Chapter Nine
I stumbled into the main room of my Alpha’s suite, laughing as Gideon tickled my side. The tension in the room was a physical thing, though, making my smile fall. Moira and a man I didn’t know were sitting with Zakris and Olivia, all talking quietly. None of them looked particularly thrilled.
“What’s up?” I asked as Gideon pulled me into his side. He must have felt the same tension I did, his wolf reacting with a quiet growl and a wariness evidenced by his stiff stance. Micah slipped in the door behind us, tossing Gideon a black cloak as he passed us. I felt my cheeks burn as I realized he must have been nearby when we…when Gideon and I…in the hallway. Oh hell.
Alpha Zakris stood, his face grim even as he forced a smile. “The mated couple returns. Congratulations, my dear Kalie. I’m so happy for you.”
I nodded my thanks, unable to move toward him as Gideon clung to my side. “Thank you, Alpha.”
“If you’re so happy, why do you and Moira look like someone’s died?” Gideon asked. “And why is Cahill here?”
Moira stood, her eyes darting to my mate. “We’ve been talking about your future, and we have a request. With the threat of the Omega kidnapper and the alliance with the Ozanam’s neighboring pack no longer an option, Zakris feels Kalie might be safer if she came with us to North Carolina.”
She turned to me, her face serious. “I know how much you’ll miss your pack, but your safety is our priority. Our position in the mountains offers us a natural defense, plus our wolves are strong. You can see how large Gideon is, and he’s not even one of our guards. Cahill here”—she gestured to the muscular blond man standing beside her—“is the head of pack security and would be in charge of making sure you and Gideon remained safe. We’re a strong pack, a large one, and would be a better team to have on your side should anyone attempt to get close to you.”
Gideon looked down at me, a question in his eyes. Where we would live was my decision, and I definitely wanted to go home. But after the warning from Winslow, and knowing how much of a toll guarding me would take on my pack, I had to admit moving to North Carolina was the smarter option. Leaving the Ozanam pack was a way to fulfill my responsibility to them, to care for them. A way to do my duty as Omega.
I took a deep breath and kept my eyes on Gideon, needing a little of his strength. “I absolve my loyalty to the Ozanam pack and request acceptance from the Southern Appalachia pack.”
Gideon grinned, looking slightly proud as he spoke in a clear voice. “I present Omega Kalie Nelson as my mate, and I ask for her to be accepted into the Southern Appalachia pack officially.”
“And so it’s done.” Moira nodded at Zakris before turning to give me a broad smile. “Welcome, Kalie. I’m honored to have you as an addition to our family.”
“Thank you,” I whispered as Gideon pulled me tighter to his side. I glanced at my Alpha and his wife. They both smiled at me, but there was a sadness in their eyes. A loss. I felt it as well. I’d miss my friends from Ozanam, but I was excited for a future with Gideon.
“Now, if you’ll all excuse us,” Moira said as she headed for the door. “I need to find Killian and give him the good news. You two should go straighten up. Cahill and Micah will be discussing strategy to coordinate the move to North Carolina.”
She stopped, sending a hard look to Gideon. “Do not leave this suite without one of the guards with you. Your mate is someone precious, someone to be protected at all times.”
Gideon growled and nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”
As everyone around us moved on to other things, Gideon leaned down to kiss my forehead. “C’mon, mate. Let’s get you cleaned up.”
After a quick shower—alone, sadly—I found Gideon standing in my closet. The space still smelled like us, like sex and desire. It made me wet just walking into the room, and I wondered if the scent had the same effect on my mate. I walked up behind him, curling my body into his and running my hands along his thighs. Teasing his definitely hard dick through the rough fabric of the cloak he wore.
“What are you up to, mate?” I asked.
“Just thinking.” He groaned as I wrapped my hand around his length, finding him hard and ready.
“Thinking about what?” I stroked him, my other hand pulling aside the fabric of his cloak so I could feel his skin against mine.
Thrusting into my palm, he growled, “About fucking you.”
He swung me around to the front of him, the muscles in his arms bulging with the effort. His strength turned me on, made me crazy with my desire to have him holding me, supporting me, buried deep inside me. I’d had a fantasy about this very closet since I first saw it, about clinging to the closet rod over my head and having someone pound into me. Someone with the strength to hold me up in case I let go of the bar. That someone was going to be my Gideon.
I gave him a smile as I took a step back, stretching onto my toes to grab the closet rod above my head.
“I kind of can’t get a certain fantasy out of my head.”
“The fantasy of me fucking you?” He stalked to me, grabbed my hips, and lifted me so my legs wrapped around him. Lining us up. The towel I’d wrapped around me fell to the floor, leaving me bare for him.
I pulled on the closet rod, keeping my arms spread wide. “Yes…mostly.”
He leaned forward, biting my lip and growling. “In your closet? You want me to hold you up and fuck you right here, don’t you?”
“Yes,” I hissed as he teased my pussy, nudging the tip of his dick against me. I dropped my head back as he pulled me closer, working his hips against me and sliding inside. “Please.”
“As you wish.” He thrust hard, filling me in a single stroke as his hands clutched my hips. His grip was brutal and damn near painful, but I loved it.
It didn’t take long for me to lose my grasp, too focused on the way the base of his dick pressed against my clit with every thrust to bother holding on. When I released the bar and fell to his shoulders, he pushed me against the wall. And then he let himself go. Pumping his hips, squeezing my ass, biting my neck and shoulder. I clung to him, loving the way he felt inside me. The way he filled me. Fuck, he was practically breaking me in two, and I couldn’t get enough.
He adjusted his grip, angling me a new way, sliding even deeper. I gasped and shivered, the feeling of my impending orgasm quickly taking over.
“Oh, gonna…Gideon, I’m gonna—”
“Let go, sweet one,” he growled. “I gotchu, just let go.”
I nodded into his neck while the pressure building low in my abdomen expanded. As my orgasm crested and every muscle in my body prepared to lock down, I bit down on Gideon’s shoulder. Reclaiming him. Fuck, the taste of him on my tongue threw me headlong into another intense orgasm, my entire body shaking with the release. Gideon thrust and jerked, finally groaning his completion as his teeth closed around the flesh of my shoulder.
After several minutes of shallow thrusts, claiming bites, and wandering hands, Gideon released my flesh from his jaws and whispered, “That’s two.”
I hummed and licked a path up his neck. “We’re going to be covered in scars if we don’t stop.”
“Never,” he said, tightening his hold on my ass. “I’ll never stop wanting to claim you, Kalie.”
“Thank the fates for that.”
“Totally.” He kissed my neck and nibbled on my earlobe before murmuring, “I have a large cabin on an overlook that gives me one of the nicest views of the mountains on pack property. You’ll love it.”
I nodded and clung to him, my anchor in the sea of uncertainty swirling around me. “I’m sure I will.”
“I also have closets. Lots and lots of closets.”
Thank you for reading about Gideon and Kalie. Hopefully, you loved their story as much as I did. Please think about posting a review to help other readers who may be looking for a story just like this one. Reviews help readers and authors in many ways, so thank you in advance for leaving one!
If you’d like to meet Gideon’s packmate Moira to see how her mating story goes, check out THE GATHERING TALES: BLASIUS, DANTE, AND MOIRA.
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