Fated Mates: Paranormal Romance Series Starters Boxset

by Hariharan, Laxmi

  A prickle of apprehension crawls down my spine. Then she presses her legs into my sides and literally climbs up, so her face is level with mine. “But first there’s something I need to ask.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Are your ears the only part of you that sharpen when aroused?”

  “What do you mean?” I frown down at her.

  “I mean, I’ve heard things about Fae males and their sexual prowess…”

  “Go on.” A low burst of heat flares in my groin.

  “And that you have, you know…certain additions to your appendages that are aimed at pleasuring females.”

  “And where did you hear that?”

  “I may or may not have had other Fae males try to woo me.” She bats her eyelids at me.

  I stare. It’s clearly an overtly feminine gesture aimed at distracting me. And strangely, it’s succeeding. I shake my head. “Tell me.” I squeeze my arms around her.

  She groans, and I force myself to loosen my grip. “Well?” I pull back my ears.

  “Well, you know us, women, we like to gossip.”

  “No, I don’t, and you can do better than that.” I bare my teeth, knowing my canines have grown. I want her to see that. Need her to be aware of the kind of beast she's inviting to lay with her.

  Her gaze drops to my teeth. “When you do that… I…” She shakes her head.

  “What?”

  “I want you to bury them in my flesh.”

  Desire tightens my groin. I lower my head to her neck then sink my teeth into the soft skin. “Like this?” I bite down with enough pressure to mark, without piercing her flesh.

  She groans, and this time the sound is of pleasure. Her thighs clench. I feel the moisture that wets the cloth over her pussy. My dick throbs and weeps to be let out of its constraints. “I swear you are saying all this just to drive me over the edge,” I whisper against her skin. Then I lick the skin I marked.

  Her head falls back, giving me more access to her neck. “Is it working?” Her voice is just a little above a moan.

  It sends another jolt of heat flushing over my skin.

  “Fuck this.” I drop into myself, letting the energy locked inside me flow out, over my skin, shattering me into tiny pieces.

  The air thins around me, and the hairs on the nape of my neck rise. The world tilts, and then every particle of me flutters back into place.

  I press her into the bed and cover every inch of her body with mine.

  She groans, and her eyelids flutter. “You teleported?”

  I simply drag my lips down her neck to the valley between her breasts.

  “I thought you said you only teleported in emergencies?”

  “This is an emergency.” I nuzzle her breast then drag my mouth over the erect nipple and bite it.

  Her head thrashes back on the bed. “You know what else is an emergency?” She swallows.

  I sweep my palm over her side to her hip and grip it. “Tell me.”

  “The way I am wet and melting and ready for you.”

  Her words slam into me. Every part of me tenses. My dick goes so hard I think it will burst my pants. My balls draw up. Very slowly, I let go of her and sit up, to straddle her body.

  Her breath catches.

  I slide back from the bed, then lower my legs to the floor and stand.

  She stays frozen, on her back. Her legs are apart, her arms are flung out. Her thick hair streams out on the bed.

  “You really like to live dangerously, don’t you?” My voice comes out rougher than I intended.

  She gulps. Fear rolls off her mixed with that sharp sweetness of her arousal. Her belly jerks and she raises her knees as if to lock them together, then brings them back down in place. “Only with you.”

  She bites her lower lip, and holy fuck, I know I can’t wait anymore.

  “I thought I would take it slow the first time. Introduce you to my body, get to know you, allow you to adjust.”

  “And now?” She juts out her chin, then tucks an arm behind her neck.

  My gaze is drawn to her chest.

  To how she trails her fingers down her breasts, over her belly button to play with the folds of her pussy. I can’t remember the last time a woman had me in such thrall. Never. And not again. I’ll never let this human get the better of me. I will not allow her to seduce me. Definitely not in bed.

  I raise my fingers and point them at her. Let the blood rush to the fingertips. “Now there is no turning back.”

