Surrounded by Secrets (9 page)

“So there are others like us?” Rob asked.

“Oh yes. And shifters of other animals as well. But we all have our own vices. The mountain lion shifters will mate with any available female. Bear shifters are much more aggressive when it comes to women, but they can be around unmated females. Wolf shifters are extremely territorial but loyal.”

He shifted and rubbed his head. “The day I met your mother was the day I felt alive. She was with an army of protectors, all mated, of course. And when I looked into her eyes, I just knew she was meant for me.

“I was working the field, and she came up to me. She introduced herself and asked if she could contact me. I couldn’t tell her no. Not because she was the future queen of our people but because in that moment, I knew I’d do whatever she’d ask of me for the rest of my life.

“We began an affair of the heart. We exchanged letters with the help of some family members and staff. She got me a job on the royalty’s official estate so we could see each other—not alone, never alone. But across the courtyard, by the pond, near the stables, wherever we could arrange accidental meetings.”

Lillian watched Jack as Thomas continued, the anger fleeing with each word his father spoke.

“The first time I ever touched your mother was the night we mated. We arranged it ourselves because it was what we both wanted. She picked me, and I will love her for all eternity.”

When Thomas didn’t continue, Jack asked, “So why not just tell us?”

Something dark flashed across Thomas’s face. “Because when her betrothed discovered what had happened, he tried to kill me. I, a man so beneath him, had succeeded in taking away something he felt belonged to him. But I was on my way to see your mother, and the vile man ended up killing my family instead. Your mother and I fled that night. She decided we’d live a life in solitude, away from the bureaucracy of her destiny, forge our own journey in life. She notified her family of her intentions, and then they really started hating me. Blamed me for brainwashing her, kidnapping her, whatever they could think of. But over the years, they finally learned to accept our decision. They never knew we gave birth to children until years after you were all born. They don’t even know where we live.”

“Then how was she able to maintain contact with your family?” Krista asked.

“That was my doing,” Jeffery said, and everyone turned to look at him. Lillian could see she wasn’t the only one gaping at him.

Thomas smiled. “Ah, yes. Jeffery is more than just a helping hand around here.”

Jeffery walked up and stood next to Thomas. “If I may?”

Thomas nodded at him.

“I was one of the people who delivered the letters between our fair Felina and Thomas and helped organize their accidental meetings and eventual joining. When they fled, I came with them and have facilitated communications ever since.”

“So you’re a mountain lion shifter, too?”

“Not exactly,” Jeffery said, a small smile playing at the corner of his lips. “I’m—how did you phrase it, Thomas?—extremely territorial but loyal.”

Lillian gasped, but the sound was echoed throughout the room.

“You’re a werewolf?” Mikaela shrieked. Okay, so maybe she and Josh didn’t know everything. Josh also had that stricken look his brothers were all sporting.

“Werewolves are myths. He’s a shifter,” Thomas said. “Jeffery comes from a pack of wolf shifters who have been guarding the royal bloodline for centuries.”

“So let me get this straight,” Jack said as he pinched the bridge of his nose and briefly squeezed his eyes shut. “Mom was supposed to be a queen, but she defied her obligation to mate with a specific man and chose you instead. You two mated. Her intended retaliated, and innocent people suffered. Then you fled for safety and serenity. Did I forget anything?”

“No, but now we come to the reason I had to discuss this with Josh a few months ago,” Thomas said. “The Lyons pride is a matriarchal society. Part of the reason your instinct is to wait for your mate to eat and always watch out for her is because you know inside that you must defer to her. You are the stronger one, the protector, but she is the leader.

“Your mother was destined to be the queen, the first queen in many years because several generations before her had given birth to sons. Having a female baby in the Lyons bloodline is something to rejoice and is very sacred. If no female is born, then the eldest son will reign in her place, but he will always and willfully defer to a female of Lyons blood.” Thomas sighed. “You see, if Mikaela and Josh give birth to a female, then it could change things. They should have the right to return to the royal estate. Not only is Josh Lina’s eldest son, which means he can rightfully take leadership now, but if he has a daughter, then he had a right to know what could come of that if he chooses to return to that life.”

