Every Dawn Forever (23 page)

He pushed his hands up underneath her shirt to touch the soft skin at her waist.  “Are you?”

She hummed in her throat and leaned forward, grinding her pussy against his cock.  “Oh yeah.  I can’t sit on this couch without thinking about the first time that you guys all went down on me.”

Her grin was infectious and he kissed her with a groan.  Her hands slipped into his hair and she angled his head and then deepened the kiss, dancing her tongue against his while her nails abraded his skull.

Their shirts hit the floor, followed by her bra.  He undid her shorts, shoving the material over her sweet ass before watching as she stood and wiggled them down her legs, along with her panties.  He had only enough time to shove his pants and shorts down to his knees before she was back in his lap, her lips plastered to his in a hard kiss that fired his blood.

He cupped the back of her head with one hand, fisting her thick hair lightly, as he trailed his fingers in slow circles around her body.  He touched everywhere but where she wanted him to touch, judging by the maddening groans she made each time he skimmed past her breasts without touching her nipples, or grazed the soft hair at the top of her pussy without finding out how swollen her clit was.  She began to shiver, her hips pumping against his cock, which lay trapped between them, and driving him wild.

Plumping one of her breasts, he left her mouth and latched his lips onto the tight bud, drawing it into his mouth with firm pressure.  She moaned loudly, her hands squeezing his shoulders reflexively as her body shuddered.  He lavished attention on the nipple, sucking and licking it into hard perfection, and then tended the other one in the same way.  Pulling away to look at his work, he smiled when he saw the reddened tips of her breasts, so firm and proud.  Then he looked up and saw her glazed eyes and the way she dug her teeth into her bottom lip, and he didn’t want to wait any longer.

She lifted her hips and sank down on his cock, making them both groan.  He rested his hands on her thighs, letting her set the pace as she lifted and lowered herself.  He leashed his control, ignoring the desire to throw her down onto the couch and fuck her senseless.  He liked when she took initiative, wanting to encourage her to follow her instincts and share her desires with them.  Her body glistened with sweat as she moved on him, her breasts bouncing and her teeth digging into her lower lip.

He ground his teeth together, trying to ignore the orgasm that tingled at the base of his spine.  She was just too hot and too tight, and the knowledge that she already carried their child was just icing on the fantastic cake of their mating.  With a low growl, she leaned back, resting her hands on his knees and baring herself for him.  He answered her growl with one of his own, sliding his hand to her pussy and rubbing her clit with his thumb.

“Oh, Orion,” she moaned, her head tipping back as she moved her body on his, “just like that.”

He pressed his other hand into the small of her back, bringing her onto his cock faster and harder as it began to twitch with his impending orgasm.  He bit the inside of his cheek, fighting to hold back until she came first.

Her hips twitched sideways when he rubbed his thumb on one side of her clit and he grinned, returning to the spot and rubbing hard and fast.  She leaned forward and wrapped her arms around his neck, moving her body against his with panting cries, his name on her lips in a nearly breathless chant.  Her pussy locked down on his cock as she cried out his name and scraped her nails into his shoulders and he grabbed her hips and fucked her hard until he finished a few strokes later with a gruff shout.

Relaxing back against the couch with a groan, he wrapped his arms around her and rubbed his hands up and down her back as she trembled and breathed hard.  He felt her lips touch his throat and she whispered, “I love you, Orion.”

“I love you, too, Syd.”

Several hours later, after they’d lounged on the couch naked and watched six episodes of The Simpsons and then had lunch, Azrael sent him a text asking if he could borrow a suitcase.

“So what’s the deal with this hyena get-together thing?”  Syd asked, peering over his shoulder as he dug through a closet in the spare bedroom for the rolling suitcases that they stored there.

He pulled a huge suitcase from inside the walk-in closet and tossed it onto the bed.  “They’ve been going on for a long time.  At first, it was something that
baros
did.  They would gather once every few years in a central location so that their unmated children could find mates.  Back in our grandparents’ generation, hyena females didn’t have a choice in who they mated, and their parents often picked the clan that they would mate into.”

