It had to be Aurora Douglas.
After the orgasm I gave her on her desk, she had three more in my library until Magda called us for dinner. Her long slow blinks began during the salad course. When I noticed her yawning between bites of the apple pie we were served for dessert, I carried her to bed.
She wanted to talk. She had so many questions, and my beauty deserved answers, but I had to confess that I had an ulterior motive in fucking her so thoroughly with my mouth and hands than the obvious.
I wanted more time with her.
I knew that I wasn’t the easiest person in the world to get along with. I was demanding. I expected perfection and had a low tolerance for errors. I knew I was called a monster by those unfortunate enough to experience a taste of my temper, but what would she say when she discovered why I hardly ever leave this penthouse? How would my beauty react when she found that I was an actual beast?
Magda knew the minute Aurora entered my office that she was my mate. She saw our reactions to each other and never relented. I spent two months trying to push Aurora away and prove Magda wrong, but, as usual, she was right.
I stroked Aurora’s face as she breathed deeply with a contented smile curling her lips. I knew I’d spent too long watching her, but I wanted to remember this moment. As soon as she woke up in the morning, I would tell her the truth. Then she would leave. I needed to remember every moment of this one perfect night.
“Come, šuniukas,” Magda called softly from the door. “You’ve waited long enough.”
I nodded and pressed a kiss to my beauty’s forehead. She stirred, and I hoped she was waking up, but Aurora only settled deeper into sleep.
“Mags?” I asked as I closed the door softly. “What if she leaves again?” I suddenly felt like an eight-year-old boy looking to her for reassurance.
“She never left you, Luis,” she pointed out. “You pushed her away.”
“I have a good reason, don’t you think?”
“No, I don’t. Especially since you couldn’t last a week without falling to your knees and begging her to come back to you.” She raised an eyebrow with a smirk. She was a little too spot-on with that assessment. “Trust her, mano mažas šuniukas. Trust yourself. Trust fate.”
“You really believe in all this fated mates stuff.”
“Of course I do.”
“And my feelings for Aurora have nothing to do with the fact that she’s the most extraordinary woman I’ve ever met?”
“I won’t take offense to that,” she chuckled. I put an arm around her shoulder and kissed her forehead. “But she’s the most extraordinary woman you’ve ever met because she was made for you.”
“So, why didn’t fate send me…someone like me. Someone who would understand.”
“And what makes you think she wouldn’t understand? You haven’t given her a chance. And fate knows what she’s doing. How has resisting her for two months fared for you?”
I scratched my overgrown beard in contemplation. “Not well, Mags.”
“You left the building for her. You ventured out into the world for her.”
“Yeah, I still can’t believe it.” I reached up and scratched the back of my head. My heart started pounding at the memory.
“You didn’t burst into flames?” she asked sarcastically.
“Those are vampires, Mags.”
“Hmm,” she nodded in agreement as I pulled my shirt over my head, handing it to her before stepping out of my jeans and boxers.
“Are you ever going to stop calling me your little puppy?” I chuckled, lowering myself to all fours. I drew in a deep breath and exhaled, feeling my wolf take my skin. My legs shortened, and my body sprouted fur. My teeth sharpened. The air felt crisper and cleaner. Aurora’s scent invaded my nostrils more than usual though she was now on the other side of the penthouse. My eyesight was sharper, making the darkened hallway suddenly illuminated. I felt Magda running her fingertips through the downy fur between my ears.
“Never,” she whispered, pressing a kiss to my head before I took off running to the west wing, where Magda had already retracted the roof and released the small game. I half-heartedly chased a rabbit until I chose to curl up in a moonlight patch, dreaming about my mate.
I woke up feeling more rested than I had all week and probably my entire life. It was still dark outside, but I could smell the dampness of the earth under my paws from the morning dew and knew that dawn was imminent. If I hurried, I could change, shower, and crawl into bed with Aurora and maybe, for the first time in my life, know what it feels like to fall asleep with the woman I love in my arms.
I pushed through the large flap in the door leading to the west wing and made my way across the great room, sniffing the ground and stretching.
I smelled her before I saw her.
Then I heard her scream.
The instinct to protect her outstripped my common sense, and I bounded toward her, not realizing that I was what she needed protection from. That was until I felt the blow to the side of my head. I reeled backward from the force of her swing, stunned more than hurt.
Aurora was standing a few feet in front of me holding a bat signed by Derek Jeter that, until a few seconds ago, was mounted on the wall to her left. I lowered my head to take a step toward her, and she swung again, screaming my name. Tears were rolling down her face. She was terrified.
She was terrified of me.
I tried to retake my skin, but my wolf didn’t like the idea of taking a form that would make us more vulnerable in the face of an imminent threat, no matter how sexy that particular threat looked wearing my t-shirt.
Aurora screamed my name again, and Magda came flying down the stairs, her robe trailing behind her before she flung herself between Aurora and me.
