Chapter 5

Dinner dispersed shortly after, the seriousness of the situation looming over everyone as we said our goodbyes and retired to our bedrooms. Even though we were challenging their Alpha for his title, it was clear that Wolfe still held a lot of pull with these shifters, able to secure us a nice house in the center of the pack.

The room Callan and I were given to share was lovely, the bedding a deep rich mahogany that looked great in contrast with the dark wood interior. A simple ensuite bathroom branched off to the left, our bags already unpacked and lying empty in the corner as we settled down for the night.

Shifter traditions, I was beginning to understand, were a little strange. Even though a challenge had been issued, the Nexus pack seemed to treat it like a celebration, with a host of festivities already being planned over the next few days. I"d already heard whispers from passersby on the street, talking about great feasts, games and betting, and a pack-wide run through the Montana wilderness on the full moon.

Someone was going to die, and they were treating it like it was a sport.

"Is he going to lose?" I asked Callan bluntly as we sat on the edge of the bed, worry knitting my brow. Callan pondered my question for a moment, silent so long I almost thought he wouldn"t answer.

"I"ve known Wolfe for a very long time," he said finally, his eyes serious.

"So you know he"s powerful and he"s going to kick the Supreme"s ass?"

"I know he"s impulsive and leads with his heart," he said firmly. "He wants to see the good in everyone. Even his father. If he does manage to overpower the Supreme, I worry that he won"t be able to finish it."

"Then we"ll help him." Determination burned through me like a wildfire. I wouldn"t let Wolfe get himself killed, not after everything he"d done for me. He was my Alpha, the tattoo on my neck pulsing in response.

"Interfering with an Alpha challenge is grounds for an immediate execution," he said dryly.

"I dare them to try."

Callan"s eyes darkened, and a surge of intensity flowed through the cracks in the wall I"d built between our bond. He leaned in, his face dangerously close to my neck as his hand came over to encircle my hip. He pushed forward, his body forcing me to fall back on the bed, his mouth just inches away from mine. "If you think I"d let you put yourself in harm"s way, you are sorely mistaken." His hot breath tickled as he dipped his head, nuzzling and nipping at my neck, sending shockwaves straight to my core.

"It"s funny that you think you could stop me," I taunted with more bravery than I possessed. All he had to do was kiss me like he was kissing me now, and I"d be a puddle that was no use to anyone.

He jerked his head up at my words, possessiveness surging through the bond. "Make no mistake, Rowan. You are mine, in every sense of the word. Mine," he growled deep in his throat, before crushing his lips to mine, and I lost myself in him.

"Callan," I gasped out when he broke the kiss, his hands already roaming underneath my shirt, tearing my bra from my body and ripping the fabric in half, his heated hands touching every inch of exposed skin. "Hey!" I complained, but it sounded more like a moan than anything.

"I"ll buy you a new one. I"ll buy you all the bras in the world if it means I can rip them off you," he spoke into my belly, trailing a tantalizing path with his tongue as he shimmied me out of my jeans and underwear, barely pausing before he spread my legs, diving straight in, his tongue circling my clit.

My hips bucked from the bed as I moaned, hands coming down to fist around his dark locks. His head lifted for a brief second, just long enough for him to demand, "Drop the walls, Rowan. Let me in," before he dived right back in again, pushing a finger into me that sent me rocketing straight over the edge.

I let the barrier fall away with my climax, a rush of arousal and heat flooding through the bond, taking over my senses as I came, panting and writhing beneath his attention.

"Good girl," he said, coming back up to my face and kissing me deeply, the taste of myself still on his tongue, turning me on even more.

"I need you," I told him, my hands already fisting into his shirt, upset that I was the only one who was naked. He was a drug, an addiction, and I couldn"t get enough of it.

His hands came up to grip my wrists, pulling my hands away from his body and slamming them onto the bed above my head as he thrust his body flush against mine. I could feel his arousal, both through the bond and through his pants, and my patience waned, chased away by my need to feel him inside of me.

