Cross Breed (Breeds #32)

by Lora Leigh

  “Really, Cassie?” He laughed, pushing her away from him, watching as she whirled around, her hair flowing like a cape around her. “Watch that knee, halfling. I’d hate to spoil your fun once I get you on your knees.”

  She struck again, ducking at the last second in an attempt to sweep him from his feet. And she almost succeeded. God he loved her.

  Watching her jump to her feet and fly at him with a kick, he laughed in sheer joy, then grunted as her foot struck his chest, throwing him back against the wall.

  “Well now, that’s going to hurt later.” He chuckled, keeping his eye on her as she fell back to a crouch.

  He’d watched her train in the sparring room over the past months, thought he knew how she moved, how she liked to play with her sparring partners. Now, he’d show her how a Coyote male played.

  “Why don’t I just mount you and take your ass?” he suggested, the thought of that ultimate submission a temptation he could barely resist. “Teach you who’s your alpha and who’s your mate.”

  She liked that idea more than she’d ever admit, he guessed, because the growl that slipped free was a sound of pure anticipation.

  “Yeah, I like the thought of that too,” he decided, watching her body shift, the line of her shoulders, the tilt of her head. “And when we’re finished, you can tell me how good it was having me buried there, submitting to me like a good little mate.”

  She jumped, prepared to kick again. This time, he caught her waist and tossed her to the bed, making certain to rip her shirt from her as he did. Before she could push that mass of hair from her face, he managed to shed his pants and rip hers from her hips.

  He caught her hair, careful not to grip the strands near the area where she’d been struck, as he straddled her legs and held them closed with his knees. Jerking her head back, he bent his head, nipped her lips and growled when she tried to bite.

  Releasing her hair he gripped her jaw, applying just enough pressure to keep her from biting, and covered her lips with his own, his tongue sweeping into her mouth, stroking hers.

  The taste of her had him mindless.

  The taste of him had her tongue stroking against his, the smell of her Heat a wave of lust-inducing pheromones that nearly had him coming against her thighs.

  Pulling his head away, he released her jaw, gripped her hair again and pulled her head back once again.

  Eyes narrowed in arousal, the blue gleaming like flames, her lips parted and moist. She was the most beautiful creature he’d ever seen in his life. Her fingers gripped his wrists, the one wrapped near her head, the one at her shoulder, her nails digging in, holding on to him.

  “You’re scared, Cassie,” he mocked her, fighting the need to relent, to let her hide. “You want to be bad with me with a power that makes you shake, admit it.”

  “You’re fucking crazy,” she snarled up at him. “It’s the Mating Heat and your insanity.”

  Bending his head lower, he teased her lips as he spoke. “You want to get nasty with me. I can sense it. Come on, it’s just me. No one has to know you enjoy fucking your Coyote mate. I promise, I won’t tell on you.”

  Her gaze lightened, then darkened. The scent of her Heat was so damned heady he could barely think for it.

  “Let me see you be bad for just a minute. Play with those pretty nipples for me while I watch; then I’ll suck them for you. Come on, give me a little of your bad, and I’ll give you a whole lot of mine.”

  A moan whispered past her lips as she shook her head, desperation reflecting in her eyes along with the driving, furious need burning inside her.

  “Come on, baby,” he whispered, licking her lips teasingly before lifting his head again. “Show me what you did to yourself when you thought of me through the years and I’ll show you how I can make it better.”

  She felt her fingers release him, as though forcing herself to let go one by one as he eased back, his dick throbbing as it rested in the seam of her thighs. The thick crest rested just below her clit, the heat of her slick moisture cushioning it.

  Eyes narrowed, he watched as she slowly cupped her breasts, her fingertips at first ghosting over the stiff points, drawing a ragged sigh from her lips.

  “Is that how you want me to suck them?” He was burning alive for her. “Nice and sweet and easy like that?”

  She gripped the points, jerking in his hold, a wild gleam of anticipation filling her gaze as her thumbs and forefingers tightened on the tips. A cry tore past her lips, her body arched and the pink tips flushed, darkening as her fingers tightened, then released, plumping the little points as her hunger scented the air.

