by Becca Van
Tatum gripped her chin between his finger and thumb when she glanced away. He brought her gaze back to his and stared into her eyes. There were so many conflicting emotions in those gorgeous green depths, he didn’t know what to ask first. “Being a smart ass isn’t going to get you off the hook. Do you think I don’t know there’s something wrong, mate? Now fucking talk to me.”
“Let me go.”
“No.”
“You’re such a fucking asshole.”
“I’ve been called worse. I’m not leaving until you tell me what’s wrong,” he stated firmly.
He saw the tears welling in her eyes as she glanced away, but he didn’t call her on it. He leaned back into the sofa and pulled her smaller body against his and waited. He’d wait for the rest of the day and night if need be. The diner could go hang itself. His mate was more important than food and the customers.
“I should have done more,” she whispered.
“What do you mean?” Tatum frowned.
“I should have gone to another police station and reported Cheryl’s murder, but I was so scared when I saw the officer who looked exactly like my friend’s murderer, I ran.”
Tatum wrapped his arms around her tighter when she buried her face into his neck and sobbed her heart out. He had so much to say, but decided to wait until she’d finished crying. After about ten minutes her tears slowed and she hiccupped each time she drew in a deep breath. He caressed up and down her back, offering whatever comfort he could. She wiped her cheeks with the back of her hands and sniffed.
He shifted her weight on his lap and dug into his pocket for a handkerchief. He’d decided to carry one around with him last night after he’d mated with Pixie. He was glad he’d had a moment of foresight. He mopped her cheeks and eyes and handed her the handkerchief so she could blow her nose.
“Thanks. I didn’t think you were the type of guy to carry this around with you.”
“I wasn’t, but I decided to start today. I have a mate to look after.”
“You know I can look after myself. Right?”
“Really?” Tatum quirked a brow.
She scowled at him and nodded.
“So you would have remembered to eat eventually?”
“Don’t start that again. I got lost in what I was doing and didn’t notice how quickly the time was passing by.”
“I get that, baby. That’s why you have me, Rex, and Shaffer. We might piss you off by coming over as dominant assholes, but we only have your best interests at heart. We don’t won’t you missing out on meals anytime. However, you need food and rest regularly while you’re still healing.”
“Yeah, I know,” she conceded with a sigh.
“As for the other stuff. Don’t beat yourself up, baby. You were scared and alone and didn’t know what to do. In fact, I think you did the best thing.”
“Why would you say that?”
“Because the fucker’s cop brother probably has a lot of friends on the force. A word or two in the right or wrong ear could have been dangerous for you. You had no idea who was trustworthy and who wasn’t. For all we know, they could have other cops in their pockets.”
“I hadn’t thought of that.”
Tatum held in his smile when she scrunched her nose up. She looked so cute when she did that, but he kept his opinion to himself. She’d probably turn her nose up at him if he told her what he was thinking.
“You’re right, and I think Cheryl would understand. The bastard who killed her is a doctor and probably has more money than he knows what to do with. He could be paying other people to keep their mouths shut. I still need to go to the authorities though. I can’t let that fucker get away with killing my best friend.”
“You’re right. If you write down all the details, I can send an email to someone I know in the FBI.”
Pixie sucked in a breath. “The FBI? Wouldn’t they just pass it onto the cops in the right jurisdiction?”
“Normally, I’d say yes, but Preston, Gabriel, and Liam Louis are friends. We served in the military together and they’re also shifters.”
“They are? Where are they stationed? I thought you said shifters didn’t like living in large cities.”
“We don’t, but Preston and his brothers seem to be the exception. Or maybe they value their jobs more than tranquility and solitude. They have to have a tighter rein on their inner animals.”
“What do they shift into?”
“Kodiak bears just like Broden, Airen, and Archer.”
