Yes. End this battle of wills. I strode to the two-by-four locking the door tight and stared at the beam's straight edges.
Mark, Wolf growled, heaving against my ribcage, struggling for dominance.
Every skin cell on my body stung.
Wolfen hairs threatening to sprout. I'd be just as insane as Josie if I opened the accursed door. Who would be in control? Wolf or man?
****
I faced the wall, my face somewhat buried in his lump of a pillow where I could suck in a breath but muffle my crying.
The door creaked.
My heart burst into a gallop.
Rather an all-out frantic run. Nude. I was so Gods-be-damned naked in his bed. And there was no snowball's chance in hell he'd have fallen asleep allowing one of those youth's to take pity upon me and open the door for my escape. I clutched two handfuls of woolen blanket at my chest and tried to feign sleep, facing the wall.
The floor creaked an alarm.
He's closer. Coming even closer. Shit. What do I do? I don't have any freaking weapons.
The bed shifted.
No. He didn't sit on my bed! I'm not going to just lie here and take whatever he planned with a grain of salt. I twisted upright to sit.
Facing the enormous man's luminous golden Shifter eyes. Maybe it was the fact they glowed or the firelight had no power at this time of night, but all I could see where those glowing embers in the dark square where his face should be. Beneath the dark face, his musculature bulged in all its magnificence because he had the forethought to remove his shirt and parade those glorious dips and swells before me. I'm not about to look more than a fraction of an inch away from his unyielding gaze to see if he wore pants though. Something told me I'd find out soon enough.
He gurgled a throaty growl.
Wolf. Crap. "What are you doing sitting on my bed, Hostillian?"
His shoulders leaned toward me, planting his palms on the bed on both sides of my hips. He pressed his dark strong angular face so closely that my subconscious countered by moving away from his invading hulk.
From his gurgling Wolf. Had he gone rabid? Gnawed on loco weed?
He shoved that pointed nose of his until it touched mine and I couldn't lean any further, backward into the soft mattress.
What just happened?
I was sitting. Now, I'm cowering beneath him.
Beneath the man I'd always wanted. I think. Maybe this was Wolf? The Gods know I don't want to piss off a Wolf. I'd just cooperate. Enough to appease them. Keep them happy.
The tip of his nose slid across my face with the barest of tingling touches.
Puffing warm sharp bursts of air. Like Wolf wanted to sniff at every cell in my body.
Over to my ear. My hair. Lingering an extremely long time. Inhaling. Still puffing, warmth into my ear. Following the line of my jaw to my chin with the faintest whisper of a tickle, and across to my other ear. Meticulously. Agonizingly. Taking his time. While I sucked in deep desperate breaths. Hot air he'd just exhaled. Then his mind-numbing presence headed down to my throbbing jugular.
Would he just bite me and let me bleed out. I gulped.
To no effect since he kept going, ignoring my sign of distress like some phantom ghost out to terrify me..
Would Wolf bite at the pulsing promise of blood he sensed with that nose? My sire and brothers spoke of the need. Of the twisted irony in a Wolf marking that could kill. If Hostillian even considered marking a female--little old moi. Most likely, he'd bite for blood. Nothing more. Since he despised me. Gods, even now, he didn't speak, his Wolf consuming his psyche. I'd just lie still. Do as I was warned.
His nose pressed into the depression at the base of my neck, making the scrape of his shortly-trimmed beard finally scratch a chill from my flesh. And he just sniffed and puffed warm air.
Over and over. Tickling up a wave of amazing shivers that shook me. Made me want to grab his shoulders and hang on. Just to keep him here with me. For once. One night. I'd have what I always dreamed of. Won't I?
Suddenly, the blanket popped loose of my grasp.
Cool air kissed my breasts.
Shit. Why? I'm nude down to my belly. His hulking mass blocking my view of my body.
His nose trailed down my midline, between the swells of my breasts. Warming me with thick hot breaths. As if he hoped to do something more with the heat.
