Chapter 21

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

C adoc joins me on the front porch. I hold my silence. He drapes a thick white knit blanket over my lap. Warmth cuts through the chill that's crept over me and I hum appreciatively.

"I put it in the dryer for a few minutes before I came out here." He smiles, his eyes crinkle brightening.

"Thank you." I close the book and set it aside, burrowing underneath the blanket.

"Did you find anything useful?" He takes a seat in the rocking chair beside me.

"Helpful, no? Horrifying yes."

"Oh?" He tilts his head.

"There are diary entries in here. Keepers of the amulet didn't live happy lives. They were saddled with the welfare of a group of ungrateful people. Everyone wanted a piece of them."

"Where the hell were their mates?" The rumble in his chest wakes something primal in me.

"They didn't have any originally and it was grim. They were magical servants, kept under the Alpha's thumb in his home." Cadoc sneers.

I share his sentiment. "Then there was a rare female alpha who came into power and changed everything. She instituted the multiple mates policy with the Volva. They saw the need in a vision."

"I imagine things changed quickly after that, huh?"

"Yes." I smile.

"I know it's a lot to take in. It scared me too."

I barely keep from rolling my eyes as I take in his muscular frame. "Please, don't patronize me." I look at the large man and roll my eyes.

"There are many ways to experience fear. I could face a room full of enemies on my own, but this—" He waves a hand between us. "Relationships and feelings terrify me."

I turn. The strain on his face is evident. He's telling the truth.

"I almost had a mate once. When I was just shy of a hundred. I was ready to give up everything and settle down with her to raise pups."

His voice is unnaturally husky and I catch the bitter scent of sorrow.

"Rena was the girl next door. Outdoorsy, strong, kind, and nurturing, she matched me well. She taught school, and I liked the way she cared for the pups. After so many years of battle, I was ready to settle in and have a turn at normal life."

I slow my breathing, afraid to make a wrong move that'll shut him down.

"You would've liked her. She had the prettiest black hair that curled around her face, and a laugh that lit up a room"

Shadows darken his face.

"Then the sickness took her, and I saw it as a sign I wasn't meant to live that life. My pack needed me to protect it. It's an honorable living I resigned myself to."

Guilt twists me into knots. "I ruined that."

"No." His lips curve. "You gave me a second chance. I knew from the minute the Alpha named me as one of your mates I was screwed. I could never keep things between us transactional. You've held a portion of my heart from the first moment I met those hazel eyes when I held you for the first time."

His gentle tone does wicked things to my insides. I'm sitting in a puddle of want, and eating up every word. The proud man revealing such vulnerability and honesty is intensely arousing.

"I'm not good at this kind of thing." He runs a hand through his dark hair.

"I disagree." I place my hand over his. "You're doing just fine from where I'm sitting. Thank you for sharing this with me."

"We've watched your tragedy play out in real-time. I wanted to even the playing field."

Sincerity lurks in his pale blue gaze, and I can't look away. Potent pheromones flow from his pores, making it hard to focus.

"Cadoc," I whimper.

"You ready for me, again, Brat?"

Licking my lips, I gulp. "I'm not sure."

"Too bad." He flashes me a predatory grin. "Cause you smell ripe for the picking, and I'm done controlling myself."

I gush and he groans. "You need something to take the edge off, don't you, Brat?"

"Yes."

"Come sit on Sir's lap."

I moan at the title. He crooks his fingers, and I stand, setting the book on my empty chair.

Blanket flaring out behind me like a cape, I walk toward him, eager to see what he has in mind.

I slip into his lap and he kisses my temple.

"Sweet little girl." Parting his legs, he places his big hand on my waist and pulls me flush up against him.

He pushes my hair to the right and nuzzles my neck where he placed his mating mark. "Let's get you nice and comfy." Nipping at my skin, he settles the blanket over us and spreads me wide.

He teases the skin beneath the waistband of my shorts and slips beneath. His large hand cups my pussy.

"So wet. Naughty little pup is begging to be filled, isn't she?"

"Ugh." Remembering my name is difficult right now, and he wants me to answer him.

"It's okay, Brat. You don't have to use your words." He parts my lips and gathers my slick.

His thumb circles my clit and I shiver.

"Just use your voice. Let Sir know how good he's making you feel."

He rolls my clit between his fingers and I buck, crying out.

"That's my good girl."

The man is setting me on fire. His teeth tease my swollen gland. Draped over him like a blanket I roll my hips and sink into the pleasure he's creating.

Circling my entrance, he presses his thick finger inside, stretching me deliciously. I clamp around his finger. One-on-one without the urgency of the mating heat makes this personal.

