9. Raphael

CHAPTER 9

Raphael

I rip the door off the hinges, my wolf barely-controlled and begging to slip the leash I have on him. Roaring, I leap naked to the ground and lift my head, my nose flaring, scenting the air. It takes me only seconds to find the sweet trail of my mate.

With another roar, I leap into the woods and charge through them, branches and leaves ripping at my skin until blood drips down my body. But I don’t stop.

This is what I want. And my mate has given me the best mating gift ever! The chase, the hunt for her.

“I’m going to find you and fuck you so hard that you won’t be able to walk for a week, my mate. A thrill trickles into my bloodstream and I ride the rush, my head high, searching and finding her sweet, seductive scent.

I ache for her, yearn to coat her pussy in my release. My dick throbs and it bobs painfully against my belly but nothing will deter me from finding her, claiming her.

Until something crashes to my left and I hear another snarl that turns my raging blood cold. My head turns and I smell it now. Another shifter. A fucker that thinks he’s going to touch my mate. And she’s barely covered.

My legs pump crazy-fast and I race towards her, needing to find her before this guy does. Because if he touches her…hell, if he even sees her I’m going to lose my mind and shred him with my bare hands. She smells like me so he knows she’s mine. Even if she doesn’t have my mark he knows.

I growl under my breath and my legs pump harder, my breath harsh and heavy, sweat dripping from my skin and mixing with the blood from a million small scratches that mean nothing at all.

Nothing will deter me from taking what’s mine and anything that tries to stop me will die. In a very bad way.

“Raphael, is that you?”

I roar my anger and with a final push I run into the clearing where she’s at. She’s backed into a tree and there’s another wolf shifter in front of her, his naked body rising from the ground as her beautiful blue eyes widen and she screams.

“Raphael! Mate!” The fear in her voice undoes me and I leap in front of her, snarling and snapping, barely sentient.

“Get away from my mate!” I snap and barrel at him, rushing him and taking him down. His arm cuffs me hard and then his fingers try to close around my throat. But my own come up and slap his away as I flip us and land on his belly. I glare at him. “What the hell are you doing with my mate?”

“She’s not wearing your mark and she smells delicious.” I growl and roar, my head back as I slam a fist into his fist, satisfaction coating me as I hear his nose crack. He roars and then his hand catches me in the ear, boxing me hard, then his nails scrape down to my shoulder and rip into my skin like a knife.

“Shit!” I growl and then the two of us just rip into each other, nails slashing and ripping, teeth coming down to pull at skin and tear it off. Blood drips from us and then my mate stuns both of us, whacking him in the head with a huge branch that she’s whipping around. I duck my head as she barely misses my own body.

“Get off him!” She shrieks and we separate, panting. She pokes him hard in the belly with the leafy branch and he wrenches it out of her hands.

“Jesus! She’s a fiery one, isn’t she?” I grab her around the middle and hold her tight as she lunges at him, growling.

“Get off of my mate!” She slaps at my hand and spittle flies from her lips. I laugh and hold her tight.

“If you’ve got any sense you’ll get out of here. I think she’s made her choice.” I should rip him apart but the feel of my mate’s quivering, soft, curvy body in my arms has my wolf howling wildly and begging me to mark her, claim her before some other fucker gets any smart ideas.

He eyes me wryly. “I guess she has. Good luck!” He nods at me and strolls away and I laugh loudly as she lunges at him again, screaming, “you think you’re safe since he’s got me! I’m gonna find your ass and beat you to a pulp, buddy! I know people! You’re going down!”

I turn her to me and grunt as her fists pound at me. “Let me go!”

“Not a chance. I’ve got you and I’m keeping you, little sprite!” I hold her hands and back her into a tree rimming the open space. I reach my other hand up and hold her chin gently, shaking it lightly. “I should paddle your pretty little ass for what you just put me through but I’m gonna give you a free pass this time. But from now on, you will now interfere if I’m fighting another shifter. I couldn’t handle it if something happened to you. You’re my whole world, mate!”

She wriggles loose and then throws herself at me. “Dammit! If you don’t claim me and mark me pretty damn soon, I’m gonna take things into my own hands!”

I growl under my breath and my teeth drip, lengthening to sharp points. “You want my mark, mate?”

“Yes, please,” she whimpers. “Now, please!”

My lips slam down on hers but this kiss is nothing like earlier. We’re wild for each other and teeth clash, our breaths mingling, our scents clinging to each other as she wraps her legs around me, her bare pussy, slick with her juices rubbing at me until I’m nearly crazed with lust.

“I need you, mate. Forever. You’ll never be free from me.”

She shakes her head and sighs. “I’ll never want to be.”

I slip my cock inside of her and her slick sheath coats me with her juices until I’m sliding, slamming wildly into her. She screams and comes apart as I ram her pussy like a raging maniac. I lick her throat and feel her slick heat fluttering around my cock.

“Do it,” she sighs and tilts her head back, leaving her delicate throat bare and exposed for me.

“Not yet.” I lift her up and then drop both of us to the leafy ground. The crunch of the leaves barely registers as I fuck into her hard and fast. She comes apart, her pussy fluttering and gripping me so tight that I have to grind my teeth to keep from coming apart.

As soon as she screams and wails, I roll her over and slam into her hard. Her lush ass is right in my face and I lean down and rim her forbidden hole with my tongue. “One of these days, mate, I’m gonna take this hole too. I want all of your holes.”

She moans and whimpers but I feel her pussy tighten and I know that she wants it too.

Thrusting hard over and over I ride her, rutting into her wildly. Then I feel the zing in my balls as they tense and the first spurt of precum. With a snarling snap, I close my teeth around her shoulder, tasting the coppery slide of her blood on my tongue and roaring as I cling to her skin. She screams and her whole body spasms on my cock, her slick pussy dripping her juices as I finally slam home and my own release drips out of her and down her thighs.

I drop to her back and grunt, attempting to push all of my seed back inside her pussy.

My pussy. I’ve claimed her and she’s all mine now. Forever.

“I love you, mate. I will never leave you. You’re mine now and forever.”

She smiles as I roll over and pull her onto my chest. She shivers and tugs a leaf out from underneath her ass. Her brows lift. “Next time, a bed. And not one made of leaves.”

I wiggle my brows. “Animals love the wild, mate.”

“I’m not an animal,” she laughs.

I hold up my arm and turn so she can see my ripped-up back. She flushes. “My body begs to differ.”

We both collapse, laughing and sighing, closing our eyes. I tug her on top of me so that she doesn’t need to touch the ground. Her hazy blue eyes open and she yawns.

“I still have questions.”

“And I’ll answer them. But not now. Sleep.”

And she sighs, relaxes and her breathing goes soft and huffy.

My arms tighten around her and I can’t believe I never saw this feeling coming. Never even knew it existed like this.

My parents were a mess because of poor choices but mine? I think I made the best one I’ve ever made. She’s a firecracker, she’s a worthy mate for my wolf and me.

She’s perfectly mine. Ours, my wolf snaps.

I close my eyes and my own breathing slows although my wolf stays alert, watching.

Neither of us will ever allow something to hurt our mate. Together, forever, we’ll protect and care for her and any pups we may have.