Chapter 21

Lindsey

Things had happened so quickly that my head was spinning. With each thrust my thoughts became cloudier as desire and need filled me.

I didn"t know what to do.

Walker had just bit me. Was I ready for this? When I"d initiated sex that hadn"t been on my mind and now that we were here, he made it so hard to think. I just needed to think.

His hand rubbed my breast and I moaned.

A sudden panic and confusion welled up within him and his motions slowed.

"Don"t stop," I begged him.

I needed him.

I wanted him.

But could I spend the rest of my life with him?

Could I trust him enough to give myself completely over to him and seal an unbreakable bond?

I never wanted to saddle him to me. He was good and deserved so much better than me. But he"d just made up his mind, and his intentions were clear.

If I didn"t respond soon he would pull away and be left with an unrequited bond. That was enough to drive even the strongest of wolves insane. I couldn"t do that to him either.

I closed my eyes as my hips started to gyrate. My orgasm was building fast.

Something flashed my mind, images of the two of us together. I realized it was coming from the beast. We looked genuinely happy.

Walker made me happy.

He gave me hope for a better future.

And he made me feel safe.

For a brief second, I imagined what a life without him would be like and tears quickly stung my eyes.

"Mine," a loud growl roared through me and I bit into his neck.

For one moment we both froze. It was as if time stood still as our bond sealed forever. And then, like a flood, emotions I"d never felt before slammed into me all at once. I cupped his ass and pulled him deeper into me.

In frenzied motions we groped and touched seemingly everywhere at once. I couldn"t get close enough to him, and all I wanted was more and more and more, until my body was covered in a sheen of sweat and I started to shake all over as the edges of my vision blackened and I saw stars.

My teeth retracted and I threw back my head, gulping for air and clinging to my mate.

"Walker," I cried.

"Lindsey," he moaned as he came hard, shuddering all around me.

When his arms loosened their grip on me, I collapsed back onto the table.

He stared down at me, panting as his blue eyes pierced my soul.

I"d never felt so exposed and yet perfectly at peace.

"I"m sorry," he whispered.

I scowled, my anger flaring. "For what?"

"I wasn"t thinking. You clearly weren"t ready. I shouldn"t have marked you."

I sat up and held his face in my hands so he was forced to look at me.

"You didn"t make me do anything. That was my choice. I don"t understand why you would choose to bind yourself to me, but I could list a million reasons why I choose you."

A smile tipped the corners of his lips as he kissed me once more. This time, he picked me up and carried me back to our bedroom where we made love again, this time taking our sweet time. After all, we had a lifetime ahead of us now. Because there was no turning back from a sealed bond.

*****

"Behave," I warned him. "You promised me a tour of San Marco today, and that better include food. I"m starving."

He nibbled at my neck along the place where he"d chosen to mark me.

"I fear I"ll always be this hungry for you."

I laughed. "I just gave you a lifetime. You can wait a few hours before starting that again." He reached for my breast, and I swatted his hand away. "No touching or we"ll never leave this bed. And then I"ll starve to death."

"But you"ll die a very, very happy woman."

"You"re pretty full of yourself right now."

He shrugged and turned on the dimples.

"Not gonna work. I mean seriously, has any woman ever told you no?"

"Apparently you are truly a one-of-a-kind anomaly."

"Hey!" I smacked his ass playfully as he slowly got off the bed.

"Well, come on, get dressed. We don"t have all day."

I looked at the clock and frowned. "The kids will be back in an hour."

"I can call Shelby and have her keep them. Perhaps even for the night," he said slyly.

I blushed. "We can"t do that."

"We can. We definitely can. Just say yes and I"ll spend the night making all your dreams come true."

His voice held so much promise. I sighed contentedly.

"I think you already have."

I knew we were in the blissful state of being newly bonded, but I couldn't ever remember feeling so complete and so damn happy.

Walker was an amazing man. The sort of guy women dreamed of. And he was all mine. I felt like the luckiest woman in the world. Despite all my flaws and ugliness, he still chose me. I didn"t have to hide the dark side within me. All my scars, my beast, all of it, he had seen and still chose me.

I was pretty sure I was still in shock of it all, but for once in my life I wasn"t going to worry about what tomorrow may bring. For just today, I was going to throw caution to the wind and choose to be happy.

"If you don"t wipe that smile off your face, everyone will know what we"ve done."

"Pretty sure it"s not something I"m going to be able to hide. At least not today."

"So you are happy about this?"

I nodded.

"And I can call Shelby and tell her to feed the kids dinner at her place tonight?"

I bit my lip and nodded.

"And she can keep them for a sleepover tonight so I can have you all to myself?"

"Isn"t that too much to ask of her?"

"That wasn"t a no. And trust me, she owes me. Plus, she"ll understand."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"I"m going to feel guilty about this."

"Maybe tomorrow, but I promise guilt will not be what you"re feeling tonight."

My whole body tingled with excitement.

"Okay," I whispered.

"Was that an okay? I just want to make sure I heard you right."

I shot him incorrigible look. "Okay," I said a little louder.

He kissed me and then grabbed his phone and called Shelby.

"Hey bestie, I need a big favor tonight . . ."

