Psyche Shield (9 page)

“I thought I already moved in,” I teased her as she set my
leg on the floor. Standing slowly, I discovered I had more energy than
expected.

“Clothes and a toothbrush don’t count as moving in,” she
informed me. ” Do you still want to?” She informed me. Our packmates listened
while pretending not to. I pretended not to notice their eavesdropping.

“Absolutely.” I didn’t hesitate. “And we should do it before
I have to pay rent again next week.”

Billie addressed the Wolves in the house. “Are you good here
so Sadie and I can head to her place for a while?”

A set of keys flew through the air from somewhere behind me,
answering her question. Billie caught them smoothly. “Thanks, Nathan. We’ll be
back tonight. If you need us, disturb us.”

“Have fun!” Amy replied without promising.

Billie narrowed her eyes at the Medic and repeated herself.
“There’s too much going on right now. If you need us, disturb us.”

Kathryn waved her hand towards the front door. “We will call
if you are needed. Otherwise we will not.”

I think that’s the best you’re going to get
, I
informed Billie.
Let’s go.

We drove the short distance to the home I’d barely seen in
the last couple weeks. It held memories of a lifetime of loneliness. Before
meeting Billie and becoming part of her pack, I hadn’t belonged anywhere.
Humans couldn’t accept what I was and rejected me as soon as they realized I
could read their minds. With the Wolves I’d found a place to belong.

I’m ready to leave this place and my old life behind
,
I commented as she turned the engine off.

“Are you ready to move in with me?” she asked practically.

“Yes.” I met her eyes. “I belong with you, and I belong in
your pack. Maybe it’s completely insane since I’m a Mage, but it’s true. I want
to move in with you and build a life together.”

She kissed me softly, running a finger down the side of my
neck. “I want to build a life with you too. And I refuse to wait until the
insanity is over. I’m not putting our life on hold, no matter what’s going on.”

Her finger reached the hem of my simple tank top, tugging at
it suggestively. I shuddered and my voice came out husky. “Let’s go inside.”

We barely made it through the front door before Billie
pressed me against a wall and buried her head in my neck, kissing and biting
gently. Her hands pressed against the wall on either side of me, her body
leaning against mine. I threaded one hand through her hair, removing the clip
and dropping it on the floor. Her red curls fell loose around her shoulders,
framing her face. The other hand slipped under her shirt to the bare skin
beneath it. She reached for my tank top and pulled it over my head.

“Gods, you smell good,” she breathed against my neck, and my
bra fell to the floor. Her enthusiasm infected me, and I responded in kind. As
usual, she wore no bra, her breasts bare when her shirt hit the floor. I
pinched one of her nipples quick and hard, and it spurred her on. She pressed a
thigh between mine, and even through our clothes, it hit just right. Heat
spread throughout my body, and I moaned.

“Are you going to fuck me against the wall again or take me
to bed?” I asked roughly.

“I love having you against the wall with your legs over my
shoulders. It’s tempting. But I can’t give you a massage like that.” Her voice
rumbled against my throat, and I no longer cared about the massage. She
chuckled at my thought and lifted me by the ass. I wrapped my legs around her
waist and looked down into her green eyes.

“Your eyes are so full of life. Did you know they’re the
same whether they’re green or blue?” The vivid green color changed to crystal
blue when in her wolf form.

“I didn’t know that,” she murmured as she carried me towards
the bedroom.

With one hand, I gripped her hair at the base of her neck,
and it steadied me. Fortunately she didn’t have to watch her step. My bare
breasts near her face invited her to nibble on them, and I arched my back to
move them into better reach. She assisted by lifting me a little higher and ran
her tongue across one nipple. I shuddered and through our bond, she felt the
ecstasy she caused in me. Her fingers gripped my ass tighter, and I gasped her
name out loud.

We reached the bed and somehow she had me flat on my back,
kneeling between my thighs. She held my wrists against the bed beside my
shoulders, pushing my breasts towards her. She went for the other nipple,
wetting it with her tongue before blowing on it gently. My nipples hardened and
my back arched automatically, pressing my breasts closer to her. “Mmm. I like
it when that happens.”

