by Marie Mason
“Julie?”
“You’re back.” She answered him, but didn’t look up from the cards on the table.
“Didn’t you see my note?”
“Yes.”
He sat on the end of the bed and pulled off his shoes and socks. “So what’s the problem?”
She flipped her hair back over her shoulder. A gesture he’d come to realize she did when she was nervous. Or frightened.
“Come here.” He reached behind his head and pulled the dark sweatshirt he wore over his head.
She bit her lip but ignored his command, her focus still on the cards on the table.
“Julie.” His voice held a note of warning. Another shifter would have known instantly not to disobey.
Julie wasn’t a shifter. She was human. And his mate. “Come here, baby.” He held out a hand.
Maybe it was his eyes—those deep-set brown eyes that held so many emotions even though he might not be aware of how revealing his expression really was. Maybe it was the pull of attraction she’d felt the moment he’d slid his arms under her and picked her up, rescuing her.
She didn’t know what it was, just that something drew her to him. That the deep growl in his voice made her pussy weep.
He opened his legs, his gaze steady as she stepped closer. Her heart was beating wildly. Moving forward, she stopped when she stood between his spread legs.
“Did you think I’d left you?” His voice was softer, but that note of steel ran through it.
“No, not really.” She curled her hair back behind her ear. “Maybe.”
“Why would you think that, baby?” He pulled her closer, his large hands covering the sides of her hips. “I would never leave you here by yourself.”
She bit her lip. “I know, I just got…”
His hands caressed her, moving from her hips to her thighs, then up the small of her back.
“Do you want to know why I was gone so long?”
The look in her eyes said she did. “You don’t have to explain yourself.”
His hands stilled, cupping her backside. “Maybe I do. I went for a run. I needed to go for a run. Do you understand?”
“No. Is it some kind of shifter thing?”
He moaned and bowed his head, his forehead landing on her torso just below her breasts. “Yeah, it’s some kind of shifter thing,” he mumbled against her. When he looked up at her again, there was no doubt that his eyes were now a dark, swirling amber.
“It’s a damn shifter thing because I was about to spread your legs while you were sleeping and shove my dick inside you.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah, oh.” They stared at each other for several minutes then he saw that same look of disbelief wash back over her features.
“Look, I practically threw myself in your arms last night and you turned me down. Don’t play with me.”
His anger soared. “I’m not.”
“Then why are you saying all these things to me, doing all these things?”
“What things?”
“Touching me. Showing concern. Kissing me.”
“Because I want to touch you. I am concerned. And you damn well taste like the sweetest candy I’ve ever had.”
He tugged and she fell onto his lap, the hard muscles of his thighs felt like concrete beneath her buttocks. She moved self-consciously, her knee inadvertently touching another hard as a rock part of him. His cock.
He grunted and wrapped his arms around her, settling her in his lap as he lifted her legs and brought his two legs together. Grabbing his shoulder, she wrapped her arm around his neck as he maneuvered her exactly how he wanted her.
“You know I’m a wolf, right?”
“Yes.” That got her to smile a little. “But you haven’t shown me your wolf yet, so technically, I’m taking your word for it.”
“Baby, you are so about to see some of my wolf.” He brushed the hair back from her face. “But before we do this, there’s something I have to tell you.”
Nothing good ever came out of a conversation with those words in it, Julie thought. Did having sex with a shifter involve something kinky? Not that she was against kink in the bedroom…she’d be the first to admit she was very naive when it came to sex. She did, however, trust this man explicitly. She looped her other arm around his neck. “What do you need to tell me?”
Hunter looked into her trusting eyes. His conscience warred with his need to be inside her—anyway he could. If he didn’t mark her, he could still walk away, give her the life she deserved with someone other than an absentee mate.
He would knot her once he sank into her silken depths, but she’d never realize that being knotted was something only mates could do. Right now, the only thing that mattered was getting inside her. He’d heard the stories from other mated males and knew it was an experience like none other. He’d be lucky to keep his head and not hurt her.
