Wolf Nip: Northern Lights Edition (Granite Lake Wolves Book 6) Read online

  His face twisted as he attempted to hide his laughter. “Umm, yes. You said that already.”

  “I might need to say it a few more times, just to get it to sink into my thick cat skull. You’re a wolf, and you love me. We’re mates, and that’s not going to change for you.”

  His dark eyes sparkled. “Nope. Well, it’ll get stronger—the being-in-love-with-you part.”

  This time his assurance sent a thrill through her, and that was the final nudge she needed to move forward. Now how to say this without sounding like a diva, a freak or bitch? The last thing she wanted was to remove the happiness blooming on his face.

  She squared her shoulders and went for honest. “I’m stealing your line—it’s going to get stronger for me too. The falling-in-love-with-you part.”

  Mark sucked in a breath.

  She hurried on before he could interrupt. “Since I’m a cat and all?—my feelings don’t work like yours. I mean, we met barely a week ago, so me being in love with you doesn’t make sense. But that doesn’t mean I can’t make the proper choice right now.”

  Two shuffles put her at the edge of the bed where she caught hold of his belt buckle in one hand and dragged him toward her. His uneasy smile had grown stronger…like the love between them would grow. She was sure of it now.

  “I choose to be your mate, Mark. I choose to accept all the love you’ve poured out for me, and I’m going to smarten up and start listening to the quiet, hardworking ways you say it. I’m going to let the feelings come whenever they come, but in the meantime?” She stared up and let all the admiration she had for him shine out. All the longings she had as well. “I think you’re pretty damn amazing, and I would be honoured to be your mate. I can’t wait to fall in love with you as hard as your wolf is already in love with me.”

  For one terrible, horrible no-good-moment, Mark didn’t budge. Tessa considered repeating her confession, but that seemed so—

  He pounced.

  Tessa squealed as he bore her to the mattress, his weight pressing her down as he found her lips.

  When he lifted his head far enough they could both suck for oxygen, all traces of his faint smile were gone, replaced with an enormous grin. “I had to fall in love with a cat.”

  She could have sworn her cougar preened. Silly beastie.

  “You’re okay with it all?”

  He nodded. “You making a choice? Blows my mind. I’m going to make sure you never regret it.”

  “Cats aren’t all bad, you know…” There was just enough room between them. She stripped down to nothing far quicker than even his needy wolf could ask.

  His delighted growl filled the air. “Neat trick.”

  Then it was past time for talking. Time for doing—for giving to the other side of them, and giving to Mark what he’d been so patiently waiting for. Tessa caught him around the neck and pulled him back against her naked body.

  She tugged at his clothing as they kissed, all tongues, teeth and lips, their heavy panting echoing through the room.

  Mark licked her neck, and Tessa shivered as she protested, “You have too many clothes on.”

  “The only way I can make it last longer than thirty seconds.”

  “We can just do it again,” she pointed out.

  “We will,” he promised. “Again, and again, and again. But this first time?”

  He slipped down to worship her breasts, and Tessa’s satisfaction rose at having seen the light.

  He didn’t have to know everything about her now. She didn’t know everything about herself—she’d assumed she couldn’t cook, but she’d managed to learn. If she was changing and growing, then they could change and grow together as mates.

  He nibbled just the right way, and the tingles turned into full-body pulses. “You’re going to mark me, right?”

  “Everywhere. Like you’re my own personal chew toy.” His teeth went into the side of her breast, and the ensuing shot of sexual pleasure lifted her off the bed.

  Mark caught her hips in his hands and locked her in position, trailing his tongue over her stomach until he reached her belly button. Her hipbones. The ticklish crease between her leg and torso. The cold air brushed past everywhere he touched, and she got goose bumps all over her body.

  “Hmm, you smell delicious.” She shuffled up on her elbows just in time to see him inhale deeply, his expression one of complete contentment.

  Tessa held her breath as he slipped a finger through her curls. She bit her lip as he lowered his head. And she lost it all when he snuck out his tongue to taste her.

