Season of the Witch (Claws Clause 2)

It couldn't last. She felt the coil low in her loins, tightening, tightening, and then snap. She moaned, succumbing to the pleasure, letting the peace and the love and the hope for a future with this male knock her under the wave.

If this was her forever, she never wanted to resurface again.

His pace picked up. Colton let out soft grunts as he worked her, reaching down to squeeze one of her tits, dipping his head to touch his tongue to her nipple. Sweat beaded along his brow again. Tendons stood out from his neck, his dimple popping as he smiled.

He smiled and then, with Shea almost blind from desire and pleasure, he parted his lips and showed her his fangs.

There wasn’t even time to worry if it was going to hurt. As if he was more vamp than shifter, Colton went right for her throat, biting the point where her shoulder met her neck. His fangs sank through her flesh, like a hot knife through chilled butter.

Shea’s orgasm rolled into a second one as Colton bucked his hips one final time, emptying his seed inside of her.

He kept his cock lodged deep inside of her as if desperate to make sure a single drop didn’t escape. He withdrew his fangs first, licking the wound he made when he gave her his claiming bite.

No pain, she thought hazily. He’d bit her and it didn’t even hurt a little bit.

No, it felt fucking amazing.

“Ah, shit. I’ve gotta be crushing you. Sorry,” Colton said, rolling off of her. His cock slipped out of her as he moved away, but before she could miss his warmth, he tucked his arm under her head, shifting her boneless body so that she was right up against him.

The full repercussions of what just happened sliced through her hazy, post-orgasm good mood. Her stomach tightened and she turned into her mate—her mate—to lay a trembling hand on his bare chest.

His heart was pounding nearly as hard as Shea’s was.

“What happens now?” she whispered.

He squeezed her shoulder with the hand stretched out beneath her head. “I told you before. You’re mine. I’m yours. There’s no room for anyone else.” Colton lifted his other hand, laying it over hers, pressing the two against his thudding heart. As she panted softly, in exhilaration, in love, and in fear, Colton steadied his rhythm. His voice grew as cold as the sheen in his eyes as he said, “Julian won’t come for you or anyone you love ever again. I’ll have his head first.”

When Julian threatened her in her bedroom, he told her she would see Colton’s head on a spike if she wasn’t careful. She’d been so afraid, she had almost screamed down her apartment. Even now, when she thought about his cold smile and the unfeeling way he called her his darling, she still gave herself nightmares.

Why was it when Colton promised her a decapitation, he made it sound so dangerous and so… so sexy?

Simple.

Because she loved him.

Because she trusted him.

Because he was her mate.

25

Dodge popped into the living room without any warning.

Shea barely batted an eye.

Ever since she had kind of, sort of moved into Colton’s Bumptown home, the ghost had been a little scarce. He still made his appearances, and she’d gotten to know him better during the mornings when he insisted Shea watch his “stories” with him, but he was careful to give the newly bonded couple their privacy these last few days.

Since Colton turned out to be quite affectionate once he let himself off the leash, they definitely needed it.

She was currently in the middle of using Colton’s laptop to access her client list. Until Julian was—as her mate put it—“taken care of”, the bonded couple agreed that it would be safer if she stayed where he could protect her. His house seemed the perfect place so Shea made the tough decision to keep her shop closed a little bit longer.

Some of her customers relied on her herbs, her poultices, and her crystals. She wanted to assure them that she would be re-opening as soon as possible and, if they needed something to tide them over for the meanwhile, they could call her and she’d get them in touch with another healer.

She’d just gotten off the phone with Delilah Hearth, a regular for her echinacea and goldenseal tea, when the ghost materialized, his derby clutched in his hand as he searched the living room.

“Where’s Colt?” asked Dodge. “I can’t track him by aura anymore since you two share one. Is he here or is it just you?”

Shea bit down on her bottom lip. “He’s somewhere.” After they finished an afternoon mating earlier, she had the energy to tackle a couple more phone calls. Colton complained she’d left him boneless and he wandered off to take a shower. Closing her eyes, she followed the bond stretched between them, sensing that he was in the kitchen.