Dire Wolf Mates - Chapter 124: Chapter 124

Words of wisdom she’d heard somewhere, though she could not recall who’d said them. Nica wasn’t the type of woman to hop from bed to bed. This was special. This was big. She would never forget the way Thor made her feel, even after he inevitably walked away. She would always remember this and him.
Regret was not something Nica was fond of. Though she regretted Jack and the Murder, she would never regret this or her time together with Thor. Living in the moment was something she strived for, and this right here was one helluva moment.
Tension started once more in her core, and Nica’s whole body began to tighten around him. Every move he made pushed her closer, closer, closer, until she was right there in the middle of a torrential downpour of pleasure.
“Thor!” she yelled, scratching his shoulders, followed by a loud, “ouch!”
Her Raven cawed inside her mind’s eye just as a sharp pain stung her shoulder. But that feeling was soon overshadowed by another, second building of pleasure threatening to explode inside her until suddenly—it did.
White lights danced behind her eyes as she skyrocketed into oblivion, holding onto Thor for all she was worth. Thor reared up, his eyes completely obsidian, with no hint of white. It should have scared her, but Nica was too stunned by the sharp beauty of his face as he pounded into her.
The things he was doing, the feelings she was feeling, Nica just couldn’t verbalize it. It was impossible for her to comprehend, but so damn poignant. Tears pricked her eyes as her pleasure intensified and Thor’s rhythm turned jerky. He threw his head back and roared as the most intense orgasm she ever felt encapsuled them both. Thick jets of warm cum filled her, and Nica gasped at how right this felt.
Everything that happened before seemed to fall away. Her past. His. All of it. Nothing else mattered except for what was happening between them. Thor cupped her cheek with one hand, using the other to hold himself up so as not to crush her, but she wished he would. She welcomed his weight, loved the feel of his heavily muscled body pressing her down onto the mattress.
His black eyes glittered down at her, the look on his face as he worked to even his breathing was so serious, so full of awe, and she wondered if she looked the same. Everything was different now. She felt it in the air, a sort of charged energy that wrapped itself around her. Ravens didn’t have a lot of lore about mates, but right then, she wished Thor was hers.
“Nica,” he whispered reverently, dipping down to kiss her gently.
It was the smallest of touches, really, but it sent her heart pounding. He didn’t seem done with her. Not yet anyway. A spark of hope ignited in her chest. Her experience with Jack had been hard and cruel, nothing like this. But it had left her so jaded.
She had to let that go. It was the past, and Thor was here in the now with her. He wasn’t Jack. And she wasn’t the same naïve girl she’d been. It was not wrong for her to want Thor. And she did want him. Even more, she wanted him to want her back for longer than just this night.
“Want you,” he whispered. “Want you so damn bad. Always.”
His words were like music to her ears, and her body reacted to them predictably. Heating, warming, wetting just for him. She’d never felt so connected to another person, and she realized she was all in with him. The man could have her body, heart, and soul if he wanted her. What a frightening and wonderful thought that was, she mused.
Nica wanted him again, hoped he would take her fast and hard. That way, she could try to reconcile these new and scary emotions. The responding rumble in his chest and hardening of his cock still buried inside her told Nica he felt the same. But then someone knocked on the door, intruding on this sacred moment.
“Thor, that Crow came by with his lackeys. They’re waiting across the highway behind the gas station, man. He says it’s neutral ground. Says he wants his mate back, too,” Cole told them. “Derrick wants you there,” the Dire Wolf finished.
Thor and Nica remained quiet, but the moment was gone. She listened to the sounds of Cole’s heavy footsteps walking away. That and the silence filled her ears, but he was gone before she even had time to protest Cole’s use of the word mate in relation to her and Jack.
Nica was never the Crow King’s mate. Not when he was courting her, not when he bedded her, and not when he beat her. Not ever.
Nothing could have told her that more than the way she’d responded to Thor’s touch. The second the man known as the Demon Wolf of the Dire Wolf MC touched her, it was like a switch had gone off inside her. Nica’s entire being seemed to recognize him.
