by Thorne, Elle
Lila and Cy headed across the concrete floor toward Petra and the leopard shifter Maia. Lila shut out the mournful begging howls the Rafferty wolves were making. She had no interest in hearing how they felt.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Cy pulled into the Tiero Towers parking garage. One of Gavin’s men was bringing Lila’s car.
The Tiero security team had Petra in a comfortable SUV, stretched out so she could rest. That had seemed like a better idea than having her rough it in his Rover.
The seven-hour drive with Lila had been nothing short of interesting. The Tiero caravan had taken off from the arena, with Vax accompanying Lézare, heading east to Lézare’s plantation home to rejoin Callie. Cy and Lila had taken up the tail of the caravan heading northwest to Tiero territory.
The drive had been uneventful. At some point, Lila had fallen asleep. Cy had been unable to tear his eyes from her, watching her sleep. Her full breasts, rounded stomach, the mound of her sex, her thighs, the curve of her brow… There wasn’t a part of her body and face he didn’t study and memorize while she slept. The long drive had been an exercise in self-restraint. If his baby sister had not been in the SUV in front of them, he would have pulled over and tasted, teased, and ravaged every part of Lila’s body.
Instead, he had to temper his cock and his tiger, to keep them on a tight leash while his sexual anticipation reached a new crescendo.
Lila turned toward him as he pulled into the garage, worrying her lip. He didn’t want to look away, but if he didn’t, she was bound to see the reaction growing in his pants. What the hell had her so concerned, anyway? All had ended well. She was safe, Petra was safe, and justice would be meted out to the Rafferty wolves.
She cocked her head, pointing toward a parking spot. “Take that one. It’s next to mine, and it’s empty.” The way she said it made him wonder again what was on her mind.
“Tell me about it?”
She turned his way, those dark-green eyes of hers mysterious. “Tell you about what?”
“What’s eating at you.”
She shook her head slightly, as though trying to clear it. “You.”
What the hell could be bothering her about him? Was she trying to tell him something? Surely, she wasn’t saying she was considering going back to Gavin. His stomach tightened into a knot that felt like it was being pulled by a pair of Clydesdales. He blew a breath out.
“What about me?” Cy barely managed to get the words past the knot that had risen into his chest and was setting up shop in his throat.
“I guess you’re leaving.” Her voice was flat and emotionless.
“Where do you want me to go?”
Lila gave him a look of disdain, as if she couldn’t believe what he’d just said. “Are you serious? You’re asking me?”
Cy shut the engine off, turned to face her, and took her hand in his. He ran his thumb along the inside of her palm, up her wrist, and let his fingers rest on her pulse point, feeling its beat, its strength.
“I am. I want to be sure I’m wanted. I don’t play. If you want me, you’re with me for good. There won’t be any breaking up or time-outs or space, or anything. It would be me and you. Forever.”
“Fine. Then you’re staying here.”
The reaction of Cy’s tiger drowned out any sound that could have gotten into the car. When his tiger had settled, he finally spoke. “You’re on the bossy side, aren’t you?” And he loved every bit of bossy, fiery temperament this woman had to give. She reminded him that he was alive. She made him glad to be alive.
She cocked her head at him. “I’m going to show you bossy soon enough.”
“I’m looking forward to it.”
The elevator ride was a hazy event that Cy would never forget. So was the rest of the next hour.
As soon as the elevator doors closed, Lila grabbed him by the collar and pulled him close. Her nipples were hard, pressing against his shirt, giving him images of touching, licking, kissing, and all sorts of other things he wanted to do to them. Desire slammed into him with a force of an F5 tornado.
He almost didn’t recognize the groan coming out of his mouth. “Lock the doors. I want you now.”
“I was going to take you up to—”
“Now.” Urgency colored his voice with gruffness forged from lust.
Her eyes locked with his. She reached over without looking and fumbled with the keys. He heard a click while he was sliding his hands under the neckline of her peasant blouse, pulling the elastic down her shoulders, leaving her exposed to his fevered gaze.
