Promised to the Pride: A Shifter Romance Read online

  You know what was the weirdest part? None of the pictures looked like they were taken around here. I saw green grass, flowering plants, even Jonas wearing shorts and no shirt—meaning he had to have grown up in another state farther south. What on earth could’ve happened to make him move all the way up here, away from his family? What—

  “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” Jonas’s voice snapped me out of my trance, and I jumped up, causing the photo album to slide to the floor. Jonas stood near the bedroom door, a crossbow slung around his back.

  Well, that answered my question about the hunting, but now was not the time for little victories. Now was the time for a multitude of oh, shits.

  Because oh, shit.

  “I wasn’t…” I tripped over my words like I was the clumsiest, dumbest person alive. “It’s not what it looks like.” Bullshit. It was exactly what it looked like, and Jonas wasn’t stupid enough to believe otherwise. I was snooping, and he caught me red-handed.

  Literally, he walked in to see me holding onto that photo album. There was no defending the situation, no pretending it didn’t happen, and definitely no pretending I’d gotten lost on my way to the bathroom.

  Crap. I had the feeling I wasn’t going to get a TV out of this.

  Chapter Fourteen – Jonas

  When I came back from hunting—unsuccessfully, I might add—I did not expect to find my mate in my house, all alone in my bedroom, snooping to her heart’s content. She was too lost in what she’d found to hear me open the front door, clearly, and since she wasn’t a shifter, she hadn’t heard me walk down the hall, either. I was as quiet as a ghost to her, and my sudden appearance caused her to stand and drop what was on her lap to the floor.

  What the fuck was she thinking? Did she not have a brain in that head of hers?

  I moved into the bedroom, slamming the door shut behind me and causing her to jump again. I could hear her heartbeat, practically able to see the blood quickening in her veins. She stumbled over her words, telling me it wasn’t what it looked like.

  As I swung the crossbow off my shoulders and set it on my dresser, I glared at her, feeling the intense, sudden need to teach my mate a lesson she wouldn’t forget. “Tell me, Mate, what the fuck do you think this looks like?” A trick question, for I did not care about whatever answer she’d come up with. I was already pissed at this intrusion of privacy.

  I’d given her her own place. I’d left her alone, even though I wanted to ram myself so deep inside her she wouldn’t be able to think straight. I’d agreed to the fucking race, even though it should be based on strength who got to have our mate first. Give, give, give. I’d given her so much already. Did she not realize it? Did she not see it?

  I was done giving.

  “It looks like I was snooping,” she answered quickly, biting her lower lip as she bent to pick up the album. My hands clenched at my sides, and I watched her hold the album against her chest. “And…I was, but I didn’t mean to. It just sort of happened, and I’m sorry.” With her voice so light, she sounded so innocent. Too fucking innocent. I needed to taint that purity.

  “Didn’t your parents ever tell you that sometimes sorry isn’t enough?” I asked, stepping closer to her. I wanted to rip that album out of her hands and push her down on the bed, yank down those jeans and bend her over with her ass in the air.

  It wouldn’t happen right now, but it would in three days.

  Her eyes widened, her lips parting. The color of her eyes was pretty, I’d give her that. It reminded me of the color my leopard’s eyes were. “I know you’re upset, and you have every right to be, but…” She had the audacity to stop right there, as if I knew what she was about to say.

  I didn’t, and she’d already pissed me off this much, so why not shoot for a bit more?

  I cocked a brow, now standing less than a foot away from her. Close enough to grab her. My mate stood between me and the bed. She could be mine right now, but I wouldn’t break my word. I wouldn’t fuck her. There were other ways I could punish her without shoving my dick inside of her.

  “But what?” I egged her on.

  “But…” She tilted her head up, her blonde hair falling away from her face. “I just wanted to get to know you. Is that so wrong?”

  Get to know me? There was nothing to get to know, nothing she’d like to see. Nothing I was willing to share. All this girl had to know was how I felt when I came inside of her, and how to please me the most.

  Hint: going through my shit wasn’t a way to please me.

