18

BYRON

When I enter the lab, Aida and Ishaaq's heads are bent together.

My wolf chuffs.

I brush him off. "Easy. You know he's a friend."

Ishaaq turns with a smirk after hearing my murmur. "Fight still on?"

"Fight's still on."

Whatever intervention Dez thought he would have, I could have told him it was pointless. Prez might look like me, but the stubbornness Aida noted in him is not mine.

That's his mother all day. Once Qamrah decided, it didn't matter what anyone else said.

Aida turns at my response, and a light in her eyes has my wolf rubbing against the back of my sternum, trying to get out to her.

"Oh, hey. Did you know this is Ishaaq Adeen?" She's so excited that I can't help but chuckle.

"I heard."

She laughs, a light, beautiful sound, and I realize it's the first time I've heard it.

My torso jerks as my wolf rams.

Holding her gaze, I address Ishaaq. "Do me a favor, Haq, and give us the lab."

"Sure thing, brother. Heads up, clan. There's a wolf in need."

Realizing the seriousness of the situation, the men file out, leaving us alone.

Aida's eyes widen as I advance on her, a tiny squeak emitting from between her lips as I lift her onto the closest flat surface, which happens to be Ishaaq's desk. Some papers scatter to the floor, and she reaches to catch them, but I grab her arm before positioning them behind her to grasp the desk's edge.

"He can get those later."

"What are you doing? They're right outside," she whispers but rotates her hips forward as I come between them.

"They're not even in the building anymore, baby. But even if they were, the way my wolf is feeling, he really wouldn't give a shit."

Her tongue darts out to lick her lips, and I lean forward to chase it, lapping at the same spot she's just wet.

"How's your wolf feeling?"

I grin, knowing my fangs flash. "Ravenous."

The sound she makes in the back of her throat is swallowed whole by my wolf.

I will never question what has brought us together, but right now, he wants nothing more than to shift with her beast and put her on all fours. Since she doesn't have one, he's more than happy to put his scent all over her.

"Don't be scared. He just needs you to smell a little more like him."

I don't give her time to prepare. I fold into my wolf, expanding into its broad body and shaking my head.

Aida sucks in a breath as I stalk forward, my tongue rolling out to swipe across my face, but she doesn't shy away when I nudge my nose against the soft skin of her bare calf.

She's wearing a simple jersey dress quickly sewn by one of the women on the compound, a pretty renowned fashion designer in her life away from the clan.

The deep slit up the front gives my wolf eyes a beeline to her moist center, which is absent of panties because my beast likes to plan ahead like that.

I don't go there. No matter how tempting.

I nose her pretty toes, painted a dusky rose which has grown out.

She scrunches her feet, and I chuff and nudge them, lifting a stern gaze in a silent command that she relax.

It seems that my mate, whether due to time or some foolish notion that she doesn't deserve it, hasn't had the space to pamper herself as she should.

When she insists, folding her feet together, I roll my eyes and let it go.

Angling my head, I slowly lap my tongue up the top of one of her feet, making her squeal and cover her face.

My wolf shivers.

The first taste of her skin, the oils that make up her scent, and the intricate flavors of sweat and sweetness are an elixir that could turn a mere man into a beast.

My beast wants more.

I lick her ankle, curling around the little protrusion of bone, loving how she tries to hide her response, but my wolf ears pick up the rapid thump of her heart. Her breaths are quick and shallow, and every breath carries a little moan.

Pushing my head between her legs, I break them apart and start on the other foot, licking my way up, front and back, until I get to her knee.

When I stick my tongue behind it, she laughs, clamping a hand over her mouth. I bat it away from her face with my muzzle before tucking my head back between her thighs.

Her dress is high on her waist. The slip of her pussy glistens in the shadows. I keep my gaze locked there as I lick up her thighs.

She's panting now, sounding more wolf than woman, and the muscle beneath my mouth quivers the higher I go.

All I can smell is her, her slick, her heat. Knowing she wants me this badly makes me tease my way up closer and closer until the tip of my nose parts her lips, and she ceases breathing altogether.

Her eyes are blown wide as she waits for what's next, her pussy leaking onto the table.

I lap at this spot, gathering up every bit of her slick onto my tongue before I burst free as my man, startling a cry from her as I shove between her thighs. Behind the tremor of her parted lips, her face shows relief and disappointment.

I smirk. "What?"

Leaning in to nudge her face aside, I latch onto her pulse and suck as she gasps out her response.

"Nothing, I just thought—" I can feel the slight increase in temperature that signals her embarrassment, and I pull back.

"That my wolf was going to eat you out?"

