He stood silent and watchful as she fixed a collar that didn’t need fixing, and she had the sense he was drinking in the contact . . . and the care. Fury threatened to erupt inside her all over again, but she stifled it on the wolfish promise that he’d never again starve for affection.

Hands on his shoulders, she took a kiss, possessive and hot. He was breathing shallowly by the time she drew back, color brushing his cheekbones and his eyes glittering. “Can we exchange skin privileges?” Hands on her hips, his mouth going to her throat.

Moaning at the unexpected shock of sensation, she dropped her hands to the waistband of his pants. “We’ll have to be quick.” Her mate’s cock was thick and heavy and rigid in her hand when she released him.

Thighs clenching, she left him only long enough to tear off her leather pants, then her panties. Ethan, her telekinetic mate with his fast reflexes and physical dexterity, hitched her up on his hips. “We never finished this in the bathroom,” he said in that beautiful voice that went straight to her clit this morning. “I want to.”

Selenka pulled up his head from her throat, bit his lower lip. “Inside me. Now.”

It took him a little maneuvering, but feeling the blunt end of his cock bump up against her soft, wet flesh wasn’t exactly a hardship. Then he was pushing in, and she was sinking down and their mouths connected in a lick of tongues and hot breaths. One arm behind her back to protect her from the wall, Ethan pounded into her in a short, fast rhythm that made her clamp around him like a vice, the orgasm an erotic punch.

Falling against her, he came as her body spasmed around his cock.

* * *

—

ETHAN, flushed and content in a way he couldn’t ever remember being—and full of the taste of his mate even after their hurried cleanup—opened the door to step into the corridor . . . and almost tripped over the dog sleeping in front of it.

The canine bounded up on all four feet, tail wagging.

“You look clean,” Ethan said, though he knew the creature couldn’t understand him. Then because he knew the value of touch now, knew this dog had been as deprived as him, he crouched to rub its bony head. “Will he have been fed?” he asked Selenka, because if he was to be responsible for this small life, he would not permit it to starve.

“Probably twice, but let me check.” Allowing his pet to lean up against her leg, she made a quick call, got confirmation. “All good for now. Pack kitchens stock food suitable for pets, so just go by there when he needs feeding.”

The dog padded alongside them as they walked on—through a place where Ethan was the recipient of smiles, and where people often stopped Selenka to exchange a hug or a piece of conversation. Sorrow continued to linger in the air—so rich and dark that he could almost taste it—but he also saw that sorrow had been consciously tempered so it wasn’t a black cloud crushing the pack.

Eventually, they stepped out into an area different from the Terrace—while that had been enclosed but for the apertures that provided light, this was a part of the mountain that was exposed to the outside. A kind of curving ledge provided protection from the elements on one side but was open to the sky and the bright yellow sunshine on the other.

That sunshine fell on the tables set out under the morning light—at which sat groups of changelings eating breakfast. Small wolves padded here and there, and two made a beeline for Selenka and Ethan. Somehow knowing the pups wanted to be picked up and would be happy for him to be the one to do so, he went down on his haunches.

“Stay,” he said to his excited pet.

Taking the two small pups into his arms, he held them with care as he rose to his full height. One curled up against him, while the other yawned and patted at his uniform jacket with clawed paws.

Selenka tapped those sharp tips with a finger and they retracted at once. “Good girl,” she said, tugging gently at the pup’s ears before taking her into her arms.

“Is that your dog?” a boy of maybe eight asked from a table.

At Ethan’s nod, the boy said, “What’s his name?”

Ethan looked down and thought, The boy is right. Everyone should have a name. “Loyal,” he said without conscious forethought. “His name is Loyal.”

The child scrambled over to pet the ecstatic dog. “Hi, Loyal! I’m a wolf. We like dogs. Wanna play?”

Seeing his pet was happy and in good hands, Ethan continued to cradle the warmth of the pup’s body against his as Selenka led him to a table at the sunny edge. His view of the people seated there was blocked by the large group clustered around it—but that group disbanded with smiles upon seeing Selenka, revealing the man and woman who sat on the left side.

The man rose with a huge grin, his muscles solid and heavy, and his height on the short side for a male—five feet six if Ethan’s estimation was correct. He had a shock of white hair and a white beard, his skin tanned leather, and his eyes a deep brown. And his voice a boom when he opened his arms and said, “Selenushka! Finally you remember your elders!”

