“You don’t have to leave,” Lori said quietly, watching as Leandra finished plaiting her long ebony hair.
“Yes, I do. You think I can stay here, with so many people watching me with such angry eyes?” Leandra asked. Tossing the last of the braids over her shoulder, she sighed.”Maybe that would be fitting punishment—for me to never know another restful night of sleep.”
Lori touched her fingers to Leandra’s shoulder and gently said, “I suspect you’ll be doing that to yourself.” Her green eyes met Leandra’s haunted ones, and Lori felt her heart squeeze. None but her could understand just how tortured this woman truly was.
Even from the beginning, Leandra’s heart had been pulled apart. Struggling to serve those she thought were right. But following the path her heart recognized as right.
“I hear their screams. All the people they killed...people I should have saved,” Leandra whispered, staring blankly into the coming night as a tear rolled silently down her cheek.”I can’t help but wonder to myself. Were there others like Jennifer? She’ll fine, I know, at Excelsior. But were there others like her?
“Where will you go?” Lori asked, trying to distract her.
“Away,” Leandra said absently.”Someplace where maybe I can try to figure out how to come to grips with what I’ve done. Maybe forgive myself. The good Lord knows nobody else ever will. But I, well, I have to live with myself.”
* * * * *
Lori was still standing there, her arms wrapped around herself, watching Leandra’s tall proud profile as the black woman walked away, alone, from Eli’s enclave. Malachi had hailed her briefly, and she had stared stonily into the night, shaking her head once or twice. He had brushed a gentle hand across her arm, an almost fatherly touch, before he moved aside.
Lori couldn’t see her anymore.
“She’ll be okay.”
Jonathan’s voice was a deep, hypnotic growl that sent shivers racing across her body. Lifting her eyes, she studied the moon as it rose higher in the sky. It would be full tomorrow. Earlier, she had glimpsed his eyes, and she had seen the near wildness that started to gleam in the eyes of the were when the full moon neared.
And the hunger. Complete and total hunger.
“She’s never been okay,” Lori said quietly. “This is actually the closest she’s ever been. And that’s the scariest thing.”
“The scariest thing was sending a woman who had just kidnapped my baby to save the woman I love,” Jonathan whispered from the doorway. “Why are you here? Instead of in my house?”
“Because it’s your house,” she said quietly, lifting one shoulder. “These are my rooms. We came home, so I came home.”
“I want you in my bed. Our bed.”
He was closer now, at her back. Lori shuddered as he lowered his head and kissed her neck, gripping her waist with his big, strong hands and dragging her back so that he could cuddle her ass against his cock. Folding his arms around her torso, trapping her arms against her body, he lowered his mouth to press it against her neck, scoring it with his teeth. “My mate. Mine.”
She felt enveloped by him, that large, lean body cuddling, protecting, guarding hers. Hungering for her…she could feel his hunger rolling off of him in waves.
Pressing the flat of his hand against her belly, he slid it down until he cupped her mound in his hand, stroking his finger back and forth over her clit, bringing a whimper to her lips. She gasped in shock as he grabbed her skirt and tore it away, the paradise flowered material falling in pieces around her feet. Whirling her around, he took her shirt and pulled it over her head before grasping fistfuls of her hair, and lowering his face to bury his nose in the red and white wealth of it.
“My little redheaded hellcat has turned into a sweet little candy cane,” he teased, smoothing his hands down the long line of her back, cupping her ass and lifting her against him.”Let’s see if you still taste as sweet.” Slanting his lips against her mouth, he pushed his tongue in, devouring her taste, swallowing her down hungrily as he pinned her back against the wall. Rocking his cock against her cleft, the rough material of his jeans abraded the sensitive flesh of her thighs.
“Moan for me…scream,” Jonathan whispered as he lowered his head to take one swollen nipple into the hot cave of his mouth. Swirling his tongue over the hard crest, he rolled his eyes up to stare at her, the dark chocolate of his gaze shifting to a warm, burning gold. Against her belly, she could feel the hard, warm muscles of his chest—and he rocked against her, dragging his thick, rigid cock over her aching cleft time and again.