  She collapsed back on the bed, opened her thighs as wide as she could and prepared for the explosion that was sure to come. Each graze of his tongue like a flick of a timer, the old-fashioned ones with little numbers that fell in sequence.

  One stroke.

  Another, this time from her core to the bundle of aching nerves she wanted him to focus on. Tessa drove her fingers into his hair and attempted to keep him in one spot, but he chuckled evilly and thrust his tongue lower, into her body, humming as he lapped at her sex.

  He seemed so occupied it shocked her when another touch hit. She peered through half-lidded eyes to see what went with the amazing sensation.

  He’d spread his palm over her lower belly, his thumb centered over her clit. As he continued to lick, he pressed down, the tight circle focused on her trigger button.

  Tessa called out his name as she came, gasping for air as he didn’t let up but did it all over again until the pulses from her core and the lack of air from gasping threatened to make her pass out.

  Mark lifted up, just enough to strip off his shirt, and the words on his chest made her laugh out loud. “I can’t believe you let me write on you like that.”

  He’d lost his pants and boxers, and crawled beside her in all his naked glory. He caught her hand and pressed it to the thick blue lines. “It’s true. I’m yours.”

  Not yet, he wasn’t, but nearly. Tessa’s cat preened and fussed, happy from the orgasms, but wanting it all. She reached between them and closed her fingers around him carefully, loving the contrast of hard shaft and soft skin. “No condoms.”

  He shook his head. “You tell me. As shifters we’re good, but…”

  “I’m a cat. I can’t get pregnant right now.” His eyes rolled back as she stroked him, playing with the amount of pressure, the speed.

  Mark caught her wrist. “Stop.”

  Wow. “How do you talk through your teeth like that?”

  He grinned and leaned in to kiss her until she tingled all over. He rolled over her, nudging her thighs apart with his knees.

  “Look at me,” he ordered.

  Tessa stared into his eyes as his cock slipped between her folds. Heat and pressure and something else slid into her, a sensory overload of pleasure. Of belonging.

  His.

  Together.

  Mark buried himself all the way. Tessa lifted her legs around his waist and moaned in delight.

  “This. This is only part of it.” Mark pulled his hips back so slowly, his cock teasing as it rubbed the perfect places inside. He rocked forward and her breath gasped out, forced by the depths of his possession.

  The entire time he took her, he watched. His gaze drifted over her face, her torso. Hungrily memorizing her? Whatever it was, Tessa was on fire. It had never been like this before. Something deeper than physical connection wrapped around her. Drew them together.

  Mark kissed her without missing a stroke. Harder drives now, his breath fanning past her cheek. His cock a hard point of pleasure taking her again, and again. Tessa arched up to add to the motion, squeezing her thighs, digging her heels into his ass until the sound of their bodies echoed through the room. Panting breaths, frantic motions.

  A blinding rush of desire in her core burst out, pulsing around him and wringing his climax from him. Mark brought his teeth to her neck and bit down and…

  There were no fireworks, no twirling lights. It was like being thrown from a massive heig
ht yet knowing there was a safety net to catch her. Mark was that net. Mark would always be there to catch her. Free fall, a rush of excitement that made her cat thrill and her human clutch his shoulders and rock.

  “That was totally wicked…”

  She’d meant to say it out loud, but her ears never heard the words.

  Mark stiffened, though, as if she had spoken. His every muscle had gone tight, his teeth buried in her neck like his cock was buried in her sex. He jerked, the final pulses of his release escaping as he groaned.

  “Tessa, oh damn, I can’t believe it.”

  She was too bonelessly satisfied to bounce with excitement. “Whoa…I can hear you in my head.”

  Mark licked her. Pressed his lips to the spot that radiated waves indicating something…other…had just happened. “Mate bond. This is it. You’re mine.”

  Tessa nuzzled the side of his head until he twisted far enough their lips met. It seemed like the appropriate moment for a kiss. “I think this means you’re mine. After all, you are the one who’s labeled and all.”

  Mark chuckled against her lips. “Semantics.”

