CHAPTER 426 - WELCOME MAT (1)

DEVIN’S POV

I awakened to a tingling surge in my body. I smiled and drew in her heavenly sweet pea and wild berries scent. It was the best fragrance ever, one that intoxicated me to no end.  

As I cracked my eyes open in the dark room, I stared at my mate. We lay on our sides with our bodies curled, facing each other beneath the covers. Her soft, slender hand rested against my hair while my arm wrapped loosely around her back, holding her close as her eyes fluttered open.

At first, she smiled tenderly at me, her cheeks taking on a lovely blush. Then she gasped. Her eyes widened, and she bolted up. “Shit.” 

“That’s not what you called me last night.” My voice was groggy and rough as I pushed myself up on one elbow. “That’s not what we did either.”

Penn shot out of bed, clinging to the blue sheet that wrapped around her naked body, pulling the rest of it away from mine, inch by inch until it left me completely exposed. She lit up her palm, making it glow to cast a dim-yellow light into the space.

I pushed the tousled hair from over my eyes and watched her move from one place to the other, searching for her clothes. 

“She’s pulling away again,” Krython, my wolf, whimpered from the corner of my mind.

“Because she’s afraid we’ll hurt her,” I replied to him. Maybe she had every reason to be.

Part of me wanted to savor her disheveled after-sex look, while another part ached, wishing she didn’t have to leave. My chest tightened with every piece of clothing she found and picked up from the floor. All I wanted to do was bring her back into the bed beside me. 

I stretched across to the nightstand and flicked on the light so she could see better.

She bent this way and that. Her bronde hair bounced and swished around her cute face as her eyes searched the room. So beautiful.

My wolf was sulking. He yearned to hug her and push my face into her smooth neck. We wanted to be close to her, if only she’d let us.

“What did I do with it?” She cursed under her breath. She was holding her dress and bra, but couldn’t find her panties.

When she crouched at the side of the bed to retrieve something from under it, I scooted to the edge. As she slowly rose to her feet, I reached out and grabbed her wrist to stop her.

"Where are you going so early?" I asked gruffly.

"Let go," Penn said cheekily, her brilliant lilacs eyeing me harshly. "I need to get ready and go to work."

I didn't let go. My hungry eyes wandered down, latching on to the enticing curve of her heart-shaped lips. Invitingly kissable, adding fuel to the internal fire in me that wanted a taste. I didn’t know how not to want her.

"Skip a few hours," I urged, coasting my eyes up to hers. I threw my legs over the edge of the bed and sat upright.

"I can't," Penn refused sternly, tugging her hand. “Have you seen outside?” She glanced at the darkness outside the window and returned a puzzled gaze to me. “It’s after seven. Where’s the sun? Don’t you find that strange?”

"Mmm." I didn't care at all. No matter how firm or angry she was trying to be, I couldn’t help but be drawn to her. “Rest some more.”

Her eyes crinkled with heart-aching grief. “Last night shouldn’t have happened.”

“Last night you were a mess, Penn. You needed it,” I said grimly. “I noticed how stressed you are.”

She showed up at the pack house, almost in tears. She wouldn’t explain anything. She was distressed and going through something. She needed my comfort, which I willingly gave. Then one thing led to another, and we made fierce love.

I pulled her onto me, gathering her on my lap, so our lips were close. Her nipples grazed against my chest, hardening at the touch of my muscles. It sent a jolt of arousal through my body, making my cock pulse and stiffen instantly.

Her breathing picked up as her eyes trailed down to my lips, but I didn't kiss her. My eyes shifted to the beguiling curve on her neck, which I practically chewed up all night.

"Stay for a while," I whispered, leaning in to place feather-light kisses down her neck. 

One of my rough hands circled her back, coasting up to pull the sheet from around her breasts down to her waist. My other hand cupped her bare breast, kneading it and rolling the hardened peak.

Penn blinked, trying to form words as my lips kissed over her clavicle. 

"Still no," she moaned, her voice breathy. “The girls…oh…are waiting.”

Her scent changed into a fierce pheromone, hinting at her arousal. 

Her clothes fell from her hands when she grabbed my shoulders, grinding on my sturdy cock as she adjusted on my lap, nearly sending me overboard. That was enough to tell me that her mind was far from her worries.

On that cue, I flipped her back on the bed with me hovering on top of her, settling perfectly between her legs. She didn’t resist.

