Abandoned and Unseen (Branded Packs #2)(32)

She blushed but rolled her eyes. In the four days since they’d returned to the den in secret, they hadn’t spoken about what had occurred between them. They’d told their Alphas and most of the Pack about their ordeal, but that was it. They’d healed and tried to find balance within their lives. Only he wasn’t sure he wanted to go back to the way things were.

Actually, he was really f*cking sure he didn’t want it.

“Boys,” she reprimanded. “What did I say about coming out here without someone watching you?”

Lucas lowered his head, but Owen pressed his body into Cole’s leg. He ran his hand over the boy’s head.

“We were with Cole,” Owen said. “We were safe.”

Anya smiled softly. “I guess you were.” She bent and kissed each boy on the cheek then rose and kissed Cole gently on the lips. He froze, not sure what to do. She gave him a secret smile then winked.

“Okay, boys, come hang out with me for a bit,” Oliver said as he lumbered toward them. “We’ll head to the den bonfire, and your mom and Cole can join us later.”

Cole blinked a few times, unsure what was happening. From the way Oliver winked at Anya, the siblings had a plan in place. It would have been nice if he’d been let in on the secret, though.

They said goodbye to the twins, and suddenly, he was alone near his favorite tree with the one woman he wanted to call his own.

“Show me your place?” she asked, her voice low.

He took her hand and led her to his home, his heart racing. He’d been staying away to give her time to heal. He hadn’t wanted to jump her the first chance he had and scare her away. Jesus, he was acting like some cub getting laid for the first time. He wasn’t usually this clueless.

As soon as he closed the door behind them, Anya had her hands on his chest and his back pressed to the door.

“Four days is long enough to heal, don’t you think?” she asked, her voice a purr. Damn, she sounded almost feline when she did that.

He ran his hands along her side and up to her face. “Fuck, yeah. It’s way too long. But tell me what you’re thinking, Anya. I thought you hated me.”

She shook her head, kissing his palms. “No, I love you, you lazy cat. I want you, and I want us to be a family. I know you’re my mate.”

He grinned then leaned forward and nipped at her lip. “Don’t call me lazy.”

She rocked her body along his and he purred. “Since I’m still dressed and you haven’t said anything about mating to me, maybe you are lazy.” The quick shot of uncertainty in her eyes made him feel like a heel for teasing her.

“I love you, Anya. You’re my mate and you know it. My cat claimed you long before you first tried to push me out of my tree.”

“It wasn’t a push. More like a tiny nudge.”

He smiled then ran one hand down her back to cup her ass. “It was a push, but it’s okay. You can push at me any time you want. Especially against doors and walls while you go down on me.” He wiggled his eyebrows, and she snorted.

“Cole…”

“Baby, I love you. You know that. I know we’re still learning each other, but we have the rest of our lives to do that. I want those cubs as mine. I want us to make babies of our own and see if they turn cat or bear. Either way, they’ll be ours. All of them.”

Tears filled her eyes and she leaned closer, brushing her lips along his. “Mate.”

“Mate,” he whispered back.

When she ground against him, he shifted their positions so she was against the door and he stood between her legs.

“Thank God you wore a dress today,” he muttered then undid his pants. He slid his hand between them, found her wet, ready, and bare, then pushed into her with one thrust. They both moaned as soon as he was fully inside.

“No foreplay?” she asked, her voice breathless.

He slowly slid in and out of her, his hands on her thighs, keeping her spread. “We’ve been having our own form of foreplay for weeks.”

She smiled and rolled her hips. His eyes crossed and he pumped faster. Anya clung to his shoulders, and he rested his forehead on hers, needing her as close to him as possible. When he slid his hand between them and brushed his thumb over her clit, she stiffened before coming on his cock, her cunt clenching around him. The tight vice brought him over the edge and he roared her name. She tilted her head to the side, and he sunk his teeth into her shoulder, claiming her as his for all to see. His body still thrumming, he licked the wounds then turned his head for her to mark him.

When her teeth bit down, he almost came again, his body shaking at the sheer force of her claim.

“Mine,” he whispered.

“Yours, though you’re mine as well, lazy cat.”

He grinned, licking up her neck to behind her ear. He was already hard again, slowly working his way in and out of her.

“Of course.”

He had his bear, his mate, and no matter what happened next, he knew that he had found the path he’d never thought he needed. They’d complete their mating tattoos and show the Packs that it didn’t matter that he was cat and she was bear. They were one. He would claim the boys as his own and raise them to be the men he knew they could be.

He’d found his future, his mate, his family.

The world and his den were changing with each passing moment, but he knew he would be able to face it. He wasn’t alone anymore, no longer abandoned to the fate he thought he faced.