  She shook her head seriously. “No way. To a cat? Ownership is everything. You’re mine.” Tessa rocked her hips, pleased to discover that another one of the stories she’d heard about wolves and mates wasn’t a fable. “Hmm, you’re hard again.”

  “I noticed.” Mark sighed wearily. “Guess we’ll just have to start all over and try harder.”

  Tessa laughed before she caught his head in her hands. “I’m thrilled to be yours. And I’m going to love you more as time goes by. If you’re okay with that.”

  His grin alone would have been enough of an answer—she was a quick study, she had figured out listening to what actions said was important.

  Still, she couldn’t deny that the words he whispered through their mate bond gave her a thrill.

  “As you wish…”

  Chapter Ten

  December

  Mark nodded at the pack mate who slipped through the open front door. “Upstairs. Third floor. Take the dish to the kitchen, and the tree is in the gathering area.”

  He stuck his head out the front door for a moment. The north wind howling over the piled-high snow made him even more grateful for the warmth of the house behind him. He raced up the stairs, bursting into the body-filled area of the main entertainment area. The sounds of happy conversation and laughter competed with Christmas carols and the crackle of the fire.

  Tessa bounded across the room to his side. She planted a huge kiss on his cheek, her arms circling him so naturally he sighed with contentment.

  “Is that everyone you invited?” He glanced around the room. “Looks as if the entire pack is here.”

  She tilted her head to the side. “Your high exalted ones had other commitments and couldn’t make it, but yeah, I think just about everyone else said yes. Nice turnout for our first soirée.”

  “You’ve done an incredible job. Thank you for making my pack welcome.”

  She beamed at him. “They’re my pack now too, you know.”

  And they were. Somehow, she’d managed to bewitch the lot of them. Whether it had something to do with the fact he and Tessa were most definitely mates, or the way she refused to back down from trouble, things had worked out fine. There’d been a few displays of power in the pack house, but through them all Tessa had never lost her sense of humour.

  Wolves liked that.

  Tessa bumped him again. “Thanks for inviting my brother to come spend Christmas with us—he’s having a blast.”

  She pointed to a corner where the massive blond cougar was draped over a chair, partially hidden from sight by the lady wolves fawning over him. Even more incredibly, there were a half dozen of the pack’s single male wolves all gathered around as well, none of whom were threatening to rip Tony apart for poaching.

  Mark shook his head in disbelief. “How can he get away with that? I’m surprised no one has offered to find a deep crevasse and drop him into it.”

  Tessa shrugged. “He’s got charm out the ying-yang.”

  Mark held on to his mate and gazed around contentedly, amazed how much difference a few months could make.

  They’d turned the paddle wheeler into not only a B&B ready state, but a home. They’d done it together.

  The long table Tessa had drawn for him to make graced the window-filled area, lights on the balcony sparkling against the darkness of the December night sky. To the right, before the fire, Gramps rocked lazily, ruling supreme over a covey of his cronies.

  The kitchen hadn’t changed much, except now it was filled with wolves all fussing with food and drinks—the kind of laughter and noise he’d often experienced at the pack house but less often here at home.

  At least until Tessa had come along.

  He squeezed her tighter to his side, loving that she was there. Where she belonged. Together.

  “I need your advice on something.” She tugged him toward the kitchen, smiling at random wolves and accepting their teasing good-naturedly. “Come on, Fido, out of my way.”

  She hip-checked Keri. Gently, though, out of consideration for her best friend’s swelling belly.

  Keri shook her head and shifted her widening girth to the side. “My mate hears you’ve been manhandling me again, he’s going to give you hell.”

  Tessa pulled out a tray of cookies and offered Keri one. “That’s an idle threat, and you know it. Your mate loves me. All the Granite Lake wolfies love their kitty mascot.”

  Keri picked up a cookie and eyed it suspiciously. “Umm, yeah. Fine, you’re right. You’ve managed to brainwash everyone else into believing you’re the greatest thing since—”

  “Flea collars?”

