Chapter 22

Chapter Twenty-Two

Tucker

The moment those words leave Lake's mouth, I'm caught off guard by the effect they have on me. I thought in my claiming her, she was my mate in every way, but now, it's completely different. Not only could I feel her inside me, hear her thoughts . . . fuck, I can't even put words to what I'm feeling. It's like she's a part of me. Maybe even my very soul.

"Wow," she says, her body still locked around mine. My cock still seated inside her. Her hips rolling, causing a sensation that tops every damn time I've ever fucked a woman. Including claiming my mate.

"I didn't need to know that, Tucker," she states, sliding her hands to my shoulders. "It's not nice to say things like that."

"What, you heard me?" I ask. I'd been able to shield her from my thoughts for the most part.

"Yes, and I don't need to know about women you've been with before me. Granted, I do appreciate you thinking I'm better than they all were." Lake giggles and presses herself closer to me. "Think we could do it again?"

I grin, knowing exactly what she's asking. "Damn right, we can."

I slant my head, claim her lips, take her to her back, and give her just what she wants. What she needs. What I need. Taking her, I realize I feel what she feels with me inside her. It's extraordinary in a way I've never thought possible. We were truly mated not just by my claiming her or her being my fated mate.

Lake was mine. She'd given herself to me, made the choice. Fuck, the very thought is enough to send me over the edge, taking her with me. The tiny barb-like spikes shoot out, sticking into the walls of her pussy, locking me in place all over again.

I roll us until she's lying sprawled over me with her head on my chest. I could lay like this forever and never grow tired of it. Hell, I could stay right here for the rest of time itself and never grow old of having my cock buried inside her sweet heat.

It sucks that I won't be able to do just that. I've got to get my mate back to the clubhouse.

"I'm not ready to go back," she whispers, not lifting her head. She keeps herself pressed against me, one of her fingers making circles on my shoulder.

"You hear that or just stating?" I ask, mostly joking but also curious as to how deep our connection goes.

"I was just stating," she answers and lifts her head. "But I did hear you."

I give her a grin and slide a hand up her naked spine into her hair. "Gonna have to get used to that, little Fae."

"Me too." Lake smiles softly. "Can we just stay out here for the time being?"

As much as I want to give that to her, I can't. "We need to get back. I'm not sure if and when shit's gonna go down. I need you protected. Plus, you gotta talk to Callum. He wants to talk to you."

"Now, he wants to talk to me." She scoffs, shaking her head.

"Lake," I call her name, stilling her movements with tightening my hand in her hair. "He knew if he did anything, let alone look at you again, that he'd get them all killed. The man loves you. But he's also a warrior. One of the strongest tiger shifters there is. Just as all of those with the Wildthorn blood." It's what makes them pretty much royalty. Hell, the alliance my family has always had with them does make them so. Now, with my mating of Lake, they officially are a part of my streak.

Lake doesn't say anything at first. She simply stays curled to my chest, fingers drawing circles. The motion tingles, and it's all I can do to keep from taking her again. Hell, with my cock still seated deep inside her, I'm having a hard time not thrusting into her. The image of her on top, moving, fills my head, and damn it, that's not something I want.

A moan comes from the little vixen sitting astride me, and she shifts her hips.

"Fuck me, you heard my thoughts again," I grunt.

"I didn't just hear them, I saw it in your mind," she says and presses her hands into my chest to push herself up until she's sitting fully atop me.

Lake swivels her hips, and I clamp my fingers into her hips, helping her as she rides me. I'll give her this moment, then after I take her back to the clubhouse. There's no way in hell I could stop my mate from seeking a pleasure like this. Not when I get to enjoy the views of her beauty as she does so. Plus, watching her experience something new, me giving it to her, makes it all the much hotter.

Lake's lips part, and her hands slide from my chest to curl around her tits.

Fuck yeah. "Pinch your nipples for me, little Fae," I rasp, eyes locked on her chest. "Show me what you want me to do with them. Tell me how good it feels." I don't need her to tell me. I can feel it as if I were in her skin.

"It feels so good, Tucker, so good," she pants.

Sitting upward, I help her move faster on me while taking one of those sweet peaks into my mouth. If I didn't get my mouth on her, I was gonna end up going mad from the sensations she's pouring into me.

Lake's movements become sporadic. Fingers digging into me, and I know she's close. My own release not far away. Flipping her to her back, I come over her, claim her lips with mine, and pound into her, absorbing the sweet cries.

I take her, filling her, and the moment her pussy clamps around my cock like a vise, I feel my release boiling in my balls ready to fill her. I rip my lips away to search for the spot where I've marked her. I sink my teeth in and let my own release shoot through me, filling her. In my head, repeating the very words she'd given me only moments ago. Or was it longer? It doesn't matter. Even repeating them in my head, she can hear them, and it somehow seals both our fates as one.