Chapter 13

Melody wasn’t sure how long they stood in the middle of the cafeteria staring at each other, but she felt like she couldn’t breathe from the tension that was building between them.

She was burning up, but chilled to the core wondering if he’d walk away again, but for good this time.

Mellie-mine.

Hell, she hadn’t heard that nickname in seven years. Not since the night he’d kissed her on her parents’ doorstep and said goodbye, and then he’d disappeared. One of those times when she hadn’t realized it would be the last time she saw him, or she would have held onto him longer, memorized the way the moonlight highlighted his features and made him seem bigger than life.

The term of endearment brought up all sorts of emotions.

But mostly what she was feeling right now?

The ridge of his erection pressing against her stomach.

The ache in the center of her body increased as the part of her that was wolf rolled and stretched inside her, wanting to be close to him.

It was wildly unfair that they’d lost so much time because of one asshole alpha and his backwoods beliefs that she was something to be locked away and kept from mating and having children.

His hand moved from her arm to her back, pulling her even closer. She could smell his wolf—all dark woods and moonlight—and her own arousal, the two scents combining in the air between them. She wanted to say a hundred things, but words failed her.

All she could do was stand in his hold and helplessly stare up at him. If he let go, she’d flop to the ground like a fish on the riverbank, she was sure of it.

She whispered his name.

He crushed his lips against hers with a snarling growl. Curling her fingers tighter into his shirt, she tilted her hips into him and opened her mouth to the sweep of his tongue. The demanding kiss drove the breath from her lungs and made her skin prickle. Their tongues danced and slid together like they’d done a hundred times before everything went to hell.

His wolf rumbled in his chest, the sound vibrating and making her hands tingle.

He eased from the kiss and her world spun.

“Come with me to my place,” he said gruffly. “I want to do what I should have done seven years ago.”

“What?”

He brushed his thumb along her throat and a riot of shivers wove down her spine like a caress. “Mate you. Mark you. Make you mine forever.” He leaned in close and brushed his lips over hers once more. “Tell me you want me too, Melody, because if I take you to my place and we make love again, I’m never ever letting you go.”

She exhaled sharply. It’s what she’d always wanted to hear from him.

“I want you too, more than anything or anyone.”

He took her hand and walked through the room, but not toward the front door. Instead, he took her to a small hallway and entered a code at a steel door. The lock clicked and he pulled the door open, revealing a set of steps leading down.

“No one can know about this, not even your parents,” he said, tugging her hand to follow him as he headed down the stairs.

“Of course.”

“Everyone lives down here,” he said. “All the shifter groups have their own private living areas, and there’s a marketplace with a cafeteria and other businesses.”

“I had no idea. I assumed there were other apartment complexes.”

“Just the one,” he said. “It’s mostly for when non-shifters bring their families to the park so they have a home to show them without revealing the truth about shifters. Or for visitors, like your parents.”

“There are non-shifters here?”

They reached a hall at the end of the stairs and walked along it until they reached another security door, which he unlocked with a code. As the door swung open, she could see a room that was barely illuminated with soft lighting around the perimeter and was filled with small homes.

“Yes,” he said, lowering his voice.

She kept forgetting how late it was. She was amped up on adrenaline and arousal, a potent combination for forgetting all sorts of things.

“We should talk about that later,” she whispered.

The door shut softly behind them, and he gave her a wicked grin. “You read my mind.”

She let out an eep as he swung her up in his arms and walked swiftly across the large room, stopping long enough to open the door of a small home that had what looked like rocks on the exterior, which made it look like a cave or den.

He put her on her feet and shut the door.

“I’d give you the tour,” he said, pulling his shirt over his head and reaching for hers, “but I could pound nails with my dick because you smell so fucking good right now.”

She stretched her arms over her head as he pulled her shirt off. His hands were calloused and warm as he slid them along her back and pulled her close.

“The tour can wait.”

He kissed her again, less demanding but still taking control, tilting her head to deepen the kiss. She’d always loved kissing him, loved the way her stomach flipped and her skin warmed whenever their lips were together.

It felt like no time at all had passed since the last time they’d kissed.

Her wolf was in heaven, and she was too.

Finally, Jasper was theirs.

He turned her and kissed her neck, then placed her hands on the couch. He slid his hands down her shoulders and followed her spine, stopping at the waistband of her leggings and giving a gentle tug.

“You always were the sexiest female on the planet. You haven’t changed a bit in seven years.” He gripped her hips and pulled back a little until she felt the press of his erection against her bottom. She inhaled and tipped her head back as warmth pulsed through her.

