Buried and Shadowed (Branded Packs #3)

“What?” she asked, her eyes wide.

“Hands. On. The. Table.” He growled out each word. “If you touch me now, I’ll lose control.”

“So you can touch me but I can’t touch you?” she asked even as she put her hands on the edge of the table as he’d ordered.

“Yep.” He began working on her pants, slowly sliding them, along with her panties, down her legs. Soon, she was naked before him. Sexy, curvy, and hot as hell.

“That doesn’t sound fair,” she said, though it was more of a gasp as he went to his knees in front of her.

“You’ll have to punish me later for it,” he growled. Then he licked her, nibbling and biting until they were both panting. She had her legs wrapped around his neck, and he couldn’t help but hum in satisfaction at her taste. As soon as he did, she stiffened before coming, her body arching over the table.

But she’d kept her hands on the edge.

He quickly stood up and stripped out of his clothes. He was rock-hard, and so close he might end up coming before he even had her. He knew he had to slow it down, had to remember that this was only the first chance at a beginning.

Gibson kissed her hard, wrapping her hair around his fist. “Mine,” he growled. “Mine.”

“Yours,” she promised, her eyes dark. “Yours. Always.”

He wasn’t sure he could handle the idea of always, or at least he hadn’t been. Now, he couldn’t help but think it.

Passion, heat, and the scariest thing of all—love—filled him, and he wasn’t sure if it was his or Mandy’s. His wolf took everything in, the emotions mixing and tangling until they became almost one. That itself was a new kind of almost bond, a new kind of feeling altogether.

He’d have to work through that and find a balance, but for now, he could only stop and stare at the woman before him.

“You’re everything,” he whispered. “Everything.”

She shook her head. “Just one third of a whole,” she said softly. “Now please, get in me before I have to take care of things myself.”

He snorted and cupped her breast firmly. “Going to take charge, are you?”

She arched into his grasp, her nipple hard against his palm. “If you won’t.”

He pinched her nipple and she gasped. “Wench.”

“Heathen.”

“Little wolf.”

“My wolf.”

He liked the sound of that. He kissed her again, using one hand to guide himself to her. As he pressed in, he met her gaze, their breaths quickening as he filled her slowly, oh so slowly.

When he seated himself to the hilt, he paused, sweat sliding down his back. She was so warm, so wet, and absolute perfection.

“I’ve never…” he cleared his throat. “I’ve never felt anything like this.”

Tears slid down her cheeks as she nodded. “Gibson.”

He kissed her as he moved, their bodies moving as one. She wrapped her legs around his waist, pulling him closer, and he gripped her hip so he could go as deep as possible. And when she came, her body tightening around his, he followed her, filling her, marking her as his own in that way.

One day soon, when it was the three of them, they would mark each other. There was no other option now. He’d fallen. Fast. Hard. And in every way possible.

This wolf and the bear who was close had laid claim to his heart, his body, and his future.

It didn’t take an Omega to know the others felt the same. Just as it didn’t take a Foreseer to know that as the world crumbled around them, spun on an unsteady axis, they would have to fight for what they wanted.

Because this was only a reprieve in the darkness.

Something was coming.

And it was coming soon.





Chapter 8


The dream came quickly. Oliver braced himself for the onslaught, yet did his best to remember every detail, every ounce of pain. The darkness slammed into him, an ever-present entity that told him that what happened next wasn’t going to be easy, wasn’t going to be pretty.

He let out a breath, focusing on what mattered—the vision.

They were standing in a group of trees, though he couldn’t tell if it was night or day because the branches made a canopy, only letting in some light. If he’d been awake in truth, he’d have felt the sun’s warmth or perhaps the moon’s pull, but for now, he only knew that what happened would be in this small patch of forest.

Growls sounded in front of him, and he moved forward. From the murky darkness, two figures emerged, this time not in wolf form. Gibson and Mandy stood back-to-back, cuts covering their body. A large, jagged gash marked Gibson’s torso. Blood seeped through Gibson’s shirt and ran down his pants to mix with the dirt on the ground. The Omega was pale, his body shutting down from the mortal wound.

Mandy clawed at her attacker, a dark shadow he couldn’t quite place, her face scrunched even as her eyes filled with fear.

Oliver threw his head back and roared. The hump on the back of his neck grew as he began to shift into his grizzly form. The need to save them, even in a dream that was no dream, took over, and he put all sense of reality out of his mind.

He would not allow these two to die.