average human’s Reviews > Ember's Claim > Status Update

He’s not going to hurt my feelings if he guts it and completely redoes the decor.”
“There’s no way you make it more than a week or two before your heat hits,” Lorcan says, quirking a blond brow. “Your wolf needs a safe environment to nest, or she’ll only become more agitated.”
“It’s way too soon for that,” I sputter. “I’ve heard female shifters don’t start having a heat cycle until they’re close to one hundred!”
“Ehh, my dragon is convinced you’re wrong about that.” Veryn slides around the couch. Instead of taking one of the open chairs, he lifts me, pulling me into his lap. “It’s not impossible to believe you took after your mom.”
“Not impossible at all.” Lorcan smiles softly. “I’m sorry if that’s not what you’d like to hear, but I recognized the scent immediately. It’s unmistakable. You’ll only grow sweeter smelling over the next several days.”
“I’m an alpha.” My head shakes against Veryn’s chest as he soothes a palm over my abdomen.
“You’re both,” Lorcan says. “An alpha wolf with an omega human side. It’s an ingenious evolutionary development, and truthfully, I believe it will save you from falling into the same pitfalls other alphas do. Your omega nature means you’ll attempt to negotiate before going to war. It allows you the compassion to see where those weaker than you are coming from, which is a notorious downfall of alphas in general. They lack the ability to empathize. A shortcoming you don’t possess.”
My heart thumps against my ribs.
Okay, that doesn’t sound terrible, but I’m still not sure I’m ready to have heats every three months from now until forever.
“This could not be happening at a worse time,” I whisper. “I can’t be out of commission for days on end.”
“You don’t really have a choice, unless you’d like me to knock you up.” Veryn chuckles darkly, sliding a hand down to grab my pussy. “Conception halts heats, but then you’ve got a rug rat for eternity, so I’m just happy to role-play with my newfound breeding kink.”
“What about your magic?” I ask, eyeing Lorcan. “Could you use it to postpone the heat?”
“Sorry, lovely,” Lorcan says, shaking his head. He’s got the top of his hair braided into two small Dutch braids that are tied off at the crown of his head. The underside is shaved, and the combination just works for him. “Maybe the fertility witch you mentioned earlier would be able to help, but I personally wouldn’t know where to begin to look to locate a spell like that.”
Veryn kisses my temple. “We’re fine. Don’t stress about something you can’t change.”
“I’m going to go call my mom,” I say. “I also need to touch base with my Aunt Nadia. If I don’t follow through with the promises I made to the females⁠—”
“You can use my room,” Anders offers.
I give him a grateful smile. “Thank you.”

God, I really love my mom. There’s nothing like having a full-blown breakdown and knowing she’ll let me get it out and then help me to problem solve.
“I’ll call Nadia after we disconnect and see if we can plan something for tomorrow or the next day.” Mom sighs. “I’m so proud of you. You know how much I love you, don’t you, sweetheart?”
“I do,” I agree, sniffling. Talking to my mom is one of the few times I feel safe enough to let down my walls. “I love you too.”
“I was quite impressed with Veryn too. He calmly laid out the facts and firmly informed your dads that he has everything under control.” She chuckles. “He flat-out told them not to step onto pack lands without an invitation.”
“Oh my god,” I whisper. “Did Dread freak out?”
“He and Dash had an equal meltdown, but that’s just because they love you and not because they don’t have faith in you,” Mom says, ever the voice of reason. “One day, you’ll understand, but parenting is a balancing act. It’s wanting to protect your children from anything that could ever hurt them while trying not to stifle them, and at some point, accepting that you have to let them live their own lives. That, alone, comes with ups and downs you can’t control, which is scary, but I know your fathers have prepared you well⁠—”
“Not just them,” I say, questioning everything. “Like ninety-five percent of who I am as a person comes from you. You’ve taught me so many things.” And now I’m wondering if I’ve ever told her just how much she means to me. There were a few years as a teenager when I kinda thought of her as weak. Not weak, but she always played the peacemaker between my dads and brothers. She was always there, smoothing over any disagreements the rest of us had…exactly like any omega would do. God, I was an asshole as a teenager. “I hope you know how much I love and appreciate you.”