“Magda,” she cried. “What is that?” She used the word what, not who. “What’s going on? Where is Luis?”
My oldest caretaker and the first person I remembered, cradled my head in her lap, stroking me between the ears. She murmured in Lithuanian, telling me that I was safe and that it was time to come back.
“Magda,” Aurora repeated. “Where is Luis?” Her eyes darted between my face and Magda’s. Something deep in my chest told me she already knew the answer.
“Here,” she whispered. “Luis is right here, dear.”
The bat made a loud clattering sound as it fell to the floor. She took a few tentative steps forward and fell to her knees next to Magda. She reached out to gently touch my fur and retracted her hand. Magda gave her an encouraging nod.
“This is Luis?” she asked.
“Yes. It is,” Magda said in the motherly voice that carried me through the roughest parts of my childhood. “This is the man you love.” She took Aurora’s arm by the wrist and guided her hand to my chest, where she pressed it over my beating heart. Aurora sat for a long moment with my heart thumping wildly against her palm. She was thinking, contemplating, and reasoning. Finally, she looked into my eyes. I knew the exact moment of her acceptance. She recognized something in my gaze that made her eyes brim with tears.
“How is this possible?” She turned to Magda again.
“I think it would be better if he explained it, dear.”
She beckoned Aurora closer and placed my head in her lap, where Aurora resumed her stroking. Her warm tears were falling into my fur. Magda got to her feet and returned after a few moments to cover me with a blanket.
“It’s time, vilko kubas,” she whispered to me before planting a kiss behind my ear. “She’s ready.”
She rose, and her scent faded as she left Aurora and me, curled up on the great room floor.
I inhaled and returned to my human form in an exhale. Aurora’s eyes were wide with shock when I forced myself to look at her. I expected to see revulsion etched in her expression, but there was only curiosity. She wordlessly traced her fingertips over my nose and cheeks. She tangled her fingers in my hair and traced the pads of her thumbs over my thick eyebrows.
“Luis?” she asked in a small voice.
“Yes, bella,” I replied, my own voice tight from not having used it in hours. “It’s me.”
She let out a sob of what could’ve been relief and leaned forward and kissed me.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” she asked as she dabbed the cut on the side of my head with antiseptic.
Once my head stopped ringing from her blow, I carried her to my bedroom. We lay in my bed, where I managed to put on a pair of pajama pants before folding her in my arms. I told her that she didn’t have to tend to my cut and that it would be gone in a matter of hours, but she wouldn’t listen.
“Would you have believed me if you hadn’t seen it for yourself?”
She stopped dabbing for a moment, contemplating my question, before shaking her head.
“See?”
“Is Magda a…” She searched for the right word.
“Shifter?” I supplied. She nodded again. “No, but she was married to a shifter. That’s why my father hired her to be my nanny. She had the experience.”
“She really loves you.”
“She’s the only mother I’ve ever known.” I wanted to tell her about my parents, but this morning was a lot, and I wanted to make sure she was okay. “I was planning to tell you, Aurora.”
“When?” She placed the gauze she was dabbing my head with on the dresser.
“When you woke up this morning. I didn’t want to go any further with you until you had all of the information…until you understood.”
She sat quietly while staring at me and gnawing on her bottom lip. I could tell that she was thinking.
“Ask me, bella,” I said.
“Ask you what?” Aurora was usually adept at schooling her expressions, but I could tell she was deep in thought.
“Any and all of the dozens of questions floating around your head right now?” I chuckled.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.” I brought her hand to my lips. “Ask me anything.”
“Have you always been a… shifter?”
“As long as I can remember.”
“Do you have any other magical powers?”
“Other than the ones I showed you in your office earlier? No.” I shot her a wicked smirk. She narrowed her eyes, shook her head, and slapped me in the chest.
“How often do you need to…shift?”
“Every night. I can go a few days without shifting, but it’s…uncomfortable.”
“Is that why you never travel and never leave the building?”
“Yes.”
“Is this conversation confidential?”
I laughed, but her face was severe, so I schooled my expression. “Of course, bella. I’ll keep your secrets if you can keep mine.”
“The giant dog Monica Dennis saw the night before you transferred her to China…”
“How did you—”
“We’re friends, and you promised that our conversation was confidential.”
“So, I’m supposed to pretend one of my employees didn’t breach an ironclad NDA to share personal information about me?” I tried to sit up. Her small soft hand pressed against my chest forcing me down onto the mattress.
“Please,” she whispered, placing a soft kiss on my lips.
“Yes. Ms. Dennis snuck into my penthouse in the middle of the night.” I sighed. “She surprised me while I was on my way to the west wing.”
“What’s in the west wing?”
“I can show you if you’d like,” I said. My beauty smiled and nodded. “Do you want to have breakfast out there?”
“Out there?” She furrowed her brow. “We’re going outside?”
“Sort of.”
