Boomer tugged harder on her hair, forcing her to look at him. He bared his neck to her. “Do it, baby.”
“N-no”, she ground out.
“You’re telling me no?” he asked, a wicked gleam in his sensual gaze.
“No,” she repeated. “I won’t bite you.”
Boomer lifted her off his cock so quickly she felt the loss of it instantly and wanted it back. Wanted it filling her body at once. She whimpered as he forced her onto her hands and knees on the bed and then moved behind her with a speed that made her breath catch.
She yelped as the palm of his hand made contact with her right ass cheek, bringing with it a stinging pain. “Miles!”
He spanked her again and then rubbed the area, the pain giving way to a tingling pleasure that began to make its way right to the apex of her thighs. He repeated the action, spanking her again before moving to her other ass cheek. She pushed her backside at him, wanting more, surprising herself. Glancing over her shoulder, she watched him licking his fingers before thrusting them into her hot core.
She cried out.
He grinned. “Still going to tell me no?”
“Yep,” she said, feeling brave and wanton all at once.
He laughed as he lined himself up with her core and rammed in from behind, pushing her forward on the bed. She clutched the bedding as he began pounding into her with such a force she half wondered if she’d have a bruised backside come the light of day.
He slapped her ass cheek again as he pumped into her. He then grabbed the sides of her butt and jerked her against him, forcing her back onto his cock all the way. She feared the tip of his cock would break free from her abdomen at the rate he was going. But it felt too good to voice any concerns.
“I’m coming,” she said, in tiny pants as he kept ramming into her.
“I know,” he returned, yanking on her hair as he rode her from behind. “I feel your pussy tightening around me, baby. Mmm, yes. Feels so fucking good.”
She agreed, or was pretty sure she did, before the sheer overload of pleasure and exhaustion won out. She knew she was coming and that Boomer had thrust in deep, rooting himself in her as he came too, but blackness swam around the edges of her vision and she fell forward, sleep winning out.
Boomer’s soft laughter followed as she felt him wrapping his body around hers, a feeling of being totally and thoroughly fucked washing over her. In addition, she felt safe with him. Safer than she’d ever been in her life.
Chapter Fifteen
Haven continued to walk through the halls of the rescue, peeking in and out of different areas in search of Boomer. She didn’t want to be one of those girls. The type who needed a man nearby to reassure them about everything and constantly make them feel wanted, but that was exactly how she felt. She’d been laid bare with him and needed to see where they were now, after it all had happened. When she’d awoken in the infirmary, he was missing. He’d been by her when she’d passed out, but then had been gone when she woke. She’d been tucked in as if he’d taken time with her before leaving, but he’d been nowhere to be found.
Had he left the facility?
Did he have regrets?
Did she?
He’d told her he was to be her only guy. But were those words spoken during the height of passion true? Or were they lines she fell for? She wasn’t exactly experienced with men. Could it be that Boomer had just used her for sex and then got his fill and left?
The idea of that stung.
A lot.
Haven’s mind raced with various scenarios as she checked into each habitat area. When she came to the one with the wounded jaguar she paused, her gaze on the large viewing window. Boomer was there, curled up, fast asleep in the corner of the habitat while the large cat watched him from the other side. She opened the door to the area and stepped in. The minute she shut the door behind her, Boomer sat up fast, jerking awake, his gaze snapping to her.
“No!” he shouted, rushing at her. “Scar isn’t safe to be around!”
She tipped her head and waited patiently for Boomer to stop yelling before pointing over at the rather docile-looking creature in the corner. “He looks bored and slightly annoyed you were sharing his sleeping area. Want to tell me why you’re curled up down here instead of in bed with me?”
Boomer glanced between her and the panther. “He hasn’t tried to eat you?”
“Nope, and this isn’t our first encounter,” she said, bending and put her hand out to Scar. “Why would you name him such a horrid name? Isn’t it enough he has to live with the scars? Why make him bear the name too?”
The animal walked slowly to her and snarled up at Boomer. Haven laughed and shook her head. “None of that.”
Scar came right for her hand and nuzzled the top of his head to her before purring like a small kitten. She rubbed behind his ears.
“How d'ya like them apples?” said Boomer, before bending slightly and trying to pet Scar. Scar showed teeth and made a motion to swipe at Boomer. “Hey now. She gets to touch you?”
Haven smiled. “Yes. I’m likable.”
“I’m likable,” he protested. “Most of the time.”
“Back to his name,” said Haven, wanting to remind Boomer she thought it was cruel.
“He picked it,” Boomer responded, thumbing at the animal. “I wanted to name him Buster. He was very against that.”
She wasn’t sure if the man was joking or not. Surely he had to be. Right? “Are you rehabilitating him to release him later?”
“No. Scar is a lifer,” said Boomer, his voice low, his gaze on the animal before him. It was as though Haven wasn’t even in the room. Other women may have been offended. Not Haven. Seeing the man she’d been told was a monster showing so much concern and care for a broken animal warmed her. The ice crystals she’d tried so hard to form around her heart began to crackle, threatening to break.
No, she thought, shaking her head. You can’t just throw yourself at this guy any more than you already have. It’s pathetic.
