7. Dominic

7

DOMINIC

There she was. Right there. Perched on a rock, dripping wet with river water, and looking as feral as I’d ever seen in a shifter.

Mate.

I gripped my hands tightly behind my back as my gaze beheld the pristine water droplets finding their death between a luscious pair of thighs.

I’d never been so jealous of water before.

Mate.

“Well?” my mate asked. “You gonna leave?”

Mate. “No.”

She tilted her head. “Then, I’m not finishing up my routine.”

I nodded. “That’s fine by me. It’s a lovely view either way.”

She scoffed. “Pig.”

I grinned. “No, wolf.”

She rolled her eyes as she dove back into the water, and I fought myself to resist every single solitary urge to jump in with her. She swam around, batting away the little fishes that I was sure were nipping at her ankles. I didn’t know why she didn’t just shift and bathe herself. It was infinitely easier. Fish never bothered you. Water didn’t knock you over at every turn.

It was interesting, the fact that she didn’t shift to bathe.

I never met a shifter like that before.

She popped up back onto that rock, with fresh trails of water cascading down a set of muscled curves that my mouth salivated over. I wanted to charge her, pin her to that fucking rock, and sink myself into her until my name was the only name she knew. My cock hardened as she squeezed out her curls, with the water dripping down her bouncing breasts. My hands dropped from behind me and curled into fists, buzzing with a need to fist her hair and drag her plump lips to my dick.

Hey, Dom, Voss said as he reached out, you bringing up the rear?

I clenched my jaw. Give us twenty, she needs some space.

What? Ronyn growled.

I shoved everyone out of my head, though. I blocked out our groupthink and returned my attention to the only thing in the world that mattered. My mate.

Except when my attention turned back to her, I found her staring me down. Staring directly into my soul with those amber colored eyes of hers. Did she feel it, too? Our connection? Did she feel generations of ancestors binding us together by fate?

Suddenly, she grew closer. The distance between us closed as the world seemed to pull her closer to me. Like a reel in a movie. I felt something cold and wet on my feet as her eyes widened. Water rushed against my shins. My gaze locked with her as she backed away.

But that scent…

“What are you doing?” she asked.

I reached out for her, and she backed closer to the edge of the rock.

“Please, don’t,” I damn near growled as I hoisted myself toward her.

The second she plunged herself into that water, I dove in right after her. I knew I scared her. I knew that I had to stop. But, I simply couldn’t. It was as if everything inside of me had taken control of my brain and propelled me toward one final goal.

Marking my mate.

I felt my teeth sharpening. I felt my wolf’s hair trying to pierce my skin. I didn’t want her as my wolf, though. That wasn’t how I wanted my mate for the very first time. I wanted our naked, vulnerable bodies writhing against one another. I wanted to feel her skin against my own. I wanted t?—

“What are you doing?” she asked as her breath pulsed against my face.

There we were, pinned against that rock with the soft water current holding us steady. Her body, flush with mine. Her feet, softly kicking to keep her afloat. No, she couldn’t leave. I couldn’t let her out of my sight ever again. Every time she moved, I stepped with her. With my arms outstretched and her scent filling my nostrils, I placed my hands on either side of her head, trapping her there until she looked at me. All she had to do was look at me, and everything would fall into place. I was sure of it.

But, when her gaze finally met mine, nothing happened.

Nothing changed.

“Get away from me,” she warned.

Before I had the ability to fight against myself to listen to her, I felt something rush between my legs. Pain ricocheted up my gut as her leg crashed into my hardened dick, and it stole my breath away.

“Oh, shit,” I croaked out.

“That’ll teach you to touch me without permission, you fucking animal,” she snarled as she swam away.

I darted my hand out and wrapped it around her wrist. I dragged her back to me as pain washed over my system. I couldn’t let her go. I couldn’t let her get out of my sight. She was mine. My future. My destiny. My job from there on out. No matter where she went, I’d be there. No matter what her destiny was, I’d be there to support it and cheer her on.

Why wouldn’t she let me touch her?

“I said, let me fucking go,” she growled.

My arm got wrenched behind my back and that perked me right up. She was a fighter, huh? I could be a fighter. A wild smile broke out across my face as I used the water current to whip me around. She ducked herself beneath the water and slapped my legs out from beneath me, sending me down the waterfall along with the current. I grabbed her ankle, though. If I was going down, she was coming with me, and I felt her struggling as my head came up out of the water.

“Woo hoo!” I exclaimed.

“Aaaaah!” she cried out.

We splashed into the water at the bottom of the waterfall that the pups of our pack made into a waterslide, and she rolled over on top of me. She straddled me, her hand balled up into a fist before I watched it soar down to my face. She really was cute, with her nose all scrunched up in anger and her skin flushed red with fury.