  “If I suck those pretty nipples, then you’re going to tease me a little bit, just to punish me,” he suggested, lowering his head to whisper a breath over one tight point. “I’d go crazy if I saw those pretty fingers between your thighs, bringing yourself pleasure. You know how fucking possessive a Coyote can be of his partner’s pleasure.”

  He glanced up in time to watch her gaze darken, felt the lash of overwhelming lust taking control of her.

  “Let me have one, mate,” he groaned. “Let me suck one of those sweet nipples.”

  Cassie felt the moment she lost control of her response to him or her ability to deny the greedy waves of demand rushing through her. She watched as his lips covered her nipple, feeling him shift until he rested beside her while pushing her thighs apart with one hand.

  Then flaming sexual need erupted through her body. The heat of his mouth, sucking, tugging at her nipple, his teeth rasping it, his tongue licking it as the hormone that spilled from his tongue sensitized the peak to almost painful awareness. She heard her own cry, the arch of her body, and the grip of his fingers on her wrist, pushing them to her thighs.

  And oh God, she needed. She needed to be touched there. Her clit was raging, so swollen and aching. The flesh between her thighs was slick with the rich moisture spilling from her.

  “Dog, it’s so good.” The words tore past her lips as her fingers parted her folds. “Do it harder, suck me harder.”

  She was dying, arching. Her fingers found the tight bud of her clit, rasping against it in her desperation to find her release. When the stroke of her fingers against the sensitive little kernel didn’t push her over the edge, she pushed them lower and found the entrance hidden there.

  The growl that vibrated on her nipple was a primal warning to stop. And one she ignored. Lifting her hips, she speared her own fingers past the entrance, her head tossing as his lips moved to her other nipple and his fingers found her hand.

  He pushed at it, driving her fingers deeper inside her. And still, it wasn’t enough. It had never been enough in the past when she tried to pleasure herself. No matter what she did, she could never find the ease she needed.

  Pulling back, she moved for her clit once again, then froze a breath before a cry tore from her.

  His fingers pushed inside her, thrusting against the clenched tissue, parting it, calloused fingers stroking, working inside her as violent pleasure lashed at her.

  She was only barely aware of his lips releasing her nipple, his kisses spreading down her stomach. When he pushed her fingers aside and his lips found her clit, her hands sank into his hair, desperate to hold him there.

  She needed him right there. Licking, sucking. His tongue moved over it, then lower as his fingers slid free of her. His tongue pushed inside her then, filling her, licking her …

  “Dog …” She cried out his name, twisting in his hold as his fingers moved lower and found the smaller, tighter entrance that awaited him.

  She was so lost within the pleasure, the lust, that she could only cry out as his fingers eased inside her. Lubricated by the excess moisture spilling from her vagina, his fingers took her rear with an ease that rocked her. Stretching her, thrusting inside her, until she was pushing into each penetration and begging for more.

  And just as suddenly, he was gone.

  “No.” She jackknifed up, reaching for him, only to find h
erself flipped to her stomach as he jerked her hips to him, forcing her knees beneath her.

  The feel of the broad, iron-hard crest tucked against her rear entrance had her freezing.

  “Submit.” The growl in his voice was primal, demanding. “Submit to me, damn you.”

  A cry tore from her. She let her head and shoulders fall back to the bed, her fingers fisting in the blankets as she felt a pulse of heated pre-cum ejaculate against the entrance.

  Instantly, the hormone-rich fluid began easing her, creating a sensual, insidious burn that demanded he satisfy it.

  “Take it,” he snarled, his body lowering, his lips at her shoulder. “Submit to me, mate. Take it.”

  She pushed back, feeling the pulse of heat as her muscles parted further for the crest. Lashing pleasure mixed with an unfamiliar pain as the hunger that filled her drove her to take more, to feel him taking her, to trust him to guide her through it.

  With each press into the tightened muscles, another pulse of the hormonal pre-cum shot inside her; slick, heated, it built such a demanding pleasure she was shaking from the force of it.