“Your body is more honest than you, Penn,” I smirked. 

I kissed down her chest until I was cupping, kissing, and sucking each deliciously firm nipple. 

Her arousal had me drunk with lust, driving me and Krython wild. I watched her with primal determination as I opened up the sheet to reveal her full nakedness. I licked and kissed all the teeth marks I previously scattered on her body, loving my artwork. 

“Damn it, Devin, we shouldn’t,” Penn protested weakly as I kissed around her navel while holding her thighs wide open.

She drew in a shuddering breath and strangled a moan when my mouth closed around her clitoris. God, she tasted heavenly.

She raked her fingers into my hair and began writhing. Several breathy moans escaped her as I continued to suck and lick her clitoris. She fisted my strands, tugging my hair as I lapped my tongue over her slick folds and penetrated her entrance all at the same time, driving her wild. 

Using violent and strong strokes, my tongue ate out of her. And I knew from the sexy, uncontrollable way she bit her bottom lip and arched her back that she was about to orgasm.  

“Come for me, sweetness,” I growled. I kept the same pace until she climaxed. Her legs clamped around my head, hands gripping the bed.

 So erotically tempting. 

I exercised my desire to see her orgasm over and over. It was after the fourth or fifth orgasm when I regained a bit of self-control and caught sight of her intensely flushed state. I leaned back on my knees and let my wolf recede.

Then I climbed over her slowly. I paused to stare at her flushed face before kissing her cheek. When I pulled back, I brushed aside the curtain bangs that were too close to her eyes and asked, “You okay?”

Her eyes closed on their own, and she nodded, still coming down from her high.

“Get off me,” she panted out, flicking her eyes open. 

"Why... when it's just getting to the good part," I said, low and deep with a smile.

 “And get that smug look off your face.” Her eyes narrowed, bemused.

“Aw, you’re always so sweet in the morning,” I teased, chuckling lowly. 

Her beautiful lilac eyes raked down my chest, biting her lower lip before drifting up to meet mine. Then the lust in them vanished, replaced by sadness and hurt. “This isn’t right, Dev. Every time we do this, I feel guilty. Feels like we’re sneaking around.”

“We’re not,” I disagreed, drooping my brows. “You keep misreading the situation.”

Things with Penn had already started before I knew Cheryl was pregnant. Having a kid on the way suddenly changed everything. Although I messed up when I slept with Mercedes during her heat, I began to fix that…until Cheryl dropped the bomb on me. It created another rift between us.

Mercedes passed away, and so did that annoying, old bond. Thank the fuck. Ever since then, my bond with Penn has amplified. It’s just that wanting her didn’t take Cheryl or my child out of the picture. And Penn reminded me of it every single time.

Mercedes taught me what the heartache of giving my love and having it thrown back at me. It was a whip-lashing rejection...watching her desperation to sleep with my best friend, while treating me like crap. It’s a pain that I never wish to feel again.

However, things with Penn were hot and cold. Always starting off good and then quickly souring, and then we’re mountains apart.

Penn glowered, then huffed out a breath and pushed at my muscly chest. “Cheryl calls, and you go running. I’m not your priority.”

I peered down into those sad lilacs. Even on the brink of tears, they were as bewitching as the first time I saw them.

“Don’t say that,” I groaned, biting back my animalistic urges. I rolled over to the side and braced on my elbow. “It’s strictly paternal.”

“Yet you’re guarded against me,” she fired back with a raw ache in her eyes. “I’m your mate. Not a deathtrap.”

Cheryl’s pregnancy made me instinctively concerned about her well-being. That was all. My wolf’s bond to our pup made it hard to change that. Every little thing made me a worrying idiot.

Besides, Cheryl was different. What we had was loveless. I could stay for my child and still be emotionally distant. I wouldn’t be risking the part of me I'd spent so long protecting. I wouldn’t have to figure out how to be someone's mate again. 

But every time I thought about choosing Cheryl, I saw Penn's face. She hasn't broken my heart. Yet I was breaking hers because I was too afraid to be vulnerable and open. She was paying for the wounds that were caused by another woman. She shouldn’t have to deal with my scars.

We stared at each other in a harrowing silence, feeling our bond trying to smash all the barriers between us. It was an electric force that pulled me to her, and I couldn't get away.

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