She was Henry Hastings’s daughter for fuck’s sake, a fledgling guardian witch, who by all accounts had decided to cheat the fates tonight, and lost, and apart from anything else she was only eighteen, far too young for him and his less-than-conventional appetites. Henry might be in the lifestyle himself, but that didn’t mean that he would appreciate Leon making a move on his daughter, mating bond or not. And besides, Rebecca didn’t want a mate. They had that particular discussion ad nauseum, when they were growing up, and slowly started to make sense of the world round them.
The sounds of her tears ceased, and she mumbled something under her breath, the stairs creaked, and then she shower came on. Images of her naked under the stream, the water caressing her curves, made him groan. His beast urged him to go upstairs and join her, to sink his aching cock into her tight pussy and to truly make her his. Leon ran a hand through his hair, and her scent hit him in the face. Moments before those fingers had brought her over the edge and his mouth watered, as he recalled the slippery feel of her hot little cunt under his digits. He licked his fingers and her sweet musk exploded on his tongue and sent his lion wild.
Fuck it, he had to come or explode. Yanking his jeans down, he took himself in hand, and rubbed out a fast and furious climax. In his mind’s eye he was in the shower with her, and it was her hot little mouth that closed around his dick, not his fists. A few uncoordinated hard pulls was all it took for his release to come shooting trough his dick, and thick jets of his cum splattered over his hands, abdomen and the floor.
Leon slid to the floor and once he had his breathing under control got rid of his clothes. With her in the shower, the sink in the utility room would have to do for him to clean up. He chucked his ruined jeans in the washing machine, and stuck his head under the ice-cold water tap. His lion howled, but it worked to dispel the last of his ardor. He highly doubted he would be at anything other than at least half mast while Rebecca was still in his house, but at least that was better than the rip-roaring erection he’d spotted earlier.
After the fastest wash down in history, he donned some fresh clothes from the dryer, and then sprinted up the stairs to find her something to wear. Not a moment too soon, because the water shut off, and he could hear her moving about. He left the T-shirt and a pair of old joggers that he’d accidentally washed on a hot cycle, and had consigned to the charity bin. They were far too small for him now, and he sprinted back down the stairs.
They needed some food, after all. He was fucking starving.
By the time her freshly showered scent hit his nostrils, he’d fried them both some bacon and eggs, and having fashioned a simple sandwich for them, he turned round with the plates in his hand, and almost dropped them. What had he been thinking, putting her in his clothes? Her red hair hung in tousled wet waves around her pale face, and her brown eyes looked too big for her head, as she worried her bottom lip with her teeth. The neckline of his T-shirt had fallen down one shoulder, exposing pale, freckle-kissed skin that he wanted to explore with his tongue. Even though the shirt was far too baggy for her, he could see the outline of her breasts, and her nipples hardened into tight little bullets under his stare. They strained against the material like come-suck-me beacons and he dumped the plates on the kitchen table, before he dropped the damn things.
The joggers fit marginally better, mainly due to the cuffs at the bottom, where the material bunched over her slim ankles. Fuck, even her feet turned him on. Nails adorned in delicate pale pink nail varnish, they made him want to drop to the floor and kiss her arches. She was ticklish, he knew that, and he groaned under his breath. Some sensual torture with a feather while she was tied down on his bed would do nicely, before he fucked her silly.
Leon shook his head to rid his brain of those images, and gestured for her to sit down. She did so, while keeping a wary eye on him. He could sense her stare on his ass, as he turned round and filled two mugs with the freshly made hot cocoa. Little minx was checking him out.
Sure enough when he turned round, her gaze dropped to his groin, and heat stained her cheeks, before she looked at her clasped hands. Leon slid the mug across the table at her, and snatching the phone off the wall, set it on the table between them, while he dropped into the chair opposite from her.
Rebecca looked at the phone as though it was a poisonous snake ready to bite her hand off, and he supposed in a way it was. The phone call she had to make wouldn’t be an easy one for her. Compassion welled up inside him, as his animal clambered to fix this for her, but that wouldn’t achieve anything.
