April
Reed and I stumble into the hotel room, our lips still locked together. He kicks the door shut behind us, his fingers tangled in my hair.
Heat rockets through me, settling between my thighs. I want desperately—no, I need him.
He tugs on my hair, pulling my head back, and kisses down my throat as I walk backwards toward the bed.
The back of my legs hit the mattress and I fall onto it, pulling him down on top of me. His mouth slams back onto mine, kissing me like he'll die if he doesn't.
It is desperate and messy and I enjoy every second of it.
I yank at his shirt and he grips the back of it and pulls it off in one, swift motion. My hands explore bare skin, hard muscles and the lines of his black tattoos. I want to ask him what they mean, I think. But all thoughts flee when he pushes his knee between my thighs.
I gasp into him and grind down, desperate for friction. My skirt has ridden up my thighs, my plain underwear peeking out.
"Do you have a condom?" I pant and he goes still.
"Fuck," he groans and buries his face in my neck.
"What's wrong?" I run my fingers up and down his back.
"April, we can't have sex," he says begrudgingly, his voice muffled against my skin.
"Oh." Was that not where this was leading? Have I misread this situation? "...Ok."
Planting his hands on the mattress either side of my head, he raises himself up to hover above me. I am momentarily distracted by the shifting muscles in his shoulders.
"I want to, it's just..." He trails off and I quickly shake my head.
"No, it's ok. If you want to wait, we'll wait." My cheeks are already hot from arousal, but now they roast with embarrassment.
He groans again, looking pained. "Sweetheart, it isn't that. The last thing I want to do is wait. But we have to."
"Why?" My expression falls. "Wait, is this a wolf thing?"
"I'm afraid so."
I push against his chest until he gets off of me and I lean myself back against the headboard. "Alright, explain."
He sits on the edge of the bed, running a hand through his hair. It flops back down against his forehead. "You asked me before about the mating ceremony and I shut you down. I shouldn't have, I'm sorry. I should've just explained it then."
"It's fine, Reed. What's done is done. Explain it to me now."
He takes my feet and puts them in his lap, rubbing my ankle with his thumb. "The mating ceremony binds us together. It has to happen on a full moon. We have a small celebration, there are some customs and rituals. Usually, both participants are werewolves, so when the moon hits its peak, they shift together and run through the woods, generally to a secluded spot. Obviously, you're human, so things are a little different. I'll change, but you won't. Only after the mating ceremony and after I change back, when the full moon is no longer at its peak, can we have sex."
My face is pinched in concentration. "I still don't really get what it is."
"The closest comparison I can make is that it's like a wedding."
My eyes go wide. "Marriage? You're talking about marriage? Jesus."
"April, I know it seems like a lot and that traditionally humans spend years together before making that kind of commitment. But they do that because they aren't entirely sure they want to be with that person forever, right? With mates, you already know. It's a foregone conclusion."
"You make it sound so simple," I murmur and I hate that I think about Nik. He's the last person I should be thinking about right now.
"It is simple to me," he says and then tugs on my leg till my back is flat against the mattress again. He slides his hand up over my knee, to my inner thigh. "There's no one else in the world I could want. It makes being with you forever simple."
"But it's not...forever, is it?" I breathe choppily, his fingers teasing up and down my leg.
"What?"
"I mean, you said werewolves live a really long time. Hundreds of years. I'll be lucky if I make it to ninety."
He leans down and kisses the inside of my knee. "No, April. During the mating ceremony, our lives are bound together so that as long as I'm alive, you'll age at the same rate I do."
Hearing this is like a bucket of ice water thrown over me. I pull my legs away from him and sit up again. "What? Are you saying I'd be immortal?"
"Well, not entirely. But you'd age slower, just like me."
"I'd live for hundreds of years?"
He nods.
It's startling to think about. The things I would see, the history I would bear witness to. But I'd be sacrificing a lot as well. Eventually, I'd have to stop seeing my family. Although I don't always get along with my parents, it's still like a suckerpunch to the chest thinking about never seeing them again.
"Is that why you live in the woods, in seclusion? So that nobody notices that you guys hardly age?"
"Partly," he admits. "Werewolves just prefer being out in nature. Being in the city can be...overwhelming. But not all of us live in the forest. There are plenty that live closer to the city in New Haven and they live normal lives. They have jobs and friends. But, yes, every decade or so they have to start over. We're not like vampires though, who are solitary creatures. We always have our pack, our family. A home to return to."
Hundreds of years. Enough time to do so many different things. I could go to Law school, become a lawyer, make my parents proud, and it wouldn't even mean giving up my aspirations as a fashion designer. I could do that later, in a few decades. And then I could do something entirely different.
Possibilities unfold like playing cards scattering in front of me.
"You ok?" Reed caresses my cheek.
"I'm just thinking."
He leans in and gently kisses my jawline. "You know, just because we can't have sex doesn't mean there aren't other things we can do."
This is a big revelation and I need time to process it...but his lips are very distracting.
"Yeah?" I puff out, clutching at his bare chest. He grips my waist and lifts me onto his lap, my knees settling either side of him.
We kiss slowly, like ice is melting between us. His hand settles at the base of my spine and he pushes forward until I press against his erection. My underwear is soaked. I roll my hips back and forth, the friction lighting up every nerve in my body.
He groans into my neck and lies back, bringing me with him.