Gooseflesh prickled to chilly attention over every millimeter of my body.
Mind-numbing. Tickling. Gods, the rash. It must be what he intended to conjure. I shivered deep in my soul. Deep down between my legs where nothing but him would make me whole.
Why is he doing this? He practically made love to me. The one thing I always wanted, dreamed of, but never had. Whether he knows or not.
Why? Maybe I should run instead of damn myself further with this foolishness. But why toss away the moment? Why not enjoy the touch I'd waited for? Even if it was only this once. I'd set out soon. On my own. Into the crazy world of The Wild. At least, having the one thing I'd always wanted, the only thing worth praying for, I'd be ready to face the wilderness. And it wouldn't matter if I died tomorrow. Not after Hostillian finally made me feel alive.
His nose sniffed around the curve of my left breast, then over the top.
To linger. Agonizingly. Hovering over my nipple.
His golden eyes turned up, watching my gaze. His circle beard scraping my nipple's bead as my chest rose and fell.
My heart slowed to a happy sputter.
Yes. Happy. Content with a trot of excitement. He could toy with me now. Tease me. Go ahead, Hostillian.
Another one of his throaty growls chugged deep inside his chest.
If the sound is a warning, I don't care. He just needs to do something. Kiss. Lick. Nibble. Suck. Bite. I'd take anything he willingly offered. Just once. Before I get the hell out of here and headed off to find my little piece of nowhere.
His luminous gaze measured my reaction.
Yes. Studied my body language. Fine. Just get on with it.
His teasing nose began searching again, trailing down and back up my cleavage's valley, to the top of the hill where he could be king any day.
Where he hovered. Observed my reaction above my thrashing domes of flesh. The bastard. He made me heave with desire and simply stared. Couldn't he just have his way with me?
He dragged the tip of his nose around and around, encircling my hard nipple, then across the expectant nub, and over the curved lower edge of my breast, tracing a path to my uppermost rib.
Amazingly. Back and forth. Along each hard length. One rib at a time. Sniffing. Like a Wolf on the hunt. Searching for something. Moving lower as if he descended a ladder. Only making me squirm in the tousled sheets. Until he reached the folded edge of the blanket and sheet he'd yanked away earlier when exposing my breasts.
A screaming ache between my legs begged he continue.
He jerked the fabric down to my knees, tossing the lightweight mass to my feet.
I laid, beyond exposed. Completely at his mercy. But aren't I always? I could never take him on in a fight. Nor could I beat any Shifter. They humored me. Coddled my need for self-protection. Or so they thought. They had no idea I trained myself to appear capable of protecting myself to appeal to this enormous Shifter. The one gazing down my legs. Or somewhere down there. Where I'd always wanted him to focus. Should I open my legs? Grant him access? What would he do? Bolt?
His glowing gaze snapped to mine.
As if he'd heard my thoughts.
Not on his life. Wolf senses don't read minds. Yes, the sight, smell, and sounds of a body. But not thoughts. He'd just have to fancy himself perfect. Probably did already. The Big Bad Beast.
His gaze flicked to my arms, then my chest.
Can he see the goose bumps? Or just my extra-pinched knotted nipples
?
He lifted a hand.
Large. Fingers slightly splayed. And settled the heat of his wide palm upon ribs. Sliding the coarse skin that hand to the curve of my ribs, up, along my side.
Oh. Dear. Gods. I can't lie here. Playing dead when my body bent and arched against his the moving flesh of his hand. Now. Now. I need him on top of me now. But he didn't seem like himself. Didn't act cold and distanced. If I say anything, he might leave. Or change his demeanor altogether. And I like him like this. But I can't even react. Reach for what I want. Because he'd probably misinterpret my actions.
My body flinched with a few waves of shivers beneath his palm.
Gods damn. What a man can do with nary a touch. I tried to lie still. To pretend I wasn't consumed with need. Raw uncontrollable desire that pooled like hot magma in my belly. Swirling. Sinking. Aching.
