Chapter 21

Chapter Twenty-One

Lake

What was I supposed to do now? Everyone either hates me or is mad at me for what I've done. The dismissive look my dad had first given me when I'd first seen him in that blasted tower said it all, he and my uncles all. They didn't want anything to do with me.

Dad had spoken to Tucker and looked at him. After that first look, he hadn't looked at me again.

Tears stream down my face at how my life has gone. I didn't know all of the things I could do, and now, I'm finding it all a bit overwhelming.

Everything I can do, there's still a price to be had. A weight to carry. The burden of everything I do. The strands of time told me so. For every time used, it's me who will pay. I dare not tell anyone, not even Tucker. If he knew, he'd demand answers as to what the price is. I won't tell him it's my very soul they'll chip at piece by piece until I'm nothing like I am now.

I can't let that happen. Messing with the fabric of time could destroy me just as anything else could. To make it worse, I'd taken us back to just a few minutes before we left, right outside the clubhouse, when he found me.

Tucker's probably still furious with me for taking us back in time.

A part of me is screaming that they'd all be better off without me. That I should go back to the Drakon King's realm and surrender myself to him. Let the others be as they are. They don't need me. I didn't deserve to have any of them in my life. Not my dad. Not my uncles. Not even Tucker.

All I keep doing is screwing things up and letting those I love end up hurt or placed in danger. Even those I just met. I placed them in the face of danger just by being here at the clubhouse.

Swiping at the tears, I can't keep up with the amount of them streaming down my cheeks. Why couldn't I be a normal person? Then I wouldn't have to worry about any of this. I could be Tucker's mate and not have to worry about anything else.

The other part of me shouts even louder that I need to snap out of it. That there had to be a reason for my dad to ignore me the way he did. That Tucker had every right to be pissed at me the way he'd been.

Even mad at me, Tucker pushed it to the side to protect me. He could've refused to go into danger, taking me with him while we'd been in the Drakon King's realm. Instead of rescuing all of the shifters we did, he could've demanded I take us right back. He didn't do this. He'd gone after them. Making sure I stuck to his side the entire time.

I wonder if any of them is even looking for me right now. I started to go to Tucker's room but changed my mind. It would be the first place he looked for me. I found myself leaving the clubhouse altogether. I was pulled through by an invisible tether, drawing me out another door of the clubhouse and through the woods. I'd gone deeper into the woods before stopping. Only then had I sat down and allowed the tears to stream down my cheeks. I let the anguish rake through my body as it never has before.

The snapping of a stick has me jerking my head to the right, "Who's there?" I call out. It's stupid. I know.

"The hell you doing out here, little Fae?" Tucker demands, coming into view.

"Nothing," I mutter, turning away from him. "Go away."

"You know I'm not gonna do that, Lake," he states, coming closer.

With each step he takes, I realize he's doing them purposely for me to hear. He could've moved just as he had done to get to me. The man is a predator. He doesn't do anything without purpose.

"You gonna tell me what you're doing out here?" This time, he asks, his arms going around my waist, his body coming flush against my back.

I could feel his thickness pressing into my lower back. My body starts to come alive with need all over again. Just as it does anytime he touches me. I close my eyes and allow myself to soak in his heat, to feel the warmth of him surrounding me. Only when he's holding me do I ever fully feel safe. For that matter, do I feel whole.

"You gonna answer me?"

Sighing, I lean my head back, pressing against his chest. "I couldn't handle being in there. I needed to be alone." I wasn't going to tell him that I was drawn to this very spot.

"You could've gone to the room," Tucker grunts and strokes his thumbs on either side of my waist. The very motion does a number on my libido. Even with him chastising me. "You'd have been safer in the clubhouse, but got no problem with you coming back to the very spot I took you the first time."

"What?" I blurt, jerking from his grasp to face him. "How do you know this is where you and I . . ." I can't finish my question.

Tucker smirks and prowls toward me, eyes shifting to that of gold. The animal inside him is so close to the surface that his stripes are visible. "You don't think I can smell the pleasure still that lingers here? I marked this area as mine. It's where I took you. Took your virginity. Claimed you as my mate. Now, you wanna explain what you mean by being drawn here?"

"How did you . . ." God, I'm stupid. Did he hear the rest of my thoughts before he announced himself?

"Yeah, little Fae, I heard quite a bit," he answers, reaching for me once again, this time tugging me forward, his hand gripping either side of my shirt. "We'll get into that shit later." Tucker jerks my shirt up and over my head. "For now, answer me about what drew you here."

