by Alexa Riley
Morgan seemed deep in thought now as she sat on his lap at the kitchen table, draped in one of his T-shirts. He simultaneously fed her bites of a cheese omelet, swallowing hard every time she moaned around the fork, already knowing it would be time for another fuck soon. She was freshly showered and soft and fragrant. The small curve of her bottom sat snug and tight on his dick, the sweet crack he’d licked just hours ago cradling his growing bulge. This time she would receive him face down, so he could spread her cheeks and watch her back entrance clench as he rode her. He’d hook his pinkie finger inside that untested place—
Enough. Lord, he was depraved. Fuck hungry for his mate. Morgan seemed to enjoy taking him often, but he shouldn’t squander his gift. He should cherish her. Not slake himself on her every chance he got. Feeling the need to thank her, worship her, Rixen cleared his throat.
“I will build you a dark room, Morgan. A place to develop your photos.” He tugged her closer and buried his nose in her still-damp hair. “The chemicals will not be easy to come by out here, but I will have someone place the order in town. I’ll make it happen.”
Excitement built in her expression. “I would love to see the shots I took yesterday on our walk.” She twisted on his lap to face him and Rixen swallowed a groan. “I guess I wouldn’t mind seeing the ones of you, too.”
A knot formed in his throat. “Every time you bring up yesterday, I think of what you said to me. How you defended me in your own way.” He wrapped her hair in a fist and tilted her head back, listening to his heartbeat grow rapid in his ears. “My brave, beautiful angel. Do you understand that I’m obsessed with you?”
Her lips parted on a breath. “Yes,” she whispered. “I also understand I could be pregnant. I was on the pill, so that first time seemed safe, but now I’ve missed two and…” Her laugh held a touch of disbelief. “I should be way more worried. Why am I not way more worried, Rixen?”
This was the first he was hearing about a pill and didn’t like knowing she’d been prevented from nurturing his seed in the beginning. It made him all the more anxious to part her legs and fill her with more. More. Again and again. “You are not worried because you know I will provide for what is mine. My family.” He tugged her face close for a kiss, their tongues meeting first, mouths sliding into a writhing dance. After a moment of the incredible torture, Rixen pulled away. “Is it possible you are becoming obsessed with me, too, my gift?”
“I don’t know what I’m beginning to feel. Scared…but alive,” she murmured. “I just know that every second that passes, the more this feels like home. The more you feel like home.”
Rixen’s chest swelled with satisfaction, but he didn’t let himself get carried away. He wouldn’t rest until Morgan’s happiness was no longer confusing to her. Until her smile was easier, less hesitant. When she’d arrived, he didn’t know if her total contentedness was possible, but now he believed. She’d made him believe, by trusting him, defending him. Believing him to be worthy. “That makes me very happy, Morgan,” he rasped. “I only want to make you happy.”
“I know,” she murmured, searching his face. “I-I’m starting to think you can.”
They fell into another winding kiss that knocked the breath out of Rixen. He grasped her around the waist and turned her in his lap to face him and—goddamn it to hell. The sweet pressure of her tight cunt rocking on the ridge of his flesh gave him life. The chair creaked beneath them as she worked him into a lather, her fingers linking behind his neck as she leaned back, giving him a view of their lower bodies grinding together. Naked pussy on denim.
“Call me by my name,” he demanded.
Her breathing hitched as she leaned in and clung to him, her hips pumping faster now, his little angel fucking herself on him to an orgasm. “Daddy. Daddy.”
As always, when she called him by that title, victory broke loose in his gut. Rixen gripped her butt cheeks and squeezed hard, helping her move, earning a grateful moan. “What else?”
She laid her open mouth on his neck, whimpers and gasping falling past her lips. “Breeder. M-my breeder.” He sensed a dam giving way inside her. “Breed me, Daddy. I want it. I want it. I can’t help it.”