I’d make that red with desire by the time I was done with her.

“Oh, no you don’t,” I grunted.

I had to give it to her, she was strong. But, not strong enough. As she threw her momentum behind her fist, I dodged out of the way. I used that momentum against her and flipped her effortlessly onto her back, straddling her the way she straddled me.

“Well, no wonder you like this view,” I said with a grin.

“Get off me, you son of a bitch,” she snarled as she kicked her legs.

My body bounced for a second, but not much. “You really are strong. I’m impressed.”

She gnashed her teeth together. “Well, be impressed with this, you stupid motherfuck.”

She brought both of her fists up and tried slamming them into my chest. But, I moved faster than that. I wrapped both of my hands around her wrists and pinned them above her head, watching her body splay for me in the delicious moonlight. Her curves, dripping wet with water. Her lungs, panting for air and causing those delectable tits of hers to bounce. She wiggled her legs and bucked her hips, exhausting herself beneath me as beads of sweat intermingled with beads of water.

She had a fight in her that stiffened my dick to new girths.

And I couldn’t wait another second as I dipped my nose toward her face. “Mine.”

She scoffed. “I belong to no one but myself.”

Her hips came off the rock and damn near tossed me back into the water. She caught me off-guard, but she sure as hell wouldn’t do that again. I felt her body moving away from mine as I tilted toward the water. She turned onto her back, using her fingers to pull herself closer to the water. But, my balance was always my strong suit, and I rocked back toward her before I pinned her onto her stomach.

“Well, well, well,” I said as I placed my lips against the shell of her ear, “what a precarious position we seem to be in.”

She began shivering. “Just get it over with.”

I paused. “What?”

She shook her head and sniffled. “Whatever you want, just take it and let me go. I’ve got kids in my pack that need me.”

Anger filled my veins. What the fuck did she think I was doing? I flipped her over without a care in the world. I wrapped my hand around her throat, forcing her to look at me with tear-rimmed eyes. And as I gazed into her soul, as I clocked the tears streaking her face and the way she shook beneath me, I realized that she wasn’t connected with me.

She didn’t feel what I did.

How the hell was that possible?

Kiss her. It’ll snap in place when you kiss her.

I crashed my lips to hers without a second thought. I knew she’d hate me for it in the beginning, but if it was the only way to get her to surface toward me, then I’d take the chance. Our lips connected and the feeling of her curling away from me chipped away at a piece of my heart. I slid my hands up and down her arms, urging her palms to unravel. I slatted my fingers in between hers as her body finally relaxed beneath mine. There. There it was. She felt it. It was growing. Finally, she knew who I was.

And when I swiped my tongue against her warm, wet lips, she allowed me entrance.

Which snapped my entire fucking world into place.

Suddenly, everything made sense. Every move I made throughout the course of my entire life now had purpose. All of the hurt. All of the pain. All of the death. All of the responsibilities. It all culminated to this point.

“More, please,” my mate moaned beneath me.

“Say my name,” I growled as I nipped at her pulse point.

“Wh-wh-wh—what—what, uh?—”

I chuckled as I kissed down to her naked collarbone. “Dom.”

She gasped. “Bexley.”

“Now,” I murmured as I kissed over her wet tits and pulled one out of her bra, “say my name.”

I lapped my tongue against her puckered peak and the way my name dripped from her lips caused my hand to shoot down my pants. Damned be the clothing. Damned by the time. I didn’t give a fuck how long they waited for us. I waited my entire adult fucking life for her to come along. For her to come into my life and make everything make sense. I sucked in patches of skin all across her breasts, marking her as my own. I lapped down her stomach, tracing her abs with my lips as I kissed every part of her that I could find. Her legs spread for me. Her sighs and gasps filled my mind. Her scent urged me onward, until I dropped between her legs and pulled those delicate panties of hers off to the side.

“Dom, please,” she groaned.

My gaze flickered up to hers. “Please, what?”

She lifted her head softly before it fell back down to the rock. “Anything. Just… just anything. Please.”

My eyebrows ticked up a notch before I stalked up her body. “You beg so nicely for me.”

Her whimper stoked the fire churning in my gut. My thick dick fell against her swollen lips, and the gasp that tore her eyes open was a sound and a sight I committed to memory. I wanted to remember this moment for the rest of my life. With her chest, panting for air. And her lips, swollen with need. And her legs, spread for me as the heat from her pussy battered against my throbbing cock.

“Time for your reward,” I growled as I pulled back and slammed myself into her.

“Oh, holy fuck, Dom!”

