Fueled by Lust: Cato (Siren Publishing Classic)

by Celeste Prater

  “Move harder. I need you. I’m so close. I won’t break. It’s just a dream.”

  Cato gritted his teeth and increased the rhythm. It didn’t feel like a dream. With each forward push he tilted his hips and slid his cock hard against her clit. The further he moved into her silken passage, the lower he dropped his arms. Seating himself fully inside, he fell to his elbows and shoved his arms under her back. He gripped her shoulders as her soft arms wrapped around his neck.

  “Hang on, sweetness. I’m going to ride you hard. I want to feel you come.”

  When her legs wrapped around his waist and locked tight, he unleased the fury of passion he felt for this beautiful woman. He reveled in the feel of her breasts and pebbled nipples sliding along his skin and the sound of their sweat-soaked bodies slapping together in harmony. Again and again he assured his groin met her hardened bud as he drove them both to mindless ecstasy. He barely recognized his own voice as he whispered hoarsely into her ear. “Talk to me. Your voice. I need to hear your voice.”

  She immediately came alive beneath him, as if she was waiting for permission to reveal her pleasure. She released his neck and flung her arms above her head. Her fingers dug deep into the vibrating grasses.

  “Yes. Burning. I’m burning. So good. You’re so big. Everything. I feel everything. Grab my wrists again!”

  Yanking an arm from beneath her, he clamped a hand around her crossed wrists and shoved his knee forward for leverage as he continued to pump hard and deep. He rumbled a command against her ear.

  “You’re so god damn sexy. Fight me. Break the hold, baby.”

  Cato felt stinging prickles of electricity crawl up his spine as she fought to break his grip and whispered her darkest desire against his neck.

  “Don’t let go. Make me stay.”

  It was the most erotic thing he’d ever heard and Cato lost himself to the moment. Locking her arms in place, he pounded furiously into her and strung nibbling bites across her skin until he reached her ear.

  “That’s it, sweetness. That’s it. Take what you need. Ride me. Come for me, baby.”

  Back arching, Luna screamed her need to the sky. “Don’t stop! Almost there. Don’t let me lose it. There. There. I’m coming! Yes. Yes. Unnnfff…ahhh god! I feel it. I feel it! So beautiful!”

  Mesmerized, Cato watched her features morph from teeth-clenching pleasure to blissful relief, and immediately exploded inside her the second she went rigid and her muscles tightened down and held him locked. Releasing a guttural groan, he removed his hand from her wrists and laced his fingers with hers. On every release of his hardened flesh, he withdrew and quickly surged forward to place his seed deep inside her. Images of her heavy with his child skittered through his brain and he choked out his next words.

  “Mine, Angeli. You will always be mine.”

  Capturing her hip, he rolled slowly to the side to keep her locked to him. Wrapping an arm around her shoulders, he pulled her close to his chest. She grabbed his bicep and kept a strong hold as she continued to roll her hips and ride his cock. Her grip relaxed as her orgasm moved into a quiet thrum. He closed his eyes and enjoyed the feel of her heart thumping a wild rhythm to match his own. Eventually, their labored breath quieted and he smiled at the soft kiss she placed against his chest. Reaching down, he lifted her chin with the crook of his finger and soaked in her features. Her cheeks were flushed and sweat beaded her forehead. Her shy smile caused his heart to speed up.

  “You’re so beautiful, my Angeli. I’m sorry I didn’t spend more time with you. Can you forgive me?” He smiled as her cheeks reddened. Quickly, she ducked her head and pressed her nose into his chest. He strained to hear her muffled words.

  “If you’d have taken any more time, I would’ve passed out from pleasure overload. I’ve never felt anything like that in my life. I didn’t know it was possible.”

  His rush of laughter brought her questioning eyes up to his. “What?”

  Cato hugged her tight. “You, sweetness. Prepare to pass out often because I plan on spending a great deal of time showing you exactly what I’m capable of. You surprised me today. I lost all control and couldn’t take you fast enough.” He grinned when she shoved at his chest and chuckled.

