Chapter 22

TWENTY-TWO

Every inchof my body hurt as I walked down the stairs. I felt like one giant bruise, which was better than how I'd felt for the last few days. I could finally feel my animal form again, and I was anxious to shift and let that side of me out. Being disconnected from my animal form felt like half of me was missing, and it wasn't a feeling I was anxious to repeat anytime soon. Antitransmutative drugs were no freaking joke.

"Felix!" Julius jumped up from the kitchen table and ran to put his arms around me, but Nero intercepted him.

"He's still hurting. Be careful."

Shoving my mate out of the way, I accepted Julius's offered hug.

"I'm so glad you're okay," Nero's brother whispered in my ear. "I was worried."

"It's all good," I promised. "Thanks for the robe. I love it."

Cal beamed, and I knew I'd guessed right that it had been his pick. Like I'd told Nero, I wasn't mad at Cal. I made a choice that day at my apartment too, but I could tell from the lack of light in Cal's eyes that he was beating himself up. We were going to have to clear the air soon.

"It's good to see you up and about." Julius gently squeezed my shoulder. "Is there anything we can do for you?"

"Nero and I are just going to go for a quick swim, then we can all catch up."

Cal and a sandy-haired man at the table I assumed was the mysterious Jack nodded. Quin was missing. He was probably at his gallery.

I shuffled across the room, big movements like walking still making pain hum through my healing body, and pushed open the sliding door, stepping out onto the patio. Behind me, I heard Nero tell his brothers that the debrief might have to wait until later, much later, and I mentally crossed my fingers hoping that meant he was planning to take me to bed and claim me after I spent some time healing in my animal form.

The door slid closed, and Nero came up behind me, putting his hands on my shoulders and kissing my cheek and down my neck to the collar of my robe. "Ready?"

I nodded and untied the belt on my new robe.

"Let's go down to the water." Nero held out a hand, and I twined my fingers with his as he led us past the pool and sundeck and down three steps to the rocky shore of the inlet behind the Hunter estate. Nero had shared his favorite place, the inlet behind the Jade Crane, with me, but I thought the private inlet behind the house was just as picturesque and beautiful. The only thing missing was the expansive garden. Oh, and Mae's egg rolls.

Mmmm. Egg rolls. I bet if I asked nicely, Nero would get takeout from the Jade Crane for us. I probably wouldn't even have to ask that nicely.

At the water's edge, I slipped out of the robe and let cool air flow around my naked body. The caress of the breeze felt amazing on my skin, and for a moment, I just stood there breathing in fresh air, letting it soothe away pain that wasn't physical.

Nero was shirtless and stepping out of his pants a few feet away, and he caught me staring when he picked his pants up off the ground.

"I'm having the strangest feeling of déjà vu." So much about today felt like other times we'd spent together, but now, everything was different. We'd been through something major, and it had made me appreciate every moment a little differently.

Over the past week, I'd gone from meeting my fated mate to falling in love with him. It had happened that fast. Tied to the chair in that warehouse my heart had ached thinking I wouldn't see Nero again, and now we had our whole lives spread out before us.

Tapping into the part of my brain that held my animal form, I called my otter forward. As my limbs shrank and fur sprang from my skin, I felt better than I had in weeks. The transition from human to otter hurt more with my injuries, but when I was fully in my animal form, the pain ebbed into a dull throb I could barely feel.

Nero picked me up in his arms and cradled me like a baby, rubbing his nose into my fur. "In this form, your scent is so much stronger. I love it." He nuzzled into my belly, and I tittered at him. I put a tiny otter paw on his cheek, and he moved us toward the water, walking out several yards from the shore before he put me in the water on my back.

The icy coolness of the water made the ache of my injuries fade even more until I felt almost one hundred percent like myself.

Nero took a deep breath and closed his eyes. "You feel better. I can tell through our bond."

I chittered at him in response.

"Do you still want to rest on my tail again?"

I gave him my best otter nod because I couldn't think of anything better.

My mate swam away from me, then dove under the water. A few moments later, the tip of a black dorsal fin surfaced. I relaxed back in the water, floating until I felt Nero's fluke under me. Clouds blocked the sun, which made floating like we were perfect. And the last parts of my soul that had felt frayed after everything I'd been through knitted themselves back together, making me whole in the embrace of my mate again.

