A Bleacke Wind (Bleacke Shifters Book 3) Read online

  Once he had her shorts and panties off her, he settled between her legs and buried his face in her pussy.

  He managed a low, rumbling growl. “Come for me, mate,” he silently ordered.

  * * * *

  Dewi couldn’t have refused Ken even if she’d wanted to. The first orgasm swept through her like a tsunami with Ken’s tongue and lips eagerly, skillfully working her body.

  She loved it when he got like this, she wouldn’t deny it. Yes, she could still snap him like a dried twig if she wanted to, but she didn’t want to. She wanted him to take control like this from time to time.

  Especially when stress threatened to overwhelm her. It seemed she’d been more easily able to deal with crushing worries before she’d met him, able to detach and coldly take out her frustration on an exercise machine—or Beck, either in bed or the workout room—without it reaching her core.

  Not now. Ken had opened her soul in ways she never realized were possible.

  That also meant a vulnerability she’d never felt before. A good kind of vulnerability, but one she still struggled to incorporate into her life after years of independence and keeping both emotional and physical walls up against the entire world.

  Trusting her instincts had kept her alive this long.

  Life now meant trusting herself to let go to this man who the Goddess had led her to. Dewi had never been much of a spiritual person before, but it seemed Fate was real, touching a finger to her life in ways she’d ignored before.

  Her own survival of the attack as a baby. Meeting Ken. Beck meeting Nami, and being able to intervene and save Malyah’s life and keep Da’von from falling into a life of crime like their father.

  Hell, looking back farther, Badger survived the attack that took his own mate, and he played a crucial role in raising her.

  Fate.

  The Goddess.

  The blessed Universe or whatever someone wanted to call it.

  She didn’t care. Heaven was here, with this man, and with all the delicious things he could do to her body, heart, mind, and soul.

  And she’d enjoy every second of it.

  He made her come a second time before he rose up, his cock easily sliding inside her. When he crushed his lips onto hers again, she tasted herself on him, loving that about him, that he’d quickly grown throughout this process, too. Learning things about himself.

  He slipped his hands under her shoulders, his tongue plunging into her mouth. “Hold on to me.”

  She lightly raked her nails down his back as she encircled him with her arms. He picked up the pace, harder, faster, driving her toward what she knew would be one last climax before they both collapsed for the night.

  Ken could read her body every bit as well as she’d learned to read his. He slowed down, still thrusting hard and deep, timing it as she drew closer to that invisible ledge. With his body rubbing her in exactly the right ways, she rocked her hips in time with him.

  So, sooo good.

  When she felt her release start, he let out another of those little growls and sped up, faster, finishing with her before falling still and gentling his kisses.

  He rested his forehead against her chest. “Please tell me we can sleep late tomorrow morning.”

  She stroked his back. “As late as you want.”

  “Good.”

  He took his time rolling off her. Once he did she pulled off her shirt and bra before snuggling in his arms again with the comforting feel of his breath brushing against her scalp.

  “Thought you didn’t want to move,” she gently teased.

  “I didn’t honestly think I had the energy in me. You do crazy things to me, sweetheart.”

  She smiled. “Not as crazy as the things you do to me. Love you.”

  “Love you, too.”

  As his body relaxed, his breathing slowing, deepening almost immediately, she closed her eyes. He was asleep in less than a minute, exhaustion taking him.

  Part of her wanted to get up, throw open the cabin’s back door, let out a howl in response to the faint howls she could hear nearby in the compound, and then shift and run with the pack.

  The rest of her knew there’d be time for that this week and didn’t want to move. Not when she felt sweetly sated and was so comfortably snuggled in Ken’s arms.

  Closing her eyes, she soon followed him into sleep.

  Chapter Five

  When they were alone in their guest cottage once more, Nami breathed a huge sigh of relief.

  Beck pulled her into his arms. “What was that for?”

  “What do you mean what was that for?”

  He arched an eyebrow at her.

  “Dawson Beckett, you can’t tell me you weren’t at least a little concerned about introducing me to everyone tonight.”

  “I can tell you that, because I wasn’t.”

  She leaned back to look at him. “Seriously?”

  “Seriously. Why were you worried?”

  “I don’t exactly fit in.”

  “You’re really having trouble accepting the whole ‘mate’ thing, aren’t you?”

  “I just don’t want there to be any trouble.”

  “Babe, you’re my mate. There won’t be any trouble of any kind. You are, by default, accepted by everyone in the pack. And so is your family. It wouldn’t matter if you were white, black, Hispanic, Asian, purple, or Republican.”

  That finally drew a smile from her. “I am Republican. You know that.”

  “And see? I still love you!”

  She stared up into his blue eyes, that playful smile of his that always melted her.

  For a brief moment, she wondered what their babies might look like, if they’d have his blue eyes.

  She shoved that thought right the hell out of her mind.

  His smile dissolved. “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing.”

  “You thought something. What was it?”

  “It was silly.”

  “Apparently not, based on your reaction.” He gently caught her chin and made her look him in the eye.

