by C. D. Gorri
He felt his chest swell and his ears perk up. Whatever she may have said, Cat reacted to him. He inched closer. A matter of pride, he told himself.
He wasn’t going to act on it. No, he had enough self-control to be able to stop himself. The black Wolf inside him growled and snapped his teeth. The hunt was on.
“So, you’re over it, huh? You have no residual feelings or anything from that night?”
“I mean, sure, I’m embarrassed, but you were right about everything, I was just a kid with a crush,” she didn’t sound as sure as she wanted to.
Cat cleared her throat and took a sip from her glass, where the dark red liquid had soothed before now it seemed to choke her. That wasn’t her fault though. Tate had somehow managed to move closer to her without her realizing it.
“Nothing but a little crush, right? And now I have absolutely no affect on you. Correct?”
Sinewy ropes of muscle corded around his tall frame. His bare chest moved with each breath and Cat was hard pressed not to stare. Acres of bronzed skin glowed in the light from the fire. She licked her lips, how she wanted to reach out and run her fingers across his smooth torso!
She quickly looked up and found herself caught in his line of vision. Flames danced in the black depths of his eyes and she saw his midnight black Wolf peering out at her. Cat wanted to move across the room. She got the distinct impression she was being hunted.
Her Wolf purred in her mind’s eye and Cat knew then that she had already recognized him. She had chosen him long ago and now she was ready to submit. Scared that his closeness would give her away, Cat turned her head and toyed with the hem of her shirt. Great choice, Cat, maybe next time walk around naked?
He brushed a strand of hair that had somehow gotten stuck to her cheek back behind her ear. The small movement had Cat wanting to lean into his feather light touch. God, he smelled good.
She cleared her throat and looked around the room for something else to talk about. You can do this, you can sit here and talk to Tate. You are an adult for God’s sake!
“So, uh, when, uh, how, oh-” it was no good, she was simply tongue-tied.
He lowered his hand and stretched it out besides hers. Not touching, but close enough that she felt his energy. It vibrated off of him in rolling waves. Strength, power, loyalty, bravery, light, her Wolf seemed to name everything she was getting from him. And she approved.
Focus on something else, Cat. She swallowed still tasting the wine on her tongue. Only now it was a bit sour.
She knew better than to back away. The Wolf inside of him would truly see her as prey if she made even the smallest of movements. She had her own Wolf though. And Cat knew how to remain under the radar. Hadn’t she been doing that for years?
“So, uh, what kind of wood is this?”
“What?”
“What kind of wood did you use to build? Is it local?”
“Yes, actually, it is local. I used eastern white pine for the walls and roof. I brought in some cedar and mahogany logs for the interior. Closets and doors, stuff like that. I like the different colors and striations in the different typed of wood. It took me four years to build this place and I’m still considering additions…,” Tate’s voice was deep and rough as he talked about trees and his cabin.
The timbre of his voice seemed to initiate a response that Cat had never anticipated. She managed not to hear a single word that came out of his mouth, all of her focus was on keeping still.
Even the tiniest movement could trigger a response that Cat wasn’t sure she wanted. The way he loomed over her, the way his eyes glowed as he looked her over, all these things told her his Wolf was very much present. And like hers, he had made a decision.
She inhaled slowly. Tate’s scent filled her nostrils. He smelled like, like coming home. The home she always wanted and never had.
Her eyes darted up and met his. Maybe she didn’t mind being the prey. Just this once. Maybe she wanted to get caught. By him. Only him.
Every inch of his six foot three frame seemed to fill the room. He was lean, but not skinny. Far from it. Thick muscles corded his entire body. Not from any gym either. Sure Tate worked out. Like the rest of the Pack, he had a tremendous amount of energy and the need to physically expel it was natural for Werewolves. But he preferred the outdoors.
Cat knew he kept a large garden at the Manor. And now she knew he did woodwork, carpentry, weaving, and plenty of hiking. His time outdoors made him all the more real. Not like the wannabes she knew at the sheriff’s department who strutted around the female officers with their spin cycle bodies and store bought abs. She preferred his natural physique to anything they had to offer.
