Mating Instinct (The COMPLETE Ridgeville Series)

by Kyle, Celia

  She didn’t utter a sound when the actress begged for more as her small, pink nipples hardened.

  And if Tess’s grew taut as well, pressing against her thin tank top until the nubs were easily seen, neither of them said anything.

  Then the woman slid her hand down between her legs, disappearing from sight, but Tess could imagine what she was doing.

  And if Tess’s arm twitched, jerking toward her pussy so she could rub her aching clit, neither of them said anything.

  Above all, when her pussy clenched and released more of Tess’s cream, the scent permeating the air, neither of them said anything.

  A shudder overtook her, and a bolt of arousal caused her limbs to jerk. Her clit twitched, silently begging for a touch that wasn’t her own. She’d never been stroked and caressed by hands that didn’t belong to her, and Harding’s closeness left her with a big case of “what if.”

  Warm, moist air bathed her neck. “See something you like, Tess?”

  She did. Oh, God, she did. She wanted to be that woman writhing in pleasure instead of the scared little thing she’d turned out to be. She wanted…

  One of those tormenting hands ghosted over her mound, teasing her weeping pussy. Cloth still separated them, but the heat of his palm cupping the juncture of her thighs was unmistakable.

  She was going to push him away. Any moment now.

  Then he rubbed her. His hand stroked her in gentle, unhurried movements. Up, then down, then up again. He didn’t try and delve beneath the fabric of her shorts, didn’t push things any further. He didn’t have to. No, not when that foreign touch was enough to get her panting. No one had ever explored her body, stroked her pussy or made her feel like a desirable woman.

  No one but Harding.

  As the woman on the screen writhed and begged, he increased his pace. The pressure remained light, but his speed… Oh, God! He tormented and teased her, rubbing and stroking and easing her toward the edge. If he kept this up, she’d come, she’d whimper and scream his name and bring the entire compound running to her side.

  She’d make him stop.

  In a minute.

  Because she was there, right there, right on the edge now and gathering her strength to fly off the cliff. Her untried pussy clenched and tightened on air, seeming to scream for something thick and long to slide inside.

  Harding had something thick and long.

  No, bad Tess.

  Yes, she was very, very bad. She was wicked and naughty and…

  So, very, very close to coming. The ultimate pleasure loomed, and she could almost grab the sensations. One more caress, one more stroke of his fingers over her cotton-covered pussy, and then she’d—

  The hard scrape of a fang snapped her from her thoughts. The sharp tooth slid over her skin, tracing the length of her neck, and then Harding nipped her earlobe. “Tess?”

  That nip. Fuck. How could she be so stupid? She’d already risked enough by being near him, but to get this close to ruining so many lives was just selfish. And stupid. Her wants and desires were nothing compared to the safety of others.

  Her arousal quickly died, deflating until no hint of the desire she’d felt existed any longer. Then she jerked away from his teeth, the deadly points that carried both pleasure and so much pain for shifters. “Lemme go, Harding.”

  “You smell so good, sweet.” He nuzzled her, another slide of his fangs over her vulnerable skin. It’d be so easy to let him take over, nibble and kiss her until she was willing to do whatever he wanted. But then those nips would grow more insistent. She’d seen it often enough. Shifters derived pleasure from biting while fucking, and she didn’t imagine Harding would be any different. Except biting a human, even if she wasn’t purely human, would initiate the Change, and that could never, ever be risked.

  Because there was no telling what she’d become.

  She’d kill herself before she released that level of crazy on the world.

  Tess jerked against his hold, spine stiff while she struggled. “Lemme go.” Another yank. “Now, Harding.”

  “Tess?” He hesitated for a bare second, hold easing, and she took her chance.

  With a great wrench, she bolted, putting as much space as she could between them. She wrapped her arms around her stomach, suddenly feeling underdressed and exposed. The scent of her cream still surrounded her, but it was muted, distant now that her desire had fled. “You need to go.”

  Need abandoned his features, and confusion took its place. How she wanted to wipe those lines away, assure him that everything was fine. But it wasn’t. She’d come so close… Even in the low light she saw the thick length of his cock straining against his sweats. Her body wanted him, craved him. That part of her that hinted at an inner-animal urged her to get closer, bathe in his flavors and give in to his every desire. But the human half wouldn’t risk it.

  “You need to go, Harding.” Her voice was hoarse, pain tainting the words, but she was resolved. This wasn’t happening.

  “I don’t understand.”

  “You don’t need to. You just need to walk away.” She looked away from him, hating herself.

  “That’s not happening.” He growled at her, but she refused to relent.

  “Yes, it is,” she snapped. “I’m being noble, damn it. It’s better if this ends before it becomes something more.” It wasn’t just the world she worried about. There was her heart to consider, too. Already she was more drawn to him than any other. There was no denying the string that tethered them together and grew shorter every day. Bit by bit, that length tugged until it was becoming harder to avoid him.

