STORY EXCERPT

Emerson had only just secured the plane after landing in Maui when he’d received word from the Alpha that Reardon and Lewis were about to apprehend the hacker. He hated not being able to be there to back up his pack mates, but he’d follow orders and stay with the plane.

The pack had remained on high alert since the night the hacker had managed to steal their data. Not that running double patrols had proved an issue. To a man, they were fiercely protective of the mates and cubs in their care. The uncertainty, however, over whether the hacker had managed to access and distribute their data, had made for a pack of irascible and grumpy wolves.

It was too much to hope that the hacker hadn’t accessed Boothe’s secure files but Emerson was ever the optimist. Come what may, Emerson hoped they would soon have the answers they were desperate for.

After only ten minutes of anxious pacing, his phone rang. When the screen indicated it was Lewis, Emerson answered immediately. “Tell me you have him.”

“We have the hacker,” Lewis said, his voice tense. “We are en route. ETA five minutes. We need to be in the air in six.”

Emerson ran back to the cockpit and tucked the phone between his chin and shoulder as he prepared the plane for take-off. “Are you or your brother injured?”

“No, the hacker is hurt,” he heard Reardon say flatly. 

“I’ll be ready,” Emerson said, dropping the phone onto the co-pilot’s seat. While he was very relieved it wasn’t either Lewis or Reardon who’d been injured, he felt not the smallest amount of sympathy for the cyber thief. One less criminal in the world was no great loss, in Emerson’s opinion. And realistically, as a human, his life was already forfeit if he’d discovered their secret.

“They’re alive, Reardon. Stop beating yourself up,” he heard Lewis say. “Gideon and Jonas will make sure they pull through.” Emerson hadn’t disconnected the call and he frowned as he completed his pre-flight checks. 

“You know they deserved any punishment you managed to dish out,” Emerson said, knowing the brothers would hear him. Wolf shifters had exceptional hearing, even when they were human.

Emerson ignored Reardon’s growl. Reardon was always growling. It was probably a side effect of being best friends with a moody bastard like his brother, Jackson. 

As it was just after midnight, Emerson was quickly granted clearance for take-off at the small private airfield. Within minutes, he saw Lewis and Reardon stop their rental truck at the gates to the runway. Emerson went back into the cabin, ready to secure the door after they’d boarded.

He watched as Lewis and Reardon crossed the runway at a fast jog, Reardon carrying the prisoner in his arms. It took no time at all, less than a nanosecond, but his wolf knew. He was a creature with a foot in two worlds, human and animal, the melding making him far more powerful. And deadly. 

Emerson’s wolf surged to life, tearing free in a shift that was a primal explosion. It overwhelmed Emerson’s humanity completely. He was fury. He was need. He was pure beast. All that existed for this wolf was her. All that mattered was her. She was his. His heart, his soul, his life, she had it all. He was hers.

“Emerson, no!” Lewis cried, catching his wolf around the rear legs and bringing them both tumbling to the tarmac in a heap.

The wolf had been targeting Reardon’s throat and as they hit the runway hard, Emerson’s human mind finally caught up. Reardon had attacked the hacker, the hacker who was Emerson’s mate. In the way of wolves, Emerson’s wolf had challenged Reardon for that insult. A challenge that was a fight to the death.

Lewis would never allow Reardon to be hurt and had thankfully intervened in time. Lewis had just saved Reardon’s life. Emerson went limp in Lewis’s hold and let human reason bleed through his wolf’s primitive rage. He found his balance and sanity returned.

“Get off him, Lewis,” Reardon said. “I don’t know what the fuck his problem is but he needs to shift back if he’s going to fly us the hell home.”

Lewis’s hold remained firm. “His problem is that you’re holding his damned mate,” Lewis said between clenched teeth. “Put her down and step back. Then, I’ll release him.”

Reardon’s eyes grew wide as he inhaled deeply. “Fuck. Mating musk.” He gently placed the woman on the ground and took three big strides backward, his head bowed in a show of surrender. 

“I’m letting you go, Emerson,” Lewis said calmly. “Go for his throat again and I will shoot you.”

Emerson remained still and after what seemed an eternity, Lewis slowly relaxed his hold and released him. The wolf was enraged and highly protective and it made him very reluctant to cede control, but Emerson was a shape shifter not a wolf.

He took a deep breath as he shifted back. A heady, sweet smell that the wolf had immediately recognized, filled his senses. Lemon blossom and musk. His mate’s aroma was unique, alluring and simply divine. He drew it deep into his body, letting the scent imprint on every cell. He would recognize her anywhere now. She would never again be a stranger to him.

