by Hazel Gower
Arden pulled into a parking spot, and she looked over to see a rough looking pub. Motorbikes sat out front, and from what she could see, a good eighty percent of the customers were men. Arden started to get out of the car, but she grabbed him.
“Hey, I asked you a question.”
Arden’s brown eyes turn dark, and Remy fought to hold his stare. “No.”
“What the fuck do you mean no?”
“Just that, no. No, you will not come out to kill demons. You will stay home where it’s safe.”
“Oh my God, you didn’t just say that. What about Faith, Kirby, and Sara? They go out and help fight.”
He grunted, shook her hand off, and got out the car. Remy followed, her anger rising. She shook with annoyance when he didn’t answer her. She stood in front of him with her arms crossed.
“I don’t think they should have ever been okayed to fight,” Arden said. “I don’t think women should fight. I mean, look what happened to you.”
Ooooh, she just wanted to kick him, and with her good, black wedges. She knew it wouldn’t hurt him, but it would make her feel better. “You’re a frigging caveman. I’m an independent woman. I don’t like being told I can’t do something. You are not the boss of me. I can do what I like.”
Arden crossed his arms over his chest and raised his eyebrow. “Do you want us to leave here and I’ll show you how wrong you are?”
The heat in his eyes had her backing up and shivers racking her body. Holy shit, how did he do that—have her pissed off one minute, and the next burning up with need for him to take her and fuck her six ways to Sunday?
She brought her hands up in surrender in the hope he would stay back. Right now he couldn’t touch her. “Argh…no. I think we should talk about this later.” Much later if she had her way. Any time he got ahold of her she became a dumb blonde, willing to succumb to anything.
The grin that came over his face almost had her changing her mind. The prick thought he’d won. Well, she’d have to show him he’d just bought time, not won.
Arden walked up the three steps and into the pub’s doors. She followed behind him, not bothering to hide that she watched his arse, aching to grab it and squeeze. Arden walked to the very back of the club and didn’t even stop as he walked through a door that said Employees. She followed more hesitantly. On the other side he walked down a hall and stopped in front of a door, waiting for her to catch up. When she was a couple of steps away Arden opened the door and walked inside, not even bothering to knock first.
A man with blond hair and a muscular build was sitting in a chair behind a big, elaborate wooden desk. “Arden, what brings you and the human?” he asked, without looking up. The guy didn’t acknowledge them further and continued writing in his book.
“My mate wants a job.”
That got the man’s attention. He looked up and leaned back in his chair. The guy had the brightest green eyes Remy had ever seen, they almost looked like cat eyes. “What, can’t you provide for her anymore?”
“Fuck you, Grayson.”
Grayson raised his eyebrows and smirked. “You don’t have the equipment I like.” His gaze rested on Remy. “But your mate does.”
Oh shit, this man was insane. Arden threw himself at Grayson and pummeled him with fists and knees. Remy debated if she should interfere, but when Grayson changed into a leopard as Arden changed to a wolf she backed as far away from them as she could.
Wow, there were leopard shifters, and he was gorgeous. Arden’s jet black wolf was magnificent, but the leopard was…just…just amazing.
The men changed back and Remy watched transfixed. Yum, two naked men were before her, and she took them both in, licking her lips. Arden growled and stalked toward her. She gave one last, quick glance at Grayson. Oh my, he was hung like a…
Grayson chuckled, cutting her thoughts off, and Arden yanked her to his hard body, rubbing himself over her.
“She likes me, Arden. Are you sure you want her to have a job here? She thinks I’m gorgeous and amazing. I also heard hung in there.”
She shrunk back. Crap, she’d said everything out loud. Remy darted her gaze up to very angry, almost black, eyes. “Um…he’s a leopard.”
Arden grunted and cupped her face, tilting it up before capturing her mouth in a kiss that showed pure ownership. Her body, already boiling from the sight of the two sexy guys she’d watched turn from animals to handsome, muscular men, had her ready to combust.