“Wolf shifters are very closely related to their brothers in the wild when it comes to sex.”
She stared at him for a moment and he could see her mind racing. Another pink blush stole across her cheeks. “You mean you like to do it a certain way?”
“I’m going to like doing it every way with you, baby.” He wanted to kiss her, but knew once he started he wasn’t going to stop. “But that’s not what I meant. At the end, when I’m coming inside your sweet little pussy, I’m going to knot you. Do you know what that means?” He tilted her face so he could see her eyes. “The middle of my cock is going to grow. It’s going to push inside you, making you scream in pleasure.” The knot was nature’s way of making sure his seed took. He thought about wearing a condom, but he wasn’t sure if would survive the transformation. He could tell she wasn’t ovulating so they should be safe. He wanted nothing more than to shoot inside her, coating her womb with his essence.
She worried her bottom lip. “Will it hurt?”
“No,” he answered softly. “Didn’t you hear me? You’ll be screaming in pleasure, coming so hard and so long, you’ll want it to never end.” He couldn’t resist a taste of her any longer. He leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers. “I understand if you don’t—”
Her finger on his mouth stopped his words. “Is this why you didn’t take me last night?”
“Yes.” It was partially the truth, he told himself. He knew he couldn’t take her without explaining what was going to happen—or committing to the fact that he was going to stay and mate her. Something totally out of the question.
He wrapped his hand around hers, giving her finger a soft kiss before folding her hand against his chest. They stared at each other for several long moments. Each trying to decide if they were making the right choice. A night or two of very, very satisfying sex or…walking away.
His wolf howled in pain at the thought of not taking its mate. It was mad as hell at the restraint Hunter was placing on it not to mark her by sink its fangs into the soft delicate flesh of her neck.
“Okay.”
It took Hunter’s brain several minutes to catch up to his ears. She’d said yes. With a savage touch, he pulled her head down and claimed her lips.
Nothing would stop the wolf tonight.
Julie gasped as Hunter moved his mouth against hers, taking possession of it hard and rough. His lips parted hers, and his tongue thrust inside, tasting her. Julie had never been kissed as thoroughly as Hunter McCall kissed her now.
He forced her mouth to open wide, his tongue lapping at the roof of her mouth, licking her teeth. And then he was thrusting in and out, in and out, fucking her mouth. She moaned and tightened her grip, her fingernails digging into the flesh on the side of his neck.
He rose with her in his arms and this time she didn’t protest. If the man wanted to carry her around like she weighed next to nothing, then let him. All that shifter strength shouldn’t go to waste she thought with an inward smile.
Bending his knee on the bed, he laid her in the middle, then stepped back.
His lips curved into a wicke
d grin as he reached for his belt, unclasping and pulling it free from his faded jeans.
Then the jeans dropped to the floor. Beneath the knit fabric of his boxers, she could see his length. And width. Her jaw dropped. Oh my, oh my. How did a man get that big?
He reached for her and she was amazed to see his hands were shaking slightly as he wrapped them around her upper arms and lifted her further up on the firm mattress.
She slid her hands over his chest, muscles rippling beneath her palms as he tensed beneath her touch. His heart pounded against her hands. Thank goodness he was as excited as she was. She gave an almost hysterical giggle in her head. Damn right, he was excited. She had the proof positive pressing against her. But would she regret it if they made love?
He must have glimpsed the hesitation in her eyes because he stroked his thumb along her jaw again, his fingertips rough against her skin. But he stroked her with such exquisite gentleness, she turned toward his touch rather than away from it. “Don’t be afraid,” he said, “I won’t hurt you.”
And she believed that—physically. But would her heart remain pain free?
She already hurt, aching for his touch—for his kiss. The possession of her body. She trembled just thinking of his cock sliding in and out of her.
