Oh, my darling mate. Taking so much responsibility onto her shoulders, more than ever should have been hers. “Come here?” I said, giving her hands a gentle tug.
She got up and sidled around the table. I eased her onto my lap, where I could look her straight in the eyes with barely any distance between us. The press of her thighs straddling mine sent a warm wash of hunger through me, but I ignored it. I brushed a lock of her hair back from her cheek. Serenity gazed down at me with affection and a little hunger of her own.
“I told you before that I’ve sometimes felt like an outsider, both among the alphas and among my own kin,” I said. “I know what it feels like to wonder if you’re really what your people need, because they’re not entirely sure you are. But from what I’ve seen and been through, what matters most is simply that you are there, that you stand up for them in every way you can whenever you can. What all the kin need right now is something stable to hold on to. You can be that sure thing they look to.”
“You say that like it’s easy,” she said.
I chuckled. “I know it’s not. But you can do it. Stay steady. Find a balance between all the demands. You’ve got feline cunning running through your veins, as much as you’ve got avian grace and canine loyalty and a bear’s strength. This is what you’re made for.”
*
Ren
I bent my head even closer to Aaron’s. Emotions whirled inside me. “I don’t know,” I said. “I don’t feel all that balanced.”
“No?” he murmured, raising an eyebrow.
One particular emotion was rippling through me more insistently than the rest. I wet my lips. “No. In fact, all I seem to be able to think about right now is kissing you.”
My mate hummed an approving sound. “I think there’s a balance we can find there too.”
He traced his fingers over my cheek and met me halfway to his mouth. If this was his demonstration, I was all for the lesson.
His tongue teased over mine and I slicked mine over his in return. My body settled lower on his lap. The bulge of his cock brushed my core through our clothes, and suddenly that was all I could think about.
I kissed Aaron harder, raking my fingers into his hair. He kissed me back as he gripped my waist. With a gentle tug, he fit us together perfectly.
A whimper crept from my throat. I couldn’t help rocking against him, chasing the pleasure of that friction. Aaron groaned. He released my mouth to kiss a trail down my neck.
“Look at how easily we can fall into a rhythm,” he murmured.
“You’re my mate,” I said around a hitch of breath. “We’re meant for this.”
He stopped and eased back to meet my eyes. “And they’re your kin,” he said. “All of them. They are. You’re meant for them.”
My throat choked up abruptly. I leaned my forehead against his. “I missed you so much,” I said. “I know you were only gone for one night, but—”
“I know,” he said, his voice thickening. “When I was stuck out there by the rogue camp, the main thing that kept me focused was thinking of you, of keeping you safe from them. I expect it’ll be easier, after we’ve had more time together—”
“But not yet,” I finished for him. “Right now, I want everything.”
Desire darkened his clear blue eyes. “You can have it.”
Our mouths collided again with a hot, heady kiss. Aaron’s hands traveled up under my shirt to caress my breasts. I moaned into his mouth as he drew my nipples into harder peaks with each stroke of his fingers. My hips arched to meet his.
He pulled off my shirt and tossed aside my bra. Then it was his lips and his tongue teasing the tips of my breasts, one after the other.
Each nip and lick sent sparks of pleasure through me. I gasped, pressing into his embrace with a desperation I no longer felt embarrassed by. He experienced this need just as deeply as I did.
The pressure was building between my legs with a hot ache. I reached my hand between us to stroke it over his cock. Aaron’s breath stuttered against my skin. He tilted his hips to give me better access.
With a jerk, I released the zipper on his slacks. My fingers slipped under the fabric of his boxers to grip him skin to skin.
“Too much clothing,” I muttered.
Aaron gave a rough chuckle. “We could take care of that together too.”
I lifted myself over him so he could yank my jeans and panties down my thighs. I wrenched his pants down in turn. His hand dipped between my legs, his thumb circling my clit. I gasped again, riding his fingers. But that wasn’t what I really wanted to be riding.
I reached for his cock again. The way his expression softened with pleasure when I wrapped my fingers around it sent my own bliss spiraling even higher. I lowered myself onto him, moaning as he filled me.
“Serenity,” Aaron whispered, like a prayer. He thrust up into me, sending a deeper wave of pleasure through me. I rocked in time with his rhythm, the ecstasy building as fast as I could follow it.
We matched each other’s movements, setting the pace alongside each other. I didn’t know if he was completely right about my greater role, but this? This passion couldn’t have come more naturally to me.
My eagle shifter pulled me into another kiss. His hand returned to my breast, stroking it with each pump of his hips. I ran my hand down his chest as if I could grasp even more of the heat between us. The delicious burn inside me expanded, flooding all my senses.
I bucked faster, flying higher. Aaron thrust even deeper, and I plummeted over the edge into total bliss.
I kept riding him, my orgasm trembling through me, but it only took that sudden clenching to bring him past the point of no return too. He choked out a sound of release as he spent himself inside me.
I sagged against him, loving the feel of his hot, sweat-slick skin against mine. The salty, musky smell of him. He folded his arms around me, cradling me to him, and kissed my forehead.
“And any time you need another demonstration...” he said.
I laughed and hugged him tightly. I still wasn’t sure I was ready for whatever waited for us up ahead, but at least I’d be facing it with my mates.
Chapter 13
Ren
I’d already done the arriving at an alpha’s estate thing twice now. I shouldn’t have felt so nervous. But as the private jet touched down on the fringes of the feline kin property just south of Miami, my stomach balled into one huge knot.
It wasn’t just the new kin group I had to meet. It was the traitor we already knew was lurking among the prominent families. And maybe there was more than one. Orion hadn’t been all that involved with the rogues. There had to be plenty they hadn’t let him in on.
Marco had called a few of his estate’s security people ahead of time to meet us at the airfield. “They’ll give us the all clear when they’ve taken a thorough look around the perimeter,” he said.
West leaned back in his chair, his shoulders tensed. “And you’re sure we can trust them?”