“Whoa…” Aurora’s eyes went wide with wonder as I led her into my sanctuary. “This is the west wing?” She bent down to run her fingers through the grass.
“Yes, it’s where I go to feel like myself when I change.” I clasped her hand and led her further inside.
“This is incredible and huge! It’s like an indoor forest.” She startled when she saw a squirrel run across the branch of a large oak before jumping to another.
“That’s the point.” I chuckled and wrapped my arm around her waist.
“I love it.” She ran her palm over the trunk of another tree. “I can’t believe we’re still indoors.”
“It’s the closest I’ve ever been to being outdoors—as a wolf,” I corrected myself. “I’m glad I got to share it with you.”
“You’ve never brought any other women here?” Aurora’s rare moment of insecurity made my heart swell. I swept her into my arms and kissed her.
“There haven’t been any other women, Aurora.” Looking at her face kissed by the morning sun as she grinned at me made me wonder if other women even existed.
“Are you telling me you’re a vir—”
I pressed a kiss to her lips, cutting her off mid-word. “No, but there’s never been anyone special. No one else I thought about sharing my life with until you.” I wrapped my arms around her waist and pressed her into me. She jumped up and wrapped her legs around my waist.
“Kiss me, Luis,” she commanded.
“Yes, ma’am.” I pressed her back against a nearby tree, tangled my fingers in her dark brown locks, and did as I was told.
This kiss was better than our first kiss.
When I kissed Aurora in her kitchen, I felt like I was living on borrowed time. I was counting down the minutes until she found out the truth. I kissed her like each kiss would be my last. Now, this glorious embrace felt like a new beginning. This would be the first of a million kisses. I felt reborn into a man who was capable of loving and being loved.
“I love you, Aurora.” I cupped her face in my hands and brushed the soft skin of her cheeks with my thumbs. Her deep brown eyes were beginning to well up with tears. “I’m sorry I hurt you. Will you forgive me?” I planted a soft kiss on her lips. “I don’t deserve you, but I need you.”
“Luis, you have to trust me.” She pressed our foreheads together. “You have to believe in me. And you can’t push me away…again,” she said with a smirk. “Can you do that?”
“Yes, bella.” I kissed her. “I can do that.”
“Good.” She tangled her fingers in my hair. “Because I love you too.”
I tilted my head to the side and pressed my lips to her throat. “You’re mine, Aurora.”
“Yes, I’m yours.”
I smoothed my palms up her thighs, searching for her panties’ elastic waistband under my t-shirt.
“You’re not wearing underwear,” I growled into her neck.
“I’m in the house,” she replied with a soft chuckle cut off by a moan as I plunged two fingers into her. “Luis.” My name was a sweet moaning whisper on her soft, luscious lips. “Oh, Luis. I need you.”
“You have me.”
“Make love to me. Right here. Right now.”
“We can’t, bella.” I spoke against her lips. “Not yet.”
She opened her eyes and leaned away from me.
“Why not?”
“Because I don’t want to claim you until you know exactly what a life with me means.”
“Claim me?” She raised a skeptical eyebrow. “What do you mean, claim me? Like I belong to you, like a car or a suitcase?” She slowly uncoiled herself from my body, and I slid my fingers out of her cunt and into my mouth.
“Like a car?” I chuckled, but she wasn’t laughing. So I leaned forward and kissed the pout off of her lips. “No, not like a car. Like a partner, a soulmate.”
“How would you claim me?” she asked suggestively. Blood rushed to my dick, and I was rethinking my plan to wait.
“Well, I would hold you in my arms; tell you that you were my everything and that I couldn’t live without you.” I tightened my grip on her waist. “I would plant delicate kisses on your neck,” I demonstrated, making her giggle, “then I would leave my mark…right here.” I gently pressed my teeth into her shoulder.
“Like a bite.”
“Exactly like a bite.”
“So, when do you plan on biting me?”
“When you’re ready?”
“When will I be ready?”
“When you fully understand what being mated to a shifter is like…and, you’re sure that’s what you want.”
“What if I’m sure now?”
“You’re not.” I smiled and kissed her.
“How do you know?”
“Because I know you.” I placed a kiss on her sexy rounded nose. “You need all the information before you make a decision. You need time to weigh your options, and I’m going to give you all the time you need…here.”
“Here?”
“Yes, you already agreed to come back to me.”
“I agreed to that while your finger was in my ass.”
“Still counts, bella.” I set her on her feet and lowered my knees into the damp earth, ghosting my fingertips along the hem of my t-shirt, which was grazing her thighs. I lifted the cotton fabric and pressed my nose into the downy tuft of hair between her legs and inhaled.
“Are we only going to do important negotiations with your head between my legs?” She put her leg over my shoulder and rubbed her heel up and down my back.
“I wouldn’t have a problem with that.” I dragged my tongue through her folds and flicked her clit, making her knees threaten to buckle. “Would you?”
“I’m open to considering all arguments.”