Chapter 16 - Winter

Alone in the back room of the shop, awaiting Eddie's return from handing over Christopher outside, Winter couldn't help but think about what he had said. To sleep…unless you want something else.

The truth was, she did want something else.

The way she had felt since the spell had been cast was a shock to her entire system.

It had felt so good walking hand in hand, silently wandering back to the shop. The closeness she had felt, the safety, was surreal. She had never felt quite so secure before.

In fact, even when she had come into the shop to find it under attack, she hadn't been frightened. All because he was there. The deep isolation she had been feeling since her mother's departure to her grandmother's had been lifted.

Now, the shop wasn't the only thing she had. An entirely new life had been opened up to her, and somehow, it felt as if it was filled with possibility.

No longer was she the daughter of a witch set to inherit the Green Cauldron and the seat at the head of the coven.

She was a half-werewolf, mate to a full-blooded werewolf. She had believed that would bring her some kind of shame. She had thought she would spend the rest of her life in misery. And yet, in the hours since the spell, she had been anything but.

Hearing the bell above the door in the front of the shop, she rose from the seat she had taken behind the desk. Her heart hammered as she recognized the familiar footfalls of her mate coming towards the beaded curtain.

And as he passed through it, she instinctively walked to meet him.

Grabbing his face in the palms of her hands, she did something she never in a million years would have believed she would.

She kissed him. Hard.

And when she heard Eddie suck in a shocked breath, she pulled back just enough to smile at him.

“What was that for?” he exclaimed, the shock clear in his tone.

In the near darkness of the back room, lit only by a single candle, his face was shrouded in shadow. Yet, his eyes were lit with possibility. Hope flared in his gaze as his hands slipped around the small of her back.

“Take me to bed,” she barely dared to whisper. The intention was clear in her tone, and again she saw his eyes flare with surprise.

Yet, he didn't question her.

Instead, he drew her close and kissed her so passionately it made her head spin.

Before she knew what was happening, he picked her up into his arms and began to carry her towards the door that led to the apartment upstairs.

Wrapping her arms around his neck, she kissed him again, safe in the knowledge that there was no way in hell he was likely to drop her.

Before she knew it, they had reached the apartment. Her arms still tightly wrapped around his neck, Winter thrilled as he pressed her against the wall in the hall, kissing her as passionately as ever.

“Which room?” he asked, his voice husky with desire.

“Second on the right,” Winter whispered against his lips, kissing him again.

For a second, Eddie didn't move. Still up against the wall, she felt the rock-hard member in his jeans pressing between her thighs.

Shivering with need, she rocked her pelvis towards him.

As if he knew exactly what she needed, Eddie pushed them off the wall and started to carry her towards her bedroom.

This was it. This was the moment she hadn't even realized she had been waiting for, the moment when she and her mate would finally come together.

And somehow, it felt even more like a dream than any of the dreams she’d had since first meeting him.

When they reached the bedroom and he laid her down on the soft satin sheets, Winter knew there was no turning back. And, the truth was, she didn't want to.

Her hands were frantic as she tugged at the buckle of his belt, kissing him all the while.

His own hands traveled over her body, unbuttoning her blouse with a swiftness she had never known.

A part of her wanted him to simply rip the garment off, popping the buttons all over the floor.

What is wrong with me? she thought. Never in her life had she been this needy.

She told herself it had to be all of the drama that had gone on. The adrenaline from the second attack still had to be coursing through her veins.

Whatever the reason, she didn't care. All she cared about in that moment was being with him.

Eddie leaned up momentarily to yank his T-shirt up over his head, discarding it on the floor without so much as taking his eyes off her.

“You're so beautiful,” he said in the darkness.

All she could see was his wolf-like eyes glowing in the darkness of the room, only lit by the moonlight that came through a crack in the curtain.

His eyes devoured her as she lay there, her blouse open to expose her ivory lace bra.

She had considered not dressing for the occasion, never imagining that the spell would ever come to this, that they would be mates in name only and simply go through the physical motions required of them.

And yet, here she was, absolutely brimming with joy at the fact she had gone with her gut and put on her best underwear.

She blushed a little as Eddie leaned down and placed a kiss just above her navel.

Her heart hammered as she felt him hook his fingers into the hem of her leggings. He kissed her stomach again, lightly so that it caused her insides to flutter as he started to inch downward.

Inch by excruciating inch, he pulled her leggings down until Winter lay there in nothing but her underwear, her blouse hanging off her shoulders to expose everything. Her ballet flats came off easily along with her leggings, and again, she was thankful she had taken the time to do a little self-care before the ceremony.

When Eddie gripped her foot and placed a kiss on the inner bone of her ankle, she shivered with delight.

“I could kiss every inch of you,” he said, and Winter shivered at the thought.

