Promised to the Pride: A Shifter Romance Read online

  But, alas, that’s why Nik brought her in today. So I could see her, so Ronda could meet her. So he could help me realize that me waiting on being with her was a fool’s errand.

  Ronda was an older woman, in her fifties. Her brown hair was greying and puffy, down to her shoulders usually, though it was pulled up in a ponytail today. Her clothes were constantly covered in grease, but at least she wiped her palm off before shaking Holly’s extended hand.

  “You’re a pretty one,” Ronda said, shooting me a look. Nik had gone into the backroom for something. “What’re you doing here? You look like you belong in the city—and that tan. You won’t be keeping that around here, either.” She smiled, and even though she was a stranger to Holly, Holly grinned back.

  I liked Ronda. She was a middle-aged divorcee who took the bar from her husband during the divorce, but that was alright, because from what I hear, her husband was running it into the ground, anyway. She took no shit, but she cared, which most people just didn’t these days.

  Even though Holly hadn’t answered, Ronda leaned on the counter before her, pressing, “What about college? You look like you’re college-aged. Shouldn’t you be going to school?”

  I laughed, moving beside her, tossing Holly an apologetic look. “She’s taking some time off to find herself.”

  “Find herself?” Ronda echoed, her back straightening. “What the hell does she need to find herself for? What does that even mean? Seems like an excuse to put off the rest of your life.” To Holly, she said, “Don’t be like me, hun. Don’t waste years of your life.” She said nothing else as she walked away, heading into the backroom just as Nik walked out.

  Holly blinked, but I could tell she was thankful that Ronda left and was no longer barraging her with questions and unsolicited advice.

  We’d have to think of an excuse as to why she was staying here. Right now, she was our cousin. Yeah, our cousin. I didn’t think Nik thought that through before spreading the rumor, but at this point, there was no taking it back. No PDA anywhere in town, nowhere that wasn’t private.

  “She’s…” Holly paused, attempting to think up a word to adequately explain Ronda. “…interesting.”

  Interesting was one way to put it.

  Nik brushed shoulders with me, and I turned my head to look at him. “Get out of here,” he said. “I can handle this.”

  Holly threw a look around the bar, at its few customers. “Are you sure? The house is packed today. You’re swamped.” Sarcasm dripped off her voice, which caused my brother to smirk. He better be careful, because that smirk was an I-love-you smirk and not the kind of smirk you gave your cousin.

  “I think I can handle it,” he said, turning his blue gaze to me. “Get her home, Aster.” Though the smirk had fallen off his lips, I could tell there was more to his words that he wasn’t saying. Get her home, sleep with her, see if you can help her shift.

  Yeah, that was more like it.

  When I made no moves to move, Holly’s lips quirked into a smile. “We can stay, if you want,” she told me. “I don’t mind being here. It gets me out of the house.” Her cheeks were rosy, and I couldn’t help but wonder if other parts of her body flushed like that.

  No, bad Aster. Don’t think about that while in public. Getting a hard-on now would only make for one terribly awkward conversation between me and Ronda.

  I waited a moment before sighing, tossing the rag in my hand down. I was wiping the counter, trying to ignore the feeling Holly rose within me, but it wasn’t working. If we didn’t leave soon, I’d be standing here with a raging erection and an awful lot of explaining to do. “No, let’s go.”

  I patted my brother on the back as I moved past him, grabbed my jacket in the back before walking around the bar counter to stand beside Holly. She slid off her stool and gave me a smile, and together we walked out. I had a similar car to Nik, but mine was a bit smaller. Cheaper, totally used.

  Hey, we didn’t make that much money at the bar. We made enough for the bills, enough to send some payments to Holly’s family. We made do. And when there were more mouths to feed…well, we’d deal with that, too. One thing at a time.

  I got in the car after opening her door for her, cranking up the heat.

  “Thank you,” Holly murmured, folding her arms over her chest after clicking her seatbelt. The weather outside was actually decent, and I hesitated before pulling the car out of the parking lot and onto the road.

