A Lion's Pride Page 12

  Rall called him on it when he said, “Holy shit, Bro, your lion’s peeking out. Tuck him back in before he scares Maia off.”

  Dipping his chin, Carter closed his eyes, but not even a second later, a gently hand under his chin had him lifting his head as Maia leaned close with a, “Uh-uh. Don’t you hide my lion from me.” Her lips lifted in a soft smile. “He’s mine now. You gave him to me. And I want to see him every chance I can get.”

  Chest expanding with the pride that filled him, Carter finally understood the acceptance that Maia had so desperately sought. “I’ll change you,” he vowed, wanting to give her what she’d given him. “If you really want it. If you need it, Maia. I’ll change you.”

  With a slight shake of her head, her smile grew. “Nah. At least not just now. I think you deserve to have a lowly human soiling your precious reputation for a while.”

  “No,” Carter immediately responded and wiped the smile from Maia’s face, “I don’t like that.”

  Lowering her hand and sitting back in her chair, Maia ducked her gaze with a quiet, “I was only joking, I . . .”

  “I don’t like the ‘for a while’ part, Maia.”

  Unable to stand it any longer, he stood and grabbed her arm, pulling her up with him. Turning her so she was facing him, he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. “I don’t want you for a while, Maia Major.” Dipping his head, he brushed his lips against hers before pulling back. “I want you forever, Maia Concolor.”

  ***

  When Carter had walked into the kitchen wearing nothing but a pair of lounge pants slung low on his hips, it was impossible for Maia not to stare. She hadn’t seen Carter with so little clothing on, and Mary Mother of God, the man was hot! She was surprised at the amount of ink on his chest and upper arms. She wouldn’t have suspected that the clean-cut cowboy had a bad streak in him. Hmph. She should have known.

  She’d tried to play it cool, to come off like her insides weren’t quaking with the fear of rejection and excitement of acceptance. She didn’t know how Carter would react to her choice. She hoped it was positive, but when his eyes blew out with his lion, she wasn’t so sure. Still, he’d gifted her that lion, and she wasn’t about to let him hide it from her, regardless of what his brothers had to say about it.

  When Carter told her he didn’t like her plan to stay for a while, her heart had seized, but now, wrapped up in his arms as he brushed his lips against hers and admitted that he wanted her forever as he coupled her name with his, had Maia’s heart hammering back to life.

  Eyes gleaming with promise, Carter walked her backward toward the doorway, and all Maia could do was let him take the lead and trust that he’d keep her safe.

  “Night, boys,” Carter drawled.

  As he walked her out of the kitchen, Zander snickered lowly, “Yeah, like you two are getting any sleep tonight.”

  Outside the kitchen, Carter released his hold on Maia just long enough to scoop her into his arms. Then he was double-timing it up the stairs to his room.

  Maia laughed. “Excited?”

  A low growl deep in his throat was Carter’s only response, and hot damn if that sound didn’t do things to Maia’s body no one man had a right doing.

  In his room, Carter kicked the door closed and tossed Maia on the bed.

  Surprised, she gasped and then laughed before pouting. “Hey! Precious cargo here!”

  Shoving hair out of her face, she beamed at Carter, but his expression was intent, almost stoic. It had her grin slipping. “Carter?”

  “This is it. Your last chance,” he warned her. “If you don’t want this, you need to walk now, Maia, because once I’m inside you, I’m seeding you. I’m marking you and making you mine, and there’ll be no going back.” Chin dipping low, his voice grew animalistic. “If you don’t stop me now, I’m going to fucking devour you.”

  His promise sent chills rippling up her arms. And she could feel it now, the weighty presence of his Apex authority. It was something that would never work on her unless he changed her one day, and truth be told, she kind of liked not being under his control. It meant she could tease him in ways no one else could.

  Taking her bottom lip into her mouth, she feigned contemplation as she got to her knees. Eyes on Carter, she watched his jaw twitch when she didn’t immediately acquiesce.

  “I don’t know,” she said slowly. Grabbing the hem of her shirt, she lifted it over her head slowly, letting the long fall of her hair slip free as she tossed her shirt to the floor. “Maybe we’re going too fast.”