  “That was my fault. I dreamed you, remember? I guess I secretly wanted a man that couldn’t wait to be with me. You delivered on that in spades. I’m just a little curious as to how I imagined a heart-stopping orgasm that I didn’t instigate on my own.”

  Cato frowned and clasped her chin. “What did you say? Was that your first without self-stimulation?” He immediately sighed and dropped his hand at her wide-eyed expression.

  “What the hell am I saying? Of course it is. My ego knows no bounds. I’m living every man’s fantasy. Who wouldn’t want to be the first to please his woman in the way that she needs? I must be a selfish bastard as well. I shouldn’t have stopped until you experienced at least three.”

  Her snort of laughter rang in the cool air. “Look who’s talking. I’m the one that’s having this dream and I still have such a messed up view on relationships, I can’t even make the guy of ‘my dreams’ think that I’m real. Great!”

  Cato growled and pushed her flat to the grass. He moved his cock slowly in her moist channel and watched her eyes widen. “Oh, you’re real all right. You feel that? He’s been biding his time. One husky laugh and it’s game on. That’s what you do to me. If you think me just a fantasy, then by all means, tell me how to please you and I’ll make it so.”

  His skin shivered at the flash of white teeth and her seductive stretch that allowed his palm to slip close to her rounded ass. “Hmmm, let me see. Where to begin. First, I want you to…”

  Cato watched the smile fade from her lips as they both heard a muffled sound echo loudly across the meadow. Their eyes locked and held.

  “What is it, storyteller? You heard it, too?” He frowned when her eyes peeled wide and she clasped his shoulders. Her plea came frantic and haunting within the confines of their misty cocoon.

  “Don’t go, storyteller. Don’t leave me!”

  Confused, Cato pulled back and grasped her chin. His words fell away when he saw his shimmering hand fade and disappear. He watched in amazement as his forearm and bicep shortly followed. He realized the agonized shouts pushing against his ears were his own. “No! No! Not now!”

  He willed his eyes to hers and sadness washed over his senses at seeing the tears flowing freely down her cheeks. His voice sounded hollow and bereft as he felt his body pulling away.

  “Don’t forget me, Luna.”

  Cato jackknifed up from the chair and glanced wildly around the room. His heart pounded mercilessly as he fought to catch his breath. “What the hell?” Not until he heard muffled voices outside the hospital door did he realize he was looming over Luna’s bed as if protecting her from a hail of bullets. Closing his eyes, he willed himself to calm. “One, two, three…shit!” At the turning of the knob, Cato took three long strides over to the restroom before a wash of people fell into the room. He pressed against the wall and became one with the shadows. He recognized almost every voice speaking over each other. One he did not. It didn’t take long for the stranger’s words to sink home and push a blast of fury across his body.

  “Will everyone shut up? I told you. I’m her boyfriend. I’ve been looking for her for several days. I’m a cop. Why didn’t your front desk tell me they had a Jane Doe here? I would’ve come immediately to claim her. I had to hear it from another precinct. Do you know how embarrassing that is? What kind of place are you running here?”

  Cato recognized the Chief of Staff’s voice. He was authoritative, yet fair. “Calm down, Mr. Foster. We were told by her benefactor that she was still in danger. All her records were sealed and she remained a Jane Doe at their request. Now, if you’ll come back to my office, I’m sure we could…”

  “Benefactor? Who the hell is her benefactor? What does that mean?”

  “Like I said, Mr. Foster. If you would
come back to my office, we can discuss this calmly and stop frightening the staff and other patients.”

  Cato heard Bryan huff out a frustrated breath. “Fine. But can I just look at her for a moment? I’ve been worried.”

  “Of course. Shannon, Marie, Walter, could you step outside? Thank you.”

  At the sound of the closing door, Cato misted and drifted into the room. Bryan stood next to Luna’s bed and had her hand in his. Cato willed himself to calm or he’d have to return to the bathroom. He wanted to see the bastard’s face and burn it into his memory.