He lowered his head slightly. “He’ll never be able to go to another facility.”
“What caused him to lose the eye?” she asked, wanting to know more about the animal, but also enjoying conversing with the man.
“The man who thought he’d make a great pet to show off to his friends decided one day that he didn’t like Scar’s attitude, so he shot him in the face with an arrow. Then when he got close to Scar, Scar scratched him, cutting him open. As payback he threw acid on the cat. I found out about it secondhand.” He looked away, his jaw hardening. “But I made sure the man couldn’t hurt another animal.”
“You killed him?” she asked.
He met her gaze, his growing cold. “I’m a monster. Why does that surprise you? You came here thinking I killed your brother. From what I saw in those photos, Haven, I will kill your brother if given the chance.”
She stiffened. She didn’t want to hear about harm possibly coming to Harper. “Did you make the guy who hurt Scar suffer?”
“Yes,” he said evenly and then turned his gaze fully from her.
“Good,” she responded.
“Scar is the only one who has trust issues with me. It‘s why, when I can’t sleep, I come down here to try to sit by him,” said Boomer, glancing at her from the corner of his eye. He thumbed in Scar’s direction. “I’ve never fallen asleep in here before. I guess you wore me out.”
She knew he was trying to make a joke, but she didn’t find it funny. “Why couldn’t you sleep?”
He cast her a knowing look. “I almost claimed you last night.”
She wasn’t entirely sure of the claiming thing they all kept going on about, but she could see the struggle within him. “And you don’t want that?”
“No. I want it. You aren’t ready for it yet.”
“I’m not?” she questioned.
“No,” he said, sounding very sure of himself.
“So you came down here to think while you tried to get Scar to trust y
ou?”
“Yep. It was foolish of me to fall asleep by him. He’s unpredictable.”
“I’m finding you are too. You worried he’ll turn on you?” She continued to pet Scar on the head. She wished she could take away his hurt and his ugly past.
“I’m worried he’ll hurt you,” he confessed.
She snorted and then moved her head in close to Scar’s, snuggling with him. “You’re not going to eat me, are you? You already had a chance and what did you do with it?”
Scar opened his mouth wide and yawned, his jaws close to her face. Boomer made a move to put himself between her and the cat. She shook her head as Scar rubbed against her as if he were a house cat, not a king of the jungle. He then licked her cheek.
Boomer gasped. “I’ll be damned.”
“Yeah, probably, but I’m guessing it’s because of your fashion choices,” she said with a small laugh. “You sleep in leather?”
Glancing down at himself, he shrugged. “No. Normally I sleep naked.”
Her cheeks and neck heated instantly as awareness at just how male the guy was crept over her. Not that she could really miss the fact. Everything about him screamed alpha. Heck, she wanted to lower her head and then give him her belly as a sign of submission. She wouldn’t, but that didn’t mean nature wasn’t pushing her to do so.
She bit at her inner cheek. “You didn’t sleep in the bed with me last night. I can clear out this morning. I’m sorry I came here to hurt you and your friends.”
Silence greeted her.
She’d hoped he’d tell her to stay, that he didn’t want her to leave, at least not straight away. His lack of a response said all she needed to hear. Standing, she held tight to her emotions and patted Scar’s head. “Be a good boy and don’t eat Miles. Okay?”
Boomer said nothing to her as she made her way out of the cat area and into the hall. She only made a few paces before she lost control of her emotions and the waterworks began. She rubbed her hands together and lowered her head, the tears coming harder and faster. She was better than this. Better than being reduced to some sniffling woman crying over a man. She wasn’t totally naïve. She knew the risks of handing away her virginity. Knew the chances of handing it to the perfect guy—the guy who would be her one and only—were slim, especially with the mentality most young people had about casual sex.
Didn’t lessen the sting any, though.
She could go back to the clinic she’d been doing rotations at, explain there was a tragedy in the family, and then beg them to allow her to continue. It might work. She was already repeating two of the rotations that were to be her final specialty—something that was common to do. She was so close to being done with the program.
But she knew better. She’d blown that chance, that life.
How could she go back and pretend to not know all the things she knew now? She was at least part vampire, her brother was teamed up with bad guys, and the world was full of supernaturals. She wasn’t totally alone. There were people like her.
Nothing would ever be the same again, no matter how much she wanted to try to be normal. Normal simply wasn’t written in the stars for her. Neither was Boomer, though for a fool’s moment she’d believed he was.
All the hogwash about mates and destiny had sucked her in. It had been alluring to her in her time of need.
Stupid.
So stupid.
Something touched her hand and she nearly yelped, surprised anyone was close to her. She looked down to find the chimpanzee she’d seen the night before, his gaze full of concern. He took her hand in his and tugged, wanting her to go in the other direction. She shook her head. “No. I need to go now. It’s time.”
The chimp pulled harder and motioned with his other hand for her to come.
She wiped away tears with her free hand and laughed softly. It wasn’t funny how pathetic she was being, yet she continued to laugh through the urge to cry. “He doesn’t want me here. I don’t blame him.”