Lori felt her breath catch in her chest as she arched against him, her hands fisting in his hair. Bringing her legs up, she locked her heels just above the firm muscles of his ass. The cold wall bit into her back as he massaged her butt with his hands. Lori quivered as he breached the seam of her ass, probing the rosette with a blunt fingertip.
She felt the room whirling around her and blinked, dazed, realizing he had moved, positioning her on her knees by the bed. “Stay there,” he ordered gruffly, running his hands over the rounded curve of her ass. “Damn, you’ve got the sweetest ass.”
A hot flood of need washed through her and she lowered her brow to the cool floor, hardly able to support her body. She was shaking all over, fine little tremors ran through her entire body, and an aching emptiness filled her. Damn it, she needed him inside her. Her clit was pounding, pulsating, throbbing. Ohhh…
Jonathan pushed his thigh between hers, naked now.
And something slick, wet and warm pushed against her anus. Lori whimpered. “Jonnie!”
“This is mine,” he whispered roughly. “You are mine. I will have every last part of you. Push down—” as he spoke, he pushed his finger inside, and Lori sobbed, arching back against the burning pain of his invasion. But as he entered her, he reached around, pinching her clit and stroking her, until she was rocking against his caress as he worked her ass. And then he pushed a second finger into the tight ring of muscle, nipping at her neck and groaning when she climaxed into his hand with a ragged scream.
Lori was still shaking when he pulled away and mounted her. Driving his cock into her aching pussy with one long, ruthless thrust, he gripped her hips and held her steady, as she screamed her way through a second orgasm. The ever tightening muscles in her sheath hugged greedily at his cock as he forged his way in and out of her convulsing sheath.
“Damn it, that’s it,” he purred raggedly, rolling his hips and rocking against her as he seated himself completely inside her. “You’re softer than silk, sweet and wet…I love it. I love you. My heart and soul.”
Lori moaned as he bent over her, and whispered the last of the words against her ear, hugging her tightly. Holding still and deep inside her, repeating softly, “My heart and soul, damn it, I love you. I always have.”
“Jonathan.” Lori sank her teeth into her lip, her breath tearing in and out of her lungs as she struggled to breathe past the emotion lodged inside her. Reaching behind her, she wound one arm around his neck, burying her fingers in those long silken tresses falling around her. He wrapped one brawny forearm around her waist and pulled his cock out slowly, burrowing just as slowly back inside.
“I love you…” her words ended on a ragged moan as he surged back in, his thick, burning-hot cock dragging over the swollen tissues of her pussy. The curved end stroked over the nerve endings by the mouth of her womb just right there, and Lori arched back against him. She screamed as the room started to shake around her, lava pooling inside her loins, and heat exploding from the surface of her skin.
Tossing her head back, she screamed as he pulled out and drove back inside again—harder, and harder—pushing her hips lower and digging in with more force, his hands going to her buttocks and spreading her open. As if his gaze had actual weight, she could feel him staring at her as one hand left her hip, then returned, spreading a warm silky-slick substance all over her tight, puckered hole. Lori shivered as Jonathan started to probe insistently with his thumb
as he rode her harder.
“You can use your magick to tease your body, baby,” he murmured, his voice hot and smooth as whiskey as he pushed the tip of his thumb past the tight ring of muscle.”Do it…let me feel that.”
Lori flushed, barely understanding, even as she felt some distant part of him reaching for her—not with his body—but with his soul. Wailing, she released the tenuous hold she had on her magick and let it pour through her, rolling over her skin, dancing down to stroke and tease her clit as Jonathan pulled out, leaving her.
“Play with yourself,” he murmured, guiding one hand between her thighs even as a myriad of tiny, rainbow lights danced over her skin. The lights caressed her skin, kissing it, reflecting off him as they spun over and around her.
