“That was hard for you to say, wasn’t it?” Kian said with a laugh.
He glared. “I’m going home now.”
Spinning on his heel, he strode to where his coat was hung up and quickly jerked it on. Fuck, now that he’d actually talked to some of the tribe members and told them he wasn’t after them, now that he helped them when they were threatened, they all felt like that meant he was open for teasing.
He was fucking done peopling for the day.
Except for Ashley. He walked out into the blisteringly cold air, but his blood was heating, all the same, as he thought back on that kiss. Fuck, what a kiss that had been. Sweet, delicious, hot as hell. Everything he never knew just a kiss could be.
And she’d been the one to initiate it. He’d thought he’d have to ease her into it, get her more used to him. Instead, she’d leaned up and done the kissing, with no prompting from him. Even more than that, she said she wanted to pick up where they left off when he got back.
His body reacted to that thought, but, as much as he wanted to, he wasn’t sure he should. He didn’t have long to convince her to give up her quest before she left. He thought their time was better served focusing on that, rather than spending all their time in bed. No matter how much he wanted to do just that.
Fuck, this thought process was so foreign to him. Since when did he put someone else in front of him, especially when what she suggested was what he wanted so badly to do?
That’s what happens when you find your mate, his tiger said.
I thought I told you to shut up earlier.
His cat didn’t reply, but the smugness he felt was washing over Vynn. He hated to admit his animal was right about anything, especially when they’d been so at odds for the last year, but he was right when it came to how Vynn felt about Ashley.
It was pretty fucking mind-blowing. He wasn’t sure he’d ever get used to it enough that he didn’t question who he was anymore.
And that part was disturbing as fuck. He didn’t want to change. He was content with himself just the way he was. But… well, he hadn’t known Ashley long, but he was certain she was worth the way his world and reality were tilting off their axis. He just had to remind himself that he wasn’t changing into a completely different man—he was only changing enough to think of Ashley, too, instead of just himself. He wasn’t turning into, God forbid, Jameson, with his insistence on caring about the feelings of every person in the tribe.
He’d rather be castrated than do that. And that was saying something, especially now that he’d found his mate.
Opening the door to his house, he walked inside, shutting it before looking around. He pulled his boots off, frowning at the absolute lack of noise in the house.
“Ashley?” he called, quickly pulling his coat off and hanging it up.
There was no response, and his frown deepened as he moved into the house, looking for his mate. Fuck, he hoped she hadn’t gotten spooked and taken off. It was way too cold for her to try to make it to Denver. Shit, shit, shit.
She wasn’t in the living room, downstairs bathroom, or kitchen. His uneasiness growing, along with the urgent need to find her, he stuck his head in the mud room really quickly. Freezing, he walked over to the open dryer, seeing the neatly folded pile of clothes on top, along with some garments still inside.
There was no way she’d take off without her clothes. So either she hadn’t left, or she hadn’t left willingly.
His blood went cold as his tiger scrambled frantically inside him. There was someone fucking with members of the tribe. Well, with Kian, anyway. But maybe they weren’t just targeting the royals. Or maybe it was someone else entirely, and Vynn had just pissed off the wrong person.
He’d rip whoever it was to fucking shreds and then dance over their ashes—
A flash of red caught his eye, interrupting his thoughts, and he turned his head, immediately spotting the large red fox slinking out of the corner.
Relief crashed over him as his breath left his body in a rush. Actually feeling weak with it, he leaned back against the dryer, dropping his head and trying to breathe deeply.
She’s okay, she’s okay, his tiger chanted.
Taking another deep breath, he raised his head and looked at the gorgeous fox who was crouched low to the ground, coming slowly toward him.
Dropping down, he held his fingers out to her. “Hey, pretty lady. What happened? Are you here by force, or did Ashley let you out?”
She came in and sniffed his fingers before rubbing her cheek down his hand. She couldn’t answer, of course, but he was sure she’d forced her way out. Ashley had been back to suppressing her when he left.
Shit. Her fox forcing her way out could go two ways. Either she’d realize she was being ridiculous about trying to keep her animal locked away, or it would make her even more obstinate about accepting her.
And the length of time she was locked away, and how deeply the fox kept her under, would probably be a big factor in which way she went. Which was why, as much as he loved seeing her gorgeous animal, he was going to have to coax her into letting Ashley have her body back.
She suddenly jumped into his arms, and he startled from his thoughts, bringing his hands up quickly to support her. She snuggled in, and his heart warmed as he cuddled her close.
His heart warmed. Who would have ever thought those fucking words would float through his mind, let alone that he’d actually feel the sensation? He couldn’t focus on that now, though. Right now, it was all about getting the fox to let Ashley come back.
Holding her to his chest, he pushed to his feet. “Come on, pretty lady. Let’s go get a fire started and then scrounge up dinner. What do foxes eat, hmmm?”
Chapter Ten
The fox watched Vynn—her mate—as he walked back into the living room. She knew he wanted her to let the human inside her have her body back, but she wasn’t sure she should. She didn’t think he understood that her stupid human wanted them to leave him.
Leave him. It was inconceivable to her. She didn’t understand her human at all.
