Total pages in book: 146
Estimated words: 137004 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 685(@200wpm)___ 548(@250wpm)___ 457(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 137004 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 685(@200wpm)___ 548(@250wpm)___ 457(@300wpm)
As Jaime and Gabe neared the circle, Dominic stepped aside to give Jaime room to walk through. It was only then that Gabe released her. Giving him one last smile, she turned and her eyes immediately landed on Dante. He swallowed hard, gazing at her hungrily, possessively, and almost deferentially. She imagined that her own gaze was pretty much the same. He looked unbelievably hot in his silvery-gray shirt—that wouldn’t stay buttoned for long if she had anything to do with it—and black chinos. They wouldn’t be on for long either.
When she came to stand before the two males, staring deep into her mate’s brindle-brown eyes, she felt a sense of total rightness wash over her. He was hers, he was safety and security and home. Her wolf wasn’t so at ease. In fact, Jaime’s sense of calm seemed to agitate her. She was suddenly anxious, perhaps feeling vulnerable to this male. The more power he had over her, the more of a threat her wolf considered him to be.
Sensing Jaime’s wolf’s nervousness, Dante gently snaked his hand around her throat and leaned in to brush his lips against hers. “It’s okay.” He couldn’t help feeling a twinge of hurt that her wolf was still wary of him, particularly since he knew that until her wolf accepted him, the bond would never be fully developed. But Jaime, the woman he loved—he hadn’t yet told her and was hoping she’d say it first—had fully accepted him. She was here, too beautiful for words, looking at him with complete trust. That was more than enough for Dante and his wolf.
Jaime nodded, still smiling. “I know.”
Dante released her as Trey began to speak the ritual words. He knew that the short ceremony was merely a gesture from a shifter to their mate that they were totally committed and wanted to publicly announce it to those who mattered to them. There was no magick or power in the ceremonial words being spoken by Trey, Dante, or Jaime, but just the same, he felt goose bumps spread across his arms and nape.
All too soon, the rest of the pack was joining in, echoing the words that Trey had said, and Jaime knew the ceremony was almost over. Good. Although she loved this moment, the intensity and sacredness of the event was heightening her arousal. She sensed that it was having the same effect on Dante, and that knowledge only fed her aroused state.
Once the last words had been spoken, Dante closed that small space between him and his mate and curled his arms around her. The kiss he gave her was soft, reverent, and loaded with more emotion than he wanted to reveal. Ready to mark her for all to see, he bit down hard on her lip.
People usually bit the neck or shoulder, but she had a mouth made for biting—among other things—
and he knew how much she and her wolf loved it when he did that. Smiling, she returned the bite and sucked his lower lip into her mouth to soothe the sting.
Dante pulled back, giving her a wicked grin, but then her eyes widened in horror and he knew why. Trey, Taryn, and the enforcers must have also sensed it, because Dante had barely yelled,
“Breach!” before they had all shifted into their wolf forms, followed closely by Rhett, Cam, and Gabe. “I have to shift, baby,” he told Jaime. “Go.” Then he gave his wolf his freedom.
Yeah, like she’d leave her pack when there was danger. Jaime joined the ten wolves in circling the rest of the pack protectively. Seconds later a large number of wolves—fifteen, her mind quickly calculated—came barreling through the trees. A black one launched itself at Jaime, but one hard, preternaturally fast punch to the muzzle sent him sprawling with a yowl. A gray-black wolf with a white undercoat—her mate—tore out her attacker’s throat before he even had the chance to rise.
Then he was on top of another wolf, clamping his paws around his neck and wrestling him to the ground, where he slashed open the intruder’s belly.
The sight was too much for her wolf, who was suddenly thrown back to all those years ago when she and Jaime had been surrounded and attacked. In her confused, enraged, fearful state, the need to surface was worse than ever for her wolf. She struggled madly within her cage—she clawed it, leaped at it, slammed into it over and over. Calling on everything Dante had taught her, Jaime ignored her wolf and slipped into that zone where the only thought in her mind was survival.
Each time another wolf came at her, Jaime fought using every technique she knew—she fought dirty, she made them bleed, she broke bones, she even attacked from behind when she had to. This wasn’t a moment when fairness counted. These wolves shouldn’t be there and would hurt or kill her pack if she didn’t hurt them first. That was all there was to it. Naturally, it would have been a lot easier to battle in wolf form. Thank God Dante had trained her for this, should it ever happen.