I turned back to Luke with a frown. “That’s horrible.”
He nodded, then shrugged. “I never understood why it took her years to find her skin. If I was her, I never would have stopped looking for a moment.”
“Maybe being kept captive like that wasn’t always so bad,” I offered softly. “Maybe she could convince herself of that, anyway. It could be safer that way than dealing with the danger and disappointment of trying to escape.”
“Isn’t freedom always preferable, though?”
I said nothing in response, because it felt like I was being led somewhere I didn’t want to go. There was an undercurrent to the conversation that made me uncomfortable. Instead, I turned back to the painting again.
“It’s one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen. I can’t believe it’s in a tent instead of hanging in a galley,” I finally said.
“I guess not everybody can appreciate it properly,” Luke offered.
My phone buzzed in my hand and I checked the message from Chris. He had arrived and was looking for me. Instead of feeling relief at him finally coming, I felt a confusing rush of disappointment.
“My husband wants to meet me. I’d better go,” I said.
“You know, I think I figured out why it took the selkie so long to escape.”
I was itching to leave before Chris found me here. His jealousy wouldn’t be stopped by the fact that Luke was a co-worker. And, in truth, I had liked Luke a little too much even back then to say there was nothing to be jealous of.
“What took her so long, then?”
“She did it alone. There’s no shame in asking for help, you know.” Luke met my eyes, but instead of the pointed look I expected after saying something like that he just smiled. “I hope you have fun at the festival. See you Monday?”
“Yeah. See you.” I gave him a slightly uncertain smile in return, then hurried off to find Chris.
On the following Monday morning, the print of the painting had been rolled up on my desk. It had felt like some strange emotional infidelity, so I never let Chris see it. Only when I was free, like the selkie, did I find a place for it.
Back in the present day, I lowered my eyes from the print of the selkie and back to my phone on the table. Sofia’s concern had brought my own feelings regarding Luke into sharp focus. I wasn’t afraid of him. I’d been freaked out when he shifted, but he had never done anything to make me doubt my trust in him. The only real mark against him was that he wasn’t human and I still felt conflict on that. Whatever shifter ancestry he claimed I had, it was long lost to history. That meant he could tell me things I wouldn’t be able to find out otherwise. He could show me an entire world that had been closed to me before.
So maybe not being human wasn’t really a mark against him after all.
Before I could talk myself out of it, I picked up my phone to text him. Do you want to get together for dinner?
Mr. Beetlegles had scooted across the floor to come lay on my feet, his eyes now watching the sandwich with every bit of love and adoration he’d been showing me before. I ignored him the best I could and finished eating.
My phone buzzed on the table when Luke’s response came through. Yes. Where and when?
A tentative smile stole across my face.
Chapter 6
“Have you always known what you are?” The question was hushed conspiratorially as I leaned across the table.
Luke gave me a sardonic look before he transported the bite of pad thai from his fork into his mouth. After he swallowed, he shrugged. “I don’t know. Have you always known you’re a woman?”
The question made me frown, honestly trying to figure out how to answer that. “I don’t know. I suppose my gender identity hasn’t changed over my lifetime, but what it actually means to me has changed over time and my understanding of what womanhood is has changed, too.”
“Yeah, it’s kind of like that. It’s part of my identity, but my understanding of it and my relationship towards that has grown throughout my lifetime.”
“So your parents never tried to hide it from you or anything like that?”
“No. My first shift was a little before my first birthday, so it would have been hard to hide.”
I glanced away from him briefly, taking in the rest of the restaurant, then turned my eyes back to his face. “Is it okay for us to talk so openly about this?”
He laughed and leaned back in his chair. When he spoke again, he raised his voice a little. “My level 82 orc hunter is coming along nicely. I spent like five hours last night slaughtering everything that crossed my path.”
Nobody glanced at us.
He lowered his voice again as he leaned in. “Nobody gives a shit. If you act like it’s some vast conspiracy, maybe. Otherwise they figure you’re either a gamer or a nut.”
I took a sip off my beer, considering that. It made sense. It was at odds with just about every bit of fiction I’d been exposed to since childhood, but it sounded fairly reasonable. “So...you don’t have some obligation to keep it all secret?”
“If there’s some kind of shifter organization out there with laws ordering us into silence, I don’t know about it. My parents never said a thing and I haven’t run afoul of one. I know we’ve been persecuted in the past, but mostly our own fucked up breeding needs have been our downfall.”
“Aren’t you worried about ending up in a government lab somewhere?”
“No, since I’m not an idiot. I’m not about to start shifting in front of the FBI.”
“Reasonable of you. Now I have to ask a really important question, though.” I gave him a serious look.
He frowned faintly, lowering his fork. “What’s that?”
“You don’t actually play World of Warcraft, do you?”
He laughed as he reached across the table to brush his fingers against the back of my hand. “I’ve dabbled a little but don’t actually spend five hours a night playing,” he reassured me.
“I didn’t think you did, because level 82 isn’t anything to brag about.”
Luke nodded. “I’m more of a tabletop kind of guy.”
“Oh my God, you’re a nerd,” I teased, grinning. My hand turned under his to grip his hand loosely. “I haven’t played D&D since I was in college.”