“We all run the risk of having a daughter,” Toby said. “You should have shared this with us, too, Dad.”

“Probably so. Joshua has been encouraging me to do just that, so don’t blame him for not saying anything. But after what we’d discussed, I decided it was best to wait until Mikaela gave birth.”

“And what was discussed?” Rob asked, arms crossed.

“That I’m not going anywhere,” Josh snapped. “It doesn’t matter to me where we come from. It matters where we are now. Mom chose this life for us, and I intend to respect that decision and honor her wish.”

Mikaela leaned into her husband and said, “We agreed we’d revisit the matter if we gave birth to a daughter, but since the chances of that are very slim, there was no need to stress about it. As far as we’re concerned, this is our life.” Then she looked up at her husband. “My feet are aching. Can we take this conversation into the den so we can sit down and get comfortable?”

Josh kissed the top of her head. “Of course.”

Lillian followed alongside Jack to the den, where drinks were refilled and everyone got comfortable on the couch. The night was long and filled with stories that she’d never thought she’d ever hear in her life. If there weren’t times that Jack looked like a little lost boy trying to take in all this new information, she might have actually freaked out. But to her, everything was new anyway. She just sat down beside him and held his hand while the conversation continued, while the life he’d always known changed into something totally different. Being his rock.

His mate.

And knowing there was no other place she’d rather be than right here beside him.

Chapter Eight

Jack walked back to his cabin with Lilly next to him. He’d been holding her hand and couldn’t seem to let go, so he’d been relieved when she said she’d parked next to his cabin—he could hold on to her a little longer, draw from her strength.

His mind was swimming with all he’d just learned. Everything was so much more complicated than he’d originally thought, but now that he knew the truth, it was hard to stay angry at his father for not telling them all along about their true heritage. He could dwell on what his parents should have said a long time ago, but the truth was it was done. They’d made the decision not to say anything to them until a need to do so had come up, and they’d stuck to that decision. He might not have agreed with it completely, but he respected it.

When Lilly walked to the door of his cabin and not to the side where she’d parked her four-wheeler, he hesitated, his thoughts shifting to the present. God, he didn’t want her to leave. He hated her not being there the last couple of nights. But he didn’t want her to think he was just after her body. He forced himself to let go of her hand.

“I can see myself in,” he mumbled. “Good night.” He leaned down to kiss her cheek, but she turned her head at the last second, and their lips grazed.

Her tongue prodded his lips, seeking entry, and he opened on a groan. Oh, how he’d missed the taste of her. That devilish tongue rubbed across his, and he had to lock his knees to keep from crumpling. If only she knew how much he needed this. Needed her. He clutched her waist, and her cool fingers slid around his neck and into his hair as she deepened the kiss. He returned it with fervor, drinking from her as if he’d never get to do it again.

When she pulled back, he dropped his forehead to hers and tried pulling air into his burning lungs, his erection straining against his jeans. He couldn’t force her to come inside. He wouldn’t. He just had to find the strength to let go of her and think of that kiss as her way of saying good night to him.

“You know, I’d planned on seducing you tonight because I wanted you to fuck me.”

He moaned at her words and shifted, trying not to rub his cock against her. She wasn’t making this easy for him at all.

“Now I know you need it, too.”

“I need
you
, not it,” he rasped. He wanted her to understand that.

“That’s very noble of you, big guy.” She straightened and took his hand. “Follow me.”

She turned, opened the door, and pulled him inside.

And he let her.

They didn’t say anything while she guided him to the bed. The lights were left off, but the glow of the moon illuminated the room enough that he could see her.

Lilly reached up and unbuttoned his shirt, and Jack just stood motionless, rapt in her beauty. Once she’d gotten his shirt off, she knelt before him and unfastened his jeans, the rasp of the zipper a sigh of relief as his erection sprang free. She pushed his pants and underwear down to his knees and grabbed his ass. Oh shit! She leaned forward and licked along the ridge of his cock and sucked the head into her mouth.