Her hands wobbled as she brought her mug up to her lips, and inhaled.
“I’m clear out of marshmallows, I’m afraid. The youth club was here yesterday, and the guys roasted them all. Haven’t had a chance to stock up yet.”
He smiled at her, took a sip of his own mug and then tucked into his sandwich. Rebecca watched him for a while, took a dainty bite of her own snack, and then glanced at the phone again.
Leon could almost see the wheels turning in her head, and having taken the last bite off his impromptu meal, rocked back on his chair, and sighed.
“Start with Melissa, if she’s easier to talk you.”
Rebecca startled and shook her head.
“No, as in she’s not easier to talk to, or you don’t want to talk to her?” he asked, and Rebecca sniffed and glanced around the kitchen.
“What time is it?” she asked, and he shrugged his shoulders.
“Not sure, it was half three in the morning, last time I checked.”
Rebecca paled even more, and he was glad she was sitting down, or she would have probably slid to the floor.
“Oh my god, he’ll have half the pack looking for me by now.”
* * * *
Blood rushed in her ears, and she found it hard to breathe, as the enormity of what she had done truly dawned on her. Her parents would be furious, and both Melissa and no doubt Leon would get the full brunt of her father’s wrath, especially once he realized what Leon had done to her earlier. Her body still tingled in the most amazing way, and she just had to look at him to grow wet between her legs. It was insane this attraction she felt for him, the pull that she found so hard to resist. Even more shocking was the fact that she wanted him so badly after that horrendous experience with Heath. It should have put her off sex for life, yet even before Leon had brought her to such an earth-shattering climax, she had wanted him.
Rebecca had no idea why he hadn’t just taken her. She wouldn’t have stopped him. Hell, he could have bitten her, and she wouldn’t have minded, and that thought scared her more than most. This was what she’d always been afraid of, this insane pull to the one. It robbed you off your ability to think clearly and she had so many plans for her future that didn’t involve tying herself to one man forever, no matter what her body screamed at her. Leon knew that, of course. They’d discussed it often enough. Maybe that’s why he hadn’t followed through earlier. It was all too fucking confusing, and now she had to deal with her parents.
“He hasn’t, you know.” Leon’s deep rumble made her head snap up, and she lost herself in the warmth of his amber gaze. It caressed her skin like a sensual embrace, and some of her worries lifted. It was hard to feel anything but safe when Leon looked at her like this.
“He hasn’t?” she asked and grimaced at the breathy quality of her voice. She might as well hold up a big flag announcing her feelings for him. Her heart cramped painfully at that thought. God, no. She wasn’t falling for him, was she? She’d always loved him like a brother, but the sensations coursing through her now weren’t the one you felt toward a sibling. Far from it. It made her lustful imaginings about Heath nothing more than child’s play, but could she trust her feelings about Leon now. She had been utterly wrong about Heath after all.
Leon’s eyes narrowed, as though he sensed her inner turmoil, and perhaps he did. Leon had always been able to gauge her mood, after all.
He shook his head and reached across the table to uncurl the w
hite-knuckled grip she had around her mug of hot chocolate.
“No, he hasn’t, because he’d have phoned me for my help. Us Protectors work together, and besides, even if we didn’t, he knows I…” He paused and his hold on her fingers tightened temporarily before he let go of her digits and leaned back in his chair with what sounded like a frustrated growl. It made her tummy tighten in need and she leaned forward, determined to not miss any nuance of what he was saying to her.
“Because you what?” she asked.
Leon ran a hand through his long hair, and she wondered why it was wet. He’d changed too, she realized with a start. The clothes he now wore were similar but different to the ones she’d ruined earlier. She brought her hands up to cover her hot cheeks, as her wanton behavior came back to her in Technicolor detail. Really, what must he think of her?
“Because I care for you, pipsqueak. I always have, you know that.” The slight catch in his voice gave her pause for thought, and she had to ask.
