The Maverick Pride Tales - Chapter 200: Chapter 200

It hadn’t snowed in a few days, but the temperature had dropped, and February was just days away. For some reason, he’d always imagined Valentine’s Day as a spring holiday when he was a kid. But in New Jersey, it fell in the middle of the coldest, snowiest, windiest month of the whole dang year. Whoever picked it was a total idiot, he decided.
Cole checked his phone and made a clicking sound with his tongue. Five minutes had passed already. What was taking her so long? He was terrible at waiting, so he decided to see what was holding his woman up. Cole took the stairs two at a time, but he slowed his pace when he overheard Megan talking.
“No. I won’t do that.” Pause. “I said no. And that’s not my fault.” Pause. “Of course, I care⁠—”
She was upset, he felt it through their matebond, and worse, he thought he heard a sob escape her lips. Fuck waiting outside like a gentleman. Cole opened the door and strode right over to her. Megan was facing away from him, and now he could hear whoever she was talking to. The male voice was angry and getting louder by the minute.
“You bitch, you owe me! I need this, Meggy, you can’t say no!”
Megan turned the second she noticed he was there and her big eyes were spilling over with tears. She shook her head, and Cole realized he was growling loudly.
“Who is that, lily?”
“My brother, Matthew,” she said, covering the phone with her hand.
Not like that would matter. If it was her brother, he was Tiger too. His supernaturally enhanced hearing meant he knew damn well Cole was there.
“Your brother shouldn’t be talking to you like that,” he growled.
“Is that your boyfriend, Meggy? Go on and put him on, I bet he’s just like that fucking normal Mark you hooked up with in college. What a fucking joke you are! Big fat Tigress fucking a normal cause no one else wants a freak like you.”
“Gimme the phone,” he mouthed to her, but she was still holding onto it.
The pain and hurt her brother caused with every syllable was like a stab to her heart. Each slice was an open wound to her soul, oozing sadness and despair, and Cole felt every single one of them through his matebond with Megan. The idea of her own kin saying such vile things was horrifying to a man whose only family acted with courtesy and respect. The fact she was his mate to love, honor and protect made him want to howl for vengeance.
“You got one use, Meggy, and it ain’t laying on your back. Igor wants a rematch. I set the match up, you just have to come back home, and we’ll do it in the yard. Saturday night⁠—”
Megan shivered uncontrollably at the mention of that name, Igor, and Cole saw red. His monster Dire Wolf was barely restrained, and he couldn’t stop himself as he held out his hand for her phone. With a pained look Megan nodded and handed it to him, stepping back and wrapping her arms around herself as soon as she was free from the burden of that seemingly insignificant contraption. Fucking cell phones.
Cole had always hated the idea of them. Oh, technology was good and all that, but it had its down points too. Why couldn’t people just disconnect for a while? What was so important you needed to be able to reach a person every second of every day?
“Hello? Meggy? Did you hear what I said?”
“Megan is not available to you any longer. Don’t call this number again,” Cole growled, clicking end and then a few more buttons effectively blocking her horrible brother from her cell and her social media.
He looked up and handed Megan back her phone, then tugged her into his arms, needing to hold her.
“I’m sorry⁠—”
“Don’t you dare apologize for that little piece of shit, Megan,” he growled, and lifted her chin so he could look into her eyes.
“It’s just, my parents were older when they had him, so I kind of raised Matthew. I was with him all the time, and I tried my best, but he is always getting into messes. Lately it’s gambling, and he loses all the time,” she mumbled.
“What did he mean about wrestling?” Cole asked, his voice so deep there was barely any human left.
“Shit. You heard everything, didn’t you? Dire Wolves have such big ears,” she tried to joke and shook her head.
“What did he mean?”
“I-I’m strong. I told you once. I’m very strong and the kinds of Shifters who run gambling halls like to hold contests of strength,” she whispered, and the shame she felt was so big it almost knocked him down.
“Contests?”
“Mostly arm wrestling for me. But there are other kinds. MMA fights. No holds barred wrestling. I participated in a match like that for this crazy streak of Siberian Tigers Matthew got mixed up with. Igor was the male I had to fight. It was supposed to be human form only, no half changes or changes. Anything goes, but no claws, fur, or teeth. Those were the rules. But he broke them.”
“The scars on your ribs, they’re from this Igor?” Cole asked.
