Chapter Thirty-Six

June

The shower hit me at my favorite temperature. Scalding.

My skin turned pink under the hot water while I hummed a stupid song that was stuck in my head and scrubbed my face.

Washing away a hard day of tracking with Tanner and the others was a nice treat. They had me running through dirt, ponds, mud. Being a tracker was a lot harder than I'd thought it was going to be. When they weren't training, they were following up on leads of scents reported by other wolves in the pack or by Alpha. Tanner even kept chunks of fur from the recent rogue attacks for us to refresh our memories on and sniff around for. It was kind of gross, actually.

I scrunched up my nose just thinking about it and started to shampoo my hair. I heard the front door open and grinned.

"June?" Dom asked.

"Bathroom!" I called.

Dom walked through the house to the bathroom door. "You're in the shower?"

"Yeah," I said, my answer barely leaving my lips before Dom opened the door and came in.

"Hello, beautiful," Dom said, pulling back the edge of the shower curtain.

"Hey!" I squealed. "I'm kind of busy here!"

"Good, then you won't be distracted when I hop in and shower too."

"Don't you dare!" I flicked some water at him but I was grinning the whole time. "I'll never get to finish with you here."

"Mmm. Depends on what you're trying to finish," Dom said, and stripped off his clothes and climbed in. "Much better. I've been looking forward to a shower since this morning."

"What did Smokey have you doing today?" I asked.

Dom grimaced. "Some training in a pond. Something about using water resistance and weights."

"Eww," I said. "That explains the smell."

Dom growled lightly, putting his hands on my hips. "All the more reason I need under the water right now."

"Whoa!" Dom caught me by surprise as he lifted me up and switched places with me.

I smacked him on the arm. "This shower isn't big enough to be playing around like that!"

"Sorry, June, let me get the worst of it off real quick and I'll happily help you scrub up." Dom leaned back under the showerhead, wiping the water running down his head and torso to brush off some of the dirt and grime.

And I only stared a little bit.

"Are you enjoying the view there, June?" Dom asked, not even looking at me.

Okay, maybe I was staring more than a little bit.

"There, enough for now. You finish up first," Dom said.

We traded places again and I finished rinsing out my hair.

"Better?" he asked.

"Better. The shower is yours, but I'm using the sink for now, okay?"

"Whatever you want, as long as I can wash Smokey's bullshit training away." Dom sighed, getting under the water again and grabbing his soap.

I dried off and wrapped my hair in a towel while Dom showered, then took to the mirror for lotion and to brush my teeth.

"Hey, Dom," I said, swirling lotion on my cheeks, "I've been meaning to talk to you about something."

"Yeah?" he asked from the shower.

I bit my lower lip, trying to decide how to bring it up. I rubbed the last of the lotion into my skin and set the bottle back on the sink. "Well, all our friends who've found their mates recently have, um, marked each other. Amelia and Bianca even did it twice."

The water shut off and he pulled open the curtain. "Amelia had to redo theirs because whatever Jerod had done to untangle their souls undid the bond with Bianca."

"Right," I said. "And Carmine and Jerod, they marked as soon as they got back to their cabin that night."

"Mm-hm," Dom agreed. He grabbed his towel and began to dry off.

"I was thinking, tomorrow you're trying to reconnect to the pack at the new moon picnic," I said, "and remind them how strong you are. Show that you could be alpha material."

"I am," Dom said, tossing his towel into the hamper and putting his hands on the sink on either side of me. I looked into the mirror, meeting his eyes as he surrounded me.

Damn, he made my heart beat so fast.

"And I was thinking that if you were doing that, I should do the same as your mate. As a luna," I stuttered.

Dom grinned, leaning his face down next to mine and kissing my cheek. "Juniper Gunn, are you coming on to me?"

"I'm serious, Dom. I'm trying to put on a good show for your cause."

Dom turned me around to face him, not in the mirror but eye to eye. He lifted me and sat me on the sink so we could be at a more even level.

"June, marking you is permanent. Very permanent," Dom said.

"Nothing a demon can't handle, apparently," I mumbled.

"I will say, I've never seen anything like that before." He laughed. "But, June, we're not warlocks, and I have no idea what kind of deal Jerod made, what he had to give up for that kind of service from a demon."

I was also curious, but too afraid to ask Jerod myself.

"When I mark you, it's going to be because you're ready for it, and not because you want to help me show off to the pack."

"Dom." I reached up and put my arms around his neck. "I do want to help you, but I want to be marked by you because I love you, Dom."

He grinned, his eyes lighting up as he leaned in and kissed me. "I love you, too, June. But are you sure? I was going to sort out this mess with Evander before I asked you about marking. You haven't decided what to do about school, or your family, or Seattle."

"As much as I want those things to work out, in my heart, I can't leave this place. It feels right, it feels like I should be here. And for school, maybe I can go to one here in Canada. My job I won't miss. I'll miss Kat like crazy, but I need to be here. I need to stand on Moonpeak soil and run with this pack. Leaving it is no longer a choice my heart can make."

I reached up to cup his face with my hands, planting a light kiss on his lips. "Leaving you is no longer a choice my heart can make."

Dom scooped me up off the counter and into his arms. I squeaked, my towel falling off my head and onto the floor as he whisked me from the bathroom.

"You're sure?" he asked again. "Because I'm ready to do this right now if you are."

