Ky took a bite of steak. The way he bit into the pink flesh made a slow quiver run through Laken’s body. She studied her baked potato, stabbed it with her fork, and pushed it around, almost stirring it. Surely he couldn’t make eating a baked potato look sexy?
Injured by a land mine, lost a leg. Lost a boyfriend—okay, not much of a boyfriend, to be honest. Working for an organization that helps wartime victims—especially ones hurt by land mines.
“Not much.” She looked up at him.
He was still, his blue gaze focused on her face. In the depths of his eyes, a golden glow flamed.
Her panther roared in Laken’s head. “What have you been up to?”
He cocked his head, as if he was thinking what to say. Then he nodded. “I left for the Middle East the day after you… after I… after we…”
That was the last thing she needed him to say out loud. She didn’t need that night, that one and only charmed night, to be brought up and talked about. She didn’t want the magic to dissipate the same way that everything else in her life had. “Why’d you come back?”
He paused, the hand holding his fork hesitating midway to his lips. “Disillusioned.” He set the fork down. “A friend of mine killed an officer for making a bad call that got most of the unit killed. Including my good friend’s brother.”
Laken didn’t know what to say to that. She’d seen more than her share of death in Africa. “You left, and now this? With the Shifter Supreme Court?”
“Yes, and you? No mate? No baby shifters running around?”
“No.”
He leaned his barstool forward, balancing it on two legs, bringing that big body of his closer, eclipsing her view of anything but him. A low growl came from deep within his chest and sent a barrage of chills throughout her body. Her breath caught in her throat as his face approached. She closed her eyes, yielding to the emotions surging within her. Desire pumped through her veins, forcing parts of her to swell with the divine torture of being absent from pleasure for way too long.
“Really? No mate?” He released the words in a whisper, his breath warm and all male, caressing her face.
“No.” The word was a wisp in the air, torn from her oxygen-deprived lungs.
His lips alit on hers, claiming her mouth. Her lips parted to his demands, and his tongue explored her mouth as if it were a new territory to seize. His eyes were glowing a white-gold flame. His bear and his lust were battling within him and Laken knew exactly what he was going through. Her own panther struggled to govern and override Laken’s self-control.
“I want you,” he growled against her flesh. His hands tangled in her hair, pulling her head back. His teeth raked the flesh of her neck, sending pinpricks of longing coursing throughout her body.
A large bulge jutted against her thigh. He took her by the hips and rocked her against his hardness. Dropping his head, he gave her neck a long, hungry lick.
She pulled away, wanting more than anything to give in.
“I let you go once,” he snarled. “Never again.”
“We have a job. We have… We can’t complicate things.”
“Does this feel complicated?” His tongue lapped at the hollow in her neck as his fingers traveled to the zipper of her pants and released it.
It feels like heaven. It feels like everything right.
She put her hand over his but couldn’t bring herself to stop him, even though it meant he’d know. “It feels very complicated.”
“Your scent says you like this kind of complicated.” The words came from deep within his wide chest, a gravelly growl sent by his bear.
Ky’s fingertips alit on her mound, then moved and tugged on her pants, pulling them down, over her prosthetic leg.
***
Ky froze, his lungs full of the scent of her desire.
Her leg.
It was missing.
Both thighs were beautiful, full and wonderfully curvy, but one stopped just above the knee, where the leg was replaced with a prosthetic.
Why wouldn’t she tell me? He’d asked her what she’d been up to. This didn’t look like ‘not much’.
She was quiet; it seemed even her breathing had stopped and her pulse had frozen. This woman was the epitome of strength and beauty, and she was watching him for a reaction. But what kind of reaction did she want? The only reaction he’d had was a complete desire to make her his mate and bond with her right now.
That won’t do.
No, it wouldn’t do. It would be best to make sure that that was what she wanted as well.
He leaned forward and kissed first one thigh, then the other. Placing an arm under her legs and one behind her, he swooped her into a carry and moved toward the couch.
