She nipped and licked her way down his body even as his hands touched her everywhere, they could reach. He stroked taking her higher. Her tongue licked her lips when she finally came to his treasure trail. He was hairless, but he had something there like a puzzle of strangely colored patches of skin. They reminded her of what she had seen down his spine. It looked like a natural tattoo.
“This is beautiful does it mean something?”
“I don’t know,” his voice was rough. “Not all Kur’iks have it.”
She nodded finding it hard to pay attention as she licked at the intricate designed then blew her breath over it. He shivered, she did it again delighted to find out he was more sensitive there then he was on the rest of his body. Unable to resist she licked the head of his dick watching it vibrate from the contact.
“Yes,” she moaned before she took the head in her mouth His hips thrust up trying to get closer before he drew back
“I need you now,” he grabbed her around her waist and flipped their position His mouth went to her clit sucking as his fingers caressed her slit preparing her for his invasion.
“Please Kayden,” her hips bucked against him. She waited so long for this moment, it felt like centuries, years, when it was only weeks, and days. Her mind didn’t care she dreamed about it, nothing in the dreams ever felt this good. Her clit was swelling with need as her pussy lips dripped with wetness that Kayden licked up. It felt like he would never stop drinking her down.
Then he was poised over her, his lips moved in silent words that her ears strained to hear. With the first thrust, she forgot about everything except the pleasure racing through her body. With each thrust, he took her higher. Her hands ran over his body while she clenched around his thickness wanting to bring him the same pleasure she felt. Her stomach contracted and her knees felt like they would buckle and still, she met him thrust for joyful thrust. Her voice echoed around the chamber sounding like the victory cry of the Valkyrie.
He spoke to her in a language she didn’t know during his groans of pleasure. Her fingers dug into his back trying to find solid ground to stand on even as he took her to the clouds.
“Kayden please I need you.” She was as tight as a string stretched between two points. She vibrated with a need to break to feel the waves crash over her until she was no longer Keva until she became a part of the crash and the ebb of the tide rising within her. She needed to be one with him.
His pace increased his heartbeat doing that three-beat sound that was struggling to get back in sync. Her orgasm crashed over her without a warning shot taking her underwater where it poured pleasure through her like she was a mystic fountain. She screamed not caring who heard her as her body shook. The last thing she heard was the guttural scream that came from Kayden as his body found relief.
Chapter Sixteen
This is not what Keva thought she’d wake up to. Her blissful lie in and hug Kayden morning had turned into watch television anxiously and pray for the best.
“Aww, hell no,” Ava shouted. Whatever she spotted couldn’t be good.
“What’s wrong?” Keva sat on the edge of the couch, trying to get a better look at the large screen.
“Those are detectives Smith and Jones. They are both dead.”
“They look alive and healthy to me. Are you putting hits out on people, Ava?”
Ava gave her the I’m crazy grin. They had talked about hits before but surely it was in jest. Well, it was on Keva’s side.
“Sadly no. Those two detectives are clinically dead. How they are up and moving, that I don’t know.”
“Is it a stretch of the imagination for me to think that the same people who designed the Shadows had a hand in this?”
“We think alike, Keva. Everyone else keeps telling me until we have proof…”
“We’re never going to get proof sitting here. What’s the next question?” Mira asked them.
“Are they working for or against the Shadows?” Kayden pulled Keva back to his side.
“Why against,” Ven questioned.
“They show up at public displays of the Shadows, never at private displays.”
“Kayden may have a point, they weren’t at the ghost house,” Keva added.
“They were at the news conference about the detective, but not at the house when we went to rescue him.” Locke ran his hands, threw his hair an earth gesture he was picking up.
“They might not be on the side of the Shadows. What does this mean to us?” Cade looked around the room.
“There is the possibility they are just observing,” Taris filled in.
“To what end?” Cade put up a white board and started writing.
“They could be fighting against them,” Key supplied.
“Again, to what end?” Cade asked as he wrote it down.
“What if the Shadows are the old model and the dead are the new models?” Ven said. Every Kur’ik in the room groaned.
“I hate you so much Ven,” Key told him.
“I love you too, Key.”
Key mumbled under his breath making Ven and Locke laugh.
“Ven might have a valid point. So far, the men have done nothing but observe. There hasn’t been a take over the world vibe or a mad villain monologue. What if their purpose is to get rid of the Shadows?” Ava speculated.
“Nope, they are human even if they’re dead. That means they know how to get things done and they didn’t get dead by little and weak look at them.”
“What are you suggesting, Mira?”
“I think we’re thinking about this backward. I’ve spent most of my life feeling other’s emotions, which means I’ve learned body language even the smallest tick has become a scientific study to me. Those two men are watching and waiting.”
“Watching and waiting for what?” Tristan asked his mate.
“Us.”
