“She’s been naughty in the library,” Zane said from the doorway. He winked at me before sauntering in.
“With the mage?”I buried my face in Maverick’s chest to hide my blush. My bear was grieving the loss of his beloved mother, and here I was, getting sexed up by a grumpy storm mage. It was hardly the behavior of a loving, loyal mate.
“Yes, with the mage. Your lust was chef’s kiss, pet. It’ll keep me powered all night long, which is handy as I have some hunting to do.”
Maverick’s head snapped up, temporarily distracted from talk of the mage. Thank the goddess for my incubus.He had my back.
“Have there been more demon sightings in the forest?”
“No demons.”
“Then what are you hunting?” I stared at the incubus in confusion.
“Furry things.”
“Oh my stars, you better not be hunting poor little forest creatures!” I had no issues with him killing nasty demons, but bunnies and foxes? Hard pass.
“No, pet. Only big furry creatures. The kind with crunchy bones.” His remarks about wolf shifters came back to me.Ugh. Gross.But also… much deserved.
“No problem,” I chirped, keen to move on from talk of crunchy bones and Alaric sexing me up in the library. “So…” I cupped my bear’s face in my hands. “How can I help?” Losing a parent was traumatic. My poor bear needed love and compassion. Potentially even therapy. Whatever he needed, I was there for him.
“First, I need to fuck you, little mate, then I want to hear exactly what you and the storm mage got up to in the library.”
45
Maverick
Being back with my mate eased the pain in my heart. Not fully, but holding her in my arms quietened my bear and reminded him we had a reason to live.
He and I were both struggling with the loss of my mother. She’d been the best mother a bear could hope for: strong, loving, and kind. The sort of mother who taught me how to be a good bear for my future mate.
She and my father had met and bonded as youngsters, and their love for each other was the happy backdrop to my peaceful childhood.
Now she was gone, and my father had retreated into himself and disappeared to fuck knows where. I’d searched high and low for two days, checking every cave and crevice in the mountain where an adult bear might hide, and found no trace of him. Not even a paw print.
In the end, Uncle Patrick had told me to go home. As much as it pained me to leave the mountain while Dad remained missing, Icouldn’t leave Raven unprotected. If anything had happened to her while I was gone…
My bear had growled in fury when she told me what the wolf shifter stand-in instructor had done. How dare he put my mate in danger! The minute I tracked him down, I’d eviscerate the bastard.
At least the poisonous Thorn witch was no longer a problem. I’d have to thank the storm mage for that one, even though it pained me to thank the little shit for anything after the atrocious way he’d behaved.
But right now, I needed to feel my mate’s naked body against mine. Soak up her scent and taste her sweet slick. It had been too fucking long, and my bear was practically feral with the need to claim her all over again. I also wanted to erase the mage’s scent from her skin.
“Don’t you need to eat something?” My little mate squeaked in surprise when I tossed her over my shoulder and headed for the newly restored bathroom on the first floor. The crew had done a great job for me there.
My little mate deserved the best of everything, and I fully intended to make sure she had whatever she wanted for the rest of our goddess-blessed lives together.
I pushed open the bathroom door and placed her on the bench seat under the window. I’d heard thunder and lightning earlier, most likely the storm mage’s doing. I swear this area saw more storms per week than the rest of the world combined.
“Let me run you a bath, little mate.” My bear was riding me hard to take care of my mate. I bet the other assholes hadn’t been feeding her properly while I was away, or making sure she got enough sleep. The bastard vampire better not have fed from her more than we agreed to. If I found her sweet body covered in bite marks, I’d fucking stake the blood-sucking asshole.
“It should be me looking after you!” She pouted.
“My taking care of you is what my bear needs, my sweet love.” As a witch, not a shifter, she struggled sometimes to understand my bear’s innate caring instincts, but thankfully for both of us, for once she chose not to argue.
The second the water was steaming hot, I pulled her to her feet. She still wore her academy uniform, but I spotted several missing buttons. In addition, her hair was all over the place, and there were burn marks on her shirt.
Fucking mage. The thought of him with his hands all over my mate riled my bear up, but as I reminded him, the mage was our witch’s mate too, and as much as we’d like to rip his head off, we couldn’t.