“What are you doing?” Her voice was a whisper.
“I’m going to make love to the woman who’s been out of my life for way too damned long. That’s what.”
His bear roared agreement.
“You can’t.”
“Why not?”
With supernatural speed, accompanied by a crunching and tearing sound, she shifted into a beautiful black panther. Her prosthetic leg dropped to the floor with a thud that punctuated her shift.
She stood there, her panther eyes dark, glaring at him, her mouth parted enough to give him a glimpse of crimson and sharp ivory. Her hind leg was missing, just above the knee joint.
Ky’s bear growled in his head, then roared, filling Ky’s mind with a sound that reverberated and inside his skull as he shifted into his massive polar bear form.
She remained unmoved, ethereal and yet primal in her panther form. Every bit of her was the woman he wanted, the mate he needed.
A sound came from deep within her chest, a low mournful chuffing.
His bear grunted and approached her, then let her lean against his bulk, their pulses keeping beat with one another. He pushed to establish a link with her, to communicate silently the way that shifters could without speaking.
Let me in, Laken.
He was met with silence. He was sure she had to know how to sync and communicate, and yet she wouldn’t respond.
Knowing she could hear him, he tried once more.
Tell me why not. Tell me why I can’t make love to the woman I want. Tell me why you deny me this.
His bear stepped closer to the magnificent creature she was. Her mouth parted again, teeth lethal and white, tongue a deep pink. Her features were beautifully feminine on a powerful frame, neck long and slender, body muscle-bound and covered with shiny black fur.
She released a low growl, half-warning and half-relenting. He came even closer, inhaling, his bear head only inches from hers. He took her scent in—trepidation, fear, and arousal.
I want you. I’ve never stopped wanting you.
She still did not allow them to sync together in their minds.
You’ve been through a lot. A whole lot more than ‘not much.’ Why are you so guarded? Where’s the woman who turned my world upside down and grabbed my heart like a thief in the night, and never returned it?
With a snarl, she pushed off of him, just as she had in her human form. She shifted out of her panther, back into the curvy beauty he’d fallen for ages ago. Her clothing and shoes shifted with her, the way clothing always did with their kind, but she looked like she’d been in a wrestling match.
***
Confusion ran throughout Laken’s mind. Her emotions for him were overwhelming. She grabbed her prosthesis and pulled it on, fighting to adjust it, her fingers shaking and fumbling. That done, she looked at him, the polar bear with the uncharacteristic blue eyes. He shifted back into the man she’d spent the night with and had never forgotten.
“Why do you deny what we have?” he asked again. A question he wasn’t willing to let go of, clearly.
“I’m not the same woman.”
“Hell, I hope not. It’s been a few years. I’d like to think we’ve both grown up.”
She released a breath of exasperation. Fine. If he’s not g
oing to bring it up…
No, she couldn’t.
So how did I end up undressed in front of him?
Her panther screeched the answer deep in Laken’s skull, snarling that he was their mate. Laken pushed the panther back, tuned her out. “I made a mistake,” she said, and pushed Ky away too. Then she leaned on the barstool and shoved one foot into her pants leg.
“Laken. No.”
She zipped up her pants and grabbed her bag.
“Don’t go.”
But she did.
***
Tired, she took a cab, splurging on the fare because she didn’t feel like dealing with the subway. Thirty minutes later she was at home, had taken off her prosthetic leg, and shifted into her panther form. She lay on the carpet near the fireplace, letting the warmth lull her.
I could still make it to Cozumel. Enjoy a day or two before Africa.
Except she didn’t want to go to Africa. She didn’t want to do anything but think of that damned polar bear shifter, Malachi Romanoff.
Ky. She savored his name in her mind, letting it roll around.
Ky. How had she forgotten? He’d told her that night, long ago, at the clubhouse, after they’d had sex and then more sex, and they’d avoided making promises or saying anything that had anything to do with the future.
