If only the damn job would call him and full-out confirm his woman was supernatural and enough supernatural for him to be able to claim her without it being the end of her. James had seen it happen to men before—men who went against what nature ruled and decided to try to make a life and a family with a woman who lacked paranormal qualities and certain levels of supernatural in her line.
It always ended bad.
Very bad.
“Casey, Bill and Gus are okay?” she asked for probably close to the tenth time since they’d parted ways at headquarters with them. She sipped the tea and he was happy she was finally putting something in her stomach.
James nodded. “They are. Bill and Gus are going to be spending some time in a halfway house PSI actually owns and operates. It’s for supernaturals. And there are people there who are trained to help with their special circumstances.”
“They’ll be okay there?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“And Casey?”
James sighed. “He was offered a chance to stay on and help at PSI. But, Laney, you need to know something.”
She looked up at him, mug in hand. “What?”
“Corbin called when you were showering,” he said, wishing he didn’t have to be the bearer of bad news. “Duke and Striker left Casey in one of the extra sleeping quarters there, and when they went in to check on him after his supposed shower, he was gone.”
“Gone? Like vanished?”
James nodded.
“He just walked out of a secret government facility without anyone noticing?” she asked, doubt on her face.
“Yes. He did.”
The edges of her lips curled upwards and her mood seemed to lighten somewhat. “He outfoxed the Man.”
James grunted. “I guess he did.”
“I never knew he was a shifter,” she said. “I should have seen it. He shouldn’t have felt like he had to hide that from me. I’d have understood. It wouldn’t have changed how I saw him.”
He knew she would have understood. She’d been accepting of his own wolf. More than most would be in her place.
James pushed her damp hair over her shoulder. She was punishing herself for something out of her control. She hadn’t known the truth about Casey, but Casey kept it from her. The man had learned long ago how to hide what he was. Laney couldn’t kick herself for not figuring it out. “He cares for you. He waited until he knew you were safe before he vanished. He could have left at any moment, but he made sure you and your other friends were in good hands.”
She twisted slightly and the shirt she had on, which was one of James’s dress shirts, pulled to one side, showing the mounds of her breasts. His entire body had been on fire since he’d laid eyes on her. The cold shower he’d taken while she was taking a long, hot warm one in his master bath had done nothing to temper his cock and its single-minded focus. Seeing the pale globes of her breasts, there, so close, knowing they were bare under the thin material, nearly pushed James over the edge of sexual sanity.
He put his hands on his legs, trying to think on anything but Laney’s breasts. As he rubbed his palms, trying to get the sweat from them, he realized something. He’d not limped once since he’d fully shifted. In fact, nothing on him hurt.
Well, unless he counted his dick.
That hurt like a motherfucker.
It wanted in her. Wanted to know what pleasures her body could bring.
He tipped his head back, swallowing hard.
You will not take advantage of her in this state, he chanted. You will not take advantage of her. You will not…
She put her hand over his, her fingertips skimming his inner thigh.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. You will not take advantage of her.
He jerked and sat up some, hoping to keep from both coming and ignoring his inner voice.
“Thank you for saving my life,” she said sweetly, the innocence in her voice making him feel like an even bigger douche.
“All in a day’s work,” he mused, earning him a slight smile from her. She’d been quiet since they’d left the hotel, barely uttering a word as James checked her in his lab, and saying nothing on the ride to his house. “How are you holding up with all of this?”
“What’s a mate?” she asked, surprising him to the point he actually, for a brief moment, forgot about his seemingly endless hard-on.
“Why do you want to know?”
She handed him the mug of tea and faced him more. “Because your friends said something in the alley. They said I was your mate. I want to know what that means.”
James nearly crushed the mug. He had to try to gently set it on the side table when all he wanted to do was permit his wolf up to do what it had wanted to do from the word go.
Claim the woman before him.
“W-what, exactly, happened?” he asked, needing to be sure and that his wires weren’t crossed.
“Striker said he smelled Fae on me. Then Boomer said he smelled panther and then they both sniffed me like basset hounds before announcing that I was your mate. Your woman.”
Closing his eyes a second, James let out a long, slow breath, the tension and fear of doing something regrettable leaving him. He wasn’t mis-wired. He wasn’t nuts. His body had been doing what it was supposed to do—try to get him to claim his mate.
His woman.
Mine.
He didn’t fear the word anymore or what it implied.
The burning need to wait for medical clarification eased. His brothers-in-arms would never say that if it wasn’t true. They’d never lead him astray. They knew how important and special it was to find one’s mate. And both liked Laney—a lot. Striker had even taken to calling her Punky at headquarters. That was right after he tried to get her to trick out his online profile page so that it would auto growl and howl at women who were hot.
Thankfully, she’d declined to help him.
James touched her cheek, his feelings for her growing by the second. They’d spent a week connecting intimately through conversation and then an evening together, fighting for their lives all the while the attraction growing.
It’s more than merely attraction, he corrected. It’s love. As it is between a mated pair.