  I let out a grumble as I reached for the album, ripping it out of her hands and tossing it aside. It landed in the corner of the room near the closet. The one thing I had left, the one fucking thing, and of course she found it. I should’ve expected it. I should’ve known with my shitty luck that my mate would not be a pliant, submissive creature. No, she had to piss me off at every turn.

  Every single fucking turn.

  “You don’t need to know me,” I growled out.

  She slipped away from me, and when I was about to grab her and slam her to the bed—because how dare she try to run away from me—I saw she wasn’t running. She slipped past me to pick up the album. The way she cradled it to her chest, like she’d decided it was something of hers, ticked me off.

  How could she hold that fucking thing as if it meant something to her? It wasn’t hers, she didn’t know the story behind it. If she did, she surely would drop that sucker fast. There was nothing sweet about it. I didn’t know why I still had it. Maybe because it was the one thing from my childhood I had left.

  Pictures weren’t like memories. Memories were tainted with the truth, whereas pictures merely showed a snapshot of your life. These pictures were lies. None of the pictures’ stories were true. I should burn them.

  “I want to,” my mate whispered, puckering her lips just a bit. Just enough to make me wonder how they’d feel wrapped around a certain appendage of mine. Did she think holding the album would protect her from my wrath? What a fool.

  “Why?” I questioned, my chest rumbling. That was the question of the hour. Why did she do this? Why was she here alone? Why did she want to get to know me like I was some loveable man?

  I wasn’t, and her quest to find out if a good man dwelled within me would be a hopeless one.

  “Because I…” She blinked, turning her eyes up to me. Her eyelashes were thick, and they framed her eyes beautifully. With her tan skin and those full lips, she was more than I could’ve hoped for in a mate. Any cubs she had would be handsome, beautiful. “I—”

  I didn’t let her continue, having enough of her stumbling. I grabbed her by the hair, pulling hard but not as hard as I could, moving her to the bed. She held onto the album all the while, refusing to let it go. I’d burn it in front of her if I had to. “You understand that you’re mine right now, don’t you?”

  A sad expression crossed her face for a few moments as she muttered, “Yes.”

  “And you know you did wrong here,” I growled out, my hand still tangled in her hair. She managed to nod against me, her eyes dropping to my chest, which thudded with angry, loud breaths. I snatched the album from her arms yet again, this time tossing it halfway across the room. There would be no getting it now. No. Now I had her right where I wanted her.

  Fuck. If only that race was done, and I was the victor, then I’d make this one pay. I’d make her realize that she was mine every which way, that she had no right to have her own wishes, her own desires. She was mine in every way; subordinate to me and what I wanted. She was…

  She was nothing.

  She meant nothing.

  She would never mean anything to me, not like those other fools. I didn’t have a heart to give, a heart to care about someone else. The only thing my heart did was beat to keep me alive; it did nothing else. I could do nothing else. My mate’s effort was wasted, and she only had ended up angering the beast inside.

  And fuck, was the beast hungry for some soft, tender flesh, to fee
l her squirm under me and welcome my cock inside her core. Oh, she would know submission by the time I was done with her. In time she would know nothing but what it felt like to be filled up over and over, used and enjoyed. My mate. My plaything. Mine.

  I leaned down, pressing my midsection against hers, well aware that I was already growing hard. It was impossible not to, with the thoughts racing through my head. Dirty, filthy thoughts that would set any priest or nun ablaze. There was no God here.

  “Take off your clothes,” I hissed, baring my teeth in a primal urge to show her my dominance, my aggression. I released the hold I had on her hair, stepping back to give her room to do it. My erection pressed against my pants, in full view now, but her eyes did not drop, though she must’ve seen it.

  Those eyes met mine, questioning. “But—”

  I cracked my neck, resisting my urge to lunge at her, to pin her down and show her just how rough I could be. I could feel my self-control slowly drifting away, my inner beast threatening to snap. She thought she could handle him? No one could fucking handle me, and that was why I was here, alone.

