SIXTY-FIVE

Billie

IMMEDIATELY AFTER LUNA Ophelia and Bruce left, Xander and Ethan joined me and Jax on the ground. Once the three of us were with him, Ethan draped over his torso and hips and Xander resting his cheek upon Jax's, all of us whispered how much we loved him and promised to take care of him. His body stopped shaking, and his lungs were able to expand with deep inhales. None of us asked him if he was okay because we knew he wasn't.

When he got to standing, he held my hand and used his other arm to yank Ethan into him. He crushed his face into the crook of Ethan's neck and damn near strangled him. Ethan flung his long arms around Jax's upper back, hugging him just as passionately and smashing his face into Jax's neck. Both of their bodies shook and convulsed with their choking, sobbing breaths. No words were needed.

Xander didn't wait for Jax to come to him. As soon as he let go of Ethan, Xander had Jax in his arms and kissed him wherever he could: the side of his head, his ear, his neck. If the hold Jax had on my hand was any indication of how fiercely they were hugging each other, I'd say it was a bone-crushing embrace.

Ethan and I helped walk Jax through the woods out of sight of people, while Xander went back to the party, explained that things were taken care of, and then got his truck to meet us down the road far enough away that we couldn't see the lights from the party. Jax refused to separate from me, always keeping one part of us touching, and I've been doing the same.

Except for the three of us telling Jax how much we love him and promising to take care of him, none of have said anything. When we got home, we were greeted with more of Amber's assault. The back passenger window to Jax's Dodge Charger was smashed and the door left ajar, which is how she got my sweatshirt. Ethan and Xander stayed downstairs to deal with it while I guided Jax up to our shared bathroom.

Walking into the shower, I turn on the water and softly ask, "Are you sure you don't want a bath, Jax?" His only response is a shake of his head in the negative and a squeeze of my hand. Both of us are still in our dirt- and blood-covered clothes, only our feet bare.

"Wash it all down the drain instead of soaking in it," I guess, turning to stand in front of him. He bobs his head once, his blond hair free from his hat. He doesn't bother pushing it away from his face as another round of trembles ripples through his body. My heart catches, and pressure begins to build behind my eyes. I inhale a steadying breath, willing myself not to start crying again.

My fox and I are having conflicting thoughts on how to comfort and support Jax. My human side wants to be cautious, to acknowledge what he went through, to check in with him and let him have his control, his power back. My fox is adamant that he is ours: We will not dick around with this . She continues with a growl, "We will take him into us, into our power, and not have him question for a second that he's ours and will forever be so. We will not let him become more traumatized."

Keeping the hold on his hand, I lift my other hand to gently cup the side of his face. His body quakes with a gasping inhale, and his head leans into my touch. His eyes—his gorgeous blue eyes—look darker and heavier with worry and uncertainty when they meet mine. In that moment, seeing how tenuous his hold on his emotions is, I do what's been working. I listen to my fox. For we are shifters, not humans, and we have ways of communicating, comforting, and loving that are different from those of humans.

My eyes glow, and my hand cupping his face goes from a gentle hold to a domineering grip of his chin. "You are mine, Jaxson," I declare, letting go of his hand and slipping it under the hem of his shirt. Splaying my palm on his lower back, I send my energy into him.

His tremors stop, and a low groan of pleasure slips through his lips. His hands land on my shoulders, gripping them. His eyes glow, blazing into mine as he vows in a thick voice that quivers with the strength of his emotions, "Yours! All yours, forever."

Sliding both of my hands under his shirt, I press upward and step into him, not caring about triggering him. I could never trigger him. We are part of one another. A piece of our souls resides in the other. "Arms up," I order, again my voice unyielding. Jax exhales a soft sigh of relief and lifts his arms above his head and in front of him so I can remove his shirt fully. My hands go to his waistbands, and his body quivers again. Tilting my chin up, my gaze holding his, I growl. "MINE. All of you is MINE." Once again, with each word of claim and each confident touch, he eases. The quivers stop. His breathing evens out. His body leans toward me. I forcefully push both his shorts and tights down to the floor, and he steps out.

My true-mate stands naked before me, and I take him in. His strong capable body. His broad, tatted shoulders and chest that subtly taper down to his toned abdomen. The wide V-line trailing just inside his defined hips. His gloriously rounded ass, held high by strong legs, thick with muscles.

My hypnotized state is broken by Jax's sharp intake of air. His hands, no longer shaking, grip the sides of my face with fingers pressing hard against my flesh. He cranes my head back so I have to stare into his eyes, which are glowing brighter than I've ever seen before. "MINE," he growls.