With a growl, Rixen surged to his feet, slapping her ass down on the kitchen table and reaching down to unzip his jeans. When he took out his cock, semen sprayed from the top, coating the back of his hand and her thighs. Need her. Need Morgan. He guided the moist head of his cock toward her waiting pussy—
A knock at the front door went through the room like a gunshot. Rixen paused with his cock in his hand for a moment, before performing the painful task of stowing his erection away and zipping his jeans. “It’s probably one of my brothers.”
“Oh.” Still breathing heavy, Morgan rolled her eyes adorably. “Hooray. Break out the good china.”
“So feisty,” he breathed at her mouth, tugging the shirt down to hide her sweet cunt. “Save that spirit for your daddy so he can enjoy it later.”
Pink-cheeked, Morgan nodded and slid off the table. Rixen couldn’t help stealing another kiss before heading to the door. But what he heard next stopped him in his tracks.
“Police. Open up.”
His inner peace shattered in an instant, leaving him in turmoil. Where a moment ago, he was a man with no concerns, save winning the love of a woman…he was now an animal defending his mate. Keeping his mate. At all costs.
If he’d had more time with Morgan, maybe he wouldn’t have panicked. Maybe he wouldn’t have feared for the worst—that she would leave with the police. Or consider their arrival a rescue. So many maybes. But it boiled down to this. No one was taking Morgan away from him. Not even Morgan herself. And he couldn’t risk it happening. Not with his very sanity at stake.
With a roar building in his chest, Rixen wheeled around to find Morgan watching him wide-eyed across the kitchen. She didn’t know whether to leave or stay—Rixen could see it in her eyes. No. No. They just needed more time.
They didn’t have it, though, so he would buy it the only way he could.
Already knowing the damage his actions would cause, but no idea how to avoid it, Rixen stormed toward Morgan and scooped her up, hastening toward the bedroom. He hesitated at the closet door, before kicking it open and depositing her inside.
“Rixen, what are you doing?”
It anguished him to ignore her, but he focused on tearing a strip off the closest shirt in his closet and gagging her beautiful mouth with it. Tears lay unshed in her beloved turquoise eyes, ripping his soul in half. Mistake. This is a mistake. His heart knew it, but his fear of losing her overwhelmed everything in its path. “I am sorry, but I can’t risk you leaving me, my gift. It will be over soon. I just need more time with you.” Another knock at the door. Louder this time. “Please understand.”
Hating the betrayal on her face, he closed her in the closet and went to face the police.
A man was mid-knock when Rixen opened the door. Him and his partner immediately stepped back, their hands moving to hover over their weapons. Rixen only watched them in silence, his hatred for them mounting. Hatred for shattering the growing happiness between him and Morgan. For forcing Rixen to betray her trust.
A voice in the back of Rixen’s head told him they’d forced him to do nothing. That his own fears and insecurities had hurt his mate’s feelings. But he ignored the voice and focused on his anger. These men would not separate him from Morgan. No one would unless he was cold and dead in the ground.
“What do you want?”
At the low timbre of Rixen’s voice, the men backed up farther. The one in front appeared braver, however, wetting his lips to speak. “There was a car broken down about two miles back at the road. A girl was driving it. Young. Reddish-blonde hair. Goes by the name Morgan.” The cop’s eyebrows went up. “Odds are she didn’t make it this far without getting snapped up by a gator, but we’re performing our due diligence. You wouldn’t have happened to come across a young thing out this way? Have you, mister…”
“Rixen,” he snapped, annoyed by having another man describe his woman’s appearance. “No. There has been no one.”
It was then that he noticed where the second cop was focusing his attention. In his haste to hide Morgan and answer the door, Rixen had forgotten to don a shirt. Scratch marks left behind by Morgan crisscrossed his chest, arms, neck, shoulders. Hell, they could probably smell the sex on him. He’d fucked her at least six times since his last shower.
There wasn’t a chance in hell these men would believe the mating had been consensual. No. They had eyes. In their minds, a man like him could never persuade a gorgeous female like Morgan to open her thighs. Not without force.
“Her mother is very worried about her.” Their hands crept closer to their weapons. “How’s about we come take a look inside?”
Rixen propped his hands on either side of the doorframe. “Do you have a warrant?”
Silence ticked past. “You can bet we’ll be back with one.”