"Take your jeans off," I pant and he reaches beneath me to undo them and shove them down his legs. I tug my skirt up further and then only our underwear separates us.
His erection is hard and hot against my core. Big. I push my hips back and forth along the length of him, my eyes sliding closed in pleasure.
He's panting heavily, his chest heaving beneath my hands. He grips the sides of my underwear and tears them to tatters.
"Hey!" I protest and he hushes me, casting the ruined fabric away. Now it's only his underwear between us. I grind down, moaning at how sensitive I am. Every time my hips shift forward, my clit catches on the head of his erection and it makes me shudder.
Reed's eyes are glowing amber, a slight growl on each heavy exhale. He pulls me down to his chest, my cheek resting against his shoulder, and holds my upper thighs tightly. Then he starts thrusting back and forth.
"Oh my god," I gasp out. The only thing I can do is cling to him, pleasure flooding me and growing greater by the second.
"Fuck, sweetheart." He grips my hair hard, tilts my head and smashes his mouth against mine in a deep kiss.
The friction between our bodies drives me over the edge and I come apart, jerking and writhing. He groans and his movements stutter to a stop. I feel wetness blooming across his underwear; he came too.
Everything in my body is tight, every muscle coiled...and then it loosens. I sink into him.
He kisses my hairline, stroking my face as we both try to recover.
I slide off him and onto the bed, though he keeps his arm wrapped around me.
"I haven't come in my fucking underwear since I was fourteen," he chuckles and I laugh too.
We're a sweaty mess.
"Come on." He stands up—how, I don't know because my legs are incapable of bearing weight right now—and pulls me into his arms.
"Put me down," I complain half-heartedly as he carries me into the bathroom. He only places me back on my feet once we're in front of the shower. I sway into his hard body, admiring each part of him and letting my hands explore leisurely. He leans into the shower and turns it on, then starts unbuttoning my blouse. Our eyes meet, the heat still simmering between us.
The last button comes undone and he pushes it off my shoulders. I'm suddenly self-conscious and I wrap my arms around my stomach. I am supposedly his one true love, his soulmate...what if he's disappointed? His body is sculpted perfection, perks of being a werewolf I am sure, since everyone else in his pack seems to be afforded a similar physique.
I have stretch marks and thick thighs and I haven't been truly ashamed of those things in years, ever since I started at Yale. But now...
He grasps my wrists and gently moves them away from my body. I turn my head, not wanting to see if his expression falls.
But then I hear, "Jesus, April," and I feel his lips against the tops of my breasts, then over my thin bra. He kisses his way down my body till he is kneeling in front of me and then reaches up behind my back to unclip my bra. I let it fall down my arms and I am completely naked in front of him.
There is a look of pure awe and lust on his face. No judgment and certainly no disappointment.
He kisses my hip bone and cups my ass. "Hop in the shower," he commands and I do, stepping under the warm spray of water.
He stays on his knees, just outside the glass, watching me like he is entranced. Like I've cast a spell on him.
I have never been so thoroughly admired before. With a squirt of floral-smelling soap on my palm, I rub down my body slowly, enjoying the way his gaze follows my every move.
He absent-mindedly touches himself through his underwear, but his eyes never leave me.
I am wet and needy for him again. "Come in," I encourage and he blinks, then stands and sheds his underwear. I can't help but stare at him, at the length of his erection, as he steps into the shower, towering over me.
We kiss, the water pouring on our heads. He cups my breasts and pinches a nipple, making me jerk and flinch.
After placing an open-mouthed kiss against my neck, he leans down to suck one of my nipples into his mouth. It feels amazing, the gentle scrape of his teeth, the flicking of his tongue.
"Reed," I gasp, my fingers lacing through his thick, wet hair. He goes to his knees again and nuzzles his cheek against my thigh, the scrape of his stubble making me moan.
He kisses the top of my thighs and then inches further up to right where I want him. His tongue licks gently, exploring, tasting.
"Please. More," I beg and he is quick to oblige. One arm wraps around me, steadying me against his face, and with the other, he lifts my leg over his shoulder, opening me up to his mouth.
I've only had a man do this to me once before and it was awkward and short-lived. But this is...mindblowing.
I lose all inhibitions, my head falling back to the slick tiles behind me and a loud moan erupting from my mouth.
His talented tongue is insistent, licking and pushing and making my freaking life flash before my eyes.
Every touch pulls me apart till I am coming on his face, chanting his name, grinding down onto him.
The leg I'm balancing on gives out at some point and he holds me up, rising from the ground and nuzzling against the top of my head. He begins gently washing my body, running a soapy cloth over my skin. He is especially gentle when he reaches between my legs and washes me there. I'm so sensitive that I jerk against him and let out a little cry. When the water starts to run cold, he turns off the shower and towels me down methodically, carefully. I am exhausted and spent, slumped against his chest.
I get the feeling he likes this; taking care of me. I don't know if it's a wolf thing or just who Reed is, as a leader and a caretaker. But he dresses me in one of his shirts and half-carries me back to bed, tucking me in and kissing my cheek.
My eyelids droop, my head sinking into the soft pillow.
"I have to call my father and update him on negotiations," Reed tells me quietly. "Go to sleep. I'll be here when you wake up."
Knowing he is always nearby—the dependability of his presence—makes it easy to sleep.
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AUTHOR'S NOTE: I hope everyone had a good Christmas. Please leave a comment or a vote if you're enjoying this story at all. Thank you.