by Mandy Rosko
It was a sweet relief when he smiled that wicked smile and returned his mouth to her swollen, throbbing sex. Katie’s head fell back as she sighed soundlessly, then shut her eyes against the onslaught of pleasure from the wet tongue that licked her inner walls, reached out and slid against her clit…
Katie fisted her damp hair before her hands lowered to her breasts, touching them, touching her nipples and making the pleasure soar that much higher. “I’m coming. I’m coming!”
She yelled it as the inner walls of her pussy clamped down on his tongue, but Jax was still able to push it back and forth inside her, making that wave that crashed down on her hit even harder. Katie’s spine bowed against her will as every nerve in her body was overtaken with pleasure.
Katie gasped hard when she came down off that high.
“Oh God. Oh my God.”
Jax still licked inside her, between the lips of her sex, lapping everything up, as though needing to take in all her pleasure before he could be finished, and Katie was left stupidly lying there for a couple of seconds.
Even with the fear of sex and intimacy she’d had for so long, she didn’t understand why in the hell she’d never allowed herself to be pleasured like that before.
“Jesus, I was insane.”
Jax had already proved to her that there wasn’t anything wrong with being penetrated. It didn’t make her into a different person and she was still herself, but this, holy God, this had been amazing. She’d been nuts to hold back for so long if this was what sex could feel like.
She was so lost in these thoughts of the years she’d spent running and hiding from something that could have been so pleasurable and enjoyable to the both of them, that Katie didn’t realize right away that Jax had been speaking to her.
She blinked, noting the way he looked at her. “Sorry, what?”
Jax lifted a brow. “Why were you insane?”
Shit. Katie bit her lips together. Her immediate instinct was to not tell him, to not, once again, bring the subject back around to her trauma, and how she’d been carrying it around for way too damned long.
Longer than was healthy, long enough to put their mating in jeopardy of never happening at all.
But this was Jax she was with. He was always able to see through her. He would know it if she was lying or hiding something. He always seemed to know stuff like that, and it was an annoying habit Katie needed to figure out one day.
“I was just thinking,” she swallowed hard, “about all these years we could have been doing that. Even if I was scared of the sex, that was amazing.”
Jax grinned at her, thankfully not taking this in the direction of, “oh, the delicate flower Katie was about to wilt, time to comfort her again.”
No. He went back to teasing. “I’m sorry, you’re going to have to be more specific. What was amazing?”
Katie glared at him. “You going down on me.”
Jax leaned in, allowing Katie’s legs to slide off his shoulders as he whispered against her collarbone, warm breath ghosting over her sensitive skin. “You mean when my tongue was inside your wet cunt?”
He’d never talked to her like this before. It was new, scary, and exciting, and once again, Katie was left with the knowledge that it had been because she’d made him walk on eggshells around her for all these years. That was why she’d never heard him talk like this, why she’d never gotten to know the more sexual side of him.
The excitement far outweighed the strangeness, embarrassment, and fear. Katie wanted to know more, she wanted to hear and experience more.
“Say that again.”
Jax let his fingers slide up her thighs. “Say that I liked the taste of your cunt on my tongue? Say that?”
She shivered at the words. She liked being talked to like this. She liked being with her mate and she loved it even better when he allowed himself to be an alpha around her.
“Answer me,” Jax said sweetly, though Katie heard the command in the words.
She reached for his shoulders, gripping them tight. “Yeah, I liked your tongue in my…in me.” She still couldn’t bring herself to say it. It sounded naughty and sexy coming from Jax, but Katie wasn’t convinced she would be able to pull it off. There was something else she wanted, however. “Now I want your tongue in my mouth.”
Jax’s brows lifted briefly before that eager expression came rushing back, and he gave her what she wanted. He kissed her, pushing his tongue between her lips. Katie met him head on, sliding her own tongue against his, and moaning when she noted the taste difference.
That was her. God, that was herself she was tasting on him. He’d just had his mouth between her legs and now she definitely didn’t care because she wanted more of this. Needed more of it.
Jax thrust his hips against her thigh, his hard cock throbbing as Jax desperately sought out any kind of friction he could get while kissing her.
Katie spread her knees apart, a clear invitation, and Jax groaned before pushing inside her.
Katie gasped as Jax curled his arms around her, hugging her tightly while he kissed her, while he fucked into her, groaning and grunting against her mouth, and only then was Katie able to see how she was finally home, at long last.
Chapter 13
He was going to have to give her back. Dennis couldn’t do this anymore. His men were clearly swaying, having their loyalty moved over to another alpha, someone who made them better promises and offered them redemption, and Anna was going to die if she stayed here.
They wouldn’t give her back. Much as they wanted to be free, people didn’t change, and their fears would prompt them to kill her. They would rather she died than ever speak about what anyone had looked like.
Dennis hadn’t tried to give them redemption in a long time, because if he was honest, he’d given up on the lot of them, and the idiots only now seemed to figure that out.
For some reason, they still held back. Maybe it was force of habit, or maybe they were all too cowardly and no one wanted to make the first strike, but that wasn’t the point.