Her shoulder muscles heaved in an exhaled chuff. She rolled over and stretched—
A knock sounded at the door.
She froze mid-stretch.
She wasn’t going to answer it. No way, no how.
Another knock. She concentrated her shifter hearing, but couldn’t pick up anything, not even breathing.
Pressure pushed on her mind. Someone was nudging her to sync. Wanting to open up a communication link. Only a shifter could do that; only a shifter who was in their animal form. That was dangerous for that shifter. If a shifter were caught in its animal—
Oh, hell.
She ignored the request to sync and shifted into her human form, then jerked her prosthetic leg on with a grimace. She yanked the door wide open and was faced with a wall of white.
Thick, luxurious white fur, and attached to a polar bear that was standing on two legs, eclipsed her view of the hallway.
Ky.
He pressed forward, his bulk pushing her into the apartment. She closed the door behind him and then he shifted into his human form.
“That’s dangerous, you know. What if you get caught?”
“You wouldn’t open the door. I had to take a chance so I could talk to you.”
“I have to pack.” She looked away, not wanting him to read the lie in her eyes.
***
His bear took her scent in, the denial, the desire, and held it in Ky’s lungs, trapping that scent where it would infuse his senses and overpower his logic. All he could think of, all he could breathe, all he could understand, was her—Laken Araya—his mate. His only mate. Fated for him, destined for him… denying him.
He would not be denied, nor would his bear. A growl began deep in his chest, sparked by her essence. He put a finger under her chin and tipped her head back until she faced him. His eyes bored into hers, his bear confronting her panther, assuring the feline behind that amber glow that what she knew of him was true.
The scent grew stronger, her femininity and her desire prevalent.
“Deny you feel what I do,” he dared her, his gaze more of a glare, his bear demanding his mate’s surrender.
“I didn’t say I want you.”
She hadn’t said she didn’t.
Ky looked at her lips, lips he wanted to kiss, lips she was sucking in and biting on, though her eyes challenged him. This woman would never be easy to deal with, but she’d always be worth it.
He felt her pulse surge with a burst of energy, and without removing her eyes from his, she drifted her hands to her buttons. She flicked them, one at a time, until the fabric of her shell-pink shirt parted, yielding creamy skin cupped in lace. The darker rose of her nipples was outlined behind the lace, pebbled and eager for his touch.
Her eyes still challenged him, as if she were taking his measure, as if she were trying to determine if he was there for the duration or if he would run.
What the hell happened to her to make her like this?
That question was driven from his mind when he heard the gnashing of the teeth of her zipper separating, then the rustle of fabric dropping as her pants fell to the floor.
The aroma that the motion released created a throb in his hardness that was matched by the drumming of his pulse in his ears.
She was undressing for him.
***
Laken closed her eyes. Fingers tugged on her panties, pulling them down, over her thighs, over her legs. Hands under her arms raised her, picking her up. Eyes still shut, she felt herself being lifted then placed gently on a cold countertop, making her flinch.
With warm fingers against her thighs, Ky pushed her legs apart gently, with a reverence that surprised her when she thought of the man she’d been with all those years ago.
“I won’t break,” she whispered, wanting him to be how he’d been that night, wanting things to be how they were, wanting herself back.
“I know that.” His breath was warm against her inner thighs, making pleasure whip through her, its tendrils touching nerve endings that were almost virginal again, after all this time.
“Will you ever tell me what happened to your leg?” Ky rose up on an elbow.
“A land mine. Not long after that night.”
“In all my time in the military, I never encountered that. Shifters heal.”
“Shifters heal when there’s something there to heal.”
“Point made.” He planted a gentle kiss on her thigh.
His hands cupped her heels, pushing them up, bringing her feet to rest on his wide shoulders. Emotions battled within her: arousal coupled with the shame of being on display with the lights on, the shame of having her leg on display. No one had ever seen her this way, not naked and with her weakness in plain view. She bit down on her lip.