"Callan," I urged, almost whining as I pushed my hips up to his. He kissed me, first softly, slowly. Frustrated, I bit his bottom lip, just hard enough to hurt, and he growled against my mouth, his control shattering and a wave of hazy lust surging through our bond.

"Turn around," he ordered as he stood up, his shirt already off, his hand unbuckling the belt around his waist. I began to move, but it must not have been fast enough because he gripped my hips, easily flipping me around to my hands and knees. I gasped at the roughness of it, wetness already slicking my thighs from his earlier assault of pleasure.

Normally I"d want to be in control, but this was different, a side of him only I got to see, and I was loving every torturous second of it.

The only time I"d let him dominate me like this was in the bedroom, and he knew it.

"Please," I panted as I pushed my hips back toward him, my arms holding me up off the bed. Strong hands gripped my hips, and with one thrust, he buried himself inside of me, a groan of pleasure falling from his lips.

"You feel so good," he told me, as he began to move slowly, giving me time to adjust to his size, pulling out every inch achingly slow, touching on every nerve ending I possessed, until I was a whimpering mess. I tried to push my hips back on him, urging him to go faster, but his grip on my hips tightened, holding me in place. A frustrated growl ripped from my throat, a sob escaping me. "Callan, I swear to god, if you don"t –"

I cried out as he fisted a hand into my long blonde hair, jerking my head back so hard that I had to come off the bed. His free hand came up to circle around my stomach, holding me up so that I wouldn't strain against his grip in my hair as he continued his torturously slow attempt to drive me mad. My back arched away from him as his teeth came down to my neck, a punishingly erotic bite on my neck. The pain mixed with the pleasure, the fire in me already heading toward a full inferno.

His lips came to my ear, a soft pant that ran shivers down every inch of my body. "Do you trust me?"

"With my life," I moaned out as he pulled almost all the way out, thrusting back in so deep I thought I might see stars. I felt his grin against my neck, the humming pleasure through our bond at my words and I almost cried when he pulled all the way out, releasing his grip on my hair.

I was about to protest, when he pushed me back down toward the bed, repositioning my hips from where he stood, then slammed back into me with such force that I almost lost my balance. He continued his onslaught, stoking the flames inside me until I was about to burst, the bed knocking into the wall with such force I thought the wood might break. He drove into me until I thought I might lose my sanity; deeper, harder, relentless.

"I"m so close," I whimpered, my voice as loud as I could muster in my lust-crazed haze. "Please don"t stop."

A trickle of something devious flowed through the bond as he let go of my hips, my arms the only thing holding me up as he continued to thrust into me. Then his fingers found my clit, circling furiously, bringing me to the edge of my orgasm as I pushed my hips back against him, needing my release. "Here"s the part where you trust me," he said, his voice deep and guttural as he approached his own climax.

There was no coherent sentence I could possibly put together to ask him what the hell he was talking about, but it didn"t matter. He reached his other hand forward, sliding his fingers through my wetness he had caused, before bringing it back up, and I felt a firm pressure at the only hole I had left that he had yet to thoroughly explore. A frantic moan escaped me as he pushed further, not going too far inside, just enough to be pleasurable without causing me pain. He set a punishing rhythm, his fingers still circling my clit as he furiously thrust into me, matching pace with his thumb. His movements grew more harried, the bond between us indecipherable of who was who as we both approached our climax.

A shudder started deep within me, beginning in my core and expanding, all the way to the tip of my toes as I was sent over the edge, a scream escaping me as my body shook uncontrollably with my climax.

"Oh my god," I cried as I came, tightening around Callan, sending him into his own orgasm. He moaned as he came, shooting load after load inside of me, his fingers still working my sensitive spots, lengthening my pleasure until I thought I might pass out.

Exhausted, I slumped onto the bed, my eyes already dropping as he slipped out of me, moving me so I lay encircled in his arms, my head nuzzled just above his heart, the erratic rhythm matching my own as we fought to catch our breaths. He tucked a strand of my hair behind my ears as our breathing slowed, and I let my eyes close fully, sleep already tugging at the edges, threatening to take me.

As I faded into nothingness, a kiss, so feather light I could have imagined it, landed on my forehead.