Chapter 365

Judy’s POV

“Tell me who you belong to,” Gavin ordered, his voice growly as he thrust into me, hitting my most sensitive spots. My back arched with each thrust, and I let out a howl without meaning to. My wolf was in such bliss that it was hard to keep her in control.

“You,” I gasped out. “Always and forever you.”

“That’s right, baby,” he said, as he ground his hips against mine, moving himself in circular motions. I moaned louder as my fingers slid down his body. “You’re mine… just like I’m yours.”

He captured my next whimper with his lips, sucking my mouth into his and making them swell even more than I’m sure they already were. I was practically seeing stars as he reached between our connected bodies and began to play with my clit like he was playing a fiddle.

I gasped against his lips; my orgasm slammed into me with all its force.

“That’s it,” he breathed, nipping at my bottom lip. “Cum for me.”

He didn’t have to tell me twice; I combusted all around him, screaming out his name like a prayer. He kissed all along my jawline as he fell over the edge with me, filling me to the brink of everything he was worth.

Without pulling himself out of me, he wrapped me in his arms and rolled us over, so we were on our side, I was facing him, and his arms were tightly around my body, keeping me pinned to him most intimately.

He peppered kisses along my hairline, his fingers tracing gentle patterns across my lower back. I could still feel his cock throbbing inside of me, and honestly, it couldn’t have been more perfect. I didn’t want to part with him; I wanted to stay like this all night. But I knew we couldn’t because apparently, we were having company over for dinner this evening.

“How was work?” I whispered.

His body rumbled with quiet laughter; I couldn’t help but smile as well as I suppressed my own laughter.

“Is that really what you are thinking about right now?”

“I didn’t get a chance to ask you earlier since you jumped me the second you walked in,” I teased, my smile growing wider as I buried my face in his bare chest.

“Oh, I was the one who jumped you?” He asked, humor clear in his tone. “Might need to get you a brain scan, my lovely mate, because that’s not at all how it happened.”

I couldn’t help but laugh as I peeked up at him; he stared down at me, smiling like a lovesick fool.

“I’m not sure what you’re talking about,” I joked.

He pressed his lips to my nose and then rubbed his nose against mine, making my cheeks flush.

“Did you pick out a wedding dress?” He asked, the change in subject matter was taking me by surprise.

“Sasha is going to design me one,” I told him.

“Good,” he said softly. “You deserve the best.”

I bit my lower lip as I thought about my experience at Sasha’s boutique from earlier. I thought about maybe not telling him, but Erik was right; he would find out about it some other way, and he’d be upset with me if it wasn’t from me. If I kept something from him… but at the same time, I didn’t want to worry him right now.

I knew he was still stressing about whatever Zachary Blackwell had discussed with him. I could see it every day since our dinner with the Blackwells. I didn’t pry and ask him what was on his mind, though; I figured he would tell me when he was ready.

“What’s wrong?” He finally asked, his eyes studying my expression carefully.

I sat up so I could look down at him; the blanket falling just enough to show off one of my naked breasts, which he noticed immediately, and his eyes darkened at the sight.

“Before you hear about it from someone else…” I began to say, putting him on immediate alert, his eyes snapped back up to mine. But he didn’t say anything; he waited for me to continue. “I had an issue at the boutique earlier.”

“What kind of issue?”

I could feel his wolf was on edge, so I put my hand on his chest to steady him and to remind him that I was okay and right in front of him. He covered my hand with his, the warmth of his touch spreading through me like lava.

“Judy, what kind of issue did you have?” He asked again, his voice softer than it had been a moment ago.

“Sasha hired a new assistant who looked down on Nan and me. Pretty much said that we are too poor to shop there and that it would cost more to use extra fabric to cover my mound of a belly.”

“The fuck?” Gavin said, now sitting fully upright. His tone had gone growly, and I knew what that meant. “What was her name?”

“Kerris Wheeler,” I told him. “But Gavin—”

“She’ll never work anywhere in this region again once I’m done with her,” Gavin said as he got out of bed. He grabbed his boxers off the ground and quickly put them on.

“Sasha already fired her,” I told him, also getting out of bed to grab my bra and panties.