Everything was silent. Her shifter hearing couldn’t pick up any sound of movement. She warred against opening her eyes.
“Beautiful.” His fingers traced the flesh of her thighs, starting at her hips and drifting upward, leaving a trail of goose-bumped flesh behind. As he approached her prosthesis, she closed her eyes tighter, her breath frozen, lungs burning from a need to pull more air in.
He made circles with his fingertips, tinier and tinier. “Open your eyes,” he growled softly.
She shook her head. “I can’t.” The tortured whisper was ripped from her.
“You will.” His voice was harder. “Look at me.”
Laken wanted to surrender; she wanted to believe that she didn’t have to worry about judgment. His fingertips lifted from her flesh, leaving her cold and wanting. Was he going to leave? Her eyes flew open, expecting to see his back.
Instead she saw his face, his gaze focused on her.
“You have to trust me.” He leaned forward and kissed her just above the prosthesis, then kissed the other leg in the same place. “Trust me.” His breath felt like a shot of whiskey, warming her on the inside, spreading comfort thorough her. He pushed her legs farther apart, then cupped her ass, pulling her closer, spreading her more, both at the same time.
Ky leaned forward, and she found herself arching closer to him, leaning in to him. His tongue lapped at the point where her thigh joined her hip, long strokes that caressed that sensitive skin, making her muscles clench deep inside.
The groan that came out of her mouth didn’t even sound like it was hers. It was another woman’s voice, another woman who was giving in to Ky. A woman with so much to give.
He looked up. “Give it to me.” That familiar flicker of gold highlighted his eyes. He’d taken his full bottom lip into his mouth, holding it captive with his teeth, making her wish she was the captive one.
She knew what he wanted. Could she risk it?
Could she put herself on the line? Toss caution to the wind?
“Laken.” His face was so close to her nether lips that she could feel his breath as he spoke. “A woman as brave as you are, who does what you do…” He placed a kiss at the point of the triangle she kept trimmed for no one but herself. “A woman as brave as you, and you’re running away from your emotions?” Another kiss. This time he kept his lips planted; this time she felt the throb in her clit—a swollen barometer of her desire for him.
He leaned forward. His tongue found her enflamed clit and traced a circle, wicked and wanton. She raised her hips in response, pressing her mound closer to his face, her muscles bunching, her core flexing for him.
With long, slow strokes of his tongue, he teased her folds, flicking her clit with the tip, then sucking in her lips and releasing them with a sound that made her muscles tighten with yearning. Stroke after stroke, never going in, just teasing her, lapping, taking, passing so close to the place she needed him to be, and yet never yielding to her desire. Tension rose, cresting and peaking, not allowing her release. When he released a breath on her moist heat, the sound that came from her throat was primeval, a begging sound that betrayed her.
Ky’s hands—large and strong, a soldier’s hands, a protector’s hands—cupped her ass and pulled her closer until he’d covered her sex with his mouth so he could devour her. She ground herself against his face, her fingers buried in his short hair, her nails digging into his scalp.
With a quick plunge, he sank his tongue deep within her. A rasping cry spilled out of her as his tongue began a thrusting tempo that matched her heartbeat.
God, yes.
No. Yes. No.
She couldn’t put a thought together, her body completely surrendering to the sensations his worshipping yielded.
One whimper, one scream that she bit back, and her eyes were closed again, starbursts and flares going off inside her eyelids. She shuddered as aftershock yielded to aftershock.
Laken opened her eyes. Ky was watching her—and it was the Ky from so long ago. Or maybe it was that she was the Laken from so long ago.
***
Laken’s scent, her arousal, her climax, all of it surrounded Ky. Her taste was fresh in his mouth. Her emotions were raw in her eyes. This was so much more than the one-night stand they’d shared. She’d allowed herself to become his, and he wanted to take it to the next level. He wanted her to be his forever, just as he and his bear knew she was.
Dark & Stormy Alpha Nights Page 16