The Mating Rite (Big, Beautiful Werewolf) (Werewolves of Montana) (33 page)

Sam only hoped this bonding ceremony would solidify her powers as Lupine, because her Elven powers were sorely sapped. She needed to be as strong as possible.

The males dressed in black tunics, black leather vests, black leather pants and soft leather boots. The females were attired in the same manner as Sam. It was very formal and Other, and she couldn’t help be a bit nervous.

Ryder glanced at Darius, who nodded brusquely. “Do it.”

“Samantha Evers, future mate of Darius, do you give permission to bond with me through blood?” Ryder asked.

She sucked in a breath. “I do.”

Ryder held up the blade. “As alpha, I give you my strength to make you powerful, my courage to give you heart, and my blood to keep you safe. Hold out your hand.”

As she did, the alpha took the ceremonial blade and slashed her palm. Sam winced at the cold burn. Blood welled from the laceration.

He slashed his own hand and pressed their open wounds together. “Blood of the alpha, flow into this Lupine female, give her my strength when she needs to call on powers greater than her own,” he murmured.

Aiden stepped forward and did the same. Then Darius faced her. Sam held up her bleeding hands. “I have no more hands left to give you,” she joked weakly, wanting to reduce the intensity of the moment.

“Our bonding doesn’t take place with blood, sweetheart.” Darius rubbed his thumbs over her wounds. Stunned, she watched the cuts heal beneath his touch. He gripped her hand. “Come with me.”

As the others headed back to their townhomes, Darius led her across the bridge into the forest. He did not stop until reaching the small glade where she’d witnessed Trey and Lauren copulating as wolves. Two soft blankets were piled by a tree. Sam gave him a worried look. “We’re not going to have sex as wolves, are we?”

“That’s for later and the mating rite.” Darius cupped her cheek, his gaze tender. “But here in the forest, beneath the open sky, will amplify our experience, and strengthen our bond together as Lupines.”

She looked around. “After what happened earlier today, how do we know it’s safe here and something else won’t come after me?”

“Aiden, Ryder and I warded the circle with our blood. No one can break through the circle to cause us harm, sweetheart. As long as we remain here, you’ll be safe.”

He snapped out the blanket on the ground. Pulling her down with him, he kissed her. Then they undressed.

Darius stroked a finger down her cheek, and desire raced through her. His moist, full mouth was close to hers, his sweet breath fanning over her lips as he leaned close. “Did you ever dream of making love beneath the stars? Have you ever had the desire to be wild, free and close to nature?”

A strangled gasp of pleasure escaped her as Darius cupped her breast, teasing her nipple. She could not speak as he leaned closer, whispering seductively into her ear.

“Has your wolf ever dreamed of me fulfilling every single erotic fantasy you could imagine?”

He lightly pinched her nipple, and she moaned. Moisture wept between her legs.

“I’m Lupine, wild, free and essentially sexual. And tonight, so are you, Sam.”

His mouth descended on hers, roughly. His kiss inflamed. Sam made a sound against his mouth, bit his lower lip, and ground her hips against his. She wanted him and no other; and yet, deep inside, her Elven half resisted. She could love him with every breath in her body, but he was wolf, and the essence of savage wildness. She was Elf and wolf, and a savage battle raged within her to never love the wolf, to keep him at bay as one did with a beast.

He kept kissing her—deep, almost punishing kisses, his tongue dueling hers as if they were in a battle and he wanted to dominate her, force her to surrender. But she was not at his mercy.

Sam pulled away, panting. She needed reassurance, not only his passion.

“Is that what you want, Darius—to seal me to your side, have me only for yourself? To make me deny my Elven heritage?”

“I won’t share,” he said roughly. “Not you. Not ever.”

“You have no choice. Part of me will always belong with the forest and the Fae, a part you can never have. You’ll only have half a life with me, a mate who won’t hunt at your side, who will balk at Lupine rules, because I’ll never stop being Elven.”

