Just the thought of it made Kellan’s fangs burn to be released, his claws pricking at the tips of his fingers.
Can’t let it happen. Won’t let it happen….
Determined to do everything he could to keep her safe, Kellan had finally settled on a plan of action, which was why he’d just sneaked back into Chloe’s cell a few minutes ago. Expecting her to be a nervous wreck, he’d frowned when he found her sleeping, knowing her exhaustion was a bad sign. The Merrick was obviously wearing her down, draining her more with each hour that went by. After what they’d recently learned from Westmore, she should have been far too anxious to sleep.
Standing beside her cot, Kellan eyed the silken tangle of dark hair spread out over her pillow, and couldn’t deny that he wanted to touch it, caress its silken warmth, sift those gleaming strands through his fingers. Her palm was curled innocently in sleep beside her face, and he stared…unable to do anything else. He wanted to kneel down and lay his cheek against her pale, perfect skin. Breathe in a deep lungful of her warm, precious scent and let it ease him, relaxing the tight clench of tension and fear that had his insides twisted into knots.
How did she manage to look so beautiful in the middle of such a nightmare? Words bottled up in his throat, choking and dry, fighting to be said. There were so many things Kellan wanted to tell her. Crazy, possessive things that he’d never said to anyone before. But they were words that had no place between him and this woman. Ones better left locked inside, where they couldn’t complicate what was already one hell of a shitty situation.
Damn it, what was the point in making promises he would never have the chance to keep? And even if he wasn’t running out of time, he would still have had a battle on his hands, convincing her he was worthy of her trust…much less any kind of deeper emotion. He would have had to fight tooth and nail just to get her to believe in him once she’d learned about the vile, inexcusable mistakes he’d made. The danger he had put his friends in. And yet…it was a challenge he would have gladly accepted.
Impossible to explain how furious it made him that he didn’t have that choice, and as Kellan clenched his fists, he found himself wishing that fate were a physical thing he could get his claws into, ripping it to pieces, just like it was doing to him.
For months now, he’d been jealous as hell of what his friends had found, wishing he could find it for himself. That sense of rightness and peace, knowing that no matter what life threw at you, you were no longer alone. Yeah, he might have been surrounded by family and friends back at Harrow House, but they hadn’t been his. Most of them had already found that one perfect woman who could make them complete, and had become a part of something new. And now that he’d found the same thing, he couldn’t have it. Couldn’t have her. Fate was just taunting him, damn it. Playing with him. And it pissed him off.
But I can have this, he thought, running his gaze over the sweet, feminine shape of her body beneath the coarse blanket. He had to, because there was no longer any question that she needed to build her strength. That they no longer had the time to wait.
Kellan hated the danger he could still pose to her if he failed to control his wolf, but he felt oddly comforted by the fact that the beast was now as worried for her as he was. The animal had been stunned by what they’d heard from Westmore, its feral hunger not softened, but now matched by its fear for her safety. Not a better situation…but perhaps one he had a chance of controlling. Both animal and man understood that the stakes had just been raised. Now the escape was going to be even more dangerous than he’d feared, which meant that Chloe was going to need to be as strong as possible.
And God forbid, if something happened and they got her away from him, Kellan needed to know that he’d given her every advantage she could have against these bastards, so that she could kill them before they killed her.
So let’s do this thing, the wolf growled. Let’s give her what she needs.
With his heart beating to a hard, painful rhythm, and his pulse thrashing in his ears, Kellan reached down and touched the side of her face. “Chloe, honey. Wake up.”
She moaned, nuzzling her cheek against his palm, her breath soft and sweet.
“That’s it,” he whispered, lowering himself to his knees beside the cot. “Come on, kitten. Open your eyes.”
Her eyelids fluttered, and then he was staring into luminous pools of deep, smoky gray, her lashes thick and dark, casting shadows against her cheeks. “Kellan? What are you doing over here?”
“You know, you’re always asking me that same question.”
The corner of her mouth twitched with a soft, sleepy smile. “That’s because I keep telling you to stay away.”
