Page 46 of New Blood

She instantly shook her head. “No. I didn’t feel any pain.”

He drew her closer, his hand on her upper thigh, caressing her. She’d never pegged him for a man who liked to cuddle after sex, but there he was, making no attempt at disentangling his limbs from hers. On the contrary, he was the one who’d drawn her closer after making love.

He pressed a kiss to her temple. “I’m relieved. I had no control over the bite.”

She understood. “It was the wolf; I could feel him.”

He chuckled unexpectedly. “Yeah, and it won’t be the last time you’ll feel my wolf. In fact, I doubt I’ll ever be able to control the wolf inside me when you’re close.”

“But you’ll have to,” she said, sitting up halfway. “The family can’t find out.”

“Can’t find out what?” His forehead furrowed, but a second later realization spread on his face. “Are you saying you don’t want them to know that we’re mated?” He shook his head. “Not a chance! You’re mine now! And that means you’re the mistress of the pack. You’re the alpha female. And everybody needs to know that and show you the appropriate respect.”

There was a commanding quality in his voice, and she knew that he was right, but she couldn’t do what he wanted. Not yet.

“Jude, please, give me some time. All this happened so fast; I barely believe it myself.”

“Are you saying you didn’t want this?” A low growl accompanied his words.

She put her hand on his heart and leaned in. “Of course, I wanted this. I love you, Jude. You’re mine. You’ll always be mine.” She pressed a quick kiss onto his lips and felt his expression soften. “But I just need a little time to get used to my changed circumstances. I was the lowest member in the pack, and the family is still grieving… Everything that’s going on is still so new. We all need time to adjust.”

Besides, she wasn’t ready to deal with the backlash. She hadn’t always been treated fairly or kindly by all members of the Gallagher family, and the thought that they would probably now hate her was a difficult thing to swallow.

She slid her hand onto his nape and caressed him there.

He moaned softly. “Damn, baby, I can’t think when you do that.” Yet he didn’t remove her hand. Instead, he leaned in. “Okay then, what do you want?”

“Just a few days before we tell the family. In the meantime, nobody can know that we’re mated.”

He sighed. “Fine, but I have to confide in Austin.”

“Why?”

“Because he caught you leaving tonight. If I don’t tell him that you and I are mated, he’ll stick to your heels like glue to make sure you’re not planning anything against me or my men.”

She didn’t like it, but she knew he was right. “Okay, but he’s the only one who can know. Promise?”

“Promise,” he confirmed.

“Thank you. And maybe Austin can help you figure out how to unify the pack. I mean, now that you can’t mate with Eve.”

“Fuck! I hadn’t even thought about that.” He let out a long breath. “I guess we’ll have to figure something out.” He pulled her closer again, his arms around her so she couldn’t escape. “Oh, and one other thing…”

She looked at him expectantly. “Yeah?”

“It goes without saying that you’ll be sleeping here every night. And if you don’t show up in my bedroom once everybody else has gone to bed, I will be coming to your room to get you. And then I won’t care if anybody sees or hears us. Are we clear?”

He looked fierce and determined like a schoolmaster now. But he didn’t scare her. Nothing about Jude scared her, because she knew there was nothing evil in him. She’d felt that when he’d bitten her. She’d felt his heart and his soul.

“And miss out on making love with you?” she murmured, pushing him back onto the mattress, before hoisting herself over him, one knee on each side of his hips.

He smirked. “So you enjoyed that, huh? Want some more?”

She didn’t have to reply. Instead, she looked down at his cock and noticed that it was filling with blood, getting harder with every second. She was glad that werewolves had a heightened libido and the physical strength and stamina to support it.

“I’ll take as much as you can give me,” she murmured, briefly lifting herself onto her knees, while Jude adjusted his cock to bring it to her pussy.

Slowly, she impaled herself on him, taking his shaft into her, her pussy accommodating him with ease despite his large size.