His manner of speaking, the way he told her in no uncertain terms, he wanted her, was something she had never had from a man. Then there was her response. Her body welcomed his in a way she would have never thought possible. Thor was big and sexy, and rough around the edges, but with her he was direct, tender, and attentive.
Her skin heated, thinking about what they’d been doing together for hours now. She would have given anything to spend the entire night wrapped around him like a boa constrictor if only Cole hadn’t knocked on the door. Just like that, the burning emotion she’d seen in Thor’s eyes was extinguished.
He pulled out of her, leaving her cold and bereft as he got out of bed. Whatever passion had burned so brightly between them moments ago had dulled now to a muted flame. Nica sat up, watching him with sad eyes.
“Where are you going?” she asked.
“To deal with this,” he growled.
“It’s not your problem, Thor. I’ll go⁠—”
“Not my problem? Nica, you’re mine.”
“I can try to reason with him,” she said, avoiding his statement and hating the hope that rose within her. Yes, she wanted to say, I am yours, but for how long?
“No,” Thor grunted, shaking his head. “I don’t want you near that fucker. You stay here.”
He pulled on jeans and a shirt, and she watched the play of muscles helpless to do otherwise. Her body was sore in places she didn’t even know she had, but Nica would not have traded the last few hours with him for anything else in the world. Everything was all a jumble. Still, she refused to sit still and stay like an obedient puppy. Nica was a Raven, not a dog.
“Look, this is my mess. If you go, I go.”
“Fucking hell, Nica,” he growled, and turned to her so quickly he stopped her in her tracks.
Thor’s eyes bled to black, and she felt a sudden weight pressing down on her. Nica’s shoulder burned fiercely while he glared at her, his powerful body flexing as he tried to keep his control in place. She looked down at her aching shoulder, finally taking stock of herself. Nica gasped at what she saw.
“You bit me,” she whispered, shocked that she hadn’t realized it.
“I told you. You are mine. You agreed, Nica.” he growled, and her heart squeezed tight.
“Biting is the same as claiming to Wolves, right?” she asked, still trying to wrap her head around it.
“Fuck, I thought you understood,” he cursed, rubbing the top of his head.
“Explain it to me,” she demanded, wondering where she found the gumption to question him like that.
“Explain it to you?” he asked, his eyes blazing, that growl echoing in the room. “You. Are. Mine. Explanation over.”
Nica knew she shouldn’t like it when he said that. Something about feminism and being independent. It was all the females of the Dire Wolf Pack talked about. And a sassier group of females Nica had never met. Still, something primal and deep inside her recognized his claim, and reveled in it.
Lucy was the best. The tiny Alpha fem was always giving her mate hell one minute, then making goo-goo eyes at him the next. Sheila was the same with Leo. Though Ariella and Brock were slightly more complicated and openly worshipped each other, while Tracey and Phoenix were all about traveling the globe and visiting when they could. Gwen was still managing her new Wolf, and Weylin was a surprisingly kind mentor, but their love was off the charts.
Nica had spent the last few weeks getting to know this close-knit Pack, and she’d been pleasantly surprised to find the females all had a say in what went down. That was the total opposite of how the Murder was run.
But back to his possessive declaration, honestly, Nica had heard the others say similar things to each other, but she never understood it. Now, with Thor standing in front of her naked and proud, his thick erection jutting out from between his legs, staking his claim with words as he had with his body, Nica just about melted into a puddle of goo at his enormous feet.
And why shouldn’t she? Sassy or not, none of the females there seemed to mind it one bit when their larger-than-life mates came in, dropping proclamations of outright ownership and hauling them off to ravage them well into the night. Nope. In fact, those lucky women seemed to live for those moments.
You can too, her Raven whispered. Mine.
“But what does being yours mean to you, Thor?”
“There’s no time now⁠—”
“The heck you say! Look, Mr. Tall Dark and Tattooed, you said I’m yours. Tell me what that means!” she demanded, chest heaving with her sudden anger.
