He wanted to leave his own on her, wanted the knowledge that even if she walked away at some point, her body would still be marked by Nick—she could never forget him, could never forget their time together, and anyone who touched her afterward would always remember that she belonged to Nick first and always.

“Nick,” she rasped, clinging to him and arching against him, wanting more of him until she was stretched to the point of pain and filled beyond capacity.

Nick slipped an arm beneath her and curled it around her ass, tipping her. Then he was plowing into her that much deeper and she was almost sobbing. “Shall I make you come now?” She nodded, whimpering and digging her claws into his back. “You want me to come inside you? You want me to mark your throat again where everyone will see it?”

“Yes,” she hissed. “Please, Nick, I need to come.”

“Then come for me,” he commanded.

As his order rang through her and his teeth sank into her throat, pleasure whipped through Shaya, locking her spine and wrenching a scream from her throat. She felt it as her inner muscles clamped down on him, triggering his own release.

Nick slammed into her one final time, pulsing deep inside her. “Fuck yeah,” he growled. “Take all of it, Shay.” He rocked against her, wanting every bit of his come inside her, wanting to mark her in as many ways as he could. He might not be able to claim her, but she could bet her hot little ass that he’d be marking her often and thoroughly. To his surprise, he felt a set of teeth suddenly clamp down possessively on his shoulder before a tongue licked over the small brand there. He arched a brow at his mate, amused by her self-satisfied expression.

Shaya shrugged. “Tit for tat.”

Cupping her face and staring into her glazed eyes, he kissed her deeply—it was a kiss of triumph, satisfaction, possessiveness, relief, and total adoration. This female had the power to break him like nothing else ever had or ever could. He just hoped she didn’t.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Shaya woke to the feel of a hot mouth kissing her nape and a large hand sliding up and down her bare thigh. Images of last night flashed in front of her eyes, feeding the need that was building in her system. A moan slipped out of her when Nick’s hand dipped between her legs and his finger slid between her folds. But when she shifted to try to take that finger inside her, he withdrew his hand—a message that he was leading here. Cheeky shit had done stuff like that all night.

When an impish idea whispered into her mind, she smiled. “God, that feels so good, Kade,” she rasped. Instantly she was flipped onto her back and there was an extremely pissed male draped over her.

As she laughed uncontrollably beneath him, realization dawned on Nick. He narrowed his eyes. “That was sneaky. And who the f**k is Kade?”

“No idea. I was just paying you back for teasing me—again.”

He spoke against her lips. “You like it when I tease you.” There was a twinge in his chest as he thought of how much time they’d missed together, how he could have had her with him, laughing and bantering with him like she was now, if he’d only claimed her when he first saw her.

Seeing the light in his eyes dim, Shaya was about to comment when his cell phone rang.

Having retrieved his cell from the pocket of his jacket, Nick saw it was Derren. “What?”

“You have visitors.” Derren sounded slightly amused.

“Well then tell them to go away.” He had a mate to explore, taste, bite, and f**k all over again.

“I think you might want to speak to them.”

“Is it a matter of life and death?” Nick gritted out.

“Possibly.” The smile in Derren’s voice had him and his wolf intrigued.

“I’ll be down in a minute.”

As Nick ended the call and began pulling on his clothes, Shaya decided to do the same. She’d heard his phone call, and she wasn’t reassured by Derren’s apparent amusement—she’d come to learn that he had an offbeat sense of humor. If it was Logan, she wanted to be with Nick to ensure he didn’t let the human provoke him.

Dressed, Nick landed a kiss on her lips. “Stay here for me, baby.”

“Oh no. If someone’s here, I want to know who it is.” Seeing that he was about to object, she added, “This is my home. If shit comes to my doorstep, it’s my right to be part of dealing with it.”

Fair point, thought Nick with a sigh. Neither he nor his wolf was worried about her coming along because both he and his wolf knew that if there was any true danger, Derren would have warned Nick about it. “Fine. But if, for any reason, I need you to go inside, don’t ignore that.” Only when she nodded did he take her hand in his and lead her out of the room and down the stairs.

Keeping Shaya slightly behind him, Nick opened the front door…and almost gaped. Derren and the rebels were standing on the doorstep. But the rebels weren’t the visitors. No, the rebels appeared to be joining Derren against the visitors. Visitors who had his wolf on alert, growling and ready to pounce.

At the sight of Taryn, Trey, Tao, and Dominic all scowling at Nick, Shaya gawked. “What are you guys doing here?” Oh shit.

“No, what’s he doing here?” demanded Taryn, though she didn’t look surprised to see Nick, simply pissed—Shaya could only assume Taryn had also seen the news footage that featured Nick and Shaya together in the background. Great. The members of the Phoenix Pack all briefly moved their gaze to Shaya, shot her a teeny smile, and went back to scowling at her mate. Shaya’s wolf didn’t like that. Oh God, oh God, this could get really, really bad.

“If you’re here to take her,” began Nick, his voice a deadly growl, “you’ve had a wasted journey.” His wolf growled, backing Nick up on that. No one was taking Shaya anywhere.

“I already explained that.” Derren sounded a mixture of bored and amused.

Taryn snarled at Nick, clenching her fists. “I told you to stay away from her.”

“You knew I wouldn’t,” said Nick, his voice deceptively patient. “She’s my mate. Nothing’s going to keep me away from her.”

Tao snorted. “Really? Strange. Because you stayed away from her for months of your own accord.”

“Leaving us to care for her and comfort her,” added Dominic, which made Nick growl—he really would like to kill that wolf. “Call us odd, but we don’t want you around her when there’s every chance you’ll upset her again.”