She gets even hotter as she fumbles to reply. Meanwhile, I groan as I hinge my hips forward and slide my dick through her dripping slit.

"I mean, do you—is that a thing between mates?"

I shrug. "Our wolves prefer to mate in form for safety reasons. Wolf matings can be—vigorous. He won't be trying to mount you, but I can't promise he won't go in for a taste."

"Oh—xuh." Her mouth parts as I hook my arms behind her knees and flex forward, pressing through the tight warmth of her pussy, making her stretch to take me.

The more I press forward, the more pinched her brow becomes, and I release one of her legs and grab the back of her neck. My wolf reveals himself in the elongation of my claws, which embed just enough into her skin to give him the claim he needs.

"God, you look beautiful taking me." I angle her head down so she can see me slowly feed my dick into her. Like every time I make her watch, her expression is a mixture of confusion and magnificent submission.

Only when she's taken all of me do I let her neck go and lift her leg again, pulling her to the edge of the table and embedding another inch. A ripple of sensation rushes through my shaft, and I know that this time, my man will be in control in form only.

"Fuck, Aida. Hold on, baby."

I'm pushed to the back, a strange feeling when my man and wolf are one because I rise to the front simultaneously, hungry and filled with an instinct that won't be denied.

My hips drag slowly from the tight grip of her pussy and snap back, making her cry echo through the empty lab.

I do it again, dragging free with slow precision before fucking back deep with a wet slap. This sound becomes a symphony as I power through her core, and my entire body quivers with the need to fill her and then fill her again.

She's so tight and so wet, and her scent hazes through my head in a kind of euphoria.

"Byron." She gasps my name.

Her thighs hug my hips as her arms band around my shoulders. She uses the leverage to impale herself back on me.

I could fuck her pussy all night, but she's close, and my wolf aims to please.

Sliding from her, I drop to my knees and bury my face into her pussy, latching onto the swollen nub of her clit and sucking hard.

She screams, her head dropping back as she clamps a hand into my fade. Her hips jerk as she comes on my tongue. My greedy wolf tongue extends, lapping up the sweetness, sucking it from her body as she continues to fall apart.

Once she's cresting the wave, I stand and drive back into her, letting the clench carry me over as I release against her womb.

***

"Chief."

"Fuck, Byron. I thought we were never going to see you again."

I chuckle at the genuine relief in Godwin's voice. He's still in his city home, and the video call shows the inside of his townhouse.

I've known him since he was a cub, and I knew then he would be the chief we needed when his time came.

"Is Samiah—"

"She's fine, better now that you're safe."

I frown. "What do you mean?"

He shrugs. "You know how she is. She felt like if she hadn't messed up and had to return to the city, you would never have had to take her, and you wouldn't have gotten caught."

"Did you tell her that's some bullshit?"

He chuckles, nodding. "Me, her mates, my mate. Actually, Valeena's convinced you got caught on purpose. She said, you may keep a low profile, but you're the most deadly person in the clan—after her." He rolls his eyes at the last part, but I would bet the room he's in is filled with the scent of pride right now.

"I'm just glad to be out."

He nods, smiling. "Same, man. Samiah's been craving your stew. When are you coming back?"

"Uh," I scratch through my beard, seeing no reason to delay the reason for my call. "I won't be."

He frowns. "Not this year or not ever?"

"Ever, Chief. I found my mate."

His confusion deepens, and his expression shifts to concern. "B, Qamrah died—a long time ago."

I chuckle, shaking my head. "Not Qamrah. I had the dream again with someone else."

"For real?" He draws back in surprise. "I didn't know that was a thing."

"Yeah, me either. Particularly with a human."

The quiet that follows reflects his shock, but he recovers quickly, his face going severe in a way that lets me know he's not the rowdy cub I looked after during winters with the clan. He's being a leader. My leader.

My chief.

"If you had the dream about her, and she's yours, she's ours. You don't have to leave the clan."

I love Godwin like a son, and in this moment, I'm as proud of him as if I were his father. "Thank you, Chief. She has a lot to get used to, and the clan will, too, but if you think it will work."

"It will work. Things are evolving— we're evolving. No one could have predicted Valeena and Samiah, and if fate is connecting us to humans, I'm not going to question it any more than I questioned my mate. Anyone who can't get on board with that is welcome to cross the wood and join Delon's old clan."

I smile, feeling somewhat relieved.

I was prepared to leave the clan and make a new life with Aida, but it's good to know my people are backing me on all fronts.

Most of them, at least. Still, Godwin's acceptance of Aida as my mate will make what I have to say next easier.

"I called to let you know I was good but also to revise my living will."

