Fated to the Warrior Wolf (The Hunted Omegas #3)

49. Gael

FORTY-NINE

Gael

T he drive home was subdued, but not in a bad way. We’d both laughed ourselves out, and she seemed sleepy in the passenger seat. I took the drive slowly, mindful of my precious passengers.

This night had been balm to my weary soul and rebuilt the hope I’d been clinging to by my fingertips. We were just us. Two people, two lovers. Friends out on the town, enjoying a carefree evening. It was nothing I expected, because it was better.

But as we rolled to a stop in front of the dark castle, I could feel the weight of everything we’d left behind trying to creep back in.

Leigh was snoring softly in the passenger seat, so I took a moment to sit and study her in the moonlight. She was gorgeous, almost too perfect to be real. Her hair looked like spun gold, her skin soft and smooth, begging for my lips to trace every line and perfect curve of her.

But we weren’t there yet. We’d put that particular cart before the horse so many times, it had almost broken us. Tonight had been about building a deeper connection. It had soothed my wolf, spending time together and counting all the tiny touches between us. Each time we brushed shoulders or she laughed so hard she put her hand on my forearm? He’d kept the tally with quiet pleasure.

I walked around the car and opened her door, but still she slept. So I carefully unbuckled her and scooped her from the seat. She never stirred as I tucked her face against my shoulder and took her back to her room through the quiet corridors. The door was a bit trickier, but I managed, and even Nugget seemed to sense his owner’s sleeping state because he took one look at us and began purring, kneading the pillow he lay on.

As soon as I tucked her under the covers, he repositioned himself against her neck, purring happily as she turned toward him in her sleep.

She was safe and sound, tucked away in bed, and I should leave. But if I left, the magic would break. We’d both wake up tomorrow, and I’d be back in the sparring ring, beating the shit out of all the younger members of Pack Caelestis who still thought it was fun to go up against the high alpha’s second. I’d been wearing myself out to keep sane, while she ran through the woods, doing the same. I’d spent the last two weeks reading baby books until I passed out from sheer exhaustion each night, wishing she was next to me instead of down the hall.

It was an exhausting way to coexist, and I couldn’t bring myself to go out the door. But I did lock it and then settle into her tufted chair. It wasn’t exactly comfortable for someone of my size—my legs were at an odd angle, and my head was over the top if I didn’t slouch down—but the late hour and the proximity of my female had me drifting off in a matter of minutes.

In my dreams, she welcomed me to her side with open arms. In my dreams, we were whole.

“Gael?”

Leigh’s whisper woke me, and I froze as I searched the darkened room for threats.

“Are you still there? Or…” I could hear the rustle of blankets as she sat up, and caught the faint motion of her rubbing her eyes.

“I’m here,” I answered softly, trying not to spook her.

“Oh, okay. I don’t remember how we got back.”

I grinned at that. “You fell asleep on the drive, so I carried you in.”

“And decided to just sleep in my chair like a creeper?” She half laughed, half snorted.

Embarrassment burned through me, and I realized she was right. Wolf urges or no, I should’ve followed my gut and slipped out so she could rest without me looming over her.

“Sorry. I’ll go. My wolf wanted to stay close, and I didn’t want you to be scared if you woke up alone.”

She was quiet for a beat. “Don’t go.”

My heart stilled in my chest, my wolf on high alert. She wanted me to stay?

“Okay.”

She settled back down into the covers, and Nugget scampered off to his own bed with a huff at her movements. I shifted, the crick in my neck demanding I find a better position.

The floor has to be better than this damn chair .

“That chair is too small for you to sleep in,” she murmured, shifting again to prop up on one elbow. “I can hear you wiggling around.”

“I’m not wiggling . Just trying to find a better position.”

“That’s what she said.” Leigh giggled. Straight-up giggled, like a teenager at a slumber party. The sound was infectious, and I snickered right along with her, until both of us were laughing loud enough that we were trying to rein it in so we didn’t wake up our pack mates in the rooms beside hers .