Someone would start something soon enough. The rest would follow, and Laurence would take over after Dennis was dead, likely rape and torture the girl, then kill her if Garret was stupid enough to give into any of his demands.
It was why Dennis sat in the meat locker with Anna, why he kept his back pressed firmly to the cold door, and why he couldn’t stop staring at her.
The wolf inside his head was growling. She was his. This woman belonged to Dennis, the sister of his greatest enemy. There was a cheesy romance novel waiting to be written somewhere in there, but Dennis wasn’t in the mood for jokes. She was his, but she would never be his. Worse than that, he was going to have to willingly give her back if he wanted her to live. There was no way the rest of the pack would let him walk away with her now. Even if he could wrestle control back from Laurence…
No, there was no point in thinking like that because there would be no wrestling control back from Laurence.
All the while, Anna sat in her corner, eating the latest sandwich he’d brought for her and reading the magazine she’d been given with her legs crossed on the floor.
There was no more food to be had for her. If he wanted anymore, he would have to actually leave to go get it, and that wasn’t something he could risk doing right now.
“You don’t have to stare at me, you know. I can’t exactly run.”
Anna didn’t look at him when she said it, but there was a note of annoyance in her voice.
So sassy and brave. It was real bravery, too. There was some fear, but that was just a good thing. It meant this woman wasn’t clouded with the stupidity of too much bravery, something that was a real problem in some people, but she also wasn’t paralyzed with fear.
He liked that about her. She had spunk. If he was honest with himself, he liked that she’d even outsmarted him before and nearly escaped.
Though now he wished he’d let her go.
“Did you hear me? I said you can go.�
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“I can’t go,” Dennis said simply, clenching his fists.
Anna shook her head, sighing and turning the page of her magazine. It was a fishing magazine, something that likely didn’t interest her in the least.
“Well, if you’re going to sit there staring at me like a total creep, the least you can do is talk. It’s weird when you just stare at me.”
Dennis didn’t like being called a creep. It reminded him of the way he’d been forced out of the pack. “Whatever, fine. What do you want to know?” He recognized the mistake in asking her such a thing the instant the words were out of his mouth. She could easily ask him why his pack clearly didn’t respect him anymore, or why he was the alpha of a pack of rogues to begin with, and neither were good topics for discussion.
She didn’t ask him either, thankfully. “Was it true you and my brother used to be friends?”
That was something he didn’t expect, though perhaps he should have.
She was Garret’s little sister, after all. Why wouldn’t she want to know something like that?
“Well?” Anna’s sharp gaze honed in on him with a glare when Dennis didn’t answer right away.
He smiled at that. “Yeah, we were actually best friends.”
Anna blinked, returning her attention to the magazine. “Huh.”
Dennis blinked and waited, only for her to say nothing else. That was it? That was all she wanted to know and that was the only thing she had to say about it?
Dennis glared at her. “Was that seriously it?”
Anna shrugged. “I guess so.”
“And you don’t have anything to say about it?”
She looked at him. “What would I have to say about it?”
That was a good question. Dennis crossed his arms, looking away from her. “Don’t bother me anymore if you’re just going to ask stupid questions.”
From the corner of his eye, he could see how her attention was immediately back on him. What the hell? Did she see his words as some sort of challenge or something?
Then, she smiled at him.
Yeah, definitely a challenge, and he should not be thinking it was cute.
“So what made the two of you friends?”
Dennis rolled his eyes, refusing to answer or look at her.
“Come on! You can’t just leave me with that much!”
“I’m not interested in gossiping with little girls.”
Anna snorted. “Uh huh, right. You think I’m a little girl.”
“I’m decades older than you.” She was a child in comparison to his own age.
“Is that why I caught you staring at my ass?”
But, age difference and immaturity aside, she was still a fully grown woman.
“Be thankful that it’s only me staring at your perky ass and no one else in the pack,” he growled.
“Why? They want to get laid or something?”
Dennis glared at her. “Yes, they do.”
Anna’s eyes widened. She stared at Dennis good and hard, as if only now understanding why he was in here with her. Had she really not realized this before?
Of course she would be so sheltered. Garret, the idiot that he was, would never allow his younger sister to be exposed to the cruelties of the real world.
“So, you’re in here to…”
She trailed off, but it was obvious she’d picked up on what was really going on, and why he was actually torturing himself by sitting in this old meat locker with her. Not so much to guard her, or be a creep, as she’d suggested, but it was for her protection.
Dennis didn’t answer her either way. Anna looked away suddenly, staring down at the magazine on the concrete floor, frowning while holding her ankles in a tight grip.
Dennis should not have said a word, but he couldn’t help himself, and now he’d clearly frightened her.
After a moment, she came back at him with that same question, spoken a little more softly this time. “So, why were you and my brother friends?”
Dennis shook his head. This woman was incorrigible.
“I want to know. Come on! You can’t tell me something like I’m surrounded by rapists and not help me take my mind off that.”