“Then damn it, I’ll take whatever you can give me, Sam.” He drew his face close to hers and she saw the torment glinting his eyes. “Half a life with you is better than a thousand lives with another woman.”

Fisting a hand in her long hair, he kissed her ruthlessly, his erection grinding against her. A low moan tore from her throat.

Darius broke the kiss and stared at her, his eyes wild, a big vein throbbing at the base of his throat. The sounds of their ragged breathing echoed in the glen. “I can’t wait.”

His erection was thick and impossibly engorged; a shining droplet of moisture glistened on the rounded head.

Daring seized Sam. She took him into her hand, grasping the steely length, rubbing a thumb over his skin. Soft, yet hard as stone. He threw back his head and moaned as she circled the head of his cock, spreading the moisture over his shaft. Her heart thudding frantically, she dropped to her knees and took him in her mouth. He tasted of salt and musk, and pure male. As she swirled her tongue, Darius shuddered and gripped her shoulders. Her movements were hesitant, but she let her love for him guide her.

Darius made a low growl of approval, but then gently broke the contact. Sam stood, looking at him with uncertainty until she felt his hand come between her thighs, stroking, coaxing moisture from her. She whimpered and gripped his arms as he slid a finger between her slick folds.

“You’re so wet for me,” he whispered. “Brace yourself. I’m going to have you, and I can’t be gentle as I want to.”

She cupped his face in her hands. “Then take me, as a wolf does. I’m ready.”

He led her to a nearby stone, its surface smooth. “Bend over,” he commanded. She did just that, shaking with anticipation and excitement, her hands pressed against the rock. It was a shameless, wild, and wanton position, and she felt vulnerable and exposed.

This was the traditional mating position for Lupines.

Pleasure surged through her as he parted her moist folds. “Yes, open to me, Sam,” he said in a velvet whisper. “Feel me inside you. I’m going to take you hard and fast, and when I’m done making you scream and making you sweat and pleasuring you until you collapse in sheer exhaustion, I’ll be branded on your soul, damn it, be you Fae or Lupine.”

Sam shivered as she felt his hands grasp her hips. In this position, she could not move, his hands checking her escape.

She felt the impatient nudge of his arousal pressing. Then Darius surged forward, thrusting deep inside as he uttered a low groan of satisfaction. He began to deliver on his dark, erotic promise.

Darius hammered into her. She recognized his primitive need to mark her as his own. This was not the action of a Lupine besting an Elf, but a wolf claiming his rightful mate. Darius sought to win her; he would make her remember this wild rapture, the bond forged between them in flesh, and imprint upon her very soul the scent, the feel, the utterly dark torment of the erotic pleasure he gave her.

He forced her to cry out, the sounds of her desire echoing through the starry night. He made her forget everything but him and the savage pleasure.

Sweat glistened on her body. As her heart hammered wildly in her chest, she gulped down air and frustration. Then he gave one more hard thrust and she climaxed, screaming.

Darius slid free, leaving her empty and trembling.

Then he laid down upon the blanket. “Here, this way,” he instructed, breath still rasping in his lungs. He pulled her atop him.

Sam straddled him, her hands pressed against the silken, moist hairs on his muscled chest. Slowly she sank down as he guided her, impaling herself on his still rigid length. Shock rippled through her, and she let out a startled cry as he filled her.

“Ride me, my lovely Sam,” he demanded.

He taught her the rhythm, clasping her hips to lift her as she squeezed his rigid length, sinking down and rising up. Sensations flooded her, scorching pleasure filling every cell, and an incredible feeling of being in control of this dangerous, unpredictable man who loved her with such wild passion.

Darius removed his hands and palmed her breasts as she increased the pace. He stroked and kneaded, flicked his thumbs over her cresting peaks as she began to pant with renewed urgency, tension building in her loins.

“Let go. Surrender to it. Come for me, Sam,” he told her.

She screamed as another orgasm shot through her, her hands digging into the thick muscles of his arms. Darius growled with satisfaction, then just as quickly, sat up and rolled her onto her back, his big body covering hers. Gulping, she looked up at him in dazed wonder.

