Chapter 13

Chapter Thirteen

Tucker

Son of a bitch.

How the fuck have I never known that shit was going to happen?

Never in all my years of fucking the doxies and other random women has my cock ever had spikes come out, locking me inside them. Only with Lake. It's not a secret that when wolves take their fated mate, they lock inside with the knot in the middle of their cocks. I didn't even think about having a damn barb in my cock.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

I don't think I hurt Lake with it. If anything, it enhanced her release more. Intensified it tenfold.

Hell, her orgasm triggered mine the first time and caused the barb to come out in the first place. Then I sunk my teeth into her neck and tasted her blood. I felt the sensations inside her like they were my own. Just before she passed out on my chest, I heard her thoughts. How she felt.

I can only put it down to us being mates—all of it.

Why didn't I know any of this could happen, though? My parents were mates.

But they weren't fated.

Shit.

They were mates by choice, by alliance.

I shake the thoughts away and focus on the woman back in my bed at the clubhouse. After she passed out, I carried her back to the clubhouse. She slept through me cleaning between her legs as well as the grass and dirt from her knees and hands.

I probably should've stayed with her in case she woke, but she's out. I can not only sense it, but I also feel her like a second skin.

Right now, I need to shift and run as I intended early. After she saw me shift, the look in her eyes when she saw my markings, the longing I felt coming from her. I decided to shift once again, showing her the beasts she's mated to. Not just shifter, but man and beast together.

Lake hadn't been intimidated in the least. Instead, she'd been turned on. The scent of her arousal had been my undoing. I took her innocence like the beast I am, and she loved it.

More than that, I felt the shift inside her. Like she was blooming within herself.

Shifting, I drop to all fours and take off at a sprint. Regardless of how fast and far I run, there's no escaping the visions filtering through my mind.

I catch the scent of a deer nearby and decide why the fuck not. A kill might help relieve the tension inside me. Searching my prey out, the buck jerks his head up, eyes searching for the threat.

I crouch low, ready to pounce when I hear it—the flapping of wings and a deafening screech. I fall back out of reach of the flames just in time to keep from being scorched by them as they engulf the deer. The buck is dead before it hits the ground. I look up at the sky to see . . . holy fuck . . . that is one seriously ugly monster.

I wouldn't even call it a dragon.

The giant fire-breathing beast looks like a mutated version of what I've seen in books. Even the TV ones are better looking. This thing has a short snout, piglike nose and six flame-colored eyes. The wings were transparent and reminded me of a fly.

Totally freaky. It swoops down only to collide with the barrier Karsyn and Harmony put in place earlier in the day.

At least that proves the monster can't get in, but his fire can.

The ugly beast screeches once again and throws itself at the barrier with no luck. Another screech, and the thing shoots up into the sky and disappears.

I looked to where the deer had been, and see it's completely charred. I hate leaving an animal like that, but no way in fuck am I eating that shit. Besides, reporting to Corbin is far more important.

That and seeing to ensuring Lake is safe again.

Turning away, I head for the clubhouse, not stopping until I'm at the back door. Only then do I shift and head to my room. I quietly step inside, move to my dresser, pull on a pair of jeans, a tee, my boots, and grab my cut. I take a look over to the bed and see Lake's curled up in the middle, clutching one of my pillows to her chest.

As much as I want to crawl into it with her, I can't just yet. I've gotta report to Corbin. This shit is about to get serious, and not in a good way.

"Let me make sure I got this right." Corbin leans forward, eyes locked on me. Justice is on one side of him, and Dane is on the other. "You're saying the beast you saw couldn't get through the barrier, but its fire could?"

"Yeah," I confirm. I'd just finished telling him about the ugly ass beast in the woods. I don't think I'd even been able to call it a dragon. It might breathe fire and have wings, but it didn't look like a dragon.

Abel shifts in the seat next to me, Zavier on the other side of him. Jett sits to my other side and clears his throat.

"I get it sounds fucked, but the damn thing was mutated," I remark, somewhat wishing they'd been there to see it.

"This is going to be a problem," Justice mutters.

"Yeah," Corbin agrees. "The good thing is the barrier Karsyn and Harmony put in place is holding. If we could figure a way to keep fire out, then we'd be solid."

"No way to do that unless we put a dome over us." Dane grunts slouching in his seat, his nostrils flaring. "Something else needs to happen. No way we can stay here. We'll be sitting ducks."

"Maybe that's what they want us to think? To get in our heads," Abel suggests.

"I agree," Zavier mutters.

"Either way, they know where Lake is." The very thought of them trying to get to my mate has a red haze slowly coming over me. I won't let them take her. They'll have to kill me first.

"Speaking of Lake." Jett clears his throat, one brow cocked.

"Don't even go there," I stop him from finishing whatever he was going to say.

"He's right," Justice states. "The scent of her isn't as potent enough to make us crazed with the need to fuck anymore."

Great. I didn't need him or anyone else to mention this. The last thing I want to hear is them thinking of fucking what's mine.

"I think we should leave this for the time being, reconvene tomorrow. I think a conversation with Orpheus needs to be had. Cyrus already knows of the threat, but with as old as Orpheus is, I'm sure he will know something useful about the Drakon King and this ‘ugly beast' Tucker saw," Corbin states.

Talking to Orpheus would be a good idea. Having him here around Lake won't be so bad now that she's mated to me. He, like the rest of my brothers, won't be consumed with thoughts of my woman and sex.

The very thought makes me want to murder someone. Instead, I get to my feet and decide it's time to get back to my mate. To see if I can't do something to erase the thoughts from my mind, and the best way to do that is to slide myself between her legs and feel her pussy wrapped around me all over again.