Raven snapped out of her trance. “Huh? Oh, yeah. Sorry. I’ll show you inside.”
He put out a hand to stop her. “Are you okay? You seem much quieter now than you were earlier.”
She gazed at her mother’s house. “I’m just thinking. That’s all. Don’t worry about me.”
“What are you thinking about?”
She studied him. “You and Melody really care about each other, don’t you?”
“Sure. We’re brother and sister. I mean, all Bruins care about each other. Melody leaving really threw our people for a loop. No one has ever done what she did. No one knows what to do or how it will affect us.”
Raven returned to gazing into the distance. “Hmm. That’s interesting. Riley and Melody shacking up—I mean mating—really threw our community for a loop, too. Half the Midnight want to string her up and the other half want to be just like her.”
“Be just like her how? She’s a Bruin, and you’re panthers. They couldn’t be just like her if they wanted to.”
“Be like her, as in mating for life. They think we should all mate for life. No one has ever mated for life before. They think if Riley did it, they can do it, too. They don’t want to be fluid anymore. If they aren’t fluid, how can they be Midnight? That’s what I want to know.”
He furrowed his brow. “I don’t understand what you mean by fluid. You keep saying it, so it must be something important to you, but we don’t have that concept. With us, it’s all about being steady and solid and anchored on the Peak. That’s what we value. No one is fluid—about anything.”
She turned away. “Of course, that’s what you value. You’re bears. We’re panthers. Midnight is all about being fluid. It’s about gliding over the land and never touching your foot to the ground. It’s about moving from one treetop to the next without a sound. Our mating is like that, too. We never touch one mate for long. We skip from tree to tree and from mate to mate. Everything is fluid and frictionless and silent.”
He stared at her. He didn’t understand exactly what she meant, but watching her say it made sense to him in a subconscious way. She was like that, too. He sensed that when he studied her skin and her hair and her witchy eyes. She was fluid and silent and dark. She reminded him of the deepest night with no moon or stars. She existed somewhere beyond his comprehension, but she fascinated him so he couldn’t look away.
When she stopped talking, she caught him staring. Her cheeks flushed pink, and she lowered her eyelids to the ground. “That’s what I think, anyways.”
He couldn’t move. His hand still touched her arm. He didn’t realize he touched her. Her skin and the flesh underneath seeped its dark fluidity into his veins. What was she doing to him?
He raised his eyes to her face at the same moment she raised her eyes to his. She hadn’t been looking at the ground. She was looking at his hand on her arm.
Azer shook himself. “Sorry. You better go inside.”
Raven started. “Aren’t you coming in?”
“Don’t you have to ask your mother if it’s okay?”
She smiled. All her perfect teeth curved bright white under her ruby-red lips. “I don’t have to ask. If I want to bring someone home, I just do it. That’s the way it works around here.”
Azer’s cheeks burned. He dropped his hand fast. “You’re not exactly bringing me home—not that way, anyway.”
She inched closer to him. “Would you like it if I did?”
His head reeled in stunned surprise. “You wouldn’t want to do that. Maybe I should stay somewhere else.”
Her hand shot out, and she grabbed his. His blood rushed to his head. “Don’t you dare. You’re staying here, and that’s final.”
Azer stumbled after her, through the gate to the door. She held his hand. She was taking him home—that way. He couldn’t deny the truth. She was taking him home to…what?
His confused excitement turned to sheer horror. He yanked his hand out of her grasp. “I better not do this. I better go back to town.”
Raven spun around. “What’s the matter? You won’t find a better place to stay in town. You might as well stay here.”
He shifted back and forth from one foot to the other. “Naw. I better go.”
Raven’s smile evaporated. “What happened? I thought you wanted to stay here. Did I offend you by making fun of you? I’m sorry if I did.”
“You didn’t offend me. It’s just that…you know, you aren’t exactly friendly to bears around here.”
Raven froze. “What?”
