Laura
Oz hadn’t wantedto let me walk down the mountain. And he was mad at me. That much was clear from his face when he opened the door to the monstrosity of a car parked on the nearest back road. There were two of them, the keys still in the ignition.
They were brave indeed if they thought they wouldn’t get pinched had the youths of the town come across them unlocked and ready to go. Brave or maybe just a little bit stupid.
“Get in.”
I did as he asked, blinking the rain that had begun to fall out of my eyes. When I had rushed from my apartment, I hadn’t grabbed a raincoat and my hoody was soaked, clinging and heavy against my skin. I reached for the seatbelt and Oz got there first. We both froze.
I lifted my eyes to him in shock as his growl vibrated through the interior of the car. “Why are you angry with me, Oz?”
“I’m not.” He clicked the seat belt into place. He sighed and for a moment I thought he was going to say something and then he sighed again and closed the door. Stomping around to get into the driver’s side, he sat there, his hands on the steering wheel, and I could hear his raspy breathing in the quiet. “I’m not.” He started the ignition.
Oh, he was angry. It poured from him, making the air thick and uncomfortable. And I just didn’t know why. But if he didn’t want to talk about it, then I wasn’t going to push the matter. It wasn’t like he was my boyfriend.
I froze. My hand went to the teeth marks on my neck. No, he wasn’t my boyfriend. He was my mate. He had bitten me. Laid a claiming mark on me. My upbringing with the dire wolves hadn’t been healthy, but I had heard their stories. How in ancient times a wolf would only have one mate, and they would claim them forever. I had been told it was something the dire wolves hadn’t done for years. There weren’t enough female dire wolves for them to just have one mate, so they shared. One woman for several men. That’s what they had expected of me. It had been my duty to give my body willingly to the pack in the hopes I would reproduce. Even if I couldn’t shift.
Even if I wasn’t even a shifter myself. Ace’s words echoed in my head. What if I had been a human child that had been kidnapped and groomed? The thought was sickening.
I glanced at Oz. I wanted to talk about everything that had happened, but the words just wouldn’t come. Instead, I asked the first thing that came into my mind. “Shouldn’t we wait to make sure they all got off ok?”
“Ash and your friend are already gone. There were only two cars when there were three when we left. She will be at a hospital by now or…being debriefed.” He shrugged as he took one of the winding corners hard. The movement threw my body into the door. I grunted in pain and Oz sighed again, slowing slightly. “My main priority right now is you.”
“Me? Why? I am fine.”
“Are you though? Because in my eyes, you put yourself in danger today. And you risked not only your safety but that of your friend as well. I expect my orders to be followed, Laura.”
I frowned at him. “I’m not a soldier, Oz. I don’t have to follow your orders mindlessly. I…”
He slammed the brakes on, his arm darting out to stop me careening forward, and turned to me with another growl.
There was something about that growl that made me want to moan. It hit me low in the belly, with a promise of something forbidden. He turned to me, his fingers fumbling for my belt. He had it undone and me over the centre console in a second.
“I know you aren’t a soldier, Laura. But you are my mate, and that means my job is to keep you safe. That is my main job now. When you put yourself in danger, it makes me mad. It makes me want to…” He flexed his fingers, and my eyes followed the movement. There could be no doubt what that gesture meant.
Heat flooded my body. “It makes you want to spank me?”
“Yes…” he breathed. “God yes, it does.” As if to prove his point, he pulled me further over his lap. My cheek pressed against the rough material of his fatigues. My breath hitched when his hand slid over my ass. He kneaded it hard, his fingers digging in.
And then he slapped it. Just once, but hard, and I groaned before I could help myself.
With his next words came further reason for me to moan. “You. Will. Not. Put. Yourself. In. Danger. Ever. Again.” With each hissed word, his hand came down hard. It hurt, but there was pleasure as well.
“Laura?” His voice was a whisper.
I turned my face to meet his eyes, and I knew what he saw. The flushed cheeks and my half-parted lips. “Yes, Oz?” I squirmed against him, trying to find some relief from the almost unbearable pressure between my legs. It was impossible.
“You weren’t meant to enjoy that.” There was laughter in his voice. The anger was gone, replaced by a need that mirrored my own.
“Oh.”
“But I’m glad you did.” He ground out. “Now come here.” He pulled me upright and his lips were on mine. Mine parted instantly and his tongue swept across mine. All it took was that one kiss to open the floodgates. I grabbed at him as he grabbed at me, pulling me fully onto his lap. I ground against the bulge in his pants, rubbing myself against it.
There was something about him I couldn’t get enough of. More than just lust. More than even need. It was unquenchable. I couldn’t imagine not wanting him.
It was the mate bond. This heat between us would never go away.
A tearing sound filled the car as he ripped my jeans open. My soaking wet jumper was pulled over my head and not once did his lips leave mine.
“Oz.” I tore my mouth away as his hand moved between our bodies, freeing himself and lining himself up with me. He slid that thick member between my wet lips, teasing but not entering. “Oz, please.”
This wasn’t me. I wasn’t the kind of girl to get freaky in a car, on a main road in the middle of the day. Not usually anyway. And I had a feeling that Oz wasn’t either. But the dam had burst now.
“Fuck it.” Oz growled out and thrust himself inside of me with one long push. “I can’t wait.”