He leaned over her, lowering his mouth until their lips touched, she felt the soft movement when he asked, “Do you want me?”
“Yes.”
With that single word her shyness evaporated and boldness too its place.
Suddenly she felt like she knew who she really was for the very first time in her life. She was a beautiful woman, a beautiful curvy woman about to be loved by a man who truly wanted her. Her. She could see it in his eyes, feel it in his touch. Taste it in his kiss.
She trembled at the touch of his mouth, hard and brief. Not a kiss, more like a pre-curser to a claiming.
His body weight shifted, covering her. She slipped her arms around his waist, spreading her fingers over the tight muscles of his back. He was big, he was strong. He was all male. His hand curved around the side of her neck, his fingers curling into her hair as he raised her head the fraction of an inch that was needed to meet his descending mouth. His tongue parted her lips, a shallow thrust as if he was testing the waters. In response, she opened hers, allowing the invasion. Innocence fled as he made love to her mouth, his tongue driving in and out, sliding over hers. She was a captive, a willing slave to his wishes. His mouth plundered hers, tasting her, giving her his unique flavor. He tasted of power, passion. Sex. Lordy, lordy, did he taste of sex. Wild, hot sex.
He pulled back from the kiss, his eyes looking directly into hers as he shifted his position, his hips making room for himself between her legs. “Spread your legs.”
When she obeyed, he jerked her down, the move pressed his cock to her pussy. “Yeah, that’s better.”
Her nipples hardened, pushing against the thin lace of her bra and heat rushed through her, burning a path straight to her pussy, setting her on fire. She swallowed down a whimper that tickled the back of her throat.
The hand on her hip glided up her side. As it moved over her body, it bunched her shirt, pulling it until it rested right below her breasts. He still held his weight off her with one arm. He stared down at her. “You are going to be so damn beautiful.”
With an experienced flip of his wrist, he bared her breasts. The groan that escaped him calmed her, helped to banish the modesty that threatened to overcome her. It felt right. Natural to have him look at her, see her breasts, her curves.
“So damn beautiful.” Brown fire blazed in his eyes tinged with amber.
Julie could only sigh with gratification at the touch of his hand on the rounded curve of her breast. Flicking her nipple with his thumb, he stroked it into obedience, making it flare in response. Then his mouth was ravaging the hollow of her throat. She’d heard that shifters marked their mates in that exact spot. She was so caught up in the pleasure anything could have happened after that and she’d never have known. He began a slow maundering trail of kisses down her throat to the shadowy cleft between her breasts.
He tongue licked the inside curves, tasting the salt on her skin and the sweetness. She was so damn sweet. He closed his lips around one aching point and flicked across the sensitive tips. She cried out and shuddered and he could smell the sweet cream her pussy released.
He tugged that the nipple with his lip, then gently grasped it between his teeth, scraping the ends over the stiff bud. Another sound from the back of her throat reached his ears. This one almost a purr. Or a growl. His little she-wolf was hungry. He grinned around her nipple.
“More,” she begged, raking her nails over his back.
His mouth left her breast. “I’ll give you more, baby. I’ll give you everything you need.” He knelt on the mattress between her legs. His hands shaking slightly—damn it, what was that all about—as he looked down at her. Her shirt was bunched beneath above her breasts, her breasts large ivory mounds. He’d been right, the ends were colored almost brown. Her nipples were redden from his rough treatment and the crinkled islands of color that surrounded them bordered more on brown than pink.
Hunter’s mouth skimmed along the sensitive skin of her inner thighs, making her quiver, before kissing the entrance of her pussy. Her wet pussy. Julie closed her eyes in embarrassment, what must he think of her. His tongue stroked her clit and she didn’t care anymore. He might have rejected her last night—but tonight—tonight she was going to have her wolf.
A moan of pleasure slipped from his throat as he licked her again, the sound vibrating against her swollen bud. Then he was moving lower, slipping inside her hot hole and tasting her.
