“Are you telling me it wasn’t?”
Gabrielle rolled over, kicking him off her back, He slid from her body, but kept his arm around her waist so they spooned.
“Well?” he asked again.
“You need to give a girl a chance to breathe. Especially after that kind of mind-blowing, I don’t know what it was.”
“So it was good, then.”
“Fishing for compliments is not cool.” She smacked his thigh.
He ran a hand between her thighs, slipping two fingers into her well-fucked cleft. “Then I guess we’ll have to do this all over again.”
“You know that was the best sex of my life, but if you think you can do better, then—” She gasped as he slipped deep once more, taking spooning to a whole other level.
***
“We’d better get back, or Aiden will be knocking on the inside of my head. He already knows about the claiming. Well, he and Jared. Their my blood family, so they knew the moment our magic bonded.” He pushed a blonde strand behind Gabrielle’s ear. “It also means my immediate family knows. My mom and dad, obviously, but also my sister, Josee.”
Gabrielle traced the outline of his pecs, letting her fingers tease the soft hair on his chest. “I didn’t know you were telepathic.”
“All sentinels are. The stronger the familial bond, the easier it is to share mind paths.”
She went up on one elbow. “You didn’t let him…you know…watch. Right?”
“Jesus, woman! No! That would be like livestreaming straight from our bedroom onto social media. Who does that?”
She lifted a shoulder, chuckling. “Believe it or not, I know a few people back home who do that for kicks.”
He kissed her quick, before getting up to put on his pants. “You wear the mark of my line. The mark of my chosen mate and future alpha female. Not me, not us, not ever.”
“You told me about your lineage, but I don’t know much about your actual family. Other than how scared you were when you first shifted.”
Reaching for two water bottles from his backpack, he, gave one to Gabrielle and then cracked open the other. “What do you want to know?”
“What was it like growing up here? Who are you closest with?” She shrugged. “You know Raven is my best friend, and as for family, there’s just my father. He’s a liar, a cheat and overall dick. Needless to say, we no longer speak. Besides you and the baby, that leaves Raven and my coven sisters.”
“That’s short and to the point.”
“My family history isn’t something I dwell on. I concentrate more on the people I choose to call family. Not the people with whom I happen to share blood.”
He took a swig from his water bottle. “Still, I think you skipped a few things. Like your mother’s family, and any family you’ve got here in Montreal. Past friends. They all played a part in shaping our lives. Maybe not now, but certainly in the past. Aren’t you interested in where your abilities come from? Who was the witch who passed on her magical blood?”
“Yeah, I suppose.” She considered the point. “I wouldn’t know where to begin looking. Everyone is gone or not speaking to me.”
He laughed. “Why am I not surprised.”
“They don’t call me the snark queen for nothing.”
“That just a defense mechanism, love. One you don’t need anymore.”
“Oh really. And why is that?”
“Because you’re the queen of my heart, and one half of Team Wolfitch.”
She laughed out loud at that. “That’s your majesty, to you.”
Pulling her in for a kiss, he gripped the nape of her neck, letting his fingers trail through her long, blonde hair. “I love your strength, Gabrielle. Your humor and the fearless way you face challenges.”
He let go, letting his fingers trail her cheek as he sat back. “You, Raven and the others. My sister, Josee, and my mother. Strong women, who know their worth and accept their natures without superiority. I wish my father had some of the latter.”
“What about your sister Evangeline? I know she’s young, but…”
He shook his head. “Evie’s only eighteen, but she’s easily led. I’m thirty years old, and Josee is two years younger than me. Yet there’s a ten-year gap between Evangeline and Josee. Evie is the baby of the family. Or as my mother puts it, a surprise from God. My father spoiled her. Never made her want or wait or work for anything. When she hit puberty and it was clear she wasn’t going to shift, he doubled down on his attentions.
“Evie isn’t a shifter?” Gabrielle asked, confused.
Luke shrugged. “It’s rare, but it happens. It’s a recessive trait, but there you have it.
“Evangeline is held to a lesser standard. Dad thinks he’s making up for some inherent lack, but he’s actually doing her a disservice. She has the worst taste in friends, but our mother must have talked some sense into her when it came to guys, because her boyfriend, Tim, is a decent guy. We’ve known him for years. He’s not Laval pack, but his family has known ours for ages. He’s a cathemeral shifter, like Aiden and Jared.”
“Raven told me what that means. There aren’t stipulations as to when they shift.”
“Exactly, but there’s more to it than that. I’m a lunar shifter, so shifting is limited, but what Raven didn’t tell you is that I have the ability to shift into other types of animal forms. I’m a wolf. That’s my core dual nature, but I can take any animal form I choose as long as I have a detailed picture in my mind.”
“Any? Even a shark or a whale? What about a bird?”
He laughed. “Yes to all of the above, though I choose not to.”
“Why, for hell’s sake? If I could