Thor paced a moment, then turned to her, those Demon Wolf eyes of his glittering dangerously. He was so damn handsome. So big and powerful. Thor just took up all the space in the room, leaving her with one helluva view, she had to admit.
“Okay, you want to know what it means? Fine,” he grunted, freezing her in place with his laser like stare. “It means you let me have you, angel. Now, you’re mine. And I have no intention of letting you go.”
“Okay then,” she mumbled, swallowing hard. “I’m yours.,” Nica agreed aloud, her voice stronger. “Now, let me go to the meeting with you.”
“No!” he snapped. “Fuck, Nica, I am sorry. I don’t mean to yell. But it is dangerous.”
“I don’t understand, Thor. I want to be with you to clear this up. Why can’t I come with you?”
She started towards him, but Thor stopped her with one hand and ran the other over his face. The air felt heavy again, and she swore she saw the air around him shimmer and pulse. He blinked a few times, his eyes returning to normal before he looked at her again.
“Thor?”
“Nica, please understand the Demon Wolf is feeling fiercely protective of you right now.”
“Your Wolf wants to protect me,” she replied, and she almost dropped the sheet she had wrapped around her body.
“If you go out there looking like you do, hair tousled, lips swollen, smelling of sex and me, I’ll tear the throat out of every one of those motherfuckers before Derrick could even think to stop me. Understand?”
Truth.
Shifters had an ear for lies, and every word out of his mouth rang with the truth. Nica swallowed hard. Thor was trying to protect her from his Wolf, from the one everyone called Demon. But Nica wasn’t afraid of him. His animal was possessive of her, and something deep inside her approved. She nodded her head, wanting to offer him comfort. But Nica didn’t say anything. She didn’t have a chance.
Thor was already crossing the room, looking powerful and determined. He slammed his lips into hers, taking her mouth in a fierce, savage kiss that hurt her lips, but in the best way possible. Those big, strong hands she loved gripped the back of her neck as he kissed her, stamping himself on her one more time before he had to go.
“Wait for me here. Say it,” he commanded.
“I’ll wait.”
“That’s my angel. I’ll be back soon,” he murmured, turning around before he could see her swoon.
Why was that such a serious turn on? She had no idea. All Nica knew was she was squirming by the time he adjusted himself in his tight jeans and turned. The man sure knew how to fill out that well-worn denim. His jeans were so tight, they were molded to his long legs and fit perfectly. The tight, long-sleeved shirt he wore was black, as usual, and clung to his musculature like a second skin.
Nica’s mouth watered. He looked like a Viking warrior, all tattooed and scarred. They called him Demon, and she knew why. But to her he wasn’t a Demon, he was an avenging angel. Her avenging angel. But Thor didn’t look at her as he slipped his feet inside his boots. She waited for him to say something, but his hard lips remained closed.
Her heart squeezed, and she felt unsure and anxious. He’d claimed her with his bite, but she still did not understand the full meaning. Crows and Ravens didn’t mate for life, but Nica would be crushed if he let her go. How was she going to survive this? How would she ever survive him leaving her?
Darn it. She was thinking too much. Over complicating things with her runaway thoughts and lack of confidence. The man called her his, that must mean something, right? Should she leave while he was gone? Go back to her room?
She had no experience with this kind of thing. Had no idea how to act. She wanted to make him happy but had no idea what he was expecting from her. Right when she was about to fly off into a full-blown panic, and before he walked out the door, he turned to face her. Thor’s dark eyes found hers, and Nica stilled. Her Raven settled down, even as emotions flooded her system. Nica wasn’t going anywhere.
Thor asked her if she understood what he meant with his oddly specific account of what he would do should she walk across the street to the meeting place. In his eyes, she saw his Demon Wolf, saw the possessive beast staring at her with hunger in his impossibly dark eyes., and something else. Something dark and deadly.
Somehow, letting Thor between her legs and wearing his bite mark had turned the Pack’s Enforcer into a giant murdery powder keg. What else was there to understand?
Okay. Nica swallowed, certain now she understood what he meant.
Kinda. Mostly. Gulp.