by Dana Archer
Sam storms into the kitchen, grabs a long coat off the rack on the wall, then snags her car keys on the way to the door. “Well, Lyla? Are you ready?”
I take Lyla’s hand, drawing her close before she follows her sister out. “Where are you going?”
“Funeral stuff,” Lyla answers at the same time Sam grumbles, “Arranging the rest of the bitch’s burning.”
Apparently, they’ve settled on cremation. “We can take the police car back with us, then, and pick up my truck at Shifter Affairs. Rick drove it over there.”
Lyla looks at where her sister is standing near the door with her jacket draped over her arm. “You don’t mind following us, do you? We need to work out some other stuff before we get there.”
“No.” Though it’s not my preferred choice, Lyla’s concern is enough to guarantee I’ll deal with not getting my way. She wants more time with her sister. She doesn’t need to tell me that. Her mannerisms toward Sam makes it perfectly clear. I’ll give Lyla and Sam the time they need whether I like it or not.
“Awesome.” Sam walks past Colin and reaches for the doorknob. “Let’s get this over with. There’s a kickboxing class at noon I don’t want to miss.”
Colin snags her wrist and pries the key ring from her hand. “You’re not driving like this. I’ll drive.”
“Sure I am.” Sam shakes off his hold and reaches for the keys. He holds them out of reach. “Just give me the keys. I’m not drunk. I’m pissed. Driving will help. I’ll have to focus on what I’m doing.”
“Why don’t you focus on the reason you’re angry for a change instead of ignoring it?” Colin lowers the keys and holds them behind him.
Sam closes her eyes on a slow breath as if trying to calm down. “Can’t. The bitch died before I could confront her and tell her what a pathetic excuse of a woman she was.”
“Why didn’t you?” I can’t help but ask. Lyla said their mother had tried to contact them.
A wickedly cruel smile spreads over Sam’s mouth. “I wasn’t sure I’d be able to be in the same room with the woman without trying to kill her.”
“Then how about we tell her now?” Lyla picks up a sweatshirt that must’ve fallen off the coatrack and tugs it over her head. “We can scream and curse or whatever we need right before they ship her body off to be cremated. I called on the way out here. They took her body to my basement exam room, and the Virginia coroner is working on her right now.”
Lyla’s suggestion visibly eases the tension in Sam’s shoulders. She nods. “Good idea. Let’s do it.”
“Great.” Lyla follows her sister to the door.
“Keys.” Sam holds out her hand to Colin.
He takes her outstretched hand and tightens his hold when she tries to shake him off again. “I’m going too. I’ve got a thing or two to say to your mother.”
“So do I.” And after listening to Lyla’s cries and Sam’s angry words, they won’t be the ones asking their god to pass judgment. I’ll be beseeching my goddess to intervene. The deity who birthed the first Alexander won’t show mercy to anyone who dared hurt the females chosen to be true mates.
The other halves of our souls turn us into the ultimate warriors. And from what I’ve heard from the oldest of our kind, war is coming.
Eighteen
Lyla
The nap I took on the couch in Ella’s office while the coroner finished up with my mother’s body was supposed to be for twenty minutes. That’s all. Just a short power nap, since the cold shower in the gym downstairs didn’t do much to keep me awake and functioning. Power naps always get me through until I can crash. I even set a timer on my phone. Twenty minutes. Not eight hours. I double-checked it before lying down. The alarm should’ve gone off several times even if I hit snooze. It didn’t. I would’ve remembered it going off.
“Did you sleep well, baby?”
Inhaling sharply, I roll over, sweatpants-covered thighs filling my vision. My phone slips from my hand to the carpet. I look from Uri’s boots propped on the armrest by my head to where he’s reclining in the desk chair that should be tucked under Ella’s desk.
I jerk up and kick at Uri’s boots, shoving him and the rolling desk chair away from me, then drag myself to the corner of the couch farthest from him. “You were sitting here watching me this whole time, weren’t you? And you let me sleep through my alarm? Why? I wanted to talk to the coroner before he drove back to Virginia tonight. It’s past three in the morning. There’s no way he’s still here. How am I supposed to get the details of the autopsy?”
