Page 29 of Chasing Dawn

Jesus Christ.

I was going to fucking blow in my pants. I nudged her thighs wide so I could slide my hands under her ass and lift her to my face, then I did my best fucking work.

I ate her sweet little cunt like it was candy. I sucked, licked, and stroked until she screamed, begged, and panted my name. All I could taste, smell, and see was her. She came once, and I chased the next orgasm.

“Yes, yes, yes,” she chanted like she was worried I’d stop and ask her if she was okay again. I smiled against her sweet core, spearing my tongue inside her. I couldn’t undo the pain of her past, but I could give her pleasure for her future, happiness, and pure, unadulterated joy.

When she came again, her thighs pressing against my cheeks so hard I probably looked like a fish, I came right along with her, helpless to stop myself from unloading into my boxer shorts as I groaned against her clit, making her orgasm go on and on.

Finally, her legs fell limp, and she rasped, “No more.”

I grinned, climbing up on shaky legs so I could kiss up her body. I kissed over the raised, red scar, and she tensed but didn’t stop me. One day, I would lick every inch of it, so she knew I loved every single part of her, but I didn’t push. I kissed the soft spot at the base of her sternum between her breasts, and then I straddled her torso and kissed her. The taste of her was still on my lips. “You are the best fucking thing that’s happened to us.”

I rolled to the side and pulled her against my chest, covering her with a blanket so she didn’t get cold. I needed to change my fucking pants, but I didn’t want to break the spell of this moment.

CHAPTER 19

VANCE

The bar in town was stuck in the eighties, but I didn’t mind the vibes. There was an old-fashioned jukebox in the corner, and the owner, Earl, didn’t give a fuck about anything. He ignored the fact that there were seven strangers in his bar at ten in the morning.

He tilted his head at me, and I nodded back. He’d been kicking us out of here since we were fifteen and trying our luck.

“Wanna show me your ID, kid?” He cackled at Franklin, who flipped the old man off.

“You’re going to need to get out your reading glasses to see it, old man.”

The other mercs who operated under Alexander were an odd bunch of different species. There was a crow shifter, Rien, and his partner, Jez, who was a fox shifter. Leighton was a shapeshifter, and one of the few female mercs we had. She worked alone, but if she had to go out, she was usually partnered with Vaskar, a leopard shifter. Buenaventura was old and partnered with no one. He was a shapeshifter of a sort, and he was the last of his species. He shifted into a nightmare.

The final members of the group were Benson and Maxi, both wolves. I’d prepared Dawn for their inclusion in the group, but she still froze.

Their eyes snapped toward her, and I stepped in front of her, lifting my lip in a snarl that promised death if they so much as breathed wrong in her direction. I’d argued for their exclusion from the mission, but it wasn’t because I doubted their character. They were good guys, and they believed in the betterment of shifter kind, but they were still wolves, and the wolves had betrayed my mate. Alexander had insisted, because he wanted to instill Benson as interim Alpha if we couldn’t find a decent replacement for Dawn’s shitty Alpha among the backwash of their pack hierarchy.

I glared at them, and Maxi came over, knelt in front of us, and tilted his head to the side, baring his throat to my mate. Talbot rumbled deep in his chest, and I could only imagine what old Earl was thinking.

He was supplicating before Dawn, and I could feel her let out a shuddering breath. She stepped forward and placed her fingertips on his throat. It was a wolf ritual, but I could still feel the pulse of her Omega magic.

Maxi finally looked up, slowly rising to his feet. “I know the file behind this case, and we need you to know that neither Benson nor I would ever condone violence on an Omega or any pack members who are weaker. We left our own pack because they had similar ideas. We joined this” —he waved a hand to the other mercenaries that operated beneath the convocation member for shifters— “because someone needs to do something, and sometimes the only thing wolves will listen to is force.”

Dawn swallowed hard and pressed closer to my side. I let my Alpha free—a comfort to her and a warning to the other people in the room. She was mine, and I would protect her with my claws if I had to.

Benson raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything. Maxi was a beta, but Benson was an Alpha. He stepped forward slowly, like he didn’t want to spook her.

Softly, he murmured, “Omega.” Dawn dragged her eyes up to his face. “I am honored to meet you. I am so sorry for everything our species, and my designation, have put you through. We will help you make it right. I swear it on my honor.”

Dawn looked disbelieving but nodded once. I didn’t think they could ever be friends, but he was respectful enough. “Come on, I’ll introduce you to everyone else,” I told her.

I introduced her to Rien and Jez first, and they both bowed low. “Omega,” they said respectfully, and she gave them a tentative smile.

“And this is Leighton, Vaskar, and Buenaventura.” She shook each of their hands, but when she grasped Buenaventura’s, she gasped. Her eyes went wide and glassy, and the grizzled old fucker actually smiled.

“It’s not worth wasting your energy on, little Omega,” he grumbled, but it was more gentle than I’d ever seen him speak to anyone.

Dawn nodded rapidly, sucking in a deep breath. I bundled her to my chest, and we sat around a large, round table. I placed my back to the door, because I knew none of the others would want to be in such a vulnerable position in unknown territory.

“Everyone got the brief?” I asked, and they all nodded. “From what intel I could glean, they have no security or well-trained wolves. It should be an easy in and out.”

Leighton groaned and knocked on the scarred wooden tabletop. “You know I hate it when you say shit like that.” She turned to Dawn, giving her a soft smile. “No superstitions at all, that one. What about you? How many civvies are we looking at?”