  21

  Gia

  They didn’t warn us that it would be like this. The Bureau teaches you to live life on the edge, to train for every conceivable danger, to make sure you know your life is at stake. No one tells you it could be your heart, your spirit, your soul that is caught.

  That your heart beats like a trapped animal in your chest.

  While your skin stretches tight until it feels like it’s ready to burst. Sweat pools at the base of your spine. Even as your thighs clench. Your pussy quivers and moisture flows out as your body readies itself for the invasion by a male you met just a few days ago.

  Your body needs him. Your soul recognizes him. But your will insists that you hold on to that part of you that makes you what you are: a stubborn, independent woman who’s made it this far.

  A human who has survived in a world filled with shifters, vampires, and Fae. The weakest of the species in flesh but not in spirit. No.

  He holds up his hands, the fingers outstretched. The tips glimmer and sparks of light shoot out from them.

  Whatever he is going to do, it’s going to change the balance of power between us, I know that.

  I should stop him, and yet something inside me seems to crumble, to want what he can do to me. The feeling pushes all other thoughts from my head. I lower my chin to my chest, fix my gaze on his face. Force myself to stare, unblinking.

  “Do your worst.” I even allow a smile to curl at my lips. I know now that I am insane. I have to be, to taunt this lethal warrior. This Fae who has been trained to be an assassin. But I want to learn all his secrets. Want to goad him until he exposes what he is, shares more of what the Fae are. So little is known about them, and everything I learn will help us in fighting them. Not only that. I want to know everything about this man. I do.

  His gaze narrows. The air around us seems to thin. I try to take in a breath and find there isn’t enough oxygen. It’s as if he’s sucked in all the air in the space. His ears narrow further, then pull back.

  The light at his fingertips sparks. The next moment an arrow of fire shoots out. I look down to find my clothes are alight.

  A scream rips out of me.

  Then the fire switches off.

  Just like that. I blink. Not a part of me is hurt. No part of my skin is singed. My clothes are gone. I am naked to his gaze. It’s not like he hasn’t seen me nude before; he must have when he’d rescued me, then held me close, and shared his life force with me, and later when I took off my clothes before stepping into the shower. But this is different. An awareness crackles between us. The tension in the space ratchets up. He stands, chest heaving with his gaze trained on my body.

  A laugh bubbles up, and I recognize the sign for what it is. Hysteria.

  I’ve poked and prodded the beast, and he’s begun to show me who he really is. I should be scared of what he can do to me. But all I feel is…relief.

  The fact that he trusts me enough to let down his guard? To show me how he can strip me without laying a finger on me? It’s an eye-opener. What else can he do to me? Another peal of laughter rings out of me.

  Tears prick the back of my eyes, and my features contort as a wave of uncertainty grips me. “Well, that was…not what I expected.” I hiccough.

  His forehead furrows. He scrubs a hand over his face. “This is what I mean. I have no control where you are concerned. I can hurt you…just one mistake, one step over the line, and I can kill you, send you back to the broken human you were before I shared my life force
with you.” He paces at the foot of the bed.

  There’s anger in every line of his body.

  His spine is stiff. His flanks tight. The muscles at the back of his thighs are mesmerizing to watch; his glutes bunch and give with every step. The man’s got the tightest ass I’ve ever seen. My fingers itch to run over his skin.

  “Did you hear what I just said?”

  I force my gaze up to his face. “No…yes.”

  I bite the inside of my cheek to swallow down another burst of hysteria that threatens to roll up. This male could kill me so easily. Yet my entire attention is occupied with his physical prowess. I am more attracted to him than I realize. More in love with him than I thought. Umm. Love? Nope, not that. Some kind of perverse need, perhaps, to see what he can offer me.

  The heights of passion he can take me to.

  Maybe I am just tired of fighting this force that propels us toward each other, only to have us falter when we are close. I want this done. Want him to just take me, fuck me. Bond with me. I want to find out what it means to be mated to a Fae.

  “I lied.”