Tatum glanced down when she nodded and shifted in his lap. He bit his tongue when his hard cock throbbed and pressed against his zipper. He loved holding his mate, but it was also pure torture. The scent of her heat was driving him insane, and the urge to strip her out of her clothes, lie her back on the sofa, and spread her legs wide so he could feast on her was strong.
He tried to ignore his hunger, but when she started caressing his chest over his T-shirt and brushed over one of his hard nipples he almost lost it.
“You’re playing with fire, little girl.”
She met his eyes and shifted on his lap until she was straddling him. Her nipples were poking out further than before and the aroma of the sweet honey between her legs grew stronger. His mouth watered as he remembered how much he and his lion had loved lapping up all that delectable cream.
Tatum could wait another minute longer.
He needed her and he needed her now.
Chapter Sixteen
Tatum threaded his fingers into her hair and leaned toward her. Pixie licked her lips and drew in a breath right before he slanted his mouth over hers.
Her insides, her whole body was on fire and she was shaking. She didn’t really understand how Tatum, Rex, and Shaffer could affect her so much, but she wasn’t about to question it. She moaned as his tongue swirled and twirled around hers before gliding along it. His hands smoothed down over shirt-covered sides, and after mapping her dips and hollows he moved them around to her ass.
A whimper escaped from her lips as she broke the kiss, and she sucked in some much-needed air, as he kneaded and squeezed her ass cheeks. Pixie wriggled on his lap until the hard protrusion confined behind his jeans pressed against her aching, wet pussy. She rocked against him and groaned as her clit started throbbing urgently. She was so damn wet her panties were soaked, and if she didn’t do something soon, her jeans would be, too.
Tatum licked and nibbled down the side of her throat, paying particular attention to the sensitive skin and nerves just under her ear.
She smoothed her hands over his shoulders, down over his pecs, and toward the hem of his shirt. She delved under the cotton material and caressed over his wonderful heated skin, feeling all the ridges and delineations of his toned muscles. She’d never get tired of touching Tatum, Shaffer, and Rex. They were all big, muscular, handsome men, and they were coming to mean a lot to her.
She pushed his shirt up until his hard, little nipples came into view and leaned forward to swirl her tongue around the flat, bronzed areola before laving the tip with her tongue. He grabbed hold of his shirt and tugged it up over his head, giving her unfettered access to his masculine body. She scraped her teeth over the sensitive nub and shivered when he made a low growly, yowling sound deep in his chest. Desire raced up her spine when he began to purr. “Do you like that?” she asked just before she nipped the peak between her teeth.
“I like everything you do to me, baby.” He grasped her hips and lifted her to her feet.
“What—”
Tatum grasped her shirt and pulled it up over her head and dropped it onto the arm of the sofa. He lightly caressed over the tops of her bra-clad breasts and then down in between them and lower still until he reached her waistband. “If you don’t want this, then you need to speak up now, mate.”
She shook her head and licked her lips. Tatum dropped his hand to his side and sighed with disappointment. When she clasped his wrist, he opened his eyes again.
“I didn’t mean I don’t
“I’ll always need you, baby.” As soon as she released his wrist, he flicked the button on her jeans open and lowered the zipper. Her chest rose and fell rapidly as she panted for air. “Toe your shoes off, Pixie.”
She braced a hand on his abs for balance and toed off her shoes. She was about to bend down to remove her socks, but he was too eager to care. He shoved her jeans down to her knees and then pressed them lower with his foot. She kicked them away while he undid his own jeans and pushed them and his boxers down to his knees. He scooped her up into his arms and sat back on the sofa with her straddling his lap.
He needed her so badly he noticed his hands were shaking as he lifted them to her breasts. He kneaded and squeezed the feminine globes until she was moaning, but it still wasn’t enough. Tatum needed her bare skin against his. He flicked the front clasp of her bra open, and as soon as the cups sprang apart, he caressed her warm, soft flesh before strumming the hardened peaks with his thumbs.
She gasped and groaned and rocked into his throbbing, engorged dick. He growled with desire and bent forward to lap at first one nipple and then the other. She whimpered and arched her chest closer to his mouth.