“It means you were created for me. A perfect match according to the supernatural world. The woman who is meant to be my wife.”
She frowned and stared at her lap.
She didn’t want him. The knowledge cooled him and he slid away from her, giving her space. He stood slowly. It hurt to be rejected by the woman he knew in his bones was his, but he understood. He wouldn’t force her to be with him, even though, by archaic laws that still existed in the supernatural community, he could.
That wasn’t James.
“I’ll phone Corbin and arrange for you to be placed in protective custody. I understand you don’t want to be here with me.”
“What?” she asked, confusion knitting her brow. “Are you sending me away?”
“Gods no,” he said. “I thought you wanted to leave.”
“Why would you think that?”
He sat again and offered a slight smile. “Because I can’t read your mind.”
“So you claim,” she teased, easing closer to him, her hand returning to his sweatpants-covered thigh. It felt damn good to be out of the leather pants. They’d been very constricting. When she was showering in his master bathroom, he’d used the guest bath and cleaned up as well, needing to wash the scents of the alley off him.
“Laney, my body sees you as its mate,” he said. He put his hand over hers. “And if Striker and Boomer both sensed it too, I believe it’s true. That being said, I know you’ve never been with a man before and that we’ve only just officially met, and that this was a horrible date night.”
“Doc Wolf,” she said softly.
“Yes?”
“Shut up and kiss me.”
He paused. “I want to. Ohgods, do I want to. But, Laney, my control around you is shaky. If I kiss you and you’re in jus
t that shirt and I’m in just these sweatpants, this will go too far.”
“Okay,” she said, and before he knew it she was pressed against him, on her knees, her hands finding his face. “Hagen, look at me. Please.”
He did.
“You saved my life tonight,” she said, looking so incredibly young with her makeup washed off that James held more guilt about their age difference.
He nodded slightly.
Laney’s lips met his and her kiss was tender and short. Too short. The wolf in him roared to life, wanting more. So did the man. He tossed his arms out, his hands going to the top of the back of his sofa in an attempt to keep from yanking the gorgeous woman near him onto his lap.
Where he wanted her to be more than anything.
She crawled up and over his lap, her wet hair falling onto his bare shoulders. He’d been so concerned about her that he’d tossed on a pair of sweatpants and nothing more after his shower. He wished he’d put on armor, because his cock was rock-fucking-hard and there was no hiding it from her.
“Laney?” he asked, his voice strained.
She settled herself on his lap and then kissed him again. He held so tight to the sofa back he thought he might actually rip the thing off the base. Pulling his mouth back, he broke the kiss, only to keep from flipping her onto her back and driving into her.
She wasn’t ready for that.
Her dark gaze searched his face. “I want you, Hagen. I want all of you.”
She is a virgin who has been through a traumatic experience, he reminded himself. His cock throbbed and twitched against her mound. It, apparently, couldn’t give a shit.
Laney reached down between them and boldly put her hand on his distended flesh. James sucked in a sharp breath and jolted with a start beneath her.
“Laney, please. You don’t want this. You’ll regret it,” he said.
She kissed him again, her tongue artfully easing around his as she rubbed his clothed cock. When he realized she was undoing the dress shirt she now wore with her free hand, James considered bolting and running, locking the door behind him. If only to save her from his lack of willpower.
Damn if his body didn’t refuse to budge.
He ground his hips upwards, taking control of the kiss. Laney reached for his arms. Her breasts, covered only by thin material, pressed to his chest. He nearly came then and there. It had been a long time for him.
Too fucking long.
He’d never last if she kept this up.
Her fingers found the waistband of his sweatpants and she met his gaze, slowing the kiss, giving him a questioning look. “Am I hurting you?”
“I’m dying a little inside as I try to keep from taking advantage of you, but other than that—” He squirmed under her, his cock painfully hard. “—I’m good.”
“It looks like I’m hurting you,” she said, her free hand coming to his cheek. “Hagen, if I am, tell me.”
“Don’t stop,” he found himself saying.
She eased open his sweatpants, and the moment her hand wrapped around the head of his cock, James stopped trying to restrain himself and gave in, his hands going to the dress shirt she wore. He paused, his breathing harsh. “Yes or no, Laney?”
“Yes,” she whispered a second before he tore the shirt open, sending buttons flying everywhere.
He didn’t care that he’d just ruined one of his shirts. All he cared about were her breasts as they spilled forth. They were just the right size, filling his hands as he cupped them, his mouth making love to hers. He wanted to drive into her, take what he wanted, but he couldn’t.
She’d never been with a man before.
He needed to be gentle.
James stood, lifting Laney up with him and turning her, placing her on the sofa. He stared down at her there, the shirt open wide, her breasts exposed to him. His gaze went to her black panties and a wolfish grin spread over his face as he lowered himself, going to his knees before the sofa. He traced a line down between her breasts and over her stomach before he reached her panties. With a slight tug he lowered them, his gaze never leaving hers as he dipped his head, inhaling the sweet scent of her cream.