At some point, I must have fallen asleep because I woke up without Nero's tail under me, but I hadn't drifted far from the house. Nero, in his human form was holding my otter paw, keeping me from slipping away.

Looking at his big human hand wrapped around mine made my heart feel too full, like it was going to explode, and I couldn't handle the swell of emotions in my shifted form. I squirmed out of his hold and dove under the water, pulling my human form forward and shifting back so when I came up, my human body slid against every inch of Nero's.

"Hi." I wrapped my arms around his neck.

"Hi." My mate brought a hand up to touch my face. "This looks so much better. The only thing left is a little bit of a bruise right here." He pressed a soft kiss to the spot. "How do you feel?"

His body was reacting to mine just like I was reacting to him, and I pressed my growing erection against his thigh. "I feel great."

His hands found my ass and lifted me up so I could wrap my legs around his. "Yeah?"

"Oh, yeah." I rubbed myself against him again. "In fact, I think there is only one more thing I need to feel one hundred percent better."

Nero raised an eyebrow. "And what's that?"

"I need you to claim me. I want anyone who ever tries to lay a hand on me again to know I'm yours, that if they touch me, they'll have to answer to my mate."

Nero growled low in his chest, and I felt it rumble against mine, making my nipples peak. "No one will ever touch you again."

"God, it's hot as fuck when you say stuff like that."

Nero bent his head and nipped at my neck right in the spot where he would place his claiming bite. "It's true."

"I know." My cock was rock hard between us, and so was his, and I was almost desperate to feel him inside me as he made me his. Leaning back, I create space between us so I could wrap a hand around Nero's cock. He was hot and hard in my hand, his dick so thick my fingers couldn't touch as I stroked my palm over the silky skin of his shaft, then up and over the head.

My mate moaned as I increased the pressure of my grip and the tempo of my strokes. My hand slid over him easily in the water, and as I worked his cock, he lifted me higher in his arms, his fingers spreading my cheeks and teasing my hole.

"Mmm," I moaned, letting my head fall back while I still held his dick.

"Fuck, you're so tight." The tip of one of his fingers pressed inside me, and I clenched hard around the intrusion, not because I didn't want it but because I did, and the tip of a single finger wasn't enough. I needed Nero's full length inside me stretching me wide, making me feel like I would split in two just so he could put me back together and make me whole. "I love the way you feel around me."

Nero worked his finger in deeper, biting at the spot between my neck and shoulder that would bear his mark, until I was writhing, desperate, in his arms. My hand was still around his cock, but I'd lost any rhythm I'd had, my motions reduced to reactive squeezes of his length as he worked his finger inside me.

"I need you, Lucky. So bad," he whispered against my ear.

"I love when you call me that."

I felt his smile against my face. "I know."

"Should we go back to the house?"

He thrust his hips, his erection sliding over my palm. "Not sure I want to walk through the kitchen like this."

A giggle slipped past my lips. "Fair." I glanced toward the shore. "Uh, not sure we're going to have to worry about that, though. Look."

He turned us so he could face the shoreline at the back of the estate. "Those assholes."

"Seems they thought of everything we didn't."

Nero smiled. "Guess they did."

Even though it was a little hard to see in detail without my glasses on, I could tell someone had laid out a large blanket on the shore, under the cover of several large trees at the back of the property. What looked like a picnic basket sat on one corner of the blanket, holding it down, and if I squinted hard, I could make out an ice bucket with a bottle of wine sticking out of the top next to it. Whoever had set up the picnic had also picked up Nero's clothes and my robe, leaving them folded on the blanket.

"They're good guys." I squeezed my legs around Nero's waist, urging him to move toward the shore.

"Some of them." He took the hint and moved us toward the water's edge. Nero held me in his arms, even as the water became too shallow for it to be easy, and he didn't set me down until we reached the blanket. My new glasses in their blue box had been left on my folded robe, and I ripped open the box to put them on. Everything came into sharp focus, including my mate's face.

"Hi." He echoed my greeting from earlier.