His thumb stretched away from his fingers to tickle the rim of my navel.
So lightly I couldn't believe anything touched me.
More. Gods more. Or I'd die. I arched my lower back into the soft pad of his fingertip.
He chuckled a wicked laugh.
One either pleased with himself or my sudden lapse of sanity in cooperation.
His legs slid off the side of the bed to prop his massive chest at my side, lying, where he glided his palm to the thatch of hair, down there, leaning at the same time to tuck that nose of his into my navel.
Need shafted from the touch to my loin.
Through my womb. I'd die if he didn't make it stop. Squelch my body's demand.
His fingertips raked through the hairs I'd allowed no other man to ever see.
And his eyes were right there. Beside it. Ignoring the curls he stroked. As if the scent of my navel was far too intoxicating to take note of something as private as my pubic hair.
With a huge gusty hot exhalation, the tip of his nose moved farther down.
Down. Yes. Following his fingers.
Oh. Yes. Work your way down. A Wolf with a woman's scent in his nostrils wouldn't be able to stop. Couldn't possibly walk away without sex. That's what I need. Hostillian having his way with me. Ending a lifetime's madness of need deep down beneath those parts of his body he used to drive me witless. Only then could I leave. Risk enslavement sooner or later. Be sold by animals to other equally disgusting Normals. Die. Sooner or later. That was life AEI after losing one's clan. But nothing else would ever matter after being with Hostillian.
Those wily fingers curled over my mound, making room for his nose to hover, move lower.
And my body arched. Writhed. Rubbed against his cupping hand.
He growled a deadly sound.
A warning? Or a song of possession? Who cared? Just make me feel what a man makes a woman feel.
Those thick fingers wriggled.
Spreading the sensitive folds of my sex. Dipping into moisture. Tracing out the long line of my slit where no man had ever dared touch. To the round bulge of my aching clit.
A groan escaped me like an unruly phantom.
I gasped for breath, trying to catch the onery sound, pinched my eyes shut, flinching against the solid tip of one of his fingers.
But his other palm glided up my ribcage.
Pushing me down with the weight of a mountain. Holding me in place where he wanted me. Curling around my breast. And squeezed.
For the love of life and all things sacred. There's nothing like having the only man you ever wanted to take note of you touching you. Or his Wolf. An inner beast's attention undoubtedly sufficed.
He rose, his sniffing nose and squeezing hand slipping away, to tower above my hips where he shoved his way between my thighs.
Prying me open with a little force. Like I'd give a fight. I choked down a chuckle, watching him crouch down.
Eyes glowing with the luminous fog of a night creature, he studied me for a second.
Sizing me up? Just crawl up here. Better yet, take off those damned pants. Make a woman out of me. Yes. Hostillian could pull that one off. Only Hostillian.
My facial expression obviously didn't reflect that silent command because he flopped down on the shifting bed and shoved my knees, opening my thighs wider.
Well, the people I'd spied on having sex all those years always seemed engrossed in this position. I'd know soon if the sounds of pleasure were founded in truth.
Fingers bared my most tender-est of flesh to the world.
I gasped.
Too soon.
Something soft. Or firm, trailed along the firm ridges of my slit. Up. To make me quiver. Against the something. Treading pressure around my clit. Around and around. Like a dance partner who could unravel me. Strip me of every ounce of composure. Reduce me to a quaking pool of gasping pleas.
All the guilt. All the pain. The world disappeared in an all-consuming overwhelming wave of soul-shaking need that pressed into the gaps around my cells, locked onto the essence of every component of mass in my being, and smothered away reality. All but for him. Hostillian. The only person on the planet who could make me shiver and spasm uncontrollably.
Delightfully.
Mind-boggingly. I just wanted to grab onto him. His shoulders. His head. Some part of his body to claw into. To keep me here in this world. With him.
But my body slipped into a deep pocket of thick air.