Tate’s shoulders were wide and his skin was smooth with only a smattering of hair. Quite unusual for Werewolves. Despite his size he managed to look as graceful as a dancer when he moved.
He told her once upon a time, back when she was a kid who asked too many questions, that yes, he was Native American. He was proud of his Lenni Lenape blood. He was also pretty sure that he had some Cherokee too from his mother’s side.
Cat was so hung up on him back then that she went to the Maccon City Public Library and read whatever she could find on the “true people” of the New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Delaware region.
The Lenni Lenape were peaceful people and hardworking. She spent many nights picturing him back then. In the days of the European settlers when the Lenape would have been among the first to greet the strange pale men. His black hair would have hung down his back, the way it used to.
He would have been a warrior. Like he is now, Wolf Guard, strong, loyal, and proud. Yes, she could envision him clearly. Bare-chested and fierce. A protector. A just man and a mighty Wolf. The perfect reason for the settlers to fear the natives.
Tate was proud of his heritage, but close-mouthed about it for the most part. She had so many questions for him, but she didn’t want to seem pushy or nosy. She had no rights to him. Something she knew all too well.
Her own ancestors had come from England and Scotland. She didn’t know much about them. Her father hadn’t been prone to family narratives. Someday she would ask Rafe more about where they came from.
It would be good to know. In case she had children one day. It was difficult for female Werewolves to conceive, but if she did her manage to carry to term her children would want to know who they were. Where they came from.
She looked at Tate’s hand. The sides of his thumb brushed lightly against hers. Shivers ran down her spine and she wondered how their children would look. His coloring mixed with hers. Blue eyes and tan skin. Black eyes and blonde hair. Either way their children would be beautiful.
She raised her eyes and found herself caught in his gaze. Hunger radiated from him. Desire pouring out into her. She gasped aloud. Their scents mingled together and Cat found she couldn’t hold still any longer. Heck, she didn’t want to.
One sign, that’s all she needed. One sign that he wanted this too and she would ask him to do what she wanted him to all those years ago.
“Tate?,” the question hung in the air. Thick and tangible. She waited for him to respond.
His eyes grew darker and his lids were half closed. He licked his lips and leaned towards her, his hand wrapped around her neck as he pulled her gently forward.
“Cat?,” there was a question in his voice. One that she had waited years to hear from him.
“Yes, Tate, yes,” she answered.
His warm lips closed over hers.
CHAPTER 9
Cat couldn’t believe this was happening. One minute she was drinking wine and talking about her college days and the next minute Tate was kissing her!
The hard length of him pressed against her through his worn denim jeans. She could feel his heart pounding through the thin cotton shirt she wore. The barrier felt wrong and unnatural. She wanted to rip it off. Closer. She needed to be closer to him.
His tongue entered her mouth with long slow strokes. Cat ope
ned her mouth for him. She kissed him with everything she had. Lips, tongue, teeth. She moaned aloud when he did the same. He ground his hips into hers. She felt the rush of sweet anticipation pool between her thighs.
“Oh, God, Cat, you taste so good, better than I ever imagined,” he licked the salty skin on the side of her throat.
She swallowed hard. He was so good at this! Cat felt a purr building inside of her. Her throat rumbled with the force of it. She was almost embarrassed, but he seemed to like it. Tate licked and sucked even harder.
“I can feel you purring, mmmm. Let’s see how you like it when I do this,” Tate licked her lips once, then again. First the lower one then the top. He smiled as he ducked her mouth. Always moving just out of reach when all she wanted was to cling to his lips with hers and taste him!
He moved down, lower. Kneeling on the floor, he positioned himself just so, a devilish grin on his face. The one that used to make her heart pound when she was still in school. God, she loved that grin!