“Tatum?”
“Yeah, baby.”
“I want you.”
“I want you, too, mate.”
“Now, Tatum. Please?”
“How could I ever deny you, Pixie? You’re everything I’ve ever wanted or needed.” He skimmed his hands down her sides, hooked his thumbs into her panties, allowed his claws to elongate, and shredded the seams. He tugged the scrap of material out from under her and dipped a finger into her folds. He purred when he found her soaking with honey and he began to salivate.
Tatum grasped her ribs and quickly turned them so that she was sitting on the sofa and he was kneeling between her sexy, toned thighs. She opened and closed her mouth a couple of times before she licked her lips.
“Open wider for me, mate,” he ordered and tapped the inside of her knee.
Pixie glanced toward the door. “What if someone comes in? Oh! What if someone hears us?”
“Does that embarrass you, baby? Would you feel ashamed if the other shifters heard me making love to my mate?”
She frowned up at him and threaded her fingers through her hair. “No. God, how could you ask me that?”
“I just needed to know that I was important to you, Pixie.”
She sat up straighter and palmed his cheeks. “You and your brothers are the most important people in my life. I feel…a lot for all of you. I would never be embarrassed to be seen with you, Shaffer, or Rex.”
Tatum relaxed as he slowly breathed out. She might not love him or his siblings yet, but she was starting to care for them. That was a beginning they could work on and strengthen. Tatum wanted her heart and soul and well as her body, just as she had theirs. He wanted to tell her over and over how much he loved her, but she wasn’t ready for such declarations. He just hoped it wouldn’t take her too long to fall head over heels in love with them.
He hooked her leg over his arm and lifted it up and over his shoulder and then did the same with her other leg, watching her face the whole time to make sure he wasn’t hurting her. When she settled back on the cushion, he clasped her hips and dragged her closer, until her ass was on the edge of the seat.
He stared at her puffy labia and swallowed the saliva in his mouth when he saw all those creamy drops of cum. He bent as he inhaled and then shoved his face in between her legs and licked her from bottom to top. She moaned when he swirled his tongue around her sensitive protruding clit and then flicked it with the tip.
Pixie bucked her hips up as she combed her fingers into his hair and held on tight. “Oh!”
“You like having your cunt licked, baby?” he asked.
“Are you kidding?” She panted. “It’s amazing. Your tongue feels so damn good.”
“The roughness doesn’t bother you, mate?”
“No! Every woman alive would want you to do that if they knew what your tongue could do.”
“I’m only interested in you, mate.” Tatum didn’t give her a chance to respond because he lowered his head back between her thighs and dipped his tongue into her creamy cunt as far as he could. He growled when her juices coated his taste buds and he swallowed greedily.
He lapped his way up one side of her folds, intentionally avoiding her clit, and then licked his way down the other side. She shook and shivered, gasping and groaning as she tugged on his hair. He chuckled but then decided he’d tortured her long enough. Tatum was going to make her come with his mouth and fingers, and then he was going to fuck her hard and fast with his cock until she was screaming his name.
He splayed a hand over her belly, keeping his fingers away from the bandage, and held her down. As he licked his way back up to her clit, he penetrated her with a finger.
“Oh,” she moaned and tried to rock her hips, but Tatum didn’t want her moving and hurting herself. He was going to get Broden to check the sutures later this afternoon or tonight, but right now he had a mate to get off.
He pumped his finger in and out of her pussy, going deeper, faster each time he withdrew and stroked back in as he listened to all those sexy sounds she made. She groaned with frustration when he removed his finger totally, but she gasped and shook when he pressed two digits into her hot, wet cunt. Her muscles rippled around his fingers, and she whimpered when he twirled his tongue around and around her clit. When he scraped his teeth over the sensitive bud, she cried out as she writhed under him.