  “If you don’t take those clothes off yourself, I’m going to rip them open and make you walk to your cabin without them,” I threatened, more of a promise than anything. “I’ll be keeping your new coat and boots as well. We’ll see how well you do after twenty feet in the cold, with your intolerance of it.”

  She shivered, and I let myself feel satisfied. A smug kind of satisfaction that festered inside until I watched acceptance slither over her like a traitorous, vile snake. She would do as I said, but only because she knew I held the power here. She wouldn’t like it.

  Fine. She didn’t have to like it. She just had to do it and take what I gave her.

  My mate reached for her feet first, going for her socks, showing me a hint of defiance even in doing so. Socks. Should’ve fucking specified her shirt or her pants. I didn’t give two shits about her socks. Her feet weren’t what I wanted to see.

  She tossed her socks to the side, being deliberately slow about it. Next she went for her jeans, her fingers working to undo the button, then the zipper. Bit by bit, inch by inch, and as soon as the zipper was all the way down, my jaw clenched. I wanted to rip those pants off her, but I stood back and let her move like a fucking slug.

  My mate could play this game all she wanted. I’d have every inch of her soon enough. Not today, though. Today I had something else planned. Debased, debauched, and surely something my innocent mate had never done.

  Her jeans fell to the floor, and I kicked them aside, not wanting anything to hamper what we were about to do. She wore a pair of small blank panties, and my gaze fell to her legs—those thin and slender things. In a few days I’d know how they felt wrapped around me. The next thing my mate went for was her shirt, and the moment her fingers toyed with the bottom hemline of it, I met her stare, wanting to see her humiliation.

  Did I see humiliation? I didn’t know. I couldn’t tell. Her eyes were…unreadable, as if she was testing me, waiting to see my reaction.

  My reaction? Didn’t she know she was the one on trial right now, not me?

  This one…I didn’t know what to make of her yet.

  The baser part of me didn’t care, though. I didn’t care what was or whether or not she was testing me. The baser, more carnal part of me just wanted her to finish taking off those clothes so I could see what she looked like underneath it all.

  My mate lifted her shirt off her body, and for a few seconds, she stood before me in nothing but her underwear. Her bra was also black, simple and plain, and the color of it made her look tan, sun-kissed in a way people around here just weren’t, unless they sat in a tanning booth. I could see her tan lines, and I knew the moment she shed the rest of her clothing, I’d lose it completely.

  She reached behind her, about to unhook her bra, but I said, “Wait.” Funny how she immediately listened to me that time.

  I couldn’t lose it completely. I had to reel in the beast at least somewhat. If I lost control, if I went against what Nikolas, Aster, and I agreed on…things would only get more complicated, and I would lose their trust. I didn’t want the rest of my life to be under their watchful eyes, so right now I had to take a step back, swallow my beast, and tuck him away for later.

  Because he would come out later. He would break free of his cage and force his way to the surface once my mate was fully shifted. Once our inner animals connected, once I claimed her while we were shifted, all of my self-control would be for nothing.

  “That’s enough,” I finally said. I was already beyond turned-on; I didn’t need to see her full naked body to do what I wanted to do.

  Little miss innocent was about to become less so.

  In one fluid motion, I took off my sweater and tossed it to the floor, flexing involuntarily. The beast still itched to get out, and I saw my chest had caught my mate’s attention. “Does my mate like what she sees?” I asked, cocking my head as I glared at her.

  She gave me no answer, not that I expected she would.

  Within a few moments, I stood before her, free of my clothes. It was good to keep her a bit covered, but me? Why not bare it all right now, get everything out in the open? It wasn’t the first time I’d been nude in her presence, but it was the first time she was able to see me. Every hard inch of me, and there was quite a lot of that.

  A blush crept into my mate’s cheeks, and I found myself smiling—inwardly. I never smiled anymore these days, but inwardly I did. I couldn’t help it. The mere sight of my body was turning my mate on, as it should. It just meant we were well-matched. Her body threatened to unlock the animal inside, and my body made her already tan skin turn a delectable shade of pink.