“They want us to destroy the Shadows giving them a better understanding of how we operate,” Cade speculated, picking up on Mira’s train of thought.
“They’re always in the background but stand out just enough so we will pick up on them.” Ven paced as he thought.
“Do we have two enemies?”
“Possibly, but we can’t label them that if they don’t make a move against us or mankind,” Keva reminded Cade.
They turned back to the screen. Several children disappeared overnight from a campsite a few miles outside of city limits. They think they may have wandered away at night while playing a game after their parents went to sleep. The kids were young, and they asked everyone to stay away from the area so the professionals could search. Now they were getting nervous. It would be dark in a couple of hours and their chances of surviving were being cut in half with every minute that passed. They were finally asking for help.
“Each team, grab a backpack were going hunting.” Cade walked out the room.
Kayden shouldered the backpack Keva filled. It contained water, nutrition bars as well as clothes and sweaters for the children who may need them.
They paired up in couples. Ven took Key as his partner while Cade and Taris paired up. They each took separate vehicles not wanting to start at the same place.
“Ready?”
“As I’ll ever be.” They got out the blue SUV that she was becoming fond of. There were no sounds of people calling the children’s names. “Do you think we’re too far away from where they were camped?”
“Not if the Shadows have them. If they just wandered away, then the humans don’t need our help with that.”
Keva started walking putting a little distance between her and Kayden but staying close enough that they could still see each other.
“I’m disappointed in you, Keva. You let that abomination defile you. I should have known its human nature to want to sleep with the bad boy. You didn’t mate him, there’s still hope for you.”
She heard the Shadow but couldn’t see him. Her hope that they hadn’t taken the children died when she heard that voice.
&nb
sp; “Where are the children?”
“They’re alive and well, mostly well.”
“Let them go.”
“Now we have a problem.”
Keva turned in a circle looking at the tall trees that were blocking out the sun. she could still see Kayden, but he couldn’t see her. The look on his face was panic. She wanted to break out of whatever was keeping her from Kayden, but she knew without being a psychic that if she did, those kids would die.
“You can make the right choice. Back to my problem. I’m hungry and those children can only be considered an appetizer if I drain their life force. I am gracious though and do understand how you may feel about small children, there was a time that I would have cared too.”
She waited in silence for him to continue when he said nothing else, she took the bait.
“You said something about being gracious?”
“Yes, my giving nature. I would trade my snacks for a taste of you. I believe you would fill me like a four-course meal.”
“How do I know you would keep your end of the bargain?”
“Good point, they are ripe like a perfect piece of fruit. Agree to the bargain, then I will show you they are safe before I dine.”
“I agree.” It was the hardest thing she ever did. There was no guarantee she’d survive this with her soul or body intact. Her life for eight children. Her and Kayden’s sanity, their future for eight children. No matter how she tried to balance the scale the children were always the heaviest. This was a pain she couldn’t afflict on unsuspecting parents. Kayden knew that there might not be a tomorrow for them, they would always have last night.
Hot tears burned her eyes, but she refused to allow them to release. The Shadow had already taken too much from her, he would not take her vulnerability. That belonged to Kayden alone. The children came running through the woods tripping over shrubs and branches. They stopped when they saw Kayden. He knelt speaking in what must have been a quiet voice. They eventually ran to him. When they were situated, he turned and looked in the direction he last saw Keva. ‘Keva what have you done?’
She read his lips and sent him an unseen smile. She replied never making a sound only moving her lips. ‘What I had to do my love.’ Was it funny or ironic that when the end of your life loomed before you all the things you struggled with became crystal clear? She loved Kayden. When did it happen? Who knew, maybe in the coffee shop when he was willing to stand up for her with the others.
Love didn’t take months or years to grow. It could happen in the pace of a heartbeat or a blink of an eye.
“Mom when did you love me?” a six-year-old Keva asked.
“The minute I knew I was pregnant with you.”
The Shadow drew her deeper into the woods until she could no longer see Kayden. His hands roamed over her body, there was no pushing him away. She bought the lives of those children with her mind, body, and soul. It was a deal she would honor in good faith.
“I love humans like you,” his laughter echoed through the woods.
Humans like me. Fools that care too much about the people around them. Humans, that go to war for honor and family? It didn’t matter, what she did was right.
She stopped when she came to a large clearing, the sun was hitting it with rainbows in its beams. There was a small pond nearby and a place to sit that looked comfortable.
“Sit, standing will be dangerous.”
She sat. The hands that she was able to ignore took more liberties making her stomach heave. Her mind pushed against her normal reaction to such an invasion. If he didn’t eat from her, she was sure the next group of kids he picked would die.
“Such a lovely morsel, I know why that Neanderthal desires you. Not only are you beautiful but your talent shines beckoning me closer.”
“It never did know how to keep its legs closed.”
“And you're funny,” he laughed as he stroked her again.
“I can only imagine what it would be like to push into you as I feed on you.”