Azer hitched his shoulders inside his jacket. “I shouldn’t have said that. I’m a clod.”
She squared her shoulders. “Just tell me what the devil you’re talking about. Why aren’t we friendly to bears around here? Isn’t your sister healthy enough for you?”
He threw his head back to face her. “You’re bear-baiters. Everybody knows it. Maybe you want to throw me in your ring, too, and see how I do.”
Raven’s jaw dropped. “You know about that?”
“Everybody knows how Riley kidnapped Marla Dunlap. It’s all over the Peak. That’s how she recognized him when our boys caught him and held him captive.”
Raven whirled away. “Oh, of course. I knew that.”
She started walking away when he called after her, “Hey! Where are you going?”
She didn’t stop walking. She marched up the walk and pushed the door open. She called over her shoulder, “I’m going inside now. You can come in if you want to.”
Azer hung around on the…he couldn’t exactly call it a street. Open dirt byways snaked between the houses. Picket fences separated the yards from the byways. He looked all around the compound, but Raven didn’t come back out. She wouldn’t come back out. Had he blown it by mentioning the bear-baiting?
Of course, she never intended to throw him in her ring. She was way too nice for that. He offended her by throwing it in her face when she did him a favor by bringing him here. Now, he rubbed her nose in it on her mother’s doorstep when she offered him a place to stay.
This could be the only place to stay for a hundred miles in any direction. He should accept it and be grateful. He should keep his smart-alec comments to himself.
She was in there somewhere. She invited him in—that way. Did he really want to find out what she meant by that? Didn’t he already know? Well, he could find out, or he could spend the night in the forest with God knows how many bloodthirsty panthers prowling the hills.
He pushed up the walk and opened the door. A fat, grey-haired lady stood at the kitchen counter. She read a magazine spread out on the counter in front of her. She smiled at Azer when he walked in, but she said nothing.
He paused in the entry. He almost made up his mind to take his chances on the mountain when Raven appeared with a quilt over one arm. “Come on. Riley’s old room is down here.”
He followed her down a long hall dotted on either side with bedrooms. Beds, dressers, and computers occupied every room, along with children, teenagers, and a few adults. Azer didn’t stop to engage with them. Who were they? They were all part of Raven’s extended family. They were Midnight.
He kept scanning right and left into one room after another until he found one with Raven in it. She bent over to spread the quilt on two king-sized mattresses. They lay one on top of the other on the floor.
Raven bent over right in front of him. Her perfect round ass stuck straight out at him. Her tights came to a neat point between them, and the globes of enticing flesh curved outward into a crisp, clean heart.
Azer’s crotch tightened inside his pants. Just one more inch, and he could put out his hand and hook it between her legs. He could grab a handful of that luscious ass and tug her against his cock by her folded hip.
His prick swelled. He could almost feel the spongy wetness between her legs. These people threw themselves at anything they wanted. They must be impossibly sexual and always horny.
She could be wet for him right now. She could be sticking her
ass out to turn him on. She bounced when she spread out the quilt. She was making the bed for him to throw her down and pound her into the mattress.
Yikes! That ass was so smokin’ hot! When had he seen an ass like this one sticking up at him? When had he fondled a sweet hot babe like her? Visions of her juicy anatomy swam in his head. Saliva spurted into his mouth at the thought of tasting her. He would stroke his hands around that ass and fall on his knees behind her. He would bury his face in her warm folds and drink her dripping honey onto his tongue. She would moan and fall on all fours on the bed.
He had to stop thinking about her that way. He had to keep his wits. This wasn’t some friendly Bruin girl taking him home to her place. This was a bear-baiting panther stalking him. Of that, he was absolutely certain.
She stood up and faced him with a smile. “It’s not much, but it will keep you comfortable as long as you want to stay here.”
He glared at her. His prick throbbed to get out. His hands itched to get hold of her.
Raven returned his hard stare. The casual smile uncurled from her mouth. “So…what do you think?”