“Have I ruined all that now? You and me, I mean. God knows what you must think of me. I’ve been so bloody stupid and…”
Her words died in her throat, when he held up his hand to interrupt her. Nostrils flaring and with his lion once again prowling under his skin, he looked murderous, and far too sexy.
“Yes, things have changed between us, but not because of what you did.” A grim smile kicked up the corner of his mouth at her sharp intake of breath, and when he looked at her again, the intensity in his gaze meant she couldn’t move a muscle. Daren’t move, in fact, at the myriad of emotions that flickered across his expression. His eyes, too, changed color as they bled from his lion back to his. Flecks of yellow chased each other across his irises like storm clouds on a summer’s day, and he didn’t seem aware of the way his lion growled. The low timbre made the hair on her arms stand to attention, and she wanted nothing more than to close the distance between them and bury her hands in his lion’s mane and forget her worries. It would be so easy to let him, so very, very tempting.
Leon’s hands balled into fists and his claws ran out. She winced at the noise they made scratching across the table, and Leon swore.
“Fuck, baby, when you look at me like that, all I want to do is jump you. Mark you with my teeth and claws, and pump you full of my seed until no one will dare ever to lay a finger on you again. I want to claim you, own you, and make sure you never leave my side, and we both know that’s not what you fucking want or need, right now.” He took a deep breath in, and stared at her, as though he was expecting her to throw something at him.
For the life of her she couldn’t say or do anything, however. What he described sounded like her worst nightmare, or at least it had been, until he uttered those words. Now, they sounded like sheer heaven to her, and she bit her tongue to stop herself from blurting out a God, yes, please.
“Do you have any idea what it did to me to see that fucker take you like that? To hear you cry out in pain, and take what should have been mine? Fuck, what were you thinking, letting him anywhere near you like that? It was your first fucking time. You should have had a soft bed, and candles, and someone who knows what the hell they’re doing, not rut into you like a fucking animal.” He shot out of his seat, and started to pace the small space in his kitchen. He had never looked more like a caged animal than now, as he paced, head down, hands in fists by his side. By the time he stopped she was quite dizzy watching him, and the shrill ring of the telephone made them both jump.
Leon cursed and snatched the receiver up on the third ring, and her world tilted again, when she heard the unmistakable rumble of her father’s voice. Oh shit.
“What the fuck are you doing with my daughter, lion?”
Chapter Six
Leon pinched the bridge of his nose and took a deep breath to calm his lion. The animal instantly reacted to the accusation in Henry Hastings’s voice. A quick glance at Rebecca showed her to be terrified. She’d heard that clearly, but then the Alpha’s voice carried at the best of times, and especially when he was annoyed. Judging by the controlled fury behind those few words Rebecca’s father was ready to skin someone alive. Probably Leon, the minute he caught scent of his daughter.
“I’m not doing anything, sir.”
Rebecca blinked at the way he addressed her father, and the phone fair vibrated in Leon hand, as Henry growled down the line.
“Do not take me for a fool, lion. I know she’s in your house, so again, I ask you why. If you—”
Joanne Hastings’s calm voice could be heard in the background and Henry stopped talking. Leon couldn’t hear what Rebecca’s mother said to her father, but when Henry came back on the line, his voice had lost some of the threatening growl.
“On seconds thoughts, never mind. We’re on our way to get her. If I find you’ve harmed her in any way, then—”
Leon’s lion roared at the suggestion that he would harm his mate, and interrupted the other man. Before Leon could say anything else the line went dead, and he slammed the phone back on the table. Rebecca jumped, and he had the devil of a time to rein his beast back in again.
Fuck, he didn’t need this shit. Not now, not ever. He should have just taken her straight home after he’d found her in that clearing, and that would have been some damage control. Now, with his scent clinging to her, almost completely obliterating the scumbag’s filth, and her dressed in his clothes, god only knew what Henry would think.
“They can’t… I mean, what will he think? They’re not coming here, are they?” Rebecca looked utterly horrified at the suggestion, and Leon nodded, and dropped to his haunches in front of her. He needed to be close to her, to reassure her, because this coming confrontation wouldn’t be easy on any of them.