Please God in heaven, tell me his dick can’t get hard.
“There is no time for that now. Who knows maybe later?”
His hand went over her head, playing in her hair until he struck bouncing off her shields
“Be a doll and drop the shield.”
She did, giving him access to the energy that was stored behind her shield. This wasn’t the same as when she used her energy to perform tricks in her show or even used it to defend herself on the street. This was a different type of rape, but still rape. When the wife says not tonight, but the husband refuses to listen. When the partner says you don’t want me to hurt the kids do you. This was the kind of rape where you do what you must because you don’t have a choice, but it didn’t make it right. She was lucky if you could call it that to only be mentally raped.
There was a feeling of being dirty and helpless as he tore through her mind pulling her energy away from her. Legs shook and hands balled tightly her nails biting into her palms. There was a desire to pummel him, but he wasn’t corporal enough for her to touch. A shout, a cry of anguish tore at her throat while she bit her lips trying not to let it out. Men like him got off on being powerful.
Her mind reached out asking for help even as she knew she didn’t deserve it. She did this, it was her actions that attracted a monster. What was it about her? Why her? A hand reached out to try the stop the last of her energy from departing. The Shadow dropped her on the floor of the woods like a broken doll.
“Thank you, sweetheart, you were worth more than five times the children I abducted.”
A hand went to her throat choking off her oxygen. The world went black.
Chapter Seventeen
“Kayden it’s dark.”
“I can see in the dark.”
“I know,” Cade reached out to stop him. “I’m going to send the other’s back. The women can’t see in the dark and then I’ll continue to look with you.”
“I’m not going back,” Ven came from between the trees. He took up a position beside Kayden as Cade disappeared to send the others home.
Kayden searched for Keva from the moment he returned the children to their crying, snotty-nosed parents. They wanted to make him a hero, but he knew better. His mate gave up her life for their children. He left during their praise to look for the only person that mattered to him.
It should have been clear to him the minute he laid eyes on her in the restaurant or when he knew that he would lay his life down for hers. Why did it wait until now when there was no way for him to tell her how he felt? He kept thinking of all the nights he held her in his arms too afraid to make the next move. How often had he told himself that Kur’iks were not vulnerable?
If he could change the past, he would confess all to her including the love he felt for her. The thought of her not being able to love him back crippled him, but he needed to know.
Kayden had combed a fifteen-mile radius from where he last saw Keva. He would start again this time going twenty miles. When he walked there was a feeling she was right there, but his eyes couldn’t see her. After the sun went down and the moon came out, all he could hear was the nocturnal animals in the now quiet woods. He changed his form allowing his werewolf to come out. No longer did he depend on his humanoid characteristics or brain.
Animal instinct was all that led him. The same animal that kept him alive during battles and infiltrations into the enemy camp. The animal that loved a human even when that notion had seemed absurd to the humanoid.
Ven’s werewolf kept pace with him, but he knew the male was no threat to Keva. He sniffed as he walked allowing his highly developed sense of smell to lead the way. When a wolf that should not have been in the woods howled, he joined him in a song. Alien and human wolf connected, he told Kayden about a woman walking through the woods earlier. Kayden gave a howl of thanks as he changed his course a little and headed in the direction the wolf had seen her walk.
His Keva, this time he would only let her go if she de
manded. No longer would he make decisions for her, she was old enough to know what she wanted.
His ears picked up the sound of a howl, not the wolf from earlier but something that was sniffing around a meal. Coyote, his mind supplied while the hoot of several owls drew his attention. He shifted into a run. They broke into a clearance Ven on his heels to find several animals approaching Keva’s body. The roar of pain and anguish came from him scaring the birds in the trees. The scavengers turned on him as one preparing to protect their meal.
Ven came to his side, the unsheathed deadly claws prepared to kill anything that stood between them and Keva. The first coyote came for him. He caught it throwing it against a tree remembering at the last instant that Keva wouldn’t want him to kill it if he could help it. Not waiting for anymore attacks he advanced showing them his dominance of the situation and the area. They fled following the direction of the first one.
He sank to his knees at her side. His body shifted painfully until he was once again humanoid.
“What did you do love?”
“She bartered for those children’s lives with her body. Now move back so I can save her.” Tristan edged Kayden out the way.
“She’s dead.”
“Maybe, but then again maybe not.” Tristan worked while everyone else held their breath. The moon was working itself toward the horizon when he stood up. “Pick her up try not to jostle her.”
“She’s alive?”
“You can thank Safire and Deja for that. I think they catch glimpses of the future,” Tristan walked away hurrying to get back to his mate. “Bring her directly to the house, she’s not out of the woods yet. No pun intended.”
Kayden would kiss Safire and Deja when he saw them. He picked up Keva and made his way back to the SUV. Ven was in the driver’s seat.
The Wolf & The Pretender Page 10