Page 31 of Pack Witch
“At all?” His groan was heartfelt.
“Not for a while. I had an idea. I think it’s my, ah, orgasm, that sends the magic into you. So you don’t need to come as often.”
He grunted, moving inside me deliciously. “I’m not so old that I can’t come more than once.”
“I’m not so young that I’m going to give up the chance to have as many as I can squeeze out of you,” I teased back. “I have no idea how many times in a row I can come. Don’t you think I deserve to find out?”
He slid his hand between us to circle my already soaked clit with his finger, his eyes blazing. “I think you deserve to be worshiped like a goddess, little star. Just tell me what to do. I’m yours to command.”
“Mine to… command?” The words had been filled with truth.
“Yes. I vow it to the moon. Anything you ask of me.” His eyes narrowed. “As long as it doesn’t hurt you, as long as it’s in my power, I’ll do it. I belong to you.”
My breath caught at the naked lust in his expression. “Such a good Alpha.”
I began to move slowly over him this time, adjusting my hands intentionally, so that with each climax, I had healed a part of him. I never picked up my pace, but he kept his fingers moving exactly right, his amber gaze fixed on me.
My theory was correct, and by the time I’d come a dozen times, I’d healed his forearms as well as the rest of his stomach.
“I may have gone a bit too far,” I whispered as I closed my eyes, wondering when the bees’ buzzing had gotten so loud. Wondering why Julian still felt so incredibly tense beneath me, like he was fighting not to move. “Let me sleep. Then I’ll try again.”
Chapter 16
Julian
Zinnia fell asleep on top of me just in time. I couldn’t stop the tears from streaming from my eyes or the trembling that was beginning in my limbs. She’d healed me as we made love, and somehow I’d stayed hard the entire time, but I wasn’t sure how I’d managed.
I was certain now the magic that had been trapped under my skin in the tattoos hadn’t been released, only moved to pool under the remaining marks. The silver in my blood before may even have been mitigating its effects, keeping me from feeling all the pain. I’d seen something like that before, witnessed how the presence of silver could keep a shifter from madness. Mine had kept me from agony.
But not now.
I bit my teeth to stifle a sob. I’d been shot, stabbed, bitten, and even poisoned, but I’d never known true torture until it came at my rejected mate’s soft, slender hands.
No, there had been one other time when I’d felt this kind of agony. When I’d taken the first silver blade to my shoulder, and what I now knew was mate sickness had begun. That agony had driven me almost to madness.
If only I’d listened to my wolf then, maybe I wouldn’t have been too late. Zinnia’s wolf would still be strong. Maybe my own pain wouldn’t have built up, the magic sickening me for decades.
“Sergeant?” Bo called out, pulling me from my memories. “Alpha?”
I’d left him at the stream, fishing for tonight’s supper, and sent Leroy to join him. His voice grew louder now as he approached. Since Zinnia had opened the magic of her garden’s shield to all three of us, I knew he’d be inside soon.
Shit.I pulled Zinnia’s sweatpants and shirt over her as much as I could, but the real issue was one I couldn’t cover up so easily. I couldn’t let Bo know how weak I was.
We’d been doing a crash course all week in how to control his unexpected Alpha power. Every shifter who was powerful experienced surges after their first shift, but Heirs to Alpha-level power felt them far more intensely. He would act more aggressively to any other male shifters around him, even if they were previously close.
His friendship with Leroy was already strained, and I’d probably made it worse by separating the two, but it had to be done. I didn’t think I had much time to give Bo the lessons he’d need. A part of me had known the smart thing to do was take him back to the Mountain pack and give his instruction over to Alpha Brand and the pack’s warriors, but I’d been weak.
I hadn’t wanted to leave Zinnia. Even if I’d known her healing was killing me, even if I feared it was hurting her, my wolf had refused to let us leave. The distance I’d put between us had enraged my wolf, and the pain I’d been in had added to the trash fire I’d made of Bo’s training.
This morning, I’d been particularly harsh, even for me. I’d been forcing him to memorize the code all the packs had adopted, based on the old ways. Every time he stumbled over a word, he’d earned push-ups, cold-water dunks, and miles ofrunning. I’d watched his frustration and anger grow and knew he was close to the breaking point. I’d said some regrettable things, spoken my deepest fears aloud, and hurt him.
My pain was making me cruel, and I hated it.
I rolled the sleeping Zinnia to one side and slipped on my sweatpants, still wracking my brain to figure out where his power level had come from. His father had been a Southern nobody, and the only family he had left alive was his little sister, who was still a child.
“Sergeant?” Bo called out, much closer now. “Are you okay?” He sniffed, and the breeze must have carried our scents to him. He started laughing. “Nice going, Alpha. I just won a bet with Lero?—”
I was on my feet and across the garden, snarling in his face, before he could finish the extremely unwise comment. “This, Bo.Thisis why I said what I did this morning.”