As if he sensed her feelings, Eddie began to trail kisses up the side of her calf, over her knee, up her inner thigh. With every kiss he planted on her skin, her desire grew until she could barely take another moment without him inside her.

“Eddie…” she ground out through gritted teeth. Her voice startled her. She barely recognized her own voice as she reached down and gripped hold of his face with both hands.

This was it. She needed him now more than ever, more than she had ever needed anyone or anything in her life.

Dragging him gently by the face, she wrapped her thighs around his waist and brought his face down to hers, kissing him hard. She filled that kiss with all her desire and need, praying he would get the idea.

And it seemed that he did.

Soon, he had kicked off his boots and removed the rest of his clothes, taking only seconds before he came back down on top of her. And his kiss was just as desire filled as hers had been.

The growl that erupted from his throat, rumbling in his chest, didn't frighten Winter. In fact, it made her thrill all over and she squirmed beneath him, desperate for him.

When he reached down between their bodies, Winter knew the moment was upon them.

The tip of his cock brushed against her clit, and she gasped at how sensitive she had become.

Angling her pelvis up, she squeezed her legs around his waist once more and urged him inside her.

At the sheer size of him, she gasped, feeling him fill her fit to bursting.

“Are you alright?” Eddie asked, pausing, pulling back to look down at her as if he was terrified he had hurt her.

“Yes,” she gasped, gripping his face to kiss him again. Pressing her forehead to his, she whispered, “Don't stop. I'm not a fragile little flower.”

And just like that, he thrust inside her. The sensation was excruciatingly painful and wondrously pleasurable all at once.

She could not stop the scream that erupted from her lips. Throwing her head back, she cried at the ceiling as he thrust over and over.

His face buried in her neck, Eddie nibbled and kissed at the side of her throat, taking her earlobe into his mouth to graze his teeth over her flesh.

And with every movement of his hips, Winter felt her pleasure growing.

The way his hands pawed at her, feeling every inch of her as he thrust over and over again, made her feel a way she had never felt before.

She felt present. She felt sexy. She felt desired in more ways than one, as if this man actually wanted her and not just the act they were performing.

And she loved every single second of it.

Closing her eyes, Winter relished the way that Eddie worshiped her body. His hands trailing over her skin, gripping her hips tightly before traveling to her breasts, squeezing her flesh as if he simply couldn't get enough of her.

The way he bit at her neck made her feel as if he wanted to devour her. And yet, still, she felt the safest she ever had.

And as the world around her disappeared into insignificance, she felt her insides tightening with pleasure.

Her pussy clenched hard around his rock-hard member and she screamed as her climax was ripped from her like an unstoppable wave of ecstasy.

Over and over, she came, her body growing faster and faster towards orgasm with every time that she did. Soon, she felt like she was stuck in a time loop, barely coming down from one orgasm before she was onto the next.

Eddie seemed to know just the right spot to hit, just the right way to bite her neck, just how to tweak her nipples in order to keep her going.

Soon she was lost in the waves, her body writhing and trembling beneath him as if she was a prisoner entirely at his mercy.

And yet, she loved every single second of it.

She felt his cock growing harder and harder inside her, throbbing and bulging as if he, too, was growing closer and closer to orgasm.

And suddenly, Winter needed something different. She needed to be the one in control.

With more strength than she realized she possessed, she shoved Eddie off her.

“What the—” Eddie was cut off as she came down on top of him.

Now it was he who was pinned to the bed as she straddled him, slowly lowering herself back down onto his cock.

He filled her up even more than before, so deep it felt as if he were almost in her stomach.

“Fuck!” Eddie gasped, grabbing her by the hips as she started to rock back and forth, taking every damn inch of him.

Her hands pressed to his chest, she dug her fingernails into his flesh until he growled with a mix of pleasure and pain.

This was the small piece of werewolf in her. It had to be. She had never been like this before. Never had she been so aggressive in the bedroom, and yet it felt so damn good.

Leaning down, her hair falling in a curtain around them, she kissed him hard. Opening her mouth, she sucked his bottom lip in between her teeth and bit down hard until she thought she tasted blood.

Yet, if she really did hurt him, Eddie didn't seem to notice, save for a growling groan that told her he liked it.

His hands tightened on her hips as he helped her rock back and forth. His pelvis came up to meet hers, thrusting deep inside her as if he couldn't quite get enough.

And when she felt him beginning to tremble beneath her, his breathing growing short and husky, she knew what was coming.

“Yes! Fuck, yes!” she screamed, straightening up to throw her head back as she came all over his cock again.

The world around her spun once more and she barely had the strength to remain where she was as she continued to rock back and forth, determined not to stop until he had climaxed deep inside her.

And when he did, she felt the ecstasy of his seed spilling inside her like a fountain, claiming her as his own, just as it always had been meant to be.