  She knew she might as well admit it, because he wouldn’t give up until she did. “You’re forty-nine. I’m thirty-eight. We’re both too old to be thinking any silly thoughts about babies.”

  “Uh, I’m still really young for a wolf. And you’re a wolf’s mate, meaning your biological clock has reversed somewhat.” He pulled her tightly against him. “If you absolutely never want any kids, I understand. But don’t think we can’t have them, because we can, if you want.”

  She rested her palms against his chest. “I done raised three kids. I don’t know if I want to raise any more.”

  “This isn’t something we have to decide tonight.” He cupped one hand around the nape of her neck and the other against her ass, pressing her body against his.

  She couldn’t help but feel the stiff shape of his cock through his shorts.

  “Now, baby,” he whispered, “would you like to debate this topic, or would you like me to take your mind off everything going on this week?”

  That was a no-brainer. She tipped her face up toward his, sighing with pleasure when he kissed her. His kisses—and pretty much everything else he did to her with his mouth—could easily take her mind off anything troubling her.

  Heck, it could blow her mind clean away.

  Case in point, his kisses so thoroughly distracted her that it wasn’t until she felt the bed against the back of her legs that she realized he’d been slowly steering her into the bedroom.

  When he lowered her to the bed as if she weighed absolutely nothing, he smiled that smile again, the mischievous one, the soul-melting one.

  Clasping one of her hands in his, he brought it up to his lips, feathering them across her palm before pressing it against his roughly stubbled cheek. “You’re my life and soul,” he said. “Do you honestly think, if I’d had any doubts about the pack accepting you and your family, that I would have brought any of you here?”

  She let out a nervous brea
th. “No, I don’t suppose you would have.”

  “Do you trust me?”

  Of course she did. With her life, and with the lives of her siblings. “Yes.”

  He nuzzled her palm. “Then relax and let your man love you.”

  Somehow, he effortlessly got them both naked. She wasn’t sure how, because she was way too distracted by the things he kept doing to her, the way his lips and fingers caressed her flesh and nearly made her forget she’d even had a life before the day he first stepped onto her bus.

  That was how Dawson Beckett made her feel every time she was close to him. Not even just in bed—any time.

  And he made her feel like she was the only woman in the world, the only one he’d ever touched.

  Nothing in her life had prepared her for the totality of Beck’s love and devotion, the way his heart eclipsed everything else, drawing her in. A few months ago, if anyone had told her some crazy white boy on her bus would end up being her husband, she would have given them serious side-eye before backing away from them.

  Much less the wolf stuff.

  Miracles did happen. This man now kneeling between her legs was proof of that.

  When he bent his head to her mound, she buried her fingers in his hair and held on tight, her heart racing at the throaty growl he let out in response. He loved it when she did that, dug her nails in, anything physical.

  She loved how he wrapped his arms around her legs and held on as he went down on her and made her come twice for him, the contrast of his light flesh against her deep brown skin, the way his entire body felt like warm, living granite. She might be a big girl, but he was real and solid and for the first time in her life, he made her feel delicate and vulnerable in all the good ways, physically and emotionally.

  He opened his eyes and looked up at her, his face still between her legs, his tongue flicking against her clit in a playful staccato that drove her up to the edge again. She knew this game well now. Her breath quickened, pulse racing, knowing this time he wouldn’t let her come. He would get her close, make her beg for it, nearly drive her mad with need before he’d fuck her.

  And that’s exactly what he did, his smile telegraphed by the way the outer corners of his eyes narrowed, amused, until she finally gasped. “Please, do it!”

  In one fluid motion, he sat up and buried his cock inside her, arms braced on the bed on either side of her head, his blue gaze piercing right through her.

  “Who do you belong to, baby?” he asked.

  She held onto his arms, unable to rip her gaze from his. “You.”

  “Whose mating mark is that in your flesh?”

  “Yours.”

  He leaned in, his body perfectly hitting all the right places with every thrust. “Who does every inch of your sweet body belong to?”

  It felt like her heart would somersault right out of her chest. “You!”

  He leaned in, his lips closing around her right nipple, flicking it with his tongue and pulling more gasps of pleasure from her before he moved to her left nipple and repeated the treatment. She felt it when he changed pace again, shifting his hips to a slightly different angle.

  “Fair warning if you ever do decide you want kids,” he hoarsely said, “You and I will take several weeks off, and I’ll spend every waking moment I can with my cock buried inside you, filling you until you’re pregnant. And then I’ll spend the next nine months after that spoiling you rotten.”

  Her heart twisted in a good way, and for a moment, all she wanted to do was make him fulfill that promise right then. He already spoiled her rotten. She could only imagine what a doting father he’d be.

  Raising her siblings after they lost their mom had been a struggle, a sacrifice in every sense. Giving up college and going to work, living in shitty government-subsidized housing, giving up free time and a life to make sure they were fed and clothed and doing their homework.

  And she’d do it all again, too, to ensure they had a good life.

