Thoreau - Chapter 20: Chapter 20

Poppy
There are no words that can explain what it feels like to be marked by your mate, not even to describe it to another shifter.
If skin could orgasm while moon power fizzed through your veins, that might be close enough.
The second Leo finished licking up the twin drops of blood left from Ruby's canines, I pushed him off of me, jumped on him, and grabbed his chin. Ignoring his chuckles, I angled his head to the side, anxious to see what the Moon Goddess had gifted us for marks.
"Oh! It's my fox form and Ruby! They look so cute together!" I turned my head and lifted my chin so he could see my mark. "Is it the same as yours?"
"I'm assuming so. Ruby looming large behind a little fox, whose head is turned as she looks up at him with a teasing smile."
"Yep!" Grinning widely, I threw myself on top of his broad chest and tried to wrap my arms around his wide shoulders for a hug. "I'm so happy, Leo!"
"Good. I am, too, but I'm more happy that you're happy. I love you, Poppy. I love every side of you." His hands moved me around until I lay more fully on top of him with my legs straddling his waist. "I love when you're being sassy, when you're being sexy, and when you're being serious. I love your gentle interactions with Reau just as much as I love when you play rough and try to manhandle me."
My eyes stung and my nose clogged up at his sweet words, so I sat up and whacked his left pec with the back of my hand.
"Try?" I squawked. "I do manhandle you!"
"I let you manhandle me, little vixen. How about you manhandle me some more, hmm?"
He brought his knees up and scooted me down his body until his hard dick pressed between my ass cheeks, and I gulped at the size of him.
That is never going to fit inside my bird, Practical Me panicked.
That is going to destroy my bird, Feisty Pants smirked. Can't wait.
I want mate inside me right now! Miss Romance wiggled in anticipation.
"First, you need to keep your promise to strip my pants off," I said to buy myself some time to calm down.
"Add Bossy Britches to your repertoire of personalities," he grinned, but moved his hands to my waistband and slowly slid Thoreau's sleep pants down my bum.
I shivered as he made sure to skim his rough fingers over every inch of skin he uncovered, the mate sparks making me gasp as much as his touch. When he rolled me onto my back and knelt between my ankles, I swallowed hard, wondering if his fingers might venture a little higher to where I ached most, but he only tugged my pants down my legs, stopping to caress my thighs and calves along the way, before he freed my feet and tossed the wad of fabric over his shoulder.
His eyelids drooped halfway as his gaze ran from my ankles to the hem of my shirt and back down, his slow perusal arousing me almost more than his touch had.
Folding my knees, I pressed my legs together, a little nervous about letting him see how dripping wet I was, no matter how much I wanted him to stick his mouth or fingers or dick in there right the fuck now!
But I had to remember that Leo was nervous, too. Even without Thoreau's far-from-subtle warning, I would have known it. His hands and mouth explored down one of my legs, then up the other, but his eyes constantly darted to my face to check that I was okay, apparently not reassured by all the little noises he was pulling out of me.
Which was why, when he reached for the edge of my t-shirt, I grabbed his hands in mine and held them still.
"Poppy?" His eyes flew to mine.
"I want to put a few expectations in place before we go any further."
As his shoulders tensed and his chin went up, the mate bond quivered under the weight of his sudden anxiety, and I admitted I could have phrased that differently.
"I know guys are under enormous pressure to perform perfectly every time, but I want you to relax and enjoy yourself and not worry about being perfect. As for me, yes, I know it will hurt the first time and can prepare myself mentally for that, but I am not going to be shy about speaking up if I don't like something, and I'm certainly not going to fake an orgasm just to stroke your ego."
"I don't want you to hide or fake anything." His face turned stern for a second, then he blew a chuckle out of his nose. "And there's only one thing I need you to stroke, and it ain't my ego."
"That goes both ways, my love. If something makes you uncomfortable or, worse, starts to trigger you, tell me. If you come in your shorts or the sheets or not at all, I don't want you to be embarrassed or self-conscious or think you failed or disappointed me. Even if we get it wrong the first time, we can practice again and again until we get it right."