Jonathan settled back on his heels, his cock ruddy, wet and glistening from her cream. Stroking it absently as he studied her, a growl rumbling out of his chest as Lori trembled and sobbed. Her head rolled as the wild magick inside her ran free and loose over her aroused body. The exposed line of her ass, the opened folds of her sweet, wet cleft, the scent of her… Jonathan licked his lips as he picked up the lubricant, wanting to swallow her whole.
He shuddered as he slicked the silky substance over his sex and stared at the tight, puckered entrance of her ass. Warming more of the lubricant in his hands, he rubbed the rosette teasingly. He steadied her as she jumped, and watched as it flowered open, groaning as the satiny confines gloved his fingers tightly.
Moving so that she was between his knees, he finger-fucked her ass and pussy with alternating hands, until she was rocking back and forth, her mouth desperately seeking his. And when she was begging, he moved behind her. Pulling his fingers from the clinging silk of her bottom, he spread her wide. Pushing against the tender, soft flesh, he watched as it gave way under his possession. Tight…
“Damn it, you are sweet,” he groaned, pushing relentlessly deeper as she froze beneath him.
Pulling out just a bit, he surged back in, shuddering as she involuntarily clenched the muscles in her buttocks around him. Her head fell low and Jonathan reached around, circling his fingers on her clitoris. Pulling out, he rocked against her with slow, steady motions until she was panting under him again. Then he started to push deeper.
Lori arched back, biting her lip against the burning, ever increasing pressure in her bottom. Her eyes tea red and she whimpered involuntarily as Jonathan continued to push in, even as his fingers stroked and circled her clit. “Take a deep breath, baby and push down for me,” he murmured, pulling out, just slightly rocking against her…
Oh, that’s nice, Lori thought.
Rocking back to meet him, she barely heard him as he repeated, “Push down for me,” and she tried to focus on the exquisite sensations it caused as he stroked just barely into and out…mom…
Then he pulled out, just barely breaching her, his hands tightening on her hips.
“Push. Down.” His voice was low, rough, a deep, primal growl that called to everything female and primitive inside of her. Lori quivered and bowed her head, pushing as she lowered her torso and braced herself.
A hoarse scream filled the air as he filled her, seating himself inside her ass to the hilt. Jonathan filled her completely with a brutal, driving thrust that had her screaming with the glorious, sweetly painful pleasure even as she shuddered from the brutal assault to her senses.
Whimpering, she had to fight to keep from pulling away as he pulled out, then drove back in, again and again. The pressure was building to a crescendo that would surely be more than she could handle.
It broke, exploding over Lori in a wash of glorious, sweet pleasure and she pushed back, sobbing, “Again, damn it, Jonathan, don’t stop, please.”
Her nipples drew tight, her breaths became more and more ragged as she moved hungrily against him, under him. Taking more of his thrusts, and feeling the hungry, hard drives of his cock into her ass, the movement of his body against hers, she sought her climax, just as he sought his. They fell together, each pushing against the other and tensing, a long, eerie howl rising from Jonathan’s mouth. Lori sobbed his name out as she collapsed, feeling the hot, scalding wash of his seed flooding her.
Long moments later, she was still trying to slow the sobbing breaths that raced in and out of her lungs, when he cradled her against him and gently lifted her to the bed. Easing her down against him, nuzzling her neck as he lifted the blankets over them, he murmured, “The next time I take you will be in our home, our bed. Say it, say yes.”
Lori shuddered, opening her lips to agree to anything he wanted, but the words wouldn’t come out quite that easily. “I haven’t heard you ask me for anything yet,” she said raggedly, her head falling forward, the streaked curls of golden-red and white mingling with his deep brunette locks on the pillow.
“Hmmm, you still don’t know how to give an inch, baby, do you? First, I tell you to go away and you won’t. Now I tell you to come to me, and you won’t. You want me to ask,” he said, with a muffled laugh of frustration. His voice deepened and he wrapped his arms around her, cuddling her against him. “I love everything about you, you adorable, stubborn, brave witch. Tell me you’ll marry me and get it over with.”