  But damn, it would have been a hell of a lot easier with a good man and a fat bank account. Naturally, before Beck, she’d rarely thought about having kids of her own. Other than a brief marriage that ended in divorce years earlier, she hadn’t had a man. She’d finally reached a point in her life—as had her siblings—where she could finally breathe and relax.

  A slow smile filled his face. “You’re thinking about it, aren’t you?”

  She licked her lips. “Maybe,” she whispered. “It’d be hard to explain to them, though.”

  “Who?”

  “The kids.” That was how she frequently referred to her siblings.

  “Why would it be hard to explain?” Somehow, the man could talk and fuck without missing a beat in either department.

  “You don’t see a problem here?”

  He kissed her, short-circuiting her brain again, especially when combined with how well he was fucking her. Then he rested his forehead against hers. “If you ever want to have a baby, then that’s all you need to say, and I will deal with everything else. Understand?”

  How could she argue with that? She damn well couldn’t argue with anything at the moment. Not with how close he had her to the edge again.

  Beck had changed her world for the better. He was a miracle, and if he said he’d handle it, then he would.

  “Yes.”

  “Then come for me, baby.”

  Her eyes fell closed as her body responded, giving him what he wanted. A pleased growl escaped him as he quickened his pace, finally falling still inside her as his own climax swept through him.

  Lips on hers again, kissing her, taking her away from the world into one where only they existed. With his arms wrapped around her, he rolled onto his back, taking her with him, still joined together.

  As he nuzzled his head against hers, he whispered, “All you have to do is trust me, mate. I will take care of you. I promise.”

  On that note, she crashed into an exhausted sleep full of delicious dreams.

  Chapter Six

  Late the next morning, after a large family breakfast at Peyton’s house, Beck, Nami, and Badger headed to Spokane to pick up Nami’s family.

  Dewi and Ken took the little Honda and went for a drive in the compound.

  Despite what he’d seen on the Google Earth previews, Ken hadn’t been ready for the compound’s rugged beauty. The higher elevation and the cooler, dry, pine-tinged air was far different than he was used to in Florida. The mountains both surrounding and running through the pack compound almost appeared to be standing guard.

  “Why wouldn’t someone in the pack want to live here?” he mused aloud as Dewi drove them around and played tourist guide.

  “I guess if you grow up here it’s different,” she said. “Like I can’t imagine anyone wanting to live anywhere but Florida all year round.”

  “It’s a matter of perspective, huh?”

  “Exactly.”

  “So how are we going to keep Nami’s family from finding out about the wolf stuff?”

  “We might not be able to despite everyone already having been warned. Her family are the only ones in attendance at this Muster who aren’t clued in. Peyton, Badger, and I will make sure to have a final sit-down talk with them before they fly out next Sunday.”

  “And selectively Prime edit their memories, if necessary?”

  Dewi smiled. “You could say that. Meanwhile, once they arrive, we’ll somehow figure out how to place a Prime suggestion in their minds that everything and anything they see this week is completely normal and ordinary.”

  “At least this will be a relatively uneventful stay,” Ken said. “It’ll be nice being able to kick back and relax.”

  She let out a snort.

  “What?” he asked.

  “Pack business,” she said. “Peyton’s got a full agenda lined up for us for the next several days, of people who have petitioned for time with the pack council. It’s a Muster, meaning people have shit to bitch about.”

  “Like what?”

/>   “To settle disagreements, petty family arguments, things like that. Stuff that we can’t exactly take to the usual municipal small-claims courts, but it’s not worth sending an Enforcer to settle in person on behalf of the pack.”

  “Oh. Why didn’t anyone tell me that?”

  “Because you don’t have to be there. I mean,” she quickly added, “you can be there, if you want to be there. It’s boring as hell. I don’t even want to be there, but as head of the extended pack council, and as Head Enforcer, I have to be there. So do Badger and Beck. I figured you could help Nami and the others with the preparations for next Saturday. Or you can feel free to explore the compound, if you want.”

  No, he didn’t want to be stuck in stuffy meetings all week. While a few months ago he never would have dreamed he’d want to be anywhere but in a classroom and teaching, now he enjoyed being outdoors. He almost chafed when he had to spend more than a few hours at a time in his office now. Even if it was just walking the property with Dewi, or taking a mountain bike and riding the wooded trails behind her while she ran shifted, he was really starting to love the great outdoors. On his very first trip to Idaho, he’d like to at least see a little of it.

  “So, stupid question,” he started. “If there are going to be grievances aired, what are the chances of something bad happening this week?”

  She snorted again, sounding much like a wolf in this way. “Not very damn likely. There’s a better chance of Mother Nature dumping a few feet of snow on top of us.” She frowned. “Which, I was surprised to see on the weather this morning isn’t exactly out of the realm of possibility. Nami was right, we might get some early this coming week.”

  “I mean bad wolf-wise, not weather-wise.”

  “Still not very damn likely. Who in their right mind would try to start shit in a pack compound during a Muster in honor of the pack Alpha’s little sister’s wedding? The little sister who is not only a Prime Alpha, but the pack’s Head Enforcer, and head of the extended pack council?”