"Get down here." I wrapped my arms around his neck and brought him down to me and pressed my lips to his. He pulled me flush against him and rolled us so I was on top of him. A crinkling noise broke the moment.

"What was that?" Nero levered himself up, and I saw a piece of folded paper under his shoulder. "Oh, it's a note."

My mate rolled his eyes. "Do I want to know what it says?"

The handwriting on the note was rushed and all in capital letters. "‘Nero and Felix. Thought you might want a comfy place to rest and that you might need a snack and other things… Winking smiley face. We went to pick up dinner. Be back soon so make it quick or we're all going to be embarrassed. XOXO, Cal. PS I'm sorry. For everything.'"

Nero took the note from my hands, crumpled it up, and tossed it over his shoulder.

"You need to talk to him."

Nero closed his eyes. "I know." When he looked up at me, a smirk pulled at his lips. "But I kinda like him feeling like he needs to grovel. It's good for him. Builds character."

Personally, I thought there were hidden depths to Nero's loose cannon of a brother. People saw what they wanted to see, and when they looked at Cal, they only saw a blunt instrument. But I had a theory there was more than met the eye when it came to Nero's brother.

I stretched out over my mate's body and reached for the discarded note. "We shouldn't litter." Nero tried to squeeze me close, but I squirmed away, flipping open the lid on the picnic basket and tossing the note inside. I came away with something even better and infinitely more useful. "Still hate your brother?" I asked, holding up the bottle of lube that had been on top of the items in the basket.

Nero rolled his eyes. "He's making it damn hard." He stole the bottle and set it next to him on the blanket, and then he wrapped his strong arms around my torso and pulled me down onto his chest. His lips met mine in a crash, and in a second, the kiss went from sweet to hot, his tongue pressing against the seam of my mouth. I parted my lips and let him inside, and the brush of his tongue over mine sent sparks of pleasure racing down my spine.

Maybe I was living up to Nero's nickname for me.

That was the only thing that explained how lucky I was to get to kiss this man for the rest of my life.

Nero's hands roamed over my body, my skin lighting up under his touch. His touch was gentle, almost tentative, and I knew he was afraid I was still too sore for what both of our bodies were asking for.

Pulling away from his mouth, I whispered, "I'm okay. I promise I feel great. If anything hurts, I'll tell you."

A furrow appeared between Nero's brows. "Are you sure?"

I nodded. "Positive."

After that, there was no more hesitation. Our tongues tangled, teeth clashed, and bodies moved against each other's, creating friction that pushed our need for each other higher and higher.

My cock was hard and leaking between us when Nero finally gave me a minute to breathe. "I need you, Lucky. Please let me have you."

His cock stood up as I sat back on his thighs. Scooting down so I could find a better angle, I lowered my head and sucked the tip of Nero's dick into my mouth. My mate's hips jolted up off the blanket, and I smiled around his cock.

"Shit, Felix."

I didn't respond other than to hollow my cheeks and work my tongue over the underside of his shaft. The weight of Nero's thick cock on my tongue made my hole clench, needing to be filled, but I wanted to taste him first. Pulling off, I circled my tongue around the head of his dick, then licked away the precum beading at his slit. He tasted like the sea, salty with the barest hint of sweet, and I wanted more. I opened my mouth and slid farther down his length, taking as much of him as I could.

Nero's hips shifted, and his hands tugged at my hair. For a moment, I let him hold me in place and use my mouth.

"Felix. I… I don't want to come. Your mouth. So good." Nero's words were stuttered out on panting breaths, and I'd never felt more powerful or more connected to anyone.

But I had no intention of leaving this encounter without wearing Nero's claiming mark on my skin, so I let him slide from my mouth.

"Please, Nero. Claim me." My fingers found the lube he'd set aside, and I passed him the bottle as I moved up to straddle his hips. My mate's eyes were glazed over as he popped the top and slicked up his fingers. One strong hand wrapped around me and pressed me down on top of him, then reached for my ass, holding me open. His other hand found my hole, and he slid a finger inside me to the first knuckle on a single stroke.

"Yes," I hissed out between clenched teeth as my body contracted around him. He thrust the single finger in and out, loosening my hole until he pressed a second finger inside me along with the first. My mate was huge, but I'd taken him before, and I wanted to feel every inch of him now. "Need you inside me, Nero. Please."

