He believed much of the unrest among the older members would now disappear. They knew the importance of the pack having an alpha pair. Tonight there would be revelry, some of it sexual in nature. Shifters as a species didn’t have any qualms about public nudity, and the Sparrowhawks weren’t particularly private about sex. His father had seen to that.
Thinking about it, Rory wished he could have held this at the house where they could party in style with barbecue, beer, and dancing. But the pack couldn’t celebrate until their mating had been formally recognized by the council. In addition, as grounded in tradition as his people were, they wouldn’t be happy unless he made the announcement of his mating at the official meeting place where his father and grandfather and every other member’s mating had been made since settling in this territory in the 1800s. Maybe when they were done, he’d invite the entire pack to the house.
He drove up the narrow, winding road several miles before turning onto a deliberately overgrown track barely visible from the street. Even if any curious person noticed it, the rough terrain suitable only for pickups or four-wheel drives would quickly discourage them from going on.
Rory felt uneasy, his wolf agitated. Reaching out through the bond, he sensed Shay’s tension rising the closer they came to their destination. He reached over, snagged her hand off her lap, and brought it to his mouth for a kiss. “Calm down.”
“I am calm.”
He let the lie go. She’d see soon enough there was no reason to worry. “I can’t wait to show you off to my pack. My beautiful, sexy mate, Shayla Morgan, soon to be Shayla McFelan.”
Rory released her to turn into a small clearing where several all-terrain vehicles were already parked. Once he cut off the engine, he undid both their seat belts. “Come here.”
Taking her hand again, Rory tugged Shay to him and lifted her onto his lap, then simply held her close. She settled in his arms with a sigh. “Maybe I am a little nervous.”
“It’s just a formality, Shay. A necessary evil, if you will, to be dispensed with so we can get on with our lives together.”
“I know,” she said, but her tone stated otherwise.
Instead of decreasing, her anxiety escalated. To settle his wolf, whose agitation was also amplifying, he tugged on his link to the pack, only to discover the edginess he was feeling wasn’t emanating from Shay at all. Both of them were feeding off the pack, which was filled with uncertainty, dismay, and in some, downright anger and distrust.
Shay stroked the side of his face, capturing his attention. “You’re snarling,” she told him.
“I’m reading the pack. They’re not happy.” It didn’t even occur to him to keep it from Shay. They were a unit now, and mates didn’t keep secrets from each other.
“Did you expect them to be?”
“Yes, damn it!” He slammed his hand on the dashboard. “They’re supposed to be happy and excited for me, not all this bullshit I’m sensing.”
“Maybe some are, but you can’t blame them for being uncertain, or even suspicious. I’m an unknown. Human. They don’t know what to expect.”
“That’s no excuse. They—”
Shay silenced him by slanting her mouth over his. She slid a hand into the hair at his nape and deepened the kiss. His dick, always semiready where his mate was concerned, went stiff as a board. In seconds their tongues and teeth came into play as the kiss turned ravenous.
When they broke for air, he reminded reluctantly, “They’re waiting.”
“Let them.” Shay climbed to her knees before shifting to straddle his lap. With the movement, her skirt rose until the crotch of her thong was visible. “You’ve felt what they’re feeling; now let them feel us through the bond. Feel how right we are for each other. Let them see it doesn’t matter what anyone thinks or how they feel about our mating. It’s here to stay.”
Then she worked that oh-so-short piece of denim material over her hips to her waist and ripped the crotch out of her panties. The scent of her arousal filled the cab.
“You’re sure? One of my men or the council may come looking for us if we don’t appear soon. They know we’re here. They can sense me just as I can sense them.” Even as he spoke, he stroked the soft curls between her legs.
Shay untied the knot on his shirt she wore and shrugged it off as she glanced out of all the windows. Seeing no one about, she whipped her tank top over her head, tossed it to the side, then slid her arms inside the sleeves of his shirt. Anyone observing them would see his white dress shirt and not the bounty he saw—perky, brown-tipped breasts, skirt bunched high, and the moisture-slicked curls between her legs beckoning him.
“Last chance,” he warned, feeling his beast rise.
In response Shay bared her shoulder and tilted her head to the side. “Mark me.”
Wolf off its leash, Rory lunged forward and sank his fangs into the tendon between her shoulder and neck, feeling in that moment more vamp than shifter. Shay let out a soft, gasping moan that went straight to his cock, and reached up to clutch his hair in a tight grip while rocking her sex on the hard bulge in his pants. “God, that feels good,” she panted.
“This will feel even better.” He eased a hand between them and undid his pants. His engorged cock sprang free, right into Shay’s greedy little hands. In an instant she had him positioned for penetration. As she lowered, Rory surged up, clamping hard hands on her hips to keep from bucking her off his lap. Their ride was short, rough, but extremely satisfying. When it was over, they wore matching bite marks and the scent of sex clung to them.
He blasted the link with his pack wide open. This, this is what my mate gives me. This is what you in your selfishness seek to deny me!
Rory made sure they felt the love, peace, joy, and sheer contentment he found in Shay, and his displeasure that anyone would seek to disallow his right to be loved and love in return. Then he shut the link down, shut them out.
“What was that?” Shay asked, rubbing her chest lightly.
“You felt it?” he asked, surprised she was sensitive enough to pick up on his psychic connection with the pack.
“Some. I could tell you were communicating with someone and whoever it is, you’re not happy with them. Of course, this scowl would have told me that.” She kissed the side of his mouth and did a little shimmy on his lap, smiling when he hardened inside her again.
Still frowning, this time at his mate, he asked, “Are you always going to use sex to coax me out of my bad moods?”
She arched a brow. “It works, doesn’t it?”
Smiling reluctantly at her logic, he brushed a lock of hair out of her face and said with a sigh, “Put your shirt back on and straighten your clothes. Let’s get this over with and go home.”
PISSED ON HER mate’s behalf, Shay did as instructed. Shannon was right. The Sparrowhawks weren’t simply going to welcome her with open arms, no matter how much Rory might wish differently. Hence this little lovemaking session she’d engineered. She needed to rub it in their faces that she and Rory were mated and nothing they said or did would change it.
“Show them graphically you two belong to each other,” Shannon had said. “Wear his mark proudly. Arrive at the howl covered in his scent. Be obvious. Let them all see your mating’s a done deal.”
With Shannon’s instructions ringing in her ears, Shay used her torn underwear to wipe the excess cum from between her legs, then tucked the scrap of material in her front skirt pocket. She tossed Rory’s shirt to the side and slid on her tank, knowing it left her shoulders bare and marks visible. Over the course of the last few days, Rory had marked her so many times that the scars were visible to the naked eye, despite the healing saliva in his glands. Wearing his possession like a shield of armor, Shay indicated she was ready.