  The guy was tall, but Cato knew he had a good five inches on him. His long-sleeved shirt didn’t hide that he was also fit and worked out regularly as evidenced by his wide back, narrow hips, and thick jeans-encased thighs. His brown, close-cropped cop hair was out of place, as if he’d been shoving his fingers through it repeatedly. He had moss-green eyes and Cato was man enough to admit his features were handsome. He hated him. He particularly disliked that the bastard was touching Luna. He stopped thinking of the multiple forms of torture he could heap upon the idiot when the Chief of Staff spoke up.

  “I’ll give you ten minutes, however, I expect to see you in my office shortly afterward. We still have questions on her medical history. We’ve done everything we can at the moment, yet we’re not sure why she’s not coming out of the coma. Perhaps her history might shed some light on that.”

  Bryan nodded without looking up. “Sure. Ten minutes. That’s all I need. Thanks.”

  Chapter 10

  Cato didn’t like that Bryan was alone with his Angeli. He was prepared to fully form and smack his ass into the ground if he made even one suspicious move. He didn’t care if the whole world witnessed a man forming from out of nothing. He moved to the other side of the bed and prepared to strike at first provocation.

  Bryan reached down and picked up her long braid. He caressed her hair and leaned close to her ear. His words were low and beseeching. “Luna, baby. Ah, shit! Look at you. What did you do? You were perfectly safe at the house. I lost my mind when I found out you’d left. If you’d stayed where I put you, none of this would have happened. You should’ve never been hurt like this, baby. It didn’t have to be this way.”

  Cato’s silent curses banged around his head as he helplessly watched Bryan kiss her swollen, cracked lips.

  “I have to talk to the doctor now so they can help you wake up. I don’t want you to leave me, baby. If I find out your benefactor plans to take you away from me, he’s going to have a fight on his hands. I’m not letting you go. As soon as they tell me who he is, I’ll get your things and bring them back to the house. Everything will be back to normal by time you get out of here. You’ll see. I love you, Luna.” He picked her hand up and kissed the scraped knuckles. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.” He stared at her for a few moments as if he wanted to say more then turned and left.

  Cato impatiently watched the nursing staff fuss over Luna after Bryan’s loud departure. They didn’t particularly like the ass any more than he did, and that instantly made them good people in his book. As the room quieted once more, he reformed and slumped back into his chair. He wasn’t used to feeling this helpless and it pissed him off. Bryan hadn’t confessed to anything, yet Cato’s instincts told him something was a little off in his bedside ramblings. Was this just a random act of violence, or was he alluding to a planned attack that’d gone too far? Either way, she wasn’t safe. Bryan had proven that by the asinine stunt of locking her to a railing. What sane person would treat someone like that? All she’d wanted was to move on with her life and start over.

  An image of a colorful phoenix flashed across his vision and he straightened in the chair. He frowned as he tried to reason why his brain had shot something irrelevant to his frontal lobe. What did it mean? Maybe he was getting drained again. When was the last time he’d eaten? Petrus was going to kick his ass if he did another Tilt-A-Whirl session. No, it couldn’t be that. He’d had lunch in the cafeteria shortly before the doctors had arrived. Shaking his head, he chalked it up to the stress of Bryan’s visit.

  Cato glanced up and spotted Luna’s braid hanging over the side of the bed. He’d seen the nurses get tangled in it before. He’d hate for someone to snag it and rip her hair out. As soon as he lifted the silky tresses, he had a sudden urge to wrap it around his wrist. Without thought, he coiled her hair around his arm and immediately unlocked a floodgate of memories. His head fell back as he welcomed them in.

  Vision upon vision slid across his mind. Luna emerging from the mists, his hands lifting her blue gown from her scrumptious body, the beautiful phoenix tattoo nestled low on her belly, the exquisite agony of release crossing her face as he stared on in wonder, and her arms reaching out to him as she begged him to stay. He knew they were memories from a dream, yet they were real to him. He wanted to experience them again. Not with the ethereal creature that’d greeted him at the base of the Montis Peak, but with the broken, lost soul lying before him. He didn’t care what her face looked like or the color of her eyes. This was the woman that’d captured his heart. He needed to protect her and there was only one way to make that happen.

