Page 47 of New Blood

“I love feeling you inside me.”

“And I love being inside you,” he replied and gripped her hips. “Just so you know: I have a very healthy appetite when it comes to sex. So if it gets too much for you, you’ll just have to tell me to stop.”

“What if I have a very healthy appetite too?” One that she’d never really been able to live out.

He smirked, and she loved the carefree expression in his eyes. “Then I think we’re perfect for each other, my insatiable she-wolf.”

28

Austin stared at his brother, shock racing through his body, disbelief making his heart pound out of control. For a moment, he thought he was having a vivid nightmare. But Jude stood right in front of him in the flesh.

“Are you fucking serious?”

“She’s my mate,” Jude confirmed, looking way too happy and not at all guilty.

It was morning, and they were behind closed doors in the alpha’s office. After having found Danielle trying to sneak away the previous night, he’d expected Jude to discipline her and put her in her place, not mate with her on the spur of the moment.

“You’re fucking insane!” Austin huffed. “Do you have any idea what that means? The Alliance will be furious. You broke every single one of their rules.” He shoved a hand in his hair. “This will jeopardize everything we’ve worked for. How could you do that? How could you mate with Danielle?”

“I love her.”

“That’s impossible. You don’t even know her! You couldn’t just have fucked her and be done with it? No, you had to mate with her!”

He knocked his fist against Jude’s forehead.

“Anybody in there? Or did she completely scramble your brain?”

Jude snatched his wrist and glared at him.

“I said I love her. She’s my mate. What don’t you understand?”

Austin let out a breath. “I never expected that from you of all people.”

Jude shrugged. “When it hits you, it hits you. There’s no sense in fighting it.”

“Yeah, apparently not. Damn, I should’ve just ignored her last night and let her leave. Serves me right for being vigilant. But no, I had to do one last round to patrol the property! Damn it! If I hadn’t seen her then, we wouldn’t be in this mess right now.”

His brother chuckled unexpectantly. “Do you really think I wouldn’t have gone after her?”

Austin rolled his eyes. “Like I said, you’re an idiot!” Suddenly a question bubbled up out of nowhere. “And about Danielle leaving: why the fuck would she do that when you both realized that you were fated to mate? That’s fishy!”

Jude sighed. “She thought I’d go through with my plan to mate with Eve. She didn’t want to watch that. It would have been too painful. That’s why she decided to leave.”

“Well, at least she was smart about that. Which I can’t say of you. That makes you solely responsible for this mess.”

Jude grunted. “Damn it, Austin! No need to state the obvious.”

He took a long breath, contemplating the situation Jude had put them all in.

“How are we gonna unite the pack now? By rejecting Eve and mating with a female below her rank, you’ve offended not only her, but also her family, her brothers, everybody. It’s humiliating for them. You see that, don’t you?”

“Of course, I see that,” Jude snapped. “I’m not blind.”

“Could’ve fooled me.” Before his brother could get annoyed about his remark, Austin continued, “Never mind. Can’t change this now. A mating is forever. So what’s your plan now?”

“I was thinking, there’s more than one way to unite the pack. The alpha doesn’t necessarily have to mate with a Gallagher family member. It would also bind us if somebody else from the Werewolf Alliance mates with Eve.” Jude gave him an expectant look.

It took only a second before he realized what his brother was suggesting. “No! No way! Not happening. I’m not gonna clean up your mess and mate with the ice princess. I mean she’s pretty and all, but not even you could have missed that she managed to piss off Ransom on day one. I mean that’s like pissing off the Dalai Lama!”