I felt his nod against my shoulder and pushed up, using his chest for leverage. We both reached for the lube, but I beat Nero to it and popped the cap, slicked up my hand, and coated his thick shaft.

Nero moaned under my ministrations, his fingers digging into my hips, and I loved that I could drag those kinds of noises from his throat.

"Ride me," he begged, and since I happened to love being on top, I happily obliged, taking his slick cock in hand and positioning it at my entrance. I sank down onto my mate, impaling myself to the hilt on the first stroke.

"Fuck," Nero cried out, mirroring my exact sentiments, but I was too full to form words, too complete.

When we were together like this, it was easier to feel each other's emotions through our mate bond, and I knew once we had exchanged claiming bites, the sensations when we had sex would be even more intense. Right now, I felt my own pleasure, and there behind my own feelings was an echo of Nero's pleasure. The entire experience was more intense than sex with someone who wasn't my fated mate, and I reveled in this new and different sense of closeness and connection.

Nero and I really were two halves of the same whole, and I couldn't wait to be bonded to him for life.

I lifted off Nero's cock, then sank back down, finding the spot and the rhythm that made my eyes roll back in my head. Nero's fingers dug deeper into the flesh of my hips, and he took over, thrusting up into me hard and fast, sending me barreling toward the point of no return. I leaned down, trapping my cock between us, and nuzzled into his neck, dragging my teeth over the sensitive flesh of Nero's saddle patch, and he shuddered under me.

"Do it," Nero begged. "Please, Felix."

One of his hands left my hip and grabbed onto my hair, holding me to him while tipping my head to the side to bare the spot where he'd leave his mark. His teeth scratched over the surface, and heat flooded over my skin.

Continuing to work my hips up and down Nero's length, I called just enough of my otter form forward that my human teeth elongated into sharper points and pressed them to Nero's neck.

My mate's arms wrapped around me, holding me close in a vise grip as I felt his sharp orca teeth against me.

"I love you," we both whispered at the same time before we sank our teeth into each other, sealing our bond.

The second my teeth pierced Nero's flesh, pleasure so intense I'd never felt anything like it arced through me, and I came in a rush, my cock painting our chests. I felt the hot rush of Nero's cum deep in my channel, and he squeezed me tight, thrusting up into me and making my orgasm go on and on and on.

Through our bond, I felt joy so profound I couldn't tell if it was Nero's or mine or ours, a shared euphoria that couldn't be held by just one of us alone.

I'd known since the first time I met him that Nero was mine, and now we were bound together forever, two souls that were now one. Licking over the fresh bite, I tried to catch my breath, but the sensation of my tongue laving over Nero's soft skin echoed back to me, making me shiver in his arms.

"Oh my God." I rolled my head to the side so I could lie on my mate's chest. "You really are sensitive there."

"I told you." His hands trailed up and down my back as we basked in the afterglow. I heard his heart beating and felt it in my chest, and for a split second, I was happy we'd waited to do this. I wouldn't have wanted Nero to have felt my fear and pain when I'd been held in the warehouse. He didn't deserve that.

"I never want you to hurt like that again." His voice was thick with emotion. "I hated not knowing if you were okay."

I hadn't realized just thinking about the pain would transfer it through our bond. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean for you to feel that."

"I want to feel everything with you, Lucky. The good and the bad. Always."

Instead of answering, I pressed my lips to his and enjoyed the simple intimacy of a kiss. We stayed like that for a long time until Nero pulled away and whispered, "I want to show you something."

Sitting up, I looked down at him. "What?"

"I need you to get up first."

"Do I have to?"

Nero nodded, then helped me swing my leg over him until we were sitting side by side on the blanket. Nero was excited about whatever he wanted me to see, and as he stood, he held out a hand. I took it and stood on shaky legs. He wove our fingers together, then headed for the water's edge. We walked hand in hand until the water was at chest level, and then Nero kissed me hard and dove under the surface.

A second later, his large dorsal fin broke the surface, but now there was a small notch in the fin not far from where it met the rest of his body.

Tears prickled the backs of my eyes as I realized that tiny notch was my claiming bite.