  I sit up and fold my legs against my chest.

  “Huh?” He turns to me, arms by his sides, his fingers curled into fists. “Explain.”

  “My best friend at the Bureau was abducted by a Fae male. I didn’t see her for years. Then her mate died, and she escaped the Fae.” I wrap my arms around my knees. “In her few conscious moments, she told me how much she hated her mate and yet how she couldn’t live without him, for he’d spoiled her forever for any other male. When he died, they lowered their guard on her, knowing it was only a matter of time before she withered away, too. It’s why she was able to escape.”

  “Diana?” He tucks his elbows close to his body.

  “You knew her?” I press my tongue to the roof of my mouth.

  “I’ve heard of her. Never met her in person.” His features tighten. “What happened to her?”

  “She died.” I watch his face for a reaction.

  He holds my gaze. There is no other change in expression.

  I choose my words with care. “In death, at least, she’d accepted that he was her mate, that she’d never be able to survive without him.”

  “Is that why you want to lay with me? Is it vengeance for her?”

  I shake my head. “I want to know how it is to be with a Fae. I want to feel the ecstasy she described. Does that make me strange?”

  He drops his hands to his sides, then closes the distance to stand at the foot of the bed. He raises his arm and quirks a finger, “Come ’ere.”

  Everything inside me trembles.

  I force myself to rise to my feet on the bed, then walk toward him.

  He watches me through hooded eyes

  I come to a stop in front of him. Standing on the bed, I am still not at eye-level with him. That's how tall he is. Heat curls low in my belly. My nerves tingle.

  His gaze sweeps over my breasts, my waist, to rest on the triangle between my legs. “So fucking sweet. And hot. And willing.”

  “You don’t know that yet.” I’d all but asked him to fuck me, yet I can’t help myself from putting up a token resistance.

  “Oh, but you are.” He quirks his lips.

  The heat of his breath brushes the trembling flesh at the apex of my thighs. Yet he hasn’t moved. Hasn’t touched me, not on the physical plane. Apparently, there are benefits to having telekinetic energy at your command.

  Another thing they neglect to tell you at the Bureau.

  I resist the urge to cover myself with my arms. “You going to show me how you did that?”

  “Faes never tell.”

  22

  Dante

  I lick my lips, and her pupils dilate. Her back arches and her breasts thrust forward.

  “What did you feel?” I know exactly what I’ve done, yet I need her to tell me.

  “Like your tongue swept into my pussy and curled inside the walls of my channel.” Her thighs flex. Her knees bend, and she begins to sink down to the mattress.

  I don’t move, simply throw out some of my energy, loop it around her, and steady her.

  “I feel your hands on my shoulders, trailing down to my breasts.” Her chest heaves.

  “I want to touch you.” A bead of sweat inches down my temple.

  “Why don’t you?” A furrow appears between her eyebrows.

  “Damn if I know.” I shake my head. My entire behavior with her is unexpected. I want her, I need to take her, yet something holds me back. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe there is a sliver of this man inside me who feels I have done you wrong. Who feels it’s my fault that you are here in the first place, soul-bonded to someone who you don’t know at all.” Did I just say that? A chuckle cracks out of me.

  She meets my gaze squarely. “So instead, you’ll torture yourself and me, by touching me…just not physically.”

  “Oh, I feel every inch of your skin all right.” I rub my fingers together.

  Her head falls forward. “You’re killing me with your phantom fingers. By how you glide them up my hips to grip them, even as your lips are positioned right over me.” Sweat pops on her forehead.

  I fist my hands at my sides. I want to…need to take her. My balls feel too fucking heavy. It’s as if they are weighing me down and now, I can’t move. Can’t think. “Lie back.” I force out the words. My throat feels like it’s lined with cut glass.

  Her shoulders shiver, and she looks at me. There’s a glint of defiance in her eyes.

  “Please.” I groan out the word. My chest heaves.

