Chapter 19 - Freya

Chapter 19

Freya

While Gage and Heath wrapped up the conversation with Thatcher, Flint rubbed his muzzle along my flank, nudging me to the side.

“Let’s go back to the den, moonbeam. They can handle the rest of this.”

“True.”

Now that I knew there was no threat, my heartrate had calmed, and I could see Thatcher’s loyalty to Ironwood would ultimately serve us well.

Flint and I left Rowan pacing back and forth behind Gage and Heath as we raced back toward town.

“I was so scared when Heath told me you were running straight for danger,” Flint confessed. “It’s frustrating getting updates about my mate secondhand.”

“How do you think I feel? That’s why I wouldn’t let Gage run off alone.”

We reached the front door to the den, and Flint’s next words made my heart soar.

“It made me wish I’d bitten you already, so I could be sure you were safe.”

At the front door, I shifted back into my human form and grinned up at Flint as soon as he stood over me in his two-legged form.

“Oh? Do you intend to fix that little problem now?” I asked, continuing our conversation.

Flint pulled my naked body tight against his, and I could feel his body responding to mine. His eyes scanned my face as if worried about what I might think.

“It’s time. My wolf will wait no longer.”

“Good.” I smiled. “Neither will mine.”

Flint opened the door and pushed me through, but he didn’t let me get far. Normally, Flint was the most gentlemanly of my four alphas, but the way he pushed me up against the closed door was anything but sweet.

He needed me, needed proof that I was unharmed. And I intended to prove it to him in the best of ways.

“Freya…” Flint moaned my name. “I want to make this special, but my wolf—”

I kissed him, and he devoured my own moans. Then I pulled back so I could answer him properly. He immediately began kissing down my neck, as though he could only hold off on biting me right away by worshipping me instead. I wished I had a mate bond with him already so I could pour reassurances to him.

I desperately wanted to be bonded with all of them, but were they all ready to bond with me? I hoped he knew how badly I needed him.

“You can be sweet to me later, Flint.” I gasped as he sucked a nipple into his mouth. “I’m ready to claim you and be claimed in return.”

Thanks to my impending heat, I was already, always wet for him, but that didn’t stop him from kneeling before me. He hooked one leg over his shoulder and breathed in my scent.

“Good,” he growled. “But no matter how pushy my wolf is, I’ll always put you first.”

His hands spread me wide, making me feel vulnerable and exposed. When his lips clamped down on my clit, I shouted in surprise before he began devouring me like a starving man.

Flint’s insistent tongue forced all thoughts from my head. The moment he pushed his fingers inside me and curled them, I was a goner. I screamed out my climax, curling over him as it rocked my world. The long fingers of his other hand spread across my sternum, pinning me upright against the door as I rode out my orgasm on his face and fingers.

My knees went weak, but Flint was there, lifting me into his arms. He turned and laid me on the nearest surface — which just so happened to be the kitchen table. Flint’s eyes were pure gold. His wolf was in charge now. Without warning, he lined himself up and slammed into me in one smooth thrust.

He leaned over me, growling in my ear, and my inner walls clamped down on him. I wrapped my legs around his waist as he rocked into me.

“Mine,” he growled, and I heard his vocal cords change just before his fangs latched onto my other shoulder, opposite of Gage’s bite.

The exquisite contrast of pain and pleasure made me come again with Flint’s fangs deep in my shoulder as he pounded into me. My hands clawed his back as the climax tore through me, my breath stolen as I came so hard the world around us disappeared for a moment.

Then it was my turn. Just as Flint’s wolf would wait no longer, mine felt the same. She rose within me, pushing me aside. I felt my face shift slightly, my fangs lengthening just as Flint’s jaws released me. I arched upward, biting his shoulder where it joined his neck.

Flint let out a roaring growl as he came, and I felt his heat shoot into me. The table smashed into the wall again, but I didn’t let go of him as he pumped inside me, riding out his own orgasm.

The front door abruptly burst open, startling me into releasing Flint’s shoulder. Turning my head, I caught sight of a massive dark wolf standing in the doorway. The door was knocked askew, one of its hinges destroyed.

When the dark wolf saw us together, blood still on our lips from the claiming bites, he froze.

“Rowan—” I started, but the dark wolf snorted and stalked away, leaving my line of sight.

“She is unharmed,” Flint called to him, but Rowan didn’t return.

Flint huffed out a laugh, then rested his forehead on mine, his hand cupping the back of my head. I felt the twisting of his emotions leaking through the new mate bond — amusement, awe, and desire.

“That was insane,” Flint whispered. “I never knew it would feel like this.”

“Which part was insane?” I asked, squeezing him with my legs. “The part where you permanently lodged the table into the wall? The part where we both came so hard we almost blacked out? The part where we’re finally mated? Or the part where Rowan destroyed the front door when he heard you roaring in pleasure?”

Flint laughed, flooding the bond with pure joy. When he pulled his head back, I caught sight of the glowing ansuz rune on his cheekbone, a perfect match to the ones on Gage and Heath’s faces. And a perfect match to the rune on my body — I felt sure of that, without even seeing it for myself.

“All of it, moonbeam. I’m so glad we finally did this.”

