Claiming His Need (10 page)

“Kaija.” Uuna’s voice had Kaija jumping and whipping her head to the left. “Gates is in need of new clothing. Why don’t you take him upstairs to get him one of Rex’s cloaks?”

“Yes, ma’am.” Kaija ducked her head, a flush on her sweet cheeks. I strolled onto the porch behind her, not at all uncomfortable. Kaija led the way up the stairs and down the hall in the opposite direction of her room. Eventually she opened a door to what appeared to be a walk-in closet filled with linens and cleaning supplies. Once we’d walked inside, I shut the door softly behind me. The tight space and nearness of my mate made my ever-present erection grow harder, something I probably should have been embarrassed about.
 

“You can look at me, you know.” My voice came out soft. I didn’t want to scare her; I wanted her to be comfortable around me, no matter what. She was my mate. Soon, I hoped, she would be intimately familiar with every inch of my body, as I would be with hers. There was no need to be embarrassed because of a little skin.

She took a deep breath, her back still to me.
 

“Kaija? There’s no reason to be embarrassed.”

She snorted a laugh. “I’m not embarrassed to look at you, Gates. I’ve grown up in this pack and seen naked men every day of my life.”

“Then why won’t you face me?”

“Because if I look at you, I’m going to want to kiss you. And if I kiss you, I’m going to want to throw you on the ground. And if I throw you on the ground, we will start our mating right here in this closet. Rules and danger and overhearing parents be damned. So please, put a cloak on before I lose control of myself.”

I came up behind her, looming over her shorter frame and brushing my cheek against the top of her head. “What if I want you to lose control?”

She whimpered, the sound going straight to my cock. I stepped forward, guiding her against a wooden shelving unit, pressing my chest along her spine and holding her in place.
 

“What if I want you to look at me? Would you do that? Would you get a good look if it was what I really wanted?”

Her hands came around to grip my hips, pulling me close, my erection pressing into the softness of her ass.

“Yes.”

“Then turn around, sweet girl. See me. Get your fill before we’re forced back outside by the responsibilities standing between us.”

She spun slowly, pressing her luscious body against my ever-hardening cock the entire way around. I growled low and long. Her touch made me burn with a desire so deep, it took everything in me to keep myself in check. Soon I would get to touch her. Soon I would get to taste her. Soon I would have my cock buried inside her wet heat. If I could only be patient.

When she faced me, I took a single step back. Then another. And finally, one more. I stood tall and proud before her, my feet planted shoulder-width apart and my hands on my hips. Her eyes roamed my face before she slid her gaze down my neck and over my chest. My abs. My hips. My cock.

Her look spoke of hunger, deep and dark and sultry. I knew her need. I felt it as well. And fuck, did I want to ease both of our suffering.

“You’re so beautiful.” Her words were a whisper, barely heard over our ragged breathing. She took a step toward me before reaching out with a tentative hand toward my aching erection.

“May I?”

The only response I could muster was a soft groan as her fingertip slid along the head of my cock.

“How is something so hard also so soft?” She continued down my shaft, her touch gentle and tentative.

“Oh hell, Kaija.” I bit my lip to hold back a howl as she wrapped her fingers around my length and squeezed. Her eyes met mine, all wide-eyed innocence with a hint of seductress peeking through.

“May I?”

This time I nodded, unable to make a single sound beyond the constant rumble in my chest. Her hand encircled my cock, gliding up and down along my length. I couldn’t take my eyes off the picture—her small, pale hand wrapped as far around me as she could reach, sliding, rubbing, twisting. Oh gods, the fucking twisting.

“Princess,” I gasped as she added her other hand to my length, the two working me in opposite motions. Never before had I enjoyed a simple hand job so much. Never had I been as turned on. I was about to embarrass myself in front of my mate, and I was loving every second of it.

Kaija continued to work my cock as she dropped to her knees. She edged closer, her bright red cloak fanning around her on the floor. When her ruby lips were mere millimeters from the head of my cock, she looked up at me with those big blue eyes, this time filled with pure sin.

“May I?”