They began anew. This time it was a fierce and wild mating. She bit his shoulder, sinking her teeth into the hard muscles, marking him as he’d once marked her. He snarled and pinned her with his weight. Sam dug her heels into the blanket and raked her nails over his back as he thrust harder. A desperate intensity flared in his gaze as he took her, over and over, his member swelled to impossible size.

At last, Darius crouched back and parted her legs wide, angling his thrusts deeper for more intense strokes. Sam clutched his forearms, digging her fingers into those muscles as she felt once more a gathering tension in her loins. Then he brought his face close to hers, forcing her to meet his gaze.

“Look at me, my beautiful Sam. Look at me. No one else but me. Say my name,” he demanded.

“Darius,” she choked out in a desperate sob.

“Yes, Darius—the only one for you.”

“You’re mine,” he growled. “Mine. No one else will ever make you feel this way but me.”

Then he pushed forward in a last, violent thrust, and he shook with his climax, shouting her name. She shattered, clutching him to her: her Darius, her savage, wild wolf. He was branded on her soul as she was branded on his.

After a few moments, he pulled out. Exhausted, they lay on the blanket, entangling their bodies together as the full moon shone down upon them. Darius covered them with the second blanket. Entwined in his arms, she fell asleep on the ground.

Sometime later, the frantic beating of wings against her cheek startled her out of a deep slumber. Sam struggled to awaken, and opened her eyes. She saw a flash of lights wink out, like flashbulbs on a camera.

Then a lyrical, haunting music sounded deep in the woods. Sam eased out of Darius’ embrace, sat up and rubbed her eyes. The music tugged at her, but held an underlying note. Sinister and dark, it grated on her sprit instead of soothing it.

Was it because of the Lupine bonding ceremony?

Or had her senses sharpened and she now heard the other notes because she heard the truth? Or was this a different music of the Fae?

A chill raced through her tensed body as she stood. She glanced down at the sleeping Darius, one arm tucked beneath his head, his long, dark lashes feathering his cheeks. He looked relaxed and boyish.

Sam dressed. Compelled against her will, she slipped away, pushing deeper into the forest. Sam followed the trail to the glade where she’d first heard the Fairies sing. But this time instead of playful Sprites darting about the air, filling the glade with an ethereal glow from their wings, a single Fae leaned against the trunk of a tall pine. In flowing deep blue robes, he had long, white hair and piercing blue eyes. The tips of his ears were slightly pointed.

She did not know who this Fae was, but sensed a threat. Sam lifted her chin.

“Who are you, sir, and why are you here? Where are the Sprites that danced and sang?”

The man smirked. “Dancing and singing Sprites. You think this forest is magick? Magick you wish to tap into?”

A chill raced down her spine. She sensed a great power, much greater than herself. And something so very, very old.

“I only wish to respect the forest and those who dwell within it.”

“Oh?”

The man waved a hand. Vines suddenly dropped from the trees and seized her by the wrists and ankles, yanking her hard against an oak tree. Sam cried out and tried to free herself. The man came close and his eyes burned like fire.

“Dancing and singing Fairies. Such foolishness. Like the one who was led here by their song.” The Fae studied his fingernails, suddenly sharp and stained with splatters of green blood. “They died quite quickly. Such a shame, but circumstances being what they are, I could not allow them to live, and protect you in their foolishness. They tried to warn you to leave the forest. I could not allow that. Not after waiting for this moment for so long.”

“Who are you?”

The Fae waved a hand and his features tightened, becoming sharp and angular.

“James,” she whispered. “What do you want?”

The Fae gave a humorless smile. “Why, my dear half-sister, to get you the fuck out of my life. Out of everyone’s life. To kill you.”

Chapter 18

Her brother?
Shock pummeled her. Sam stared at James, sickened at the hatred on her former friend’s face. She had a father, and he was alive. And a half-brother, who wanted her dead.