“I owe you nothing.”
Anna seemed to think about that. “All right, fine, but can you just do it anyway?”
She was going to annoy him until he spoke. He might as well. It wasn’t as if anymore harm could be done by talking to her. “We were friends, that much is true.”
Anna’s eyes widened. “Wow, so, okay, but why?”
Every muscle in Dennis’ body went tight at the question. “I don’t know! Do children ever think about things like that? I never kept track and I doubt he did either!”
Anna completely ignored his outburst. She scratched her chin and looked away from him, as if she was having a conversation with any of her female friends from her pack. “I guess that makes sense. It’s just hard to picture. He never talks about you.”
That irritated Dennis far more than it should have. He clenched his hands into fists. “I wouldn’t expect him to speak of me.”
But it still annoyed the hell out of him.
He and Garret had still been childhood friends. Did the man really never speak of him? Despite growing up together? They still had some good times, before it all went to shit.
“Yeah, I tried asking him about you a couple of times, but he always got all irritated and pissy. Not fun to be around, you know?”
“I wouldn’t know.” Even though it sounded like the majority of people in his pack of rogues right now. Irritated and constantly pissy, as if everyone suffered from a bout of constipation at the exact same time.
“But you’re an alpha anyway,” Anna pointed out. “Doesn’t that mean you would have had to leave the pack on your own eventually?”
“As you’ve seen from the dragon and bear who currently reside with you, that’s not always the case.”
Anna pushed a lock of stray hair out of her face, tucking it behind her ear. It exposed her throat more, allowing Dennis to see it work when she swallowed. He wished he hadn’t seen that. He wished he hadn’t been looking when her pink tongue darted out of her mouth to wet her lips.
“I know Dane and Jax live with us, and they’ll kick your ass, too, by the way.”
Dennis smiled at that. He couldn’t help himself. “I wouldn’t expect anything less.”
Anna smiled at him, and Dennis dearly wished he hadn’t been looking at that either. “Good. Just so you know it’s coming.”
They weren’t coming because Jax hadn’t sent for the ransom. Anna didn’t seem to realize how much Dennis wanted to keep her. She didn’t seem to realize what it was that really drove him to stay nearby, to fetch her food when no one else in the pack would, and to protect her from the rest of the pack the instant he realized he’d lost control.
It had been dangerous enough leaving her alone before. Now he didn’t dare do it for fear of what might happen.
“Anyway, what were we talking about?”
Alphas living together,” Dennis supplied.
Anna snapped her fingers. “Right, that, so I know it’s possible, but even I know that doesn’t just happen all the time. You would have left the pack on your own eventually, right?”
Dennis nodded. “That’s correct.”
Anna blinked those big blue eyes at him. Dennis could see all the features she shared with her brother, but they were softened, and definitely lovelier than anything that happened to be shared with her brother.
“So, I don’t get it then. If you had to leave anyway, why did it bother you so much if you had to be kicked out of the pack?”
Dennis clenched his fists. He should have known it would come back to this. It always did.
“It was when we were kicked out. And why.”
“Okay, so why were you kicked out of the pack?”
Dennis bit the inside of his cheek. “Didn’t anyone ever tell you this? Weren’t there rumors or some kind of gossi
p you were listening to while you lived in that house?”
Anna frowned at him. “Just because I’m a woman, and young, doesn’t mean I automatically like listening to gossip.”
Dennis raised a brow at her. He didn’t buy that for a second.
Anna must have realized this because she coughed and looked away.
Dennis could only stare. Was it possible? Could it really be that Garret and his father had kept such a tight seal on this that they hadn’t allowed the rest of the pack to talk about it? That his own sister hadn’t known the reason why there had been so many battles and fights between Dennis’ pack of rogues and Garret’s pack for so many years?
“So, are you going to tell me or not?” Anna stared intently at him when Dennis came out of his thoughts.
She had a light smile on her face. She clearly thought she was just getting a little under his skin. She was, but not for the petty reasons she thought.
Dennis bit his lips together. He’d never spoken of this to anyone other than his father, and he was long dead, the reason for this all.
“I, along with a few others, was thrown out of the pack when a young girl accused three pack members of raping her, and a few others of holding her down, or just watching.”
Anna blinked wide. The color drained from her face as she stared at Dennis, as if waiting for him to take back his words.
As if he would ever joke about such a thing.
Still, Anna shook her head. “No way, that’s not…I would have heard about that.”
“It’s true.” Dennis clenched his jaw. “The accusation was true, as well.”
That shocked expression turned into something more disgusted as Anna cringed away from him. “You mean you and a bunch of guys actually—”
“Not me, you idiot!” Dennis yelled. He nearly pushed himself off the floor to stand over her, but stopped himself. He likely wouldn’t convince this young woman that he wasn’t a rapist by intimidating her with his size. “I wouldn’t do such a thing.”
Anna frowned, her blue eyes still gazing distrustfully at him. “Okay then, so who did it? And why would you need to be kicked out of the pack for something you didn’t do?”