He forced a grin, but she must have been able to sense the tension thrumming beneath his surface, because she asked, “What’s going on?”
“Come on, Chloe.” His voice roughened as he said, “You know why I’m here.”
She blinked, and her eyes went wide. “I do?”
“You heard what Westmore said today.” His voice was unsteady, a rough edge to the words that made him sound more guttural. “We’re going to have to go ahead and make our move tonight, fighting our way out. There’s no other way, and I need you…I need you strong for that.”
Her eyes went even wider. “You mean…”
“Yeah.” She started to say something, but he pressed his fingers across her lips. “Please,” he whispered, “just hear me out. I know I started out fighting this tooth and nail, but only because I thought it was best for you. I still don’t think I’m fit to touch you, and before you ask, we’re not going to talk about why. The truth is that what I think doesn’t matter anymore. This has to happen.”
“But—”
He cut her off again, a grin kicking up the corner of his mouth as he said, “Don’t even try it. Didn’t anyone ever tell you that you can’t argue with a guy on his birthday?”
She snuffled a soft laugh under her breath and looked away, her profile beautiful in the hazy glow of the fire. “I’d forgotten,” she said in a quiet voice. “Happy birthday.”
“Thanks,” he rasped. “But don’t even think about calling me old.”
Another soft laugh, and she brought her gaze back to his, staring so deeply into his eyes, he felt like she was trying to see into his soul. “Are you sure you want to do this, Kell?”
It would have been impossible to hide the lust that thickened his voice, so he didn’t even try. “I’ve wanted to do this for what feels like forever.”
Kellan could tell she didn’t believe him—that she was thinking about that bloody curse—but she was going to understand just how hungry he was for her the second they got started. If it was the last thing he did, he was going to make sure this woman understood exactly how much he wanted her.
“What’s Raine doing?” she whispered, her breath starting to come a little faster. A rosy flush of color warmed her cheeks, her heady, provocative scent filling his head, rising with the heat of her body.
She was waiting for an answer about Raine, and he somehow managed enough brain function to scrape out, “She’s put herself in a light trance, since it’s going to be a long night.”
With a careful brush of her fingertips against his bruised cheek, she whispered, “You’ve had a heck of a birthday, haven’t you?”
“It’s getting a helluva lot better,” he rumbled in a rough, husky slide of words. Taking hold of the blanket, Kellan shoved it to the side, needing to see her body…desperate for her sweet, delicate curves. Her eyes closed as he reached for the buttons on her shirt, his breath quickening as he swiftly got them undone, pushing the sides apart and pulling down the cups of her bra, revealing all that smooth, pale skin and her perfect breasts.
“Christ, you’re beautiful,” he groaned, leaning down and touching his tongue to a tight, plump nipple. Her back arched as he drew the pink bud between his lips, sucking and licking, wanting to eat her alive. Her legs moved restlessly against the cot, her hands tangling in his hair
as he moved to the other breast, working the succulent tip against the roof of his mouth, her throaty cry making him see red.
Ripping off her panties, Kellan lifted her into his arms and turned to sit down on the cot. Her eyes opened as he pulled her over his lap, cradling her shoulders in his left arm, his right hand settling low on her belly. “What are you doing? I thought we were going to—”
“Shh. Just let me take care of you.”
“Take care of me?” She choked out the words, “I thought we were going to have sex!”
Settling his hand on the inside of her thigh, Kellan shook his head. “I’m worried I might not hear someone if they come down here. I need to try to stay as focused as possible. But I can still give you what you need.”
She started to argue, but he cut off the words again, this time with his mouth, swallowing the sounds as he slid his tongue deep, rubbing it against hers. Her taste jolted his system, lush and sweet, and he kissed her harder, nipping at the tender swell of her lower lip as he whispered, “Open your legs for me, Chloe.”
