done, no matter how fast I manage to embarrass myself.
“The scent of your blood makes me even crazier,” I admit, panting.
Susan goes still. “I’m bleeding?”
I don’t even have to look down at my red-stained cock for confirmation. I can taste her blood in the air.
She rushes to sit up. “Oh no! I hope we didn’t make a mess of your bed.”
“I don’t care.”
She frowns at me. “Lucan, it’s going to look like a crime scene. We either need to get towels, or move this to the shower.”
I lick my teeth, my cock pounding for her. “To get to the shower, we need to be decent enough to pass four bedrooms.”
She glances down at my shaft and smirks at me. “I’ll get the robes. Let’s do shower sex. I promise you’ll like it.”
I believe her, so I follow.
And, it turns out, she’s absolutely right.
CHAPTER 48
LUCAN
Breakfast is fun. (Chaffles with hamburger cookies, prepared by me for Susan and then everyone who comes tripping down the stairs once they scent meat.) The whole house feels like it’s vibrating with excitement, no doubt everybody’s waiting to hear when our Mating Ceremony will be. Under my breath, I tell Susan, “Perhaps we should have done more talking than… Actually, no, what we did was perfect. But these mutts want answers. They may pester us for them.”
Susan, rather than being daunted, just smiles at me. I wouldn’t have a clue that she was feeling nerves of any kind if I couldn’t hear the way her heart starts pounding harder when she asks, “When would you like to have our Mating Ceremony?”
My own heart starts racing like a chipmunk on speed. “I think we need somewhere private to have this conversation.”
“All right then.” Her chin goes up bravely. I know that, for her, the concept of being bound to a man again is scary. But you wouldn’t know it by the love shining in her eyes as she stares at me. I hold her gaze, my whole body heating. She says, “We’ll have to schedule another visit to the parsonage, and this time, actually do some talking.”
I lean in until my lips are nearly on top of hers. “Other things too, right?”
Her arms come around me and her hands slide into my trouser pockets—and then she’s running her fingers over my length quickly before giving me a surprise squeeze, her incendiary move completely hidden between us.
I kiss her, hard. A promise. We’ll finish this later.
We file out of Night Howl with the crowd, Susan craning her neck to locate the girls, making sure they’re still okay. They’ve been studious about playing with the Pack kids this morning, God bless them, giving Susan and I a surprising amount of alone time. Everyone assembles on the lawn, dressed and ready to walk to church. I offer Susan my arm, and she takes it. It feels so right. Having her here, my mate—not just with me, but with all of us, surrounded by my family—this is perfect.
Maggie skips up to Sue, with—no surprise, Liam tagging along at her side. Charlotte and Ginny are with a group of girls about their age, and Finn jogs towards us from the direction of Half Moon, grinning at us like an idiot.
“Awf, Sue—you look like you’re limping,” he calls cheekily.
“I am,” she calls back, and to my shock, she tosses him a suggestive grin that has him stopping in his tracks. “I’m sore. Really sore, in all sorts of places—if you know what I mean.” She winks at him.
She’s exaggerating, or at least leading him to believe we did more than we did, but it doesn’t matter. She’s well rewarded for her teasing. Finn’s mouth is hanging open. He pans his attention to me and utters a low, “You dog.”
I shake my head at both of them and draw Susan close to press a kiss to her temple. “Are you really sore?” I murmur, even though Finn is close enough he’ll hear me anyway. I’ve got manners. I try to give us the illusion of privacy.
“Yep,” she replies, a smile evident in her voice. Evident on her face too, when she turns to look at me. I hold her eye contact, searching her, and she places her hand on my chest, sliding it beneath my jacket and holding it right over my heart. “And I don’t regret a thing.”
Her eyes glint with something decidedly wicked.
And beautiful.
“Let’s go to church,” I say, because if we don’t get moving right now, I’m going to shock everybody’s