"Even if we get it right the first time, we can practice again and again tonight," he smirked and pecked my lips. "But yes, I hear what you're saying, and I think we should promise to extend that understanding to our whole relationship. I don't want you to fake or hide anything from me. Well, I mean, a surprise is one thing, but please don't ever make me think everything's okay when it's not or be afraid to tell me the truth about something."
"Deal!" With a bright grin, I scrambled up on my knees besides him and held out my pinkie.
"A pinkie promise?"
"I'm surprised a big, bad, alpha wolf even knows what that is."
Instead of being amused like I expected, he swallowed hard and shook his head. My confusion grew as he linked his pinkie with mine, but remained silent. Before he could kiss my thumb, I laid the fingers of my free hand against his lips.
"Wait. Are you breaking the promise even as you're making it?" I demanded.
No, he linked me and looked up, and my heart clenched to see that his honey eyes were glassy with tears. I was going to tell you about it. Just give me a second for the knot in my throat to dissolve.
With a frown of concern, I dropped my fingers from his mouth and we quickly kissed each other's thumbs, then I pulled his head into the crook of my neck.
"My little sisters were always making pinkie promises with me." His voice was crackly and husky, and he cleared his throat. "They would have turned eighteen this year, but they died in the sickness. It was the one threat I couldn't protect them from."
Oh, my love. I love you. I love you so much, I whispered through the link, wishing I knew other words to comfort him.
They seemed to be enough, though, because his arms went around my waist and squeezed me as he sighed.
"Addie and Maddie were such sweet girls. I used to tease them mercilessly, but all they had to do was crook their little fingers, and I was theirs to command."
"I can tell you loved them very much," I whispered and rocked him in my arms.
"I'm sorry for bringing it up. I'm sure you feel the same way about your brothers, only times four times," he murmured into my throat.
"I miss them and grieve for them," I agreed, "but I find comfort in the millions of precious memories I made with them. They were always getting into trouble, and I was always getting them out of it."
"Let me guess," he chuckled, sounding closer to normal again. "You were either the oldest and became a sassy, confident leader to corral them all, or you were the youngest and did the same out of sheer self-defense."
"I was the oldest, but both reasons applied." I let out a long sigh. "Sometimes, I wonder if their mates are out there somewhere, searching in vain for boys who died six years ago."
"I've wondered the same thing about Addie and Maddie." He sighed, then raised his head and stared down at me. "Maybe that's why wolf packs have seen so many unusual pairings in recent years. Birds and wolves, foxes and wolves, more humans and wolves than ever before, and maybe others to come."
"What? You think the Moon Goddess reassigned mate bonds? Leo, there's no such thing as a second chance mate. It's your soul mate, not just someone you fall in love with and hope for the best."
"I know, but the Goddess could have gathered those bits of soul and redistributed them to other sickness survivors who lost theirs. Otherwise, how could there have been enough true mates left to keep her children from dying out?"
"It seems a fanciful notion to me, but if it helps you to think that, so be it." I shrugged, then kissed the tip of his nose. "I'll be sure to ask the Moon Goddess for answers the next time I speak with her."
"Invite her in for tea, why don't you? I'd like a few words with her myself." He smirked as he moved right in front of me, both of us still on our knees and facing each other.
"Oh? And what words would those be?" I tilted my head, wondering if he blamed the Moon Goddess for him getting possessed.
"How very, very grateful I am for the mate she blessed me with."
Then he snagged the bottom of my t-shirt and whipped it over my head before I realized what he was doing.
You want to play hard, my love? Then let's play hard.
Putting my hands on my sides, I ran them down my hips, then up to my breasts, cupping their full bottoms in my palms, all while tipping my head back to expose my throat.
"Well, hell." His big hands clenched at his sides as his eyes drank in what I had to offer. "I'm going to come in my shorts just watching you."
"Let me help," I purred.
Slipping my fingers inside the waistband of his basketball shorts, I found the drawstring and quickly untied it, then made sure I had a hold of both his shorts and boxers and ripped them down his thighs. His fully erect dick flew up and smacked into his lower abdomen, and my eyes widened as my lungs went into overdrive. Even though I'd felt how big it was a few minutes ago, that was nothing like seeing it naked and throbbing right in front of me.
