Wolf Moon, page 9
part #3 of Blue Mountain Wolf Pack Series
Another twang deep in her chest and she gasped as that invisible thing between them deepened, strengthened, and then felt like nothing at all.
Except now she could feel what Jacob was feeling. She would know where he was without even having to see him.
Sage knew then and there that their mate bond was permanent – accepted into their souls.
“I want you to claim me,” she told him, her words strong and sure. The flicker of his pleased response at the other end of their bond made her smile slightly. “I want you to claim me, just like you promised you would.”
When Jacob slid his pants and boxers down, his hard cock sprang free and Sage couldn’t help but sneak a look as he straightened.
They were barely an inch from each other. Nothing but her underwear between them. Sage reached for the fabric, but Jacob grabbed her hands – faster than the human eye could easily follow.
It made that pulse in her clit insistent and she ached for him in a whole new way that made her desperate and needy.
“Let me,” he murmured.
Jacob hooked his fingers into her underwear and the silver flashed. “How much do you care about these?”
Sage shrugged, not quite understanding.
Then he shredded them, tossing the fabric aside and her mouth fell open in surprise. Never had anyone been so savage with her, and Sage hadn’t expected to like it as much as she did.
The way he held her gaze, silver eyes glowing, hands on her hips, had her breathing hard, that ache between her legs pulsing and he’d barely touched her.
“You want to be my mate.”
It was a statement not a question, but she responded anyway. “Yes.”
“You want to become a wolf.”
“Yes,” Sage breathed.
Jacob took a step closer and his cock brushed against her stomach. Sage wanted him so bad it hurt.
“You want me to take you right now.” Jacob’s grip on her hips tightened ever so slightly and she could feel the intense need he had for her – a mirror to her own.
“I do.” Sage wanted him so badly she was about to take matters into her own hands if he didn’t hurry up already.
Before she could say so Jacob flexed his arms and lifted her up like she weighed nothing. The move was so quick and easy Sage gasped, wrapping her legs around his waist instinctually, his cock resting against her.
“And you want me to bite you while I’m inside you,” Jacob stated, words guttural and raw as he held her gaze the entire time.
“More than anything,” Sage admitted, wiggling against him in hopes he’d slide in, but Jacob had his arm around her waist, pinning her to him so she had no leverage whatsoever.
“It’s going to hurt,” he warned her.
That made her a little nervous. Sage didn’t like getting shots either, but she figured this was like a tattoo – worth the pain.
“I trust you,” she whispered, hands on his shoulders. Sage pressed up against him. If he didn’t take her soon, she was going to lose her mind.
Then he kissed her hard, holding her up with one arm while his other hand came up to hold her face so gently, she almost didn’t feel it at all. Jacob’s tongue licked her lips, slid into her mouth, and tasted her so thoroughly her entire mind went blank.
It was a desperate kiss, a claiming kiss.
She held on tight, letting him lead them through this, excited and nervous and so turned on she could feel her own slickness on her thighs. Sage would feel embarrassed if she had an extra brain cell to spare.
But Jacob was running the show and he didn’t give her time to feel weird.
A small movement lifted her up a bit higher, and that hand on her face trailed down her spine until she felt it guide his cock to her entrance. He entered her smoothly on a gentle exhale until they were as close as two people could physically be.
Sage used her arms on his shoulders to lift her own weight so she could ride him. It was slow and sensual and each time they came together, she felt that bubble building, faster and harder than before.
It was something about the way he guided her hips, pushing her down on him. It made Jacob hit the deepest part of her at the same time as he rubbed against her clit – all while standing with her in his arms like it was nothing.
Her nails dug into his shoulders as she held on, legs quivering, and right on the edge.
“Faster,” she whispered into his ear. Each thrust pushed her further and further over the edge until she was just barely hanging on. “I want you to come with me,” she told him.
Jacob moved, slamming her against the wall, hands on her hips, driving into her with a frenzy she understood completely. Sage held on tight as her orgasm started slow and then tore through her with that same frenzy.
She closed her eyes and bit down on his shoulder, so she didn’t scream in a house full of shifters. Sage tightened her hold on his waist with her legs, entire body pulsing with the force of the orgasm as she milked him.
Then Jacob snarled, an animalistic sound that had her right on the edge again. His teeth pierced her skin a second later at the same time he thrust into her and she gasped as the pain flared and then died.
It didn’t hurt as much as she thought it would, but the sensation of his sharp teeth piercing the flesh of her throat at the same time his cock pierced her sent her into a second orgasm that had her spiraling out of control.
Sage couldn’t contain her scream this time as she felt broken apart and remade in a single second.
The pleasure suffused her entire body as Jacob held her up, holding on tight as she blinked.
The sensation of something zinged through her veins and Sage felt it change her anatomy – her very DNA.
When she opened her eyes, she licked her lips, smelling something strange yet very familiar. Sage could smell the mate bond thick and heavy between them.
“Your eyes are glowing silver,” Jacob told her, kissing the tender spot where he’d bitten her. “I didn’t think it was possible, but you’re even more beautiful, my little wolf.”