ADULT EXCERPT

Jackson heard Kyra’s softly spoken reply and was then rendered deaf by the loud howl of victory coming from his wolf. The sound was almost painful as it reverberated in his mind.  

He had no words for Kyra that would accurately express his feelings right at this moment, so, he pressed his lips to hers and poured his love and joy into the kiss. Her lips were soft and she opened to his probing tongue with a small moan that travelled straight to his cock.

He stroked his hands down her back and cupped her ass as he angled his head and plundered her mouth with his tongue, tasting, savoring, devouring her. Kyra responded to his urgency by straddling his lap and pressing closer to him. He pulled her ass closer and felt the throbbing heat of her core against his aching cock. 

Kyra’s hands were in his hair, gripping the strands and holding his head in place. He didn’t want to be anyplace else in the world and her enthusiasm was driving him crazy.

Despite being vastly stronger than his Kyra, he found it very difficult to separate his lips from hers. Her groan of disappointment tested his resolve. “I won’t take your virginity in the back of a truck,” he said, even though he wanted to do just that.

“I need you, Jackson,” Kyra said, her small hands cupping his face as she rubbed herself against his erection. “I can’t explain it but I’m aching inside.” She rubbed again as sweat beaded on her forehead. “I’m burning up inside and need…” Kyra licked her lips and tore open his shirt, sending the buttons flying.

Jackson nearly came in his pants. Only his guilt at what he’d done prevented it. “Shit. I’m sorry Kyra. I didn’t mean…”

“You started the mating in the truck, Jackson,” Tate said. “Don’t wait until it starts to hurt her.”

“Never.” Jackson inhaled again and let the wild and heady scent of his one and only mate guide him in the mating. The dewy wetness on Kyra’s inner thighs drew him. He stroked over her soft folds with his tongue, the taste of her an explosion of pleasure that had him trembling. 

“Please,” Kyra said, her voice husky.

“I’m here, little one,” Jackson said, pressing a gentle kiss to her pussy before moving up to cover her body with his own. Her bruised torso was a dark stain on the otherwise porcelain perfection of her skin. Supporting his bodyweight on his elbows, he cupped her face reverently and stared into her glazed green eyes.

Her sigh was immediate and he knew he’d waited too long. She had already been in pain.

“Forever,” Jackson said, the word a warning and a vow.

“That won’t be long enough,” Kyra said, lifting her lips to his.

The urgency was gone, and as he kissed Kyra gently, he thrust his hips. His hard cock slid through her wet folds and right into her tight pussy. Kyra gasped into his mouth and when he stilled, she wrapped her legs around his hips and pushed his cock deeper. She was a goddess.

He hit the tight wall of her virginity and knew there was no option but to continue. Choosing not to prolong the pain, Jackson thrust his hips hard and sunk to the hilt inside Kyra’s body. She didn’t cry out, only sighed. He found he could breathe again knowing that he hadn’t hurt her.

With his fear assuaged, he was now free to appreciate fully the physical pleasure and marvel in the bond they’d just forged. Until this moment, he’d have told anyone likening sex to a melding of souls that they were insane. 

As their bodies joined completely, Kyra’s soul became visible to him. Her heart was open and it shone with love. Love for him. So much love. More than enough love for all of them. For their children, for all of their pack.

Drawing back his hips, he withdrew a little before rocking back inside her tight body. Kyra clung tightly to him as she matched him thrust for thrust. When she relaxed around him, Jackson thrust harder, faster and together they found their own rhythm. They shared their bodies as their souls melded and their pleasure grew.

He’d been on the edge of orgasm since Kyra had consented to be his and holding back was becoming impossible, despite his desire to remain in this moment forever.

“I won’t last much longer, Kyra. You feel too good.” She smiled and precum leaked from his cock. “You are too fucking sexy, my mate.”

“I am on the edge,” Kyra said breathlessly, her pussy clenching tightly around his aching length. “Are we mated now?”

He couldn’t have believed he could laugh while having sex, but his Kyra was just too perfect not to. “Not yet, beautiful, but any second now.” Her small frown of confusion was the last thing he saw as he lowered his mouth to her neck and sucked the delicate skin into his mouth. His fangs descended and pierced the skin without conscious thought.

Kyra’s blood filled his mouth as her scream of pleasure rang out. Her pussy tightened around him and he came hard. His cum shot painfully from his cock and each pulse of Kyra’s pussy milked more from him. He was in pleasure overload and his arms trembled in an effort to hold himself off Kyra.