“That’s not enough. She needs to pay for what she said to my mate.”

“She didn’t know that you were my mate,” I said, wrapping my arms around him tightly. “It was a misunderstanding.”

‘It doesn’t matter, Judy. I can’t have that kind of behavior from someone in this pack.”

“She’s from the Yellowstone pack,” I explained.

His eyes darkened.

“So, she’s Alpha Kyle’s,” he muttered. “I’ll have him on the phone to discuss proper punishment.”

“I think she was punished enough when she was fired. Don’t you think?”

“No,” he said simply, turning to look at me. “Why didn’t you call me right away and tell me what was happening. I could have dealt with it on the spot.”

“Because if I’m going to the Luna of your pack, I need to learn to stand on my own two feet. I didn’t want to bother you with something I could easily handle,” I tell him as I fold my arms across my chest.

He paused as he pulled his pants on.

“You are my mate, baby. It is my job to protect you. I know you can stand on your own two feet, and you’re more than capable of taking care of things yourself. But as your mate, I need to be informed of these things right away. My wolf or I can’t handle anyone hurting you, Judy. Please… just give me that.”

I’m not sure at what point he moved closer to me, but he was soon standing directly in front of me, his hands on my shoulders and his thumbs brushing across the nape of my neck, right over the fresh mark.

“Okay,” I breathed. “I’m sorry I didn’t call you right away.”

He bent down and brushed his lips across mine, stealing the little bit of air I had left. I melted into him as his tongue swept across mine, tasting me and reclaiming me as if we hadn’t just spent the last hour claiming each other.

There was a knock on the door, bringing us out of our happy little bubble. Gavin sighed as he grabbed his shirt off the bedpost, not entirely sure how it ended up there.

When he opened the door, Alex stood on the other side. His eyes widened when he saw that Gavin was shirtless, and then his eyes shifted behind him to me, who was still putting on my pants and buttoning my blouse. Gavin immediately blocked his view of me and gave him a warning growl.

Alex cleared his throat and straightened his posture.

“Alpha, the Beta, and his mate are waiting downstairs. Dinner will be ready shortly,” he announced.

Gavin nodded.

“Thank you,” he said. “Make sure Matthew and Irene are also ready for dinner.”

“Yes, sir,” Alex said, giving him a quick bow before walking away.

Gavin closed the door and turned to me.

“Okay, we should head downstairs,” he told me, coming towards me with a small smile. “We’ll talk more about this later. But Kerris will get what she deserves. You have my word on that.”

I let out a breath, knowing there was no convincing him otherwise.

“Okay,” I finally relented.

Once we finished getting dressed, we started to head out of the room and down the stairs.

“Oh, by the way. Clear your schedule for this weekend,” he said over his shoulder. “We are taking a trip.”

I blinked.

“A trip?”

“Yeah, we were invited to Alpha Jeremy’s Masquerade ball on Saturday. Was thinking we can leave Thursday night and make a little vacation out of it.”

I raised my brows; I knew why we were invited to the ball, thanks to Erik and his gamma connections. I couldn’t believe that it worked so quickly, though; it was only this afternoon that Erik made the phone call. I didn’t even have the time to talk to Gavin about it.

“That’s great,” I said, a little too cheerfully. “How many invites did we get?”

He glanced at me with a frown.

“What makes you think we got more than one?”

My cheeks reddened.

“I… uh… assumed,” I said, looking away from him.

He studied me for a moment, neither of us walking as we stood on the bottom of the stairs.

“We got 4,” he finally answered, though I could still feel his eyes studying me. “Why do I get the feeling you had something to do with this?”

“What?” I asked. “No way…” I wasn’t even convincing to my own ears.

“Mhm… It’s just weird that you mentioned going to his territory with Irene, and now suddenly I’m getting invited to his territory. Is there a coincidence?”

I blinked a few times, trying to clear my thoughts and figure out what to say.

“I… uh…” I stammered, unsure what to say.

“What are we talking about?” Irene asked as she walked down the stairs, Matt following behind her.

Without Gavin looking up at her, he said, “Pack your things… the Landry’s are going on vacation.”