"Poppy!" he barked in surprise.
Ruby? I linked and quickly showed the wolf my plan. Will he like that?
Goddess, Poppy! Yes, but just know he'll respond in kind.
That's my plan, wolfie.
"Take your shirt off," I told Leo, biting back a mischievous grin so he didn't suspect anything. "I want to see all of my mate, too."
Taking a deep breath that swelled his broad chest, he raised both arms over his head and reached behind him to grab two fistfuls of his t-shirt. The typical guy way to take off a t-shirt - and exactly what I was hoping for.
As he pulled the shirt up and over his head, I pounced. Clamping my hands on his hips, I bent down and took his tip into my mouth. He instinctively jerked back at the surprise attack, but I yanked his hips forward again and sucked his hard length deeper into my mouth.
"Poppy!" he roared, and something hot and salty hit my tongue and the back of my throat.
I swallowed as much of it as I could, but it felt like most of it was running down my chin, and I realized I hadn't thought that out too well.
Should have grabbed a towel, I guess. Oh, well, next time.
"I didn't even get my shirt off yet, woman!"
Give it here, please. I held up one hand as I kept his semi-hard dick in my mouth and bobbed my head, hoping to get him hard again fast so I could hop on for the ride of my life.
"Stop that and look up. Let me clean you up, baby, so I can return the favor."
Sawing my thighs together at the thought, I did as he asked and slowly released him from my mouth, then lifted my head. The movement sent more semen and spit spurting through my lips, and he chuckled softly as he used his shirt to wipe it away.
"You did so good, baby," he whispered as he leaned down and kissed my forehead. "Thank you. Now can I try?"
"I would love for you to try."
I'd forgotten that alpha wolves could move so quickly.
Between one heartbeat and the next, I was flat on my back with his big hands spreading my thighs as he knelt between my knees. Thinking he'd dive in face first, I prepared myself by gripping the pillow above my head, but he surprised me by gently rubbing his thick fingers up and down my wet slit.
My knees clamped against his hips at the sensation, and I knew I was going to come long before he ever got inside me.
On the positive side, I knew I could trust my mate to make sure it happened more than once tonight.
Yay, me!
"Feeling good, baby?"
"Mm-hmm."
Then two of his fingers slipped inside me and ran down, then up my entrance, and I gasped as his thumb found my clit and tickled it.
"Like that, too?"
"Mm-hmm."
My fingers hurt from how hard I was gripping my pillow. His fingers continued their gentle assault until I was panting and writhing under him.
And then the big, bad wolf leaned down and ate me all up.
His tongue. His tongue! That was the only thought my brain could hold as his tongue rolled and licked my clit until I shattered.
"Leo-oo!" I moaned and tipped my head back as wave after wave of pleasure rocked through me.
Chuckling, he gathered me into his arms and rolled us onto our sides so he could cuddle my limp body.
"Where did you learn to do that?" I panted.
"I practiced on an orange."
"An orange." I cracked my eyes open and found him grinning at me with pride in his eyes.
"Yep. Half of one, anyway. It's the only fruit we have right now, other than Reau's hoard of strawberries."
"Hoard of-"
"Strawberries. He's obsessed with them. I think he counts them before he goes to bed each night. I wouldn't dare steal one."
I opened my mouth to ask, but then shook my head, letting that one go.
"You did say you practiced fingering me on an orange, did you not?"
"Fingering and eating you out. Thank the Goddess Emerson walked in the kitchen while I had my face smashed in it and not my fingers. At least I could pass it off as being too hungry to bother peeling it."
"Funny," I admitted carefully, "but not sure why you're sharing this with me."
"Baby, we just pinkie-promised not to keep anything important hidden from each other."
"Don't feel compelled to tell me everything because you're not sure what's important and what's not." I rolled my eyes in disgust.
"I am reassuring you that no side chicks were involved in learning how to pleasure you."
