Prymal Lust

  Her mouth quivered. “I truly am sorry, Axe. About tonight. But, in my defense, I did leave a note.”

  Tempted though he was, Axe couldn’t let her off easy. Not when she had jeopardized her safety. “Not good enough.”

  “Okay. How about this? I promise never to leave when you’ve ordered me to stay.”

  “Better.”

  Her forehead creased. “I promise to let you know if I need to leave the ranch?”

  “Getting there.”

  She jammed her hands onto her hipbones. “I promise to ask your permission to leave the ranch?”

  Axe stifled a chuckle. The testiness in her voice couldn’t be mistaken. “Repeat after me and then we’ll consider this episode behind us. Raise your right hand.”

  “Really? Really? We’re not in a frigging court.” Nostrils flaring, she glowered at him.

  “Court of Senior Chief Axe Richard Smith. Court of your one and only mate, half-breed Feral wolf, Axe Smith. Any more objections?” He folded his arms. Gave her the hooded glare all BUD/S participants dreaded.

  She scuffed her foot on the base of the toilet. Raised her right hand. “Well?”

  “I, Tania Prakov, do hereby vow.”

  She repeated his words, her tone sullen.

  “To obey without question and without hesitation my mate’s each and every directive regarding my safety or the safety of our Prymal pack.”

  The surly tone in her voice faded when she gave him back his words.

  “You realize that this is only the beginning? That your brothers have garnered only a temporary peace?”

  Axe saw when she finally understood the enormity of the situation. “We’re at war, aren’t we? It just hit me. If the Jäeger weren’t sent by Viktor, then someone else wants both me and Eva dead?”

  “First, we haven’t ruled out Viktor. He could’ve gone behind your father’s back. And someone wants all of us dead. Not just you and Eva. But you two are the key now. You are the future of Prymal. By joining forces, Rogue, Feral, and Wylfen, we threaten all the old traditional orders. Our cub will be part human, part Feral, and part Wylfen. When Eva and Dax have a pup—”

  “The baby will be Rogue, Human, and Wylfen. We’re creating a true melting pot. I get it.” She propped her forehead on his chest. “We’re carving a whole bunch of new mixtures of beings.”

  “Yeah.” He rubbed his hands up and down her back. Kissed the top of her damp hair. “We are.”

  “I really don’t know diddly squat about babies,” she mumbled.

  “Neither do I. We’ll take it one day at a time. Ten to one, we’ll find all the info we need on the Net. Besides, it’s not as if we’re the first parents on the planet. It can’t be that hard.” What more could a baby need other than a warm home, food, clothing, and loving parents?

  She drew back and gave him a wan, feeble smile. “One. I think we’re both going to have to eat those words. Two, you stink. Was that how I smelled in the parking lot?”

  “Remember that stench, Tania. That’s the distinctive Jäeger stink.” He set her to one side. “You feeling okay enough to wait for me to have a shower?”

  “Oh yeah. I’m all better now. This Prymal ride doesn’t seem to get any easier. I guess I’m just going have to get used to it.” She giggled. Cupped a hand over her mouth. Her eyes twinkled at him. “You didn’t get it. Prymal ride?”

  Axe glanced at the ceiling and then smiled down at her. “Your sense of humor’s very strange, mate.”

  Her smile faded.

  “What?” He nudged her chin.

  She fidgeted, scrunched her mouth. “What did you mean when you told Mishe and Breede that the Jäeger issue had been resolved on all counts?”

  “Dax and I eradicated any evidence of their presence, the attack, and their deaths.” Axe had deliberately avoided answering both Tania’s and Eva’s litany of questions on the way back to the house. Neither woman needed to know the details of how the pack had disposed of the Jäegers’ bodies. For their own safety.

  “So, it’s like they never existed?” She worried her lower lip.

  “It’ll look like they did a Bermuda Triangle. Vanished without a trace. Feel better, now?” Axe thumbed her jaw.

  “I guess.”

  Her big toe rubbed a tiny circle on his instep.

  Axe repressed a smile. “But?”

  “I feel so sorry for Eva. I mean that her dad didn’t use his verbetend for her.”

  Unable to resist, he caught her to him, and buried his face in her damp hair. Inhaled the fresh perfume of the wildflower shampoo she favored. “Not didn’t. Couldn’t.”