  With each thrust against her rear he took her deeper, stretching her as she burned higher and felt herself fall beneath the onslaught of sensations. With him buried to the hilt, his cock throbbing in a place so private she’d never imagined she’d allow it, Cassie knew something had changed inside her.

  “Fuck, Cassie,” he groaned.

  A second later his teeth gripped the mark on her shoulder and he began to move. At first in long, slow thrusts, then harder, until he was driving inside her, pushing the flames inside her higher.

  The powerful strokes drove him forcefully inside her as she screamed out his name, desperate for release, the pleasure tearing her apart until she felt herself melting.

  It wasn’t a true orgasm, because the need only rose as Dog slid from her, then gripped her hip with firm fingers.

  “Don’t move, Cassie. Move, and I swear I’ll make you wait hours before I give you what you need,” he growled when he thought she might protest.

  Instead, instinct had her freezing in place. If she had to wait hours to orgasm, then he might as well kill her now.

  She heard the bathroom door open, heard water running. A minute later the scent of the soap he’d washed with teased her nostrils as she felt him move onto the bed behind her once again. She was dazed with the needs still pulsing through her. Her clit was so swollen, the folds between her thighs sensitive and her vagina clenched in involuntary contractions.

  “There, baby,” he crooned, touching her thighs, angling her hips. “Go wild for me now, Cassie. Give me all of you now.”

  As he spoke, the feel of his cock invading her, pushing against the clenching tissue, working inside her, stole the last of her sanity. She pushed back, taking him deeper as pleasure and pain merged, creating such wild hunger she was helpless against it.

  “Ah fuck. Your pussy’s so sweet, Cassie. So fucking good …”

  The words merged, explicit phrases, erotic demands as he thrust inside her, stroking over sensitive flesh, stretching it. She struggled to adapt to the thickness even as she craved more. She bucked into each impalement, driving herself harder on his cock, hearing his approval, his pleasure in his voice.

  When he bent over her once again, his teeth locking on her shoulder, his thrusts driving his hardened flesh inside her, she felt herself dying. She knew she was dying. Nothing could explode through her with such force, with such shattering ecstasy, and let her actually survive it.

  At the same time, she felt his release, felt the heavy swelling of the Breed knot locking inside her. Each pulse of the thickened extension triggered another explosion, the heat of his seed spilling inside her, the lash of his tongue at the mark on her shoulder, all converged until the final, violent wave of ecstasy shattered her.

  What he had done to her, she wasn’t entirely certain. It was beyond the physical pleasure; it went beyond anything she’d known with him before. And when it was over, when he finally pulled from her, all she could do was collapse on the bed, exhaustion weighing her down and dragging her into sleep.

  Where she could hide. Just for a minute, she needed to hide from whatever he’d released inside her.

  • CHAPTER 8 •

  Dog pulled his boots on his feet the next morning, tracking the hours before dawn and the update he was awaiting on the evacuation of his people. His gaze touched his sleeping mate when he sensed the Breed that entered the suite through the living room. Rubbing wearily at the back of his neck, he rose from the chair and strode to the bedroom door. Opening it silently, he stepped from the room before securing the door once again and facing the Breed.

  Hell, he didn’t need this right now. At least there were no longer guards on duty outside the room, though he expected more to show up soon. He hoped their replacements were a bit more polite. The next time, he might not be so nice himself.

  “What do you want?” he growled, wondering why in the hell the director of Breed Affairs thought this was a good time to invade Cassie’s suite.

  “We need to talk.” Jonas’s voice remained low. “But not here. Across the hall if you have a minute.”

  Dog narrowed his gaze on the director. He liked to think he knew Jonas pretty well by now. The man was as deceptive and as calculating as any Coyote ever born, despite the fact that he was a Lion.

  Jonas opened the door leading to the hall and tilted his head toward it. Following the other man from the residential suite, across the hall to another, matching suite, Dog forced himself to restrain an impatient growl.