She trembled, but she did as he said, parting her thighs, revealing her glistening sex, and Kellan’s breath hissed through his teeth as he spread her open with his thumb and his forefinger. He stared, rapt, his breathing becoming rougher as he studied all the deliciously pink, delicate details—and that was when he felt the Merrick rising within her, its power blasting against him like a hot wind, searing his flesh. Her eyes opened wide, and he could see her fear as she struggled to cope with the Merrick’s presence, the sensation of having it there inside her probably more like his wolf than he would have guessed.
“It’s okay,” he whispered, stroking his fingertips against her soft, slippery folds. “It’s going to be all right, Chloe. Don’t fight it. We’re gonna give the Merrick everything it needs.”
Moaning, she arched herself against his hand, her legs spreading wider as he touched that most intimate, exquisitely tender part of her. She was hot and slick, and he gritted his teeth, forcing himself to be gentle as he pushed inside, sinking one long finger into her. “So tight,” he groaned, carefully pulling his finger out. It gleamed with her juices, and he pushed in two, working them into her while he pressed his thumb against her clit, rubbing the swollen little knot of nerves in a slow circular motion that pulled a husky cry from her throat. “You got those little fangs out?”
“Yeah,” she groaned, her eyes dilated with hunger beneath the heavy weight of her lashes, her breath coming in ragged gasps.
“Let me see ’em.” She opened her mouth, and he could just catch the delicate points of her fangs glistening beneath the sensual curve of her upper lip, her lips becoming redder…fuller. He made a thick sound in the back of his throat and touched his lips to hers, running his tongue over one of those sharp points, and the ache in his shaft doubled, his blood rushing hard and fast.
Need her fangs, the wolf seethed, prowling beneath his skin as Kellan lifted her against his chest, her face nuzzling against the side of his throat, where the wound made by the poisoned Deschanel had finally healed. Need her strong.
“Do it,” he growled, wanting it so badly he could taste it. “Make the bite, Chloe.”
She groaned in response, flicking her tongue against his hot flesh, then sank her fangs deep, the piercing sensation shooting all the way to the head of his cock. Kellan choked back a rough shout, fingering her deeper, her inner muscles pulling on him tighter…and tighter. She cried out against the side of his throat, her body tensing as she fisted her hands in his hair, and then she crashed full force into a violent, shattering orgasm, the deep, rhythmic clenching around his fingers damn near pulling him right along with her. His fingers were soaked with her juices, and he kept pumping into her, her mouth pulling hard and sweet against his vein, greedy for the hot rush of his blood. With his jaw locked, Kellan ground his thumb against her clit, prolonging the shivering spasms, and the cot began to shake beneath him as if they were in the middle of an earthquake, a hot, fiery wind rushing through the chilly cell, whipping at their hair. The air became charged with the power of the Merrick, thick and electric, as if there was a physical current in the room that pulsed against his skin, raising all the hairs on his body.
With a sharp gasp, she pulled her fangs from his throat, her back arching over his arm as she shuddered and rocked, jerking her hips against his hand, riding his thick, drenched fingers, lost in sexual abandon. Kellan groaned, low and deep, at the stunning sight, thinking she was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. He tightened his arm, pulling her against the furious pounding of his heart, his eyes squeezing shut as he buried his face in her silken hair, fighting the urge to push her to her back and shove himself inside her until he was so deep he could feel her soul. At last, the clenching spasms of her orgasm eased, and he pulled his fingers from the exquisite clasp of her body, her inner muscles struggling to hold on to him, protesting the loss…making it that much harder for him to stop before he went too far.
Wrapping both arms around her, Kellan held her tight as he struggled to get it together, his control devastated by the raw, chaotic rush of emotions tearing through him.
You’re being pathetic, you bloody idiot. Stop dicking around and make sure she’s okay.
Right. Damn it, he could do this. For once in his fucking life, he could be selfless and ignore his own needs, doing what was right for a change. With a few deep, shuddering breaths, Kellan finally relaxed his hold, until she was lying in the cradle of his left arm again. “How do you feel?” he asked, pushing her hair away from her face with a shaky hand.
“Incredible.” She stretched in his arms, her voice a low, provocative purr. “It’s like someone opened the top of my head and filled me up with warm, sizzling energy.”