  He moved quicker than she thought possible. One moment he was across the room, and the next he stood before her, over six feet of heavily-muscled male nearly touching her needy body. He buried his hands in her hair, fisting the strands and yanking her head back until she was forced to meet his gaze.

  “It already is more.” His eyes paled even further. “It’s more and more and then even more.” The smooth planes of his face sharpened. “I’m never letting you go.”

  She tried to shake her head in denial, but he held her fast. “You have to.”

  His fangs dropped, distorting the shape of his mouth. “Never.”

  A shiver overtook her, a hint of fear and intense desire warring inside her body. No one had ever wanted her like this. There’d been those that craved her, evil spurring their actions, but this was something different. It was a primal call that her body wanted to answer. Badly.

  “Harding…” His name left her lips with barely a whisper and she felt her resolve crumbling. “You need to let me go. I know the Council has been looking for somewhere to send us. Tell them to find me a small town, and then you need to let me go.”

  It was better that way. For everyone. If she didn’t put space between them soon, she’d do something very, very stupid.

  He took a deep breath, his eyes drifting closed, and they stood there and let the seconds pass.

  The soft moans and groans from the TV wrapped around them, but Tess didn’t truly connect with the actions on the screen. She only had eyes for Harding, her entire attention focused on the massive shifter. He could snap her neck without a thought, yet he held her so gently.

  He didn’t look at her, his vision still masked by his lids, as he spoke. “Help me find the person who attacked me and then see if you can figure out if any of the women are still Freedom supporters. Do that, and I’ll send you away.”

  Tess’s heart broke a little, a tiny piece splintering off from the whole, and she watched it fall into the black void.

  It was for the best.

  But why did doing what’s best hurt so fucking much?

  41

  “Angry people need hugs. Or to be stabbed with sharp objects.” — Maya O’Connell, Prima of the Ridgeville Pride and woman who is more than a little bloodthirsty.

  The next morning Tess dove into her task, intent on getting away from temptation as quickly as possible.

  If
only temptation hadn’t decided to plop his too-sexy ass next to her.

  Initially, she’d decided that the best place to interview the women was her bedroom. With the reinforced walls to dampen the voices, it was the perfect spot to open herself up. There wasn’t a threat of being overwhelmed by the compound residents.

  Then Harding had strolled in, his massive body seeming to take up half of her small room. He stood just inside the doorway, wide shoulders barely clearing the frame, and simply stared at her. Stared as if she were the sun, moon, and stars in one. Yet as quickly as the emotions flitted across his face, they disappeared into an indifferent mask.

  That was good, right? Because she didn’t want to see the desire from last night. She didn’t want to see him craving her like she craved him. Nope. Not at all.

  Someone needed to tell her heart that.

  Tess moved deeper into the room, putting more space between them as she fought her body’s desire. It’d be so easy to give in to him. So very, very easy. And so very, very stupid.

  She padded to the bed and settled on the soft mattress, leaving the desk chair to him. Or the wall. Or anywhere other than next to her. She’d have to share the bed with her first interviewee, but it was better than sharing it with Harding. Naughty, dirty things happened in beds. If he was laying with her, it would be mere seconds before they were naked.

  Wiping her sweat-dampened hands on her jeans, she fought against the nervous flutter of her stomach. “Harding? What brings you here?”

  Okay, that was the lamest thing to say. Ever.

  The indifferent mask melted into one of pure anger. The hard lines of his cheeks joined the solid white slash of his lips. “You’re meeting with Jackie this morning.”

  “Yes.” She nodded. “I doubt she’s responsible for what happened to you. She’s not that strong. But it doesn’t mean she’s not a supporter. Her anger is…”

  “She hates you.” Harding released a mirthless laugh.

  “Does she?” Tess raised a brow. “Or is it a cover?”

  “You said—”

  “I said that she hated me because of our past.” She shrugged. “It doesn’t mean she doesn’t believe in the cause. You forget that I got shuttled around. There’s no telling what could have happened when I wasn’t present. Hating me and supporting Freedom aren’t mutually exclusive.”

  Harding remained silent, his eyes no longer focused on her, but distant. She practically saw his thoughts tumbling through his mind, their low buzz stroking her consciousness in a vibrating caress. She couldn’t manage to snag a single one, but they rolled around in his head.

  She let her gaze wander over the rest of him, noting the tension in his limbs as well as the bags beneath his eyes. He hadn’t slept last night either. Good. She’d been torn apart all night, her body demanding that she hunt him like prey while her mind screamed that it couldn’t happen. There was too much risk, too much at stake. Selfishness had no place in her life. Not now, not ever.

  His gaze finally snapped to her, his mouth opening to speak, but he swallowed the words when Jackie pushed past him. Well, pushed was a bit of an exaggeration. Jackie shoved at Harding, but she barely managed to dislodge his arm, his limb shifting just enough for the twig of a woman to slip by.