When Arden finished the kiss she was ready to give Grayson a show. Her arms had wrapped around Arden’s neck and she’d practically climbed up his body.
Grayson was laughing his arse off. “I get the picture. She is all yours, and I am not to touch.” His eyes fell on her. “So you want a job? What qualifications do you have?”
Gathering her scattered, lust filled thoughts, she looked to Arden for help, but he just grinned like a loon at her. The fucker had turned her speechless and he knew it. “Ar…I, um…”
Grayson laughed harder, and Remy felt heat climb up her cheeks. Men! If she didn’t want a job she would so be leaving right now, but not before she punched the laughing hyena in front of her. She narrowed her eyes and placed her hands on her hips, tapping her foot and waiting for the laughing to stop, but he just thought she was funnier, and even Arden started chuckling.
Giving up on them stopping, she turned and walked out of the room. She went straight behind the bar. She’d show Grayson what she could do. As soon as she got behind the bar the other bartender winked at her and she nodded to him. Pulling her tank top lower so she showed better cleavage, she strutted to the counter and smiled as she served her first customer.
* * * *
Arden looked at his close friend Grayson, seeing the tired, almost defeated, look in his eyes. Grayson had taken over the bar about a year ago. Most of his leopard pack had been slaughtered by demons, one by one. They’d been becoming extinct because they hadn’t found any mates, and if they didn’t get killed by demons, they lost hope and turned feral. There were only a few leopard shifters left, and they had spread out to different shifter groups in the hopes that they could still help fight demons and they might find mates.
Arden had met Grayson in the army. He was Special Forces like Arden. They had done a lot of missions together, and Arden had come to trust him. Grayson might seem laid-back and easy-going, but he was anything but—he was a deadly killing machine.
“I like her, Arden. She’s little, but full of fire.”
Oh yes, Remy was full of fire, but it looked like he could ignite her easy enough. “That she is.” He ran his fingers through his hair. “I didn’t just come here to ask you to hire her, although I wouldn’t let her work anywhere else. I know you’d protect her with your life.”
“I know. So what else did you come for?”
“We need your help.”
Grayson raised his eyebrow.
“The army has given us over fifty humans to train to help us kill demons. Before you say anything, we have no choice in it. I also think the humans need to learn to help fight the demons, otherwise we will lose this battle. It’s come to our attention that we are too soft on them when we train them and they’re not lasting in the field. From now on we’re going to fight with them in our half-change modes. If they can’t handle that, then they will have no chance with demons. We are going to have to be brutal. My brother-in-law can kick all the recruits’ arses, and I know he is advanced being mated to one of us, but if they can’t even beat him they are screwed. I know how you fight, and I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but cats are sneaky bastards and good at being the underdog. I’ve seen you fight a demon on your own and win. We need you. You would be a part of a special division of the army. It would be something you’d do in the day, and take a team with you at night.” He looked him straight in his eyes. “I know it’s a lot to ask, but you are one of the best.”
“I have a lot of work to do here. You know, ordering stock, hiring people, accounts, and o
ther shit.”
“So in other words I’ll see you at the base tomorrow?” Arden knew Grayson was bored out of his mind and just didn’t want to say it.
Grayson nodded. “Yeah, I’ll see you at noon.” Cats weren’t morning people. Arden had learned that if it could be helped you didn’t wake Grayson up until at least eleven. Grayson getting up at noon even was a feat. “Let’s go see where your mate is.”
“She was a bartender before all this happened.” He didn’t have to say more, because Grayson knew what had happened.
Grayson walked out of his office and down the hall to the bar. Arden followed behind him, stopping at the sight that greeted him—Remy leaned over the bar, passing some beers to some very happy werewolves who stared at her breasts which were spilling out of her top. The wolves didn’t even bother asking for their change, they just stared as she smiled, turned, and served the next person, leaning over to show the cleavage again.