“You were always the only male for me,” she said.

He brushed her hair off her back and let it fall over one shoulder. Then he twisted the hooks of her bra and pushed the straps off. She let go of her hold on the couch to pull the bra off and toss it aside before placing her hands right back where he’d put them.

Tugging gently, he pulled her leggings and panties over her hips and down her legs. She toed off her shoes, and then he stripped her fully as he knelt behind her.

When there was a long pause, she said, “Jasper?”

He chuckled softly and wrapped his hands around her ankles, then kissed the backs of her knees. The stubble on his cheeks rubbed her skin, tickling it.

“Just admiring the view.” He kissed his way up the back of her thighs. He nudged her legs and she widened her stance, lowering her head to watch as he rose to his knees and grasped her cheeks, spreading them apart and rubbing his thumbs along her sensitive skin.

She arched her back and tilted her hips, and he let out an appreciative growl. “So fucking sexy, Mellie-mine. Ready to fly?”

“Yes, yes ,” she whispered, then bit her lip as he swiped his tongue along the seam of her pussy.

As he buried his face in her pussy, he cupped her hips from the front and pulled her against him. He lapped at her pussy, flicking his tongue against her clit as her body heated for him, her hands clenching the arm of the couch and her toes curling into the soft carpet.

He brought his fingers between her legs and rubbed her clit as he tongued her core. She tossed her head back as heat filled her and her stomach clenched.

“Ah, Jasper,” she moaned. She slapped her hand on the couch and groaned.

She could feel him smile against her pussy, his wicked tongue driving her wild. She closed her eyes as he touched just the place on her clit to send her into orbit, and as if he remembered just how to touch her no matter how much time had passed, he focused on that spot and delved his tongue into her core.

She came hard, panting and crying out.

She heard his zipper lower as he rose to his feet, and then he plunged his thick length into her a heartbeat later. He gripped her hips and pressed himself deeper into her, until she gasped at how full she felt, her pussy still throbbing with the pleasure that had soared through her.

“Fuck, you feel good,” he said, his voice low and deep with his wolf.

She wanted to tell him that he felt good too, because nothing was as good as this, but he took that moment to pull from her and plunge in again, driving the breath from her lungs. He fucked her hard and fast, his wolf rumbling, his hands holding her tight. She closed her eyes and let herself go into the feelings that coursed through her: the joy at their reunion, the pulse of pleasure that buzzed inside her every time he thrust in, and the way her wolf was dancing in her head at the prospect of being fully and truly mated.

“I’m going to fucking come, Mellie,” he said harshly, “you feel too good.”

She breathed out his name as he took her even harder, the hold on her hips sure to leave bruises, but she’d covet the marks as long as they lasted.

He howled when he came, slamming into her and pressing his body to hers hard enough that he had to brace them both up on the edge of the couch. He snarled softly in her ear, then lowered his head and struck, sinking his fangs into her flesh.

She let out a cry at the sharp pain, but instantly moaned as his fingers found her clit and he drove her to a swift climax. The pleasure that welled up inside her pushed the ache away while he pulled his fangs from her neck and held her close until he’d wrung every last ounce of pleasure from her body.

Boneless and sated in a way she’d never thought possible, she smiled as he lifted her into his arms and carried her into his bedroom.

The room was dark, and the bed he laid her on was soft. He climbed onto the bed behind her and curled around her, pressing his lips to the space under the mark he’d just made, which would scar and remain forever because he’d scored his tongue and rubbed his blood into the wound.

“I love you,” she said once her heart had stopped pounding. “Mate.”

The sound from his throat was half growl and half purr, but all contented male. “I love you too, Melody. Sweetest mate, other half of my heart.”

She closed her eyes and snuggled into his embrace.

She knew now that no matter what else happened, she and Jasper were marked mates, and that meant nothing on earth would separate them.

“I want to mark you too,” she said, then yawned.

“I’d love that. But first, let’s rest. I’m tired as hell since there was this sexy female begging for orgasms and keeping me from bed.”

She laughed. “Next time on the bed.” Then she added, “And maybe another time on the couch.”

“We’ll christen every room in the house, and the couch again. As much as you want, I’m the male for the job.”

“Damn, I missed you.”

“I missed you more.”

She was going to argue that no , she missed him the most, but his breathing deepened in sleep and she decided to let him have this one. After all, he’d given her two amazing orgasms. She couldn’t wait to return the favor.

Later. After they rested and got to that christening business.