Sage smiled. She was a wolf.
18
Sage
They spent the entire rest of the day making love to each other. Sage wasn’t interested in dealing with other people unless absolutely necessary. She wanted to enjoy her mate while she could and get used to the new world.
Bonnie was right, she felt itchy.
It had to be the full moon being so close, because Sage wanted to scratch her skin off her body.
Everything else though was amazing. She could see perfectly at a distance she hadn’t thought could ever be physically possible without binoculars. And it wasn’t just the sight, but the sounds and smells painted a picture in her brain that turned everything from three dimensional into four dimensional.
It was as though she’d been living her entire life in shades of grey and Jacob’s bite was a pair of glasses that allowed her to see in color.
Sage stared up at the trees, camera in her hands, but she didn’t feel the urge to take a picture. It wouldn’t be as beautiful as what she could see with her eyes, but she’d get used to it eventually.
“How are you doing?” Amelia asked, bringing out a plate of snacks.
The wraparound porch was something else. It was massive and had its own outdoor kitchen plus plenty of space to lounge and hang out with a fire pit and various seating options. It was very L.A. in the middle of the mountains in Sage’s opinion.
“I’m adjusting,” she said, eyes tracking a bird in the sky before she even realized that’s what she was doing. “I don’t feel the cold the same anymore.”
All she had on was a sweater and some gloves. Sage felt as though her coat and scarf might be too much with the sun shining as it was.
She closed her eyes and breathed deep, filtering the scents she knew with those she didn’t. So much was new to her, but it hadn’t taken long to find the scents that marked each of them.
Jacob stood out like her own personal lighthouse in a dark and stormy night.
“I don’t really know how to tell you what this means to us,” Amelia said, staring down at her hands. “I’m not great with expressing myself, or so I’m told. But Kai and this place have become my whole world. I would fight and die for it in a heartbeat. Knowing that you’ll be joining us as a wolf…it gives me a tiny bit more hope.”
The Alpha female of the pack, Jacob had told her.
Sage didn’t feel the urge to look away when Amelia met her gaze, but she assumed there was some other kind of magic that wasn’t currently in play for that.
“I know how you feel,” Sage told her.
“You’re taking this all really well,” Amelia admitted, sounding a tiny bit jealous if Sage’s new hearing was right.
“Everyone keeps saying that,” Sage said with a sigh. “But I just…trust my instincts, I guess. It’s not hard to make a choice when you feel a thousand times better than you did before.”
Amelia nodded. “I guess that was part of my problem. I don’t trust my instincts at all, but I’m working on it. It’s gotten a lot better thanks to Kai and the therapist he introduced me to. Shane told me the doctor really helped him with his OCD and PTSD, so I took the chance.”
Sage looked at Amelia in surprise. “I would never have guessed. You have so much confidence, at least from what I’ve seen.”
Amelia snorted. “Yeah, now. But I had a hard time accepting my feelings for Kai. My ex-boyfriend was a real asshole.”
“I get that.” Sage sighed as the memory of that dare resurfaced, but it stung less this time. “So, are we expecting them to interrupt the celebrations? When do we shift exactly?”
The Alpha female of the pack shifted her stance slightly and Sage felt the Alpha magic as Jacob liked to call it. “Kai said as soon as the moon hits the night sky. So, at moonrise. The first shift is involuntary, but after that we’ll be able to shift at will. As for the Cascade pack…”
Sage shivered.
“Too many unknowns. They could come to our get together and ask for some kind of alliance, or they could deliver a threat. There’s also the likelihood that they’ll forgo both those options and attack. Kai suspects they might try at moonrise when we’re all distracted and at our weakest. I’d be able to protect myself now, but mid shift?”
Sage hadn’t thought of that. The idea made her nervous. “What do the wards do?”
Shane, Kai, and Alexander came out of the house with platters of meat and Sage could smell exactly what it was, and every spice used. Her mouth watered.
“They explained to me that the wards keep shifters from changing forms once on the land, but it excludes pack magic. Everyone in the pack can shift at will, including you since you were turned by Jacob.” Amelia squinted at Sage. “Does that make sense? Like, the magic is passed on to you through him.”
The whole magic thing was still really hard to wrap her head around. “To be honest, I barely understand the shifter thing, let alone magic, but I kind of get it,” Sage admitted. “The wards recognize me as one of you because of him. Okay, so what else do they do?”
“They keep out humans, witches, and demons,” Bonnie said, bringing her and Amelia glasses of wine. “Shifters get stuck in one form because if they kicked out shifters that would include us. From what Shane has told me, they’re working on each shifter being ‘programmed’ into the magic. Like ravens are kept off our land just like witches, but again it’s complex.”
“How do you bring guests onto the property?”
Bonnie shrugged, huffing a little as she took a sip of her wine. “It’s really complicated and confusing, and I am pretty sure Kai and Shane barely understand it. They’re not witches. They just know some from the coven in Portland.”
A coven? Demons?
Sage was way out of her element. The more she learned about the paranormal world the more she didn’t understand. As she looked out at the land and the trees in the distance though, she knew this she could do. Being a wolf, being a part of this pack and family, protecting this land – this safe place, and loving Jacob?
