He could. He smelled exactly what she described. “There’s a Lion, isn’t there?” The scent, familiar yet different from the others, was…Charlie?

“Yes, you’re right. You’re smelling Charlie.”

She sounded delighted, but he still couldn’t believe this was happening to him.

“Our Pack is waiting. Change, amorcito. Change, and let’s run together.”

He didn’t even feel the freezing cold anymore as his skin rippled, flowing over muscle and bone. Electricity danced along nerve endings that were abruptly in different places. His paws hit the wooden deck with a thump as he fell to all fours, his ears twitching as he caught the sound of other Wolves running for Graciela’s cabin.

He ran out the door to put himself between her and danger, snarling as the first Wolf approached.

No one would lay a paw on his mate.

Then a massive red wolf approached, growling, his teeth bared. Steve instinctively lowered his own head, bowing before the Alpha Wolf and baring his throat.

The Alpha knocked him on his side and Steve whimpered, wondering if this was how it would all end.

The Alpha’s teeth were at his throat, the sharp fangs digging in until he could feel them through coat and undercoat. Steve held perfectly still, instinctively giving in to his Alpha, his human half reminding him that Rick Lowell wouldn’t hurt him without good reason.

Snarling at the Alpha Wolf might be good reason.

The Alpha held him pinned only by his throat for a few moments before releasing him. With a quick swipe of his tongue across Steve’s muzzle, he signified his approval, and the Wolf in Steven danced with joy. He’d been accepted into the Pack, and the full meaning of that flowed over him as his Alpha spoke to him in his mind for the first time.

“C’mon, pup. Let’s run.”

Steven followed the rest of his Pack into the woods behind Graciela’s cabin, his mate right by his side.

“You did it!” Chela leapt into Steve’s arms, giggling like mad. Her mate had run with the Pack, had been accepted by all of them. After their run they’d scampered back to their cabin, not changing until they were inside.

There was only one thing that could make her happier.

He grabbed hold of her ass, his blue eyes slowly turning golden brown. “You’re naked.”

She returned the favor, squeezing the firm globes. “So are you.”

His eyes shut for a moment. “I have the strangest urge to bite you.”

Chela moaned. “Oh fuck, please do.”

When his eyes opened, they’d turned completely, his Wolf close to the surface. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

Chela licked the mark she’d left on his neck, smiling when he shivered. The mark would forever be a hot spot. “Trust me. You won’t hurt me.”

He buried his face in her neck and breathed deep. “You smell so good.”

“Mm-hm.” At this rate they wouldn’t make it to the bedroom. She’d drag him down to the floor and—

Oh. Oh, fuck.

Chela cried out as Steve bit her, marking her as his. The orgasm ripped through her, shattered her before his touch brought her back together, forever his.

She snarled, aware her own eyes had changed as the colors around her changed, went golden. Before she could do anything more than growl, Steve had her up against the wall.

She whimpered as her mate went wild, sucking and licking at the bite mark on her neck until she screamed for something, anything to make her come. The broken Spanish she’d been reduced to only seemed to spur him on as he sucked up another mark right on top of the mating one.

But he didn’t sink his fangs into her again, didn’t grant her that last little bit that would shove her over the edge. Instead, he tugged on her, twisting until they were both on the floor, his head between her thighs and his cock nudging her lips. She took him in, the salty flavor of her mate exploding on her tongue.

He groaned and began returning the favor, licking and sucking on her clit until she finally, finally tumbled over the edge. She shook under him, barely coherent enough to keep sucking on him, letting him feel her moans on his engorged flesh.

“More.” Steve rolled them to their sides, groaning when his cock slipped from between her lips. “More, Graciela.”

She licked the tip of his cock.

“Please.” He followed up on that pleading demand by lifting her leg and sucking her clit back into his mouth and humming.

Chela damn near came again. Who knew a man could give a woman a hummer?

She took him back into her mouth, savoring the feel of him throbbing on her tongue, her lips wrapped tight around him. He thrust into her mouth, careful even now, when he was damn near feral, not to hurt her.

Soon it wasn’t enough to taste him, to feel his tongue on her. She needed him inside her, to feel her mate pounding into her again. She pulled free of his grasp, ignoring his disappointed sigh.

She had plans.

She tugged until he rolled over onto his back, straddling his hips with a wicked grin. “Aw, amorcito. Don’t worry, I’ll take care of this.” She reached between her legs and stroked his cock.

When he grinned, she knew his wolf had almost complete control. His fangs were fully extended, his eyes glowing. “I’ve got this.”

Before she knew it he’d flipped them, pushing her onto her stomach and lifting her ass into the air. She whimpered as he blanketed her, his chin resting right on the mating mark, his cock half inside her. “Good?”

She opened her senses, allowing his arousal to wash over her. “Fuck me.”

“My pleasure.”

The twin sensations almost undid her. The feel of him sliding into her, the thickness of him spreading her wide and the slick heat of her own pussy clamping down on him filled her. She cried out as he began a punishing rhythm, pounding into her with a ferocity that would have frightened her if she hadn’t been inside his head.

Steve was desperate to make her come, to feel her clamping down around him, to know he’d brought her pleasure. He wanted her to howl, to bare her fangs at him, to scream his name so that every fucking hairy asshole out there knew Graciela Mendoza was fucking taken.

The fact that she was doing just that would have freaked him the hell out a month ago. Now, he found it so hot there was no way he wouldn’t blow soon. First, he had to make her come.

Had. To. His wolf demanded it, and Steve was more than willing to comply.

He could fucking feel her in his head, riding their shared pleasure. She was using her powers, opening herself up to what they were doing together. While part of him mourned that he would never share that with her, the other part, the part desperate to make her scream, gloried in it. She’d know exactly how it felt to slide into her wet heat, the sheer joy of her clamping around him. She’d share in the glory of taking her in a way no other woman ever could.

Steve was hooked. One taste of her golden skin and he’d known, that first time, he’d never get away. Now, he couldn’t even imagine wanting to. Who would want to give this up?

She cried out, her hands sliding on the floor, forcing her shoulders down to the ground. It changed the angle, made her even tighter. Steve swore, holding back his orgasm by his fingernails and a prayer.

He followed her down, pressing until her chest was flat on the floor before shifting slightly. He grabbed hold of her hips as he continued to pound into her.

When her fingers started scrabbling on the hardwood floors, he knew she was close. “Come, baby. Come for me.”

The first wave of her orgasm triggered his own, sending him over the edge into dark ecstasy. He choked out a cry, the pleasure almost tipping over into pain as the orgasm rushed through him. He poured himself into her, gasping as the pleasure went on and on.