“Stunning. Fucking stunning. I want you.” He traced the lace of her bra, pulling on it with his fingertips, dragging it down closer and closer to the nipple poking out, a hard bud begging to be touched. The scent of her sex wafted upward, infiltrating his senses, taking control of his lust, and pushing it into deeper realms.
Lila pushed closer to him, her breasts against his shirt while she reached behind her back, and, with a deft, practiced move, she flicked the bra loose and shrugged it off her breasts.
Two full mounds with dusky pink tips were there for his pleasure. He cupped their fullness, weighing them while his thumbs pressed into her nipples. He traced a circle around the tight beads, enjoying the way her tips grew harder. She moaned low, her head thrown back slightly.
Lowering his head, Cy closed his mouth over a tip of her breast. Her moan grew louder, driving him to take her by the hips and pull her body firmly to his. Cy’s cock pressed against her with an insistence he couldn’t deny.
Lila’s hands moved with a ferocity that stunned him as she shredded her pants in her fervor to remove them. The fabric yielded as easily as soft butter to a hot knife, parting, neatly rent. She tugged at her top, slicing through the fabric.
While one hand twisted and turned her nipple between his thumb and fingers, Cy’s other hand dropped down, over her round tummy to her hip, flaring out in womanly curves. He lowered his hand and moved it toward the center of her belly, just above the waistband of her panties. He made tiny circles above the elastic band, tracing and teasing her flesh. With each passing second, the scent of her arousal grew stronger, permeating every fiber of his being.
He was caught off-guard when Lila twisted out of his grasp, and, suddenly, he was sitting on the thick, plush carpeting of the elevator with his back against the wall.
“You should have used that move when you were fighting the damned jackal Rafferty wolves,” he snarled, his timbre deep with passion.
Lila unbuttoned his pants then pulled at his zipper and eased him out with a speed that fueled his need. She straddled him, pressing down on his erection, her moist panties the only barrier keeping him from the target he coveted.
“This move?” She squirmed closer.
“Fuck, no. That move’s reserved for me. Alone.”
The heat of her sex pressed on his cock, and her eyes were glued to his as she reached down and fingered the center of her panties where her slit was clearly visible, lips wonderfully outlined.
“Your pussy smells delicious. I want to devour it.” He couldn’t take his eyes off her index finger as it traveled the course of her panties, teasing her slit and her clit. His finger joined hers then replaced hers, moving back and forth gently. He skimmed the satin, allowing the silky fabric to caress her slickness, letting his finger go a little deeper as it pressed toward her entrance.
Lila’s body jerked, and she leaned back, her hands behind her, keeping her from falling. He could do this forever, his finger touching her, her body arched, her breasts thrust forward and her nipples dark, tight, and sexy against her full, creamy mounds.
She rocked her hips and pressed her sex against his finger, her body rocking on his hard cock, tucked under her flesh, begging to be in her channel.
With a flick, Lila severed her panties at the juncture of her hips then let the fabric fall away. Cy feasted his eyes on her slickness. Above it, a triangle of trimmed hair shaped like an arrowhead pointed him to her center. As if he needed an
y help with that.
Lila rose to her knees, moved, adjusted, and then latched her hands on his shoulders, her sex almost touching his cock, and his heart speeded up in reaction. He could feel the heat of her emanating against his dick’s sensitive mushroom head. He grew harder, painfully so, his erection straining against the skin that contained it. She pressed down, spearing herself on his cock as he filled her.
Her gasp shot through his body in a burst of adrenaline, testosterone, and an overwhelming emotion he didn’t want to put a name to. He gripped her shoulders and pushed her down, his cock’s tip now deep inside her. Her gaze darkened as she took him in deeper, her channel flexing around him, tight and slick, a sheath he could be buried in perfectly. He put his hands under her ass and pushed her up then lowered her, the juices from her pussy sliding down his dick, dripping to his balls.