She hopped up onto the bed as he unzipped the extra large soft-sided suitcase.  “Like an arranged marriage?”

“The hyena version, yes.  Our grandmother’s parents tried to arrange a mating for her, but she wouldn’t hear of it.  She threatened to move away from the
baro
and mate a human male, and they let her choose her own mates.”

He flipped open the top of the big suitcase and found the smaller rolling one that he was looking for.  After unzipping it and taking out two small duffel bags, he set it on the bed behind Sydney and began to repack the duffels into the larger case.

“Sometimes I think parents really do have the best intentions in cases like that, but then there are those that are selfish and only look out for themselves.”

He leaned over and kissed her.  “I can’t promise that I’m not going to want to have a say in who our future daughters end up mating, because I’ll definitely want them to choose the most loving, kind mates that they can.  But I do promise not to be an ogre about it.  You know, as long as they wait until they’re at least thirty before they start dating.”

She laughed.  “Just how many daughters do you plan on having?”

After stowing the big suitcase back in the closet, he grinned at her.  “However many you want, sweetheart.”  He pulled her to her feet and hugged her, dropping his head to the crux of her shoulder where he placed a soft kiss.  “And I know they’ll be gorgeous just like their mom.”

The front door opened and Azrael called for him.  “Coming, Az,” he called back, snagging the suitcase off the bed and rolling it behind him as he and Syd headed to the living room.

“You sure you guys don’t need more than the one suitcase?”  Orion asked as he stopped the case in front of Azrael.

“Yeah.  Mine was the only one that got trashed when we flew down to Gorge for the Fourth of July.  Thanks for the loaner.”

“You’re welcome.  When are you guys leaving?”

Az leaned his back against the door and crossed his arms.  “Tomorrow after the party is over.  We’re flying into Philly and taking a rental car to the
gathering
.”

“You sound so thrilled to be going,” Orion said with a laugh.

“I’m feeling a little jaded.”

“You’re only twenty-five.  Way too young to be jaded.”

Snorting, Az said, “I guess because the last
gathering
was such a bust, I’m not expecting this to be any different.  But Ma wants us to go because she’s worried that we’ll never settle down with a mate and give her grandkids.”

Orion knew that guilt trip well.  His mother had been lamenting their lack of a mate since they turned eighteen.  “I hope that you guys find a mate at the
gathering
.”

Azrael smiled and shrugged.  “If we do, that’s great, but if not then we’ll find her eventually.  Fade is certain that the female for us is out there somewhere and we just haven’t been in the right place at the right time.”

Sydney leaned her head against Orion’s shoulder.  “You sound as if you don’t believe in truemates.”

“I do, but I don’t necessarily believe that we’ll go to a party in the woods for a few days and just magically happen to find our mate.  I mean, really.  What are the odds of that happening?”

Orion looked down at Sydney.  He would have thought the same thing about bus stations a few months ago.  Now he believed in miracles.  “Good luck to you guys,” he stuck his hand out and Az shook it, promising to see them at the wedding party the next day.

Orion didn’t envy his cousins going to the
gathering
.  The thinking was that if enough hyenas got together from around the country, and assuming there were females that actually showed up, that some of them might end up mated.  In his opinion, just because they were hyenas didn’t necessarily mean they were going to find their fourth in a hyena.  He certainly wished his cousins good luck.  But like Orion and his own brothers, Azrael and his brothers didn’t care what their mate shifted into, if she shifted at all.  They just wanted to find the one perfect woman for them so they could start a family.

He didn’t have to worry about that anymore.  Sydney was theirs forever, and they were hers.  As the door shut, he brought her into his arms and kissed her soundly.

Chapter 19

Sunday morning, Sydney indulged her mates’ insistence that she wear a blindfold down into the den so that they could surprise her with whatever Sterling had been doing in the room on Friday.

