14. Kezia

Cannon sobered the quickest,crossing the small space to me. Bending his knees, he came down to my eye level. “I’m going to kill them all.” His stare was so intense it made my mouth dry, and I licked my bottom lip. Seeing his fury turned molten, I itched to reach for him.

“My heat,” I blurted. “I remember when I was aware…”

“When you were aware?” Kris asked. “Did you really let her take control?”

My eyes wouldn’t leave Cannon’s, but I needed to be honest. “I didn’t let her… I gave her control.” I saw the question in his eyes. “I had thought you were gone.”

Cannon took a step back, confusion on his face. “You gave up?”

“I thought you were gone…” I remembered the fear I felt when Bale held me down. “So I was weakened. I had no strength,” I whispered, avoiding his look. “She told me you may live. I knew I couldn’t fight him.” I drew in a shuddering breath. “I made her promise if you were alive and needed help, she would give it.”

“And I would lose you in the process?” Cannon’s voice was as hard as the look in his eye. “What good would that do?” He ran his hand through his hair in frustration. “Sacrificing yourself isn’t the answer. Have you learned nothing? You run off to save Kris, giving yourself up to that fucker, Landon. You give yourself up to Moonstar for me—why do you continuously make the stupid choice?”

My anger flared. “Fuck you!” I pointed wildly at my brother. “Landon told me they were going to kill him. Sever his bond with Cass—what would you have me do? Sit back and make a plan?” I sneered.

“Yes!” Cannon roared, his temper breaking. “I want you to come to me and let me help you.”

“You want to control me!” I snapped back.

“If it means I keep you alive, then yes, I’ll control you.”

My lungs expanded as I sucked in air, and I knew I was going to explode. “You may be my mate, but you are not in charge!” I snarled in fury. “You don’t own me!”

“That’s what you think,” he barked back at me, his eyes changing to turquoise. “You are my mate. I am your alpha, and I swear to the Goddess, if I have to keep you contained every day from now on to know you’re safe, I will.”

“Shall I call you Bale?” Tossing my hair over my shoulder, I stood with my hands on my hips. “He liked to chain me to the wall to keep me contained.”

The anger dissolved from Cannon as he looked at me, stricken. “Kezia…”

I wasn’t having it; my temper was still high. “Kris is my brother. Severing the mate bond was so Bale could kill him and not kill Cass. I had a limited time to stop that. You, you pig-headed idiot, are my mate, and I knew if you were alive, she could save you.” Angrily, I wiped away a tear. “I will always fight for the ones I love. Always.”

Cannon and I stared at each other, emotions high, and I saw him struggle not to argue with me. He took a deep breath, and I could almost see him counting it out to calm his temper. “I know you will, and it is commendable, and it’s why you are you, but?—”

“There doesn’t need to be a but.”

He gave me a long-suffering look. “But we as a pack could have planned an attack much better than you rushing into capture.” When he saw me about to protest, he threw his hands in the air. “For Luna’s grace, Kezia! I saved Kris, not you! You did nothing by handing yourself over to them.”

“That’s so unfair,” I whispered.

“It is unfair.” Kris’s voice broke our stare off as we both swung to look at him. “You stood against Bale’s pack to fight for me and Cass, Cannon,” Kris spoke quietly from where he stood. “You and your pack, against how many?”

“I wasn’t counting,” Cannon answered gruffly.

“There were too many to count,” I demanded, outraged. “You’re a complete hypocrite sometimes, you know that, don’t you?”

“Okay. We can all admit we made mistakes, and lessons have been learned.” Royce stepped between us, ignoring the three answering grunts. “You two are giving me whiplash. Pick an emotion, will you, and go with it, at least until we’re back in the pack.” He turned to look at me. “What about your heat?”

He was right, but it wasn’t that easy. I wanted to lose myself in Cannon, but I also wanted to punch him for thinking I would betray him. I wanted to scream in frustration that he thought I’d given up fighting because I had surrendered to Moonstar. I wanted to bash his head off the nearest hard surface, that he thought I was to be controlled, and I wanted to tell him how much I loved him because he would do anything to keep me safe. My emotions were all over the place, and looking at Cannon, I could see he was struggling as much as I was.

“I went into heat,” I said. “I think. I remember being aware that I felt”—I glanced at my brother, my cheeks flushing—“that way. I think you were near.”

Cannon sniffed. “I caught your scent a week ago.” He was looking at the peak. “Been chasing it down for days.”

“Your heat and his scent would have pulled you forward,” Kris mused. “She is strong, but even she can’t fight the Goddess’s Will.”