Under an invisible choking airless blanket that made it impossible to suck down a breath. How can such a paradox exist? Because I'm screaming. With air. Got to have air to scream. As my body racked with indescribable bliss against his firm demanding insistence at my clit. I grabbed fistfuls of the bedding and rammed that sensitive nub against the hard edges of his teeth.
Reality grabbed me firmly by the shoulders--popped.
The swelling suffocating force dissipated.
And I could think. I could. But for his sharp little teeth. And the sucking. His mouth. Dear. Gods. That mouth was priceless. I stared into the deep dark shadows cloaking the vaulted ceiling's rafters.
An intense calm washed over me.
Maybe I could sleep now. Yes. Sleep. I closed my eyes.
My lungs wracked my chest, heaving for life-giving breath.
The bed shifted left and right.
He wasn't leaving though. The motion came from where he placed his palms. One after the other along the length of my body, moving up with each successive press of his mass against the mattress. Stretching his magnificent body out overhead without a touch. But I knew he was there before the heat of his steely mass made contact with my belly. Then squashed my breasts flat.
His heart rattled out a beat.
That little patter was more than enough to make me purr.
His nose pressed into my ear.
He snorted and growled.
Hot air warmed that ear.
Um. The weight of his body felt so good. I managed to open my stiff fingers and release the bedding. Managed to bend my stiff arms. To snake my arms around the strength in the warm pliant muscles of his shoulders. His iron throbbing neck.
Something throbbed, almost touching me, down there.
Where he'd worked his magic. Precious magic. I snuggled my cheek against the barely-existent stubble of his and sighed.
My salty woman's scent enveloped my senses.
Alive. I'm still alive. My body still clinging to the strange little dying hum of need still clinging to my soul. Deep inside me. But it was fading. And that didn't matter because I had Hostillian right where I needed him. All that power. Him. Wrapped around me. Sheltering me.
His breath knifed. His head turned. His damp mouth latched onto my cheek.
Sucking. One hot kiss after another, edging toward my mouth.
Not my jugular. Thank goodness. No, that mouth mounted my lips with a deep salty possessive thrust of tongue. Smelling of me. Like the pillow. A k
iss that delved beyond possession. Into melding with the force of his invading, conquering tongue. I opened my mouth as wide as possible.
Anything to become his conquered. If only just this once.
A gurgling growl rolled through him.
Into me. Rattled me into absolute awareness. I slid a palm along the curve of the back of his smooth shaved head to his ear, then his cheek, and petted the sweetest most adoring thing on the planet.
Him. At least for this singular moment.
Did he know my thoughts? Did he even care what I think? That doesn't matter. This is Hostillian.
And nothing matters by the way he's making love to me.
Yes. Love. He's not taking what I've seen men take before.
Something soft nudged between my soft folds, down there, the happy place his face plundered but moments ago.
His cock. Yes. Oh. He can have anything he wants. After all, he's the only man I'd ever planned to mate.
The presence spreading my folds nudged closer, against my slit, pressing firm tissue, easing down with a bluntness until locking into the notch it'd been searching for.
An ache gripped me from that point of contact, spreading deeply inside me, to my womb.
Blessed damned amazing. I spread my legs so wide there would be no question as to whether or not I was willing.
He chugged a growl of a contentment and wedged the smooth tip of his thickness a smidge inside me.
Enough to make me want to feel more of the amazing force. To want it all inside me. Now. I curled my hips up toward his.
His hips began pumping in short brief motions.
Just enough to wedge my clenching channel open. Enough to stretch my hymen.
His body froze pressing that tiny wisp of tissue taut.
His warm mouth pulled away.
Retreating. Why? Couldn't he just push?
"Josie," he said with a firm quiet voice.
I'd really rather be kissing.
"Open your eyes," he said.
Alright.
He looked down at me with Wolf eyes. "This is your first time?"
Why is that so surprising? Women didn't just spread their legs for anyone AEI. "Hurry," I whispered.
Big Bad Beast (Werescape) Page 5