He wanted to lift her up, to hold her away from his body so that he could thrust into her furiously and ferociously. He wanted to give himself over to the instincts of the animal that dwelt within him, to fuck her savagely and desperately. And he knew that there was a part of her that craved that too.
Instead, Ryker forced himself to remain still. To wait.
He felt himself throbbing within her. He felt her body responding in kind. How long would they be able to sit, just feeling the way their bodies reacted to one another? How long would they be able to revel in these sensations without taking things further?
It was a challenge Ryker relished.
He traced his fingers slowly up and down the sides of her body, occasionally visiting more sensitive destinations—her breasts, the place where her collarbone met her neck, the insides of her thighs.
She shivered in his arms, obviously helpless and wanting—and yet she remained still.
“I’m going to fuck you all day long,” he breathed into her ear.
She tightened around him in response. It thrilled him that he had the power to provoke that kind of reaction in her.
They remained still—as still as they possibly could—for what felt like hours. Afterward, Ryker thought it had probably only been a few minutes. It was impossible to control the urges of his body when he was with Sophie like this. The way he felt about her was more powerful than anything he had ever experienced.
He cradled her as he leaned forward, tipping her back slowly until her shoulders and upper back were supported by the ground. Wrapping his arms beneath her knees, he lifted her hips to his and rested his hands on the small of her back. And then, their position stabilized, he finally began to fuck her in earnest.
He lost himself in the beautiful sounds she was making, in the way her body rose to meet his, in the way she felt as he thrust into her again and again. He truly could have done this all day. There was nothing he would rather have been doing, no desire that could have taken him away from her.
But eventually, the pleasure of it simply became too much.
He couldn’t hold back his orgasm anymore.
He managed to wait until he could see that she was on the verge as well—her eyelids fluttering, her hands opening and closing in a futile attempt to grasp something, her heels drumming against the ground. Though they lived without human technology here in their cave, in moments like this, Ryker could never help wishing he had a camera. He wanted to show Sophie how she looked when she gave herself over to pure pleasure like this, how beautiful she was in the throes of passion.
He never stood a chance. The moment her orgasm took her, he was lost to his own as well.
When they had begun to recover, their pounding hearts slowing and their breathing returning to normal, she curled up against him and sighed contentedly. “I needed that,” she told him. “So badly.”
“So did I,” he admitted. “A week was really too long for us to go without being together. We shouldn’t do that again.”
She chuckled. “I don’t know why we would,” she said. “If this ceremony goes the way it’s supposed to, I’ll be pregnant soon, and there won’t be any need to do something like this again.”
“Unless we want to get you pregnant for a third time in the future,” Ryker reminded her.
She rolled to look at him. “A third time?” she said incredulously. “Are you serious?”
“You like being pregnant, I thought,” he said.
“I do,” she said. “But our first litter gave us nine children. If this next one is the same, we’ll have eighteen, all under the age of two. And now you’re talking about going for a third set?” She shook her head. “That’s too many.”
“Maybe it’s too many right now,” Ryker allowed. “But think about it, Sophie. Think about the environment we’ve created for ourselves.”
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“The bears are gone,” he explained. “Up here above the sixty-sixth, it’s just our pack and whatever feral wolves remain. There’s no reason we can’t find more betas and incorporate them into the pack, just like we did with Cam and Petra and Chrissy and Robby.” He smiled, thinking about it. “Our pack could be huge. Then there would be more than enough people to help us manage our children.”
“Lofty ambitions,” Sophie said. “The kind of family you’re talking about wouldn’t be able to live in this cave.”
“We wouldn’t have to live in the cave,” Ryker said. “There’s nothing to threaten us anymore. We only need the cave to protect us from the weather. With a pack of the size I’m talking about, we’d never have to worry about being bothered by wild animals. They’d keep away instinctively. And there are no shifters who pose a threat to our family now that the bears are gone.”
Sophie was quiet for a long moment.
“I have to admit, it sounds nice,” she said. “Growing our family in that way. In both of those ways. I’d like to be able to have as many children as you’re willing to give me.” She laughed. “Even though the idea of having so many feels a little bit crazy right now.”
“You’ll be the mother of a nation of new shifters,” Ryker said. “The Arctic Wolf Pack. Owners of a territory that used to be purely wild. Remember what I told you about the way shifter packs used to form, with the omega at the center?”
“The way ours is set up,” she said. “As opposed to the way the southern packs are, with everything revolving around the needs of the alpha.”
“Right,” Ryker said. “Our pack, the Arctic Wolves, will be the one to restore that tradition. And someday, when our many children grow up and go off to form packs of their own, they’ll carry the tradition with them. They’ll change the way the shifter world works. And all of that will begin with you.”
A slow smile spread over Sophie’s face. Ryker could see that she was intoxicated by the idea he’d described. “We could change the way the world is for omegas,” she said. “No one would ever have to go through what I did with Josh’s pack. Every omega could have the kind of life I’ve had here with you.”
“Exactly,” Ryker said, pulling her into his arms. “That’s the way it ought to be."
Chapter Three
SOPHIE
When Sophie awoke the following morning, Ryker was gone.
She looked around. Marco should be here now—he was the only alpha she hadn’t been with yet—but she didn’t see him anywhere. “Marco?” she called out.
Someone nearby her snorted. “Not exactly.”
“Don’t be rude, Chrissy,” another voice admonished.
Sophie sat up, noticing as she did so that someone had dressed her in her sleep. It must have been Ryker. “Chrissy?” she asked. “Petra? Is that you?”
Petra stepped forward into the pool of light coming from the mouth of the cave. “It’s us,” she said, smiling. “We thought you’d never wake up.”
“The alphas must really be wearing you out,” Chrissy said.
Sophie didn’t want to admit it, but the truth of the matter was that Chrissy was right. She was exhausted, even though she’d gotten a full night’s sleep. Her body still craved her alphas, but she also felt as if she had run a marathon.