I released a growled “Yes,” the only communication I was capable of. Thank the fates it was enough for her. In the next second, those bright red lips were wrapped around the head of my cock, sucking hard as her tongue teased the underside of the head. Deeper, faster, wetter…she pulled me in deep, all the while moving those goddamned hands around my cock in a rhythm that made me shudder. Minutes, hours, who cared—my mate was sucking my cock, and it was fan-fucking-tastic.

“Kai…I’m gonna…fuck.”

She increased the twisting of her hands around my shaft and pulled more of my cock into her mouth. I whimpered and shivered from my head to my toes, unable to stop myself from wrapping my fingers in her hair. Heat and wet and friction and the sight of my mate on her knees before me pushed me right over the edge. She felt so good, looked so much like a fantasy come to life. There was no stopping my pleasure. I came with a full-body shudder, my hands gripping her head, her name falling like a prayer from my lips.

She licked me from base to tip as I stood before her, shocked and blissed out and still shaking from the force of my orgasm. I’d come faster than a teenaged boy watching dirty movies for the first time. And though I probably should have been embarrassed by that fact, I wasn’t. My girl certainly didn’t seem to mind as she licked and suckled my softening cock. I whimpered when she finally released me, my skin missing her touch right away.
 

She gave me a wicked smirk. “Happy, mate?”

I merely nodded my assent as she rose to stand, all that red fabric hiding her body from me. She pressed herself against me, the fullness of her breasts teasing me from beneath her cloak. Soft. My girl was so fucking soft.

“And Gates?” Her breath blew across my lips as I leaned over her.

“Yes, princess?”

“When it’s my turn, I want you to know that my answer will always be ‘Yes, you may.’”

Gates held my hand all the way down the stairs on our return trip to the front porch. It was a sweet moment, a tiny bit of affection after such a lewd act. I still didn’t know what had come over me. Whether it was seeing him naked…so very naked…or being alone with him in that tiny, private space, or if it was another effect of my heat cycle, something had made me want to throw him on the floor and have my wicked way with him. For hours. Or days. So long as we were naked together, the duration wouldn’t matter. I craved his touch and his attention, and he seemed to reciprocate my desires.
 

He stepped in front of me at the door, opening it with a wide swing of his arm. I walked onto the porch with a smile. Gates smiled back at me, all blue eyes and full lips. I wanted those lips on mine. Wanted to feel the way they moved over my flesh. His cloak billowed around him as the breeze picked up. A pack cloak with our insignia on the sleeve, the dark maroon color to denote him as a mated wolf of the Wariksen clan. My mother glanced at the two of us, and a smirk spread across her face. She knew I’d chosen his cloak color intentionally. I may not have been able to have my Rites of Klunzad yet, but I was certainly going to let everyone know the man was mine. Unavailable. Taken.

Claimed.

“Kaija, can you please let Collette know we will need the far west cabins opened for our new guests? These gentlemen will be tracking the nomads and would prefer to stay out of the main camp.”

“Of course, Mother.” I glanced at Gates, but he wasn’t looking at me. His eyes were focused over my head at the group on the grass out front. And he was glaring.
 

“I would prefer if she didn’t go alone.” Gates’ voice rumbled from his chest, deeper and darker than normal.

“Collette and Dante live just beyond the tree line.” My father pointed to where the peak of the cabin my brother and his family shared was visible through the pines. “We’ll be able to see her the entire way. And our guards are stationed around the property. No one will get close to her, young Gates.”

My father’s voice held an edge of Alpha, making his request feel more like a command. Gates stared at him for a moment before dropping his gaze to meet mine.

“Be quick.”
 

I shivered under my cloak at the steel in his voice. That was not the look of a happy man. I had no idea, though, what had happened to make him so angry since we’d walked outside.
 

With a nod and one final squeeze to his hand, I left Gates on the porch and descended into the crowd. One by one, the men stepped out of my way, though slowly and with more effort on my part than normal. I heard Gates’ growl as I pushed through the crowd but didn’t look back. Something in the air was making me anxious, and I wanted to get away as quickly as I could.

It took nearly thirty minutes for me to walk to Dante’s cabin and deliver the message. It wouldn’t have taken so long but I couldn’t tell Luka no when he asked me to color a picture with him. And while thirty minutes wasn’t nearly enough time with my nephew, it was a long time to be separated from my new mate. At least, it seemed that way. I needed my mate, practically itched for his touch as I hurried down the path leading to the lawn of the Alpha house.
 