Before she could think or remark on it, he closed his mouth on her firm breast. Right over the white cotton of her borrowed shirt, Tate found the taut bud of her nipple. He circled it with his teeth first, gently scraping the sensitized flesh. Then he used his tongue. Finally, he closed his full lips over it. Then he sucked. Hard.
Cat moaned and bucked underneath him. Heat soared through her body right to her core as he nibbled on her flesh. She wanted to take off the shirt! Remove the flimsy barrier between them. As if he read her mind, Tate stood up.
She nodded at his unasked question. Grabbing his head between her hands and pulling him down hard so that his face was level with hers. She kissed him. The way she wanted to all those years ago. The way she still dreamed about if she was truly being honest with herself.
She didn’t know why this was happening right then, but Cat knew she couldn’t stop herself if she tried. Not now. Especially when she heard Tate groan with pleasure as she nibbled his lower lip.
He pulled back and it was all she could do not to follow him. He wore the most serious expression she had ever seen on his face. With slow, precise movements his hands travelled from the top of her head to her neck. His thumbs grazed her chin as he exhaled.
He took the collar of her shirt, well, his shirt actually, and gripped it in both hands. He looked into her eyes and, in one swift movement, he tore the thing in two pieces.
She was completely exposed. As naked as the day she was born awash in the orangey glow of the flames. Cat bit her lower lip and waited.
“Beautiful. God, Cat, if you want me to stop you better tell me now, otherwise I don’t think I’ll be able to,” Tate’s voice was a lower octave than she had ever heard before.
He was barely in control of himself. His Wolf eyes gleaming out at her from time to time. She liked knowing she had that effect on him. It made her feel powerful and sexy too. She slowly opened her thighs for his perusal and tugged him by the waistband of his jeans.
“Tate, I swear to God, if you stop now, I’ll kill you,” she gripped his hair as he leaned down and nipped at his neck playfully.
On a more serious note, her hands travelled down his bare back until she reached the delicious curve of his firm buttocks. Once there, she squeezed. His powerful frame trembled at her touch. He was vulnerable too. And that only made Cat want him more.
He pushed himself off of her and she felt cold immediately. Had she pushed him too far? Was he rejecting her? Did he think she was too wanton? Cat didn’t know if she could go through that again and come out whole. Her eyes widened.
“Cat look at me. I want you to watch what it is you do to me, what I’ve been trying to hide from you for years,” he stood up slowly.
She watched as he easily unwound his body from the floor. His body was a finely honed instrument. Lethal and beautiful at the same time. She loved looking at him. His hands went to the button of his fly and he proceeded to open his jeans with devastating patience.
Cat thought she’d burst from watching him. He moved so slowly and deliberately. He was perfect. All his perfection outlined in the light of the fire.
Every inch of his muscular body seemed amplified in the play of shadow and light. He looked like that ancient warrior she had so often imagined. Fierce, powerful, strong. And she wanted him so damn badly.
For too long she felt empty inside. Sure she had her brother, but Cat’s family life left a lot to be desired. She had focused on her career after Tate had turned her down on prom night. She wasn’t sorry exactly, she did love her job. But something or someone was missing from her life. She wondered if she wasn’t looking at him right then.
Nudity was not as difficult for Wolves as for normals. But when Cat looked at Tate fully aroused and unclothed for the first time she gasped. Her eyes wavered from his coal black eyes back down to where his thick erection sprung from his hard, muscled body.
He was so big, so hard, and so beautiful she wanted to lick him from tip to shaft. Used to taking what she wanted, Cat rose to her knees in front of him. She took his huge length in her hands and instinctively she pumped him once, then twice.
Tate sucked in a breath of air as she circled him with her soft as milk hands. With her eyes never leaving his face, she put the tip of his swollen cock into her warm mouth and sucked.
Tate hissed out a sharp breath as she took him inside of her perfect mouth. The moist heat there was almost enough to make him explode right then. Get control of yourself.
Tate rested his hands on her shoulders as she did things to him with her mouth that he had never experienced. He was no virgin, but dammit if Cat didn’t make him feel like one.