“I’ll do better than that,” she whispered, a smile curving her mouth. “I’ll marry you…so we can get started. With our life.”
Epilogue
It was the sound of wild magick, broken moans, and hot sex that drew her to Lori’s rooms. Against her will, but damn it, if she didn’t do it quick, others were going to be gathering up there soon. Or the whole house might shatter around them. Sarel felt the heat rush up her neck as she started down the hall toward Lori’s rooms.
Lori’s voice, high and keening, as she cried out Jonathan’s name, came loud and clear through the door, and Sarel stopped. Whirling around she headed right back down, but then she heaved a sigh and hissed, “Bloody hell.”
Her amused audience of one let a wolfish smile cross his face as he glided back into the shadows. He had been about to take care of it for her…but she was rather adorable, looking so embarrassed.
Sarel turned back and marched up to Lori’s door, shoulders straight as a nun’s, placed her hand flat against the wood and closed her eyes, not letting the fire and light that was seeping out from underneath distract her. And the miniature earthquake that followed didn’t make her pause either as she settled a spell to block the sounds coming from the room.
Well, she works pretty good for a very embarrassed older sister, Ben mused as he slid out of the shadows and stood in the middle of the hall.
When she turned around, her cheeks were still flaming and she was swearing under her breath. He cocked a dark eyebrow at her and said, “Being Elijah Crawford’s wife, I can’t believe you’ve never heard people having sex before. I imagine you’ve even done it once or twice yourself.”
Her eyes narrowed.”Leave me the hell alone, Cross.”
“Aren’t you grouchy?” he mused, as he forged a little ball of fire and started to toss it back and forth in his hands.”I had been planning on taking care of that for you. How was I to know you would insist on checking on baby sister so damn soon?”
“Go fuck yourself,” Sarel suggested pithily.
He merely smiled at her, catching the fire in one hand, and pressing it between both palms until it was absorbed as he stared into her stormy eyes. “You witches are the oddest lot.”
“You’re a witch, too, Cross. Remember?”
A sad smile flickered across his face. “I don’t know what I am, Sarel.” Then he turned, walking away from the sounds of loving, and the suddenly understanding woman standing in front of him.
Ben had another witch to deal with.
The oddest of them all.
But first, he had to find her.
The Hunters: Ben and Shadoe
by
Shiloh Walker
© Copyright Shiloh Walker, 2004
2012 Edition
First digital print
ing 2004
Please note: This is the original 2004 version--it has been revised, but no new material has been added.
The Hunters: Ben and Shadoe
Cover Art Angela Waters
Dedication
For my kids…my husband, I love you!
Prologue
Marcus could see her leaving the dorm, smell her. Something about her seemed oddly familiar. She smiled shyly at the golden-haired boy walking next to her, ducking her head, scooping her hair out of her face, acting coy—an act. Just an act.
He had come to see the boy, his newest recruit; a new werewolf. And this one showed such promise. But Marcus lost all interest in Jimmy as he stared at the young woman.
Her scent… Damn it, why was it so familiar?
Sweet, hot, potent…
Potent.
Then he knew.
Inherents smelled something like that. Inherents…the natural shifters. They didn’t rely on the pull of the moon for their shift. Their shift came as easy as the sunrise. And that’s what this girl was, he realized.
But there was more. She smelled like a wolf. Like a shifter, almost.
There was something else, too. Magic. Almost.
She didn’t move like a wolf. Didn’t act like one.
And she didn’t have the feel of a witch about her.
She was a puzzle.
And he would just have to solve her.
Jimmy Duncan stared at the ground as Marcus paced around him. The fear the older, more powerful wolf could induce disgusted him almost as much as it called to him. He wanted that same control over others. Too bad he didn’t realize it was a power the average werewolf just couldn’t have.
“I saw your little girlfriend,” Marcus murmured as he flopped onto the couch.
The Hunters Series Page 48