“How about… drop dead gorgeous?” She flicked him a glance, that playful smile lingering, teasing him and making him want to kiss her.
“Only if you’re the one saying it.” He pulled her closer, pressing his fingers into her right shoulder, and leaned down to brush his lips across her brow. “I’m not interested in what anyone else thinks.”
When she looked up at him, he dropped his head and kissed her.
He meant it as a sweet one, a quick peck to tide him over, but as soon as their lips touched, he leaned into it and couldn’t stop himself from taking more. She moaned and opened for him, her free hand snaking around his neck to hold him to her as she swept her lips over his.
He cursed when she abruptly pulled back.
“You’re meant to be resting,” she breathed.
He wanted to growl at that and the way she looked as if she was serious, was going to deny him.
She wanted him, needed him. He could feel it. He wasn’t the only one the fight had fired up. He had sensed the desire in her then, the arousal that had spiked when he had been battling for her, and he could feel it in her now.
It lingered, waiting for him to stoke it again, and to satisfy her.
“I’ll rest later.” He dipped and wrapped his right arm around her waist, intending to sweep her up against him for another kiss that would drive her as wild as he was.
Intending being the operative word.
His breath hissed from between his teeth as fire lanced his right thigh.
Ember shoved against his shoulders, stopping him, her eyes leaping to his sweats. “Does it hurt?”
“It’s fine,” he gritted and made a mental note to give Ben a little payback when they next crossed paths.
The bastard had been swift to make an exit as soon as Yasmin had finished with him, leaving Cougar Creek while Cobalt had been in her care and unaware of what was happening.
Apparently, Andre had left too.
The rest of the pride were celebrating though, the distant sounds of it rising through the dark forest. Cobalt had insisted they go ahead with the traditional end to the gathering, and that he would join everyone if he could.
Rath had seen right through that lie to the truth beneath.
Cobalt had no intention of joining them and he had no intention of resting.
There was only one thing he intended to do.
Claim Ember.
Awareness of what he was going to do grew in him as they approached his cabin and he spotted it through the woods, bathed in moonlight.
He breathed through the nerves that were swift to rise as he limped towards it.
Ember had chosen him.
She had given herself to him.
This was just the next natural step in what was going to be their new lives, a life tied together by a bond that was unbreakable.
She wanted this.
He knew it deep in his soul, because he could feel her nerves trickling through that incomplete bond and they were rising in time with his as she led him up the steps to the raised deck.
She opened the door and he released her, limping past her into the kitchen area of his home. When the door shut with a soft click, his nerves ratcheted up another notch and he looked over his shoulder at her, expecting to find fear in her eyes.
There was only excitement.
And heat.
Incredible heat as she raked her eyes over him, head to toe and back again. They turned gold as she studied him and he wanted to groan when her need ran through him, pulling at his instincts as her male.
He shifted to face her and a glimmer of something crossed her delicate features, some of the heat fading from her eyes as she looked at his right thigh and then his chest.
Cobalt looked down at his body. Dried blood caked him, streaking from claw marks that were already healing, no longer bleeding. He looked like an unholy mess, and as much as he wanted to take Ember in his arms right now, needed to be inside her and claim her, he forced himself to take a step back.
Because he wanted this moment to be special. He wanted everything to be right.
“I should shower.” He had meant alone, but the way her eyes darkened and need flared inside her had his blood pumping.
She peered around his cabin, her eyes stopping on the door behind him. The one that led to his bathroom.
His heart beat harder when she grabbed his wrist and tugged him towards it, and he could only stare as she opened the door and stepped into the small room. He stood on the threshold, watching her as she lit the candles he kept in a row on the shelf between the mirror and the sink and then moved to the shower cubicle he had installed a few years back when he had upgraded everything.
When the water was running, the generator kicking in to fill the night with a steady hum as it fuelled the pump, she closed the clear door and turned towards him.
His damned nerves kicked up another gear.
There was something about Ember that stripped his confidence, left him feeling like a cub all over again, inexperienced and scared.
That feeling faded as she grabbed the hem of her top and tugged it over her head, and shimmied out of her jeans. It disappeared completely, obliterated by a deep and consuming need to touch her as she stood before him in only her black lacy underwear. She tied her ebony hair back, twisting it into a rough knot at the back of her head.
Exposing her nape.
He growled as his fangs punched long from his gums, the need to sink them into that sweet spot to claim her racing through him.
No blush touched her cheeks. No fear coloured her emotions. There was only heat and need, and a hunger that matched his own.
He stalked towards her, swept her into his arms and kissed her hard. He groaned as she slipped her hands into the waist of his sweats and pushed them down his hips.
A shudder wracked him as his hard cock sprang free, cool air caressing it, torture against his hyper-sensitive skin. Her lips left his as she sank before him, gently easing his sweats down his legs, her eyes on the black stitches on his right thigh.
Her eyebrows furrowed as she stroked her fingers around the wound, her worry going through him.
“Yasmin says it’s fine.” He reached down and cupped her cheek, slid his fingers down to her jaw and tilted her head up. “It’ll be healed before you know it.”