Tatum lifted his mouth and blew over her clit. “That’s it, baby. Let go for me. I want to drink down all that yummy cream.”
“Oh God.”
Tatum chuckled and lowered his mouth again. This time he attacked her clit as he drove his fingers in and out of her cunt, hard, fast, and deep, making sure to rub over her G-spot. Her belly jumped every time he touched that sweet spot and the muscles in her cunt grew tighter.
“Oh. Oh. Oh!” Pixie cried softly as she climaxed.
He kept licking and lapping over her clit to keep her orgasm going for as long as possible, and when it began to wane he withdrew his fingers from her pussy and slurped up all of her honey. She shivered and opened her eyes just as he shoved his fingers into his mouth and sucked them clean.
“One day soon, I’m going to spend hours eating that delicious cunt out.”
“You’ll be the death me if you do.” She panted.
He smiled and winked at her. “But what a wonderful way to go.”
Pixie chuckled and then laughed out loud. His heart flipped at the sound of such joy, and he hoped to hear it every day for the rest of his life.
She reached toward him. “Come here.”
“I’ve got a better idea.” He didn’t give her a chance to respond but scooped her up into his arms, pushed up to his feet, and turned before sinking onto the sofa cushion with her straddling his lap. “This way you won’t hurt your side.”
“It doesn’t hurt anymore, Tatum. In fact, it was itchy as hell last night, but now there’s nothing.”
Tatum frowned. “Maybe you’ve healed.”
She shook her head. “That’s not possible. It’s only been a few days.”
He stroked his hands up and down her sides, eliciting more shivers from her as goose bumps raced over her warm, soft skin. Tatum loved how she reacted to his touch, and as he stared into her eyes, the desire which had dissipated after her orgasm sparked to life again. She was so fucking responsive. His dick was so hard it was aching and leaking pre-cum. If he didn’t get inside of her soon he felt as if he was going to go insane with lust.
“You have part of our DNA in you now, baby. From what Declan and Emmy told me a while back, when she was injured after mating with her men, she healed way faster than normal. I suspect you will, too.”
“When are you, Rex, and Shaffer going to complete the bond with me?” She frowned.
“If you weren’t in heat and had the go-ahead from Broden, we would have already done so.”
“Why?”
“Did you forget, baby? If we take you together while you’re ovulating you’re likely to conceive.”
“Do you want children?”
“Hell yes. Don’t you?”
“Yeah, I do, but not yet. I want to wait a while before having the responsibility of a child.”
“Hence the reason we haven’t mated you fully yet.”
Pixie leaned down and kissed him, softly, reverently on the lips. “You are all so wonderful. I don’t know what I ever did to deserve such three thoughtful men.”
“We’re more than men, baby.” Tatum winked at her.
She smiled. “Shifters then.”
Pixie lifted up, and when she wrapped a hand around his hard cock, he groaned. He growled when she pumped him a few times and then held his breath when she aligned his dick with her wet entrance. The air backed up in his lungs whooshed out when she sank down over him and the head of his cock penetrated her.
“You feel fucking amazing, baby.”
“So do you.” Pixie whimpered when she took more of him into her hot, wet heat. “You’re all so damn big.” She panted. “I can feel everything. Every ridge and vein. Oh.”
“I love how tight you are. When I’m moving inside of you, you caress every spot just right.”
Tatum grasped her hips and helped to lift and lower her, until he was finally embedded in her balls deep. Every time she moved, her internal muscles rippled and clenched around him. He ground his teeth down and tried to keep his aggressive hunger at bay, but when she started moving faster and the warning tingles started at the base of his spine, he realized he was way ahead of his mate. That wouldn’t do. Not at all. He wanted, needed her orgasming before he reached his peak.
When she climaxed, she somehow managed to pull the seed up from his balls and out of his cock. It was the best thing he’d ever felt in his life. Only with Pixie, his mate, had he peaked until he was on the verge of passing out. He’d never felt anything as euphorically explosive in his life.
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