Chapter Nine

Dakota

I waited until the door shut down the hall before I stepped in front of Cardian for a kiss. His breath still smelled coppery sweet from the bloodshake. I rose on my tiptoes to wrap my arms around his neck as our lips met, soft at first, before he spun me around and sat me up on the counter. His big, strong hands caressed my thighs as our tongues danced between our mouths.

"Are you trying to pickpocket me again?" I laughed, leaning back from the kiss.

"Mostly touching you. Just slightly checking to make sure your stuff's still in your pockets," he said and kissed me again.

"You're paranoid," I laughed, leaning back again.

"I'm prepared," he said and kissed me again.

"For what?" I moved back, teasing him.

"For your key to fall out again," he said, gripping my thighs.

"You do know we don't need the key to get out of the house, right?"

"Maybe not," he said and kissed me again.

This time I let him kiss me. I sank into his warm mouth and his sweet, coppery taste. I lost myself to his swirling tongue and his hands caressing my thighs through my jeans. Each touch sent a spark of longing shimmying up my spine. I'd cum less than an hour ago in the woods but was already hard and wet again.

I ran my fingers through his hair as his hands slid my thighs wider, so he could step between them. I crossed my ankles behind him and slid my hands down his shoulders and then up his neck to hold his face as we kissed. I started to take my shirt off, but he stopped me before I pulled it off over my head.

"Huh?" I blinked, my lips burning from the pressure of his kisses.

"Not out here," he whispered. "If we were at my house or yours, yes, totally fucking yes, but not out here. I don't want Terrick walking in on us."

"With me without my shirt?" I blinked. "I think I should tell you I'm a wolf. Clothes aren't always that important to me."

"If you take your shirt off, I'm going to take your pants off and I'm not going to leave you sitting on the counter all pretty. My mouth will be on you again and my fingers will be in places I don't imagine you want my brother thinking about," Cardian said, his voice dropping low and husky as he met my gaze.

Yep. That shirt was coming off. I tugged it off and tossed it across the room.

"Damn it," he growled, a hand down against the counter on either side of me.

"And what are you going to do about it?" I asked, reaching down to cup his hard dick.

I counted his pulse against my palm as our gaze met again. He growled and grabbed the back of my head, bringing me in for a kiss. My lips parted against his, inviting his tongue into my mouth. His fangs elongated, as if his sexual desires brought out all his most primal natures. A second later I ‘eeked' as he lifted me over his shoulder and started out of the kitchen.

He gave my ass a hard slap that vibrated in all the right places. Usually, I'd have called it a brute move, but his hand lingered there on my ass, kneading my flesh before sliding down to squeeze my balls. I moaned, glad I wasn't standing, because everything about Cardian left me weak in the knees. He carried me down the hall and into the guest bedroom that I planned to call home for the foreseeable future.

He didn't bother turning on the light before kicking the door shut behind him. I landed on the bed with a bounce, and he was on top of me, his mouth on mine. Our tongues collided between our mouths, each eager for another taste of the other. I ground my hips up wanting him to touch me everywhere.

"When we get there do you want me to use a condom?" Cardian paused mid-kiss to ask me.

"When were you last tested?" I asked, despite my wolf whining for us to shut up and keep kissing.

"A long time ago, but so was my last encounter."

"How long ago?" I asked.

"I'm a lot older than you, if you're around my brother's age," Cardian said.

"Before or after your last encounter?" I asked.

"After," I said. "It was definitely after."

His scent turned sad for a split second before returning to normal as if pushing a painful memory away.

"You alright, mate?" I asked, reaching up to trace his jawline.

"Yeah," he nodded. "How much of my past do you want to know?"

"I'm not worried about your body count, if that's what got under your skin a second ago."

"That I could actually tell you," he chuckled and rolled off me onto his back.

I turned to my side and pressed myself against him, still needing to touch him. I ached all over when he was out of my reach.

"You don't have to tell me anything you don't want to. I believe you about the test," I said, tracing my finger down his stomach over his shirt. "The claiming vows will tell me what's important. That side of it is your magic. It'll know what's important to you."

"I had a chosen mate before," Cardian said. "I don't want to talk about the rest of it. He's back with his true-mate in the Other World now. He talked to Liam tonight or today or whatever you call it here, and it was like he knew we were going to meet."

"I'm sorry you lost him," I said and meant it.

"Me too."

Then he blinked.

"Not because I'd rather have him than you or ---"

I put my hand over his mouth to stop him. He blinked up at me, waiting for me to speak.

"Look, I'm not competing with a dead man. You wishing he were alive doesn't make me feel bad or insecure. I wish he was alive too. From how you make it sound he didn't go of old age and that would've been bad enough, but any other way cuts like a knife. I would know. So, miss him, if you do."

I took my hand off his mouth when I finished speaking and ran my fingers through his thick hair as if I could soothe away his painful thoughts. Brains didn't work like that, but that didn't stop me from trying. His eyes drifted closed and he let out a long, slow breath.

"I just wanted to tell you, because I know it gives some guys hangups."

"I have hangups, but not because you loved someone before we met. No one should want their true-mate to be lonely," I sighed.

"I killed the mood, didn't I?" he asked.

"No," I said and kissed his cheek. "We're true-mates. I don't think anything can actually kill the mood judging from how hard we both still are, but we can cuddle or sleep instead, if you want."

"It's morning for me right now," he laughed.

"Do you want me to put some coffee on then?"

"Not that early in the morning. I might've woken up early, so I didn't arrive in the dark and scare all the shifters in charge, but it's still not that early."

"Then let me take your mind off it," I said and flashed him a wicked grin in the dark.