*****

I don"t know what I was expecting San Marco to be like, but it wasn"t this beautiful little town where everyone smiled and said hello. It felt as if I had been transported into a movie or something. This couldn"t possibly be real life.

Maybe the gunshot wound had really killed me and this was my heaven. That thought didn"t even bother me because if this was how I got to spend all of eternity, then that was just fine by me. Of course, these people had no idea of the beast that lurked just under my skin. Though if I were being honest, she"d been far more complacent since I awoke. At times it was even worrying me.

"Do you think something bad could have happened to my beast when I was shot?"

"What do you mean?"

"I don"t know how to explain it, but she"s not as angry or aggressive. I don"t know if I should worry or not."

He shrugged. "Let"s swing by headquarters and mention it to Grant, but I think he"ll say something about her finding her mate and how that can calm your wolf, or beast who is still part wolf. I mean look at me. I"ve been struggling to control my wolf since the moment you were injured and now that we"re bonded, he"s back to being as calm as a sleeping pup."

That could certainly explain it, I supposed. I knew I"d feel better after speaking with Grant about it.

I hadn"t wanted to like Grant. Didn"t particularly want to like any of them, but he especially had snuck under my radar, and I found I really trusted him.

Trust had never come easy for me, so that was a big deal and said a lot about his character.

Before we detoured to Westin Force headquarters, he swung into a hole-in-the-wall sort of dive called The Crate. He didn"t even get out of the car just rolled the window down as a man ran out and passed off two brown paper bags to him.

"Thanks, Jesse," Walker said. He handed one bag to me. "I wasn"t sure how you liked your burgers, so I had him just put the toppings on the side. These are the little details I will learn soon."

The food smelled heavenly and made my stomach growl. I dug in excitedly and moaned my delight as I sank my teeth into the burger.

"Careful, or the only other place you"re gonna see today is the inside of this car. With moans like that, I"m not sure I could even make inside the house."

I licked my lips and relished in how transfixed he seemed to be on them as his pupils dilated, letting me know he was turned on.

It was definitely those little details that drew me even closer to my mate. Plus these moments alone together to actually get to know more about one another.

"I feel guilty that I"m so happy to have you all to myself today. We should be including Maya and Dante in our happiness."

"We will, but there"s no reason we should feel guilty about a little alone time, either. We may have only been mated a few hours, but I"ve watched almost all my closest friends fall. And I"ve learned a few things, like the importance of me spending time with the triplets to allow Ben and Shelby their date nights, which is every other Saturday night, by the way. Maybe we can bargain with them to take our kids on the other Saturday nights for our own date nights. They don"t always stay over at my house. Sometimes it"s just a few hours so they can go to dinner or drive down the mountain to catch a movie. But they prioritize each other, and I think that"s a great example for my godkids too."

"I like that. You know, I never planned to be a mother of sorts."

"Not of sorts. You are a mother, Lindsey. Those kids adore you."

I shrugged. "They were tiny and malnourished when I got to their collection. I was never left in any one collection long and I made it a point never to get attached to anyone. I was a novelty. I"m not even an actual witch. I have no powers that weren"t genetically engineered into me. I"m not special and the Collectors would come to realize that pretty quickly. The novelty of owning a beast would wear off and I"d be sold off to the next Collector."

He started to protest, but I shut him down.

"Just listen. This is my story. When I got to this particular Collection, they had lumped a group of orphaned kids together in one cell. Most were well off, but Maya and Dante were so tiny and often bullied. I think it reminded me a lot of myself as a kid. So one time I interceded on their behalf. It was just a punk kid, but with my beast, I was no longer afraid to stand up to bullies, especially on behalf of someone else. The kids were so grateful for what I"d done that they"d latched on to me. And the guards seemed to think they somehow calmed me down so they insisted I keep them. I took them back to my room to rest up with every intention of tossing them back out there as soon as I could get away with it, but it was too late. At first, it was to keep the peace and not draw attention to myself. Then they just wouldn"t leave me alone, and eventually I found that I didn"t want them to. I don"t really know who or how it happened, but we became a small, completely dysfunctional family."

"You are amazing for doing that for them. It"s no wonder they are so protective of you. But they don"t need to be anymore. They should be allowed to just be kids."

I swallowed the tears threatening to spill from my eyes. "You"re already starting to give them that. It wasn"t long ago they would have never consented to someone else taking them places, or me dropping them off somewhere."

"Like school?"

"Exactly like school. You seem to be able to offer them a safe space to grow and thrive."

"I love those kids. We"re a family now. Just the four of us."

I rolled my eyes. "And Shelby, Ben, and the triplets."

He shrugged. "Kids need aunts, uncles, and cousins in their lives."

"And all of Delta team, plus their mates. Do any of them have kids?"

"Several," he confessed.

"Of course they do."

"And you and the kids have the safety of this Pack, if you want it. We can stop by Kyle and Kelsey"s house for you to officially meet them right now if you"re up for it."

My bubble of happiness burst.

"When he learns I was banished from my Pack, he"ll be forced to banish me from Westin territory too."

"Trust me on this. Please?"

I didn"t know what to say or do, so I just nodded.