The Maverick Pride Tales - Chapter 181: Chapter 181

Pierce was silent the entire drive to the house he’d recently built just down the road from the Pride House. He was so damn nervous he practically vibrated right out of the driver’s side of the car he’d borrowed from Hunter.
His Neta had left him the keys, told him where he’d parked, and waved him away. A couple of agents from the DPCA gave them a lift in their ATVs to the vehicle when they’d finished answering questions, and Pierce was free to take Toni home.
He was a fucking jumble of mixed emotions, the least of which was not pure gratitude. Toni was safe, whole, and he had her back.
Thank the gods, the Fates, the universe, and Yogi.
Toni’s stalker bear was going to be spoiled like no other ursine on the planet. He was already planning a huge rehabilitation pen in his backyard so the creature could live out his old age in peace.
After Mikey finished patching him up, he discovered the bear would have limited mobility in his front quarters from the injuries Stefan had given him. If left in the wild, he would likely not last the winter. The hell with that. Pierce had already asked Hunter about it, and the Neta agreed to sell him the lot next to his house.
Pierce was going to fence the entire thing off and build a huge rehab pen for Yogi, and who knew, maybe rescuing wildlife would become a thing with them. He’d already told his idea to Toni, and her reciprocal smile had dazzled him. But that was the last thing he’d said, and now the minutes were ticking away with too much silence between them.
Uncertainty filled him as he rolled to a stop in front of his house. The new cobblestone driveway he’d put in made faint bumping sounds beneath the tires, and the familiarity of that beat settled him a little.
Just a little.
“Wow, this is nice,” Toni whispered, her golden eyes wide as she leaned forward and looked out his side of the window.
She smelled like forest and fur, blood and hurt, but beneath all that she was peaches and honey. She was Toni, his Toni. Unable to resist, Pierce reached out and gathered her in his arms, and she shuddered, clinging tight to him.
“I thought I lost you,” he whispered his greatest fear aloud, closing his eyes tight.
“You didn’t. I’m here. I am right here with you. Take me inside, show me your home.”
Pierce nodded, using the distraction of giving her the grand tour of McDowd Mansion, as he jokingly referred to his home, to get out of his own head. He helped her out of the car, and she held onto his hand as they walked down the pathway to the front door.
“This is nice. Big, roomy, and it smells new,” she remarked, and he winked.
“Finished construction a few months ago, I guess my Tiger was more bent on finding a mate than I knew,” he confessed.
Toni smiled, leaning on him as he pressed the code into the specialized lock. Pierce stopped her from going in. head cocked, he had the sudden urge to do something old-fashioned, and silly, maybe. But he wanted to do it, nonetheless.
“What is it?” she asked.
“Come here,” he whispered and lifted her up, princess style.
Toni melted into him, her eyes going all soft and sweet. She reached up, kissing his lips as he stepped over the threshold with her in his arms. Gods, he loved her like this, submissive and supple. But he also loved her when she was fierce and furious. There were a million different shades of Toni Golden, and Pierce didn’t know all of them yet, but he was looking damn forward to learning each one.
“I love you,” he growled.
“I love you, too.”
He took her on the tour of the first floor. There was a large living room, kitchen, laundry, a full bathroom, and a dining room. The second floor was made up of the bedrooms. There were three smaller units with two more bathrooms between them. He saved the main bedroom, which would be theirs, he hoped, for last.
“Pierce?”
“Yeah?”
“Do you suppose I could take a shower?”
“Of course,” he told her, leading the way to the private bathroom connected to the main bedroom.
“This is huge,” she said, smiling as she took in the sunken bathtub on one end of the room, and the enormous shower with its three heads and tiled walls.
There was no door to the shower, but both the shower floor and the rest of the bathroom floor had drains in place just in case water escaped. The colors were all earth tones to go with the natural stone tile. The tile was anti-slip, natural stone, to avoid accidents.
Pierce watched Toni spin in a slow circle, a hint of a smile on her face. His heart pounded. It shouldn’t matter, since things could always be changed, but he really wanted her to like his house.
“This place is beautiful, Pierce,” she said, meeting his gaze at last.
“Thank you,” he replied. “Here lemme turn on the water,” he mumbled, and showed her the faucets before turning the water on warm.
Toni blushed a pretty pink color. She mumbled her thanks and started untying the blanket at her waist.
“Oh, I’m sorry. You probably want privacy,” he said, and moved to leave.
“No! I mean, no, I don’t want privacy. I want you,” she told him shyly and Pierce almost fell to his knees.
“I don’t want to rush you,” he whispered, afraid to break the fragile moment.
“Please, I need you,” she said, her eyes blazing gold.
And like the first time, she stripped her clothes off slowly, holding his gaze while she backed into the stream of water cascading down from the shower. Pierce’s growl shook the whole room. He stripped quickly, following her into the shower.
“You make the moves here, Toni,” he told her. “You are in control.”
She smiled then, with no reservations at all. So beautiful and bright, it lit up the whole damn night. She took some shampoo, ran it through her hair, then turned so he could finish the job. Pierce took to it immediately.
Condition, rinse, repeat. Same with her body. Toni sighed under his ministrations, moaning when his touches went from mechanical to methodical. That’s when she started to purr and Pierce about lost his damned mind.
“Pierce.”
Toni moaned his name as his teeth grazed the skin over her throat. He turned her to him, lifting her in his arms, grateful for the fact he’d washed himself off hurriedly when he was bathing her. Lifting her in his arms, he grabbed a fluffy peach towel and draped it over them, barely making it to the bed. Lips smashed together, they crashed onto the mattress, Pierce making sure he didn’t crush her.