I gasp, drinking down the steamy shower air, and I feel the sting of it like the skin over my gums is raw. The feeling doesn't lessen as it spreads down my canines, tingling. "Yours," I reply, my voice wispy, the nod of my head sure.

Jaxson

I have not let her go since I was finally able to choose what to do with my own body. Once I had control over my limbs, once my body listened to the commands I'd been screaming, I wrapped around her. I wrapped my entire body around my true-mate and broke down with tears from the pain I had suffered and with sobs from the relief. I could finally hold and touch who I wanted—forever. She kept chanting Mine, mine, mine, protect, protect, protect , a chant that was repeating in my head for her. A chant that matched the rhythm of Little Fox's hums.

When my pack-mates gathered around me, pressing their bodies over mine, covering me, protecting me, a fire of hope sparked inside of me that I'd get through this. That hope burned away the lies my mind was spinning. But I could feel my mate struggling with her own uncertainty about how to best support me. I started trembling with the thought of her—my true-mate who holds a piece of me, as I do her—hesitating to touch me. I knew it was because she was taking my emotions into consideration, but I am hers. We are part of each other. Her eyes opened, glowing bright green and white, her scratched-up hand took possession of my face, and she claimed me with one word: mine . The surety in her voice, the searing power behind that one word, incinerated the doubts that were forming in my soul. She stripped me with the confidence of ownership, body pressed into mine, her eyes unabashedly raking over my body, and I inhaled her arousal.

With a hungry howl from my wolf, I shred the bloody clothes from her body while my mouth does as I command and claims hers. Billie inhales around my mouth, and I push my tongue deeper into hers, chasing her breath while continuing to strip her until her clothes are nothing but a pile of shredded material on the shower floor. Gripping my hands around her ribs, I push us under the stream of hot water, and it turns pink as it swirls around the drain. On a gasping inhale, I taste the scent of another. Her blood is still here with us. I rip my mouth away from my mate in shame and anger.

My mate grabs my chin firmly and snarls, "Kneel for me, mate, and I will clean the contamination from you. And you will from me." I float down onto my knees, and my mate takes the showerhead and begins the process of reclamation.

Billie

I work Jax's body over with the confidence of it being mine. Mine to touch. Mine to move. Mine to clean. Mine to claim. I don't shy away from any part of him, and my scrubbing is rough and harsh, needing to get him clean, needing to get her scent off him. He then does the same to me. His touch is just as harsh and firm, and by the end of the shower, we've both been scrubbed until our flesh is red with our efforts. Once clean, my fox sends me an image. My heart rockets into my throat, and my mouth dries with anxiety as my pussy floods with desire and preparation to obey her command. I croak and nod.

Jaxson

With both of us wrapped in towels, Billie guides us to her room. The illumination is dim and soft, the only light coming from the small desk lamp on the far side of her bed. Though her grip on my hand is firm there's a slight nervous tremble in her movements, her feet shuffling-stumbling until we're in the middle of the room. I want to be wrapped up and engulfed by her. It's just us, and I'm standing still as she turns to me and begins drying me off, getting me ready to be hers again.

Our eyes haven't stopped glowing since we got in the shower, our shifters firm on being present and connected with us tonight. She places a hand on my chest and murmurs, "Kneel."

I do as she asks, and my teeth tingle with my choice to obey her. I unfortunately know this feeling is vastly different from one that is manufactured. That tingling felt empty, the drugs merely making my body produce and react. It was all about the flesh and nothing more. But this is not about the flesh. This is about us, and the tingling is slow and building, but it doesn't start in my gums or cock. It starts in my chest, my heart, and along my spine. It has depth to it, layers of feelings.

The position puts my head level with her chest, and when she removes the towel from around her body it's like she's peeled the skin of the ripest clementine and spritzed the juices into the air. My nostrils flare, and I sway on my knees, feeling as if I'm standing in the middle of an orange orchard where every flower has bloomed at the same time.

Her hand grips my chin, steadying me and bringing me back to my body, which is teeming with desire. Once my eyes are focused on her, she asserts, "You are mine," and she holds her two fingers up in front of my face. She waggles those fingers, bringing my attention to them, and I watch as she dips them between her legs and plunges them into her core. My eyes bulge, as does my dick, and I don't dare breathe, watching with unblinking eyes as she pulls them from her. They're so wet that a drop of her slick splashes down on the rug. She brings those fingers dripping in her arousal in front of my face, which is still held firmly in her grasp. I lick my lips, hungry to taste her, when she whispers, "And you will smell of me." Then she combs those fingers through my hair.

