Chapter 23

Denny

All this talk about Lauren needing to live for herself scared the shit out of me. I knew she’d been living her life for Kylie. Everything she did was for Kylie. I loved that about her, but also knew it wasn’t healthy. She deserved a life of her own. She should have someone looking after her the way she took care of her sister.

Not someone. Me.

Dammit, I wanted to be that for her.

She stared up at me with big eyes that blinked twice.

“I already told you I’m not going to return to New York. At least not right away.”

“So you’re staying here?”

“Yes,” she said confidently.

“For Kylie?”

“No, for me. For us.”

“Us?”

She gulped and wet her lips.

It took everything in my power not to kiss some sense into her.

“Us?” I repeated.

She nodded. “Us. Because I can’t imagine not being with you. I need you, not in the way I need Kylie. I don’t need you to take care of me. I don’t even need you to need me. I just need you to want me and put up with all my shit. I need you to be there for the good times and the bad times. I need you to help me set boundaries with my sister when I’m not strong enough or too stubborn to set them for myself. I need you to just love me and want to be with me, because I want to be with you. I want it more than I’ve ever allowed myself to want anything. And I know this might sound crazy, but I love you, Denny.”

I stared at her in shock. My heart nearly exploded with a combination of excitement and relief.

“Thank God. Because I’m head over heels in love with you, too.”

I didn’t wait for her to respond. I dipped my head and kissed her.

She smiled against my lips. My arms wrapped around her waist as I lifted her into the air. Her legs wrapped around my waist, and I froze, painfully aware of just how naked we both were after shifting from our wolf forms.

She was right there, intimately pressed against me.

I moaned in pleasure at the feeling of her so close to where I needed her most.

We’d fooled around a bit, but I knew she was still fully intact. That thought thrilled me. She was mine. She would only ever be mine.

My teeth elongated. My wolf was anxious to claim her once and for all.

“Mine,” I growled in a rough voice.

She threw her head back and grinned up into the sky. Her breasts were on full display and I couldn’t stop my tongue from darting out and teasing her. I could feel the heat of her surrounding me and smell her arousal thick in the air.

Her eyes met mine, and I could have sworn I heard the air sizzle around us.

“I’m yours,” she said confidently.

I smiled, showing her my canines.

She responded with a slight tilt of her neck.

It was all the encouragement I needed as I sunk my teeth into her without hesitation.

She squirmed against me and I had never needed anyone more than I needed her in that moment. Repositioning us just enough, I pushed into her just as her teeth pierced my skin.

I knew I should have been gentle with her as I stole her virginity without even preparing her body for my intrusion, but in that moment, I wasn’t thinking clearly. All I knew was that she was mine.

I growled as I tasted her blood and felt her so completely surrounding me.

She was tight and it felt amazing.

For just a moment I stilled and simply enjoyed the moment. But before long, a sort of frenzy took over and I had to move.

I thrust unbelievably deeper until I was fully seated within her and then I started to pull out only to press back again, over and over.

Her hips moved in sync with mine as she became both needy and confident in my arms.

I smiled and let my teeth retract. I licked the drop of blood remaining on her skin and relished in the perfect mark I’d left on her.

“Mine,” I growled feeling myself growing closer to climax. “Mine.”

I pumped harder guiding us to the ground as I gently laid her down.

It was primitive and natural. I’d never had sex outdoors before, but it seemed to call to both me and my wolf.

Lauren clung to me, a sheen of sweat beginning to coat her brow. Her eyelids were heavy and she didn’t hold back anything. Her cries spurred me on until I felt her tighten around me.

I wanted to come so hard in that moment, but her needs were more important than my own.

She grabbed my forearms. Her nails dug into my skin as she bucked beneath me grasping for anything to hold in that moment.

“Let go, Lauren. Fly with me,” I told her.

Her eyes widened with unspoken questions, but I just grinned as I thrust once more and watched as she fell apart, lost in her own ecstasy. It was the most magical moment of my life.

I threw my head back and howled as I let go and followed her.

For a moment I just laid there suspended in time, watching her until my arms would no longer hold me and I collapsed onto her quivering body.

Neither of us spoke as I rolled to my side and just held her, my mate.

I couldn’t stop grinning.

No matter what, we were in it together now.

A mating bond was stronger than anything else in this world. She was mine until death do us part. There weren’t any divorces or even separations between mates. Wolves mated for life. We’d both known that to be true.

I know this might sound crazy, but I love you, Denny.

Her words replayed in my head.

“I love you, too, Lauren,” I whispered into the night.

“I would hope so after that,” she teased.

“Smartass.”

“Takes one to know one.”

“Are you okay?”

“Better than okay.”

“I didn’t hurt you, did I?”

“I doubt you could.”

We both knew that was a lie. She’d trusted me with the most sacred part of herself and I would cherish that forever.

When Lauren started to shiver, I laughed.

“We should head back and find some clothes. With you around I may need to start a delivery subscription with a clothing company or something. At this rate I’m going to be out of clothes within the week.”

She laughed. “I wouldn’t mind that.”

I grinned from ear-to-ear. My mate was a quick learner, and I couldn’t wait to get her back home and make love to her again.

We took our sweet time walking back hand in hand.

It wasn’t exactly as I imagined bonding with my mate would go, but I wouldn’t change a thing.

Okay, that was a lie. I could have done without the part where she jumped in the water, and I thought I had lost her forever.

I let go of her hand and wrapped an arm around her as we neared the house. I kissed her temple as we entered and held the door for her.

We were naked and very newly bonded. The others must have sensed the shift between us or they just feared I was still on edge from earlier. Regardless, when we entered the room, they all turned their backs to us. It wasn’t a motion of disrespect, more of absolute respect and privacy in the moment.

We didn’t quite make it back to our room though before we were interrupted.

Kylie came out of nowhere wrapped in blanket and threw herself at Lauren.

My mate let go of me long enough to embrace her sister. And then Kylie pushed back as her hands flew through the air. She signed so fast that I couldn’t make out every word, but I got the basic idea of their conversation.

“ I want some space, but I don’t want you to go. What will I do without you? ” Kylie asked her.

Lauren smiled and then looked up to me.

“ I’m not going anywhere, but I will work on boundaries, okay? ”

Kylie eyed her suspiciously and then her jaw dropped. She made a noise of excitement that caused the others in the room to turn and look as she pointed to Lauren’s neck.

“ When? How? ” she signed.

Lauren blushed.

“Wait, you guys mated? When?” Remy asked.

“Uh, just now,” I confessed.

“In the woods?” Braxton asked.

“Uh, yup.”

“You’re insane,” Monte said with a chuckle.

“Must have been that adrenaline from almost losing her sister. Hope you don’t regret it. Major decisions like that should never come in times of crisis,” Caleb said.

Remy slapped him across the back of the head.

“Dude, you don’t say something like that even if you think it.”

Caleb just shrugged.

“No worries. We have no regerts,” I told them.

“Absolutely, no regerts,” Lauren agreed.

The others laughed and took turns congratulating us until I finally managed to break away, tell them all we really needed to get dressed as we were still naked as the days we were born. But while I got Lauren back to our room, I also got her into our bed where I claimed her again and again throughout the night.

We never did manage to actually get dressed.