  She craned her neck to meet his gaze. “I clearly heard Mishe’s answer to Eva’s question.”

  “True. But I hustled you back to my pickup before you heard Breede’s explanation. Her father had already used his verbetend when The Senior Council mate allianced him with a woman he didn’t want. Eva’s eldest brother used his to bargain for her life.”

  A wide beam dimpled her cheeks. “Oh. That’s great. I know she would’ve been devastated if she thought her parents condoned what the Jäeger did to her.”

  “Did you notice that Eva’s brother had no problem face timing with her?” For a woman who fixated on the tiniest detail, his woman managed to overlook significant developments.

  “That’s so right. He went against the exile issue.” She play-cuffed him. “Maybe Eva’ll get to talk to her family from now. Wouldn’t that be fantabulous?”

  A wave of tenderness banded his chest like an aching vise. “You have this incredible need to solve all of your friends’ problems. Absolutely fricking fantabulous. You know, you are going to be one heck of a mom.”

  She ducked her head and a riot of color swabbed her throat and face. Shot him a shy glance. “There’s nothing wrong with wanting everyone to be as happy as I am. And you’re going to be the best father on the planet.”

  Axe laughed. “Thanks for the vote of confidence. Now, go get dressed. It’s almost six-thirty and I have to be at the base for eight.”

  “I’ll make breakfast this time.”

  By the time Axe made it to the kitchen, the delicious aromas swirling through the house had his stomach rumbling.

  Bandit and The Kydd, each munching on muffins, and carrying a couple of twisted pastries, nodded to Axe as they ambled through the doorway.

  Eva stood by the sink drying a plate.

  Jurango, Lycus, and Dax were tucking into huge stacks of waffles and pancakes.

  Axe couldn’t believe the spread Tania had whipped up. Pancakes, sausages, a basket heaped with muffins, spirals of jam encrusted flaky dough, and vanilla waffles.

  “How’d you manage all this in less than thirty minutes?” He flicked open his napkin and slid into his seat. Near drooled at the plate she’d composed for him; two of each item, plus five rashers of crisped bacon.

  “I’m doing the tasting menu preview for the owner of The Grape Escape tonight, remember? I tested these yesterday. Except for the pancakes and waffles? Taste everything, please,” Tania explained.

  She didn’t stop moving for a second, running from peeking under a huge towel wrapped bowl, stooping to edge open the convection oven’s door, and finally bounding to the stove to flip over a steaming pancake.

  Axe glanced at the digital clock on the micro. He had ten minutes to wolf everything down. He repressed a grin at his own pun, considered sharing the joke with Tania, and decided in the negative when she said, “Eva’s going to help me. The tasting’s at six. Bandit’s going to be my official tester. Jurango said he’d take your sessions ‘cause Bandit can’t ‘cause I need him.”

  “Whoa.” Axe sprang to his feet. He snagged Tania, worked a spatula from one hand, and tucked a damp lock behind her ear. “Simmer down. You’re on fast forward.”

  She shoved at his chest. “Axe. I don’t have time. Do you know how much I have to do to be ready for six?”

  “That’s it.” Axe grabbed her forearm. “Bandit, cover for me un
til ten. I’ll be at base in time for the beach drills. Tania, stop struggling. We’re doing this my way.”

  He hauled her, protesting each dragged step, down to the master bedroom. Slammed the door shut with a booted foot. Captured her flailing wrists as she attempted to twist the doorknob and drawled, “I believe it’s time to administer the punishment for your disobedience last night.”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Tania checked the microwave clock for the umpteenth time.

  Five forty-five and no sign of Axe.

  Everyone else was there, even Lycus.

  The house had been transformed into a semblance of a French country manor. Courtesy of Jurango. The setting mimicked a wine bar theme with real grapes and trailing vines trailing from the top shelves of the kitchen cupboards. The soft glow of a dozen flickering candles imbued the kitchen and eating areas with a warm, inviting ambiance. French café music from the late seventies played in the background.

  Bandit, who had not only a sommelier’s knowledge of wine, but also all the organizational skills of a general prepping his troops for battle, assigned tasks and stations to everyone present. Tania racked her brain searching for any loose ends, but save for her missing mate, everything was at the ready.