He shrugged. “It’s a nice room. Thanks.”
She jumped a little, and her lips parted when she smiled to show her teeth. “Great. Make yourself comfortable. Dinner’s at six on the dot, so don’t be late.”
“Hey, Raven.”
She turned around. “What?”
“I mean it. Thanks for going to all this trouble. I really appreciate it. I shouldn’t have said what I did about the bear-baiting thing. I’m sure it has nothing to do with you.”
She locked her eyes on him. “Would it make any difference to you if it did?”
He started back. “Does it? Are you involved in the ring?”
“I don’t have anything to do with the bears. I keep the books. That’s all.”
His countenance cleared. “Oh. Okay.”
She cocked her head. “You’re a nice boy. I like you. I wouldn’t want anything to happen to you up here. Maybe that’s why I’m going to all this trouble. You look like you need protecting.”
His face hardened. “Is that what you think I am—a nice boy?”
She glanced down at his mouth, and her eyes glittered. Slowly, surely, with extreme care, she lowered that magnificent round ass of hers onto the smooth quilt behind her. She sat down on the bed so her head came up to his crotch level.
Azer glared down at her. She couldn’t be…No way. Her gaze drifted down his face to his chest and farther down to his hips. Her lips parted, and her pupils dilated when she saw the tight mound straining against his fly. Her eyes climbed all the way back up his body to meet his smoldering gaze.
How could she drive him so mad with that excruciating slow glance? She put out her hand and looped her fingers down his waistband. She took hold of his pants and towed him toward her by the belt.
His whole body throbbed with the pulse rushing to his crotch. Holy crap, she was hot, and she was dragging him toward that bed by his pants. His prick ached like he couldn’t believe. His whole being screamed to jump out and jab her in the mouth.
She pulled him all the way up in front of her so she threw back her head to gaze up into his eyes. What was she doing to him? How could he touch this panther? He had to, though. His hands wouldn’t keep still. He lay both palms against her cheeks and stroked her hair back from her face. Just a quick unzip and he would be inside that pretty little mouth of hers.
Chapter 6
Raven didn’t let go of his pants. She pulled him around her and sat him down on the bed next to her. Not too fast now. She dangled him on the end of her fishing line.
Her plan to lure him into captivity worked out better than she ever hoped. He fell right into her hands. He walked into her mother’s house, and now she had him sitting on Riley’s bed with a massive lump poking a hole in his pants. He would do anything to get at her.
He couldn’t stop staring at her mouth. It mesmerized him. He couldn’t resist darting out and planting a kiss on those rosy lips—just a little kiss, and she pulled away.
She turned her head aside. “We shouldn’t do this.”
He leaned closer. “No, we shouldn’t.”
She let her eyes slide around to meet his. “I better go.”
He panted through his teeth. “Yeah.”
His breath blew his bear scent into her nostrils. A warm puff brushed her hair against her ear. A jolt of adrenaline surged through her chest. He was that close, and he was raging hard.
How long had she gone without a man’s company? She couldn’t remember the last time she touched a man so alive and warm and close as he was now. He hungered for her, and his nearness, his overpowering presence, infected her with that delicious excitement she pretended she didn’t need.
Her crotch tingled, and her sweet juices seeped out of her. Her hands longed to touch that swollen member between his legs. She needed all her resolve not to go through with it.
She couldn’t go through with it. She couldn’t touch him. He was a bear. She hated him. She wanted to see him chained and bleeding in the ring. She only wanted to get him hooked on her so she could capture him without sending him into a blind Bruin rage. She didn’t want to touch him. She only wanted him to think she did.
So, why couldn’t she stop looking into his eyes? Why couldn’t she stop her hands from inching up his thighs to prod that hard serpent inside his pants? Why couldn’t she stop her mouth opening to let his tongue slip inside when he kissed her?