“The sooner you two complete the bond, the better for everyone,” Royce grumbled. He looked at me with a speculative gleam in his eyes. “You feeling?—”

“If you’re about to ask me if I’m in the mood in front of my brother, I will cut your balls off.”

“Two visuals I don’t need,” Kris said with a grimace. “Have you both settled down?” When we both nodded, he smiled as he looked between us. “Royce is right, you need to complete the bond, but let’s get back to the pack. We’re still too exposed here.”

My gaze drifted to Cannon’s bare chest. He was exposed in more ways than one, and I wasn’t complaining. He caught my stare, and I saw the corner of his mouth lift in a knowing smirk.

He watched me as he spoke to the others. “Kris is right in that we need to return. The pack is vulnerable without us.”

As I followed them to the Jeep, Cannon wordlessly slipped into the back seat with me, and we both pretended we didn’t hear Kris’s muttering about the journey being awkward.

We drove in silence. Cannon’s hand rested lightly on my knee, and I was grateful for the barrier of the denim. If he’d been touching my skin, the car ride would have been a lot less comfortable for the two males in front. When Royce hit a bump in the road, causing all of us to lift off the seats at the impact, Cannon’s hand moved off my knee and landed further up my thigh, causing me to fight back the groan. I expected him to move it, but he merely slipped his hand further in between my thighs, and I wondered if this was his method of punishment. To touch me but not touch me.

I couldn’t concentrate. I was trying so hard to focus on anything but his hand. It was all I could think about. I felt his gaze shift from the front of the Jeep to mine, and his hand inched its way higher. Pressing my thighs together caused him to let out a small huff of amusement, and the bastard dug his fingers into my thigh.

“You two okay back there?” Royce broke the silence, and I nodded quickly, not trusting myself to speak. “We’re almost on packlands.”

“If you can resist for longer, we’d appreciate it,” Kris grumbled from the front, but he let out a sigh. “Though I know if it was Cass…”

I could feel Cannon’s heavy stare, and I knew if I looked his way, I’d be a goner. Still, when his fingers flexed on my inner thigh, I relaxed them slightly, and this time, he didn’t care who was in the car. His hand slid up and cupped me, and my cheeks burned when my scent flooded the confines of the car.

Royce cursed and slammed on the brakes, and I felt the cold air rush in when Cannon pulled me from the Jeep. I didn’t even look to see them drive off. The two of us stared at each other, suspended in stasis for a moment before we crashed together.

His lips claimed mine, his hands on my ass, lifting me, my legs wrapping around his waist before I was pushed against a tree. Cannon’s mouth was everywhere—his mouth sucked at my neck, then was back at my mouth, his tongue stroking mine, his hands already pushing my jeans off me.

“You need to be taken over my knee one of these days,” he scolded, pulling my sweater off. He kissed his way down my body, tongue laving over my nipple before biting the other one. I cried out when his fingers slid through my wetness, my fingers digging into his shoulders as he pushed inside me.

“You can’t spank me,” I protested, my hips rolling against the rhythm of his hand. “I’m not a child.” His thumb was pressing against my clit, his fingers curled inside me, and I was losing my mind.

“I can spank you,” he told me, spreading my legs further with his shoulders. His tongue replaced his fingers, and my cry of pleasure was drowned by the sound of my heartbeat, which sounded as if it were in my ears. When he stopped, I mewled in protest. “I can spank you, fuck you, eat out this pussy, make you choke on my cock.” Cannon kissed his way down the inside of my thigh. “I can do it all because you’re my mate. Mine.” His possessive growl fucked with my head.

My snappy retort, if I had one, disappeared on a moan when he went back to licking and sucking my clit. The orgasm started everywhere at once, causing my eyes to roll back in my head. My fingers tightened in his hair, and my scream of ecstasy echoed in the woods.

I was still coming down from my high when I was turned and pressed against the tree, my feet kicked apart, and Cannon buried himself inside me in one smooth motion. My back arched as my body adjusted to his size, and he held still for a moment, his lips on my neck, his breathing uneven.

“You feel so good.”

He began to move, and anything I’d been about to say died on a groan as I felt him deep inside me. Desire and need were racing in my blood, making me crave this man. I moved my hips in time with his thrusts, fucking myself on his cock. I was lost in the sensation and feeling of Cannon, taking what I needed from him and being what he needed. “I’m close.”

Cannon’s fingers dug into my skin as he fucked me faster, his teeth and mouth on my neck, sucking at my pulse as he fucked me. “Come for me, Kezia.” His hand slid around the front, dipping down, circling my navel before traveling further, his thumb pressing my clit. “I want to feel you come all over my cock.”

Fuck. My alpha had a dirty mouth, and I loved it.

I was a million things and nothing at all. I could feel everything, and it was almost too much.