He didn’t budge from the doorway until both cops took their leave, their suspicion and alarm lingering in the air. As soon as they’d gained the clearing and left in their squad car, Rixen locked the door and moved at a fast clip toward the bedroom, guilt like a manacle around his neck. His poor Morgan. Would she hate him? Was she uncomfortable?
No. She was neither of those things.
She was gone.
Chapter 9
Morgan
Morgan ran at full speed through the bayou, leaping over downed trees and dodging hanging vines. Tears clogged her throat and made it difficult to see. How could he? How could he put her in a closet and lie to the police? Especially after they told him her mother was worried? Selfish man. Selfish monster.
The mental accusation made her feel bad, which was proof she’d lost her fucking mind! How could she have sympathy for a man who’d gagged her and locked her in a closet? He was a kidnapper, through and through. And she’d been a complete idiot for forgetting it. Worse than that, she’d…she’d fallen for him. Even now she could be carrying the man’s baby. Why did that give her a warm, happy feeling? She should want to shoot off his massive dick for trying to get her pregnant without so much as a conversation about the future.
There was a rustling in the brush to Morgan’s right and she skidded to a halt, her sides heaving with exertion. This was literally the worst episode of Naked and Afraid ever. Because in her shirt and no panties, that was essentially her condition. If she didn’t have malaria and a bite taken out of her by the time she reached some kind of civilization, she’d be shocked.
A bellow of anguish sounded in the distance—Rixen—and Morgan forgot all about the movement in the brush and started sprinting again. While browsing through Rixen’s extensive book collection, she’d come across a crude map of the bayou and knew there was a small town in this direction. Maybe she should have alerted the cops once she’d freed herself from the closet, but she’d been worried for their lives. No way would Rixen let them cart her off back to Key Largo. He’d kill them first. So she’d run.
After another three minutes of a flat-out sprint, Morgan’s feet started to hurt. The stickiness of the swamp air wouldn’t allow her to draw a decent breath, either. But that’s when she heard Rixen’s footsteps pounding after her, so she picked up the pace, pumping her arms and legs—
Until that rustling in the brush grew louder. Louder. Followed by a terrifying growl.
A cougar leapt into her path and Morgan let out a blood-curdling scream.
Less than ten feet away, the animal bared its teeth, appearing ready to spring. Its coat was mangy and filthy, its fangs dripping with saliva. Hunger. A predator. And she was the prey. She went through a lifetime’s worth of Discovery Channel viewing and came up empty. Run or don’t move? What the hell was she supposed to do?
Turned out, the cougar didn’t care about her fight-or-flight instincts. It just wanted lunch. It lowered its body in a ready stance and leapt at Morgan. She closed her eyes and cried out, waiting for sharp teeth to sink into her skin. But the pain never came. Instead, there was a loud shout of denial and Morgan opened her eyes to find Rixen battling the cougar, rolling on the soft earth. Rixen’s muscles shone with sweat, bulging and shifting as he fought for supremacy. Animal versus animal. But the cougar was mightier than the alligator had been and not as easy to subdue. Its teeth found Rixen’s shoulder and slashed the skin, leaving blood pooling in their wake.
Morgan snapped herself out of her horrified daze and searched the ground for a weapon, wanting to help Rixen even if he was a low-down, dirty kidnapper. He’d saved her life twice, hadn’t he? At the very least, she should return the favor. Before she could find a makeshift club or something sharp, however, Rixen gained the upper hand with a guttural curse and punched the animal across the face. Once, twice. Again, the cougar surged up, giving Rixen no choice but to end its life with a twist of his deadly grip.
The bayou seemed to suspend all animation as Rixen stood and approached Morgan, blood trickling from his shoulder wound and another cut over his eye. “My gift,” he rasped. “I am sorry. Please come to me.”
Despite her anger at him, Morgan couldn’t help the chemical reaction that took place in her body, watching Rixen conquer an animal that’d wanted to kill her. The rush of lust was swift and consuming. She’d been protected by a superior being. Defended at the cost of injury. An instinct to praise those actions was undeniable, the way it had probably been within women since the beginning of time. Reward the male. Show him his worth. Show him yours.