  “On your knees,” I ordered her.

  She looked like she wanted to argue with me, but her mouth remained shut. My mate got down on her knees like a good little girl, her stare level with my cock. Had she ever seen one before? Was mine the first she’d witnessed? I shouldn’t care, and it shouldn’t matter, but if it was…I got even more satisfaction from it.

  I reached for her face, feeling her tensing. If she thought she knew what I was going to make her do, she was wrong. I wasn’t going to force a part of me inside her, in her cunt, in her mouth, anywhere. What I was going to do was make her watch me come, and when I did, when I squirted all over that pretty face, I’d make her taste every last bit of me off my fingers.

  “Keep those eyes open,” I told her. “Watch.”

  Suddenly, finally, my mate understood. From her position in front of my cock, her eyes flicked up, meeting mine. I grabbed the base of my shaft, my balls already tightening in anticipation of what was to come.

  Was this pushing the line? Tiptoeing but not crossing it? Maybe. I didn’t care. I wasn’t hurting her, so the other two should be happy, and I wasn’t mating with her, so I wasn’t going against my word.

  My hand ran along my length, pumping myself, touching my cock how I liked it best. Fast and hard, quick and successive movements. I wanted to push my cock inside of her mouth and feel her tongue run along me, but now wasn’t the time. It was a good thought though, and it helped me work myself into a frenzy. My hips began to buck, and with my mate’s eyes on the tip of my cock, I came. I came hard and fast, a groan releasing from my lungs as my seed shot out in erratic bursts. The first squirt landed on her cheek, then her nose. One hit near her mouth, and the last squirt of it fell between her breasts.

  If her cheeks were pink before, they were outright red now.

  I released my cock only to go for the cum on her nose. She’d done her best not to flinch when I suddenly came, and I couldn’t help but wonder if, beneath that underwear, she was as dripping wet as I wanted her to be.

  I scooped my cum off her nose and brought my finger before her lips, which still remained firmly shut. She met my eyes, and though not a single word was said, she knew what I wanted her to do.

  My mate parted her lips just enough to let my finger in, and I fel
t her tongue run along it, lapping me up. Once she’d cleaned the finger, I wiped the cum off her cheek next. We would repeat these steps until her body was free of my cum. After she cleaned the second round, I went for the bit near her mouth, my thumb grazing her full lips a bit harder than I intended.

  Those lips…were awfully soft. That thought kept replaying in my head over and over as I watched her suck off the cum from my finger again. I was measured in taking my finger out of her mouth, the last bit of cum left the stuff on her chest.

  I stared at the off-white cum dripping down her chest, hesitating before I reached for it. I then did something I wasn’t quite proud of, mostly because it was toeing the line between keeping my word and not keeping it, but after feeling her lips around my fingers, I didn’t care.

  I hoisted her up, pushed her down on the bed. As I crawled over her, I traced my tongue along the curve of her stomach, up and up until I lifted my head over her bra. My tongue caught the cum resting between her breasts, and then I brought my mouth to hers.

  She didn’t fight me. I wasn’t expecting her to. She knew she was mine in every way—almost every way. She would be mine every way after that fucking race.

  Her mouth gave way, her lips parting as I pushed my tongue through them. Her tongue grazed mine, picking up the cum on it, and soon enough the cum was gone, swallowed by my pretty, lovely mate. My mate, who squirmed under me and arched her back, practically mewling against me. My mate, who had gone through my things, hoping to find out if I was a better man, probably.

  I wasn’t. I couldn’t be a better man. This…this was all I knew how to be, and I would never change. Not even for her.

  As one hand roamed down her body, running across every curve she had, my other tangled in her hair, forcing her to remain still. There would be no turning of her head, no denial. This was me claiming her without actually claiming her.

  I allowed myself to get lost in her. I hadn’t gone against my word, hadn’t truly let the beast out, but I wanted to. How fucking badly I wanted to. Keeping him chained up was the hardest thing I’d had to do in a while. Just a few more days. A few more days, and then I’d be able to let him free.