Filed to story: The Alpha’s Pen Pal Book
My mouth twitches, angling into a half smile as my hands cup her butt. “Say what again?” I tease, pinching her ass cheek.
She yelps and then nips at my lower lip. “You know what, dickhead!”
I laugh, tipping my chin to the ceiling, the sound bouncing off the furniture. It’s pure and bright, like the laughter my friends brought out of me before my life went to shit. “I love you, Cassandra,” I say again, stroking her sides beneath her dress as she kisses my jaw and my neck. “I love your smiles and how you see the best in everything and everyone—in me.”
Her smile grows impossibly bigger, and I groan as her lips pass over my marking spot, and she teases it with the softest kisses and her warm breath. My fingers dig into her skin as I fight the urge to overtake her and claim her right now. My jaw tenses as she continues torturing me with her lips and tongue on my neck, but I hold back and slip into the satisfaction I feel from her giving attention to that sensitive place.
“I love you too, Nolan,” she says, lifting her gaze to mine, her eyes flecked with gold.
“So… is that a yes?” I ask, teasing the underside of her breast with my thumb.
She nods, her nose brushing mine. “It’s a yes. I want to be yours, and I want you to be mine. There is no one else I can imagine spending my life with.”
My throat tightens at her verbal confirmation, my heart swelling with happiness. Her reaction told me everything I needed to know, but hearing her accept me? Having her say out loud that she loves me and wants me?
It’s unparalleled.
I dive forward and kiss her once more, hands grappling with the fabric of her dress. The garment fights back, unwilling to leave her body, tangling around my limbs and her torso, and I growl in frustration. Cassandra tears her mouth from mine, and as I wrestle with her clothing, her eyes dart around the room, scanning the floor. “Where’s the ring?” she asks.
“I don’t know. We’ll find it later,” I grit out, finally getting my hands free from the confines of her infuriating dress.
“I want to wear it.” She lunges away from me, reaching for the small black box that is almost underneath my dresser.
I snarl and yank her back, my hand wrapping around her throat and my face buried in her neck. “You don’t need it,” I remind her. “I’m going to mark you. Right here”—I blow on her marking spot—“and then everyone will know who you belong to.”
I slide the straps of her dress down her arms until the bodice is around her waist, leaving her bare breasts on display for my eyes to feast on, much like earlier during our “piano lesson.” Her nipples tighten until they’re as hard as the diamonds in the ring I bought for her. I cup both of her breasts in my hands, groaning at their softness as I tease her neck with my mouth, nipping at it and kissing it.
I give her neck every bit of attention it deserves. It’s no longer just a brief drag of my teeth or a small, gentle kiss. I claim each inch of it in every way I can, except with my fangs piercing her flesh.
Cassandra gasps and writhes in my lap, her body reacting beautifully to my kisses and my touch like it always does. I wrap myself around her, embracing her and stroking the smooth skin of her arched back, but she pushes against me and yanks my face from her neck, leaning away and staring into my eyes, hers filled with earnestness.
“Not tonight,” she says, panting, her shoulders heaving and her heart racing.
“Not tonight?” I growl, and my grip on her tightens. “What do you mean, not tonight?”
She licks her lips as she catches her breath, one hand caressing my cheek and the other sliding down to my chest and resting just above my heart. “Oracles have a special, sacred bonding ceremony where we mark our mate in the temple. It’s a private, intimate ritual. Every true oracle on the island has completed their bond with their mate in this ceremony. And even though you’re not my fated mate, I want to be marked by you like that. I never thought I’d find anyone who’d want to tie themselves to me as a chosen mate since I can’t have children. But it’s always been my secret dream to be marked in the temple.”
“We’d have to travel there?”
“Yes.”
I growl again and shake my head. “I don’t know if I can wait that long. I want to claim you in every way. I want everyone to know you’re mine.”
“We can leave right after the ball. As soon as we can get on a flight out, or Wesley can book us a private jet, we’ll go, and your mark will be on my neck within a day of us arriving on the island.”
She stares at me, her eyes filled with hope as she explains her plan.
“Cassandra…” I groan, pressing my forehead to hers.