Morgan gave a close-mouthed moan, her body shaking in its effort to coat her flesh between her thighs with moisture as fast as possible. Awareness prickled her skin with the need to have Rixen inside of her. She’d stopped running long minutes ago, but she breathed like she’d never stopped. Rixen watched the transformation happen in her beneath heavy eyelids, his flat male nipples turning to points, an erection filling out the front of his jeans.
God. God, he was massive and invincible and mighty.
Her anger was no match for the urges he inspired. They were base and…naughty.
“I’m mad at you,” she whispered, intending to push at his chest but scraping her palms over his pecs and corrugated stomach instead. “So mad.”
“And yet you touch me.” Rixen’s voice shook. “You touch me when I do not deserve it.”
Morgan swallowed when he took a step closer. “You did just wrestle an actual cougar.”
His breath fanned her forehead. “I will protect you until I die.”
In other words, you’re staying here with me, bitch. In her heightened state of arousal, Morgan didn’t want to hear that. Didn’t want to hear anything that might make her mad and deter the mission to slake this sudden bout of hunger.
No. Not sudden. She’d been almost crazed with lust for Rixen for days. Insatiable.
It would never go away. How would she live without him inside her? How would she live without his humble smile and sweet gestures? No one had ever cared for her so well. So completely. A sharp object twisted in Morgan’s belly and she cast the thoughts away. Don’t think about that right now. Just get rid of the ache.
She took off her T-shirt, leaving her naked in the muted bayou light. Correctly interpreting the gesture, Rixen fell on her with a snarl. His big hands found her butt, lifting and cradling her against his sweating, blood-stained body. Morgan wrapped her arms around his neck and whimpered into a kiss, impatient for his tongue, his teeth. She demanded all of it with hot writhes of her body, fingers pulling at his hair. While their lovemaking had been frantic and desperate in nature since the beginning, it reached new heights now. Teeth snapped, mouths sucked hard enough to leave marks, fingers bruised.
Morgan was not surprised to find herself thrown down to her hands and knees in the dirt, although it was the first time he’d taken her this way. Maybe she should have been nervous, especially with Rixen growling and unfastening his jeans behind her, preparing to fuck her like a beas
t. But she wasn’t. No. She wanted rough. She wanted the winning predator to claim her body and take his final victory.
Rixen’s muscular chest pressed down onto her back and she reveled in the smell of him. Male arousal, sweat, blood, earth. His teeth grazed a path up the side of her neck, his hips humping her in great drives, despite the fact that he wasn’t inside her yet.
“I’ve just fought for your life. My mate’s life,” he gritted against her ear. “I’m going to enter your cunt like a battering ram. Do you hear me?”
“Yes,” Morgan wailed. “Please please please.”
His chest left her back and Morgan watched over her shoulder as Rixen spat on his purple-headed erection, spreading the moisture with purposeful hands. The next time he spat, it landed between her bottom cheeks, dripping down, down, until it reached her entrance. Rixen poised himself there with a grunt, pushing into her with enough force to collapse Morgan’s knees. Rixen jerked her back up without mercy, though, beginning to thrust. Roaring as he filled her again and again, their flesh smacking together three times per second.
Rixen’s hands surrounded her hips, yanking her back onto his waiting rod, grinding, his thigh hair tickling the backs of hers. “You ran from me for good reason,” he said. “But there’s a part of you that wanted to be caught, isn’t there, my gift? This juicy little pussy is proof. You’ve never been wetter.”
She didn’t know how to answer without lying or admitting she’d fallen head over heels for the man who’d kidnapped her and hid her in a closet, so Morgan focused on the sensations instead. His sex was thick and curved at the perfect angle, every pump of his hips rubbing his flesh against her G-spot. She reached for her clit to rub it, but Rixen beat her there, finding the nub of flesh with a callused middle finger. Oh yes, yes. So perfect. She spread her thighs wider and arched her back, letting the orgasm build, letting it wrap around her like a dream.