His Lucky Moon Mate (The Macconwood Pack Tales #14)

Chapter 7

T he moment that passed between them felt big— heavy. And yeah, she was shivering like mad. Shannon thought Binder might close the gap between them and take her passionately right there on the floor. But he didn’t, and she wasn’t sure whether she should be glad or royally pissed off at the fact.

Shite.

Her body ached for him. Bloody hell, she always felt more when in her true form. Her wings fluttered for a moment, and his gaze whipped to them, but she couldn’t read his expression. Normally, nudity was not an issue for most supes, but

Shannon was, well, chunkier than the typical Fae. It was something she often worried about when she was younger, but after some effort and her handy motivational calendar, she’d learned to let go of others’ interpretations of beauty and simply love herself. But there was something to be said for being naked in a room with a man who personified sex. Binder Sidak was such a man. Or should she say, Wolf?

He claimed she was his mate. But presented with her true form, and naked to boot, instead of ravishing her, like she’d expected, he was doing his best to feign interest in one of her Da’s many stashes. What the heck?

“So, what’s in the pot?” he asked, his voice growly with his Wolf.

“Oh, the usual. Hang on a second, I’ll put my wings away,” she mumbled, embarrassed more than anything.

“If you want to,” Binder replied, leaving her all sorts of confused. “Do you mind, well, that is, can I touch them first?” he asked gently.

Shannon froze in place. He wanted to touch them. That was a first.

“Um, yeah. I guess so,” she murmured, staying still as he turned his total attention to her.

She’d thought he was turned off by her nudity or maybe her wings, but the look on his face was anything but that. In fact, his eyes glowed with his Wolf, and the constant rumble in his chest was doing things to her. Making her slick between her legs and warming her from her core to her fingertips. Shannon bit her lip as he moved closer until his knees brushed her thighs.

Feck. He was so warm. His body heat seeped into her skin, and she shivered, helpless to control it. The man had some magic in him for sure, and not just his Wolf. Her reaction to him was positively uncanny.

“Are you cold?” he growled, so close just then his breath ruffled the hair at her temple.

“No,” she whispered, giving him only the truth.

“Will it hurt if I touch them?” he asked, his right hand hovering over her left wing.

“Not if you’re gentle.”

“I’ll always be gentle with you, unless you tell me otherwise, Sweet Butterfly.”

Then she felt his fingertips coasting over her delicate-looking forewing. Shivers wracked her body as his long fingers brushed over each of her scaled wings. They were sensitive and not at all as fragile as they appeared. Shannon had never allowed a single person to touch them before.

Feck, she hardly even showed them to anyone. But there she was, allowing this stranger, whom she met only hours ago, not only see her true form, but now he was stroking her wings from top to bottom.

Shiver. Shiver. Shiver.

Binder traced the patterns on her wings, lightly skating over the veins as he touched each scale with a tenderness she could hardly conceive. His growl was constant, but she felt no threat from either his Wolf or from him. The sound softened to a satisfied hum as he moved from one to the other, then to her antennae, tracing them gently with just a whisper of a touch. She bit her lip to stop herself from moaning.

Shannon never thought this sort of intimacy was possible. But there, with Binder petting her like she was something precious, she felt a connection. Like he could see her, really see her, and he liked what he saw. He made her feel special, admired, and who didn’t crave that?

She’d allowed her father to control so much of her life, Shannon hardly had one of her own. She was always running around, fixing his messes. Even now, she was only there with Binder because of her da. But before her thoughts could even go there, she shook them away.

Da shouldn’t be allowed to taint this moment.

Determined to simply be in the present, she shut everything out except for the ridiculously sexy Wolf. Not when Binder was so lovely and attentive. His long fingers touched her head, moving to her temples as he lightly smoothed down her hair, tracing it down her back until she felt them stop just below her waist.

“So fucking soft. Butterfly, you are the most beautiful thing I have ever seen,” he murmured.

“Me?”

“Of course, you,” he said, chest rumbling.

The sound of his voice, slightly accented, deep, and delicious was doing the strangest things to her.

“It’s getting dark. Are we going to stay here tonight?”

