Read Maggie's Wolves, Part Three: A BBW Shifter Romance (Red Mountain Pack Book 3) for Free Online Page B

make.”
    “Like the decision to take a mate.”
    “Like that one.” His arms tightened around her. “It’s not a personality trait, not really. Just a statement of position and intention. I’m submissive to Case and to Eli. I consider myself equal to Carson.”
    “And Declan?”
    There was a long pause before he sighed, his breath stirring her hair. “Declan is another story. You’ll have to wait until you meet him.”
    She had the impression that he didn’t want to say more about his pack mate, and that was just as well really. She’d rather form her own opinion. Right now, she wanted to know more about Jack.
    “I get why Case and Eli wanted to take a mate, but is it really what you want to do? Not just with me, but with anyone. You’re awfully young to be making that kind of commitment.”
    “I’m not much younger than you.”
    But they’d lived very different lives. For one thing, he still had a family who loved him, even if he found living with them too restrictive.
    He turned her in his arms and kissed her, his tongue sinking deep into her mouth. His hands pulled her up tightly against his long, lanky frame. When he lifted his head, his eyes glittered darkly. “I want you. My wolf wants you. Everything inside me tells me this is right. It’s the same way I felt when I found Case and the pack here. This is home to me. You’re a part of that now. Family. You feel like family to me. Like my mate. And I need to stop touching you now while I can still stop.”
    His hands were shaking as he let her go. Heat warmed her blood. Some of that was the normal arousal that came from being kissed—from being wanted—by an attractive man, but it was more, too. Her wolf was growing hungry again which meant it was time to go.
    They walked back toward the sleds. Jack took her hand again to steady her over the fence, but then released her right away. She didn’t like that. She wanted to touch him again. She didn’t want to let go. Jack felt like family to her too.
    She stopped walking when she came to the sled. Jack climbed onto his, but she hesitated. She wasn’t ready to go back up to the house yet where Eli was waiting. Case might be back, bringing Declan. Carson was expected, too. She took off her gloves and set them on the seat.
    Jack grabbed his helmet and then paused. “You okay?” His brow creased in concern. “If you don’t feel up to riding on your own, you can ride with me. I’ll come back for the sled.”
    She shook her head and walked around the hood of the snowmobile. Jack’s eyes narrowed as she approached. “Maggie?”
    She took his helmet and set it aside, then climbed onto his lap, facing him. Framing his face with her hands, she said, “I claim you, Jack. If you’re willing, I want you to be mine.”
    Wolflight sparked to life in his eyes, and he reached for her, hard hands closing on her hips to hold her in place. Did he think she’d run now? The stark intensity of his expression made her shiver as he stared into her eyes.
    “I claim you as my mate,” he said solemnly. “Man to woman and wolf to wolf, you are mine as I am yours. My body I give to your protection and pleasure. My life to your service. My seed to our future. We are pack.”   
    He ripped the gloves from his hands and tossed them aside, sank his fingers into her wind-blown hair to pull her closer. His teeth closed on her lower lip with a sharp nip and then he sucked it into his mouth, tasting the blood he’d drawn before his tongue slid between her parted lips. He kissed her deeply, taking her mouth like he owned it. She could feel the ready tautness of his body everywhere they touched—her thighs sprawled across his, his forearms against her chest, his mouth… God, he was a good kisser. It was only now that she realized just how much he’d been holding back.
    He lifted his head, leaving her gasping for air.
    “We should head back to the house. I’ll drive us.”
    It’d taken them nearly an hour to get down