  Carter’s eyes dipped to the lacey cups of her black bra.

  Easing off the bed, she toed off one shoe and then the other before peeling off her socks. With a sigh, she stood and faced him. “Maybe we should go slower.” But her hands were already unfastening her jeans. Hunching her shoulders, she made a leisurely show of shimming her hips to get the denim over her rounded curves. Carter’s eyes dipped lower, and Maia grinned. He thought he held power over her because he was the Apex, but he was wrong. She was the one with the power. Proof of it was there in his eyes that were no longer the sky-blue she adored so much. They weren’t even the flashing gold of his inner lion. Right now, his eyes were pitch black. Pupils blown out so they didn’t miss a single action, Carter watched her like a predator watching prey. His jaw was ticking, his hands kept clenching, and his expression was so rapacious that it had her pussy growing slick as her heart rate kicked up.

  Stepping away from her jeans, she stood clad in just her black satin panties and matching bra. Climbing onto the bed, she made a show of crawling toward the headboard, stopping to toss her hair and look at him over her shoulder. “Maybe we should just sleep on it.”

  Carter’s dark eyes jerked from her ass to her face, and when he snarled a ferocious sound, Maia knew she’d pushed him too far.

  Chapter 23

  Carter couldn’t stop himself. He just simply couldn’t be controlled. Seeing Maia practically naked was doing crazy shit to him and his lion. Hell, he felt like he was short-circuiting. In his head, he knew he needed to go slow. He knew he needed to be gentle, but Maia’s goading had set him off to the point that he was on the bed behind her before she could even gasp.

  Fisting her panties, he ripped them from her body, and just as Maia opened her mouth and started to say his name, “Car . . .”

  He bent and licked up her wet slit.

  With a sharp inhalation, Maia fell silent, but Carter had to know. He needed to know how she tasted, so without any preamble or even a hint of foreplay, he squeezed the globes of her ass, parted them slightly, then drove his tongue deep into her pussy.

  Maia cried out, her back arching violently while Carter snarled and curled his tongue, pulling it out in one slow lick before shoving it back in. The taste of Maia’s essence coated his tongue, and he knew she’d taste good, but this . . . this was off-the-charts good. Something about her pussy cream had his balls drawing up, and Carter had to tense to keep from coming just from simply tasting her.

  Reaching a hand up, he pushed on Maia’s upper back until she lowered her shoulders to the mattress, giving him better access. Fucking her with his tongue, Carter’s hands were everywhere. He couldn’t help it. She was so soft, so smooth. Reaching around in front of her, he squeezed her breasts then pinched her nipples.

  “Oh, God,” Maia panted, and Carter could already feel her channel spasming. She was close.

  Pulling his tongue free, he flipped her over and then lowered himself between her legs. Eyes on Maia’s dazed and hooded eyes, he latched his lips over the pearl of her clit and sucked it into his mouth before rolling his tongue over it repeatedly.

  Maia came fast and hard, her nails digging into his biceps as she cried out his name, “Carter!”

  Aaaah, fuck! The taste of her pussy was heaven, but the sight of her coming on his tongue, well, it was ecstasy. Drawing out her orgasm, Carter licked his way up her slit, making sure to get every drop of her cream before he got to his knees.
Eyes on Maia’s flushed face, he lined up the tip of his engorged cock with her slick entrance.

  “Carter,” Maia breathed.

  And then he was pushing into her.

  Maia’s legs spread wider to accept him, and leaning forward on one arm, Carter dipped his head low to take one pink nipple into his mouth as he started to work his hips.

  A rolling growl was rattling his chest, but it couldn’t be helped. He was inside his mate. His! Mate!

  At first, he was slow and gentle, but restraint had never been his strong suit. His lips tugged on Maia’s nipples until she cried out and bucked against him. It was all the permission he needed.

  Pulling back, he hooked his arms behind her knees and lifted her. He wanted to be so deep inside her that her soul felt him fucking her. Ramming his cock deeper, he felt Maia’s legs tense and try to close as she groaned and her eyes fluttered closed on an almost silent, “Fffffuck!”

