Mate of Her Heart by R. E. Butler

with.”
    She chuckled and rested her head on his shoulder.  “You’ve been part of my fantasies for a long time, too.”
    “Oh?  Anything particularly naughty that we can do after your heat is over?”
    She tipped her face up to look at him.  His eyes were bright and his lips were curled up in amusement.  “I’ve always wanted to try something sweet and sticky, like whipped cream or chocolate syrup.”
    His fingers played across her back and he chuckled.  “Sounds like you could become my favorite dessert.”
    She could faintly feel the heat-cycle ramping up again, and while she still had her wits about her, she asked him to tell her what brought him – and the other wolves – up to the cabin.
    As he told her about overhearing Acksel and then Vince, she knew that she was staring at him in utter disbelief.
    His brows furrowed.  “You believe me, don’t you?”
    “Of course.  I know you wouldn’t lie to me.  Although I talked to some of the females about going through the heat on my own, I never said I was leaving town.  The only people – besides you – who knew where I was were Acksel and my dad.  There’s no way my dad would have told any of the males that showed up here where I was.  That leaves Acksel.”
    He was very quiet and she straightened her arms and looked down at him.  “What?”
    He frowned.  “You don’t want to know what I’m thinking about right now.”
    “Let’s not start with secrets, Luke, please.”
    He exhaled and stroked her cheeks with his thumbs.  “I want to kill Acksel, baby.  I want to fucking break his neck and kill the assholes that came up here thinking they would rape you.”
    She stared into his determined blue eyes, taking in the snarl on his lips and the intense anger that radiated from the sapphire depths.  He was one of the most even-tempered men she’d ever known.  But the man underneath her was all alpha male.  She felt incredibly blessed to have him as her mate.  “Luke?”
    “Yeah, baby?”
    “I love you.”
    His brow arched and the snarl faded to a tender smile.  “Even after all I just said?”
    “You proved you could protect me, Luke.”  She gently touched the fang marks on his throat.  “I marked you as my mate.  Your come is inside me.  We’re together for the long haul.”
    His smile broadened.  “Better or worse?”
    Nodding, she leaned down and kissed him.  He groaned as he opened his mouth to her questing tongue and the need that had slowly been building within her rose to a fever pitch.
    He rolled them, not breaking the kiss, and slipped two fingers inside her pussy.  Within seconds she was screaming her pleasure and writhing under his talented fingers.  As he pushed his hard cock inside her, she threw her arms around his neck and kissed him, and they made love again.
    Nothing had ever felt as perfect as what she experienced with her best friend and mate.  Regardless of what waited for them after the heat was over, she knew that taking Luke as her mate was worth it all. It hadn’t really even been a choice.  He was the only one for her.  The only male that would ever be her mate.
     
     

 
     
     
     
    Chapter 8
     
     
     
     
     
    Luke rolled to his back and stretched, stifling a groan as his muscles burned and ached.  He’d made love to Ev four times overnight and given her several orgasms with his fingers and tongue in between rounds while his body recovered.
    He’d never had sex so many times in one night, and he’d worried that he wouldn’t be enough for her, but after the fourth time, when her body seemed to calm down as it did for a while after each round, she fell asleep in his arms and didn’t rouse right away.
    He’d enjoyed holding her and watching her sleep, but he didn’t waste time staying awake.  He wanted to rest as much as possible before her heat started up again.
    His eyes popped open as he realized that he was in bed alone.  Sitting up, he found her standing at the front window,