He couldn’t hold still any longer. Jack fisted his fingers in her hair and widened his stance as much as he could within the confines of his jeans to help balance himself. He’d tasted her, feasted on her pussy several times, but he hadn’t allowed her to do this for him yet. It was too easy for him to lose the control he barely kept a hold of when she was around him like this. But he wanted her. He wanted anything she wanted to give him, and so he’d hold her and let her take whatever she wanted from him.

“So good,” he moaned as his head fell back. Her tongue was torturing the sensitive notch before taking him deeper.

She hummed as her head started bobbing faster, and he gritted his teeth to hold back his need to come when she reached up and caressed his balls. With her other hand, she stroked his cock while she sucked him, and his hands clenched in her hair, wanting to force her to take all of him. He held himself back, though, not wanting to take control of what she was doing.

But then she did it anyway. By God, she took him to the back of her throat and swallowed, milking him. He was going to blow.

But he wasn’t ready to be finished. Not yet.

Jack pulled her off him, unable to help the preejaculate from steadily leaking from the tip, and the little minx lapped it while he tried to get her to her feet.

He grabbed the hem of her sweater and yanked it off her body. She fumbled with her jeans while he got his the rest of the way off, and within moments, they were both completely naked.

“Come here,” he breathed as he stepped up to her. He pulled her into his arms and kissed her, nipped at her lips, suckled her tongue, licked her lips. He couldn’t get enough, but he was trying to take his time about it. He gently eased her onto the bed while he continued to pull drugging kisses from her. Once she was completely beneath him, he shifted, kissing a path to her neck, her shoulder, her collarbone. He’d used one arm to prop himself up, freeing one hand to explore. He glided it along her waist, to her breast. He gently raked his fingers over the budding nipple of one while his mouth found the other.

Lillian arched her back and moaned, her pleasure heightening his. He sucked her nipple into his mouth as he pinched the other one. She writhed beneath him, rubbing herself against his aching cock, but he couldn’t let go of her long enough to sate his need. Her need was his. Her desire was all his body and soul cared about.

He moved his mouth to her other breast and gave it the same treatment as the first one, kissing it, loving it until it was ruddy and taut. He alternated between the two, peppering kisses between them when he traveled back and forth, and as he continued his ministrations, the smell of her arousal grew with each draw from his lips, lick of his tongue, each passing second.

When he finally released her, he forged a path to the apex of her thighs, kissing and nibbling on all the places his lips landed, his hands stroking, roaming over her wherever he could reach. She was soft, smooth, decadent, a taste that was uniquely all Lilly, a flavor as spicy as her attitude, as savory as her heart.

“Please,” she breathed, and only then did he realize he’d neglected her clit in his path of rediscovery.

“Say it again,” he whispered.

And she did, repeatedly, until he licked from her opening to her clit. As soon as his tongue touched her there, she grabbed his head, pushing him onto her even further. So he gave her what she wanted.

He circled her clit a few times and then drew it into his mouth and sucked. Her legs stiffened and her hips began to pump, seeking her orgasm. God, she was so wet. Jack wanted to feel her coming, so he pushed two fingers into her and rubbed that sweet spot within. He felt the beginning spasms just before she screamed his name in ecstasy. And he still didn’t want to stop. He kept sucking and batting her clit with his tongue and fucking her with his fingers. He was so hard, he was grinding himself against her leg, seeking a little relief, but unable to stop tasting her enough to fuck her in earnest.

Lilly screamed again and bucked against him, so he fingered her harder and tongued her clit with lightning-fast strokes. She was trembling and sobbing when she came down, and he couldn’t wait any longer. Jack climbed up onto of her, angled her limp legs around his hips, and slowly eased his cock into her.

So hot. A scorching vise. He knew he wouldn’t be able to last long, so he had to go slowly. He pushed all the way in and waited for her pulsing pussy to adjust to him.

He kissed the hollow behind her ear. “You feel like heaven.”

“Don’t stop.”