred me on, her fingernails digging into the base of my neck and feet locked around me. Here in the shower, we didn’t have much room, but neither did we need it. As I fucked her up against the wall, intimate and close, I kept a tight and steady rhythm that worked for both of us — me, deep inside her and surrounded by her heat, and she arched with pleasure at the feeling of fullness, and the careful pressure of my thumb on her clit.

“Oh, Hale.God.”

I buried my face in her neck, kissing and nipping wildly at the smooth, clean skin I found there. She smelled so good, with layers of hormones and personal scent, that I thought I’d lose my mind. Every cell in my body was celebrating this moment that I found her, and that I first had her.

I felt her toes curling and uncurling behind me, and the way she clenched around my cock in time with my thrusts. Her nails clawed down my back, stopping only when she spared a hand to cup my face and kiss me, deep and long. I could feel her moans vibrating against my lips as we kissed, and reveled in the thought of giving her all that pleasure. It wasn’t long before those quiet moans turned into much sharper and more desperate cries.

“Hale, don’t stop. Don’t –ahh…”

The intensity of her orgasm gripped me, tugging me down over the edge with her. I came hard inside her, my thumb still circling a much gentler rhythm around her clit as she came down, breathing heavy and her forehead flopped against my shoulder.

“Wow.”

“That good, huh?” I grinned, lifting a hand to smooth her bangs out of her eyes. The bun she’d tied it up in had gotten loose in the wetness, and it was good to see her face unobscured again — the deep, satisfied blue of her eyes.

“Mm.” As I set her carefully down, keeping one arm loosely around her waist to hold her upright, I watched her place a hand carefully over my heart. Could she feel it racing still? I leaned down to kiss the top of her head, as happy to be close and soft with her in the shower as I had to see her naked body for the first time.

Oh, yeah. No doubt about it. This was the One Mate, alright.

We relaxed in comfortable silence, occasionally turning to help one another wash a different part of our bodies. It felt like we’d been together forever — not that we’d only just shared our first time in this tight-pressing space. Even me, notorious for never taking things seriously, couldn’t ignore the welling happiness inside me.

This was our future now. Forever.

As we shut the water off and stepped out, sharing the comforting warmth of my hot, fluffy towel, it felt so natural to know that she’d be a part of whatever lay ahead of me.

I could hardly wait.

Preston

Time usually dragged out like crazy on these long-term missions — but this time, with Jess’ glow to anchor and encourage us, it felt like the days had never passed more quickly. Before long, a whole month had flown by, and we had enough of the area scouted out that Blake predicted we’d find and contain our men within one more month.

This was good news, of course. We were doing important work that would keep our country safe — but despite this miniature victory in our mission, none of us felt all that triumphant. Although we were absolutely sure now that Jess was our One Mate, we still hadn’t found adequate time to sit down all together and have a discussion about it. On top of that, Jess hadn’t been quite herself for the past week or so, to the degree that Stone had insisted on calling in a doctor.

As she conducted the examination in Jess’ private room, Hale and I sat in concerned stiffness at the dining room table.

“I don’t know what to think,” I admitted. “Obviously Stone didn’t find anything, and I don’twantthere to be anything physically wrong with her — but what’s the alternative?”

Hale shook his head, uncharacteristically serious. “Not good. The only other thing I can think of is that she found out we all know… you know. About all of us.” He folded his hands together. “Maybe it upset her. Maybe she figured it was some kind of set-up. That it’s the only reason we brought her here.”

My chest ached at the mere thought of it, and I could see Hale struggling with it too.

“Nobody would’ve told her,” I reasoned. “We agreed on that much. How else would she have found out?”

The question went unanswered. We fell back into silence until we heard the sound of Jess’ bedroom door clicking open, and both her and the doctor’s footsteps down the hallway.

“…Vitamin D, which will be sent along with the next supply shipment. Okay?”

“Sure. Thank you.”

Hale and I stood from the table as they entered the room. I could feel his nervous energy echoing mine, and maybe Jess could too; she gave us both a weak smile as she caught our eye, and stood aside to let Doctor Gray pass.

“I’ll let Jessica discuss it all with you,” she said. “But there’s nothing to be immediately concerned about.”

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