“This is stupid. Just get in the bed with me!” she demanded when she finally caught her breath again.

“You sure? I wouldn’t want you to get the wrong idea.” I stood up anyway, not going to turn down the offer to get closer.

“The idea that we’ve already spent plenty of nights together, and there’s no point in you being miserable in the morning? What a scandal.” She patted the mattress beside her, and I slid on, kicking off my boots as I lay on top of the blankets. I stretched out on my back, several pops and cracks echoing in the dark as I worked out the tension.

“See? Much better,” she said with a yawn.

“Much better,” I agreed, letting my eyes drift closed. Her scent was everywhere, all around me like perfume in the sheets. I’d been fighting a boner since I found her in the hallway, and I could smell her arousal while I massaged out her charley horse. But now that I was lying in bed next to her, smelling her sweet coffee with every inhale, it came back with a vengeance.

There was no way in hell I was going back to sleep, but I didn’t mind. She’d invited me to sleep next to her, when the day before, she hadn’t been speaking to me. I would take it however slow she needed, as long as she gave me another chance.

I must have drifted off during the wee hours, because when I awoke, it was to a breathy moan hot against my ear. I went from dozing to fully awake and hard as steel in less than a second. Leigh was plastered to my side, thigh tossed over my waist, her hot, wet center riding my bare hip between the edge of my T-shirt and jeans. Her dress had ridden up over her waist, and she was completely bare underneath.

The feeling of her soaking pussy against my flesh made me want to flip her on her back and plunge in to the hilt. But when I looked down at her face, her eyes were still tightly closed, lips parted in a pant as she ground herself against my hip.

Shit. Is she still asleep? I bit back a groan.

I could absolutely not take advantage of her while she was asleep, no matter how fucking crazy she was driving me.

Shit, shit, shit. Fuck .

I counted backward from a hundred in my head, and when that did nothing to dissuade my straining dick, I thought of every single unsexy thing I could imagine. Puppies. Trash dumps. World war. Saggy old man balls.

Eww .

Glancing down to check if it worked was unnecessary. It didn’t matter what I thought of; if my mate was using me as her personal grinding post, I was going to go crazy if I couldn’t relieve the pressure or extricate myself from the situation. There was definitely going to be a zipper imprint on my dick at this rate. I held my breath as I reached down and slid my hand under her knee to move it. I only needed an inch or two, and I could slide?—

She moaned again, and I froze as she gasped.

“Holy fucking shit,” she said with a groan, clamping her knee down and pinning my hand between us. “Oh, Goddess. I’m so sorry. I thought it was a dream. Shit!” Leigh’s back arched, her breasts and small baby bump grinding into my side as she clenched around me with a cry of pleasure.

She just orgasmed.

I swore internally as I tried not to blow in my pants like a teenager. It took every ounce of my control to grit my teeth and wait for her to relax so I could escape.

I did not want to escape. The desire to pin her to the mattress and fuck her through her next five orgasms was intense.

Her limbs went soft as she rode the wave of pleasure down, and I found superhuman willpower somewhere, because I gently slid her knee off my hip without saying another word.

She snatched her arm back, covering her face with both hands as I slid off the edge of the bed. “I’m so sorry, Gael, I— The second-tri hormones are killing me. I’m horny all the time, and no matter how much I run, it doesn’t go away. I’m so embarrassed. I can’t believe I basically humped you in your sleep. Goddess, I’m the worst mate in the history of the world! Umm, are you okay?” She paused midblurt as I stopped a few steps away, bracing my forearm against the wall.

“Fine,” I said through gritted teeth. “Need a minute.”

“Holy fuck,” she swore as, from the corner of my eye, I saw her clock the state of my dick. “Come back. Please? Let me make it up to you.”