“You think I don’t want you?” asked Boomer, startling her as she’d not heard him leave the cat habitat. He was leaning against the hallway wall, a strange look upon his handsome face. The man was so hard to read. She could understand animals that couldn’t speak better than she could Boomer. Why did everything to do with him have to be so complicated?
“You really think that?” he asked, his tone soft.
She opened her mouth and then closed it, deciding nodding was best as it would probably make her cry less. She’d already humiliated herself in front of the man. No need to make a bigger fool of herself.
Boomer turned his head and faced the wall. He stood there unmoving for what felt like forever before he hauled off and hit the wall with enough force to cause the bricks to crack. She jumped and then pulled the small chimp behind her protectively, unsure if Boomer would do anything else aggressive.
Moving his head back and forth, Boomer slumped his shoulders, his long hair covering his profile. “I don’t know how to do this, Haven.”
“Do what?” she asked, keeping the chimp behind her leg. The chimp lifted the end of the oversized t-shirt she was wearing and ducked his head under it, effectively putting his head against her hind end. She tried to get him to move, but he wasn’t budging. If she wasn’t careful, she suspected he’d try to steal her panties only to be able to wear them himself. “Boomer.”
Boomer refused to look at her. “You should go.”
“I know,” she said. His shoulders slumped more, and for a moment he looked so broken and vulnerable that she wanted to run to him. “Talk to me. Please. Tell me what you don’t know how to do. Make me understand.”
“Love someone.”
She gasped and stiffened. “W-what?”
“I don’t know how to love,” he confessed, hitting his closed hand against the wall again and again. It had to hurt, yet he showed no signs of it bothering him. “No one has ever shown me how and I certainly haven’t been loved by anyone.”
Why was he so hung up on love? He couldn’t possibly have those type of feelings for her, could he? They’d only just met.
She swayed slightly, realizing that was exactly the emotion she felt in regards to him. And that time didn’t factor in. Whatever pulled them together and decided they’d be right for one another was in charge.
“That isn’t true,” she said softly.
He stopped hitting the wall and turned his head without taking his forehead from the bricks. He cast a sideways glance at her and snorted. “You have no idea what my life has been.”
“No. I don’t.” She took a deep breath and mustered as much courage as possible. “You’ll tell me. When you’re ready. And I’m not talking about your past. I’m talking about your present. To say no one loves you is wrong.”
He shook his head. “Go.”
“Your teammates love you,” she said, hoping to avoid making any embarrassing proclamations and reading more into his statement than was truly there. “I saw it in their eyes.”
“That is different,” he said. He raked his hand down the brick and she watched as claws emerged from his fingertips. The sound they made on the brick was less than pleasant. “I don’t know how to be a good mate. I don’t even like myself. How can anyone else be expected to tolerate me?”
“Miles,” she said, prying the chimp from her backside as she covered the distance to Boomer. She touched his shoulder and was pleased when he didn’t flinch. “I like you a whole lot. And I like to think we could maybe teach each other how to love ourselves.”
“All I want to do is bury myself in you,” he said, lifting his head from the wall. “I want to lose myself in you, Haven. That is dangerous.”
“Well, yeah, I tried to kill you,” she said with a wink.
His lips twitched as he touched her hair, pushing it back behind her ears. “I’ve never wanted anything like I want you. That scares me. It should scare you too.”
“I just learned I’m part vampire. I came out the other side of that all right.
I think I can handle some emo-shifter-dude.” She put her hands on his, wanting to kiss him but holding back. The man needed to come to terms with things on his own. She couldn’t force it. “I’ll go because I know you want me gone. But, Boomer, when you’re ready to let someone love you, please try to find me.”
He pulled her close, his lips crashing down onto hers. He didn’t give her a moment to even think before he had her off her feet, her legs around his waist and moving her toward the wall. He kissed her hard and with purpose. She moaned, grinding her body against his, but then paused. “Miles. Lil’ Duke.”
Boomer groaned and clicked his fingers at the chimp. “Go to bed.”
The chimp hurried off.
“He normally puts up a fight on that,” said Boomer before kissing her again.
He reached between them and she felt him undoing his pants. His finger brushed over her now-soaked panties and he tugged them to one side, his cock head lining up quickly before he drove into her. She cried out as he pounded into her. Within seconds she was on the verge of coming as she panted in his arms, his cock filling her fully, his body pressed to hers, his tongue around her own.
Boomer jerked his head back and stared at her, his eyes an intense purple now. “Mine.”
Something deep within her left her saying it back to him. “Yes. And you’re mine.”
Her orgasm struck at the same moment Boomer bent his head, biting her shoulder, pushing himself deep in her and rooting there. Haven tried to stop her fangs from descending. She tried to keep control of herself, but she couldn’t. His exposed shoulder was so close. The vein on his neck there teasing her, almost demanding she bite.
She did.
Bursts of white lights flashed behind her eyelids as she closed her eyes, the ecstasy of it all crashing over her. Her body milked his cock as she drank his blood, something she’d been so against for so long. It felt as if a thousand tiny threads were being woven between them, connecting them, bonding them to one another.
Act of Submission Page 11