  Closing the door behind them, Jonas moved past him to the bar on the other side of the room, where he poured himself a drink. Considering the lateness of the hour, the fact that Jonas was drinking was an indication of his irritation level.

  “Fuck, you picked a hell of a time to pull this shit. I wish to hell you’d warned me.” The other Breed turned back to him, his silver eyes flashing in anger as he tossed back his drink.

  His mate’s apparent openness with Jonas could become a potential problem if she ever learned the truth of who and what her new mate truly represented.

  “We’ve discussed this,” he reminded the other Breed as he moved to the bar himself and accepted the drink Jonas handed him.

  “Dammit, Dog,” Jonas cursed, flashing him a look of brooding anger and frustration. “This situation is going to hell fast. When she came to work in this office, we ran hormonal tests with the Breeds she’d be working with. Those tests matched her to another Breed. All the initial mating signs were present—”

  “She has no other mate.” Training, years of control, every emotion, every possible chance of giving himself away, nearly failed him.

  The creature he was in the darkest core of his soul gathered itself, filled with fury, with territorial possessiveness, threatened to break free, to emerge in a way Dog knew he could never pull back.

  Jonas’s look was intent, almost confused, as he stared back at him, as though he were trying to figure out a puzzle he’d never seen. This wasn’t a game to Jonas. Dog knew he wasn’t lying, because it was the reason he’d staked his claim as he had, before that son of a bitch he’d scented on his mate could make a claim.

  “Those tests say otherwise. And the Coyote she matched with was aware of the possibility. I can’t say he won’t do as he’s threatened and test the possibility that he could change the outcome.” Jonas grimaced, rubbing at his neck wearily. “Son of a bitch. We don’t need this right now.”

  “She was eighteen when I first realized she was my mate. And I would have waited until the time was more convenient had you not pushed that bastard at her.” A growl slipped into his voice then, something that rarely happened. “Whatever fucked-up anomaly allowed his scent to cling to her was a false attempted mating. Let him attempt to challenge me and he’ll die.”

  Rhyzan Brannigan. The son of a bitch Coyote Jonas had chosen as his assistant in the Federal Bureau of Breed
Affairs. Dog had no doubt that was the Coyote she’d tested compatible to. The very fact that his scent had dared to cling to Cassie after they’d danced together several weeks before had ensured that Dog came for her, that he claimed her.

  “You can’t ignore the possibility, especially if Rhyzan takes the matter before the Breed Tribunal. And your habit of associating with the Genetics Council, openly working with them at times, won’t endear your counterobjection to the Cabinet. Cassie will verify this.” He glared at Dog as though a crime had been committed. “She knows the Breed statutes better than anyone alive. Rhyzan can demand further testing, and if those tests show the compatibility is still present, despite your mating, he can force you to stand aside and force her to allow him a chance to convince her to test a mating with him instead.”

  Jonas stalked from the bar to his desk, shaking his head before a furious growl left his throat.

  “Then he’ll die.” Dog shrugged, feeling a shift in his senses, in his awareness of the darkness he carried within him. “Rhyzan doesn’t want to make that mistake. Cassie’s mine. I won’t let her go.”

  He wasn’t some damned alpha leader forced to allow a separation from his mate because of Cassie’s arguments on behalf of the human mate. Cassie wasn’t a human with no awareness of Mating Heat or her Breed physiology. And Brannigan would know the rage he was tempting if he made such a move.

  “Dog, your pride and stubbornness aside, you are not a member of the legitimate Breed community as far as anyone else knows, and until we have your people free, we can’t disclose it. You aren’t an alpha; you aren’t aligned with an alpha. You have no rights where Breed Law is concerned. The only reason you’re not in chains at the moment is because of Breed Law’s statutes to the effect that no matter your crimes in the past, the fact that your mate is innocent of those crimes gives you another chance.”

  Dog’s eyes narrowed on Jonas. “My mate.”

  “Doesn’t matter.” Jonas sighed, leaning against his desk as he crossed his arms over his chest and the warning in his gaze deepened. “If push comes to shove, support will go to Rhyzan. And Cassie’s upset enough that you tricked her into this mating …”