My heart pounded in my chest, and something stirred over my neck. That sensitive feeling that took my breath away. All I could do to answer Dom was nod, but he took it with a smirk and dropped me on our bed.

There were no words between us, and Dom pressed his mouth to mine in a deep kiss that distracted me long enough to be surprised when his fingers gripped my backside.

I gasped, wrapping my arms around his neck as I held on tight while he lifted me to him. Our bodies pressed together as tight as he wanted them to be. My breath was hot and fast, and I couldn't get enough of his lips on mine.

"June," he growled into my kiss, pulling his lips away and moving his head down to my neck.

I shivered as he planted a soft kiss on my skin where my shoulder met my neck.

"Fuck," I hissed.

"Not yet," Dom said, grinning into my neck. "Although, I must say I like it when you swear."

A breathy laugh escaped me as he lifted me from the bed. I squealed and held on tight.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"Bed is too low," Dom grumbled. "I need a counter for this."

A counter? For what?

Mate!

My wolf was going nuts.

Whatever Dom had planned, he had made it to the kitchen and set me down on a counter. He pushed something or other off the counter behind me as he slid me onto it.

"I've wanted to do this for a while now." Dom flashed me a dangerous grin and dipped his head downward. He kissed my collarbone, then the top of my breasts, then my stomach.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

Dom kissed my stomach again, his hands on my hips as he held me in place. He looked up, his eyes meeting mine, a glint of trouble in them.

"I'm going to taste you, then fuck you, then bite you," he said, simply.

A noise caught in my throat as his fingers slid over the most tender parts of me. My breasts, my neck, and . . . farther south.

"Dom," I breathed as his fingers slipped into me.

"Hold on to the counter if you need to," he said, lowering his head and removing his fingers, quickly replacing them with his tongue.

I sucked in a breath and my arms fell behind me on the counter to hold myself up. Something or other over knocked over, but I didn't care. Dom's hands lightly pressed into my inner thighs, keeping my legs open as he helped himself to the taste of me.

I was hot. My face was hot, my neck was hot, my lower half was definitely hot. My fingers slid through something soft behind me as Dom gripped my thighs tighter.

Dom's tongue was bold in its explorations, and when he put his lips on my clit he set thousands of nerves on fire. I couldn't keep a moan from my throat as he finally lifted his head again.

"Fuck, the taste of you, June," Dom growled, then made his way back up. He kissed my stomach, my breasts, my collarbone, then my lips.

"Are you ready?" he asked.

"Yes," I breathed.

He kissed me softly, reaching up to brush the loose hair off my face, and then pressed his hard self against me.

Kissing me passionately, he moved his mouth harder against me as I opened up for him. His tongue slid inside, then he moved his mouth in rhythm with mine, and I was caught off guard when he slid inside me.

I moved my head back to take in a sharp breath. In my surprise, I moved my hands from behind me to around Dom's neck. When my eyes flicked down to my fingers, a laugh slipped out of me.

"What is it?" Dom asked, pausing his motion and causing me to move my hips, trying to get him deeper in me again.

"Don't worry about it," I said.

He looked down at his chest and around his shoulders where my hands had trailed. White flour dusted the both of us; I had knocked over the jar. Dom smirked, meeting my gaze, and hugged me as he began thrusting again.

It was so good, I didn't realize he was moving his hands behind me until he brought a white thumb up to rub my cheek.

"Hey!" I giggled.

"Payback." He chuckled. "And a distraction."

"A distraction from what?" I asked, looking down at his flour-covered hand.

"It'll be better in a minute," he said. In a flash, he moved his head down to my already flushed and sensitive neck.

I had about a heartbeat's warning as his teeth grazed my skin. I tensed, bracing to be bitten.

My wolf was going insane. Her erratic energy bounced in my head as Dom's fangs grew, and he bit down.

I gritted my teeth, the sensation of pain hitting me for a moment, but then I sucked in a breath as it was quickly replaced with a hot flood of pleasure.

"Dom!" I cried, holding on to his shoulders for dear life. His thrusting never stopped, and it was almost too much to bear the intense feelings from the sex and from his bite at the same time.

Then my own teeth started aching. I ran my tongue over them, feeling a point where my canines were.

"Dom," I said, a little softer but as much as I could handle at that moment.

Dom moved his own teeth out of my neck gently. "Do it."

I didn't have to ask him what it was I was supposed to be doing, because my wolf was screaming it in my head.

Bite!

Bite. Right. I moved forward and sank my teeth into Dom in roughly the same place he had bit my own neck. It was purely instinctual, biting down and feeling his hard thrust in my core.

Dom grunted, his body stiffening, and he leaned in to bite me again.

It was too much. It was everything.

I unraveled, pulling my teeth from Dom's neck and screaming his name. Dom held me tightly, and even after he spilled himself into me he continued to thrust gently until we were both spent.

I was breathless when he moved back from me, and he had to help me sit upright on the counter.

My eyes came into focus and I found his gaze on me.

"It's over, June," Dom murmured with a grin on his face. "We're marked."

"That was . . . wow," I breathed.

"Are you okay? Do you want to rest on the bed?"

I was dizzy, but it didn't stop me from trying to shake my head.

"Is that biting thing something we can do again?" I asked.

Dom's eyes lit up and his lips curled into a wicked smile.

"It certainly is, my mate," he replied.

And his lips met mine as I realized we were, in fact, not going to leave the house that day.

But it was oh so worth it.

Dom. My mate.