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I growl, holding her still. “Since you asked so nicely.” I line myself up and plunge in with one firm thrust until my knot bumps her labia. “Yesss,” I hiss. “This is exactly what Alpha needed, baby. You are exactly what I needed.”

As I slowly roll my hips against Raine, Ferris looks at us with so much love and desire that I can feel it in my soul. He gently raises her face and asks, “You want my dick?”

Raine nods, stretching her neck so that she can nestle her face into the pheromone-rich space between his knot and sack. Her nose nuzzles while her tongue licks, and then she opens her mouth and sticks out her tongue, waiting like a perfect omega for her treat.

“That’s it,” Ferris moans. “Always so hungry for our cocks, aren’t you?” I watch as his length disappears into her mouth and holds there, letting her play as much as she wants.

My hips move faster and faster until I fall forward, caging Raine under me so that I can rut into her like the animal I am.

“Dair is losing his mind watching you,” Ferris snarls, gaze switching between Raine’s mouth and my body plunging into her. “Fuck, you two look so good together, like my perfect pair.”

I wish I could kiss his fucking mouth just so I could taste his filthy words on my tongue, but I can’t reach. Instead, my hips smack into Raine’s juicy ass, my sack swings to slap her clit, and I watch her slobber all over Ferris, making me want to seed her right this second. But I hold off, building her pleasure higher and higher until I feel the first tightening of her cunt.

“You gonna come?” I snarl into her ear. “Gonna gush all over my dick while you swallow your mate?” Her pussy gets tighter and tighter until she moans, setting off the rhythmic pulsing of her walls. I’m so deep I can feel the pulsing of her womb, and just for a second, I allow myself the fantasy of truly breeding her.

“Can’t hold it back,” Ferris gasps as his hips work his length in and out of Raine’s mouth. Her hand comes up to milk at his knot, and he shouts, “Fuck,” before pulling out, angling her head to the side, and coming all over the side of her neck. Right where I’m going to bite into her scent gland.

Holy. Fuck.

My knot pulses in warning as warmth shreds down my spine like a lick of lightning. I reach under Raine, grabbing her breasts and pulling her tighter to me while my hips slam into her ass over and over. “Gonna knot you,” I grind out. “Gonna feed this pussy my cum and rut it into your womb while my knot splits you open, yeah? Gonna lick my boy’s cum off your skin and then bite into your neck. Make you mine. Make you ours,” I growl.

Raine’s moans are blubbered as my body slams into hers. Through all her cries, she says, “I love you,” and I fucking lose it.

I grind my knot into her pussy, pushing it past her pelvis so that it nestles deep and tight. Lodged in place, I rock it back and forth over her sensitive spot while Ferris holds her head for me, exposing her neck. I don’t even lick it; I fucking can’t over the lengthening of my teeth. Instead, I bite into her hard and sure, as deep as I can so that her blood spills across my tongue, mingling with the taste of Ferris’s cum.

I swear to the gods that I black out for a full minute, and then the world comes crashing back in a kaleidoscope of colors, sounds, tastes, and smells. Raine is pulsing around my knot in a never-ending, soul-deep orgasm that I feel mirrored in my own body. Ferris is moaning, his eyes wide with wonder as cum spurts from his cock, untouched.

A tugging in my chest starts slow and soft, building a bridge of golden light between my soul, my wolf, and Raine. It strengthens and grows, taking over my entire world so that all I can feel and see is Raine. My mate.

Tears flow down my cheeks in rivers as all of her emotions flood into my body in a tidal wave of happiness, contentment, and love. I lick at her bite, pushing my saliva deep into the wound like I did all those weeks ago to save her life. I pour all of my amazement, thankfulness, and devotion into her through our new bond, strengthening it with the weight of my love.

Then, a new tugging begins, branching off, transforming the bridge between our souls into something more like a tree. The thread thickens and pulls, bringing Ferris into the intricate web of our bond. I can feel his relief, happiness, and satisfaction. I can feel that he never thought he’d have any of this: Raine, a pack bond, a relationship with his packmate that transcends the typical friendship between alphas, or happiness at all.

I grab Raine in a bear hug and roll us onto our sides while my dick continues to flood her. Ferris maneuvers to lie in front of her, scooting close. I continue to tend Raine’s bite while Ferris whispers beautiful nonsense to our omega.

My voice is hoarse when I finally speak, “I love you, baby.” I kiss my mark on Raine’s neck. “It feels like I’ve loved you my whole life, and I plan on loving you in my next life too, understand? You are everything I knew I needed but didn’t think this world would allow me to find. Every life I live leads to this,” I say, hugging her tight.

“I love you too,” she breathes, looking up at me over her shoulder. I lean down to kiss her lips, drinking down her sighs of pleasure. “I think I started to love you the night you brought me deer stew, and every moment since then that you’ve shown me what it’s like to be truly cared for has only made me fall harder and harder.”

Ferris pets Raine’s face, dragging his thumb over her bottom lip. He clears his throat and says, “When I came to Grand Prairie, I was broken in a way I thought was beyond repair. I hurt you, even when you were healing me in ways I didn’t understand or appreciate until I was forced to face my mistakes. My promise to you is that I will work every day to keep healing. I will constantly challenge myself to grow and be the alpha that you deserve. I will give you everything,” he says, “both of you, because you’ve saved me—in more ways than I can count. I love you, Raine.”

He leans forward and kisses her deeply, and all I can do is smile and reach around Raine to hold them both. Fate can be cruel. We’ve all seen the horrors that humanity is capable of. But there are pockets of sunshine even in the darkest woods. You just have to be brave enough to make the journey to find them.

[ 64 ]

RAINE

Cascades Territory, Northern Pacific

The forest meadow is crowded with nearly every member of the Northern Pacific shifters. In any direction you look, humans, shifters, and their children intermingle and socialize, sharing stories, trading goods, or otherwise enjoying friendship and community. I’ve never seen more people in the same place in my entire life, but Dair says they try to do an all-clan meeting like this once every few months.

Any resident of the Northern Pacific has the freedom to move between the different clans to visit friends and family, but any major movements, like someone wanting to permanently change clans, have to be brought up and approved during these meetings.

We all knew the Lunar Mother would call for this meeting, but the nerves flowing through our pack bond are intense enough to tell me that all three of us are still a little weary of the major announcement that will happen today. In mere minutes, the Lunar Mother will claim Ferris as her grandson and only heir. None of us really know what that will mean for him or our future.

Being a male, Ferris cannot inherit the leadership role that the Lunar Mother currently holds. The wolves are entirely matriarchal, and she’s only the second Lunar Mother in Northern Pacific history, having taken over for the first Mother when she passed away right before Lyra left the clans. It was always going to be Lyra next in line, not only because of her matrilineal relation to the Lunar Mother, but because she also inherited Iza’s ability to communicate with the Earth. As I’ve learned, this gift is known among the shifters as being “rooted,” and is exceedingly rare.

Although shifters seem to have a longer life expectancy than humans, it’s still troubling Dair, and many of the other clan Alphas, that there isn’t a rooted woman ready to be taken under Iza’s guidance. In the next decade she might pass, leaving a power vacuum in the Northern Pacific unless there is an heir.