He kissed along my shoulder and then licked his mate bite, sending an instant pulse of pleasure straight to my core. My inner walls squeezed, and Flint’s rough chuckle by my ear made me let out a tiny moan of need.

“Does my mate need more?” He growled, thrusting into me.

How was he hard again already? I would never understand alpha stamina, but at that moment, I absolutely craved him. Of course I wanted more.

“I’ll always want more of you, Flint,” I moaned as my body heated up again.

When sweat broke out of every pore, I wondered if I was going into heat right then and there.

“My moonbeam,” he whispered, slowing his pace down to something deliciously slow.

He licked along his bite, and then Gage’s, and my pussy fluttered in delight.

This time felt so different… slower, more sensual, and sweeter. We’d given our wolves what they wanted, and this time was for us.

“Yes, you’re mine, too,” I growled, pulling him tight against me.

I dug my heels into his ass cheeks, forcing him to grind against me, giving my clit the attention it needed. Through the mate bond, I felt his pleasure growing alongside mine, and his awe as he sensed so much more thanks to our new connection.

“My mate,” he growled, just as his mouth fitted over his mate mark again.

As his rounded human teeth bit into the mate mark his fangs had left behind, I let out a shout as my climax took me by surprise, tearing through me. Rocking my hips, I milked him for all he could give me. More waves of pleasure washed over me, much more gently than my earlier orgasm.

Flint let out a long, low moan as his pleasure took over, and I traced my fingertips along the bite I’d left behind. His dick twitched as more of his heat poured into me while my own orgasm tapered off. For a moment, he rested against me to catch his breath.

With a contented sigh, he slowly eased out of me and helped me sit up. His eyes scanned my body, as though checking to make sure I hadn’t been hurt. Then he scooped me up in his arms.

“I’m fine, Flint,” I said, simultaneously assuring him through the bond.

Flint put me in bed, joining me to pull me onto his chest. Being bonded to him at last felt so intimate and perfect, it brought tears to my eyes.

He closed his eyes, tilting his face up as though enjoying sunlight on his skin. “It feels so good to have this link to you, Freya.” Then his eyes flashed open. “But if I gave you any bruises, you should shift to heal up.”

I winked. “Good thing I can shift now, in case you naughty alphas get rough with me.”

Flint’s lips quirked up into a grin before he kissed me. When I pulled away from the kiss, his eyes shone with uncontainable affection, making my heart flutter.

He slid out from under me and gave me a peck on the nose. “Wait here.”

In the bathroom, I heard the sink running. He returned with a warm, damp towel. As he wiped me down with the warm cloth, I felt completely cared for.

When he was done, I wrapped my arms around him, enjoying the connection. Letting Flint’s wolf take charge and claim me had felt amazing, but cuddling with Flint afterward felt special in a different way.

I couldn’t believe how lucky I was to have someone like him to call my mate. Flint had always been my protector. He’d been in my corner from day one. Claiming each other as mates didn’t mark any significant change between us the way it had with Gage and Heath. But it did deepen the loving connection we’d formed long ago. It all finally clicked into place, exactly as it was always meant to.

I rolled over so he could spoon me, giving me maximum skin-to-skin contact as we both sent love and joy back and forth to each other across the mate bond. This new connection strengthened us both, as though he could lend me his reliability and loyalty while I gave him my determination and perseverance. Time seemed to slow, and I lazily let my eyelids drift closed.

But a spark of need along Flint’s mate bond had my eyes fluttering open. He wanted something from me. Something only I could provide. It felt like… something incomplete, like a need for connection, except Flint and I had just connected as deeply as two wolves ever could.

“What is it?” I asked softly.

Whatever he needed, I wanted to give it to him, knowing he felt the same about me.

Flint whispered into my hair, “You should go after him. Show Rowan he doesn’t have to be left out.”

I rolled over, gazing up at Flint in surprise as he propped himself on an elbow. “Now?”

He gave me a serious look. “Do you plan to spend your heat in human form or wolf form this time?”

I blinked at the sudden change of topic. “I—I don’t know. I hadn’t really thought about it. If we’re drawing out Ironwood to attack us, I know wolf would probably be better, but… it’s only my second heat, and that… doesn’t feel right to me yet, to be with all of you in that way.”

Flint kissed my forehead. His words echoed in my head. “In human form, you’ll need the mate bond to talk to us, and you can only do that if we’re already mated to you. Time grows short.”

“I know,” I admitted out loud.

It was something I’d already thought about, and I did want to claim all of them before my heat for exactly that reason. But…

“Rowan doesn’t want the bite. He’s worried about the witch mark.”

“Maybe he’s changed his mind.”

“Do you really want me to go bite Rowan right after we just claimed each other?” I kept my words silent in case Rowan somehow lingered within hearing range.

Through the mate bond, I already had my answer. Flint craved my connection with Rowan because it was what I craved… and what his packmate needed. More than anything, Flint wanted to see our pack bond grow deeper. To him, our mate bond was only the beginning — Flint wanted me to bond with the other Howling Echo wolves just as much as he’d wanted to claim me.

Flint squeezed my shoulders, looked me in the eyes, and said exactly what I needed to hear. “Follow your instincts.”