“You’re gripping me so tight.” Cannon’s groan of approval tipped me over the edge. My orgasm ripped through me, and I heard his answering moan as his thrusts became wilder. Cannon’s hand circled my throat, pulling me back into his chest. His lips met mine, his tongue thrusting against mine in time with his hips.

Tearing his mouth away, he burrowed his head in the crook of my neck. Cannon reared back and slammed into me one final time. His cry of release surrounded me as he spilled inside me, fingers pinching my clit, causing me to come with him.

Thank fuck for the tree. It was the only thing holding us both up.

Sweat covered my body, and I whimpered in protest when I felt Cannon pull away from me. I was lifted and carried to a mossy patch. Neither of us spoke. Cannon lowered me until I was flat on my back, his body covering mine, kissing me more thoroughly than before. I opened wider for him, and he kissed me deeper.

I felt his cock stiffen as we kissed, and then he was sliding inside me again. Pulling him close, I hooked my legs around him and fell into the rhythm that he set.

Cannon’s hands were buried in my hair, tilting my head back, giving him access to my neck. I moved my head further away, exposing more of my neck in a move of submission, and my nails bit into his skin as I felt his fangs grow against my throat.

“I want it.” My whisper was so low I wasn’t sure he heard me, but when I felt his bite, my body once more rode the wave of my orgasm. Cannon licked at the newly made mate mark on my neck, the blood spilling into his mouth, causing him to fuck me harder.

“More,” I panted, feeling him fuck into me. “Make me yours, Alpha.”

As he threw his head back, I saw the blue eyes of his wolf and felt the change in my own eyes as the bond intensified around us. It was tighter than a vise as it wrapped around us, and I doubted we’d be able to separate until it was complete.

“Kezia…” He said my name like a prayer, and I spread my legs wider, giving him all of me.

Pulling his head to mine, I claimed his lips. “I want every drop of your cum inside me.”

Cannon roared as he came. My fangs emerged and I bit my mate in the crook of his neck, shuddering around him as his blood flooded my mouth. Cannon was still hard despite his recent release, and he was fucking me again. I pulled at his neck, drinking his blood as he fucked me faster and faster. His mouth was on my mark, doing the same.

The frenzy of the mating bond took control of us both as we kissed, bit, and fucked like animals in heat.

I don’t know how long it lasted, but I knew when it had passed, and my awareness seeped back into my exhausted body. My body felt hypersensitive, and I ached all over. Cannon wasbig and we had not been gentle, and the random thought that I may never walk straight again popped into my sex-addled brain.

Cannon, my alpha, curled around me, spooning me, his arms wrapped around me protectively.

I could feel his presence inside me. We’d mindlinked before, but this was the next level. He was there. Just there. A sense of him that I knew I would have for the rest of our lives.

“Are you okay?”

The question caught me off guard. I wasn’t sure how to answer it. Was I? Yes. I was more than okay, I felt amazing.

I felt his lips on my shoulder. “I feel amazing too.”

“Did I speak?” My throat was hoarse. I’d screamed his name so many times it was a wonder I had a voice left at all.

“I can feel your emotion.” He exhaled, his breath tickling my ear. “I think it’s safe to say we completed the bond.”

I giggled at such an overwhelming understatement. I felt his answering rumble of laughter, and I turned around so we were facing each other. I saw the scar of my mark on his neck, already healed. My fingers traced over it. I jumped when he did the same to mine.

“I didn’t know we did that,” I whispered, meeting his green-eyed stare. “Marked each other.”

“Sorry.” He didn’t look sorry at all. “I couldn’t resist it.”

Pushing myself up to meet him, I brushed my lips across his. “I didn’t want you to resist. Does it fade?”

Cannon shook his head, a soft smile playing across his lips. “No. The mark is my claim on you. And your claim on me. That okay?”

I nodded eagerly. “More than okay.” Reaching for him, I kissed him again. I couldn’t get enough of him. The kiss became more, not the frenzied fuckfest we’d just had, but a slow, leisurely kiss that messed with my emotions.

Cannon drew his head back and stared down at me. “We will fight this war together. As mates. As one.”

“As one?”

“You are my equal and I yours. It’s you and me, Kezia. For life.”

I felt the tears run down the sides of my face into my hair. “I really want that with you.” I was feeling so emotional, and I knew it was because of everything that had happened as well as just being with Cannon. Completing the mate bond felt so right. “I want a life with you.”

“You have it.”

This time when he took me, it was slow and gentle. Gone was the rush and fever of my heat, of our need to complete the mate bond, and I realized that we were making love.

I’d claimed him and he had claimed me, and it felt like the most natural thing in the world.

We were complete.