“I think we should. It’s safest,” she murmured. “I-I’ll put the cauldron back. Da wasn’t here, so he might still show up.”

“I’ll hear him if he does,” Binder said, and to his credit he was looking at her eyes and not her nudity. “I know you said Fairy would change things, but my hearing is almost as good in human skin as it is when I’m shifted.”

“Really? That is strange, but good I suppose.” Shannon nodded and turned to focus on tucking the cauldron back into its magical safe.

She was aware of Binder in the periphery. He sat still, observing, but not in a leery way. She almost wished he would touch her again, but with intent. But perhaps he was right to be standoffish. She wouldn’t want him regretting any choices he made with her. Shannon wasn’t exactly blustering with confidence, and the last thing she needed was a mate who didn’t really want her. Besides, it was different for Fae. Her kind was known for playing games and tricks, and that involved devious love affairs.

Not that she was that way. But the males of her kind were not to be trusted. Not even Da. After all, she had something like ninety-eight siblings last she counted. But Shannon was the only one who gave their father the time of day. And look where that got her. She took a moment to count the hours since she’d set the spell on the casino, freezing the inhabitants in that cloaked space for a limited amount of time, typically seventy two hours.

There was plenty of food and drink to last weeks. And, feck, it was a casino, so there was plenty of entertainment, too. The employees would be fine. Sadly, this was not the first time that spell had been activated.

Ugh, Da. You’re really a bastard, aren’t ya?

“Are you okay?” Binder’s voice shook her back to the present, and Shannon shivered again.

“Um, yeah, yeah, I’m fine. All done. I’ll just, um, get dressed if you wouldn’t mind turning around,” she said, cheeks warming.

It was one thing to sit there in her true form with her hair spilling down, covering her breasts and buttocks, and quite another to struggle into her jeans with him watching. Shannon had been sitting with her legs crossed so her girly bits were hidden from view, and her long, dark tresses conveniently spilled onto the apex of her thighs, covering her nether curls.

“Sure, Butterfly. Um, I’ll use the restroom while you dress,” Binder said, unfolding gracefully from his position on the floor.

When he stood, Shannon was face level with the rather impressive bulge inside his pants, and she found it quite difficult to look away. Gulp. Holy. Feck. He was huge. Like everywhere.

“Shannon,” he said her name.

Her attention flashed back to his eyes, down to his dick, and back again when she realized he now knew where she’d been looking. Shite. Was it possible for the floor to just open and swallow her up?

“I asked if there was anything I could get you,” he repeated.

“Nope. Nuh uh. Everything is grand. I am totally okey dokey here.”

“Okayyy,” he replied, one eyebrow raised before turning around.

Ugh. Shannon bit her lip to stop her groan. Could she be any weirder?

“I’ll be right back, Beautiful.”

“Right. Okay,” she murmured, trying not to freak out.

The second she heard the bathroom door click shut, Shannon struggled to get to her feet. Her Fairy form could smooth away clothes with no problem. Unfortunately, that same damned magic was a bitch when you wanted them back on. So, manual dressing, it was.

Ugh. Why the heck did she choose today of all days to wear denim on her jiggly body? Tucking her wings and antennae back took no time at all, and hardly any thought. With her ass back in her jeans and her t-shirt, Shannon hung her borrowed sweater on the back of a chair. It was too much of a bother to try to glamor her wild mane into a shorter style, so she left it at its natural length, choosing instead to put it in a loose braid.

“You dressed, Butterfly?” Binder asked from the bathroom, and Shannon nodded.

Remembering he couldn’t see her, she winced and called out a yes. She ran her hands over her braid and stood beside the only bed in the cabin. It was a single. As in, there was only one, and it was smallish. Her Da being a Leprechaun did not really require much space. But Binder was hardly that.

“Um, you can have the bed, I’ll take the floor,” she said, but he shook his head vehemently.

“Absolutely not.”

“Binder, look, I am the one who got us into this mess. Your Alpha sent you with me because of my Da, but you don’t have to be uncomfortable because of it?—”

“Butterfly, how comfortable do you think I would be, knowing you are on the floor, and I am in that bed over there by myself?”

