Page 22 of Shifter's Dream

They were lifted off the bed. His mate trembled, neck arched back, eyes tightly closed, calling out her pleasure, pulling at him. He wrapped in closer to her, still spilling inside her, while she pulsed around him, his mind a streaming, blissful blank, while his body did what it was made to do. Troy squeezed his own eyes shut tight and held on for the ride, his mate wrapped safely inside his arms.

Troy didn’t open his eyes until they were both back on the bed. He blinked, breathing hard, trying to recover. No wings. His mate was limp on the bed, her body still pulsing lightly, her scent overpoweringly drowsy.

He leaned over her and kissed her with traces of her blood on his lips.

Troy reached for a towel, his mind reeling, his body suddenly heavy with exhaustion. He pulled out of his mate, kissing her on the shoulder, just over her mark, that looked like the aftermath of an explosion. The clock on the bedside table said just after midnight.

His eyes closed. His consciousness went blank. He fell asleep like he’d been pitched over a cliff.

14 – Feeling It

Ella carefully placed the sleeping baby in his cradle next to the bed, then settled back down, just about to fall back asleep herself, when her eyes flew open in the darkened room, and lust for her male settled thick and heavy around her core. She reached for him in the bed, finding him, waking him. He rolled toward her and gave her a questioninghmnoise.

“Other room,” she whispered.

He was up and out of the bed before she was, ushering her out the door, one hand to the small of her back. The other room was dark, quiet, and still with night, and he gathered her close as soon as they were inside, kissing her neck, pulling her down to the bed, where she went gladly.

***

Heather woke up all at once, reaching for her mate in the bed, but she found only dragon, with Kendra asleep in one curled wing. She had not been alone with Graeme since Kendra was born, and it was starting to wear on her. She bit back her frustration. “It’s not forever, it’s not forever,” she whispered to herself, her love for her baby sweeping aside the temporary frustrations of motherhood.

Graeme picked up on her strong emotions and roused himself, transforming smoothly, holding Kendra in the crook of one arm as he sat up in the bed and laid a hand on her shoulder, then rubbed the back of her neck.

It was the best they could do, for now.

***

Dahlia blinked as she stared at the ceiling in her small cabin, holding her tummy and wondering what was wrong with her, wishing she could take everyone’s advice and stop thinking about it, but she was not pregnant, and shewantedto be pregnant, she wanted it with her heart and soul. She and Crew tried constantly, Crew wanted it as much as she did, making love to her night after night with a sweet intensity that made her cry.

She wanted him again.Maybe she was ovulating early. She reached for him in the dark. He sighed when her hand touched him and rolled over, placing his already stiffening cock against her hip.

She reached for it, glad he was there.

***

Cerise lay awake in the dark, imagining she felt tiny flutters in her belly, knowing it was too early to feel her and Beckett’s young moving, but also knowing she did, just the same. Irrational fears gripped her, making her forehead sweat, as she stared at the ceiling and wondered if she were making a mistake, bringing new life into the chaotic world, but then her mate whispered in his sleep, a sentence that sounded suspiciously like, “I bet your mama don’t even bake cornbread,” and the fear fled.

Beckett rolled over and nuzzled her, sending shock waves of pleasure through her body, so strong, she acted on them.

“Beck,” she whispered, kneading the muscles in his forearm. “I need you.”

He was awake in an instant. “Need me how?”

“You know…” she said.

He did know. He got down to work.

***

Rogue woke in the night, a dirty dream playing through her mind and she reached for her mate with the intention of re-enacting it. He was hard before he was fully awake, just the way she liked him.

***

Willow put down her fork, her mind no longer on her breakfast. Her mate was next to her, talking easily to some bigwig from the fire department of the tiny Spanish town they were in. Bruin wore a suit and looked as handsome and diplomatic as any male had a right to be and she didn’t know how long she could wait to tell him that.

He stopped, mid-sentence and turned to look at her questioningly, his nostrils flaring. She smiled at him from under her lashes.

Bruin excused them quickly.My mate’s not feeling well, yes, thank you, she’ll be fine, I’ll just get her to lay down in the room and we’ll meet you at the station later.He whisked her out of the restaurant and back to their hotel room.

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