With a groan, he kissed me harder. My lips parted, welcoming, and his tongue swept in to tease me. His free hand slid up the side of my dress. His thumb stroked in soft circles closer and closer to my sheathed breasts as one kiss bled into another.
It felt so good. So fucking good the rush of pleasure started to carry me away. The careening sensation made my breath catch. I hadn’t intended to—did I really want to—
Marco pushed away from me with a rough gasp. He kept his hands on me, one at the crook of my jaw now, the other beside my breast, as he gazed into my eyes.
“You’re not ready,” he said. “Not really. It’ll take more for me to show I deserve you in every possible way. But I will. I promise you I will.”
My hand was still caught in his shirt. I dropped it. “Marco, I—”
“It’s all right, princess.” He kissed me again, just a brush of his lips against mine. “I’m not going to beg. I’m certainly not going to blame you. When I’ve earned my place, when you’re sure of me, you can come to me.”
Chapter 7
Ren
So what are you waiting for exactly? Kylie’s latest text said. Just grab those hunks and have your way with them already!
I shook my head with a smile she couldn’t see. I sure wished it felt as easy as she made it sound. I’ve been making progress. I’ve got two official mates now.
Woohoo! Now we’re talking. Was the second one Nate or Marco? Or did you manage to thaw out the chilly wolf?
I outright laughed at that, flopping back on my bed. The chilly wolf. Yeah, that was an appropriate description for West. Other than the rare occasions when he suddenly turned scorching.
Nate, I replied. Things are still a little tense with the other two. Although less so with Marco after this afternoon’s conversation. It wasn’t enough to completely make up for the callous way he’d talked about me, but it got us partway there. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to completely trust him—and my body’s reactions to him—until I’d seen how he acted when we were among his kin.
And how was it? Don’t kiss and tell doesn’t apply to besties, you know that.
Not in Kylie’s book, anyway. But there was only so much I was willing to commit to written record.
It was good. Really good. I think I’m getting the hang of this mate thing.
Oh, my little Ren, all grown up.
I wrinkled my nose at the phone, but the comment was fair. I hadn’t gone all the way with any guys in the entire time I’d known Kylie before now. Even when I hadn’t known I was a dragon shifter, something inside me had felt that bond to my destined mates. Something that had gotten out its claws anytime I got too hot and heavy with a guy.
But that was fine. I’d take even West over any of the boys and men I’d met before now.
A knock sounded on the door. Nate’s rich baritone carried through. “Ready to go, Ren?”
“Pretty much,” I called back, shoving myself upright. “You can come in.” It’s party time, I wrote to Kylie. More later.
I met Nate in the sitting room. It was hard not to stare at his impressive form packed into that formal suit. I was still wearing the same gown from this afternoon. After a brief escape from the growing crowd, I felt ready to face the official celebration. Everything before this had just been a warm-up.
Desire kindled in Nate’s gaze as he took me in. He wrapped a brawny arm around my shoulders to pull me close to him. I closed my eyes and leaned into his kiss. He felt more relaxed now. Less rage simmering beneath the gentle exterior. But I knew if anyone ever threatened me again, the grizzly would be back in an instant.
“Orion is locked away and on the tranquilizer,” he told me when he pulled back. “The guards have been carefully monitoring everyone else who’s arrived. I don’t think you need to worry.”
“I know you’re taking every step you can,” I told him. My stomach twisted. “Is it really necessary to lock Orion away? I mean, he hadn’t done anything really wrong yet. Maybe he never would have.”
“He tried to lie to us,” Nate said. “He let the rogues’ ideas get into his head. We can’t trust him. And I’m not wasting one of the guards I can trust following his every move.”
“Fair enough,” I said. But it still didn’t sit right with me, treating someone like a criminal for just thinking about taking the wrong path. Not much I could do about it right now, though. “And has Aaron turned up?”
Nate shook his head with a frown. “His idea of ‘night’ might be different from mine. I’m expecting him to show up soon.”
The twist in my stomach tightened. “If something happened to him—”
“Hey.” Nate tipped my face toward his and kissed my forehead. “You don’t need to worry about that either. I don’t know where he is, but I know if he were really hurt, you’d know it. You’re his mate. That connection will take time to grow, but if anything were really wrong, you’d feel it.”
Great. I could assume Aaron wasn’t on the verge of death, but there were so many ways his expedition could have gone just somewhat wrong.
I bit back my frustration and took Nate’s hand. “I guess we’d better get out there.”
Dinner was being served in the courtyard—a much less formal affair than the banquet at Aaron’s estate. I sat with Nate at a table at the head of the yard, Marco at my other side and West beside him. The empty chair where Aaron should have been sitting niggled at me. Alice caught my gaze from the other side of it and frowned in sympathy.
As attendants brought us plates of food, the other revelers moved from serving table to serving table. They stacked their own plates and then started eating standing up or sitting on the benches scattered around the fringes of the yard.
There were at least twice as many people as when I’d been out here before, but the atmosphere still felt subdued. The music playing had a slightly mournful sound to it even though the melody should have been lively. I guessed we all had too much on our minds.
While we ate, the other shifters also drifted past our table to make their greetings. A lot of them smiled more brightly at Nate than at me. Well, they’d known him a hell of a lot longer.
One elderly badger leaned his chubby hands on the edge of the table and fixed me with a beady stare. “Word is you’ve got special powers beyond compare,” he said. “Going to sort out all those rogues right quick, are you?”
Maybe I’d been a little hasty making that speech at the funeral yesterday. “I’m going to do my best,” I said.
“We won’t have any peace here until that poison is rooted out and destroyed,” he said with a firm nod.
The “poison” the entire rest of the shifter community had failed to destroy for the last sixteen years? Yeah, no pressure there.
The next group, a gaggle of lady voles, squealed over me and asked me to do a little shift for them to see. I brought my talons out of my fingers, and they cheered. I was feeling more welcome after they moved on—at least until a sharp-faced bear shifter ambled over.