  Mark stifled his amusement, at least until Keri lifted a cookie his direction, her one brow raised high. “Did you see what your mate baked for Christmas?”

  The sweet treat was shaped like a bone.

  Tessa lowered the tray, her grin firmly in place. “They’re peanut butter with extra crunch. Good for your molars.”

  Mark glanced down at the island, checking it out more thoroughly. “What in the hell?”

  All the serving bowls were dog dishes.

  He shook his head. At some point his mate was going to push too hard. But then again, the pack seemed to enjoy trying to one-up her.

  “Hey, Tessa,” TJ called from the living area. “I brought you a decoration.”

  He held up a handful of sparkling tinsel and shook it in the air.

  Tessa leapt up and raced across the room, pulling to a stop just shy of his pack mate. She twisted her fingers behind her back. “I hope you plan on giving that to me, or you’re just a big tease.”

  TJ laughed and handed over half, moving to the tree at her side and helping drape the shimmering strands.

  Mark watched contentedly as his mate worked the room, chatting with some, teasing others. Even the tension between Linda and Tessa had vanished during some kind of Girls Night Out ritual Tessa had started that involved way too much alcohol, laughter and dirty jokes.

  Or so he’d been told. He’d never actually witnessed a GNO, since he was banished from the B&B on those nights.

  Her gaze caught his, and even though they were across the room from each other, it was as if they were right there. Connected. One.

  “Having fun, sweetheart?” Mark asked.

  She didn’t move from where she stood beside his Gramps. “As much fun as a cat in a hen house.”

  He sent her a mental snort. “You mean a cat in a kennel, don’t you?”

  She grinned. “Wait until Pam opens her gift—I bought her a really cool dog collar.”

  Mark frowned. “But Pam’s human…oh.” He glanced at TJ and laughed out loud. One thing for certain, Tessa knew how to liven up a celebration.

  The fire was down to glowing embers. Wrapping-paper scraps littered the floor and poked out from under the couch. Tessa leaned against Mark’s chest and sighed happily. “That was
an awesome party, if I do say so myself.”

  Her mate did nothing but hum in response, so she wiggled around to face him.

  Mark cracked one eye open. “Yes, awesome. Now we get to move into lazy-relaxing season, correct?”

  She mock gasped. “Lazy? You mean you don’t feel like doing more renovations?”

  He groaned even as he pulled her alongside his body and nestled her in comfortably. “We’re done, sweetheart. The place is ready for the spring. You’re already getting bookings, the furniture is complete. We’ve got months before the first people will show up. Definitely time to hit relaxing mode.”

  Tessa played with his buttons. “I guess so. If you insist.”

  A snort of laughter escaped him. “How about we go back to those days when you slept like twelve hours straight? I could use a few of those.”

  “You know that’s not going to happen.” Tessa resisted poking him. “And that’s not nice, bringing that up. I didn’t know my cat was causing it.”

  He lifted her chin and kissed her slowly, taking his time like he was dead serious about them switching into slow motion.

  She didn’t fight it. He was too good a kisser, and that lovely distraction made her far too happy to complain. “I love you.”

  Mark rumbled with happiness at her words.

  The fact she could say it with complete honesty was a little bit of heaven. He never seemed to get tired of her repeating it, either.

  She brushed her lips over his cheek and said it out loud, just for emphasis. “I love you inside and out. I love you, I lov—”

  He crushed his mouth over hers, and this time there was nothing slow about it.

  When they finally came up for air, they’d lost their clothing.

  Strange.

  Tessa pressed her naked body to his, loving how the heat of the fire and the rosy-red haze blanketed them as they lay on the thick rug.

  They’d been mates for months now, and the connection simply got better and better. Thank goodness for friends who wouldn’t shut up, and mates who wouldn’t give up.

  Mark stroked her naked shoulder, seemingly as fascinated by the firelight as she had been. “Yip, your cat knew all along we were meant to be together. All that nesting and snoozing was her trying to convince your human side to slow down and accept what was meant to be. Have I mentioned lately how much I like your cat?”