I crested the hill onto Alpha property, my eyes immediately scanning the yard for Gates. He sat with his friend, Sandman, and a large group of Breed and pack men. I grinned as the sunlight shone on his inky hair, bringing out blue highlights I hadn’t noticed before. So handsome. His eyes met mine as I walked across the grassy field. A wide smile bloomed across his face when he saw me heading his way. It was such an automatic response, such a natural reaction to seeing me that I nearly lost my breath. My eyes locked on his, both of us grinning like fools. A love story told in a single look.

I passed one of the guards on my way to reconnect with my mate, not realizing it was Chinoo until he spoke.

“You’re making a fool of yourself.”

I noticed Gates’ frown as I turned and glared at my packmate. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

He canted his head in Gates’ direction. “That biker trash over there. You’re walking around all googly-eyed and love-struck when he’s already refused you.”

My back stiffened, and I nearly hissed at him. “He did not refuse me.”

Chinoo laughed, deep and dark and absolutely infuriating. “Sure he did. The whole damn pack knows he didn’t come for you, even after you two felt the mating bond. All this ‘it’s only because of the danger’ crap is just that. Crap. Once those bikers get their leader back, they’ll ride off into the sunset, and you’ll still be waiting up on that balcony like a sad, lonely Juliet jilted by her Romeo.”

“You’re wrong.” I moved to leave, but he grabbed my arm and spun me around.

“Don’t walk away from me, Kaija. You’re beautiful, feisty, and you smell like sex from your upcoming heat. Almost every unmated wolf in this pack would give their right paw to fuck you right about now. And yet, he hasn’t bedded you yet, has he?” He leaned close and sniffed. “But every wolf over there knows what the two of you were doing when you were supposed to be retrieving a cloak for him. We can smell it on you. He’ll let you suck his dick, but he won’t mate with you. You’re just too stupid to see the truth; he doesn’t want you.”

I fought to hold his gaze, but something in mine must have betrayed me. He tightened his hold, bringing his face closer as his smirk turned cruel.

“He’ll tell you all the pretty words you need to hear, but in the end, his actions speak the loudest, don’t they? Good enough for a blow job in the closet, not good enough to bond with.”

I shrugged even as my heart cracked at the thought of being rejected. “Maybe he doesn’t want me. Maybe he’s just here to do a job and will walk away as soon as it’s over.” I jerked my arm out of his grasp and pinned him with my harshest glare. “But until that time, I’m going to treat him as a mate deserves to be treated. I’m going to smile at him and spend time with him. And every day, multiple times a day, I’m going to offer him pleasure. He is my mate, and I choose to treat him as such.”

Chinoo growled, his expression murderous. I ignored his growing temper and flipped my hair over my shoulder.
 

“Besides, pleasuring him”—I wiped the corner of my lips with my thumb and smirked—“is no hardship for me. He makes it worth my while when we’re alone. The man has seriously talented fingers. And his mouth! Sweet mother of nature, I could ride his face all day long and never tire of the feel of his tongue against me.” I sighed and smiled, selling the lie as well as I could, before scowling at him once more. “But what happens between my mate and me is none of your business. If he rode off tomorrow, I still wouldn’t lay with you.”

“Fucking whore,” Chinoo spat before he lunged. I dodged and spun, striking with my left leg as I planted my right. The kick connected exactly as I’d planned—a solid shot to the middle of the chest. Chinoo flew backward, past a smirking Gates and a chuckling Sandman.

“Everything okay over here?” Gates asked as he strolled to my side. I brushed a lock of hair out of my face and huffed.
 

“Peachy. I was just explaining to Chinoo here how what we do in the bedroom—or outside it, as displayed earlier today—is none of his concern.”

“I like your communication methods, princess. Very effective.” Gates leaned down and brushed a sweet kiss across my lips before pulling back to look me over.
You okay?
he mouthed. I knew I could say no. The way he stood blocking me from Chinoo spoke volumes. He was giving me the chance to ask for help without losing face in front of my packmate. One word on my part, and Gates would jump in to rescue me. And yet, I didn’t need his rescue. I’d taken care of Chinoo on my own, and I wanted to savor that feeling. So with a smile and a shrug, I nodded.