"Tight little pussy is so desperate to be filled." He bites around the gland on my neck. I gasp.

Pulling out and pushing in, he opens me up. I drip around him. "Need to open you up to take everything I want to give you."

"Please."

"Please what, Brat?"

"More."

"More that?" He snakes his tongue over the throbbing spot begging for the sharp sting of his teeth.

"I need you to fill me up."

Growling he thrusts two fingers deep. I scream.

"Such a beautiful sound." Pulling out, he drives in, curving his fingers to hit that spot against my front walls. I squeeze my eyes shut.

"Oh, like that, Brat?" Sucking on my skin, he circles my walls and quickens his pace.

The muscles in my belly ripple. Waves of desire rise inside me. I dance on the razor's edge of completion. He strips away my ability to think. I become a writhing mass of lust.

Cadoc slows his pace. I cry out in protest.

"No. Please."

"Please what, Brat?"

"Faster."

"Faster?" His silky voice is another stimuli.

"Faster, please, Sir."

"Since you asked so nicely."

He slips in a third finger and brushes my clit with his thumb.

"Is my good girl ready to come?"

"Yes, please let me come, Sir."

"You want to come?"

"Uh huh?" Chest heaving, I struggle to hold back the impending orgasm.

"Then come. Now." He strokes my swollen bundle of nerves. I detonate.

His teeth sink into my neck. I scream at the sharp sting. My walls pulse. I push his fingers out with my release.

He laps at the wound. "Now you're ready to take me, Brat." He peels my wet panties and shorts off my hips and down my thighs, and works himself free of his pants.

"Turn around, Brat. I want to see your face when I split you in two." He spins me to face him. I admire the nine-inch beast covered in veins.

The shiny tip peaks out of the foreskin. He strokes down his length and the milky beads run down his shaft. My mouth waters and I lick my lips, unable to look away.

"Are you ready to take me, Brat?"

I nod. The blanket lies in a heap long forgotten. He holds the base of his cock steady. Rising over him, I grasp his shoulders.

He runs his dick between my lips, coating it with my essence before I sink down on his tip. Groaning I tremble as he stretches me wide.

"You can take it. Relax and let Sir inside."

I fight the instinct to clench around him, slide up and back down. Yielding inch by inch I relish the sharp sting.

"So full."

"You love it, don't you?" He spits on my pussy and circles my clit.

I clench around him in response pulling a guttural groan from his throat.

"Look at how you grip me. You're making it hard for Sir to stuff you properly."

Slick flows, easing the path. I sink to the root of him. His cock twitches. We both moan.

"There's my good girl. Look at how beautiful you are full of me. Time for you to work for it, Brat. Ride Sir."

He grips my waist, helping me catch a rhythm. Leaning back, I circle my hips as the pinch yields to pure pleasure. Every stroke presses him against the elusive ridge inside, ratcheting my pleasure higher. Our bodies slap together, and he showers me with praise.

"You're fucking me so good, Brat. Just like that. We look so good together."

Breath hitching, I tremble.

"Are you going to come for me?" his voice is gruff and strained.

"Yes, Sir," I scream.

"Then come, Brat."

I slam down once more and throw my head back in a silent scream. Taking over, he drives up into me.

Bottoming out, he stills and fills me with a warm spray that eases the ache inside. Nuzzling his neck, I sink my teeth into his gland as he roars. Time gets fuzzy as his knot pops, locking us together.

Full and exhausted, I slip into a state between sleep and waking as he rubs my back in a soothing circular motion.

"Mine." His breath ruffles the hairs escaping my French braid. Each mating brings me closer to clan heat. It's a band- until they all mate me. I gratefully latch on to the reprieve.

Drifting back to earth as his knot deflates, I sigh, reluctantly pulling away.

"As much as I enjoy watching my spend spill down your thighs, we can't have a conversation with the others like this. Get cleaned up and meet us in the living room, Brat."

"Yes, Sir." On autopilot, I scoop up my things, and make my way inside, still riding the high we'd generated.

I hold on tight to the joy about to be smashed to smithereens.

"I see you've stopped resisting the inevitable."

Bo comes out of his room, and I pause on the second landing.

"Jealous?"

"Yeah. But it won't be long before I get my turn."

"I loathe you."

"Maybe. But your body doesn't."

He stares at my hardened nipples, poking through my thin t-shirt.

"Better get upstairs and clean up." Bo pauses. "Unless you want me to add to that mess leaking down your thighs."

He takes a half step forward and I spin around and rush up the stairs to my floor with his chuckles following behind me.