“Then do it again,” I begged. She nibbled her way across my
chest and repeated the favored sensation on the other nipple. “Oh, God. Don’t
stop.”

“Never,” she promised. Letting my wrists go, she removed my
shorts easily followed by my blue lacy underwear. She finally had me naked and
devoured me with her eyes as I lay completely exposed to her. I didn’t even
move my hands from where she left them beside my shoulders.

“I promised you twice today,” I breathed heavily with
anticipation. “Anything you want.”

“Anything?” she replied huskily.

I nodded and warmed at the idea. “I can’t imagine disliking
anything from you.”

She looked at me thoughtfully, her eyes glowing.
You’re
not Wolf. It’s not in your nature to submit to anyone. You’re the most powerful
Mage in the world. That probably makes you the most powerful person in the world
of any race. Why do you submit to me
?

The answer came naturally from my lips without thinking. “I
love you and I trust you. When you’re in control, I feel safe.”

Slowly she stood and removed the rest of her clothes,
dropping them on the floor. I soaked in the view of her perfect, muscled body.
She moved with strength and power. She kneeled between my feet, touching my
toes lightly. It sent a shock through my body unexpectedly, and I gasped,
closing my eyes to feel it more deeply.

Her fingers traced my legs, one on each side, traveling up
the length of my body until they paused so close to my labia I could feel the
heat radiating from her hands. “Spread your legs more for me,” she requested,
and I did, raising my knees to push my feet against the bed and give her more
room. “Perfect. You are perfect, my love. Naked or clothed, spread open to me
or at any other time. You are perfect.” She breathed against my clit as she
murmured affectations, the light breeze she created causing my wet pussy to
tingle and pulse. “I’ll show you how perfect we are, my mate.” Her lips grazed
against the sensitive skin as she spoke, and I almost orgasmed right there. I
held it at bay, waiting and anticipating. She knew I struggled against the
release, and I sensed her smile between my legs.

Lightly, delicately, she touched me with her fingers,
tracing the edges of my labia and grazing my clit unexpectedly. Instead of
anticipating her moves through our bond, I set thought aside. I allowed myself
to experience our lovemaking through my body alone. Without sensing her actions
in advance, each new touch came with surprise.

Her teeth grazed along the delicate folds, and I screamed in
pleasure. When her tongue entered me for the first time, the orgasm spread from
my clit through my entire body. Toes curled into the sheets. My back arched,
pressing my shoulders against the bed. The orgasm lifted me into her, pressing
her tongue deeper. She pressed her fingers against my labia, spreading me wider
as the intensity built. Fingers replaced her tongue, rushing to fill me and
pulling out slowly. Each time she entered me with sudden movements, a cry
startled from my throat. Every teasingly slow withdrawal left me moaning for
more.

She gave me no reprieve. As soon as the climax began to
wane, she grazed my clit with her teeth, and it began to build in me again. My
strength waned, and I couldn’t push into her like I wanted. “Harder!” I begged.
“God, Billie. You’re torturing me.”

She chuckled low, and the rumble of her happiness teased my
fiery pussy. “My mate. My love,” she murmured loud enough for me to hear and
entered me hard, giving me what I asked for. She bit me between the thighs,
gently at first, nibbles that sent shivers throughout my body. “I’m yours,
forever,” she declared and bit me hard on the inner thigh. I peaked into
climax, the bite sending electricity down past my knee and upwards to curl
around one breast.

The orgasm gripped me quickly this time, rushing through me
violently and ending suddenly. I collapsed into panting. Her silence drew my
attention, and I opened my eyes. She gazed transfixed on my left inner thigh,
her lips parted slightly in wonder. When she touched the spot gently, a current
spread outward, and she jerked her hand back in surprise.

“What was that?” I could barely form words.

She kissed the spot and crawled over me so that she lay to
my side. I rolled to face her and wrapped one hand around the back of her head.
Fervently, I pulled her towards me to meet her lips with mine. Her arm slipped
around my lower back, pulling me gently against her and we lay together,
kissing softly for a time. When we paused, I saw tears threatening to spill
from her eyes, and she answered my unspoken question.
You carry my matebite.