  She sucks in her cheeks, then lowers herself to the bed to lay on her back. Her chest heaves and her hair spills over her forehead.

  “Now spread your legs.” I must be crazy for doing this. Maybe I just like to punish myself. Or perhaps I just want to make sure she is ready for me. Despite my threats earlier, I cannot take her without first preparing her for what is to come. Maybe I am a better man than I thought.

  Color flushes her face. She hesitates, and I wonder if she’s going to make me beg? Then she straightens her legs out in front of her and parts her thighs. Her pink lower lips glisten.

  She curls her toes, stretching out her calves, and the movement only draws attention to how supple her muscles are.

  I allow my gaze to roam over her concave stomach, her puckered nipples, the dip between her collarbone at the base of her throat. Up to her trembling lips. “What now?” The skin stretches across her cheeks.

  Energy floods my cells, flowing to my extremities. My ears pull elongate, my canines lengthen. The tips of my fingers tingle. My dick throbs, straining against my pants.

  “Take off your clothes.” Her voice is harsh.

  The need in her words hardens my groin. My balls protest. “No.” I lower my gaze back to her clit. “Not yet.”

  I jerk my chin up, and her head falls back.

  “Fuck.” She mewls.

  “Tell me what you feel.”

  She groans.

  “Please.”

  “I feel your finger inside me, sliding in and out of me.” Her hips dig back into the mattress. She raises her pelvis.

  “In.” I breathe out the word with her, forcing myself to keep my eyes open. To watch her thigh muscles squeeze themselves together. Her belly twitches.

  “Out,” her voice lowers to a whisper.

  She flings her head back, and her spine rises off the mattress, and a scream tears out of her. The scent of her arousal bleeds into the air. That sweetness of her shudders over me.

  “I can’t hold back, Gia, forgive me.”

  23

  Gia

  I hear him as if from a distance.

  The world fades around me. The room, the bed…everything but his voice, his phantom touch inside me. That sweet emptiness between my thighs that needs so much more. Sparks of blue and pink shatter behind my closed eyelids and fade away. My body collapses back onto the bed.

  Every muscle in my body feels too rel
axed, too limber.

  My insides are melting, and my arousal seeps out of me, the moisture gushing from my pussy. I should close my thighs to stop it, but I can’t. Should cover myself up, but my hands feel too lazy.

  I manage to crack my eyelids open to see him shrug off his T-shirt then shuck his pants. “Not. Fair.”

  He angles his head, “What?”

  “You burn off my clothes, then proceed to undress yourself.” I pout. “You have all the dramatic moves.”

  “I can teach you.” He raises his shoulders and lets them fall. “If you want.”

  “You can?” I frown. “But I don’t have any powers.”

  “Not yet.” Those blue eyes glow.

  “What does that mean?” I peer up at him, trying to form all these separate streams of my thoughts into coherent words. “I am just a human, someone who’s always had to try extra hard to be halfway as powerful as those around me.”

  “Yet here you are, baiting a Fae, who is more powerful than any other species alive.” He smirks.

  “You’re changing the topic.” There is a tingling feeling in my chest.

  “No, I am bringing it back to the only one that matters.” He leans down and circles my ankle.

  His touch sweeps into my blood. My core heaves.

  “Which is?” I breathe out the words knowing I am not prepared for what he is going to do next. And yet I want it. Every part of me is aching for him. Every inch of my skin feels like it is on fire. My scalp tingles; even the tips of my eyelashes stretch with anticipation.

  His chest muscles harden and a vein throbs at his temple. He bares his teeth, and those canines are stark against his skin. I swallow. “I am scared, Dante.”

  "Don’t be." He flicks back his ears which I swear have elongated further in the last few seconds.

  Gripping my other ankle, he spreads my legs wide apart, so I am completely bared to his gaze. His fingers are rough on my skin. His movements are slow. Measured. Like he's savoring every step. Like he's preparing me for what is to come. My belly tightens. My nerve endings crackle.