"I don't know." I really didn't know. "It was like a tether drawing me here. Once I stopped, I just knew I could allow myself to let go."

Tucker's eyes shift side to side, taking in my expression. Seeing the truth rather than listening.

A second ticks by then another. Finally, he does something I was really hoping he would.

Tucker kisses me. Deep and thoroughly. His tongue commanding my own. With only his kiss, he has my blood burning inside me hotter than it ever has. My heart pounds so hard in my chest I'm sure he could hear it. Between my legs, I ache for him to take me. To lay me on the grass and take me.

Yet another part of me wants more . . .

As the thought comes to my mind, I manage to rip my lips from his and press a kiss to his jaw. With trembling fingers, I grip the belt, unbuckle and unsnap the button on his jeans, then slide the zipper down.

"What are doing, little Fae?" he rasps gruffly.

"Doing something I want too," I tell him as I lower myself to my knees and slide his jeans down enough for his cock to jut out.

The head of his cock was thick and bulbous, with a clear liquid already beading at the very tip. I lick my lips and look up to find Tucker staring at me with such intensity that I start to get nervous.

"Don't back out now, baby, go ahead and suck my cock. Wrap those lips around me. I'll guide you through it," he states, his hands coming to tangle in my hair.

Not taking my gaze from his, I lean forward and lick the clear liquid from his cock, moaning at the sweet and salty taste of him. Tucker growls and tugs me toward him.

"Open up, little Fae," he commands, and I do just that.

I take him in my mouth, his hips thrusting slowly inside. I stroke Tucker's cock with my tongue and hollow my cheeks. I'd read about this once in one of my books. The taste of him is different than I thought it would be. Even the sight of his cock is different. The little stripes make me even wetter. I'd never known something like that could be so appealing to me. That it would cause me to ache for him all the more.

"Fuck, Lake, your sweet little mouth is so damn good." Tucker growls, his fingers tightening in my hair. "I wanna fuck your mouth, you good with that?"

I hum my answer around him. God knew I wanted him to do just that. Tucker snarls, tightens his grip even more, and goes about doing just as he wants. He fucks my mouth. His cock touching the back of my throat makes me gag at first, but I learn quickly to relax my throat to take him deeper.

One time, I swallow, causing him to curse. I thought I did something wrong until he orders me to do it again. Tucker repeats this motion repeatedly, and I feel myself growing wetter, aching for him to be inside me. The throb between my legs sharpens, and I find myself sliding a hand down into my jeans to stroke over my clit.

"Get your hand away from what's mine," Tucker snarls, jerking his cock from my mouth. "You don't pleasure yourself, Lake. That's my job."

Quicker than I thought possible, Tucker moves, taking me to my back, jerks my jeans off, and slices my bra in the middle, revealing my breasts.

He spreads my legs, slides between them, and in one fluid motion, he thrusts partially inside.

"Tucker," I gasp.

"Fuckin' love how tight you are around me, Lake," he bites out. He dives in deeper.

"It feels so good," I tell him, reaching for him.

"Damn right." Tucker moves inside me, filling me until he's seated fully inside. He surprises me further by lifting me completely off the ground, his body balanced on his knees. "Wrap your legs around my waist, baby."

I do as he tells me and am rewarded with a pleasure unlike anything else. His mouth comes to mine and grips my waist, holding me in place as he drives up into me. Taking me hard and fast. His mouth matching his rhythm. All I can do is hold on. The experience is unlike any other.

The moment my release takes me, I break the kiss to be able to scream from sheer pleasure.

Tucker growls his approval and takes me even harder, extending my orgasm. As he does this, he moves to my shoulder and clamps his teeth where he's marked me each time he's taken me. His cock does that thing locking him in as his release fills me. I could feel the tip of his cock pulsating with each spurt.

Never, not even the other times he's taken me, have I felt such a thing.

In that second, something comes to me, the reason for me being drawn here to this one spot. It's where he claimed me, and I need to claim him as well.

I need to finish what he started. Yes, he claimed me as his mate, but I'm not a shifter. I'm a nymph and Fae. They have a different way of claiming their mates.

As Tucker lifts his head, eyes coming to mine, I slide my fingers up to either side of his face. I tighten my legs around him in case he tries to pull out and whisper to him the words that come to me as if I've known them all my life.

"You're of my soul as I'm of yours. No part of us shall be lost without the other. My soul is complete within yours, and yours within mine. Never a day will pass without you a part of me. Where in this time you are, I shall be. No matter the past, present, or future, my life is now tied to yours."