Page 49 of Smoke and Lure

Chapter Nine

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Morlie gasped as theearth seemed to drop from beneath her feet.Kai was apparently the last relative of the enormous white dragon on a wooden altar.Aodh knew about her and had invited her to come; why would he say that her older sister was one of the last?What about me?

No part of Morlie doubted that she was a mate to the Alpha wolf beside her, but was it possible that she could have both dragon blood and Lupine genetics?

She stared through the trees at the throng of white-garbed Drahk before her.Some faces were familiar, like Eilidh and her friends, from when she lived among them before she ran to her wolf-shifter mate.Morlie missed Eilidh and the energy of the all-encompassing joy the dragon female exuded, but with the wolves, she felt connected and not like an outsider they were all entertaining or babysitting.

“I take it you didn’t know of your family’s Drahk connection?”Chanin’s arm tightened around her waist and drew her closer to his side.

His caress and hold had become a natural gesture for them.The Alpha loved touching her whenever she was near.More than ever, she was grateful for his sinewy arm as her knees wobbled, feeling weak as she attempted to process the booming words of the dragon-shifter leader.

“No.”She frowned and shook her head as her mind sifted through every scrap of memory she had, not only of her parents and the things they shared with her and Kai but also everything Kai had filled in once their parents died from the same illness that attempted to claim her life.

Kai had never said she bore a mark like hers on her inner thigh, one placed there by their human government and one that had faded daily since Morlie’s change.She’d never asked Kai how she was sure Aodh was truly her mate.Could this obscure Drahk connection have something to do with it?It would help a lot of this make sense.

Morlie couldn’t pull her gaze away from seeing all the people dressed in white, specifically her sister.Her eyes seemed to hunger for this first glimpse of her big sister.They’d never been separated longer than a few hours all of Morlie’s life, but now their geographical and emotional distance seemed bigger than the territories they lived in.

“Mom and Dad never shared much beyond their youth with their parents and their lives together before and after the catastrophes.”She thought harder, causing the muscles of her face to scrunch.“Even in all the fairytales and stories they would tell us, none of them consisted of a dragon carrying off a princess in the end...and they lived happily ever after.”

Chanin pressed his lips to her ear and whispered, “I bet they didn’t envision a big bad wolf, either.”

She laughed and curled against him.“Oh, there were plenty of those, but none that would have allowed me to imagine you.”She nipped at the muscle of his strong jawline.

Chanin growled as he lowered his head and licked along the curve that joined her neck and shoulder, his tongue just catching the edge of his mark on her.

A few dragon-shifters glanced toward the woods briefly before returning their gaze to the older man resembling Aodh, who was speaking.

That sound from her mate and her own need had her rolling her lips in and sinking her teeth into the flesh until she tasted her blood.Heat furrowed in her belly and spread between her thighs.It caused her pussy to throb and slicken.Her nipples tightened to stiff peaks that ached for him to cup, stroke, and suck.The urge to take his hand and slide it down from her middle and into the waist of her pants until it was settled between her legs, cupping her drenched folds.She would be able to rock her hips and grind her pulsating clit along his deft, calloused fingers until lightning struck and she came apart in his hand.

Even with their wolf detail settled behind them in the woods and the crowd of Drahk a few hundred feet before them, Morlie’s body was tuned only to Chanin.However, she knew if she gave in for a moment to the need strumming through her, she’d be on all fours in less than a heartbeat and letting her mate drive his thick cock into her hard and deep until she was screaming her release, again and again.

The clarity of her wolf vision, like her acute hearing, allowed her to pick up every word spoken at the ceremony they watched but were not a part of.Morlie was grateful that no one spoke in Drahk and wondered if it was per Aodh’s request, knowing she and Chanin would be there.

Regardless, she was distracted by her sight, which allowed her to take in everything about the male beside her, her mate.

Even dressed in borrowed clothing from the Drahks like her, a pair of loose-fitting pants and tops, Chanin appeared tall, strong, and proud.The pale taupe-colored garments, different from what the Alpha wore among his people, could not detract from the fierce Lupine nature.His long, blond hair created a golden halo around the prominent, angular lines of his features, and his deep-set, intense blue eyes were always a blink away from turning amber.

It was clear he was responding to her desire for him.

Morlie forced her gaze away.

She sucked in a deep breath through her nose that didn’t help because all she could smell was the dark, earthy spice with rich mahogany undertones of Chanin.However, she fisted her hands at her sides and felt the slice of her sharp nails in her palm.The pain helped her focus on the control she needed right now, but it was tenuous because her wolf wanted out.

Chanin had told her that the lunar pull was increasing toward what usually would have been a full moon in a day or so, and it would be harder and harder for the Lupine not to be in their natural wolf form.Loving her new self—body, strength, lust—she reconciled herself with the fact she was now more beast than human.

However, right now was not the time, and she needed to fight the fierce urges and thrumming in her muscles to rut and shift.Although she didn’t recall closing her lids, she opened them and stared at her sister across the clearing.Aodh had said Kai would need her tonight, which was why Morlie was here.

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