“That’s good, honey.” He tried for a normal tone, but couldn’t quite pull it off, his voice too gritty. Too strained. “I’m…glad you feel good.”
“I feel better than good,” she murmured, smiling up at him. “It’s like my whole body has been filled with some kind of shimmering light. I’m surprised I don’t have sunbeams shooting out from my fingers and toes.”
He started to laugh, but she wiggled…and the feel of her firm little ass rubbing against his cock pulled a graveled curse up from his chest.
She stilled instantly, concern mixing with the pleasure-glow burning in her eyes. “Kellan?”
“Just…” A muscle pulsed in the side of his jaw, his forehead dotted with beads of sweat. “Just don’t move for a second, ’kay?”
WATCHING HIM CAREFULLY, Chloe could see that Kellan was in bad shape, his muscles coiled with tension, bulging beneath the burnished glow of his skin. Deep brackets were etched into the sides of his mouth, his eyes fever-bright beneath the dark slash of his brows, and she realized that while the Merrick might have gotten what it needed…Kellan hadn’t.
“What about you?” she asked softly, settling a little deeper against his massive erection, the denim of his jeans straining around the thick, rigid bulge.
“Don’t worry about me,” he said in a rough voice, one hand gripping her hip to hold her still. “I’ll live.”
“Are you serious?” She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “Come on, Kellan. If you’re going to let yourself get used, you should at least get something in return.”
He caught her wrist in a firm grip, stopping her as she tried to reach for the button on his jeans. “I’m going to say this one last time, so make sure you’re listening, Chloe. You are not using me. What just happened between us…yeah, you needed it. But don’t think for a second that I didn’t want it to happen. I wanted everything that happened between us, and a helluva lot more than that.”
“Then let me touch you.” She pulled her wrist from his grip and climbed off his lap, settling onto her knees at his side, then reached for his fly with both hands, desperate to get to him. He cursed something raw and gritty, but she knew he’d given in when he leaned back, bracing his shoulders against the wall. With his ches
t heaving, he watched as she clumsily yanked at the button and zipper, her fingers trembling with anticipation, her vision going hazy with lust as she got her first good look at him.
His cock was dark and heavy, thicker and longer than she would have imagined, even in her dirtiest fantasies, but she wasn’t complaining. How could a woman complain about something so evocatively male and impossibly beautiful? He made a thick, groaning sound as she wrapped her fingers around him in a greedy hold, the Merrick practically purring with excitement.
“Oh, wow,” she whispered, licking her bottom lip. “I didn’t get a good look at you on Sunday. But this…just wow.”
He let out a husky bark of laughter that made her smile, her heart pounding to a furious beat as she carefully explored him, mesmerized by the deliciously masculine details. A heavy knotwork of veins was mapped beneath the suede-soft skin that’d been stretched tight over the granite-hard shaft, and as she held him in her hands, Chloe could feel the powerful beat of his heart pulsing against her palms.
“Shit,” he said thickly, his hands fisting in the cot’s thin blanket. “Tighter, Chloe. You won’t hurt me. Squeeze it as hard as you can.”
She did as he said, and it was sexy as hell, the way he started lifting his hips, thrusting his cock through the tight grip of her hands. She’d tried not to let herself think about how it’d felt on Sunday, when he’d put just the head inside her before pulling away, knowing she’d drive herself crazy. But now she couldn’t stop, her body contracting, wanting so desperately to be filled.
His lips pulled back over his teeth, revealing the sharp tips of his fangs, and unlike hers, those suckers were long and thick…and insanely sexy. Chloe could feel him getting thicker in her grasp, proving that yet another one of the rumors she’d heard about Lycan males was true. She could also scent him, so warm and masculine and wonderful, that mouthwatering mix of sex and sweat and musk spiking her own arousal. She stroked her tongue across her lower lip again, desperate for the touch and taste of him. Unable to fight it any longer, Chloe gripped him firmly at the broad root and just went for it, his rough shout filling the cell as she bent over him and ran her tongue over the wet, straining head.
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