“I’m afraid so, pipsqueak. Guess we should have phoned him sooner, and—” The headlights filling the kitchen, as Henry’s land rover pulled up, stopped what he was going to say. Of course he was here already. Before Leon had even straightened up from his crouch in front of Rebecca, the front door shook with the loud hammering against it, and if that was possible Rebecca paled even more.
Leon cursed under his breath, cupped his girl’s face and dropped a kiss on her nose, before he stalked up to the front door, and wrenched it open mid-pounding.
Had it not been for Henry Hastings’s shifter reflexes the man would have fallen in the door. Instead he caught himself, and his eyes narrowed as he sniffed the air. Leon braced himself for the expected punch that never came. The other man’s animal prowled underneath his skin, but Henry didn’t move, just stared up at Leon, hands clenched by his sides. Joanne stepped up behind him, and put a hand on her husband’s flexing biceps, and some of the tension left the wolf shifter’s frame.
“As much as I appreciate this silent display of testosterone, our daughter is in there, and she’s upset, so let me pass, so that I can see her.”
She smiled up at Leon when she said that, and his gut tightened at the expression on her face. Mrs. H was probably far more dangerous than her husband right now. Her outer calm belied her inner agitation. Leon picked up on her worry loud and clear, and the look she gave him was a clear if you harmed her, you’re dead meat one. It made him want to cover his assets, useless as that move would have been, so instead he stood back to let them both in.
“She’s in the kitchen, Mrs. H, and don’t freak when you see her.”
That stopped Rebecca’s mother’s forward movement, and her green eyes sparked fire at him.
“Why would I freak? What have you done to her?” she asked, and sweat pooled between Leon’s shoulder blades under her intense scrutiny. Her fingers twitched, and he braced himself against being flung out of his own house by the force of her powers. It wasn’t often Mrs. H choose to exercise them now, but he’d seen her fling grown men halfway across rooms in her younger years, when her temper was much more volatile. Rebecca was very much like her mother in that respect. When his girl came into her powers, yeah, lord help him, and the rest of the male species.
“Nothing, I mean nothing she didn’t want me to… I…” He slammed his mouth shut, realizing he was babbling like some idiot, and just making this whole thing worse. Henry growled and jerked his head to the front in a clear demand to follow him.
“You go and see to our daughter, while I have a chat with Leon outside, little red. Let’s get to the bottom of that, before I kill him.”
A grim smile lit up Henry’s face as he said that, and Rebecca’s loud gasp made them all turn their heads in her direction.
Leon groaned at the image she presented. With her hair all tousled, and barefoot, and wearing his clothes, face flushed in her worry, she looked as though she had just tumbled out of his bed. It didn’t help matters that his scent clung to her, and the earlier sweet musk of her arousal still surrounded her.
“Oh, baby.” Her mother’s voice shook with emotion, and Leon coughed as Henry punched him straight in the solar plexus. A right hook followed, and his head snapped up and connected painfully with the wall, making him see stars for a second. Leon shook his head and blocked the next two punches aimed at him, dimly aware of Rebecca screaming at them to stop.
The vase of flowers being dumped over both their heads stopped Leon and Henry, and the wolf shifter’s anger directed toward his wife instead.
“What the fuck was that for?” he asked, while one clawed hand snaked around Leon’s throat. He could easily shake him off. Leon was taller, stronger, and younger than the Alpha, but he reined his lion in and stood still. This was Henry Hastings, and he owed the man an explanation at least, though he was fucked if he’d let him throw any more punches at him.
“What do you think it was for, Sir?” The intonation Mrs. H put on the title made it sound more like an insult and she pointedly looked at Henry’s hand still clamped around Leon’s neck. Henry tightened the pressure, until a carafe of water flew at them from the direction of the kitchen.
“Don’t make me use that too.” Mrs. H’s smile didn’t reach her eyes, and with a frustrated growl Henry let him go.
Her Lion Protector [The Protectors 3] (Siren Publishing Allure) Page 5