Didn’t want to leave you hanging so two chapters today! Don’t forget to find me in All Things Allie Carstens for info about my upcoming book!
LukasI slept like a rock. As soon as my eyes closed, I was out like a light, not waking until the first rays of sunlight began creeping in through the shades.The small, soft, warm body in my arms reminded me of everything that had occurred last night, and I glanced down to see June sound asleep, her head still resting on my chest, her arm wrapped around my waist in a vice grip.I was sure that my uninterrupted sleep was due in part to having her next to me. Her smell and the feel of her body and just her presence itself helped to soothe and calm my wolf and my body, letting me sleep better than I had in years. Probably since the night I first knew she was mine.I grabbed her hand and unwrapped her arm from my body, slipping myself out from under her and off of the bed.I went about my morning business as quickly and quietly as I could, trying to think about anything other than my gorgeous little mate lying in the bed just on the other side of the bathroom door as I brushed my teeth,
Juniper “Can we just portal to the packhouse?” I asked Lukas once I was dressed and had exited the bathroom. His eyes raked over me, taking in my blue gingham dress—or maybe just my body— and I blushed under his gaze. He made me warm all over, made me feel things I wasn’t used to him causing in me. His touch and his kisses woke something primal and bold within me, something fierce and daring, and I wanted more. I wanted so much more. The connection we had was undeniable. I don’t know how I hadn't realized it before. I guess we had both just been too good at hiding it from each other, but once it was out in the open, there was no going back. We couldn’t keep away from each other, or keep from touching each other, even if it was just holding hands. “Why do you want to portal there?” he asked me, holding his hand out to me. I took it without hesitation, and he lifted my hand to his lips and kissed it softly. “I just don’t really want everyone’s eyes on me if I can avoid it,” I said
Juniper The room was dark and quiet, and Lukas was fast asleep behind me, his body pressed up against my back, his arm wrapped around my waist, and his steady, even, deep breaths tickling the back of my neck that was exposed by my braid. But I—I was wide awake. I had fallen asleep leaning against him on the couch in the living room after we’d had dinner with Chloe, Finn, Everly, and Drew, and he had carried me into my room once everyone had left or gone to bed, set me on the bed and snuggled up right behind me, and then fell straight to sleep. I had woken up as soon as he had wrapped his arm around me, and now I could not go back to sleep. His proximity to me in my bed was causing an ache to grow between my legs, and heat to spread through my body. The memories of what we had shared the night before were racing through my mind, making my head spin, making my heart race, and making my body want more. I wanted him, but I didn’t know how to ask for what I wanted. I wasn’t even sure
Lukas “Look who finally decided to grace us with his presence!” Drew teased as I jogged into the training yard. I was a bit late, but it wasn’t my fault. Well, okay, it was sort of my fault. I had forgotten to set an alarm the night before crawling into bed beside June, and then that morning, when I awoke with her naked body still draped on top of my own naked body and realized what happened in the middle of the night was not, in fact, a dream, I had to have a repeat. I took my time with her, bringing her right to the edge and then backing off until she couldn’t take it anymore, and then I finally let her come. It was all so worth being a bit late for training and getting razzed by Drew. I smiled to myself at the memory of her gripping my hair as she held my head down between her legs. And then I had to think of the time I walked in on my parents doing it on Dad’s desk in order to calm down Lukas Jr. I jabbed Drew sharply in the abs as I passed by him, and he collapsed on the gro
TRIGGER WARNING: GRAPHIC DESCRIPTION OF TORTURE IN THIS CHAPTERLukasThe guards inside didn’t even question my presence, and lowered their heads in deference when they felt the aura rolling off of me.I stormed through the inner door and down the stairs, stopping only to wait for the guard to unlock the door into the hall of cells.There were seven cells, each with pure silver bars. Each cell had a single bed with a thin mattress, a sink, and a toilet. They were fairly clean, since we hardly ever used them.We usually used them for holding the occasional rogue overnight when they needed refuge, but we didn’t want to house them in the packhouse. Or on the extremely rare occasion when we had a pack member commit an actual crime. Like this scumbag staring straight at me with no shame from the cell at the very end of the hall.His wrists and ankles were shackled with silver cuffs, and based on the look in his eyes and the unhealed bruising and cuts on his face, he was being dosed with wo
Juniper “What do you think, the ivory or the cream?” Luna Claire asked me as she held up two, almost identical, off-white linen samples. To the untrained eye, they might look the same, but my artist’s eye could differentiate between them easily. I lifted the navy blue sample between them, comparing each to the blue, before I made my decision. “The ivory,” I stated confidently. I had spent the better part of the morning after Lukas left for training with Claire in the packhouse, helping her to plan out the decorations and seating chart for Lukas’s ceremony and after party. The ceremony itself would take place just before sunset on the summer solstice. Because we were further north, the sunset would take place late, around 10 pm. I felt odd, helping her, since I wasn’t Lukas’s true mate, but his parents hadn’t even batted an eye when we announced we wanted to be chosen mates. “Perfect,” she said with a smile, setting the ivory with the chosen decorations, and the cream in the rej
Finn After I cleaned up the mess in that asshole’s cell (I left the metal catheter in his dick because that was a fucking genius move on Lukas’s part), and locked him back up, I took a shower in the warrior barracks, since I didn’t want to bring any of that dickhead’s blood into my apartment with Chloe. Not because she’d freak out if she saw it — my little wolf was as tough as nails — but because I didn’t want to smell his stench ever again, or taint our first home together with it. The shower was quick, but refreshing. I needed it to refocus my mindset as well. Torturing prisoners put me in a darker place, and I always needed time by myself afterwards to pull out of it. But I also knew being in Chloe’s presence would help, so I didn’t take as long as I normally would. Plus, my dragon had been acting weird all morning since we had left her sleeping peacefully, pacing back and forth in my head and pushing me to go be by our mate’s side. When I opened the door to our apartment in th
Lukas We were all crowded inside of my dad’s office. And when I say all, I mean ALL — Finn, Chloe, Drew, Everly, Damien, Veronica, Simon, Sofia, Myles, my dad and mom, and June and me. It was cramped, but most of us males had our mate sitting or standing close to us or on our lap, not bothering with formalities since we were all basically family. June wore one of my button-up shirts and some leggings from Everly’s old room since she didn’t want to portal home to change, her hair up in a messy bun on the top of her head that was almost right in my line of sight with her in my lap. My hand was resting casually yet possessively on her hip, and she was stiff, obviously a little shy to be sitting like this with me in front of her parents, but I was trying to ease her discomfort with my touch. I wished I could mindlink her already, or that I could use the mate bond to calm her, but that wasn’t the case for us yet. The tension and aura radiating from my father and mother had me nervous. H