  Cato closed his eyes and sent out a searching call for a particular Insedi with a skill that Cato was now kicking his own ass for not utilizing earlier.

  * * * *

  Kallon Aceso appeared calm as he leaned casually against the wall outside the emergency room entrance and observed an ambulance deliver a gunshot victim. He craned his neck for a better view as the paramedics worked feverishly on the man as they rolled him into the trauma center.

  Cato caught a glimpse of Kallon’s long, blond braid swinging back and forth across his back as he shook his head in disbelief. Cato had thought Luna’s braid was long at hip-length, but Kallon’s fell to mid-calf. The lightest green eyes Cato had ever seen flicked in his direction while dark blond brows drew together in confusion. It made him look older than his twenty-three years despite his penchant for wearing heavy-metal T-shirts and black jeans. As his head turned away from the tragic scene, the setting sun flashed off diamond studs lining one ear. Cato appreciated the look and knew they’d get along just fine.

  “No wonder Earth’s mortality rate is astronomical. Did you see the equipment they were using? I’m surprised the man made it to the doors. They’ll surely kill him. If not now then eventually.”

  Cato nodded his head in respect toward the Insedi Master Surgeon. Despite his age and appearance, he’d bypassed countless others to be named the first Insedi physician to reside on Earth. His skills were unparalleled. Cato felt fortunate that the doctor was Earthside and not attending another conference for preparing others to assume some of his duties. Insedi may not need assistance with Earth diseases, yet they were just as susceptible to car crashes and other forms of trauma as any full human. It was preferable they ended up on his table instead of a baffled human doctor’s wielding archaic tools and clueless to their genetic makeup. It would definitely be bad for business.

  As with any of the physician breed, he was slightly shorter than the warrior class, yet he was still larger than an average human male. A muscular stature was inherent to an Insedi. Since Kallon worked his mind instead of his biceps, his muscles were not as massive, yet they were still significantly proportional to what Lina called “the gym rats.” In any event, the doctor could hold his own against a human male, do serious damage in a fight, and turn around and heal you on the upswing. Good traits to have.

  “Thanks for coming, Kallon. I know you’re busy, but this is very important to me.”

  Kallon pressed a comforting palm to his shoulder. “When Petrus found me, I set aside everything as soon as he said your female was injured. You should have come to me sooner. You’re very valuable to us Cato, as well as highly regarded. Petrus said you needed me to evaluate her since she’s unable to wake. Take me to her.”

  Cato nodded and waited for Kallon to adjust his medical satchel over his shoulder. Together, they melted in
to the shadows.

  * * * *

  “I can heal these superficial injuries right now. It’s the spleen and the brain trauma that’ll require intensive treatment.”

  Cato lifted his head away from the door. He’d had his ear attached to it for the last twenty minutes. It was past visiting hours and the last round of care she’d received allowed Kallon at least forty-five minutes to assess the damage. He didn’t trust that Bryan would adhere to hospital rules, so here he stood.

  “Are you saying the surgery to remove her spleen wasn’t successful? Does she have an infection? Her doctors appeared satisfied with the results.”

  Kallon rolled his eyes and snorted. “There’s no infection. The problem is there’s no spleen. There wasn’t any reason to remove it. It’s become a common practice to yank it out when unable to accurately diagnose internal hemorrhaging. It’s not their fault. They don’t know any better. I’ll need to seal the small tear in her liver. That’s the culprit. By tomorrow they would’ve been scrambling over her pretty shade of yellow. Once I get her back home, we’ll grow a new spleen for her.”

  Cato felt his eyebrows rise. “Grow a new spleen? Did I hear that right?”

  Kallon nodded without looking up and pulled the sheet away from Luna’s broken arm. “Yes. I suppose you’ve never needed a new organ or you’d have known. It’s quite common now.” He frowned and pointed to the thick, white cast stretching from her elbow to palm. “You’ll have to help me with this contraption. I’ll need to monitor depth penetration while the laser slices through this mess. You’ll have to tear away the excess so it doesn’t jar her arm around. They’ve already set it, quite nicely to my surprise, so no need to add more injuries to heal.”