  “Where is he?” Tania nibbled on a cuticle, caught herself, and set both hands to her sides. “He said he’d be here by five thirty.”

  She dared not move too quickly for fear of having another mini-orgasm right there and then in front of everyone. It had been bad enough marathon-cooking while wearing the Shibari knotted ribbons that Axe had substituted for her lacey boy-panties when he’d dragged her into their bedroom before heading to the base that morning.

  How he had managed to create the complex geometric patterns of rigging centered over her sex and tied the button-style knot cupping her clitoris in less than twenty minutes still baffled her.

  She’d no idea of what he was doing and her curiosity had been wetted, so too her sex. Axe explained that the strange knots and twists he knotted was an erotic deviation of an ancient Japanese artistic form of rope bondage, called Shibari. Turned out he’d become intrigued with Shibari while deployed in Indonesia and studied the art under a master.

  Tania had a strong suspicion it would take the rest of their lives for her to peel back the mysterious layers and layers of Axe. She wore no underwear save for the silky ribbons crisscrossing her body. Even the slightest movement proved erotic and tortuous. The Shibari induced sexual torment was her ‘punishment’ for disobeying him and leaving the ranch. The entire day had been the sweetest, most excruciating penalty she’d ever had to endure.

  He’d warned her not to seek relief. Tania ducked her chin to hide a wicked grin as she remembered his gruff command, “No bringing yourself off. That pussy, my pussy gets relief only from my hand or mouth or cock. The second you think you’re going to come, you text me immediately.”

  It had been a revealing seven hours. Sexting was a new experience for her, and it proved arousing beyond her wildest imaginings. Between being sexually on edge and her epic cooking spree, she hadn’t had time to get nervous.

  Until now.

  Gawd, she was an idiot.

  That had been Axe’s intention from the start. To counteract her edgy anxiety about her food not making the grade for The Grape Escape, the wine bar Lycus’s friend would open in a few of weeks.

  She tensed as the now-familiar rumbling of Axe’s pickup climbing the driveway reached her ears.

  “They’re here.” Bandit stalked to her side. “Take a deep breath, darlin’. Now, smile. Your tasting menu’s delicious, eclectic, and a complete winner. If this idiot can’t recognize you’re a five star chef, then he doesn’t deserve you.”

  Tania shot him a grateful glance. “I can’t thank you enough.”

  She swept a glance around the other Prymal members. “All of you. I couldn’t have finished all this without you. I owe you each and every one of you. Big time.”

  “Did we tell you our newly adopted motto? All for one and one for all.” The Kydd smiled at her.

  Jurango studied the ceiling for a brief second and shook his head.

  The back door eased open.

  “That’s quite the tale, Sidonie.” Axe’s deep voice resonated through the kitchen.

  Tania held her breath, her gaze glued to the widening space between the door and the kitchen wall.

  She blinked. Knuckled her eyes and re-focused.

  A walking sex bomb pranced into the room.

  The curvaceous woman had to be no more than five feet, but the six inch stilettos she wore thrust an alluring décolletage forward, and gave her the illusion of height.

  She shot Axe what could only be described as a come-fuck-me, sex-kitten smile. “Querido call me Sid. Everyone does. Hmmm, this kitchen smells so delish, I’m about to have a foodie-orgasm.”

  Tania bit her tongue.

  Fisted her hands.

  She had just so lost the job of chef at The Grape Escape. If ‘Sid’ so much as touched Axe. the woman would have two black eyes and be thrown down the deck stairs.

  Wild strawberry blonde curls danced around tanned, muscle-defined bare shoulders when Sid did a half pirouette. Her piercing blue eyes honed onto Jurango, slouched in his usual corner between the fridge and the counter. She waved slender fingers with oval-shaped lilac-painted nails. Her focus never wavered from Jurango. “Introduce me, Axe.”

  Tania worked her jaw when the sleaze planted one hand on her hip and assumed a perfect red-carpet-pose.

  Eva sidled closer to Tania. “What the fuck is she not wearing?”

  ‘Sid’ almost wore a jeans skirt, a mauve spaghetti-strapped tank top with a short unzipped denim jacket. The pastel purple tank should’ve clashed with her hair, but instead somehow made her perfect ringlet curls glow. The skirt’s hem just, just brushed the apex of Sid’s shapely and toned thighs.

