THE AWAKENING

Cassandra awoke slowly from a delicious dream, one that made her body yearn for Tieran in a way that made her want to cry
with frustrated desire.
But as her eyes fluttered open, she realized she was not alone. Her frightened startle quickly turned to gasps of pleasure as
Tieran’s mouth closed over exposed nipple.
“What are you doing?” she asked, twisting and raising her arms above her head to give him better access.
“Making love to my True Mate,” he murmured in answer, nuzzling her soft skin and moving to the next nipple. “We’ve gone too
long without touching and I aim to rectify that if you are willing.”
“God yes, I’m willing,” she said in a breathy moan, so grateful. “I’ve missed you so much.”
“I’m sorry my head wasn’t clear. If I’d listened to my heart I never would’ve been confused,” he admitted quietly, pausing as he
humbled himself before her.
Her heart sang to hear him admit that she was the one, not Serra.
“Never again will I give you cause to question my love and admiration.” Tears trickled down Cassandra’s face and he wiped them
away, pressing his mouth against hers, coaxing her mouth open with the soft touch of his tongue.
Their tongues tangled and danced, sliding against one another as they linked hands, drawing out the tension between until it was
near unbearable.
This was what she’d craved and been missing with Tieran. She felt the difference in his touch, the way he held her reverently,
tenderly, as if he were afraid of losing something precious and dear.
“Tieran,” she cried, burying her face against his neck as he maneuvered her gently to her side, mindful of her swollen belly.
He caressed her stomach, splaying his large hands across her midsection, palming the life housed within her body. Her heart felt
full to bursting with a previously unknown emotion and it both frightened and exhilarated.
She didn’t know how this would all end, but she knew if she had Tieran by her side, it would be all right. She rolled away from
him and presented her backside to him, knowing he couldn’t lie on top of her due to her size.
He took the unspoken invitation and position himself at her entrance. When he hesitated, unsure, she nodded. “I need you,
Tieran. The babies will be fine. Please...I need you inside me. Now.”

“I would die if I hurt you, but I confess, if I don’t feel you around me this instant, I might have a heart attack.” He gripped her hips
gently and slowly pushed himself inside.
Her nipples pearled at the sensual invasion and she groaned at the pleasure of being deliciously stretched by her Alpha.
His desire hardened every plane on his body as he grew in size, half-beast, half-man.
His thick length pulsed deep against the cushion of her tight walls and rubbed against a pleasure spot that immediately made her
pant with need, arching her back like a cat in heat, desperate for deeper contact.
“Cassandra,” he groaned, sliding in and out with a restraint that caused the veins in his neck to bulge. “I want to bury myself so
deep inside you that I no longer know where you begin and I end.”
Words weren’t possible as Cassandra trembled with need and desire. The position allowed Tieran to cuddle up to her, cupping
her breasts from behind as he slowly made love to her but Cassandra needed more.
She loved the tenderness but it wasn’t enough. She made a sound of frustration and rolled away from him.
Before Tieran could say a word, she positioned herself on her hands and knees, lifting her backside to him in offering. “Take me,
Tieran.”
At the sight of her heart-shaped ass and her softly furred woman’s folds parted in dewed invitation, he couldn’t restrain himself.
“With pleasure,” he growled, moving behind her swiftly and plunging inside her again, this time, going balls deep. Cassandra
moaned and closed her eyes as waves of pleasure battered her senses with the rough contact.
His fingers curled into the flesh of her behind as he gripped her tight, rocking her body as he built a heart-pounding rhythm. The
fleshy head of his cock rubbed her pleasure spot perfectly, creating a riot of sensation cascading through her body but the
epicenter deep inside her, fairly rang with power and pleasure.
She rocked against him, taking as much as possible of Tieran into herself, needing him as much as he needed her.
Cassandra hit her plateau first, shocked by the keening sound that ricocheted from her chest as she came with an explosive
crash.
Tieran followed seconds later, filling her channel with sweet essence, bathing her core with slippery liquid that only further
cemented their bond both physically and psychically.

Together they’d rocketed to a spiraling finish that’d left them both winded and shaken by what they’d experienced. Several
moments passed where nothing but the sound of their harsh breathing was heard between them.
Cassandra suddenly understood they’d become two hearts that would forever beat as one. They were bonded for life. Tieran
was her True Mate and she was his. She didn’t need to see inside his mind to know he knew the same.
She gazed at Tieran, loving what she saw — a man who was more than a man and entirely hers. Cassandra’s smile reflected the
peace she saw in Tieran.
This was happiness, she thought giddily. For the first time in her life she felt as if she belonged. “I never realized I was waiting my
entire life to meet you,” she said softly.
“That makes two of us.” He smiled, knuckling away the stray strands of hair drifting toward her face. “Too bad I was so reluctant
to admit what my heart had known all along.”
“Well, you did say your mother called you the most stubborn of her pups,” Cassandra quipped, eliciting a rueful chuckle from
Tieran. She slid her hand down her naked belly, marveling at the taut skin. “Do you think our pups will be as stubborn as you and
me?”
“Without a doubt. Which will make them perfect, of course.”
She arched her brow playfully. “Perfect huh? Already the proud papa I see.”
The laughter faded from his mouth and he clasped her hand, saying solemnly, “I will do my best to be the best father our pups
deserve. My own father was a hard man. Strict and foreboding. I want to be a different kind of father. One that loves to have his
children around him, on my knee and at my side. Do you think that makes me less of an Alpha than my father?”
“No. You could never be anything less than a true Alpa in every sense of the word,” she assured him. “You will be a wonderful
father.”
“How do you know?”
“Because you are already putting the babies’ welfare first, no matter their parentage. You already know that one of these pups is
not—“
“Shh.” He put his finger to her lips, silencing her gently to say in a firm but loving tone, “they are my pups. End of story.”

Tears crested her eyes and she nodded as her throat closed. How she loved this man. Deeply. She took a deep, halting breath,
saying in a watery tone. “Then we need to start thinking of names because I think they’re going to make their entrance sooner
rather than later.”
“How can you be sure?” he asked, worry lines creasing his forehead.
“I don’t know how I know,” she admitted. “I just know. Where is Iona?”
“She had personal business to attend to. She will return this evening.”
“Is everything okay?”
“Yes, but I was surprised by the sudden decision to leave the compound. Iona could’ve sent any number of men out to run her
errand but she was adamant that she must be the one to handle her business. The Seer is a wise woman but there are
mysteries to her that I will never understand. If she promised to return by this evening, I know she will. The Seer never promises
what she cannot deliver.”
“Good. I’d feel a lot more secure knowing she was here.”
“Agreed.”