He rolls the chair closer to me. The amused curve to Uri’s mouth turns into a smirk. “No, I didn’t watch you this whole time. Most but not all. I left for a bit to shower and change. And no, you didn’t sleep through your alarm. I used your finger to unlock your phone, then turned the alarm off. Why? Because you needed to sleep. I could taste your exhaustion on my tongue, and it’s my duty to make sure you’re taken care of. And you’re right. Unfortunately, the coroner is gone, but he documented everything in the Shifter Affairs database for you to retrieve when you’re ready, including the official cause of death as being a massive heart attack incited likely due to the fear and pain of burning alive. He also took extra samples and stored them in the fridge downstairs before the body was taken out to be disposed of. He even left his number and said you could call him with any questions.”
Uri’s calm, factual responses to my rambling string of questions and sharp tone zaps my anger. I was exhausted. I also didn’t want to be anywhere near the basement lab while my mom’s body was being cut up and examined. I stared at her, said everything I’ve kept bottled up all my life, and felt a weight lift from my shoulders. Of course, it might’ve been Uri’s arms looped around my waist and his strong body at my back that gave me the strength to purge my soul. Whatever the reason, I made peace with that chapter of my life, just as I hope Sam did.
“Did Colin catch up with Sam after she stormed out?”
“I assume so.”
Shaking my head, I snatch my phone from the floor and unlock the screen. “Assuming isn’t enough. Not with how angry she was today.”
Uri takes my phone and turns in face down on his leg. “Colin followed her out. He’ll take care of her.”
“He’ll try, but once she starts cursing him out, he’ll back off. He always does.” I hold out my hand for my phone. “I’ll send her a quick text. Just to make sure she’s good. I don’t want her dealing with this alone.”
“She’s not alone. I can almost guarantee Colin’s with her whether she wants him there or not.”
Grabbing the phone, I make a frustrated sound and open the texting app. “You don’t know how stubborn my sister can get.”
Once more, Uri takes the phone from my hand before I can select Sam’s profile and sets it on his thigh. “Then Colin’s got his work cut out for him, and it’s not your problem or mine he ignored their bond this long. That’s all on him.”
I stare at Uri instead of reaching for my phone again. “Bond? A bond like we have?”
The small smile spreading over Uri’s mouth quickens my pulse and makes my belly flip-flop. I’m still not a hundred percent certain what our bond is, other than something that’s incredibly special. Shifters can form many bonds. Obligatory ones like the one Uri already shares with me as his beloved human. He also has a bond to his alpha and the rest of his pride. The one he shares with Ezra is special too. There are darker ones. I don’t know them, just know of them. As a human, I’m not privy to every secret.
And…Uri’s not answering me. He’s watching me. I throw my legs over the side of the couch and scooch my bottom closer to the edge of the cushion. “Are they more than coworkers? Because we’re more, aren’t we?”
Uri rolls the chair closer, his spread thighs engulfing my legs, and moves my phone to the cushion next to me. With his hand on the phone, he looks at me from inches away. “You tell me. Do you routinely let your coworkers have their way with you after you’ve gone down on
them?”
Uri’s raw comment flips a switch inside me. “I never expected the purse-carrying man who routinely referred to the contract on his phone to say such a thing to me.”
“Yet you still wrapped these pretty lips around me.” Uri traces my mouth with his thumb before slipping it inside, tempting me to suck.
I can’t resist the teasing either. I curl my tongue and suck, drawing his thumb inside.
With a pleased expression, Uri slips his thumb from my mouth, and the needy sound on my lips is one I’ve never made before. I can’t help it. The hunger for more than the slide of Uri’s thumb along my tongue is real. He swipes his wet thumb over my lips. I open for him, needing him. His eyelids lower. He doesn’t take my offer, though. He drags his thumb over my chin and down the front of my neck, and the memory of being with Uri tears a whimper from me.