She clung to me. She flung her arms around my neck and raked her nails down my back. Fireworks took off in my brain as our hips seated themselves together. I raked my talons down the rock, carving lines into them as I held on for leverage. I pulled my hips back and snapped them against hers, feeling her curves jiggle for me. Feeling her pussy milk my cock.

And oh, don’t get me started on how her juices dripped down my balls.

“Dom. Dom. Dom,” she chanted with every thrust. “Oh, fuck. You feel so good. So good. It’s been… so, so long.”

I buried my face into the crook of her neck. “You’ll never go without again. Ever.”

She met me, thrust for thrust. She dug her heels into that rock, lifting her hips, and served that pussy up to me on a silver platter. I knew it would click. She was strong, and she was stubborn, and it was clear she had been on her own for a very long time. That would do shit to any shifter’s brain.

All I cared about was that she finally felt it.

“Mine,” I growled as I buried myself within her.

“Mine,” I snarled as her pussy collapsed around me.

“Mine,” I grunted as my hips stuttered.

“Oh—oh fuck. Dom. I’m coming. I’m coming. I’m coming.”

I slammed into her one last time before my dick twitched. Her back arched and my face fell to her breasts as my orgasm carried me away. My entire body stilled. With my talons dug into the rocks and her body flush with pleasure, I sank my teeth into the meat of her tits as she bucked ravenously against me. She chanted nonsensical sayings as her body fell apart. Her juices slicked my balls as thread after thread of heated arousal poured from my tip into her body. And as she collapsed on the rock, her nails ripped down my arm.

Ripping my skin open and causing blood to rise to the surface.

“Shit,” she hissed, “I’m so sorry.”

Her half-hooded eyes turned toward the wound, and I watched her as she watched it heal right back up. Why did she look so shocked?

“Oh, little one,” I said as I sat back on my haunches with my dick still sheathed in her warmth, “you have no idea what I’m capable of.”

Then, I pulled my cock out to the tip and shoved it back into her body.

“Ooooooh, no,” she moaned.

Her scent overwhelmed me once more. “Ooooooh, yes.”

Her hips rose to the occasion, meeting every thrust I afforded her. “But, but the—the par—party?”

I dipped down and sucked her lower lip in between my teeth. “I organized it. They’ll be fine without me a little while longer.”

“Oh, thank fuck,” she sighed with relief.

It was all the permission I needed. With her body undulating beneath mine, I lost myself in the feeling of her walls wrapped around me. I drowned myself in the softness of her skin and the way she raked her nails along my skin. Blood rose to the surface and got sucked back into every wound she created. Her teeth sank into the muscles of my shoulder as I pounded against her, with nothing but the sounds of wet skin slapping wet skin filling the space between us. Her body was a playground, and I didn’t want to leave. I wanted to do everything. Taste everything. Feel everything. Kiss everything about her.

But, something was still off.

“I know you don’t feel it now,” I panted out as I fucked her senseless, “but, you will.”

She groaned as her half-hooded eyes pried themselves open. “Feel what?”

And as I dipped my thumb down in between us, finding her swollen little nub, a wanton grin slid across my cheeks.

“The fact that you belong to me, mate,” I snarled.

Her eyes widened as my thumb started its work. I leaned back, watching her fuck herself on my dick as my thumb tickled her clit. She wrapped her legs around me, forcing herself closer as my legs frogged out. I sat there, perched on my knees, watching my mate use me as her personal fucktoy for her own enjoyment.

I’d never forget a second of it so long as I lived.

“Oh, God. Oh, fuck. Dom. Dom. Dom! Yes!”

And as she unraveled around my cock for the second time, she sprayed me with her own mark. Juices poured from her pussy, splattering against my abs, and leaking down to my cock. Her entire body flushed a shade of red I’d never seen anywhere else in nature. She collapsed, spent and sweating, as she shook with the aftershocks of her orgasm. I brought my fingers to my lips and licked them off. Her taste was so sweet, and I had half a mind to dive between her legs and pull a third orgasm from her body simply because I could.

But instead, as her eyes fluttered closed and her legs fell from around me, I let her pulsing pussy shove my cock out. I let her lay there, unimpeded by my body as the moonlight graced her delicate tanned skin.

I found her. I finally fucking found her. And now that I had her, she was never leaving. Ever. Even if I had to follow her to the ends of the Earth, I’d stay by her side until our connection snapped into place for her. Even if I had to stay in the shadows until she was comfortable with me standing in the light with her, I’d make it happen. No matter what she needed, I’d provide. No matter what she asked, I’d give her, so long as it didn’t jeopardize her safety in any way. Because she was worth every single fucking second of work it took to make her realize that she was mine.

That she was my mate.

And that she belonged to me for the rest of our lives.