Grayson broke out into laughter. “Oh, she is hired.” He whacked Arden on the back. “I like your mate.”
Snarling, he stomped to the bar, pushing his way through the crowd of men. He reached across the counter and pulled a stunned Remy over the bar and onto his shoulder. “She is finished for today,” he growled, knowing that Grayson had heard him.
“Hey, dipshit, put me down. I wasn’t done.”
He smacked her arse. “Yes, you were.”
Everyone gave him a wide berth as he walked out of the bar with his struggling mate swearing up a storm.
He held her with one hand and unlocked his car with his key, then opened the door, placing her in the passenger seat. “Stay.”
She screeched, “I am not a dog, unlike the one I am looking at now.”
He laughed, and it felt good to feel. He’d felt numb for months. Now that Remy was back, so was he. He walked around to the driver’s side, opened his door, and got in.
She was still cursing him. “What the hell, Arden! Why did you do that?”
“Because you’re mine.”
Remy snorted, crossed her arms over her chest on a huff, and stared out the window. He started the car and drove away. He wanted her. Driving at top speed, he made it back to their house in record time.
Remy shot him glances all the way home. The tension in the car was high, and by the end not only was Remy panting, but so was he. Parking the car, he turned to her on a growl of need. “Out. Out now.”
He got out of the car and Remy followed. Arden knew in the back of his mind something was up, but right now he didn’t care, he needed to take Remy, to claim her, to mate her until she knew no other.
Opening the front door, he let her walk ahead of him before he shut and locked the door. Locks wouldn’t keep shifters out, but it would tell them not to disturb the people inside. Remy sashayed by and he stood transfixed for a moment before he went after her, picking her up and carrying her to the kitchen table.
Arden placed her on the table and hiked her skirt up. Spreading her legs and settling down between them, he buried his face into her heat and nuzzled the prize he was eager to taste. His canine fangs lengthened and he moved her underwear to the side, eager to get to her treasure. Spreading her pussy lips, he licked from bottom to top, sucking her clit in. Arden let his fangs scrap each side of her clit.
Remy gasped and arched into his touch. He lapped at her pussy as he sunk one long, thick digit into her core and pumped it in and out. “Mmm, what has gotten into you? What is with me? I’m burning up,” she panted out as he added another finger and picked up speed.
Arden’s brain felt clouded and his wolf was lost in the fog. All he wanted to do was take Remy, make her his. Plant his seed. Her orange and passion fruit scent was strong and overpowering. As he feasted on her he became crazed, wanting to devour her. A primal feeling came over him, telling him Remy couldn’t leave until she was full of his seed and pregnant. He licked, lapped, and sucked her in, loving her sweet taste. Remy’s legs tightened on him, and he felt her muscles contract around the fingers he had buried inside her.
He had a moment of clarity as she came, her pussy holding him tighter than ever before and her orgasm causing her body to shake with such force that he knew what was happening—Remy was in heat. It was earlier than the other mates had gone into heat, but Remy had been away from him for months, so he supposed that really she was late. Shit, did he tell her? Was he supposed to stop? He didn’t know if he could. Her scent was already starting to overpower his sanity again.
He glanced up her from between her legs. She needed a family. She would never run again if she had family. Arden was going to do everything he could to make her stay with him.
He eased away and quickly shed his clothing and gathered Remy back to him. Pulling her closer to the edge of the table, he lined his cock up with its home and spread her legs further before he pushed into her core. Remy moaned and clenched around him as he moved deeper into her. She leaned back against the table, her elbows helping support her. She wrapped her legs around him, driving him deeper, and meowed, meeting him each time he pushed into her.
“Arden, Arden, Arden, it feels so good,” Remy chanted as she fell apart again.
He held back, not ready to let himself go just yet. Concentrating on keeping his wolf contained, he closed his eyes, unable to watch her arch her back and pant at his touch. He gripped her hips and drove into her over and over. Arden felt like he was in heaven, home. He would never let her leave him again.