Uri wraps his fingers around my neck and raises his gaze to mine. “And you still pleasured me. Didn’t you, my Lyla?”
“Yes.” The word is on my lips without a thought of denying Uri. I’m not sure I could disobey him in this moment.
“Why?”
“Because I want you.”
“But why, baby?” Uri inches the chair closer until my knees bump his groin. “Why do you want me?”
A small laugh slips free, surprising me, but the truth is all I can give Uri in this moment. “Because you’re complicated. A hot mess, just like me. We fit, though. I feel right with you.”
“That’s not the image I work to portray. Not the one I want the world to see.” Uri tips my head back slightly and leans over me. “Why do you think I’m a…I’m a hot mess? No one else does. Not even Rick. He complains I follow the rules too closely. That I’m always trying to be Agent of the Year.”
“I see the same man Rick does, one who wants to appear to be a sharpshooter, always following the rules. Not doing anything illegal. Not doing anything bad. Being an example of the perfect agent. But I feel more.”
“Do you?”
The sexual edge to Uri’s voice doesn’t match the simple question, but I react to his tone as if he was whispering naughty things to me. “Yes.”
“What do you feel? Tell me.”
“You’re dangerous.” I lick my dry lips. “Wicked. And naughty, but only for me. That’s what it feels like, anyway. That you’re only wild for me. No one else, and that’s…that’s incredibly hot.”
Uri bends closer to me, his parted lips warming a path to my ear. “What if you’re right? What if I tell you that you’re only the second woman I’ve been inside and the only one that’s tempted me to finish? Would you still find that hot? Knowing I’ve never orgasmed for a woman.”
“Oh God, yes.” My voice shakes. So do my hands. The need to touch Uri and take what no other woman has gotten is unbearable. “Yes. I want you. Everything I can get from you.”
“Are you sure?” Uri skims his lips to my neck, the teasing path sparking tingles along my skin.
The animalistic sound I make is my only answer. Pure lust. That’s what the noise I make sounds like. Words are beyond me at the moment too. My entire focus is on Uri’s wandering lips.
“You’re testing my control. You realize that, right?” Uri nips the tender spot where my neck meets my shoulder. “You have from the moment you ran into my arms.”
“How?” I manage to get the question out, but it’s weak, a breath of sound.
“You awakened my primal side, the part of me that wants to embrace instincts that have no place in the human world or in the one where I’m Agent of the Year.”
“But they’re what you want. What you need.”
“Yes.” Uri takes my hand and shows me exactly where he wants my touch. “And that’s why you test my control. I don’t want to keep my needs in check with you.”
“Then don’t. Unleash them on me. It’s only right. I am the one responsible for awakening this side of you.”
“Be sure of what you’re asking. The man you think you’ve awakened isn’t the one waiting to claim you. I won’t be gentle. I won’t ask permission. I’ll take. Anything and everything I want from you.”
“Oh God.” The punch of lust is more than I’ve ever experienced, and Uri hasn’t even touched me sexually tonight.
“Was that ‘Oh God…yes’?” Uri wraps his lips around my shoulder, and the press of sharp teeth leaves me whimpering with an anticipation I can’t explain. After a breathless moment, he eases back, his warm breath teasing my wet skin. “Or was that a prayer to your god? Maybe asking to be saved from me?”
“Yes.” The word rips from my soul, a cry for completion. “I want you, Uri.”
“Whenever I want you. However I want to take you. I won’t ask permission again. I won’t treat you like a human would.” Uri releases my neck and skims his fingertips over my leg, dangerously close to my groin. “You need to understand exactly what you’re agreeing to, exactly who you’re allowing to own you. I’m not human, not even close to being civil. That’s the man your world sees. That’s not what I am, what I’ll be here between us.”
“Mine.” My breaths come faster. I swallow hard, the lust almost crippling me. “It’ll mean you’re as much mine as I’m yours. And I want that. I want you to…to own me.”
“As you own me.” Uri makes a rough sound, low in his throat, then kisses me. The brutal press of his mouth to mine steals the last of my restraint. I scratch at his waistband, clutching the elastic and tugging at his pants. Groaning, Uri thrusts his tongue deeper, filling my mouth. The sound of my phone hitting the ground registers, but I focus on what I want.