Hunter continued to eat out his mate’s pussy, relishing the sounds she made as he tasted her. He needed to make sure she could take him. He was larger than the average man, hell, he was big even for a shifter and she felt so damn tight he didn’t know if she could take him. He needed to make her come, needed to make her fly apart in his arms.
He opened his mouth wide over her pussy, his teeth butting against her clit as his tongue dipped deeper inside her. He licked and sucked, drawing out her response. Cupping her ass in his hand, he raised her to his face, his broad tongue stroking up and down her slit, slashing her clit with each pass. As he held her to him, he used the fingers of the hand holding her to him to explore the dark crevice between her ass cheeks. She was dripping wet and he massaged some of those juices into the puckered star.
As he fucked her with his tongue, he pushed against her back entrance with the tip of his finger. That was all it took to send her reeling over the edge.
She screamed the pleasure tearing her apart as he made her come.
Then he moved, his mouth sliding over her navel, kissing the soft flesh of her stomach, up to her ribs to the tip of a breast. His lips tugged at the nipple as the head of his cock found her entrance, pumping against her wet curls.
The soft whimpers of pleasure Julie made broke through the last layer of control Hunter had on himself—and his wolf. Growling, he tangled his hand in her hair, grasping the nape of her neck with hard fingers. He knew he needed to go slow, wanted to go slow, but there was no way in hell. He pushed forward. She stretched, trying to accept him as he continued to possess her. “Take me, baby.”
“Hunter.” She bucked her hips, trying to ease the pressure as Hunter took her. He was so big—so thick—her pussy burned. The movement only pushed him deeper inside. The fingers buried into the flesh at her hips, held her still.
“Easy, easy.” He stopped moving for a moment. “Relax. You can take me.” He pushed forward slowly.
“Fuck!” he cursed when she moved again. Groaning, he plunged all the way inside her, making her scream.
“Hunter!”
Hunter was no longer listening. The feel of her wet sheath taking him broke his control. He held her hips, his claws extending, piercing the skin of her hips.
“Stop. Moving.” He managed to ground out be
tween clenched teeth, his eyes focused on their joined bodies. He was balls deep inside, the hair of their mounds touching at the end of each stroke. She’d taken him. Every last fucking inch of him. He’d never felt that before, never attempted to give a woman his entire length and width and now he knew why. This was for her.
His mate.
He threw back his head and howled. And then he was moving, holding her still and taking her. Claiming her, he knew, whether he placed his bite on her neck or not. From this moment forward…She. Was. His.
Again and again he pulled out and plunged back inside her. He fucked her hard, used her to appease the animal inside him. He watched his cock drive in and out of her, her breasts bounce from the force of his thrusts. Her mouth opened in a round, soundless ‘o’ and he imagined fucking her there later.
He’d fuck her everywhere. He’d fuck her until his seed was spilling from every orifice of her body.
Until his beast was satisfied.
Julie didn’t know what to do as Hunter plunged into her body over and over again. Her pussy had burned at the width of his cock and she’d wondered if she would ever be able to take him. Two thrust later she had. And was loving it. She watched the play of emotions over his face as she took his power inside her.
He’d thrown back his head and howled and then she knew she was being take by both the man and the wolf. His movements were too frantic, too frenzied to be completely controlled by the man.
Amazingly, she felt the sensations building inside her. Did she have a need for punishment, for rough sex? But it wasn’t rough, it was…determined. Natural. He was an alpha male who was conquering a female. And she was a female who was being conquered by an alpha male.
“Hunter,” she groaned his name as he continued to take her. Each stroke brought her closer and closer to the heat she felt rising inside her. But she was still reaching.
“Baby.” He grunted and let go of one of her hips. His hand went between them and her pussy was spread so wide open by his possession all he had to do was press his thumb down, hard, and the pressure winding up inside her…exploded. She cried out as her pussy convulsed, drinking at his cock.