Series: Shifter Ops Series by Renee Rose
Total pages in book: 32
Estimated words: 30911 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 155(@200wpm)___ 124(@250wpm)___ 103(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 30911 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 155(@200wpm)___ 124(@250wpm)___ 103(@300wpm)
He pushes the door open and carries me to a lovely bed that smells nothing like him.
“Is this new?” I ask. The bedding looks far more luxurious than I would think Laurie could afford.
“Yes. It must be a gift from Selene.” Laurie sets me down in the middle of the bed, parts my thighs and licks into me.
I arch, shocked by the pleasure. I was already on the edge, and it only takes a few swirls of his tongue before I come.
Laurie is relentless, though. He keeps teasing me with his tongue, working one, then two fingers inside me as he sucks and teases my clit. I orgasm again and again until I’m certain the walls will melt from the heat we’re producing.
Finally, Laurie gives me a break, offering me sips of water from a bottle near the bed. “I don’t have a condom,” he says.
I blink in confusion. Shifters don’t carry sexually transmitted diseases. Oh.
Oh.
Birth control.
I slide my palm over his chest, then yank his body down over mine. “Put an owlet in me,” I demand.
Feathers fly out in all directions. Laurie braces his weight on his arms and lowers his head for a ferocious kiss. As our tongues tangle, he eases into me.
I grip his ass and pull him in harder. If I’d known sex was this fun, I would’ve tried it long ago.
No, that’s a lie.
I’ve been waiting for Laurie. No one else would make it this perfect. This magical. This real.
I watch as Laurie’s eyes grow rounder, glowing bright. We’re moving together now. As one. Our bodies riding the same rhythm, climbing to the same summit. The pleasure builds and builds.
We peak at the same ecstatic moment.
I cry out with my release. Feathers fly everywhere–owl and dove both. Behind Laurie, I see the shimmer of his owl’s wings unfurled.
I sense the holographic display of my own wings spread beneath me on the bed.
Laurie shouts. His lips crash down on mine, and he rides out the orgasm until both of us are slowly moving together, our breaths mingling, our hearts open wide.
A burning sensation between my eyebrows tells me the mating is complete. I’m forever marked by an owl feather.
Laurie rolls us to our sides, facing each other. He touches the curve of my cheek with his fingertips. “You’re mine,” he says with wonder.
I smile at him. “Mates. Forever.”
“I thought I was too broken to mate.”
“Well,” I say, tracing his expressive eyebrows. “Sometimes you find someone with broken pieces that match yours.”
“Like a puzzle,” he muses.
“No, we’re whole on our own. But sometimes we forget that. And it takes someone to see it and remind us.”
“You are whole. And beautiful,” he tells me. “I can’t believe you want to be mine.”
“I am yours.” I touch the place between my brows that proves it.
He leans up on an elbow. “But do you want to be?”
Ridiculous owl. “Of course I want to be. Life is too short not to be with the one you love.”
Chapter 13
Parker
After a long nap, we hit the presents.
There’s a whole ham for Declan, and a new hat for me. Pairs of both regular and sunglasses for Laurie, with sexy chic, modern frames. New outfits and hair care products for Fiona and Allison. And tiny wooden carvings of our animals from the “Brothers of Bad Bear Mountain,” one for each of us.
There are also baskets full of food, a grill kit for a shiny new grill. Pillows for the lawn furniture and a brand new bird feeder to hang outside our kitchen window. Which is good because Allison’s mere presence has increased the number of birds outside.
“What a great Christmas haul.” Fiona rubs her hands together. I can imagine her raccoon doing the same thing.
“It’s not Christmas,” I say. “It’s solstice. And Selene gave us this, and she celebrates Saturnalia with Lucius. So what holiday are we even celebrating?”
“All of them,” Declan says.
“All of them?” I repeat.
“Ya. Why the hell not?”
“Let’s have a toast,” Fiona cries. “Come on, you need some Christmas cheer.”
“Christmas cheer?” Declan straightens his Santa hat. “I got Christmas cheer comin’ out of my ass.”
“T-told you not to d-drink the eggnog,” Laurie says.
Allison giggles, and I shake my head, holding up my glass. “To family. To Selene and our victory over very silly vampires.”
“To love and friendship and finding someone as weird as you,” Fiona says.
“I’ll drink to that.” Declan lifts his glass.
“Maybe we’re not united by our similarities. Maybe our differences make us alike,” I muse.
“Same, different, doesn’t matter. Yer my brother, Parker,” Declan says.
“And you’re mine. Annoying–drinking all my good whiskey, eating the last of the cereal and putting the box back on the shelf instead of throwing it away.”
“Aye. That's me.”
“Shut up and drink,” I growl.
“Ach, Parker, your speech warmed the cockles of me heart.” Declan flashes me a sardonic grin.