Page 85 of Hunter Moon

He gave a sigh, leaning against my shoulder. “Never did manage to bring you in, though. You were always flashing me that wicked smile and escaping to be the bane of my existence another day.”

With my non-icing-covered fingers, I reached down and turned his chin so we faced each other. “You’ve got me now. I’m ready to face whatever justice the queen’s court demands.”

His answering smiled took my breath away. “Turns out you were a privateer all along, and Her Majesty is a pretty big fan of your work.”

“Oh good. I’d hate to hang instead of marrying her most loyal captain, and spending the rest of our lives together.”

He pressed his forehead into my shoulder, wrapping his arms around me and squeezing tight. “Can it be time for the claiming now? I’m so ready for that.”

And who the hell was I to say no?

56

Brook

We didn’t make it far—not back to my house or to the motel or even to stumble back into one of the spare rooms at Grove house. No, we just tripped our way into Mr. Sedgwick’s old barn.

Aspen tugged on my arm and I crashed into his chest, his hand already there to cup my cheek, fingers stretching around the back of my skull to tilt me open for a hot, wet kiss.

His tongue shoved between my lips, in and out like he meant to fuck me with it. Gasping, I shivered in his arms, pushing up my toes to rock my stiffening cock against his thigh.

“You still want my mark?” Aspen asked, voice breathy and strained when we parted. His eyes filled with hunger. His tongue swept across his lips like he wanted another taste of me.

It was silly that he even had to ask. “I’ve been waiting so long.” I groaned, tugging him in by the front of his shirt.

He smiled, all his hope and longing and joy trapped in that tiny, unsure twitch of his lips. He leaned in, breathing me in deep, dragging his lips across my cheek. His breath was a rush against my ear, loud as the ocean trapped in a conch shell.

But I couldn’t stand even one ounce of uncertainty from him right then, not even when it came with that smile I loved so much—the one that promised he was just trying to do the right thing.

I planted my hand on his barrel chest and pushed him back. “Seriously, Asp. More than half my life, I’ve been waiting, and I’m sick of it. So this is me, asking as your mate”—he’d said he was willing, but I paused to search his face for any trace of doubt; all I saw was ravenous hunger—“mark me. Claim me. Never, ever leave me behind. It’s us, right? Us against the world.”

Maybe we had people at our backs—pack and family that cared about us—but I wanted this unbreakable bond, something special just with him that proved to me and everybody else that we belonged together.

“Yeah, baby. It’s us.”

The low heat in his voice had my breath catching in my throat. I tipped my chin up, but not in defiance. It was the first step in baring myself to him, giving him a spot on my body to claim for himself.

“It’s us,” he repeated, his lips vibrating against my skin. His hand slipped under my shirt, tracing across my stomach and down. My pants cut into my hips when he slipped his hand inside. Too tight, but I didn’t give a damn. Because as soon as he touched my aching cock, his fangs slid into the flesh of my unscarred shoulder.

A little part of me had expected violence and pain—it was what I knew. But this time, it wasn’t like that. Warm, melting pleasure shuddered through my body as my wolf recognized its mate. This was right, good. So fucking good.

I whined, rocking into his hand as Aspen’s tongue moved against my skin. I felt his satisfied growl as much as I heard it, a rumble in his big, strong body that resonated in my own.

“My Brook,” he growled against my skin. “Mine.”

In that moment he was more wolf than man—that wild thing inside him sated because—

Because he’d always needed me. Every bit as much as I needed him.

A strained sob escaped me and I pushed at his shirt. He let me drag it off him, taking the time to undo my pants. We couldn’t get naked fast enough, and the seconds he took to spread out our rumpled clothes on the barn’s dirt floor were an eternity too long.

He sat back and I practically fell on top of him, slick between my legs dripping down the backs of my thighs as my body ached to set this claiming in place, make it permanent. I rocked against him, my hips trapping our cocks between our overheated bodies, sliding against each other as I rode him.

“Bite me,” he demanded.

My stomach tensed up as I remembered the fight with the Reids, the violence of Maxim’s mating mark, and the taste of blood in my mouth. Before, when we were kids, I’d never thought about biting him. It was a thing alphas did to omegas—didn’t have to go both ways.

But then... I had Aspen. He wasn’t like that. He wanted me, just like I wanted him. He already had my mark on his leg, a tattoo he’d gotten by choice, and I had no doubt that’d hurt a heck of a lot more.

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