The woman smelled divine.
He worked her panties off her with ease, casting them aside, his head returning to between her legs. He opened them more and nibbled lightly on her inner thighs.
She ran her hands through the top of his hair as he lowered his mouth to her slit. He flicked his tongue over her clit and she jerked under him, making him smile as she began to pant with each swipe. He pressed a finger to her wet core but he didn’t push it in, not yet. He waited and she reached down, grabbing his hand, shaking her head.
He assumed she wanted it to end. His dick wanted to howl with frustration. Stopping nearly killed him, but being a man of honor, he moved to stand and give her the space she needed.
“No,” she said. “Don’t go.”
Confused, he tipped his head to the side. “Sweeting?”
“I want your…” She looked at his groin. “…to be what takes my virginity, not your finger. You.”
Hot need slammed into him. He had to strain to talk and not allow his mouth to shift shape. “No, let me get you ready for me.”
“Hagen, please.”
Dammit. He couldn’t tell her no and mean it.
My woman has me tied around her little finger.
He’d been so swept up in meeting her and in worrying about her safety that he’d not really had a moment to process what he knew was true. As the reality of it sank in and James thought harder about events, he took a giant step back.
“Holy crapola,” he said, echoing the words she’d used before.
Laney propped herself on her elbows, looking even more sexy, if that were even possible. “Hagen?”
“We need to stop,” he said, wanting to do anything but.
“Oh, we need to get this darn show on the road, bucko,” she said, reaching for him.
James went to her and bent over her, her smell filling his head. “Laney, you don’t understand. I think…I think you’re my mate. Actually, I more than think you are. I know that doesn’t mean anything to you, but to me, to others like me, it’s a huge deal. It means the chances of me claiming you, even if you don’t want me to, are high. It’s been over a century since I’ve been with a woman, and I know for a fact I won’t be able to stop myself with you.”
She blinked up at him. “How friggin’ old are you?”
He bit the corner of his lip. “Old.”
“Like Dracula kind of old?” she asked.
As much as he disliked being associated with a vampire, even a fictional one, he understood her line of questioning. “No. Not that old.”
“But old enough to have a century under your belt?” she questioned.
“Uh, more than one,” he said softly.
She stared at his chest. “What does claiming entail? Does it leave you buried deep in me? If so, I say we do it.”
Fuck!
“Laney.”
She gave him a pointed stare. “LabLupus, either get over here now and do me or so help me God I will walk out of here and never speak to you again.”
James couldn’t help but smile as he slid his sweatpants off. Laney’s eyes widened as she stared at his long, thick cock as it bobbed before her, nearly eye level with the position she was in.
“Oh, is that going to work?”
He grunted. “It’s been a long time, but I’m pretty sure he remembers how this goes.”
She blew out a long breath, sending strands of her dark hair flying. “No. I mean, will that fit in me?”
He nearly laughed. “Let me get you ready, sweeting.”
She reached for him and he moved up and over her partially, his lips returning to hers. His intention was to kiss her, get her body to relax some, and then to slide down the length of her and use his tongue and fingers to prepare her for sex.
Laney clearly had other intentions. She reached between them and grabbed h
is cock roughly, jerking on it, lining it up with her pussy. She was fast, too fast for him as she pressed herself up, causing his cockhead to spear her entrance. Hot, tight, wet pleasure greeted him and he nearly lost control then and there. He met with resistance and lost ability to act like a rational man. Instead, he drove into her tight channel, pushing in, going balls deep, making her cry out in his arms.
The realization he had hurt her hit him hard.
James froze.
Laney clawed at his upper arms. “More. Don’t stop. Keep going.”
His lips found hers and he smiled quickly, his cock more than happy to keep going. He pumped in and out of her, slow at first, giving her the time he should have before to adjust to his size. When she began to counter his thrusts, James sped things up, pounding into her harder and faster.
He’d never last like this. He’d never make it. She felt too good and it had been too long.
He was so worried about coming before she did that he didn’t notice his wolf creeping up on him. James never realized until it was too late, until he was slamming into his woman, his teeth now lengthened, his wolf dancing on the surface. His gaze locked onto her shoulder.
“Mine!” he growled out, his head going down quickly, his teeth sinking into her tender flesh. Her blood filled his mouth and he tried to beat his wolf down, to make it stop. He couldn’t. His body was on autopilot as he thrust into his woman, claiming her fully.
She held tight to him, her nails biting into his skin. He felt her channel tightening around his cock and then releasing, repeating the actions again, and he knew she’d hit her zenith. He pushed in hard and deep, stilling, her blood easing down his throat as his seed jetted into her.
“Yes, yours,” she whispered against his ear.
The minute she spoke the words, it felt as if some unseen force was in the room with them, weaving threads between them, connecting them for all eternity. James managed to tear his mouth from her shoulder and looked down, realizing what he’d done. In stunned horror, he nearly pulled out and left her body, but Laney locked her legs around him, countering his moves, her pussy milking the seed from his body.
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