"Uh, okay," he chuckles. "Anything going on I should know about?"

I give him a quick rundown of Prez's challenge, with the instructions that if anything happens to me, my personal worth will go to Aida immediately.

"Are you anticipating he'll try to kill you?"

I shrug. "I wouldn't have anticipated he'd challenge me. I won't be able to kill my son."

"Of course not," Godwin sighs, shaking his head. "Kofi hasn't vetoed this shit?"

"He tried to intervene, but I told him no. I'm not sure why Preston's doing this, but I still trust my son. Kofi will ensure she's good, but you're my chief, so I wanted you to know that my family is to be taken care of."

After signing off with Godwin and promising him that I'll come back to the village for the winter months, pending the outcome of my challenge with Preston, I return to the bedroom on the compound where I left Aida sleeping to find the bed empty.

The sheets are rumpled, and the one covering her is half off the bed as if it were dragged away.

My heart thumps as I rush further into the room.

Light from beneath the closed bathroom door cuts into the darkness. Honing in on the sounds coming from inside, I sigh and approach, easing the door open a crack before knocking.

"You okay in there?"

"No!" Aida's reply is cut off as she leans back over the toilet and continues to vomit.

I go over and rub a hand over her back, turning on the faucet with my other hand to wet one of the clean face towels stacked beside the sink.

When she's done, she collapses to her bottom and scoots back to lean against the clawfoot tub. Her eyes are bloodshot as she looks up at me.

"I don't know what happened. I think it was dinner."

Crouching down, I pass the warm cloth over her teary eyes before wiping her mouth. "It wasn't dinner." I nod to the toilet. "Did you get it all out?"

She dips her head, but the lines around her mouth and eyes indicate she's drained from the effort.

"Come on, mate." Scooping beneath her legs and back, I stand with her in my arms and carry her back to the bedroom.

"I need a toothbrush." Her mouth turns down as I set her on the bed, grabbing the sheet from the floor and wrapping it around her shoulders.

"There are spares in the drawer. It wasn't the dinner. You're pregnant."

She's looking past me to the bathroom like she'd rather clean her mouth sooner than later, so it takes a moment for the rest of my message to clear.

When it does, she slowly hinges her head to stare at me in confused realization. "Did you just say I'm pregnant?"

"I did, and I'm not guessing. I can smell it. Everyone can smell it. You are the only one who can't smell it because you aren't a shifter."

"Byron," she shakes her head. "It's way too soon to tell something like that."

"For a human, yes. But not for us. That's why you're throwing up, and that's why if things don't go as planned during the challenge, someone will come get you. His name's Godwin. He's my clan's chief, and you can trust him. He'll make sure you're set up with anything you need. I have enough money that you'll be more than comfortable and so will our children—Zora and the two coming."

Her expression goes from wary to something of horror. "Two?"

***

"Do you want her to be here?" I know Kofi's question isn't meant to exclude Aida. He doesn't want her to be offended, but I secure my arm around her waist and keep her close.

"She knows about the cubs, so we should discuss this now."

"Sure." He shifts his attention to her. "Shifter clans have strict rules when it comes to exposure to humans. If we can manage, we would prefer it not to happen. We also insist on keeping our clan homes secret. Until recently, this was a law that hadn't been broken."

Aida nods. "So, it's a problem that Zora and I are here."

"Maybe. The only exception that's been made was for Byron's chief's mate. She thought she was human but turned out to have a small amount of shifter blood."

"Which I don't."

"As far as we can tell, no. Full disclosure, we checked your bloodwork for any shifter markers, but we found none. It's possible we missed something, and since you've conceived, that brings a few things into question."

"Not big on patient consent?" She arches a brow, but Kofi remains impassive.

"We'll consider it even for your plans to experiment on our brother here."

Aida looks down, her mouth twisting. "Fair enough."

"Since we don't know how you were able to conceive with a shifter, there's no point in wondering about it. We can try to find answers later—with your consent, of course. For now, I'll let you know what's been decided. I can only speak for my clan, so this applies here. You are carrying our people, and you are mated to our people, so that makes you and your daughter our people."

Aida waits, expecting more, but I know from Kofi that that's all she will get.

"Thanks, Chief."

He nods, grabs a paper from a pile on his desk, and starts looking it over.

"Let's go." I lead Aida from the room, and she stares ahead in confusion.

"That's it."

"That's it. Kofi's not much for fanfare."

"So we're just a part of this clan?"

"No, not exactly. I'm not a part of this clan. I work with Kofi on some things, but our clan will have to be dealt with separately."

"But Zora and I are okay here?"

"You two are family here. Now, let's go check on these babies."