Because it is.
Because she’s mine.
And I’m hers.
Chapter 33
Jackson
Waking up with Emily and knowing she is my mate is the best experience in the world. Her scent fills my lungs, more vivid and intoxicating than ever. Where before it was coffee and something sweet, now I can detect the sweetness is vanilla and caramel. Fucking delicious. I nuzzle into her neck, kissing along the curve of her shoulder, where I will leave my mark as soon as she is fully healed. Her soft skin erupts in goosebumps at my touch. She shivers and pushes her body closer to mine, arching her back and pressing her ass against my morning wood.
“Careful, little wolf,” I whisper, groaning as I remember we are supposed to be waiting a few days before we resume bedroom activities. Fuck, it’s so hard—literally hard as steel—not to sink inside her wet heat, especially when she is rubbing her sexy ass against me.
“How are you feeling?” I ask, brushing my fingers down her side.
Emily stretches out, making the cutest little groan. She smirks at me when she catches me staring at the outline of her hard nipples—throughmyt-shirt that she wears so damn well—when the blanket slips a little.
“I’m good, but I could be better,” she murmurs. She pulls my hand towards her pussy and then shimmies out of her panties. I can’t hold in my low growl when I find her wet and ready.
Fuck, she’s temptation personified.
“Fuck, babe. You are asking for trouble. You are so damn irresistible,” I say with a groan as I press kisses along her neck.
“Sex is off the table,” I say, reminding us both with what little sanity I’ve got left, “but I can still make you feel good—if youpromiseto lie there and take it easy like a good girl.”
I arch a brow and her answering grin is all I need. I lower myself down her body, kissing a path to her perfect pink pussy. As I explore her, the taste of her skin lingers on my tongue, intoxicating and addictive. She trembles as I lap at her wetness.
“You were sweet before, but you’re even more delicious now. I’ll need to eat you for breakfast every day.”
I plunge my tongue inside her before replacing it with my fingers and moving my mouth to her clit. The scent of her arousal hangs in the air, mingling with the sound of heavy breathing and her soft moans. Those moans are like a siren’s call, filling my ears with my favorite song. Her trembling thighs against my cheeks tell me how close she is after only a few moments as her moans grow louder, a building crescendo. And then, in an explosion of ecstasy, she unravels beneath me, her body convulsing in waves of pleasure as she finds her release.
I kiss her thigh and then her stomach as I move up along her body. Seeing her so beautifully languid and relaxed under me. I wonder if I will ever be able to deny her again.
And how I wish I never did.
“I’m so sorry I didn’t leave straight away when you asked. I was trying to get my head around what I learned from Caleb, but I should have been more upfront with you.”
Emily blinks up at me. “What do you mean?”
I take a deep breath. I need to trust Emily with this, but it’s hard to go against a direct order from my Alpha. Even if I fucking hate him right now. Stupid wolf hierarchy.
“Katie might not be dead.”
She gasps, her hands flying to her mouth. “But I thought you felt your bond snap? Like she was dead?”
“I did. We all did. I don’t know what to believe, but Caleb’s old pack was attacked, too. The very same as what happened here… and the bonds snapped the same way. Except he could still feel her. His sister. Some sort of twin magic or something. He's convinced she’s alive.”
Emily scrunches her eyebrows and opens her mouth to say something several times before finding the words. “I don’t understand. Who would do something like that? How did the other bonds snap if they didn’t die?”
“We don’t know. Caleb thinks someone is using magic—something that hides or blocks bonds. He’s traced reports of similar disappearances back over twenty years. All young, unmated omegas. All supposedly dead. They’ve traced that whoever is behind it to a few packs; Iron Fang, Blood Moon, Twilight Wolves, and Night Howlers.”
“What does he suspect is happening to them?” she asks.
“We don’t know exactly. Caleb can feel what his sister experiences. He knows that once per month she is in a lot of pain. As far as I know, it’s just those packs potentiallyinvolved somehow, but we really don’t know much about anything right now. I need to speak to Ryan and find out what happened with the Alpha challenge, but I can barely look at him at the moment.”
Emily is quiet; processing my words. Her eyebrows are furrowed and she’s chewing on her lip. I can almost see the cogs in her mind turning. And then she looks at me. Her eyes are glassy and there’s a slight tremble in her hands when she places it on my knee.
“I… I might know something,” she says quietly. “I don’t have any information on what they’re doing, but I’m aware of an organization called ‘The Keepers’ that meets monthly. Aidan was part of it, as well as John Anderson and the Alphas of Night Howlers and Twilight Wolves. Aidan would leave for a weekend once a month. And… when he came back, he was calmer. Happier. Like he’d gotten some of his anger out of his system.”