He growled and moved his hands to that golden head of hers that drove him wild. He had dreamt of getting his hands on her hair for so long, he just never thought it would be like this.
“Oh God, Cat!,” he bit back a moan and dropped his head back as she continued her tantalizing exploration.
Perfection. The woman is perfection. Naturally beautiful and smart. And she was devouring every inch of him with her hands, lips, tongue, and teeth. Tate sucked in a breath through tight lips. Hot damn.
Cat’s hands travelled further down his body. He tensed. He hadn’t felt that way since he was a teenager. Heck, maybe he never felt that way. Not with anyone else. Ever.
Cat. This is Cat. Finally….
With her long nails she traced the muscles that corded his thighs and calves. She cupped his buttocks and gave them a strong squeeze before gripping his hips and taking him deeper in her throat.
Oh damn…Hold it, Tate, not yet…
Finally, as if she anticipated just where he needed her, she traced the line of his scrotum and cupped him with one hand while she gripped the bottom of his shaft with the other. She moved her hot, wet mouth to the the very tip and sucked. Hard.
Tate growled. He damn near lost it himself right then.
“No more, no more. Come here, Catriona, I need you,” he lifted her up off the floor with both his hands easily.
She went willingly. Her blue eyes were hazy and glazed over with pleasure. And he hadn’t even started yet.
He swung her body up by her firm ass and she immediately circled his hips with her long legs. Tate grunted and let the head of his cock rest just inside of her. She was tight and so very hot. He wanted to slam into her. But not yet. Slowly. He needed to go slowly.
She bucked impatiently. And he grinned. She wanted him all of the way inside of her. Maybe even half as much as he wanted to be there. To ease the formidable ache that was growing inside of him. He had never experienced anything like it before. But not yet. No matter how loudly his Wolf roared to him that he claim her. Mark her as his own. Mine.
“Not yet, Catriona, not just yet. First things first.”
He smiled and lowered his head to her lips. Sucking and biting, then licking to soothe. What was it Anthony Keidis sang on one of his favorite Red Hot Chili Pepper albums of all time? “Pleasure spiked with pain.” That’s what t
his was. Grrrr….delicious.
He covered her breast with one large hand and he rolled her taut nipple between his fingers. His entire body seemed to pulsate with longing. All he wanted to do was take her. Long and hard. Still, he resisted pushing into her for all he was worth.
Instead, he backed her against the hard log cabin wall and rested her buttocks on one particularly fat curve that he had carved out as a shelf. With one flick of his wrist, he knocked down the few knick-knacks he had collected. A pond rock, a sea shell, an empty frame he had carved from a piece of driftwood.
None of it as important as the woman in his arms.
He unlocked his mouth from hers and bent his dark head to minister to her neck. She gripped the wall for support. Tate used that to his advantage. He took both her firm breasts in his hands and tugged on her nipples until she cried out in pleasure.
He watched with pride as she tossed her head from side to side and grabbed his wide shoulder with one hand. He sank to his knees and put one plump nipple in his mouth. He suckled her greedily. And damn him if she didn’t taste like the sweetest thing he had ever experienced!
Like spicy heat and pure desire, blinding sunshine and spring rain. She was temptation itself. Personified lust. Her tight body as succulent as the ripest peach. Tate’s eyes rolled back as he licked and sucked every inch of her perfect breasts.
Slowly, ever so slowly. He worked his way down her sculpted abs. He fit both hands around her small waist. She was fit and gorgeous. All woman. All his.
He took his time at her belly button, Licking and kissing her, loving the way she gasped with her wide mouth open and her teeth biting her bottom lip. Mmm…later.
Tate made a meal out of her. Using both of his hands he pushed her knees gently apart. When he finally made his way to the plump bud at the center of her long smooth thighs Cat began to thrash about nervously. Like a caged animal.
“Shhh, baby, I got you. I got you now,” Tate whispered as he leaned in closer. He let his hot breath touch her just where he wanted to put his tongue. To let her know just what he intended to do.