Because of her fear of toppling ass over tea kettle down the stairs blindfolded, Orion carried her.  He put her down and held onto her shoulders.

“Are you ready for your wedding day surprise?”  Orion asked, touching the knot of the blindfold.

“Of course,” she promised.

“I don’t know,” Sterling said sternly, “you don’t sound very excited.”

She laughed and then went all girly and clapped her hands and jumped up and down a few times, shouting, “Give me my surprise!”

All three men laughed, and Crux said, “That’s super enthusiastic.  I think she’s ready now.”

The blindfold slipped off and she blinked a few times at the bright light, and then touched her hand to her mouth as she gasped.  What had once been a simple, wood-paneled office was now a nursery.  A thick round rug of navy and cream stripes was in the center of the polished oak floor.  The walls, which had been so dark before, were now painted a pale blue, with a border along the ceiling of baby animals.  And the only piece of furniture in the room was a rocking chair in the corner, tied with a large red bow.

“You guys…” she started, swallowing the lump in her throat at their sweet gesture.

“We all helped,” Orion said, kissing her cheek.  “I redid the floor and picked out the rug.”

Crux kissed her other cheek.  “I painted the ceiling and installed the ceiling fan and light fixture.”

Sterling cupped her face and kissed her lips.  “I did the walls.  And you almost caught me.  But anytime you want to interrupt me
that
way, please feel free.”

She laughed and felt her cheeks heat.

“I love it.  Thank you so much.”

They insisted she try out the rocking chair, and after watching her rock back and forth a few times, Orion said, “We’ll go pick out furniture together soon.  We didn’t want to do everything without you.”

She looked up into their smiling faces and thanked whoever was in charge of hyena matings that she was lucky enough to be the right girl for them.  They were incredibly special males, and she was one amazingly lucky female to be on the receiving end of their love.

* * * * *

Late Sunday afternoon, Sydney and her clan went to Dante’s home to get ready for the ceremony and party.  Alyssa stayed with her in one of the spare bedrooms while she dressed in a simple white short-sleeved dress.  She ran a brush through Sydney’s hair as she sat at the vanity in the bedroom.

“Nervous?”  Alyssa asked, twisting a section of hair at the side of Sydney’s head and pinning it.

“I shouldn’t be, because we’re already mated and everything, but yeah.  A little.”

Alyssa smiled at her in the mirror.  “I was nervous, too.  I don’t know what it is about the legal marriage, but it was scarier than the mating.  Which is kinda crazy when you think about it.”

Sydney did understand.  As Alyssa finished her hair, Sydney stood up and hugged her friend.

“Thank you for opening your home for us.  I’m so glad that we’ve become friends,” Sydney said, feeling tears sting her eyes.

Alyssa sniffled.  “Oh, don’t cry, you’ll get me crying.”  She laughed and reached for a box of tissues on the vanity.  “I’m glad we’re friends, too, Syd.  You’re such a sweet, amazing person.  It’s my honor to be your friend.”

“And my matron of honor.”

Alyssa beamed.  “I’ve never been one before, it’s so cool!”

She looked down at the rings on her fingers.  They’d told her that this ceremony wasn’t going to make them any more mated to her than they already were, but it was still important to her.  She wanted to be their wife in name, too.  To be Mrs. Sydney Stone, and to know that they would tell people that she was their wife.  They were such different men.  Orion, with his serious nature.  Crux who wanted to take care of everyone.  And Sterling who could punch a hole through a door but be tender enough to kiss her as if she were made of glass.  The rings they had given her were just as different as they were.  Orion’s had four strands of delicate gold woven together.  He told her that he felt as if they were finally a real family, bonded together and never parted.  Crux gave her a platinum band of swirled infinity symbols, promising that he was going to love her forever.  And Sterling’s white-gold band held four roses crafted of rose gold, one for each of them.