  “Where, uh…where are we going? You want to come to my house, or…” I knew her cabin was full of scents of Nik and Jonas, and I knew that if we went there, it would be ridiculously hard to keep my hands to myself.

  I mean, I was a male. I knew what to do, what I wanted to do, and yet I didn’t want to put more pressure on her. Holly could focus on trying to shift, and I…I could focus on ignoring the nagging feeling in my balls.

  “We can go to my place,” she suggested, turning those gorgeous eyes on me. Crisper, clearer, deeper than the blue in the sky.

  Well, so much for that plan.

  I brought us to her small cabin on Jonas’s property, and she led me to the door, peeking her head inside. She let out a gasp, a shocked, stunned sound, and I hurried inside after her, wondering just what the hell had her so surprised. When the door closed behind me, I found out what it was.

  A TV.

  A big, flat-screen TV that took up practically half the living room.

  “I don’t understand,” she said. Her blonde eyebrows came together, and she turned to look at me. “You didn’t do this, did you?”

  I shook my head. As if I’d do anything in Jonas’s cabin without his permission. I didn’t have a death wish, and neither did Nik. No, that meant only one shifter could’ve done this—and I couldn’t help but wonder just why Jonas had gone ahead and done it. To try to get on her good side? I didn’t know the bastard cared.

  Holly was slow to shrug off her coat and hang it. “I don’t understand.” To me, she asked, “Why would he do that?” She meant Jonas; she didn’t have to say his name for me to know it.

  “I don’t know,” I said, moving to the couch. The couch which held the scent of my brother, which I steadfastly ignored. “Why don’t you see if it works?”

  She grabbed the remote sitting near it, hitting the power button as she slowly made her way to my side, eyes wide, glued to the TV. I couldn’t help but smile as I watched her. It was clear the TV meant a lot to her. She’d desperately wanted something to occupy her time here, and now she had that something.

  When a channel flared to life, Holly’s grin only widened. She was giddy as she sat beside me, her thigh touching mine. I tensed, having the stupid, stupid notion of inching away. Touching her was…hard to do. Difficult in ways you wouldn’t understand. When I touched her, I both wanted to lose control and keep my cool. A peculiar mix of feelings, all bundled up so tightly together that it was enough to make me anxious.

  I wanted to be a gentleman. Out of the three of us, I would be the one to be the gentleman, not Nik, and certainly not Jonas.

  We sat in silence for a while as she roamed the channels. I lost myself in my own head, at least until Holly turned her yellow head to me and asked, “Are you okay, Aster?”

  Was I okay? I was not the one who couldn’t turn. I wasn’t the shifter who couldn’t shift. I should be asking her that, not the other way around.

  I crossed my legs, moving the one that was touching her thigh away from her. I had one hand sitting on my lap, the other stretched along the backside of the couch—away from Holly. I probably looked like an awkward teenage boy on his first date, which was stupid. This wasn’t my first time alone with Holly, and I’d…well, I guess I’d never been on any dates, because humans didn’t do it for me. I’d saved myself, and here I was. A twenty-two-year-old virgin beside his mate, a guy who couldn’t make the first move because he worried too much about it.

  “I’m good,” I said, sounding the very opposite. My voice might’ve cracked a bit. No, it was clear I w
asn’t good.

  Holly was slow to set the remote down on the coffee table before us, turning her whole body to face me. She’d taken off her boots, allowing her to tuck her legs beneath her ass. I looked at her, feeling the heat rising in my body. It was impossible to not respond to her being so close—I mean, anyone with eyes would understand why. She was the pinnacle of beauty.

  “I feel like you’re uncomfortable around me,” she whispered, looking sad. I hated that I made her feel so conflicted, but I also didn’t know how to stop it.

  Ugh. I hated myself right now. I really, really hated myself.

  “What would give you that idea?” I asked, wincing at the sound of my voice.

  She gave me a look that said it all. She wasn’t stupid. “Is it because you’re nervous to…” Holly’s gaze studied me, and she paused way longer than was necessary before she finished, “Have sex with me?”

