Alpha's Moon (Shifter Ops 1)

“Do it,” I whisper. The dangerous scrap of his teeth awakens something primal in me. I reach up and grasp the back of his neck. “Yes.”

But the muscles of his neck are taut under my palm. He tosses his head back and forth, fighting himself.

“Do it. Do it now,” I whisper. He keeps thrusting, the force of his movement making the headboard beat against the wall in a booming rhythm. I dig my nails into his shoulders, marking him. “Do it!”

Deke rears back, his canines glinting and then snaps his head forward, sinking his fangs deep into my shoulder. Pain and pleasure slice through me, the sensations swelling and filling me with light and heat and flashes of fire.

“Yes,” I pant against the deep ache in my shoulder. “Yes.”

Deke withdraws, and the pain in my protesting muscle dissolves, sending white hot streaks of lightning sizzling to my core.

This is it. This is forever.

Chapter 17

Sadie

The wind blows my hair as I stand outside, overseeing recess on the playground. I have gauze over the puncture wounds, but they’re healing quickly. Deke dotes over me like crazy, trying to give me ibuprofen and cleaning the wounds with the healing properties on his tongue every chance he can get.

Still, I can tell he loves the mark, as well. His gaze goes soft every time he looks at it. He trails kisses all along my neck and across my collarbone and tells me how much he loves me. How he’s going to take care of me and protect me for the rest of our lives.

He also says marking me has calmed his wolf significantly. He doesn’t need to go out and run all night anymore. He’s content to stay at my place and protect me from any savage toys in my closet.

“Miss Sadie, look,” Owen cries and points. There's a big moving truck backing into a parking spot right beside the playground.

I wave to the teacher assistant, so she’ll know to watch my half of the class, and head to the fence to see what's going on. Several of my students have already gathered there.

“Army men,” Jackson announces. My breath catches as Deke jumps out of the passenger side of the cab followed by Rafe on the driver’s side. The alpha gives me a wink and heads to the back of the truck. Deke strides straight for me.

“What is this?” I ask when he gets close.

“Delivery for you,” he says then looks at the kids pressing their faces against the fence. “For all of you.”

Behind him, Rafe opens the truck door. Out jump Lance and Channing. Inside the truck are stacks and stacks of black boxes.

“Jackalopes,” Jackson and Owen scream in unison. The werewolf pack makes a chain, tossing a steady stream of black boxes down the line.

“Is this okay?” Deke waits for my nod before he starts handing the boxes to each kid.

“You bought one for everyone in the class?” I ask when I find my voice.

“For everyone in the school,” Rafe calls.

“Batteries included,” Channing adds.

“Great,” my teacher assistant mutters. She’s surrounded by a sea of kids holding their creepy, red-eyed toys, trying to administer order among chaos. It’s creepy as hell, but I can’t move, can’t speak.

“You okay?” Deke asks softly. The rest of the pack have moved on, probably to find the principal and figure out a way to deliver the world’s most coveted toy to every kid in my school.

I’m all choked up. In the past few days, I’ve learned so much about Deke, about his service, his nightmares. His life as a shifter. I even got to talk to a lion shifter couple, Nash and Denali. Nash served in the military, and Deke has been in contact with him daily, opening up about his PTSD.

But my favorite conversation was with Amber Green, a human woman who’s mated to a werewolf alpha in Tucson. She had a lot of advice for dating a werewolf and made me promise I’d call her whenever I needed to vent. “It’s hard, but it’s worth it.”

And looking at Deke, I know what she means. Here he is, watching me with his dark eyes, a little guarded, a little worried, trying so hard to make things right.

I love him more than ever. A little jolt goes through me. I love Deke Adalwulf.

Well, duh, my ovaries roll their eyes.

“Sadie?”

All my kids are distracted by their toys, so I slip out of the playground and approach my werewolf.

“I can’t believe you did this.” I let out a watery laugh. “How did you do this?”

He shrugs. “Figured it was the least I could do, since I destroyed the classroom toy.”

A cold wind blows, and I step closer to him. Shifters run hotter than humans, I’m discovering. Especially when they’re around their mates.

Sure enough, I step close, and Deke’s heat and scent surround me. He reaches out and pulls up my coat collar, shielding me from the wind.