She shook herself awake. He wasn’t kissing her. She wasn’t touching him or stroking his cock or sliding it into her mouth. She wasn’t on her knees in front of him with his muscled chest rising like a solid wall above her. He wasn’t twining his fingers through her hair to bend her over the mattress.
What the deuce was she thinking? She couldn’t think about that, now with him sitting right next to her. She pulled back, but faster than lightning, his hand shot out and clamped around her head. He turned her around to face him.
Raven gasped. Her shoulders and neck went stiff, but he held her firm. He brought her face within inches of his mouth. He glanced down at her mouth. He breathed through his bared teeth. “Come here, Raven.”
She fought for every breath. He had her behind the neck. She glanced down at his curled lips. He couldn’t want to kiss her. He couldn’t want to follow through on the insanity she started. How could she be so stupid as to get herself into this situation?
She should have gotten Ebony or Onyx to seduce him. They would be more than happy to bonk the daylights out of him. They would even join forces and do it at the same time for added effect. They would make him fall in love with them so he never wanted to leave Midnight Moraine.
Then Raven would move in, and he never would leave. After the guys finished with him in the ring, they would chuck his bloodless carcass down the ravine for the wolves and the vultures to pick.
That’s what she should have done. Instead, she found herself sitting here with his mouth moving in on her. God only knew how big his cock really was. How did she know she could really suck it? Maybe he was bigger than three men put together. What would she do if he wanted to split her open with that demon cock?
He didn’t kiss her, though. He pulled her closer and stopped himself at the last second. His lips opened to kiss her, but he held off. He hovered off, moved in, and pulled back again. Every aborted approach brought a ragged gasp to her lips. Her whole soul cried out. Did she want it or not? She wanted him to get it over with and release her, but he didn’t. He only held her. He held her captive.
Who was the captive and who was the captor? Who was really in charge here? She longed for some touch from him. Her thighs quivered in naked lust. She didn’t have to pretend he turned her on as much as she turned him on. She wanted it as badly as he did. Her lips sobbed for his kiss. Her breasts and ass and juicy triangle called out for his hands and mouth and prick.
All of a sudden, he threw her away with a rough shove. His
fingers unfurled from her neck, and he turned his head aside so she couldn’t see his face. “You’re right. We can’t do this.”
Raven’s heart sank into her shoes. He couldn’t throw her away like that, not when he worked her up into a frenzy of arousal and fermented desire. When would she ever get a man again? In three years, she never let herself feel how alone and achingly needy she’d become. She couldn’t go back to that now. She couldn’t walk out of this room with that burning need between her legs. She couldn’t walk away without some relief from him.
He wouldn’t look at her, though. He stood up and adjusted his cock inside his pants. He muttered under his breath without turning around. “You don’t have to hang around here. I’ll entertain myself until dinnertime. I’m sure you’re busy.”
Raven didn’t answer. She hung her head. Her fingers twisted in knots in her lap. This couldn’t be happening. She couldn’t be concerned if he wanted to kiss her or not. This was all just a big joke. Wasn’t it?
Azer turned around and saw her sitting there. He stopped dead in his tracks. “Raven?”
She shrugged, but she didn’t lift her head. She hated herself for sitting there. She should have laughed it off and bounced out of the house. “Yeah, I’m pretty busy. I’ve got a lot to do for the rest of the day.”
He just stood there in silence. Out of nowhere, he appeared right in her face. He dropped on his knees between her feet. He pushed between her legs, and his mouth grabbed hers in a death grip. He began to maul her mouth with torturous kisses.
His fingers caught her behind the head and crushed her against his mouth. His other arm circled her ass on the bed. He pulled her legs apart around his chest. His tongue pushed her mouth open.
After the first startled surprise, Raven collapsed into that kiss. It answered all the heartache and loneliness and unfulfilled desire burning through her guts. He was here! He was right in front of her. He wanted her after all.
Bruins Peak Bears Box Set (Volume II) Page 28