"Fuck yes, please," I groan. My hands land on her hips, gripping them. Yes, let me bathe in her essence, in her scent. Let her be all anyone smells on me.

She releases her hold and brings both of her hands between her thighs, plunging her fingers into her core. I look down to see her pussy is so utterly soaked that her thighs are shining with the moisture leaking out, and the inside of her knees have drips running down them. My hands dig deeper into her hips in an effort to keep them from traveling lower.

Bringing her hands back up, she shoves two fingers into my mouth. I moan at her flavor, and my lips clamp down, cheeks hollowing as I suck and lick her essence. Her other hand coats my forehead, cheeks, ears, and neck with her. She removes her hand from my mouth. I'm panting harshly, and the feeling of my hot breath exhaling over my gums increases the aching in my teeth dripping with saliva. The trembling in my hands has spread throughout my entire body, while she continues to paint, smear, and cover every inch of my flesh with her scented desire for me.

I'm standing now, and she is kneeling, bent over at my feet as she continues with her process, humming and claiming me. My dick is dripping precum all over her backside and head. When it touches down on her skin, Billie mewls her approval.

I only smell her. I feel her juices sinking into my pores, drying and encasing my skin in a film of her. Her molten desire becomes my second skin.

She comes back to kneeling and, without pretense, wraps her entire mouth around my cock, sucking my precum while also tasting herself on me. I groan at the feeling of her hot mouth, but my wolf is done waiting.

I back out and bend over, wedging my hands into her armpits pulling her up to stand in front of me. My hands cup her face, both of our eyes glowing, both of us panting. My hand moves around to the back of her neck, clamping down on her nape. Hers land on my hips, and she moans through her open mouth.

We are mates. I've been claimed and encased in her. Now she will be claimed by me— her true-mate, her beta, her warrior, and her playmate.

Billie

Jax brings his forehead to mine, and his breath puffs hot air on my already warm skin. He growls, "MINE." The hand on my nape squeezes tighter, bolstering his words.

"YOURS," I croak out with the emotions of love, desire, and anticipation.

His mouth fully opens over my face, his hot breath tickling my flesh, waking up my senses right before his tongue flattens out and laps over the entire side of my face. I groan, feeling his rough tongue slurping over my skin. He grunts, turning my head, and proceeds to lick and salivate all over my face before moving downward. He keeps one hand fisted in my hair the other gripping my ass as his mouth lays claim to me.

When his mouth opens over my collarbone, drool streams out, and he adds in little teeth-chattering nibbles along the way. He moves down my arms and turns me around, repeating the process over my back. Every inch of my skin is on fire, burning alive as Jax heats, moistens, and nibbles my flesh. I'm fairly certain, my entire body except my face will have little red nips from his teeth.

His vocalizations grow louder, and bites mix with nibbles as if the process is heightening his desire, loosening his control. The deeper piercing of his teeth elicits hisses of painful pleasure from me. All that is left for him is my ass cheeks and pussy. With need, I rock my hips into his belly.

His fingers dig into my hips, and he lifts his chin to gaze up at me with unwavering, glowing eyes. He growls, "NO. All of you will be marked and covered by me." He turns me around and bends me over my bed. Growling and groaning, he begins licking, biting, and sucking my cheeks. My eyes moisten with the prolonged sensation of his teeth nibbling my body. It's like a long tattoo session when the repeated needling has become almost too much. My body is vibrating with want, my teeth dripping with saliva, and my heart hammering in the cage of my ribs. My flesh is so raw that deep inhales hurt with the spreading of my skin, and I can only take small wheezing breaths to allow my body to be pliable for my mate.

Every inch of my skin is awake and alert with an electric buzz of anticipation for his next touch, the next drag of his tongue, or the next nip of his teeth. His hands, which are trembling, spread over the back of my upper thighs, thumbs close to my pussy. He pushes my legs apart, opening my soaking flesh to him. I whimper as the air in the room, though warm, feels cold in comparison to the exposed heat of my core.

Jaxson

I pull her hips off the bed and spread her thighs, opening her sex above me. I've resisted the urge to allow my canines to take part in the licking, nibbling, and sucking of her flesh, but my restraint is coming near its end. My entire body is vibrating with need. My blood pulses with the energy of an electrical storm thundering through my veins, sending zaps up my spine and over my scalp. I inch forward, pushing my knees under the bed, and sit down on my haunches, head thrown back so I'm completely under her. My wolf growls as my mouth expands, and I suck all her juices down, grunting and groaning and swallowing down her flavor. My tongue comes out to lick and lavish her swollen flesh before plunging deep within her channel, swirling and scooping out all it can. My hands spread her legs wider, bringing her further down onto me.