He knew without looking his eyes were completely silver now. His Wolf was shredding him on the inside, desperate to get out, to go hunting. The acrid scent of rage filled the apartment, and Megan’s eyes went wide. Fuck. Cole didn’t mean to scare her.
He took her hand and tugged her close, and just the feel of her in his arms soothed his beast. Oh, his inner monster had already taken the name Igor down, and the motherfucker would get his. But right then, Igor wasn’t important. Just a bug that needed squashing. He rocked them both side to side, rubbed his hands up and down her back.
“everything is okay. I promise, lily.”
“You heard what he said about me only having one use⁠—”
“I know he’s your brother, Megan,” Cole started. “But I owe him a broken nose for that remark. Listen to me, you’re fucking perfect.”
“He’s not wrong, Cole. I am big and abnormally strong. A fr-freak like he said.”
“You’re my tiger lily. You hear me? Powerful. Beautiful. Brave. Goddess of a woman. And I love you,” he said.
Cole realized it was the first time he voiced those simple yet utterly significant words. Shiiit. He should have gotten her roses and candy. Taken her out for dinner and dancing. Did all those romantic things he wanted to do the first time he told her. He’d had it planned out.
“I was going to tell you on February 14th, but I figure now is a good time. I already marked you. Claimed you as my own. But in case you didn’t know it already, I love you, Megan Sudak. My tiger lily. I love you, mate.”
“You love me?” she whispered, as shocked as he felt relieved to finally say it aloud.
“Oh, yeah. I love you something awful, lily. You’re never getting rid of me,” he growled.
Cole caught her bottom lip between his teeth, and frog marched her till she was leaning against the wall. He kissed her again, cupping her neck and cheek and stroking his tongue slow and deep inside her sweet little mouth. She tasted like sunshine and frosted cupcakes, like pancakes in the middle of the night and ice cold rain. He kissed her longer, deeper, and rougher then, until they were both drunk on it.
“Nothing could ever make me stop loving you,” he growled.
Cole ran his hands down her sides, grabbing the waistband of her pants. He pushed down the fabric, cupping her sex and groaning when he found wetness between her folds. Fuck. She was so hot and needy. He swallowed her gasps and moans as he spread her lips and shoved two fingers into her already spasming pussy.
“Oh gods,” she moaned loudly.
Cole pumped his fingers, pushing her closer and closer to release while freeing his hard as steel cock from his jeans. Fuck, he’d lost it. But he needed her now. Rough and hard, and she was woman enough to take it. He knew it and he fucking loved it. Cole didn’t have to hold back with Megan.
Oh no, he could be himself. His Wolf could come undone, and he trusted Megan with all of it, with all of him. His kisses and touches grew desperate as he lined up his cock with her entrance and grabbed her behind the knees. Cole spread her legs and lifted her high, then eyes on hers, he pushed his hips forward and drove into her right there, up against the wall.
“Fuuucckk,” he growled.
Megan’s eyes burned with her Tiger as she stared at him. From despair to ecstasy in just a few minutes, it was quite the emotional rollercoaster, and Cole knew exactly what that felt like. He was on it, too, right there with her every step of the way. He waited a full ten seconds to catch his bearings before he started to move in hard, deliberate pumps.
Then it was only him and her. All the rest faded away as Cole made love to his woman, showing her with his body how crazy in love with her he was. Hell, he couldn’t even wait to get them naked. She was half-dressed, shirt rucked up, bra pulled down so he could suck her sweet nipples as he fucked her hard and fast with his jeans around his ankles. Megan’s chest reverberated with her growl and her claws dug into his hips.
“That’s right, lily. Mark me up. Show me I am yours,” he grunted, keeping his thrusting shallow now so he could press against her clit with every swerve and grind.
“Mine,” she snarled.
Cole’s dick pulsed when he saw her fangs, and no, he didn’t have to ask. His woman was already there, her pussy tightening around his sheath as she started to come.
“That’s it, lily. Come for me. Come all over my dick. I wanna be covered in your scent,” he growled, then roared when she struck, marking him again high up on his throat.
He couldn’t hold back then. Cole shot heat straight into her core, his body on fire as wave after wave of pure bliss crashed over him. Megan was his. His. His. HIS. And no one was ever going to use her for anything ever again. She belonged to him and Wolf now. And he was totally, irrevocably, and for eternity hers. Only hers. His tiger lily.