My hand flew to my thigh, and I touched the tender spot where
she bit me, the skin barely broken.
Your matebite. It shocked me when I
touched it,
I replied in amazement.

I’ve never heard of that reaction.
She leaned in to
kiss me softly. “I love you.”

I carry your matebite. I didn’t know I could.
I said
proudly, stroking her face.

I didn’t know if you ever would,
she confessed,
showing how much she’d wanted it for me.

Your matebite! Now you’re never going to be rid of me,
I laughed and rolled on top of her playfully.

She ran a hand through my hair as she looked up at me. “I
never want to. I will love you, cherish you, and protect you to the end.
Whatever comes, we’ll face it together. Mates.”

* * *

Illusion protected my backyard as high as I could
send it. A small fire burned in an old pit I hadn’t used in a very long time,
the smoke visible only from a great distance. We fed Jazz’s research into the
hot flames piece by piece, ensuring that every piece of it burned.

With the last item destroyed beyond recognition, we sat
together in the waning light and watched the fire die into embers. “You didn’t
do anything wrong,” she told me after a long silence.

I countered her statement. “What I did was necessary.
Everything about being Kratos is wrong.”

Anger flared briefly like one of the flames that danced in
front of us. It cooled as quickly as it rose. “No. I wish you didn’t think
that.” We hadn’t had a chance to discuss our ongoing dilemma since we came
home. A Mage capable of controlling other Mages stood apart among my people.
Other Mages feared us and called us Kratos. Only a few existed in the world,
and Kato had named me highest of all Kratos, the most powerful Mage in the
world. My people didn’t know I existed and believed that title belonged to my
grandmother, Beatrice.

“When I read Cassandra, I saw a couple of the other Kratos.
My grandmother is ruthless, powerful, and completely insane. Cassandra’s son,
Emel, is turning into the same thing.”

“Cassandra’s son is Kratos?” Billie startled at the new
knowledge.

“Yes. There are more, but not many. She died before I saw
the details. She thinks about her son a lot.”

“Any mother would. Even one as twisted as Cassandra.”

I watched the flames as I explained, their dancing light
making it easier to find the words. “She was worried about him and scared of
him all at the same time. She hated Beatrice for taking her son away from her.
She said sometimes Kratos go a little crazy. So maybe sometimes we don’t. Or
maybe she’s just holding onto hope for her son.”

Billie hadn’t mentioned Cassandra’s statement. She didn’t
believe it possible for me to become like the others. “Being Kratos doesn’t
sound much different than being a Wolf like me or Jason or Matthew, innately
dominant and powerful. We’re different from other Wolves in some ways. It’s
more difficult for us to find balance in our lives.”

“How is it more difficult?” I knew about her internal
struggles of becoming Wolf. She was forcibly bitten, unprepared for the changes
within her. She’d lived without Pack for months before Kathryn found her.

She responded to both the spoken question and the thought.
“It was worse for me because I was made Wolf by force. It would have been more
difficult than most even if I hadn’t been. John became Wolf a few months after
I came to the Pack. It was so much easier for him. He adjusted quickly, leading
a normal life by the time he was two months old. I was a year old before I had
the balance John had. Jason told me it took him six months and Matthew nearly
as long. Wolves like us are led by instinct more than others, and it isn’t easy
to find the balance. We have stronger impulses, and we have to learn to control
them. Matthew’s alive because he’s incredibly powerful and dominant. But he
isn’t whole either. He lost his balance.” I didn’t see much difference between
Matthew and Jason. Billie chuckled at my thought. “Jason has that balance. He
doesn’t like you, so you don’t get to see it very much.”

“I don’t know if it’s the same. If it is, I don’t know what
that balance is for me,” I admitted. The flames danced in front of me and I
studied the way they consumed whatever we fed it. Being Kratos felt like that,
an uncontrollable force that consumed and destroyed everything it touched.
“Maybe if I can accept the good side of being Kratos, I can accept being
Kratos.”

I could feel her gaze on me as I compared myself to the
fire. “You barely know what it means to be Kratos. You barely know what it
means to be a Mage. You haven’t had enough time to sort it out yet.”