The ache in my teeth is becoming too much. I've tested and pushed the boundaries of ignoring the need, and I refuse to bite into her flesh while not also being surrounded by her flesh.

Pulling back, I press up to standing and take in my mate. My mate who tackled a she-wolf, who covered and protected my paralytic body with hers, humming and vibrating her life into mine while I could do nothing but lie there. My mate now lies almost motionless, her body is languid and supple, waiting for me. My wolf and I don't want her languid and supple. No. We need her to possess us. To make us hers again as we make her ours.

"Mine, protect, mine, protect, mine, protect," I chant, a variation of her words, and it's like a switch has been flipped. A roar tears from her mouth, and her body surges to kneeling. Grabbing my shoulders she throws me down on the bed, my willing body making it easy for her.

She climbs on top of me, straddling me, and she leans forward, bringing her face a mere inch from mine. Her eyes are glowing bright, shining like a star exploding, and her royal power threads through her voice as she proclaims, "You are mine. Mine to love. Mine to protect. And. . ." Her wet lower lips brush the tip of my raging, hard cock, and she roars, "Mine to FUCK!" She drops down, taking all of me inside her in one swift motion.

I grunt out a howling "YES, YOURS!" She gives me no time to adjust, no time to think. She immediately starts fucking me at an aggressive, possessive pace. Rutting. She's rutting me.

My hands grip onto her hips, and she begs, "Look at me, playmate. Look at me, Jax." It's then I realize my eyes are closed. I open them to find my true-mate sitting high on my hips, sweat glistening over her breasts—breasts red with my teeth marks—jiggling in tempo with her movements. My eyes lower to where we are joined, and an unknown knot of tension unwinds from within me. It's her pussy my dick is surrounded by. It's her soul that's inside of me. It's her that is reclaiming me—and it's her I will reclaim.

She keeps fucking me, her eyes never leaving mine, her mouth open, letting me see her mating saliva streaming from her canines. "Flesh." She pants her demand, biting down on her lower lip. "I need my true-mate's flesh."

A roar of need rumbles from my chest. I shoot up to seated, and with my hands clutching her sides, I flip us over so I'm on top of her. I crawl up her body and drive my cock back into her warmth.

My dick is ecstatic to feel her around me. But it's my soul. My soul rejoices at being with her, being with my true-mate. I have chosen this, and my body obeys. I hammer my rigid dick into her soft, swollen flesh. She possessively wraps her limbs around me, holding me inside her and on top of her. I'm grunting and groaning with my physical exertion and the bodily feeling of her flesh surrounding and protecting me. The happiness of being with her and having control over my body again releases emotions from within, and I gasp a sob into the crook of her neck "I love you, Billie. I love you, playmate. No one else but you."

Billie's arms and legs band tighter around me, her head reaches up, mouth low on my neck. She murmurs, "I love you, Jaxson. I love my irreplaceable, lifelong playmate." My head turns as my lips move up the left side of her neck, sucking and licking.

My playmate is done with games. Her lips are low on my neck and I feel the scrape of her teeth across my flesh, over my collarbone and lower until it catches. She doesn't wait for me. She's not worried about how I will be with her. No, because she is already part of me. She growls and bites down on the flesh that is just as much mine as it is hers.

I roar and stab my teeth into the flesh below her ear, biting down until my mouth fills with her essence. Then it happens. It's like our souls are set afire, lit up from within, burning brighter than a supernova. My dick comes with the force of a celestial explosion, spraying my seed like stars into the center of my universe. The whole room is engulfed in our light. White, green, and light-blue flashes blind us, and we grip and hold on to each other like we might get pulled through into another dimension. Our bodies shudder and quake to the point we can't hold our position any longer. We roll off the bed and fall together, surrounded by our inner light.

Her fox's energy enters me—expands within me. Her strong, playful spirit surges through my body and soul. It finds that small flicker of hope and sets it ablaze. And I know—I know I'll get through this. We'll all get through this. The heavy shame that was coating my soul is set aflame like a lit match thrown on gasoline.

And we laugh. We cry and laugh and hug and hold tight, even after the light recedes. Never alone. I'll always have her inside me, always have her to lift me up and reignite my life light when darkness threatens it. And I will do the same for her.

We are licking and sucking our new marks, closing them up, and only then do we become faintly aware of the two other people in the room.