Page 55 of Fake It ’Til You Mate It

Yup. Roxy might’ve been teasing me, but it was true. Not every shifter waits until they’ve found their fated mate to, you know, mate. Especially spending so much time around humans, it’s actually more common for a shifter of my type to fool around and find out what she likes. Wolves… they have this whole ‘mating for life’ thing hardwired into their brains. I never wanted to assume that Max would be my first and only lover and I’d be his, but, oh, am I glad that he is.

I grin up at him. “And not just a Virginia opossum.”

I don’t know what it is I said. I was just trying to make light of the sexually charged moment and Max’s softly uttered admission, but it’s like I flipped a switch.

“Where? Here? Your bed? Because my wolf is begging me to get you under him, Honey. If you’ll let him… if you’ll let me… I’m taking you as my mate right now.”

That’s all I want.

I hook my leg around his hip, opening myself up to him.

My predator doesn’t hesitate. He goes in straight for the kill—or, in this case, he grabs his cock, positions it at my entrance, and starts to push. Even in the haze of mate-induced lust, he remembers that it means something different for a female to be new to mating than it does a male, whether they’re prey or predator.

He said he would be careful. That he would take his time. That’s exactly what he does. Kissing me at the same time to distract me from any discomfort, he moves slowly yet possessively, feeding every inch of his cock into my waiting pussy.

I’m not afraid. Not of this. Mating is natural, and if he wasn’t meant for me in every way, Fate never would’ve given us to each other. Sure, he’s a pretty good size, and I feel like he’s stretching parts of me that could easily tear, but I trust Max.

There’s some resistance. I sense it. So does Max. He digs his fingers in my hair, prickling my scalp with his claws. At the same time, he nibbled on my bottom lips and shoves.

Okay. It hurts. Like, it burns so bad, I grunt into his mouth, but I’m a shifter. I heal pretty damn quickly. The pain is there and gone, and by the time Max is withdrawing from me, prepared to make a second thrust, all that I’m experiencing is pleasure.

It’s more than that. As Max claims my mouth with his, my body with his, rocking into me, pinning me to the wall so that I’m right where he wants me—under him—the bond I’ve worked so hard to ignore is blazing like a dark gold thread deep inside of me. It ties me to his male, and though this is only the beginning of forever for us, I hold on tight and enjoy the ride.

After we got dirty in the shower, Max took his time and care in cleaning me up. His wolf growled under his breath when he saw the trickle of blood mingling with his seed as it streaking down my inner thigh.

Hey. I told him I was a virgin. He knew that, but as though it really hit him in the moment that he claimed me, he dropped reverentially to his knees and licked my thigh clean. Then, as an encore, he decided to find out what my pussy tasted like.

By the time he had me clawing at his shoulders, writhing on his face, I was almost kicking myself for not throwing myself at Max months ago. I’m assuming by our enthusiastic mating, he’s at least tabled his hurt at my hiding from him for so long, but as he cared for me, wrapping me up in a towel, brushing my hair, and laying me out in my bed… I promise myself that I’ll do whatever I have to to make it up to him.

Hey. He’s mine now. Once our bond is finalized, we’ll have forever.

Tonight’s a different story. It’s almost three a.m. And, thanks to the note on the door, I’m not opening the bakery tomorrow. Of course not. The fact that the poison vial had a blow-back spell on it meant we definitely have a witch involved. There’s a small twenty-witch coven in Moonburrow. It’s another lead, and one that Max plans on us following in the morning once he checks in with Riordan.

Us, I notice, as if I couldn’t want this male more…

But since going to see the head of the coven at three o’clock in the morning is pushing it even for me, Max insists that we got to sleep. It’s weird to have someone in my bed that isn’t a ten-pound opossum, but the moment Max spoons me, I have to wonder how I made it twenty-eight years without his body heat warming me up from the inside out.

I snuggle into him and, endorphins fading to dozy bliss, I close my eyes.

CHAPTER 16

PERFECT TIMING

Mother doesn’t think that the raccoon

is part of her clan.

She’s wrong about that.

— gus

Max’s breath is hot on my ear as he murmurs, “How are you feeling, Killer?”

My eyes quirk open. Turning so I can look at him over my shoulder, I ask, “Are you still going to call me that?”

“After how just you wrecked me?” He chuckles, and I preen. Damn. Getting laid looks good on Max. It’s like the tension has fled if only for the moment… and, yeah. I did that. “You’re getting off lucky. Unless you’d rather I call you ‘mate’?”

I blink. Right. He’s my mate.