  “Oh, no. Not at all. I’m not nervous to have sex with you. I’m more than ready to whip off all my clothes, tear your clothes off, and have at it like animals,” I spoke, rambling away like some idiot. And that’s precisely what I was—an idiot. An idiot of epic proportions. An idiot who didn’t know when to shut up.

  “You’re ready?” she echoed, her eyebrows practically in the air.

  “Hell yes,” I spoke quickly. “Totally ready. Not nervous at all.” Okay, my mouth was just saying shit now. I needed some tape to cover it up. I was only digging myself deeper at this point, which sucked, because it was the wrong impression. I didn’t want Holly to think that I was some bumbling idiot who didn’t care about what she was going through.

  I loved this woman practically the moment I saw her. My leopard knew he wanted her instantly. Of course I cared what she was going through, which was why I was more than happy to wait until she was comfortable enough to—

  All of my thoughts slipped from my mind when Holly set a hand on my cheek, turning my face to hers. The breath escaped my lungs the moment she pressed her soft lips to mine, a kiss that told me, wordlessly, she was ready. She wanted me. She wanted every part of me, and I…I was fucked, because I wanted her, too.

  When her lips left mine, I managed to whisper, “Holly…” I didn’t know what else to say, because at this point, my brain wasn’t really working.

  “Are you worried about hurting me?” she asked. “Or are you worried about not knowing what to do?” AKA not being good at it. Yeah, that was one of my worries, definitely, along with hurting her, or doing something to her she didn’t like.

  If I hurt her, if I did something I couldn’t take back…I would not let myself become another Jonas.

  “Stop worrying,” Holly went on, her voice a purr. She ran a hand down my chest. “As long as you know the claiming will have to wait until I can shift…”

  My dick kept perking up, especially while she kept touching me. “I’m not pushing you into anything,” I whispered, meeting her eyes. She wore a pleading look, almost as if she wanted me to be with her, to be one with her in a way I’d never been one with someone before.

  How the hell was I supposed to deny a look like that?

  “I don’t want to do this because you think we have to,” I added, finally not sounding as stupid as I was moments ago.

  “And if I tell you I want to do it?” Holly asked, leaning into me. My back slid off the cushion it rested on, and within a few moments, I found myself laying down, with Holly’s small, lithe body on top of me. Against my ear, her breath was hot, her voice a sultry low, “If I tell you I want to be with you, Aster?”

  My hands found her hips, and my fingertips dug into her skin. I didn’t want her to crawl off me. My heart thudded in my chest as I whispered, “You know I want to be with you too, Holly.”

  “Then we should be together,” she said, placing a kiss on my cheekbone. Her legs moved around me until she was straddling me, and I could feel myself growing more aroused by the second.

  This was probably a bad idea, but I couldn’t deny her. She was…she was everything.

  With the TV blaring in the background, her mouth found mine again. This time, this kiss—it was all fiery passion, hot, wanton need, desperate desires and urgent hunger. A push and pull of our lips, but I wasn’t fighting her. I wasn’t the one taking the lead. I was perfectly content to have her above me, to let her take charge and do whatever it was she wanted to me.

  Her tongue snuck its way into my mouth, dancing with mine, and I let out a low moan, my chest rumbling with a primal need to feel every inch of my mate naked above me. I’d seen her, but I didn’t pay much attention. I always tried to be the gentleman. Now…now there was no fighting it. I was done being the gentleman, done trying to say no.

  When her mouth left mine, I felt its loss immediately, and I peeked open my eyes to see that Holly was in the process of taking off her shirt. Her shirt, then her bra, releasing her breasts as she tossed the clothes onto the floor. The blinds on the window behind her weren’t closed, but no one would come. This was a cabin far off the main road, behind Jonas’s house. The only one who might come by was Jonas, and even then, he’d be able to see my car and know I was here.

  The next thing that came off was my shirt, and she ran her hands down my bare chest, digging her nails into me just enough to make my cock twitch in my pants. It ached to be let out, let free and used, but I wouldn’t do anything. Holly had the reins here, and I was content to let her have them.