Right. He had a point. From what little she knew about Binder, he was honorable and adorably old fashioned. How many times had he opened doors for her in one day alone? She sighed.

“Fine, but sharing a bed doesn’t mean anything else is going to happen. Well, not like you want anything to happen, I mean you hardly made a pass,” she said aloud, turning around to get the bedding and pillows from the chest beneath the bed.

Shannon’s heart was racing, and dammit, she knew that meant he could hear it. Stupid Wolf senses. She didn’t know why she was so ornery. It wasn’t like he’d done anything wrong. She bent over to tuck the sheet into the far corner and felt something slam into her back.

Binder.

Heat radiated from his powerful body to hers as Binder flattened Shannon onto the mattress. He rocked his hips, pressing the hard evidence of his arousal against her ass, and feck, that felt so good. Moisture pooled between her thighs, desire growing wilder and hotter with every second that passed.

“You feel that, Butterfly? That’s all for you. Don’t tell me I don’t want you because I haven’t made a pass. It’s killing me to be near you and not touch you,” he growled, his lips beside her ear.

“But I already promised you, Butterfly. Weren’t you listening?” he asked, the hand that was trapped beneath their bodies moved down, sliding over her tits, her soft belly, and settling right between her denim covered thighs.

“Binder,” she gasped his name.

Shannon tried rolling her hips to try to increase the friction, but he would not budge. Her heart was pounding, and her pulse was racing. This unwavering need she felt was like thunder roaring in her ears.

Feck. Was that her?

She was breathing like she’d just climbed a mountain. Her pussy throbbed, clenching on air with the need to be filled. His scent filled her nostrils, and she hungered for more of it. She wanted to roll around in him, to get that wonderful coconut breeze scent permeated onto her own skin and to keep it there always.

“Just because I won’t fuck you until you ask doesn’t mean I don’t want to touch you. It doesn’t mean I don’t want to taste you, Butterfly. So keep it up. Keep talking nonsense and I’ll touch, and I’ll taste, and you’ll see I’m a Wolf of my word when you’re begging for my cock,”, and feck, there she went again.

Shiver.

“You understand now, Butterfly? Of course, I want you. But I am waiting until you’re ready to do anything about it. You’re the one who says when. Got it?”

She nodded once, unable to form words. How the feck did something like that have her so wet and ready for him? Holy Christ. The man was sex on legs. He grunted and lifted off her, and curse it all, she missed it. The weight of him, his scent, the feel of his hard staff against her ass— all of it .

“Now,” he said, one big hand cupping her ass cheek before giving it a sharp slap. “Get your fine ass in bed, Butterfly. It’s going to be a long night as it is.”

It shouldn’t have, but for some reason, that smack sent a jolt of pleasure straight through her core. Shannon bit her lip, climbing onto the bed and getting under the quilt she’d just tossed over it.

“Lights?”

“They’ll adjust in a moment. It’s magicked to go off when we’re in bed,” she whispered.

“Cool,” he said, and she couldn't stop the grin from spreading across her face.

Only a Wolf Shifter from the Earth realm could travel to Fairy and call the magic there cool . She shook her head, smiling as he slid beneath the covers.

“I’ll be the big spoon, you’ll be the little spoon,” he whispered, and she turned away from him onto her side. “Gotta put my arm on you, Butterfly. Bed’s small.”

“Okay,” she agreed, and squirmed to find a comfortable spot.

“Stop that wiggling, Baby. I’m only human. Sorta.”

She snorted a laugh at that, placing her hand over his big one as it settled against her stomach. Normally, she would be super self-conscious of their positions. She was completely dressed, but on her side her tummy stock out and Binder’s palm was flat against the squishy softness there.

“Shhh, go to sleep, Beautiful Girl. I got you.”

She sighed, relaxing her body and her mind. Binder made her feel safe. Whether it was his whispered words, the teasing and flirting, or the sincerity in his voice when he told her things that mattered, she was not sure. But she liked him. Liked him very much, in fact. And if she were being honest, she really wanted to believe he liked her, too.