“Sweetheart, I do know,” she says softly. “But don’t be too sweet. It’ll make me paranoid that you think something bad is going to happen.”
We continue our conversation for another ten or fifteen minutes before we finally disconnect.
I’m pretty sure I can’t run a pack and live at home with my family.
Getting older really sucks.
My heart hurts.
I don’t think I was ready for all these changes to happen quite so fast.

65%

“Um,” I whisper, tilting my head to the side as I try to decipher exactly what I’m looking at.
“Yeah, you know, I have no idea either,” Veryn says. “My best guess is, she found the bags Gemma and I dropped off before I found you at the practice ring…” He squints and shrugs a giant shoulder. “But that’s not my T-shirt, so maybe she dug in your drawers. I don’t know everything.”
Ember’s wolf huffs, nosing my shirt around until she seems to find something she likes.
“Aww, baby. If you needed to huff our scents, you could have called us.” Veryn tugs his shirt off at the back of his neck and tosses it toward the bed.
Ember’s wolf stands, lunging for it and catching it with her impressive teeth. She drops it on the mattress and traps it in place with her paws as she noses and sniffs it.
She glances between us and growls.
“Are you not in the mood for company?” Veryn asks, tilting his head.
“No, that’s… My lion is convinced that’s more of a get your ass in here and close the door.” My lion is an alpha shifter, but he still urges me to scramble to comply with her wolf’s command.
Veryn’s low chuckle has my proverbial hackles rising, but I leave him in the open doorway to approach the bed.
Ember’s wolf stands, baring her teeth.
Keep her gaze or she’ll never respect you. My lion projects the thought in my mind. Show no fear.
A warning chuff leaves her lips, followed by some type of low growl.
I reach out my hand, grateful to see it’s not shaking. Fucking hell, her teeth are impressive. She doesn’t let up, and her growl deepens, vibrating out of her chest.
“You’re upset about something,” I murmur, edging closer. “Or maybe you’re testing me. Is that it? You want to be sure I don’t fear you…” My shin hits the edge of the bed. “I owe you my life.” I bow my head in a show of respect as my fingers brush her soft fur. “If you chose to take it, I would offer you my throat.”
Ember’s wolf grunts, licking at my wrist and bumping her face against my shirt.
“I told Ember, but I should probably thank you too.” I kneel on the bed and dig my fingers into her muzzle, giving her a solid scratch. “Thank you for saving me. I’m sorry that you had to kill Aimes, but I’m grateful you did.”
Ember’s wolf brings her paws up, purposely using her weight on my chest and side to shove me down. I land on my back on the mattress, blinking repeatedly. My entire body jolts as she crawls over me.
The door closes loudly, and Veryn chuckles. “My, my, my, you are in a mood.”
Ember growls, staring straight into my eyes as she stands over me. My lion lights in my eyes, and he chuffs back at her. My hands come to rest on her skull, transforming into my paws.
She nips at my wrist, and I’m still baffled why she’s so upset.
Veryn crawls on the end of the bed. He’s shirtless, since he tossed his tee to her wolf upon entering.
He runs his hand down her spine. “How about you keep the tail and the ears and lose the rest of the fur?”
Ember’s wolf grunts at him as she glances over her shoulder, but her eyes quickly return to mine.
Offer her your throat, my lion commands, willing away his claws until my hands return. She wants to see if you meant what you said. She’s our mate. She’ll never be able to truly cause us harm.
My head snaps to the side, and Ember’s wolf lowers her nose to the crook of my neck. Her hot breath fans over my skin, and it goes against every instinct I have to stay in such a vulnerable position, but I meant what I said. She saved my life. If she no longer deems me worthy, then that’s her choice to make.
She uses her nose to bump my hair away and moves back to the same spot as she lowers her chest to mine.
She is an extremely solid wolf, and it becomes difficult to breathe with her weight pressing on my lungs.
Ember takes up much of my view, but I spot Veryn’s hand as he rubs just behind her ears. Ember’s scratchy tongue slides over my throat, and she moves quickly, her mouth opening wide.