“I know you don’t want to let Ashley have the body back, but I need you to, pretty lady.”
She shot him a startled look. Was he a mind reader? He sat down on the couch next to where he’d left her, and she immediately curled up in his lap.
“I need to talk to her. I need to convince her of some things. Maybe get her to stay here with me. You want that too, right?”
Hell yes, she wanted it. But she didn’t think letting her human out was going to get either of them what they wanted. Her human would bury her in the darkness again and then leave this place. Leave Vynn, their mate.
Because it’s what’s best, her human said from inside her.
Nope. She wasn’t letting her out. That just proved her human wasn’t going to be reasonable about this.
“Let her out. Please. I—I need her to stay. And that won’t happen if I can’t talk to her.”
His please almost made the fox melt. She knew this wasn’t a man who said words like that often, and the fact that he was doing it now meant a lot.
But it was what distracted her, and a sudden push from her human took her off guard. She fought it off, but it was too little, too late.
And a moment later, she existed no more.
Ashley gasped as she suddenly got her body back, trembling with the aftereffects of the forced change. She distantly heard Vynn’s exclamation as she sucked air in, and a moment later, she felt a blanket drape over her body.
It took her a few minutes to become truly aware again, and the first thing she noticed was that Vynn was rubbing his palm gently down her blanket-covered back. The second was that she was sitting in his lap. Naked except for the blanket.
And suddenly, as exhausted as she was, her body was buzzing with excitement, desire flaring to life in her veins.
Damn, that didn’t take long at all. But she had to get a tiny bit of her energy back before she could do anything about it.
&
nbsp; “You okay, Ash?”
His deep voice, so close to her ear, sent a shiver of heat dancing down her spine. Inhaling deeply, she nodded against his chest before leaning her head back to meet his brown eyes. “Yeah, I’m fine. Thanks for sticking with me through that.”
“Any time, anything, baby. I’ll never leave you alone if you need me.”
Shit. That was a vow if she ever heard one, and she could see the truth and promise in his eyes. Uncomfortable, she cleared her throat. “Thanks. I wasn’t in animal form that long that time, was I?”
He shook his head, his eyes narrowed as he studied her. “I’m not sure how long you were the fox before I got home, but I’ve only been home for an hour. She kept you buried again, didn’t she?”
“I was aware a couple of times, but yeah, she did.”
“Ash… you were suppressing her again. I could tell before I left for the meeting. This will never end if you don’t learn to work with her—”
Unable, and unwilling, to listen any further, she lunged up and pressed her lips hard to his in a bid to silence him. The desire she’d never really managed to cool instantly flamed hotter, and she pulled back a tiny bit, nipping at his bottom lip before pressing her mouth to his again.
He let out a groan so deep it vibrated her chest, and then he kissed her back. They were eating at each other’s mouths, trying to devour each other. His hand came up, tangling in her long hair and supporting her head as he intensified the kiss even more.
Her blood was boiling in her veins as pleasure raced through her body. His tongue tangled with hers before he sucked on it, and she gasped, the whiskers of his beard rasping deliciously against her face. He pulled away with a strangled curse, and they both gasped for air.
“Why did you stop?” she asked between pants.
“Because I think we need to talk more first.”
She stared at him for a moment, her mouth dropping open. “Talk? Seriously? Why would you want to talk when we could be doing this and so much more? Talking is the last thing I want to do right now. I don’t want to stop.”
Not waiting on a reply, she shifted on his lap until she was straddling him, letting the blanket fall away from her. His eyes widened, dropping to slowly trail over her torso in a look she swore she felt. When he looked back up, his eyes were whiskey brown and glazed over with heat.
“Fuck it. We’ll talk later.”
Triumph and desire raced through her body as he wrapped his arms around her and yanked her to his chest, immediately settling his mouth over hers again. He licked at her lips, his hands rough and slightly calloused on the bare skin of her waist. She loved the way they felt against her, and she ground down on the erection underneath her, unable to help herself.
Vynn groaned as his lips slipped away from hers, trailing to her neck. His hands tightened on her waist before sliding down, slipping past the blanket caught around her hips, squeezing handfuls of her ass as he licked and nipped at her neck.
Moaning, she let her head fall back as he trailed his lips across her collarbone, his hands pushing the blanket further off her before sliding up her ribcage. He pulled back, his eyes on her kiss swollen lips, and then lowered his gaze as his hands creeped upward, so slowly she thought she’d combust from the heat inside her before they ever reached their destination.
He cupped her breasts simultaneously, the rough texture of his palms against her nipples enough to have her moaning, her hips jerking, rubbing herself against his straining length. Between the feel of his big hands caressing her breasts, and the delicious roughness of his jeans against her center, she was already, unbelievably, on the verge of an orgasm.
He leaned down and captured one of her nipples with his mouth, laving it gently with his tongue before becoming more forceful, biting down. His fingers were busy at her other nipple, flicking and pinching in time with his mouth, and her middle clenched forcefully, almost painfully.
Fuck, it definitely wasn’t like this the one other time she tried being physical with a man. There was something about this man that was so different than anyone she’d ever met, and she didn’t think it would ever be like this with anyone else.
