Page 31 of Stormbinder King
“N-no,” I said. “Nothing in particular.”
“Did he touch you anywhere?”
“J-just my arm,” I said.
Jack grinned, taking a sip of the tea.
My god, how I loved him.
“Did it seem like that hurt him?”
“Yes,” I said, happy to finally have a little bit of power, even though it was Jack’s spell and not mine. “But he did it anyways.”
“Clever girl,” Jack said, even though I hadn’t done anything to deserve this praise. I felt a shiver go through my body at the words, my protective tattoo feeling tight against my skin.
I was so lucky be bound by this man, to know the protective spell was under my skin, buried deep in my blood, so any other man couldn’t touch me without pain.
The night wind ruffled Jack’s blonde hair and there was a glint in his eyes.
“Ride me, Andromeda,” he commanded, and I climbed on his lap, leaning forward to kiss him. He put firm hands on my hips and impaled me on his hard length.
I began to grind back and forth, putting both hands on his shoulders so I could lean back and take him deeper and harder.
Jack’s breathing came faster and he ran one hand up to cup my breast, gently tweak the nipple with a finger.
I rode Jack as the pressure built and twisted in my belly.
“Shit,” he said, his eyes greedily drinking in how my hips ground over his cock.
“You’re all mine to do what I want with. What a good, obedient girl.”
I took all of him and he came with an oath, filling me up in the dark.
There was no reason to be afraid with my mate beside me.
11
The summer days ripened even hotter, moving toward the Midsummer Festival, where other shifter Packs would gather on Stormbinder land to drink and eat together, competing in skills like archery and stone tossing.
I was looking forward to it very much, even though I who was outside the Pack hierarchy had noticed that ever since the King came back, there had been an increase in lengthy meetings Jack had been required to attend.
But when I asked him about what the King was so worried about, he only brushed aside any concerns, saying shifters living outside the Stormbinder lands had been reporting an increase in sightings of other creatures.
“What kind of creatures?” I asked, but he only waved it aside, pulling off his lightweight linen shirt to reveal his tanned chest and flat defined belly.
“Just some shifters indulging too much in summer blackberry wine. They wouldn’t dare to come to our lands.”
“I heard some of the Betas gossiping there is something wrong with the boundary,” I said. “Something working to weaken it.”
Jack scoffed. “Betas are always gossiping. Don’t worry about it.”
Then he bent to lay a kiss on my throat, and I forgot everything else in my eagerness for my mate.
The next day, shifter families began to arrive in noisy little convoys, and I stood by Jack and Symeon’s uncle Solomon, watching them all arrive.
Solomon was a whip-thin shifter in his 50s with a salt and pepper beard and a taciturn disposition.
I had assumed he disliked me like all the other shifters, but he only grunted when I offered him a ginger cookie, and didn’t outright react with hostility, so I felt a little cheered.