  And that was it. In one blink he was thrusting his dick into her. Sawing in and out of her, his hips jerked with fevered movements, wild abandon.

  Breasts bouncing, small gasps leaving her, Maia’s pussy alternated between creaming then clenching, creaming then clenching.

  Reaching down between the dark curls covering her pussy, Carter’s thumb found her clit and started rubbing his mate’s slick pearl.

  Maia bucked and shouted, “Carter!”

  Yeah, he liked that. He liked her shouting his name as he fucked her relentlessly. Lowering his head, his teeth found the mark at her neck, and just the mere act of running his incisors along the mark had Maia coming again. Her body tensed and she screamed this time, but it was a scream that was prolonged when Carter snapped his hips once, then twice, and sunk his teeth into her mark as he erupted. Shooting his seed deep inside her set off another orgasm for Maia. She was whimpering now, her thighs quivering, her sweat-slickened body clinging to his as her pussy clenched, milking every drop of cum from his balls. Inwardly, he was crying out too. Maia! My mate! Miiiine!

  The pleasure he’d just experienced with her obliterated every sexual experience that had come before Maia, and there would be none after. This was it. She was it. His lion would only tolerate his mate’s touch now, just as she’d only ever tolerate his. His brothers would need to be careful because even the slightest brush of a male that wasn’t her mate against Maia could cause fierce pain. A pain that if his lion was aware of, he’d have to defend. He had no problem doing it either. Because Maia was his. Now fully marked, fully fucked, and fully claimed. Maia, the goddess he’d always hoped for, was his!

  Chapter 24

  Milling about the barn, Maia hummed to herself as she filled up dog bowls with half kibble and half venison before she took the time to check on each of the dogs. Squatting to look at Ruger, she winced and then grinned. She was deliciously sore today because her mate had claimed her last night, and not just once either. He’d made love to her until the sky grew light, the pale pink of another winter’s day filtering through the delicate curtains as her lion was finally sated, his body fully depleted, her body resplendent in its claiming as sleep took them both.

  It was hard to concentrate on anything besides Carter, but the dogs deserved her attention. They were all better. Not yet quite one hundred percent, but well on the way.

  Maia felt well on her way to being one hundred percent better too. She hadn’t realized how much she needed Carter in her life until he’d crashed into it. Now, she couldn’t imagine her life without him, or his brothers, or these dogs, or this ranch. And while she and Carter had only just consummated their mating last night, Cougar Canyon already felt like home. There were a lot of similarities between it and The Den, one of the main things being having to get up at the butt crack of dawn.

  When Maia woke this morning, Carter and the guys had already eaten and left to tend to their work. Maia had felt a wave of guilt at having slept in, but in the kitchen, she’d found a sweet note from Carter that read, Sorry I kept you up all night. Well, I’m not really. I’m just sorry you’re so tired. Can’t say it won’t happen again tonight. Then he’d drawn what she assumed was supposed to be a winky face but looked more like a weird letter “J” with a dot above the hook on the letter. Still, it made her smile and warmed her from the inside out.

  Leaving the barn, she made sure the door closed behind her. The snow was really coming down today, and it had her stopping and lifting a hand to shield her eyes as she squinted out into the snow. She didn’t see any of the guys. She didn’t even know what areas of the ranch they were working today, but she felt them. Like little anchors that tethered her heart to this place, she felt her guys out there doing what needed to be done.

  Hurrying back to the house, she pulled out her cell to check the time. It’d be lunch soon, which meant she needed to get something whipped up quick.

  On the porch, she stomped her feet to get most of the snow off her boots before she stepped inside and shrugged out of her coat. Putting her wet things beside the door, she turned and went to the kitchen, where she stilled when she saw Carter hovering over a pot of simmering something.

  “Oh, h-hi,” she said lamely. She wasn’t sure how to act around Carter right now. She didn’t want to throw herself at him, but she didn’t want to seem to standoffish either, so she just stood there, fidgeting like a dork. Everything with them had changed, and she wasn’t sure what Carter expected of her now, but the man didn’t seem to suffer from the same dilemma. Settling the ladle in his hands on the counter, he turned and growled, “Come here, you.”