I sighed in relief, not at the side chicks part, but because he did know what was important. I was worried there for a minute.
"Oh. Good. Well, excellent job, my love. You're the valedictorian of fingering and clit-licking school." I made sure to stress the dic part in 'valedictorian.'
"Same for you, baby. You graduated with top honors in fellatio." He nuzzled his nose against my mate mark as I giggled. "Want to taste yourself?"
"Not really. Am I supposed to want to?"
"I don't know." He shrugged. "I'm just asking. If you do, I could kiss you while your juices are still all over my face."
"Did you want to taste yourself? If you do, you can lick your shirt. It's on the floor with the rest of our clothes."
"I'd rather stick my tongue down your throat," he chuckled, then proceeded to do just that.
Moaning into his mouth, I soon found myself being squished under his heavy body, which I absolutely loved. No matter how tightly we were pressed against each other, I wanted to be even closer. If I could crawl inside his skin, that might be close enough.
"Poppy, is it okay if I try to enter you now?" he whispered in my ear after he ended the kiss and let me up for air.
"Yes, please."
"Remember to tell me if it hurts too bad."
"I will, but what are you going to do if it does?" I rolled my eyes yet again. "You have to break my hymen to get inside me, and that's going to hurt. Period. There's no way around it."
"I know, but I can stop and wait until it eases a little. I can also play with your little pearl to give you pleasure and maybe that will help. And I don't have to 'get inside' you tonight if you don't want that. Just holding and kissing you like this is beautiful and precious to me."
Well, damn. Can this guy get any sweeter?
When I met him this morning, I was a teeny, tiny bit concerned that the Moon Goddess had made a mistake giving my irreverent self such a stern, serious mate, but the past few hours had proven just how wrong I'd been, and I scolded myself for doubting.
"You're such an amazing man, Leo Halder." I framed his face with my palms and kissed him hard, my mouth ravaging his in my need to claim him and have him claim me.
Groaning low in his throat, he eased me onto my back and pushed one thigh between mine, his dick an iron bar against my leg until I opened my knees so his hips could slide into place. All the while, he gave me deep, slow, passionate kisses that made my lower belly tighten and my bird tingle with anticipation as the mate sparks flared between us.
When he slipped his tip between my wet folds, he paused and propped himself up on his elbows to stare down at me.
"I'm good," I whispered and slid my arms under his so I could curl my hands over the tops of his shoulders. "Keep going, my love."
Our eyes stayed locked as he pushed in a little more, and that's when I felt the first pinch of pain. He saw it in my wince and stilled, waiting for a sign to go on. After a few seconds, I gave him a little nod, and he took a deep breath before he moved again.
Digging my fingers into his shoulders and biting my bottom lip, I let a little mewl as my bird burned and stung.
"I'm sorry it hurts you, baby." He dropped his head and kissed my mate mark. "If I could bear your pain for you, I would."
"I know," I breathed. "You can move now. It's passed."
"Are you sure? I can wait. I can even pull out. I can do anything you need me to do."
"I need you to move." I wiggled my hips experimentally and gasped to feel him inside me, and the movement brought on a whole different kind of burn. "Move, Leo."
"My strong, brave woman."
He kissed my mate mark again, then lifted his head and kissed the tip of my nose as he pulled back a bit, then thrust in, this time a little deeper.
"Leo!"
"Good, baby?"
"So good! More. More, Leo!"
"Anything you need me to do," he breathed.
Closing my eyes, I clung to him as he took his time building his pace and adjusting the depth of his thrusts, all while sending me deep swells of love and care through the mate bond. I sent them back, as greedy for his nonvocal devotion as I was his physical passion.
Before long, he was hammering into me, and I was doing my absolute best not to dig my fingernails into his shoulders as I spiraled higher and higher. The last thing I wanted to do was trigger him ever again, and certainly not at a moment like this!
I eventually registered a banging noise and realized the headboard was hitting the wall as the weight of his big body rocked the bed back and forth faster and faster.
"Leo! We're making too much noise!" I hissed. "We need to move the bed."
"Later, baby," he grunted.