Selenka walked into his embrace with a laugh, the pup she held happily enclosed between them. Ethan went to stand back when his gaze was caught by the petite woman who had to be Selenka’s grandmother. Hair a rich dark brown sprinkled with fine threads of gold, and face unlined, she gave him a startled smile before getting up on a rush of swirling skirts to come to him.

“You’re Selenka’s.” Soft fingers rising toward his face but not touching until he lowered his head.

Her touch was as delicate as a butterfly’s wings . . . only to firm into warmth against his cheek.

“Hello, Babushka,” he said.

Her pupils expanded, as did her smile. “You’re the strangest dominant I’ve ever met, but I like you.” Urging him farther down, she pressed warm, dry lips to his stubbled jaw. “You are a little scruffy, boy.” Chiding words, but the pat on his cheek was kind.

“Babulya!” Selenka laughed. “I like his scruff.”

Embracing her granddaughter, her grandmother said, “You would, my wild Selenushka.”

Meanwhile, Ethan found himself the focus of eyes gone wolf amber. “You must be Ethan.”

Shifting the pup to one arm, Ethan held out his hand, while maintaining the eye contact. “Sir.”

Yevgeni Durev might not be alpha anymore, but power prowled in him as it would in Selenka regardless of her age. That primal power shoved at Ethan, wanting him to back down—but Ethan had learned to hold his ground a long time ago, against far more hostile adversaries.

He didn’t blink.

Chapter 27

Dear Aunt Rita,

I mated a wolf. I’m about to meet her parents. All dominants (and, honestly, she’s a bit growly so I’m expecting the same from her folks). Any advice?

~Besotted Human

Dear Besotted Human,

If you can handle your growly mate, you can handle her parents. Stand your ground and you’ll have a long and felicitous association. (Also, bring cake.)

~Aunt Rita

—From the March 2082 issue of Wild Woman magazine: “Skin Privileges, Style & Primal Sophistication”

EXPLODING INTO A laugh, former alpha Durev ignored Ethan’s outstretched hand to enfold him in a warm embrace. “I should’ve known my Selya would choose a tough-as-nails son of a bitch!”

“Yevgeni.” It was a soft remonstration from Selenka’s grandmother, but her eyes were smiling. “I swear he does have some manners.” She touched her hand to Ethan’s and he could do nothing but stand in place under the wave of maternal warmth. “And who’s that asleep in your arms?”

Ethan glanced down. “I have no idea of his name.”

The pup let out a snore.

Laughing, Selenka rubbed the little one’s sleeping head. “Ethan has a soft spot for pups—I’ll have to teach him to ignore their wiles or he’ll constantly be carrying the babies.”

Ethan had no idea what to say to that, so he said nothing and took a seat at the breakfast table next to Selenka’s grandmother when the older woman invited him with a pat of the bench. “Shush now, you wolf-bear,” she said to her mate when he grumbled about “seat-stealing pups.” “I want to talk to our grandchild’s mate.”

Ethan had the sudden thought that he’d answer any question this woman asked. He’d never been near anyone so soft and warm and kind. Selenka took a seat across from him, beside her grandfather.

Food and drink appeared as if by magic, dropped off by smiling packmates—including a glass of nutrient drink placed directly by Ethan. Selenka’s pack had no other Psy, so this must’ve been purchased specifically for him. And it had been purchased in the short time since he became her mate.

“Wait,” he said to the youth who’d brought the drink. “Please thank whoever thought to supply this.”

A bright-eyed nod. “Sure. Sana got a whole box, different flavors.”

Turning back to the table, Ethan found himself being watched by Lada Durev. Selenka had just turned away with her grandfather to talk to an older woman at the table next to theirs, so he and her grandmother had relative privacy. “You two meet on equal ground,” Babushka Lada murmured. “I can see it.”

Ethan petted the pup’s soft fur, its body hot underneath, when the child grumbled in its sleep. “I am knight to her queen.”

A smile that surrounded him in warmth. Was this what it was like to have a mother who cared? Ethan thought that might be a wonderful thing.

“I am so happy she has you for a mate.”

Ethan felt a dull pain in the region of his heart. “Yet you don’t believe I’m right for her.” A visceral knowledge.

“Oh, Ethan.” Lada Durev brushed back his hair. “I think you’re rather wonderful.” A smile that softened the pain, made him listen to what she was trying to say. “I just . . . I’m sad she missed what comes before mating . . . Be tender with her, won’t you? Spoil her. Adore her.” A soft plea. “She’s had so little of that in her life.”