  Tania barely managed to jerk her thoughts from murderous mayhem when Axe said, “Sid, this is my fiancée, Tania. Tania, meet Sidonie, the owner of The Grape Escape. Sid, in order, meet Eva, Jurango, The Kydd, Bandit, and Lycus.”

  Tania spread her lips. Snarled, “Hello Sid. You’re late, Axe.”

  Axe quirked a brow.

  “Oh, dahling, don’t blame your hunky man. It was all my fault. I had to clean up a little ‘situation’ at the wine bar.” Sid beamed and ringed a finger around the tank’s neckline.

  Not once had Sid looked Tania’s way.

  The woman couldn’t haul her stare from Jurango’s scowling face. “Jurango, was it? Such an unusual name. Are you part of Tania’s cooking retinue?”

  Jurango straightened. “No ma’am. I’m a simple ranch hand. With work to do. Later.”

  Sid flinched as if struck physically. She recovered her aplomb in a millisecond and flashed a flawless, dimpled smile. Bright pink washed over her cheeks, but she firmed her chin, and traced Jurango’s rapid exit. Inspected the floor for a mere half a heartbeat. Took a deep inhale. “Not one for words, your Jurango.”

  “Don’t take it personally, darlin’. He’s like that with everyone.” Bandit’s pleasant tone belied the anger glistening in his blue-black eyes.

  Thumb hooked in a belt loop, the Kydd ambled over to Sidonie, and flashed her the smile that had won the retired UFC fighter turned actor a million followers on Facebook. He tipped his Stetson back to a rakish angle and drawled, “An absolute pleasure to meet you, sugah. The Grape Escape’s just become my favorite watering hole. I’ll round up my Hollywood buddies for the grand opening. Anything else you need, sugah, just whistle. I’ll get your cell from Tania later. Expect my call. It pains me to have to leave, but I’ve a prior commitment.”

  Stunned, Tania couldn’t do anything but stare at The Kydd. She missed Sidonie’s reply to The Kydd’s declaration, and traced him as he strolled out the kitchen doorway.

  Axe, looking prickle-pear cactus irritated, engaged Sidonie in a low conversation.

  “Is it me, or did Kydd Kol
ton just announce Sidonie’s his newest fuck target?” Eva whispered.

  Tania managed to retrieve her jaw from the floor. “Wow. I do believe that we just witnessed the formation of a sexual triangle inferno.”

  “The static electricity in this room could fuel half of San Diego.” Eva did a mock-swipe of her forehead. “Whew.”

  “Pay attention, Tania,” Bandit muttered, sotto voce.

  Tania squared her shoulders.

  Sidonie stared directly at Tania. “Shall we get down to business? I have to be back at The Grape Escape in ninety minutes.”

  An hour and a bit later, Tania collapsed onto the mattress in their bedroom. “I swear Sid’s a cyclone. The woman’s non-stop.”

  Axe looked down at her, a sexy grin playing about his lips. “At the beginning, I thought you were going to bust her balls. Or give her a shiner.”

  She wriggled trying to ease the tightening ribbon knot abrading her clit. “I might have. If I could’ve managed to move without having a mini-orgasm.”

  “Tsk, tsk. Another order disobeyed. I may just leave you all tied up for the rest of the night.” He pulled his T-shirt over his head.

  Tania focused on Axe’s obvious arousal. She slowly eased into a sitting position. “Wrong sailor-boy. I obeyed your command to the letter. I did not bring myself off. Though you have no idea how much I wanted to. I figure I’ve earned a reward.”

  “You do, do you?” He leered at her while working free the waist button on his pants and then unzipping. “What do you have in mind?”

  She did an imitation of Sid’s come-fuck-me half-hooded glance.

  Axe burst into a chortle. “Your eyes just about jumped places there.”

  “How come it’s sexy on Sid but not me?”

  “Sid’s all guile and artifice. You’re real, Tania. Nobody’s sexier than you.” He shrugged out of his pants and boxers, ambled over to the bed, and stared down at her

  Tania blew out a long sigh. Her mate had the most beautiful cock on the planet. She wrapped both hands around the base of his erection and nuzzled the sticky pre-cum leaking from his slit. “Blow job. Want to lick your balls, mate. Suckle on them.”