“I like the weight of you on top of me,” she whispered, spreading her thighs to accommodate his bigger frame.
“Toni, Toni,” he repeated her name like a litany, over and over again as her heat encompassed him.
There was no hurry. No rush. This joining as precious and potent as their first. Golden eyes glittered in the darkness of the room, her Lioness joining the fray as he moved within her, touching every inch of her he could reach. From his hands clasping hers over her head to his chest smashed up against hers. Toni wrapped her legs around his waist, rolling her hips to meet his rocking, shallow thrusts.
He'd never felt anything like this, and he couldn’t get enough. She reached up, nipping his lip with her teeth as their moves grew more urgent. This was more than sex, more than mating, this was a conversion of beings. A joining and reshaping of two people made for each other, for each other.
Was it too short a time for that? Maybe. But what did Pierce care what anyone else thought?
This moment was everything. Toni gasped aloud, and he followed the sound, moving in tune with her needy whispers and throaty grunts.
“That’s good, pretty girl. Tell me what you like, what you need,” he praised her.
“Want you to mark me, Pierce. Claim me. Make me yours,” she told him, eyes on his, her nails digging into his hips.
Fuck. Yes.
He’d been holding back, not sure if the trauma of the night had influenced her earlier. Pierce was all set to delay. But not now. Not when she was looking at him with her Lioness in her eyes and begging him to claim her.
“Mine,” he snarled.
The slapping sounds of their sex grew louder, and Pierce’s muscles strained and flexed with every swivel, pump, and thrust. All his efforts were worth it, though. He struck, marking her the second she came, shouting his name. Toni’s scream became muffled, and Pierce felt pain and burning on his left pectoral. That was quickly followed by bliss so earth shattering, he almost passed out.
“Now, you’re mine, too.”
He felt her smile more than saw it, since his eyes were still closed. Pierce’s movements slowed, but aftershocks of their orgasm went on and on a few minutes more. His whole body throbbed and pulsed, and he knew nothing could ever feel as good as claiming Toni.
“Pierce?” Toni whispered, her warm breath tickling his sensitive skin.
“Yeah?”
“I’m glad I waited for you.”
Love. Love. LOVE.
He felt it in their matebond. Heard it in her voice. Toni really loved Pierce, and he loved her right back.
“Me too, pretty girl. I don’t think our timing could have been more purrfect.”
Early the next morning. Toni poured a second cup of coffee, still full from the amazing Belgian waffle breakfast Pierce had made her, when the doorbell rang.
“Who’s that?” she asked her mate, who was bending over the dishwasher, giving her a lovely view of his assets.
Yummy man.
“Huh? I don’t know. You stay. I’ll go check.”
She nodded and sighed, drinking a good sip. Of course, that was when Pierce returned carrying an enormous basket filled to bursting with a ridiculous amount of X-rated paraphernalia. Toni snorted coffee out of her nose, she was laughing so hard.
“Dear new bro-in-law, here’s some from your new family to keep Toni the Tiger lover happy. Hope you’re into nipple clips—Toni, what the heck? Are you okay?”
He chuckled, dropping the basket on the table, and grabbing her some paper towels. Toni gasped, trying to catch her breath.
“I’m gonna kill my sisters,” she said.
“Don’t bother. We’ll get ‘em back. Besides, I think I saw some peach flavored edible oils. You know I love peaches,” he growled playfully.
“Mmm, that sounds promising,” she replied, and giggled when he picked her up and tossed her over his shoulder.
Life with Pierce was never going to be boring, and even better, the male was supremely confident in her ability to make her own decisions, handle herself, and let him know when she needed or wanted something from him. They’d already promised to never stop communicating with one another, and far as she was concerned, that gave them a leg up in this whole fated mates thing.
“Pierce, what about family? Are you going to be okay if I want to wait?” she asked after they were all sweaty and sated and completely high on one another.
“Whatever decision you make, I will be fine with it. Whether you want to remain on heat suppressants, or try for cubs, or adopt, or not have kids and just adopt a million cats to keep Yogi company, I am completely on board.”
“You say that but⁠—”
“But nothing, Toni, you are my family. I love you.”
“I love you, too. I promise to talk to you before anything. This is our family, Pierce, we both make the decisions.”
Then he smiled at her, and Toni knew she got it right this time.
Elsewhere…
Uncle Uzzi shook his head and sighed.
Some Shifters just could not accept their fate. Take Carter, the cowardly Lion, ex-limo driver.
“You thinking about that Cat again,” Richard asked, prepping a nice pot of chamomile tea for Uzzi.
“I just don’t know why he is fighting it so hard,” Uzzi replied, reaching out to snag one of Richard’s delicious lemon shortbread cookies.
“I see you sneaking a cookie, Uzzi, now shame on you. What would Betty say?”
“My libeling appreciated my sweet tooth,” he countered, nibbling the delectable treat.
“Yes, well, she also would have told you to let the young Lion Shifter go about his business. He’ll come around when the time is right.”
The old Witch sighed and flicked the corner of one of the new business cards he’d had made up. Uncle Uzzi’s Magical Matchmaking Service was scrawled across the thick white card stock in bold blue letters.
He supposed Richard was right. Besides, there was always another client waiting for his insights.
But Carter would do wise to beware, the Fates were liable to take away that which they had bestowed if ignored for too long.
“Beware indeed, little pussy,” he mumbled.
“What was that?” Richard asked over the whistling kettle.
“Nothing, Richard. Not yet anyway. Now, let’s have some tea!”
The end.