"But they'll hear!"
"Good!" he growled and stuffed his face in my neck.
Already on sensory overload, I moaned when his mouth latched onto the side of my neck right as one of his hands slid between us. His thick fingers once more found my clit and tormented it ruthlessly.
Then he scraped his teeth against my new mate mark, and that was all it took.
I came so hard, I saw stars.
"Leo-oo!"
He slammed into me for a few more seconds before his hard, sweaty body stilled above me. When I felt his dick twitch inside me, I decided to try something I'd read in a magazine once. Squeezing my walls around him in steady pulses, I smirked when he threw his head back on a harsh groan, then dropped down on me.
Panting and sweaty, we lay there until his weight began to crush me, and I weakly pushed at his shoulders. He rolled off, but dragged me along until I lay on top of him.
"We need to move the bed or take off the headboard," I muttered once I caught my breath.
"Whatever you say, baby," he yawned. "I'll do it in the morning."
"No, we need to do it now. You know we won't make it all night without another round."
"That's true enough." He chuckled before gently nibbling his way along the top of my shoulder.
"Let's move it now," I gasped as his teeth found a particularly sensitive spot. "It's too embarrassing!"
"What happened to Bold, Sassy Poppy?"
"I don't care if anyone knows what we're doing, but nobody needs to hear what we're doing," I muttered and pinched his ribs. "Talk about second-hand embarrassment!"
"Ha! Why do you think I asked for a white noise machine the day after I moved in here? Em and Gelo get pretty loud. In fact, they're probably being loud right now or are about to be."
"They took Reau for ice cream. They're not even here."
"Baby, that was more than hour ago. Besides, if you thought they weren't here, why did you get embarrassed?"
"You just hush!"
A bit flustered, which rarely happened, I scrambled on top of him and straddled his stomach, wincing as my hips protested and my bird stung a bit.
He noticed, of course.
"Poppy? Are you very sore?" His big hands moved to my thighs and gently massaged them.
"Just tender, and my muscles aren't used to that kind of exercise."
"Heal yourself," he demanded, sitting up and moving me down to sit on his thighs. "Take away the pain."
"Leo, it's normal and natural."
Oh, he didn't like that answer.
"Heal. Yourself. Now." His eyes flared with wolflight as his hands tightened on my legs. "Or Ruby will do it for you."
"Leo, I don't like messing with Mother Nature-"
Before I finished speaking, moon power misted over me like a gentle rain. Although the pain was gone, which I appreciated, I was not happy.
"I don't like you making decisions for me." I crossed my arms over my breasts and glared down at him.
"I don't like seeing you in pain, especially when you don't have to be."
"I get that, but-"
"I'm sorry, baby. I'll work on that. For now, let me make it up to you."
His big hands gripped my hips and lifted me up, and I quickly grabbed his shoulders to keep my balance.
"What are you doing?" I squealed.
"You yourself said we wouldn't make it all night without doing it again. Time for round two, baby."
He carefully lowered me until his tip was buried in my wet warmth, then glanced at my face to see if it was okay. At my eager nod, he pulled me down, bucked his hips up, and sank balls-deep inside me with one thrust.
"Leo-oo!"
"Now ride me, baby. Ride me hard and fast."
As I happily did what he ordered, the headboard again thumped against the wall, but this time, Goddess forgive me, I couldn't have cared less if the whole pack heard us.
The ghost in the attic found a girlfriend.
How did I know that?
Their loud moaning woke me up in the middle of the night!
"I thought Gelo said he was shy!" I grumbled to myself. "How does a shy ghost find a girlfriend?"
Then again, Zio Leo's shy and he found Zia Poppy, so I guess it isn't impossible.
The ghosts started banging around now, too, and I made an angry face.
How rude! Don't they know that people sleep at night? Such bad manners!
With a pout of irritation, I rolled out of bed, hurried over to my dresser, and turned on the white noise machine. I adjusted the volume, then jumped back into my bed before the sleep monster under it could grab my bare toes.
What in the world do ghosts have to moan about, anyway? I grumbled and pulled the covers over my head.