She strokes my cheeks with her thumb, and I glide my hands up her back and down again, closing my eyes so they don’t linger on her pretty nipples that are testing my restraint. But even with my eyes closed, I can see the hope in hers, and feel how fervently she desires this. And although it means a delay in her receiving my mark, her wish to do this special ceremony becomes my wish as well. I want nothing more than for our marking to be a treasured memory for us both, to give her this dream since so many of hers have already been stolen from her.
“Okay,” I concede, nodding so our noses brush, and I feel her smile as she tilts our faces closer. “But you’re wearing my clothes every second that you’re not naked—except at the ball—and that ring”—I gesture towards the dresser the ring is still under—“stays on your finger at all times. Do you understand?”
She answers me with a kiss, and I clutch at her, drawing her half-naked body closer to mine. I hold myself back from kissing her the way I want, the way I usually do, keeping this kiss short and sweet, yet filled with every ounce of love I have for her.
When she pulls away, her eyes twinkle, and a soft blush spreads across her face. She hesitates, like she wants to ask me something, but she pinches her lips together and leans against me, resting her head on my shoulder. I trace her hairline and comb through her curls, encircling her body with my other arm to keep her warm and safe. “What is it?” I ask.
“I was just thinking…” Her eyelids flutter as my fingertips trail down her spine, a small sigh escaping her lips. “My lycan and your wolf haven’t met yet.”
She lifts her head so her chin rests on my chest, and her eyes stare up at me, green and gold caged behind long, dark lashes. “That’s true, they haven’t met yet,” I say. “Do you want them to?”
The twinkle in her eyes shines brighter, and she nods, getting to her feet. Her dress falls to the floor, and she steps out of it, shimmying out of her underwear as she walks out of my room.
“Now?” I ask, jumping to my feet and following her as she rushes down the hall and towards the back door.
She flings the door open instead of answering, and I growl playfully as I chase after her, ripping my shirt over my head and yanking my pants off as she runs through my backyard towards the forest, her ivory skin bathed in moonlight. She laughs—that bright, beautiful, piano music laugh—and disappears into the tree line. I shift mid-stride once I remove all my clothes. My red wolf shakes out his fur and lets out a howl before he takes off at a sprint to hunt down our mate.
CASSANDRA
A howl echoes off the trees as my light brown lycan races through the forest, using her front limbs to propel herself faster. Pounding paws rustle the underbrush, and I speed up, leaping onto a tree and pulling myself into the cover of the canopy. I spring from tree to tree, then crouch low on a branch, honing in on Nolan’s wolf as he sprints in my direction, his nose leading the way.
His wolf is large and powerful, with a gorgeous rust red coat. He stops under the tree I’m hiding in, nose twitching and muzzle bouncing as he sniffs the air for my scent, spinning in a circle underneath me. The silvery moonlight reflects off his fur, adding a dazzling luster to it. I’m tempted to drop from my branch and shift back into my human form so I can hug his wolf and bury my face in his fur, soaking in his warmth and the softness of his thick red coat.
He plops down on his haunches and stares up into the branches, his eyes narrowing when he spots me watching him from the trees. He growls, his lip curling, but his tail wags behind him, letting me know he’s teasing. My lycan lifts her paw, almost like a wave, and I swear his wolf rolls his eyes. A howl leaves my mouth, and I leap towards the next tree, heading deeper into the forest. Nolan’s wolf lets out a yip behind me, and the skittering of pine needles alerts me that he’s on the move again, chasing after me.
I laugh in my mind as true elation fills me while he chases me through the forest of his home.
No. Our home.
The beautiful forest passes by me in a blur, my lycan moving too fast for me to absorb the view. I’ll have plenty of time for that, though. I’ll be here for the rest of my life. A light, cool breeze swirls through the forest as we run, rustling my fur and the needles of the trees around us. Nolan’s wolf lets out the occasional happy yelp, and I glance back every so often, beckoning and teasing him, spurring him to run faster.
He chases me all the way to the lake, where I pause and take in the view from the treetop. He stalks around the trunk, staring up at me, whining quietly and pawing at the ground. I glance down at him, then gaze towards his house before taking off again in that direction. Nolan is quick to follow, darting off like a speeding bullet.
New Book: Veiled Desires of the Alpha King Novel
Dayson was the alpha of the largest pack in North America. Powerful figures from other packs sought to offer gorgeous girls as potential mates for Dayson. He steadfastly rejected these advances, he was not a pawn to be manipulated. But eventually there came a mysterious girl he could hardly say No. Who was she?