“I was so worried about you.” She shot to her feet and kissed him before he could say anything, a desperate little thing as she clutched him, her lips dancing across his.
He could feel that fear in her kiss, the worry that lingered even now.
Cobalt banded his arms around her and held her to him as he kissed her, tried to reassure her that he was safe now and nothing bad could happen to him here. Only good things happened when they were together.
Her kiss slowed, her worry easing to a trickle as desire rose within her, need stoked by the kiss. He skimmed his hands down her spine and groaned as he felt the softness of her skin, the warmth of her beneath his fingers.
Her little moan teased him and he couldn’t stop himself from slipping his hands beneath the lace of her panties to clutch her bottom. It filled his hands, rounded and so gods-damned arousing as he palmed it.
She didn’t resist him when he eased his right hand around her hip to her mound, brushed his fingers through her curls and slipped them between her thighs, into her plush damp heat. She rose up on her toes, another moan escaping her as her hands came down to clutch his shoulders.
He swallowed that breathless sound in a deeper kiss, pouring out the need that was mounting inside him as he gently explored her, dipped his hand lower to reach her core. She was wet, hot on his fingers, and his cock pulsed, sending a wave of need rolling through him.
He groaned and slipped his hand back up, fondled her bead and kissed her harder still, his breath sawing from him as all that need accumulated in him and twisted him tight inside.
“Ember,” he murmured and broke away from her lips to press his forehead and nose to hers as he touched her, as he s
avoured the way she came alive in his arms, responding to him so beautifully.
Her hand came down on his cock, gripped it fiercely and wrung a moan from him.
Gods, he needed to be inside her now.
He cursed and growled when she jerked backwards, breaking away from him, and opened his eyes to glare at her. Her breasts strained against her bra as she stared at him, golden fire blazing in her eyes.
The tethers he managed to get on his need threatened to snap as she undid her bra and shimmied out of it, her panties following.
He kicked off his sweats, shoving them aside with his foot as he drank his fill of her bare curves.
She trembled as she took his hand and his anger faded as she led him towards the shower. He didn’t fight her as she pulled him inside, under the searing jet of water. He battled the needs burning through him instead, battled them for her because he could feel she needed to take care of him, and knew if he let her, that he would get everything he wanted far quicker than if he fought her.
He reached past her, a groan escaping him as their bodies brushed and a thousand shivers danced through him, and turned the cold water up to bring the heat down to a level where it didn’t sting his injuries.
“Turn around,” she whispered, a tremor in her soft voice.
She wasn’t the only one new to this. He had never bathed with anyone before, and he had never had a female tend to his wounds like this, taking tender care of him.
Cobalt did as instructed, proving once again that he could take orders.
Hell, he would do whatever Ember demanded of him without question or hesitation.
It was difficult to focus on keeping his urges at bay as she carefully washed his back, soaping the blood away, her fingers light against his skin. She didn’t help matters by skimming two fingers down his spine.
“I love your ink,” she murmured, her eyes lingering on each symbol he had etched onto his skin over a decade ago now.
He rarely saw it himself, but he knew it was there, was aware he carried the lineage of his bloodline on his back, just as his father had done. He had done it to honour his family and his ancestors, and it had been painful, the process long because of his naturally fast healing.
The tiger shifter who had done the tattoo had worked on the same spots over a hundred times to make sure the ink stayed and his body no longer rejected it, healing it to obscure parts of the design.
Now he wanted to add a new symbol, one that would take pride of place over his heart.
A symbol for Ember, the one who had stolen it from him.
“Cobalt… you’re not the only one who has been waiting,” she whispered and her fingers stopped on the symbol at the top of his spine, the one meant for him. “I’ve been in love with you for as long as you’ve been in love with me.”
He groaned at that. The reminder that he could have had her all this time, that she could have been his for the last two decades, was pure torture.
He looked over his shoulder at her, needing to see her.
She smiled, her eyes glittering with love. “We’re together now.”
Gods, that hit him hard.
They were together now.
And if he had his way, they would never be apart again.
He turned to face her, gathered her into his arms and kissed her, pouring his need and his love for her into it so she would feel it, would know how much he loved her. The feeling ran soul-deep, was fierce and raw and consumed him, but it lifted him up too, had him floating on air as she kissed him back.
A shudder wracked him as she brushed her hands down his sides, as she stepped closer to him and cupped his ass, bringing their bodies into contact. His aching erection pressed into the soft roundness of her belly and he groaned and kissed her harder, the need he had leashed breaking its tether.
It swiftly overwhelmed him, had him spinning her in his arms so she faced the pale tiles of the shower.
She braced her hands against them and moaned as he tongued her nape and clutched her hips to grind against her bottom. His cock slid freely up and down, the water cascading over her back slickening her skin, and he groaned again, lost himself in rubbing against her as he licked and kissed her nape, need surging inside him.
She arched back against him, pressing her backside against his cock, and moaned, her fingers tensing against the tiles.