  Surprised, Maia took one cautious step, but Carter was already to her. One arm caught her around the waist while the other captured her jaws as he dipped his head and kissed her long and deep.

  Instantly, Maia’s body reacted and there was no helping the way her arms snaked around his neck as she pressed her breasts into his chest.

  Carter deepened the kiss and lifted her. One arm shelving her ass, he backed her up to the wall and pinned her there. He rolled his hips, and Maia gasped in his mouth at the exquisite friction of his hard cock rubbing against her.

  They stayed like that a while, kissing, dry humping up against the wall in the kitchen before Carter finally pulled away with an agonized growl. Lowering his head, he pressed it to her chest and panted. “Holy hell, woman, I ain’t gonna get no work done with you around.” Pulling her tighter into him, he sighed heavily like he’d been holding his breath. “I’ve been thinking about you all day,” he murmured before lifting his head and nuzzling her neck. “Fuck, I missed you.”

  Warmth flooded her and had her heart squeezing as she admitted truthfully, “I missed you too.”

  Pulling back, Carter looked down at her, nostrils flaring as he read her expression and then breathed, “That’s the truth.”

  “Of course it’s the truth.” She grinned. “Why would I lie?”

  He shrugged. “I don’t know. I just wanna make sure you feel like you made the right choice by picking me and my pride.”

  That had her smile slipping. “Carter,” she admonished, “you’re not some consolation prize. You’re what I want, what I hoped for.”

  His face went hard, and he took in a deep breath that expanded his chest before admitting, “I’m sorry I can’t say the same.”

  That had Maia tensing. A sick feeling started to fill her, and she tried to lower her arms and legs, but Carter refused to release her.

  His gaze grew distant as he admitted reluctantly, “I didn’t want a human mate, Maia, and I made no secret of it.” His eyes focused on her. “I was too proud. Too hardheaded. Too dumb. I’d convinced myself that a mating of convenience would come sometime in the future, and I resigned myself to the fact that love or desire wouldn’t have anything to do with it. All I’d hoped for was that whoever the shifter was, she’d be good to my brothers and wouldn’t require too much attention from me. I wasn’t strong like you were, I was too cowardly to wish for something good for myself.” He huffed a humorless sound. “But I got it
anyway.” He squeezed her tight. “I got you, and you’re more than I could have ever hoped, wished, or prayed for. You’re perfect in every single way, and I’m never gonna stop telling you that or trying to show you just how much I love you.”

  Maia’s eyes filled with tears.

  “Because I do love you, Maia, and as soon as you’re ready I’m gonna have those nasty-ass bears over here so they can be part of our wedding ceremony.” His face hiked in an arrogant smirk. “I’m gonna enjoy making Ramsey watch me replace your last name with my own.”

  She smiled through her tears.

  “And then . . .” He sucked in a deep breath and held it a moment before swallowing hard. Maia swore she saw his eyes shimmer with emotion before he blinked it back and vowed, “And then I’m gonna love you like you’ve never been loved. And when the time is right, I’m gonna put a cub in you, and then another, and then another. We’ll build our pride, build our family.”

  Maia’s tears finally slipped free as she nodded her approval. She wanted that, she wanted that with Carter so damn bad.

  A cruel twist took his lips as he snarled, “And one day you’re gonna tell me about this fuck who laid hands on you and I’m gonna sneak off and end him.”

  With a chuckle, Maia shook her head and sniffed. “That experience with that boy taught me a valuable life lesson. It taught me about the man I wanted. And it brought me back to Montana. It brought me to you. That boy is in the past now. Let’s leave him there.”

  Carter angled his face away from her like he wasn’t going to make any promises then shot her some side-eye. She knew he’d never let it go, and honestly, she had to admit that it felt good having someone willing to rush to defend her honor aside from her brother. Still, she didn’t want Carter worrying about old shit. She didn’t want to look back, they weren’t going that way, and the life he’d just painted in her head had her thinking about Carter and babies and how good of uncles Zander, Deacon, and Rall would be.