“Mine. You’re mine, Remy.”
Remy moaned, and it sent thrills of power through him. Arden argued with his wolf who came through the fog to stay hidden as the pleasure swamped over him. He thrust into her faster and basked in her scent that surrounded him, telling him his mate was enjoying what he was doing.
Opening his eyes when he knew he’d won the fight with his wolf, Arden saw that Remy now sat up, looking at his face as she pushed back at him, and he retreated, then slid back home again.
“What are you doing to me? It’s never felt like this before. I feel like I’m going to explode.” Remy’s voice was coming out in breathless puffs as she helped his movements, pushing herself down so he went deeper each time.
Letting one of his hands fall from her waist, Arden reached up and stroked her cheek. “You’re mine, Remy. We were made for one another. When I’m finished with you today you will never leave me. You’ll know who you belong to, and that is me.”
Needing to mark her again so there was no doubt who she belonged to, he leaned down and kissed her neck from bottom to top until his lips rested over the juncture where he’d marked her on her other side. He pumped into her with a purpose. She was going to come and squeeze the life out of his cock, and he was going to come deep inside her, planting his seed. Remy would never leave him again. Pounding into her, he sucked on her shoulder, readying her for him. Letting himself go, he struck, mate marking her again so she would wear his mark on both shoulders. Remy convulsed around him, her pussy quivering and gripping him in a vise-like grip that had him moaning as his lock expanded and she gasped, holding him to her tightly.
Arden was happy her being in heat would keep her from asking any more questions. He knew she would do anything right now, and the power he felt over that had a rush going through him. He licked her wound enough that it would leave a mate scar. Staring up at Remy with her head thrown back and her big blue eyes glazed over in bliss, he knew he shouldn’t have done this without her knowing what was happening. Remy was growing on him. She might call him names and act tough but he knew that she was really a lonely, scared woman who just wanted love but was terrified to lose it if she found it.
Sighing, he eased up and wrapped her legs around him then gathered her to him before he walked down to their bedroom. Remy deserved to be loved. He would prove to her that no matter what she said or did he wasn’t going anywhere. He would never leave her.
She clenched around him with each step he took to their room. Her cries of pleasure as the lock rubbed her walls
had him tensing and shivering as his body built up again. Gently, he laid them on the bed and held her to him, stroking her back. He’d heard what happened to women in heat—they fucked their mate until they were either pregnant or out of heat.
Chapter 3
Remy didn’t want to move or open her eyes. Her body ached, and places she didn’t know could get sore from too much use were extremely sensitive. She lay on top of Arden, his warm body surrounding her. Opening her eyes, she stared up at him and everything they’d done came back to her in one big swoosh. Oh God, she’d been an animal, not able to get enough of him.
As she looked down his body and saw the faded, already healing, scratch marks from her nails, she groaned. She felt his cock rise against her, and she scooted off him only to have him place her back.
“How the hell can that…that thing still rise? Wow, we had a nonstop sex marathon. I can barely move. How can it be the least bit active when I’m exhausted?”
“Werewolves have stamina, and I’m always hard when I’m near you.”
She whacked his chest and wiggled, trying to get away from him. “Stay away from me. I can’t take any more. I’m mush. I don’t think I’m ever going to walk right again.”
The bastard laughed. “Oh, my little pixie, you’ll be fine, I promise.”
Giving up on him letting her go, she circled his tattoos with her finger. “Do you call me pixie because I’m little?”
“One of the reasons. You’re also feisty, fierce, and adorable, but you can be a terror and a pain in the arse.”
She hit him in the chest. “Hey. Who you calling a pain in the arse? I’m not the one who can’t go a couple of hours without the other. I’m not the one who has to make sure everyone knows who I’m with.”
“You like me being all caveman.” Arden tickled her and she giggled. “Admit it.”
She did like it. Hell would freeze over before she admitted it though. “No. I like my men obedient, kinda like a…like a dog.”