“Yeah? Maybe we should start a regular game. I know a couple of the guys from my department used to play.”
“Problem being a lot of the guys in your department are sexist dicks.”
“Okay, so how about I pick a few men I know who aren’t sexist dicks and might enjoy playing and then you pick some women who might enjoy playing? All inclusive, no sexism allowed?”
The grin on my face had to look idiotic, but Luke didn’t appear to be put off by it at all. Here I was on a date with a gorgeous man who also happened to be some sort of mystical being and we were making plans for a gender equitable Dungeons and Dragons game. The situation was absurd and part of me worried about when the other shoe was going to drop, but for right that moment I could just focus on my happiness with him.
Chapter 7
As soon as my key slid into the lock, Mr. Beetlegles gave a yap inside. “Shh,” I hissed through the door.
He hadn’t yet become obnoxious enough for a neighbor to complain, but I always worried about it. He got a walk every morning and every afternoon when I got home from work, with play dates with Sofia’s wolfhound as well. Somehow, the dogs seemed to be unaware of their vast size difference. I did everything I could to get my little mutt out and about and enjoying himself, but I still always felt bad about him having to stay inside while I was gone. If something upset him during the day, I wouldn’t be there to hush him and reassure him. And then a neighbor might complain. With my mountains of student loans to pay back, I wasn’t in a position to buy a house like Sofia.
“Just to warn you, dogs seem to handle werewolves all right but they’ve never liked me that much,” Luke murmured into my ear, making me shiver at how close he was.
“You won’t eat him if he savages your ankles, will you?”
Luke laughed and pressed a kiss to the side of my neck, his hands slipping about my waist to draw me back against his warm body. That was making it very difficult to focus enough to get the door open, but I finally managed it. True to Luke’s warning, Mr. Beetlegles stayed back instead of rushing to greet me and the exciting new visitor. There was a quiet growl low in his throat.
“Hush, Mr. Beetlegles.”
Luke shut and locked the door behind us before rewrapping his arms around me. He wasn’t a massively tall or bulky man, but the power in his body was unmistakable when he held me like that. I relaxed into him, tipping my head back over his shoulder.
“How did your dog get a name like ‘Mr. Beetlegles’?” he asked as his breath tickled my ear.
My eyes closed, one hand reaching up behind me to comb through his hair. “I’m not sure. I couldn’t figure out what to name such a...unique looking dog. That one just popped out of the ether and into my head.”
“It’s cute.” The hand he had on my stomach slid up slowly, then cupped one of my breasts to massage the soft mound, making me sigh in pleasure. “I worry a little about hurting you. I’ve never made a lover bleed before.”
I whimpered and covered the hand on my breast with my own free hand, encouraging him to keep going. “It was a surprise, but it wasn’t bad.”
“It might happen again, though. You stir up all sorts of instincts inside me. I think tonight could be especially bad, too. You smell...fertile.”
There were a lot of things I had been called throughout my life, but this was a new one. I frowned. “What does fertile smell like?”
“It’s...earthy, sweet. A little like lily of the valley.”
His description made me laugh before I realized he wasn’t joking. His nose had to be wildly different from any human nose for ovulation to smell like flowers to him.
“I had been a little worried about how irresponsible we were at the hotel,” I said. “I don’t suppose you brought condoms with you?” I hadn’t had any need for them and had happily thrown out all of my birth control pills when I left Chris, as every pill I took had felt like a link in the chains he had wrapped around my soul.
“No.” Luke’s thumb had found my nipple through my shirt and was now drawing lazy circles around it, making my body tighten and warm with arousal. I felt the gentle scrape of his teeth at the side of my neck, followed by a brush of his lips. “Maybe I should leave.”
I whimpered, then fought to find my voice again. “Leaving is pretty drastic. We could just run down to a convenience store for condoms.”
“I don’t think you understand just how tempting you are right now.” The arm still around my waist pulled me closer to him and I could feel the hot, hard press of his arousal against my ass. His lips pecked and caressed their way down my neck to nuzzle where it met my shoulder. “I don’t just want to fuck you. I want to breed you.”
Something about the way he said it appealed to me on a primal level. It went beyond words and sense and just got down to things I had longed for. This must be what instinct feels like, I thought to myself, before I turned enough in his arms to find his lips with mine. The kiss was a brief, hard press, his teeth glancing against my bottom lip.
“I think you should stay,” I said when I drew back.
The orange around his pupils had bled out into the brown again, but I could still see a dark ring holding the color back from expanding. They remained human eyes for the most part, almost looking as though each had a burning coal at their centers. His arms around me shifted to pull me off my feet, then hold me against his chest. There was something disconcerting about being carried under someone else’s control, but I had no fear of being dropped; his arms felt like iron bands around me. Those fiery eyes left mine briefly to take in the layout of the apartment. When he saw where he wanted to go, he carried me through the doorway into my bedroom.