My eyes slide shut as I come to terms with the fact I’m going to die. It goes against everything I’ve ever heard about mates, but⁠—
All thoughts bleed away as her wolf bites into my neck. It’s significantly more painful than a bite in human form, but her wolf laps at my skin. There’s a split second where my soul understands I could deny the bond, but I dismiss that.
The link soaks into my consciousness as my lion roars. My wolf, who is normally quiet and only comes forward when I seek him out, howls. Their joint pleasure is unmistakable.
My eyes are still closed as it becomes easier to breathe. Veryn is the first thing I see, but he’s staring at Ember with his mouth hanging open. My hand flies to the back of her head, brushing over human hair. Her much softer tongue teases my skin as she laps at the bite like she’s preparing to retract her teeth.
I keep one hand cradling her skull and bring the other to soothe up and down her back. She’s nude, which makes sense because of the shift.
Veryn moves from leaning over her to kneeling behind her with his legs on either side of mine. “Well, at least you kept the tail. My dragon says thanks.” The bed jostles with the movement of him climbing off the end. He grabs my legs, tugging me down until my knees hang off. Which probably puts Ember’s ass right at the edge. “Push up a bit, so I can lick your pussy,” he growls.
Ember follows his command as her tongue flicks over her canines where they’re still embedded in my skin. If she doesn’t remove them quickly, my healing could cause both of us a significant issue. Luckily, she tugs them free, sliding her tongue over the indents to seal them just before my natural healing kicks in.
Ember groans, wiggling her hips as she uses her hands on my shoulders to push up until she can meet my eyes. Her pretty blue orbs are huge, and her teeth dig into her lower lip.
We’re partially bonded, and we haven’t even kissed.
“I didn’t mean to take your choice—” She cuts off as I lean up, capturing her puffy lips.
She gasps, wrapping her hand around the back of my head. Her fingers dig into my hair painfully, and I kinda like how aggressively she holds me in place.
Her other hand slides down my side, and when she gets to the bottom of the material, she tugs my shirt up.
I’m so overwhelmed. Everything is moving at lightning speed, but she groans against my lips, nodding as her cheek brushes mine.
“This…off.” Ember releases my hair to grab the other side of my T-shirt. She pulls back enough that she can tug it off over my head. It lands somewhere near the pillows, but my eyes don’t leave her face.
I’m in so fucking far over my head. Her hair was braided the last time I saw her, meaning she either took it out before changing into her wolf or the change did away with the braids.
Her blondish-brown hair falls around her shoulders as her nails dig into my pecs. She stares at my chest, but she might be focused on whatever Veryn is doing to make such wet, slick sounds fill the air. Her shoulders tremble, and I ache to elicit those reactions from her.
Everything has moved at lightning speed since she came out of nowhere and saved my ass. You’d think for having close to two hundred years in age on her and the dragon that I’d be the one most comfortable.
Only, I purposely saved myself for my mate.
After seeing the hell my biological father put my mom through by not waiting for his mate… It was an easy decision to make.
Granted, I never thought it would take so long for her to make an appearance, but I have zero regrets.
My hands land on Ember’s sides as she stretches up to kiss me. She must be using her knees to hold her up because she barely puts any weight on me as she trails her nails down my chest and over my abs.
My cock is rock hard and desperate.
The softness of her tongue teasing mine. The way her hair brushes my cheeks and shoulders as she moves. Even the feeling of her tits brushing my chest.
It’s all so fucking much to process.
And I know I’m supposed to be doing more, but that’s hard when Veryn has us both trapped in place.
So, I give in to the tantalizing kiss and warm brush of her tits against my chest. I’m obsessed with how soft her skin is under my fingertips, and I tease from her back down to squeeze her ass. My hands brush Veryn’s forearm, but I ignore him.
I damn well intend to enjoy my first time…no matter who else is in attendance.
Ember nibbles at my lower lip, and the swirling of her tongue around the ache distracts me as she undoes my jeans. Her fingers brush over my lower stomach, and she slides under the material.
I groan into our kiss and lock my muscles to keep from trying to roll us.
Ember’s hand wraps around my shaft, and she moans. “Holy shit, that’s new.”
“Yeah, feline shifters have spikes,” I say, trying to find another way to describe the mini-hooks or barbs.
Fuck, do we really have to have an audience for this conversation?