What I need. Then I take.
I explore Uri’s body, kissing and licking every inch. His moans and groans encourage me, telling me what Uri enjoys and what drives him wild. Pushing my predator to the brink never felt so good…so empowering.
And when Uri finds heaven, my name is on his lips.
Finally, I tip my head back and smile.
“Lyla. Come here.” Uri drops to his knees and holds my face in his hands. Then he stares at me. Time stands still with just his gaze on me. My rough breathing slows as the lust turns into something else, something softer. “Thank you, my little mate.”
And just like that, my heart races in an attempt to escape my chest. “Mate? Is that what I am to you? Your mate?”
With a small smile as if he knows exactly how hot he looks right now, Uri leans close and drags his tongue over my chin, down my neck, and finally across my lips. He joins our mouths and dances his tongue with mine in a gentle stroking that makes me wonder if he realizes how raw I feel after pleasuring him so freely. I don’t care. A few cough drops or something warm to drink, and I’ll be fine. But the gentle way Uri loves my mouth makes me feel appreciated, as if he treasures me for what I did for him.
I lay a trembling hand on his chest, and he pulls me closer. After a moment, the taste of chocolate flavors our kiss, and the rawness of my mouth fades.
Finally, Uri breaks our kiss but doesn’t pull back completely. His lips still caress mine in a way that reminds me of our connection. “I’d return the pleasure you gave me, but Rick is standing in the hallway. I’d hate to keep him waiting while I lick every inch of your body.”
Uri’s unspoken promise of pleasure—next time—chases back the disappointment over our interruption. “What does he want?”
“I don’t know. I can’t talk to Rick the way I can with my pride mates, but I imagine it’s important for him to still be waiting even after knocking and nobody coming to the door.”
Questions surface. I don’t remember anyone knocking. Then again, my entire focus was on Uri, bringing him the most pleasure and enjoying knowing I was the first woman he experienced it with. Even beyond the basics of how Uri knows it’s Rick out in the hallway, I want to know about the rest of Uri’s abilities, including how he can communicate with his pride mates. This isn’t the time for that talk.
I pull up Uri’s sweatpants, then stand and hold out a hand to him. “Then we
better go find out, Agent Alexander.”
“Yes. Let’s.” Uri’s chuckle warms me, spreading happiness through me even as I wonder why Rick’s waiting to talk to us. It’s got to be something important, but I let the worry over why Rick is here at three o’clock in the morning fade. With Uri in my life, I can handle anything.
Nineteen
Uri
Heaven. Lyla brought heaven down to me. No doubt about it. The pleasure with her was beyond anything I imagined. It also wasn’t enough. It only made me hungry for something…more.
The moment Lyla, wearing another pair of Ella’s spare exercise pants, steps out of the bathroom, the beast I am at heart stirs, crawling up from the depths of my soul where I keep it tethered. Uncivilized and as wild as Lyla teased me about being, my primal side is a reflection of the three big predators I house within my body and soul. They have too much influence over me. Such is what happens when a shifter spends too much time in his animal forms. Their primitive traits become the man’s. And those primeval urges aren’t acceptable in the human world.
But they are in the world Lyla’s offered me.
With my true mate, I don’t have to hide anything, including my hunger. She got a taste of it tonight and didn’t run. She gave me complete control over her body, allowing me to use her as I needed while tempting me to take even more from her. To shatter her, over and over until she can’t remember ever being with another man.
“Are you ready?” Lyla smiles at me, oblivious to the fact the predator she’s approaching is coiled and ready to pounce on her.
Too bad I can’t.
Rolling my neck, I tamp down the dark urges. It’ll be hours before I can release this side of me again, and I doubt Rick will wait for me to take my fill of Lyla. “Yes. I’m ready.”
Lyla hesitates with her fingers wrapped around the knob before stepping back and motioning to the door. “Ha! See? I remembered. You first.”