  She was fucking perfect.

  Holly got off me to take off her pants and her underwear, and I watched, unable to breathe, as she stood before me, utterly naked. Her body was smooth everywhere, not a blemish to be seen. Her tan lines told me she used to spend a lot of time outside in the sun—Ronda was right, that would change here. She moved to kneel near my feet on the couch, leaning over my crotch as she undid the button and zipper. Her blue eyes flicked up to me, and as she tugged everything off me, I couldn’t help but groan.

  Nik would be happy I was finally having our mate. Hell, I was happy, too. All of my anxiety and trepidation felt misplaced, now.

  Once I was free of my clothes, my cock stood erect, and I saw the tip was already dripping with precum, just from her teasing, her lips, feeling her on top of me. I probably wouldn’t last long, once I was inside of her, but I didn’t care. We had a lifetime to make up for it, for me to last longer. Right now, there was nothing but pure, unbridled passion coursing through my veins.

  Holly ran a teasing hand along my length, shooting me a pout of her lips. “I think you’re doing just fine,” she murmured, crawling on top of me once again. When she straddled me this time, my cock touched her slick creases, and she ground down on me, eliciting another groan from me. She didn’t put me in yet, and she didn’t need to. Just feeling her grinding down on me was almost too much.

  Holly might’ve been ignorant of the ways of the body when she came here, but she wasn’t any longer. She’d been with Nik and Jonas countless of times since her claiming; I was just the straggler. The one fighting it. The one who wanted to make sure she was okay before doing anymore more—and, obviously, she was okay. She was more than okay. I wasn’t lying when I said she was everything.

  “Holly,” I whispered. It seemed to be about all I could say. I needed this woman like I needed the air I breathed, like I needed the heart beating in my chest. I needed this woman in my life, and I never knew how empty my life was before she came around.

  “Shh,” she shushed me, moving off my cock just enough to get it to stand straight. Her chest heaved, her nipples hardened and erect, and she slowly sank down on my length, taking me in inch by inch until I filled her up completely.

  My eyelids slammed shut, and I let out an earth-shattering groan. Feeling her tight, hot walls around me was…indescribable. The best feeling in the world—nothing could ever match it.

  At least, that’s what I thought, until she started moving. Until she started to buck her hips and drag my hard length in and out of her. When I felt those tight walls milking me,
I understood then how some males could lose themselves during sex, how some only wanted sex, no emotions attached. How dominating a woman brought them pleasure.

  Me? I was more than happy to let her do the dominating. This was…fuck, this was heaven. This was paradise. Bliss, being inside of her, watching her body rock on top of mine, her breasts heaving with every breath she took. I had my hands on her thighs, and I could feel my balls tightening, a tingly feeling that told me what was coming next.

  I didn’t want to come so soon, and I met Holly’s stare. “I’m about to…” Felt silly, saying it aloud, but I didn’t know what else to say. I should’ve asked Nik for some tips on how to edge off the orgasm, I guess.

  Holly’s hips kept rocking, milking my cock as she gave me a small smile that sent my stomach aflutter. “It’s okay,” she said. “Let it happen.” She increased her speed, and once she did, it was over. I’d passed the point of no return. My climax was going to happen, and it was going to happen far too soon.

  That’s what I got for being a virgin, I guess.

  My balls clenched, and I let out a moan as my muscles tightened, locking up as my cock erupted inside of her, coating her inner walls with my cum, marking her as mine in a way I never had before now. Pleasure danced along every nerve in my body, and I lost myself to the feeling for a few moments, even after Holly pulled herself off me, even as my cock—wet with her juices and mine—started to lose its hardness.

  “Oh my God,” I whispered. “That was…wow.” Speechless. For once in my talkative life, I was speechless. What else could I say? Being inside of her was unlike anything else I’d ever experienced. My hand would never be enough again. I’d always miss feeling her around me.

  Holly nestled herself against my chest, tucked between my body and the back cushions on the couch. She traced a nail over my chest, tiny electric tingles following everywhere she touched. This girl had me bad.