He allowed one hand to go farther behind her, his middle finger touching the soaking, creamy entrance to her cunt while his index finger rested on the rosebud of her ass. He slid his index finger down, coating it with her moisture while he raised and lowered her on his cock, pumping her up and down.
“Touch your clit. Play with it, baby.”
She moved her hand between them, trapped in the sweat and sex of them, and put her finger on her clit, then worked it with a maniacal speed.
He slid his index finger upward, generously slick with her pussy’s nectar, and placed it on her rosebud with the tiniest bit of pressure. Her cunt tightened around him, as though she was preparing, or nervous. He pushed her up and dropped her back down on his cock while her fingers kept up their insistent, wild dance on her clit.
Chapter Thirty
Lila panted, closing her eyes, caught up in the sensations flowing through her body. She’d had sex before, so she certainly wasn’t a stranger to it, but when Cy put his finger on her ass, she clenched and felt her body responding. Nervous and in completely new territory, she started to flick and rub her clit with a ferocity she hoped would drive her trepidation away.
“That’s it, baby.” Cy’s voice was enough to drive her to an orgasm.
The tip of his finger in her ass was sending jolts of pleasure to her clit and making her channel tighten around him even more. She rocked her hips, riding his cock, tilting and angling her body until she was feeling him strike every part of pussy.
Cy raised her up, almost completely off his cock, and his finger slipped deeper into her ass, bringing her confusingly close to climax. Then he dropped her onto his cock, plunging deep into her, impaling her with one long stroke that ripped her breath and a low moan from her mouth, stretching her, pushing her to new heights.
With a fierce growl, Cy pivoted, twisted, and had her on all fours, his cock lined up, her head on her arms, elbows on the floor, ass up. He speared into her with a primal growl then pulled her up, driving his teeth into her neck, right above her shoulder.
She wasn’t unfamiliar with this. She knew exactly what he was doing, and she wanted exactly what he was offering. She didn’t fight the yell rising to her throat; instead, she let it out as she climaxed, feeling him deep inside her. Wave after wave took her to new levels, each one better than the one before it.
He paused. “Forever?” His voice was gruff with passion… and something else. Something she knew was love.
“Forever,” she managed with a growl.
Cy’s heat flowed through her as his bite sent a different kind of heat throughout her body.
Epilogue
Lila slipped out of her apartment, leaving Cy asleep in bed. She pushed her hair out of her face, pulling it into a loose ponytail because she didn’t feel like brushing it.
She and Cy had been here a week. Petra was doing better. She’d been dehydrated, but that was over with, and she’d gained some of her weight back, returning to her curvy state. Lila was going to pick up some food for them. They’d barely left her apartment except for food and to check on Petra.
Petra had Maia and the fox shifter staying with her in her own apartment, a few floors below Lila’s.
“Hey.”
Lila turned around. She’d been so into her thoughts she hadn’t seen her sister Veila come up behind her.
“I don’t want to interrupt your time with Cy, but I need some help with the council meeting coming up. I’m stressing it, probably because Vax is. Dad’s coming.”
“Fuuuck,” Lila hissed. “Can’t he be talked out of it? I so don’t need the fireworks.”
“You’re not the only one.” Veila grimaced, pulling her dress down, adjusting it over her curves. “I need chocolate if I’m going to have to deal with this shit.”
“I’m going out for food. I’ll pick up extra.” Lila hugged her big sister. Maybe they’d both need extra chocolate to deal with the stress of the council meeting.
Veila’s nostrils flared. “There. I smell them. New shifters.”
“Seriously?” Lila shook her head. She couldn’t smell anything.
The door to her apartment opened. Attired in shorts and no shirt, a rumple-haired, sleepy-eyed Cy looked at them. “There are new shifters downstairs. Did anyone else pick up the scent?”
Veila looked at Lila as if to say, Told you. “Yes, more chocolate,” Veila agreed.
Confused, Cy glanced from one to the other.