Because he’s our mate, her fox whispered faintly inside her.
Damn it. She didn’t want to hear from her animal, but she didn’t have the concentration to suppress her any further than she already had.
And when Vynn pushed his hips up into her as he switched his mouth to her other nipple, sucking it hard into his mouth, she forgot about her animal completely. Moaning, she ground her hips down again, thrusting her fingers into the short strands of his hair.
Biting down on her nipple, he held it between his teeth as he flicked it with his tongue, and she was closer to an orgasm than she would have thought possible at this point.
“Vynn, I’m close… so close.”
Pulling his mouth away, he leaned up and nipped at her bottom lip hard. “Let’s go get comfortable, then.”
She started to protest, but he wrapped an arm under her ass and lunged up off the couch, kicking the blanket away as he stood. He strode quickly to the stairs and when he began climbing them, she swore she saw stars as he rubbed against the core. He took them to his room, his mouth devouring hers, and once they were there, she unwrapped her legs and slid down his body.
She reached for his shirt, but he beat her to it, yanking it quickly over his head and dropping it to the floor. Her mouth dried as she took him in, and she swallowed painfully. His chest was sculpted, a tattoo covering one of his pecs, flowing up his shoulder and then down his bulging bicep. Another was inked down his side, trailing next to the hills and valleys of his abs, ending low on his stomach, above the V on his hips.
And she felt an intense desire to lick every inch of the skin on display. His tats, his muscles, every bit of him. She was just about to lean in and fulfill that desire when his hands went to his belt buckle. He quickly undid it, then popped the button of his jeans and eased his zipper down, letting out a hissing breath.
Then he shoved them down, leaving him completely bare, and her dry mouth suddenly flooded as she took him in. His legs and thighs were as powerfully built as the rest of them, but they definitely weren’t what had her attention.
Her eyes ghosted over them before landing on his dick, straining upward toward his belly. It was large, long and thick, and her core clenched even tighter in need. And suddenly, her urge to lick included the veins running up and down his length.
He didn’t give her a chance to do that, either. He yanked her into his arms and took her mouth with his, and she nearly swooned at how amazingly good it felt to be pressed against him, skin to skin. He was hot and hard, his muscular frame so deliciously different from her soft one.
Their tongues dueled together as he walked them toward the bed. When the backs of her knees hit the mattress, he pulled his mouth from hers and put his hands on her shoulders, urging her to sit. Kneeling in front of her, he winked at her before putting his hands on her knees and pushing them open.
He pulled her hips to the edge of the bed, settling between them, his eyes eating her up. Reaching out a finger, he ran it gently up her folds, and her eyes rolled back in pleasure at having him touch her.
“You’re so fuckin’ wet already, baby.”
Her whole body shuddered at his huskily spoken words, his hot breath blowing over her center, and she fell back, propping herself up on her elbows. So slowly she thought she might strangle him, he eased his finger inside her, rubbing directly over her clit. She let out a loud moan, and then her breath hissed out as he increased the pressure.
But a moment later, he took his finger away, and she opened her eyes to glare at him. “Now is not the time to tease me, Vynn.”
He winked again. “No teasing. I just wanted to give you something even better.”
Before she could ask what could possibly be better, he leaned in and ran his tongue up her folds just like he had his finger. Her breath caught as it slipped inside and when he fli
cked her clit with his tongue, she slammed her eyes shut and dropped all the way back on the mattress, unable to hold herself up any longer.
It was the first time anyone had ever gone down on her, and fuck, there was nothing like it. He was right, it was better than his finger. He lapped slow and soft circles around her swollen nub, each pass garnering more speed and firmness. Her hips bucked, and he wrapped an arm around them, holding her still while his efforts intensified.
He pulled away, blowing softly, and then eased first one finger, and then another, inside her. Her breath hissed out at the feel and her hips tried to undulate, but he held them still as he leaned back in and tongued her clit again.
Fuck, she was going to combust soon, and she couldn’t think of a better way to go than drowning in the flames of what this man was doing to her. Her skin was stretched tightly, and the ball of need in her core was clenched so tightly, it was past the point of pain.
He pumped his fingers in and out of her, slowly at first, then gaining speed at the same time his tongue did. And then he sucked her clit into his mouth at the same time he curled his fingers inside her, and she exploded, soaring high as her body convulsed.
He kept her orgasm going, and with each pass, it felt like she legitimately shattered apart. Like everything that made up who she was broke off and reformed into something different every time. It was amazing, intense, and completely mindblowing.
And maybe, just a little bit, terrifying.
But when he eased up and she finally came fully back down, she opened her eyes to find him smiling gently at her. His eyes were full of heat, yet soft and even affectionate, as he looked at her, wiping her wetness from his beard.
“Was that good?” he asked softly.
Her lips quirked as she fought to catch her breath. “Fishing for compliments, Vynn? You know it was good.”
Turning his head, he pressed a soft kiss into her thigh, his beard tickling the tender skin there. “Not fishing for compliments so much as fucking needing to know you were completely satisfied.”
Vynn (War Cats Book 4) Page 10