Untamed (Two Marks 0.50)

Gibson licked one of my tears then leaned his forehead against my temple. Ben massaged the back of my neck.

“We’re not your father. We won’t ever leave you,” Ben promised.

“Never,” Gibson swore.

Shivers of recognition ran through me. I felt certain they spoke the truth.

Why, then, was it still so hard to trust?

7

GIBSON

I opened Shelby’s front door and carried in bags of take-out from the local diner. There was an assortment of pastries, over-easy eggs, sausage and potato hash, pancakes, bacon, omelettes and three coffees.

“Thank fate!” Shelby raced forward in nothing but a cute pair of panties, her gorgeous body and colorful tattoos on display. Ben mock-chased her and smacked her ass with a predatory growl.

My dick turned to marble again at the sight of her. So open, so fucking hot. I wasn’t going to get any sustenance if her tits kept bouncing like that.

We’d made our mate come four more times during the night, and I was still horny for her. Of course, we hadn’t marked her yet.

I wouldn’t last long if I waited too much longer. At my age as an alpha, being around my mate without marking her was a recipe for moon madness, for sure.

Ben knew I was in trouble. The last time I’d come last night, he’d had to tackle me off her. I’d been centimeters away from sinking my teeth into that sweet flesh of hers as she screamed my name and her pussy pulsed all around my dick.

We needed to convince her to trust us quickly. She-wolves usually picked up her mate’s scent and were immediately eager for his bite. It was in their nature. She knew bite and claim came first, trust and connection followed later.

Shelby’s father had done a fucking number on her. I’d find out his name from her alpha, and Ben and I would hunt him down and finish him for what he’d done. Not just to Shelby but her mother, too.

Despite her submissiveness, we’d be her mates, treat her as an equal. We wanted her to be the mother of our pups, the female alpha of our pack. And we’d be the best damn fathers we could be for our pups.

In the bedroom, though? We’d be dominant because that’s what turned her on. And it would work because we were the kind of males who loved to protect and take care of and pamper the hell out of our female in and out of the bedroom.

Shelby grabbed the bags from me and ripped into the food. I smiled. I’d been responsible for my pack ever since my father was killed trying to subdue his best friend who’d succumbed to moon madness, but I’d never had this kind of pleasure at providing. It was a fucking priviledge. One I’d longed for since the first time I beat off as a pre-teen.

This was different from the responsibility that weighed on my shoulders. This was only satisfaction. Watching her shovel the food I’d brought into her hungry little mouth made me feel as tall as a mountain.

And watching her do it in just skimpy panties—we’d have to make a no-clothes rule for our mate when in the house—made me hard as nails. I took a seat at the tiny dining table.

“Tell us about the tattoos.” I ran the back of my fingers over the colorful artwork.

She took a drink then looked down at them. Shrugged. “I got my first one at sixteen.” She pointed to a dragonfly that was on the inside of her right wrist. “I know, too young by human standards, but it was a shifter tattoo artist, obviously, so they don’t follow the human laws.”

Due to our healing abilities, tattooing a shifter would be an impossibility if we didn’t mix a hint of silver or salt into the ink to make the wound stay around long enough to absorb the color.

“You obviously didn’t stop at the one.” Ben took a sip of his coffee.

She shrugged again. “I like them. They are a reminder of how I felt in that moment.”

The combination of all her moments was a wild mix, just like she was. A dichotomy of feelings, moods. Hot and cold, vibrant and… based on her history, dim.

“They’ll always be with me.”

Ah, the crux of it. Ben stood and went over to look out the window over the kitchen sink. He felt as I did. Anger. Fury. Rage at the depth of her hurt feelings. Her abandonment issues affected everything she did.

I took her hand and she stood, came over to stand between my spread knees. “Baby, got room on there for our names? We’re permanent, too.”

She looked down at herself but didn’t say anything.

“I’m thinking my name here.” I circled my finger around her right nipple. “Ben’s name could go here.” I moved to the same spot above her other one.