I groaned at the offer, but didn’t move. She didn’t mean that. I didn’t want a guilt fuck with my fated mate. I wanted forever, and if that meant the world’s worst case of blue balls, so be it. When she was ready to enthusiastically, happily invite me back to her bed? Hell yes, I’d take her up on it.

“You don’t have to make up for what happened in your sleep. You couldn’t help it.”

“I don’t have to , no. But what if I want to?” Her tone changed to that of a mischievous vixen, and I spun toward her.

“Do you really? Because—” I lost my train of thought as Leigh got to her knees on the mattress and grabbed the hem of that damned sundress. She slowly peeled it up over her head, baring every inch of creamy, smooth flesh that I’d been dreaming of since the first time I tasted it. She tossed it to the floor with a look in her eye that said I dare you to walk away .

Fuck me sideways.

I took one step toward her, then another, like she was pulling me by an invisible cord. She was a siren of old, and I was a sailor, ready to dash myself on the rocks to be with her one more time .

If I had to destroy myself, it would be on the altar of Leigh’s perfection every damn time.

My thighs bumped the edge of the bed, and she scooted over, still on her knees. Her breasts swayed with the movement, and I was mesmerized as she ran her hands over my shoulders.

“Take this off,” she whispered, trailing the edges of my sleeves with her fingernails. I shuddered and obeyed without a word, reaching over my head and shucking the shirt.

She was weaving some kind of spell with pure sexual energy, and I was powerless to break it as she ran her nails lightly over my chest and down my stomach. They caught on the ridges of my abs, and I sucked in a breath, the tiny hint of pain making me rock harder into her touch.

I wanted it all. I wanted her to claim me as badly as I wanted to lay my own claim on her. When she got to the waistband of my jeans, she flicked open the button with ease and carefully lowered the zipper. She had them off my hips in a second, and I hissed with relief as my cock tried to punch its way through my boxer briefs.

“Look at you, poor needy prince. Do you need somebody to suck this big, fat cock?”

My eyes were slits as she looked up at me, feigning innocence as she cupped me through the last layer of fabric.

“Only you,” I said, and a smile twisted those perfect lips.

She didn’t waste any more time talking. She skated the underwear down my legs, and as soon as I stepped out of them, she fisted me and brought my crown to her lips. She was all teasing at first, stroking and licking as she pumped with her fist.

But when she cupped my sac and sucked me in, I saw stars.

“Leigh, Goddess—” I groaned as I bumped the back of her throat. She hummed happily as she worked my length, and pleasure sparked its way up my spine. I fisted her hair, hanging on as she set the pace. But as the pleasure built higher and higher, I pulled her back .

“No, not like that.” I thumbed her bottom lip, which glistened with my precum.

“No? Why not. Let me make you feel as good as you made me feel.” She kissed along my pecs even as I kept my grip on her hair, and I let my eyes fall closed for a second to enjoy the sensation.

“You said the hormones were driving you nuts. Let me give you what you need,” I said with a little too much force as I peeled her off me.

“But, I?—”

“No buts,” I growled, letting my eyes shine as my wolf pressed for control. “Get on your hands and knees.”

Leigh swallowed hard, but as soon as I let her go, she obeyed, the sight of her ass up for me nearly my undoing. She was glistening with need, and I ran my fingers over her slick folds with an appreciative grunt. She bounced against my touch, so close to the edge for me. I bent forward, laving her with my tongue before thrusting in with two fingers as I swirled her clit. She came apart instantly, screaming into the pillows as I worked in and out, in and out.

“Gael, please,” she sobbed, pushing back against me with every thrust. “I need more, please, please, please…” The words were like a prayer.

I slid my fingers free, licking them clean before anchoring myself at her hips. I didn’t stop. I didn’t hesitate. Just slid home, letting her tight heat absorb me.

She was perfection. Utter, complete bliss. I growled as I pumped into her, faster and faster, while she tore at the sheets for purchase as I worked her toward another peak. Within moments, she screamed again and clenched around me.

Bliss consumed me as we fell over the edge together.