He settled me onto the bed, sliding on top of me in the same motion. There were no words as his mouth claimed mine again and his hands slid down my body. Remembering how he had shredded my underwear before, I squirmed a little under him to make space for my hands so I could start unbuttoning my blouse. Living on a single income, I couldn’t afford to buy a new wardrobe every time we slept together. His hands worked on my belt, then opened up my slacks and tugged them down. I didn’t even hear any ripping fabric, which was a good sign. I kicked off my shoes along with the slacks.
Leaning up into the kiss and raising my upper body off the bed so I could shrug off the blouse, I moaned his name against his lips. I could feel his lips curl into a smile against mine before he lightly sucked at my bottom lip, then moved to my throat again. His hands covered the soft skin of my stomach, sliding over the curve of it, then worked their way upward to cup my breasts through my bra.
“I might bite you again,” he warned between kisses along my collarbone. “Shifting yesterday should make it easier to control my teeth and claws this time, but I want to bite you. Claim you. Take you as my mate.”
He deftly unhooked my bra and cupped my bare breasts in his hands before lifting them slightly and ducking to catch one nipple in his mouth. I took a sharp breath, my hands automatically going to his hair to hold him there.
“I like the biting,” I whispered, “but if you’re claiming me then I need to claim you. You need to be mine, too. I’m not property.”
Luke released my nipple to straighten up, then brushed his lips against mine. “I agree. I want to carry your mark, too.”
Hearing that was an immense relief. I loved how dominant Luke was, how powerful, but I needed more. I needed to feel cared for and cared about, as a partner instead of just as a plaything. Luke gave me all of that so readily it almost came as a shock to realize that what I wanted wasn’t some bizarre and demanding fantasy, but a desire we both shared.
My hands went to his shirt to get it open as well, but he caught my wrists and gently pushed them back against the bed on either side of my head. “Let me?”
I frowned slightly, but didn’t complain. He was sitting up on his knees as he unbuttoned his shirt, giving me a much better view of his chest. Once he slid it off, he started on his belt. I could see the outline of his cock straining against his slacks. I bit my bottom lip, resisting the urge to reach out and touch him.
“Do you not want me to do anything?” I checked.
“Oh, I want you to do a lot of things,” he countered with a grin. Once he had slid out of his slacks and boxer briefs, he caught the waist of my underwear to drag them down my hips. I raised my lower body to make it easier for him. “But I’d like it if you gave me control for tonight. It’s clear your ex didn’t care about what you wanted. I’d like to show you that giving someone control can be a gift, instead of someone just taking it from you.”
Hearing him put it like that made me doubtful. “A gift for you?”
“For you, too.” Luke ducked down to press a kiss against my stomach, then nuzzled the soft skin as he worked his way back up to my breasts.
I took a deep breath, eyes slipping closed. It sounded like an excuse for him to do whatever he wanted, but I couldn’t say that I minded that much. So far everything he had wanted had been intensely pleasurable for me. “All right.”
As he kissed over my breasts one of his hands slid up between my thighs to cup my sex in his palm, then let his middle finger lightly trail between my outer lips. He slowly stroked with that lone fingertip, brushing against my entrance and inner lips and just barely over my clit. Once his finger had slid from top to bottom he returned it to my entrance to repeat the same journey. It was such a different sensation than anything I was used to, as everything with Luke tended to be. Instead of just zeroing in on my most sensitive parts and trying to get to fucking as soon as possible, he took his time, teasing me until I was overcome with frustration.
If this was what he was going to do with control, I decided I didn’t mind giving it to him at all
.
While his finger kept sliding between my lips in slow, even strokes, his teeth delicately scraped at one of my nipples, giving it a little tug. I made a quiet whine, squirming.
He paused a moment, his mouth leaving my breast entirely as though he were checking my reaction. When his lips wrapped around my nipple again he was gentler, suckling and teasing with his tongue. The hand between my thighs never stopped its soft caresses as his other hand slid up my body. His free hand worked over my thighs, sliding and rubbing against them as if just my skin itself was something wonderful to touch. Then it moved up over my stomach briefly before questing fingertips found their way to my neglected breast. With his palm flat he slid it over my nipple in slow circles and I made a quiet sound, shuddering.
“I’ve never liked having my breasts played with so much,” I murmured, eyes still closed.
“The important thing is you like it now.” His breath played against my damp skin before he took my nipple between his lips again.
One of my arms left the bed to wrap around him, that hand sliding up into his hair. His hand at my breast slid up to grasp my wrist again, then pinned it to the bed. I opened my eyes to look down at him, meeting those golden orbs as he looked up at me.
“Are you still giving me control?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“Then keep your hands on the bed.”
I made a quiet sound of playful complaint, enjoying the order from him far more than I thought I could. I shifted under him as I resettled both arms on the bed. My hands gripped fistfuls of my bedspread to keep from touching him, since he was far too tempting for my own good. I saw a flash of his teeth in an almost predatory grin before I closed my eyes.
My obedience was rewarded with his lips now kissing their way down my body. The finger he had been teasing my sex with slid down once more to brush against my entrance, but this time pressed inside of me. He thrust it shallowly a few times before pressing his finger up to the hilt inside of me, then curled the tip to slowly drag it out again. On the next thrust a second finger joined it, making me sigh in pleasure.
Chosen Mates (Beasts of the Bay Bundle) Page 5