Page 6 of Slade's Feisty Mate
He lifted his head and blinked beautiful golden eyes at her. She cupped his head and kissed his nose.
“It’s the strangest thing, Slade. I didn’t know what would happen when I met my truemate, but I feel so amazingly connected to you that I feel as if we’ve known each other for years. It’s not scary. It’s comforting. We’re truemates. I’m yours and you’re mine.”
His tongue snaked out, and he licked her lips with a gruff purr.
“Okay, but save that for when you’ve got a human tongue, okay, lover boy?”
There was a knock on the door and Slade growled, hopping off the couch and stalking to the door.
“It’s just room service,” she said, laughing. “You do want to eat, right?”
The look he gave her could have melted her clothes right from her body. He wasn’t thinking about eating food at all; he was thinking about eating her. And, oh boy, did she really, really want him to!
* * *
Slade enjoyed listening to his mate talk. Her voice was soothing, or maybe it was just being near her that made his cat settle. She talked about everything—her family, her pack, working for the hotel—while they waited for his shift to be over. He didn’t know much about wolves outside of what he’d learned fighting against them in the NWFA. He knew they ran in packs with one leader, but he didn’t realize that many large packs, like Gretchen’s, all lived together in one place.
He wondered if he’d be allowed to join her pack, or if she’d leave and join their saber pride. Not that they had an official pride since it was just the four of them, but as he and his family found their mates and began to have cubs, then, in essence they’d be a pride. Glancing around her place, he knew they’d need to have a larger place eventually. He didn’t care where they lived as long as they were together.
As the pull of his shift faded, he nuzzled her arm and slipped from the couch. Unlike the painful fast shift from earlier, this time he was able to shift pain-free as his cat stepped back and the human part of him came forward. Gretchen watched him intently as he transformed. He was glad she wasn’t human so she would understand about his shifted form. He couldn’t wait to see what she looked like in her shift and to go hunting with her.
He stood slowly, and her gaze rose from his legs, landing on his hips where his erection jutted thick and hard, up the flat planes of his stomach to his chest and then, finally, she met his gaze. Her cheeks pinked in blush, and he thought it was a beautiful color on her.
“I’m Slade,” he said.
“I know,” she said, chewing on her bottom lip. “Ask me. Now that you can talk, ask me what you would have if your cat hadn’t gone nuts in the lobby when we met.”
“Be my mate, Gretchen.”
“I said ask,” she said, rolling her eyes.
His mate was feisty. He liked that a lot.
“Please, Gretchen.”
“Since you asked so sweetly.” She stood and closed the distance between them. She was shorter than him by about a foot, lushly curved and scenting of a heady mix of woman and a sweet, candy-like scent he found alluring.
“You have way too many clothes on,” he said, tracing the column of her throat with his fingertips.
She shivered. “You can fix that, Slade. I have a theory I’d like to test, anyway.”
“Oh?” he asked, gripping the hem of her top and lifting it slowly over her head. Her large breasts were covered in white lace.
“Yeah, about cats and cream.”
He stopped looking at her breasts so he could meet her gaze. “I love cream.” Slipping an arm around her waist, he drew her close. “Especially butterscotch-flavored cream. That’s what you smell like to me. Sweet, decadent butterscotch.”
Her eyes darkened, and her sweet scent filled the air. “Yes.”
“Yes, what?”
“Yes, I’ll be your mate. Pending a freaking ton of orgasms and you bringing me breakfast in bed.”
He chuckled. “How many is a freaking ton?”
“I’ll let you know when I’ve had enough,” she said, giving him a mischievous smile.
He lifted her, and she wrapped her legs around his waist. “It’ll never be enough, my mate. Never.” The last word was a growled promise.