Chapter 17
Storm
“How are you so calm and collected all the time?” I asked Amara as she devoured her bacon, eggs, and pancakes.
She shrugged and swallowed slowly before meeting my gaze.
“I don’t know. I guess when you’ve been grilled, burned, and bullied by your sister and her friends your whole life, maybe you just learn how to roll with the bad things like they’re nothing, and then you learn how to only pick out the good ones,” she answered, and I instantly felt a sting in my chest.
I didn’t know that her sister bullied her. I looked at her in awe, thinking how amazing she was. I couldn’t believe anyone would have the heart to treat her that way. Amara is beautiful inside and out. She’s talented, smart, funny, understanding, kind, and forgiving. I guess her sister’s just totally insecure and jealous, which is why she treated Amara that way.
Another thing that irked me was letting her go back to school so soon after everything that happened, so when she agreed to stay with me for the entire day, I felt glad and relieved. I told her that if she had questions, I’d gladly answer them truthfully, no matter how bad they became. That idea made her very happy, which was why she started bombarding me with different questions. For starters, she asked about marking a mate. Leave it to her to ask the toughest ones first. She was really curious about that, so I told her how it worked in detail, and when I reached the part where we had to... make love. She blushed so hard that it made me burst into laughter.
“Okay, so what’s an alpha and a luna exactly?” She questioned next.
“Well, the word alpha is pretty much self-explanatory. He’s the leader of the pack, and the luna is the alpha’s queen,” I explained.
I then took it upon myself to explain the roles and ranks of each pack member as thoroughly as possible. She was fascinated by the whole thing and was shocked to know that, as the alpha, I was responsible for hundreds of lives. She gasped when she also learned that it wasn’t only rogues that we sometimes had problems with, but vampires would sometimes invade our territory once in a while too.
“No! Really? Vampires exist too?” I smirked at her question.
“Baby, if wolves exist, then so do vampires.”
We were lying side by side, staring at the ceiling, when the afternoon came. She probably ran out of questions, which was why she had been quiet and unmoving for the past fifteen minutes or so, but I guess I was wrong.
“Do you have to wait for a perfect time like the full moon to mark someone?”
My head whipped toward her. She was really curious about the mating process, wasn’t she?
“No, not really,” I answered, my lips curving into a smile.
I couldn’t help but feel elated that she was interested in the mating process. I wasn’t going to lie and say that it didn’t arouse me; after all, I was a wolf who was longing for his mate. She rolled her eyes, still staring at the ceiling.
“Then how come you haven’t tried or asked?”
Okay, this could mean two things. She was either asking because she wanted to know when or because she wanted to do this now. I had no problems with either, but I wanted to give her time until she decided that she really wanted this with me.
“Amara, I’ve been wanting to do that since the day I met you, but I don’t want to force it on you. You went through tons of shit yesterday and last night, so I guess I was waiting until you were ready and sure that you wanted this with me.”
She gave me a thoughtful look this time, and I pushed on.
“When I mark you and we go through the process of mating, there’s no turning back. This is forever.”
She nodded but stayed silent.
“Do you want this?” I asked, looking straight into her eyes.
She opened her mouth, then closed it, surely unable to say anything, and I sniggered at her speechlessness.
“I’ll only do it when you’re ready, and that’s a promise.”
I stared back at the ceiling, fully aware that she was still looking at me. I wanted her to be mine, but I was serious about waiting for her to be okay with this.
The silence must’ve been deafening to her, I guess, because she quickly sat up, crossing her legs in front of her.
“Mark me now,” she ordered, and my brows shot up in surprise.
“Excuse me?”
Instead of retracting, she stared me down, her demeanor all business-like and serious.
“I said mark me,” she repeated.
I went completely still, clearly too shocked to comprehend what was actually happening. That must’ve pissed her off because she suddenly straddled me and kissed me hard. Fuck, that was hot! I snaked a hand around her waist and used the other hand to grab the back of her head so that I could pull her closer.
“Mark me,” she whispered in between kisses, and I pulled away to look into her eyes.
“If I do this, you’re going to be mine and I’m going to be yours. You’re going to be stuck with me literally and figuratively. There’s no going back. This also means that we’re going to have sex to seal the deal. Now, I’m going to ask you again. Are you sure?”
She kissed me gently once and smiled. “Yes.”
I sat up, taking her with me, and I kissed her eagerly. Happiness was surging through me like a drug, and I couldn’t wait to mark her and make her mine. I took my shirt off, my eyes never leaving hers. She gently slid her hands over my chest and down to my stomach several times, and that was all it took for me to go crazy. I crashed her mouth against mine, slipping my tongue to find hers. I lifted her short dress over her head and unclasped her bra, sliding it off of her. Seeing her perfect, full breasts again made my mouth water, and my dick immediately sprung to life. I saw it last night, but seeing it up close was just so amazing. I rolled my thumb over one nipple and took the other in my mouth. I sucked it softly before twirling my tongue around it.
She was mewling and grinding on my lap as I kissed and touched her everywhere. I could smell her arousal, and I was sure as hell she could sense my lust. I trailed kisses from her ears down to her neck, where I was planning to leave my mark, without easing my assault on her nipples with my fingers.
“Storm!” she gasped.
Every moan and whimper caused my head to spin, and I was not sure how long I could hold on. I maneuvered our bodies swiftly so that she was now lying under me. I kneeled between her legs and unzipped my jeans, making her breathe harder and look so damn hot. However, as I was about to pull my jeans and boxer briefs off, someone knocked on my door. Fuck! Not again!
“Do you want to die today?” I angrily asked while Amara threw a fit of giggles.
“Storm, we captured two rogues just now. You really need to see this,” Wyatt explained from behind the door.
In an instant, Amara’s eyes grew bigger. She was clearly worried, and yet she tried her best to keep her cool.
“I’ll be down in a minute,” I answered, my face turning serious.
“To be continued?” I asked desperately, trying to ease the tension.
When she nodded, I hopped out of bed and put my shirt on, and once I was fully dressed, I bent down to kiss her lips.
“Can you do me a favor and stay here until I get back?” I begged.
“Yes,” she said firmly, and I smiled lovingly at her before heading out the door.
“I’ll be back soon!”