She could easily do all that. The rest of it she would leave to the Alphas.
“The festivities won’t be as big and exciting as they could be,” Amelia told her, watching the tree line with narrowed eyes. “But we’re going to eat good food and then go on a run through the property at moonrise. Maybe next year we can have an actual party.”
“The felines do a barbecue every year on the Fourth of July, or so I’ve heard,” Bonnie said. “They invite all the prides. We could do something like that. Or some kind of fancy party like the witches do for Samhain. They have a harvest ball and everything.”
“They do a ball?” Amelia asked, red eyebrows raised in surprise. “How do you know?”
“Shane is friends with that witch, Morgan, remember?” Bonnie told her.
Sage was content to listen to the two of them talk and bicker good naturedly. She could hear the twins in the house doing much the same about the chili they were making and whether they should make regular cornbread, honey cornbread, or both.
Then Liam suggested cornbread muffins and the arguments started all over again.
It made her smile when Jacob butted in that they didn’t need three kinds of cornbread as he worked on his famous cranberry brie pull-apart bread. Jacob was so proud of his bread and Sage thought it was the most adorable thing ever, but now that she could smell it cooking, she had to agree. It smelled to die for.
Olivia chimed in with a vote for honey cornbread as she worked on the apple dumplings from scratch. She’d told Sage her grandmother had taught her how to make them – and apparently the apples were from one of the trees on the property.
All this…it was home. This was what she’d been looking for.
Even if it was in danger, even if she’d just discovered it, Sage wasn’t going to let all of this disappear or be taken from them.
“What did you do before you came to La Grande?” Bonnie asked, refocusing Sage’s attention.
“I worked in the film industry,” Sage admitted. “But I didn’t like it very much. Photography has always been a hobby, though I don’t want to turn that into a job either. I like working as a waitress.”
It might not be a glamorous job, but Sage felt fulfilled. She may never want to do more and that was totally fine with her.
“Wow, the film industry.” Amelia frowned, but Sage was quickly learning that Amelia’s facial expressions were different than most people, but it wasn’t hard to pick up on and even easier now that Sage could scent her. Amelia tended to frown whenever she was thinking. “That must have been pretty wild. Are famous people terrible?”
“A lot of them are,” Sage admitted with a laugh. “But some of them are nicer than the average human by far.”
“I’m nervous,” Bonnie suddenly blurted out. “Do you think it’s going to hurt?”
The conversations around them died down a little, but no one interrupted or tried to give them their experience.
“I’m nervous too,” Amelia whispered, glancing over her shoulder at Kai. “But I think it’ll be like a Band-Aid. Just rip it off and then everything will be fine.”
Sage glanced over at the Alpha, his Second, and Alexander. The three men were careful not to look at them as they turned the meat on the grill, talking about how cooked they should make it.
It was adorable how supportive they wanted to be without interfering.
But Sage wasn’t nervous. If anything, she couldn’t wait for moonrise. For some reason she yearned for that second form. She had a feeling it would be more natural to her than her human body.
All her life she’d been awkward and uncomfortable. She hadn’t succeeded at being a human – not really. She was good at her job, but everything else? Sage was usually too shy to talk to anyone outside her job, and that got lonely.
Her apartment was depressing, and despite her work friendship with Heather, she didn’t have anyone to spend time with outside of work.
Up until now her whole life had been lonely, always on the outside looking in, too shy to make any real connections.
But under the moon she would be a part of a pack that had accepted her without question. She would be one of them, and a wolf just like Jacob. It would be something she could share with him, something she might even excel at.
“I can’t wait,” Sage murmured, staring up at the sky and willing the hours to go faster. “Imagine how fast we’ll be, how strong.”
Both Amelia and Bonnie looked up, marking the position of the sun.
“Let’s get some food,” Amelia finally said. “We’re going to need all the fuel we can get.”
19
Jacob
Sage was something else. He couldn’t be prouder of her if he tried and she made it so easy. His senses told him she was content, at peace, and excited. She was ready for what was to come.
Jacob didn’t think anyone was as prepared as her, maybe not even the Alpha. It was like she’d accepted all possible outcomes and was completely fine with it. He didn’t know how she did it.
Kissing the side of her neck, where the claiming scar was, centered him. Jacob breathed deeply, filling his nose and mind with her. Everyone else was nervous including him, except maybe the twins.
Liam and Noah smelled a lot like Sage did – determined.
He couldn’t figure out exactly what it was, but maybe it was just like the twins had said – the submissives knew what they wanted and what they had to do. As Alpha, Kai had to protect them all. Every choice he made affected the entire pack.
Jacob didn’t envy him the position.
The weather was nice enough they ate outside under the lights Alexander had strung up at some point. The chatter and laughter wasn’t forced or fake despite knowing every moment that passed brought them closer to moonrise.
Bonnie smelled the most anxious, but Shane kept talking to her in soothing tones and Jacob smiled at that. The Second had very little patience for most things in life, including his own OCD, but for Bonnie he had all the time in the world.