Lila wanted to laugh, but something on Veila’s face prevented her. “Surely it won’t be that bad.”
But something inside her told her it would be.
Adversary
It's a Shifter Council Meeting. This one's being held at After Dark. The city's teeming with shifters. They're supposed to be cordial, but tensions run high when territorial disputes arise.
Curvy tigress Veila has no business falling for Mark Martinez, the alpha of another tribe--a tribe the Tieros have had scuffles with that have lasted several centuries.
Romeo and Juliet's family rivalry had nothing on Veila and Mark's families.
* * *
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Chapter One
Lion shifter Mark Martinez pushed through the crowd, ignoring the appreciative glances the Dallas ladies were sending in his direction, disregarding the admiring looks at his ass as he passed, not paying heed to the ones who surveyed his package and his wide chest and broad shoulders. He was on a mission. He wasn’t here to hunt pussy.
His lion growled, as if to say, “You say that like there’s something wrong with pussy.”
Yeah, right, as if you ever want pussy anyway. You’re waiting for our mate.
His lion growled again, as if there was something wrong with waiting for their mate.
Nope, not a thing. Mark couldn’t argue with that. There was nothing wrong with wanting to have the right woman, the only woman, a mate who would be his forever. He’d given up on that, though. Now one thing garnered all his attention. Business. He was only interested in furthering Martinez interests and income.
Right now, Mark Martinez, of the Florida shifter territory, was hellishly pissed at the Tiero shifters of Dallas. They were having a council meeting, their first since they’d moved to this continent, and they weren’t inviting the Martinez family.
That was an insult that wouldn’t be suffered lightly. He’d rain down his anger on them as soon as their meeting started. His mission was to trespass on the Tiero territory and to violate the sanctity of their precious Towers by barging into their council meeting. He wouldn’t mind a peek at Sanctuary, the unique environment created for shifter relaxation and a bit of nature in the middle of Dallas.
The shifter relaxation place evidently wasn’t open to Martinez shifters. Mark scoffed at his exclusion from their precious Sanctuary, and sneered. Maybe he’d even have casual, meaningless sex in their damned Sanctuary, just for kicks.
His lion grumbled, though he knew damned well Mark didn’t do casual or meaningless sex.
Shut the fuck up. Mark’s temper flared. Damn if his lion didn’t always call him out on shit.
&nbs
p; Wildly enough, the ladies were now looking at him with even more interest, as if the dark side of him was something they’d like to tame. He’d pity them if they saw his dark side; in and out of bed, he could be voracious, insatiable, and rough. Mark kept walking past, his mind on Sanctuary, After Dark, the council meeting, and the Tiero family in general.
He’d heard Sanctuary was a glass and metal bar enclosure that took up the whole forty-third floor of Tiero Tower One. A bevy of caves and tunnels gave visiting shifters space to roam and hide. Above the caves and tunnels, the shifters—in their werecat forms, of course—enjoyed jungle habitat, including oversized boulders.
Tiero Tower One and Tiero Tower Two were side-by-side buildings, built for, owned by, and managed by the Tieros. Five glass-covered walkways connected the buildings, allowing occupants to travel from building to building without venturing outside. The Towers ranked amongst the most extravagant and coveted buildings in Dallas.
Where the hell was his brother? Mark and Mason were supposed to be going to the Tiero Towers together. Mason still hadn’t called. Mark took his phone out to make sure he hadn’t missed a call.
Nothing.
Was Mason ducking out of this on purpose? Just because his ex was going to be there? This was business. Exes were exes. The two shouldn’t intersect; they were at cross-purposes.
Mark forged on. He’d do this without Mason if he had to, though two lion shifters were always better than one when facing a roomful of other shifters who weren’t on the friendly side.
Mark shoved the phone back in his pocket and proceeded forward, long strides covering a lot of distance. Blocks away, he could see the tall Tiero Towers, glowing gold as the sun reflected off their windows.
Mark Martinez was always up for a challenge, regardless of the odds.