Her need collided with his, and he growled and cupped her breasts, teased her pebbled nipples with both hands before lifting his right one to her cheek. He twisted her head towards him and kissed her hard, held her there until she was as lost as he was, remained kissing him desperately as he dropped his hand again.
She trembled with the first brush of his fingers over her mound, shook in his arms and moaned as he delved his hand between her thighs. He groaned and kissed her deeper, his tongue tangling with hers as he found her bead and teased it. She was so slick, ready for him, and it took all of his will to stop himself from spreading her and plunging into her right that moment.
He focused on teasing her, sliding his fingers over her sensitive bud as he kissed her and fondled her breast, tweaking her nipple. She moaned and twitched whenever he did that, her need shooting higher, calling to him.
When her hips started rocking, rubbing her ass up and down his straining cock, he couldn’t take any more.
He gripped her inner thigh and pulled her legs apart.
She moaned as he pressed a hand down against her lower back, forcing her to arch forwards.
His own groan joined hers as he stepped back and stroked his hand down the curve of her back as she braced herself against the wall, her bottom raised before him.
He smoothed both hands over her backside, his cock jerking as he looked at it, as he thought about what he was going to do. He twisted his right hand and lowered it before him, brushed her bundle of nerves with his fingers.
Her barked moan echoed around the bathroom, goading him.
Cobalt stroked her as he closed his hand around his length, watched it as he eased it towards her, knowing that when he joined them this time, it would be more than their bodies becoming one.
They would become one.
He groaned as he fed his cock into her, stroking her bead to keep her balanced on the precipice, fevered with need that he would satisfy for both of them.
She moaned as he sank deeper, not stopping until she had taken as much as she could of him into her.
He stilled and stared at their joined bodies, groaned all over again as the sight of him seated inside her stoked his need to new heights. He kept stroking her as he shifted his other hand to her hip and gripped it fiercely, unable to deny his need to hold her in place.
To be the one in control this time.
He slowly withdrew, teasing her with the feel of his cock sliding out of her, drinking her long low moan of satisfaction, and then eased back in, building a rhythm that he knew couldn’t last. He could only go slow for so long, was already close to losing control, the need to mate with her too strong to suppress.
He shuddered as he pumped his hips, as he watched his cock and then her face as she tilted it towards him. Bliss washed across it each time their bodies met, each time he brushed his fingers over her.
The need to kiss her bolted through him and he pressed a hand against her chest and pulled her up to him so he could claim her lips too. She moaned and twisted in his arms, kissed him hard and stoked his need, shattering his restraint.
He swallowed every whimper of pleasure that burst from her lips as he thrust deeper, harder, sending her up on her toes every time their bodies met. She gripped the tiles, fingers digging into them as he plunged into her, as he reached around and stroked her.
He growled as instinct pounded inside him, curled his free hand over her shoulder and held her tightly as he drove deeper still, long hard strokes that tore sweet cries from her, moans that only pushed him to take her faster, until she broke apart in his arms.
Pushed him to sink his fangs into her nape and gi
ve her the ultimate pleasure.
He snarled and dropped his head, licked her nape and pressed his tongue in hard.
She moaned and shuddered, trembling in his arms as her need skyrocketed.
“Cobalt.” The desperate note in her voice pushed him over the edge.
On a low growl born of pure possession, he angled his head and sank his fangs into her nape.
She cried out, the sound so loud it made his ears ring, and pleasure detonated inside him, stole his breath and had his knees weakening beneath him. Her pleasure. His too as release blazed up his cock and burst from him so violently that he shook as he spilled, his length throbbing wildly in time with Ember as she quivered on him.
He held her nape in his fangs as he continued to thrust into her, instinct riding him, demanding he not release her. Not yet. He growled, his still-hard cock aching for another release already as he pinned her in place.
Her moans built again, the trembling that wracked her easing as she began to rock against him, pushing him for more. He snarled against her, demanding she submit to him, and she denied him, kept rotating her hips and driving him out of his fucking mind.
Her need blazed through him, one she needed sated, and one that wasn’t going to happen while he was pinning her with his fangs. A need to satisfy her by surrendering to her warred with a need to dominate her, to drive her into submission.
On a low growl, he released her, twisted her in his arms and lifted her, and sank his cock into her again. He kissed her hard as he held her bottom and she wrapped her legs around him, pressing her heels into his ass to spur him on in a way he wasn’t sure he would ever grow tired of because damn he loved it. He loved it when she took control.
Cobalt pinned her to the tiles and plunged deeper, swallowing her breathless moans as he pushed her towards another climax with him, determined to give her another mind-blowing release as their bond slowly formed, tying them together.
He could feel her need, her bliss, damn near everything as he moved inside her, long hard strokes of his cock that had him flying on their combined pleasure.
Ember sent that pleasure and him soaring as she gripped his shoulder, hauled herself higher and twisted him left so swiftly he barely registered the sudden shift in his grip in time to keep her upright.
Craved by her Cougar (Cougar Creek Mates Shifter Romance Series Book 4) Page 16