  Jackie had her trademark sneer in place, accentuated by blazing gold eyes. A shiver of dread tinged with a dash of fear overtook Tess, but she shoved it down. Fear had no place when it came to dealing with Jackie. Hell, it had no place at all in a compound filled to the brim with shifters.

  “Why am I here?” The woman flexed her hands, and the slow emergence of lengthened, sharp nails was easy to see.

  Tess cleared her mind, shoved at the rage that threatened to overwhelm her. “With what happened to Harding and—”

  The man in question cut her off. “Because the Council ordered it. Now sit and do what Tess says.” His tone brooked no argument.

  That didn’t stop Jackie from glaring and baring her inch-long fangs at him. With a hiss, she moved away from Harding. Jackie inched around the room, finally settling in the office chair in front of the desk. The woman didn’t say another word as she glared at Harding.

  Tess took a deep, cleansing breath and then turned her attention to Jackie. Hands outstretched, she approached the woman, refusing to let her trepidation show through. Mentally, Tess was more powerful. Physically, not so much. Touching Jackie would put Tess at the other woman’s mercy.

  Not something she was looking forward to.

  The glow in Jackie’s eyes intensified with Tess’s approach, and the cloying stench of anticipation and bloodlust hit her, blanketing her in the gooey scent. Yet Tess continued. She had a goal, a purpose. She simply had to scan four women, find Freedom supporters and Harding’s attacker, and she’d be free. So simple and so complex at the same time.

  Harding’s massive body stepped between her and Jackie, cutting her off from her destination.

  “What are you doing?” He snarled at her, and she jerked back in surprise.

  “You wanted me to scan her, so I’m scanning her. I need to touch her to dig—”

  “The fuck you will!” Jackie fought to come around Harding, claw-tipped fingers reaching for Tess. “I’ll kill you first, you stupid cun—”

  “Enough!” The roar was loud enough to shake the room’s reinforced walls.

  Shrugging his shoulder, Harding brushed off Jackie’s touch, forcing the woman to stumble back into the chair. An oomph came from Jackie, and Harding spun toward her. A low whisper filled the air, Harding furiously hissing at the other shifter, but the words were too low for Tess to hear. Finally, he straightened and turned aside, allowing her to see a now pale-faced Jackie.

  “I don’t want you touching her.” Harding snarled the words.

  Tess sighed. “It’s necessary. I can’t get deep enough unless I—”

  Jackie curled her lip but remained silent.

  A low growl rumbled through the room. The deep baritone dug beneath Tess’s skin and sent her bones rattling. “What about through me?”

  She furrowed her brow. “Through you?”

  “I’ll touch her, and you can touch me.” The words were thrust past lips that were now more animal than man.

  “I’ve never tried…” She let the idea roll through her, thinking on the intricacies of navigating one mind to get to another. It wasn’t as simple as opening a door and padding through a room. She had her animal tendencies to overcome, and she had to hope that Harding’s two halves didn’t fight against her presence as she crept into Jackie. Coupled with Harding’s attraction to her, she wasn’t sure if they’d be alive when all was said and done. “I don’t know. You’ll be so open …”

  You’ll be open to her. She’ll be able to see you. She’ll be able to look at your every memory while I search through her. She’ll see your parent’s deaths and your suffering and…

  Harding snared Jackie’s wrist, wrapping his fingers around the slim bones. The woman fought and jerked against his hold, yet he didn’t move an inch.

  With her secured, he held out his other hand for Tess. “Do it.”

  Tess stared at his hand, noting the crisscross of scars that decorated his skin. Memories that she’d been suppressing with all her might—Harding’s memories—threatened to overwhelm her. And they’d been so, so detailed. The stench of his parent’s blood as it coated the asphalt… The burning gas and oil from the engine… The heavy dirt of the forest that rested beneath the overturned car…

  He’d been alive, crawling and stumbling toward his parents. He still walked on his left leg. The break was nothing, even if the bone nearly broke through his skin. He hadn’t recognized pain. There’d been nothing more important than his mom and dad and helping them and…boom.

  She hadn’t had the opportunity to see much more after that. Not with the renewed attack and…

  A warm hand enveloping hers snared her attention. “Do it, Tess.”

  Tess stared into those glacier eyes, searching fo
r true permission. Words were nothing to her. It was in the eyes…

  And she found what she needed. Acceptance of what she would find, what they would go through together, and trust that they would emerge whole on the other side. Trust. A simple word, but so complex when she saw it as something physical.

  She hoped she deserved it.

  Dear God: please don’t let me fry anyone’s brain. Please.

  * * *

  Please let her not fry my brain. Please.

  That was his last thought before Tess took over. Suddenly her entire presence filled him, sliding into every part of him, crawling into each nook and cranny. Much to the joy of his lion. The beast bounded to her the moment she materialized, rubbing his scent all over her ethereal body. It rumbled and purred, head nudging her hip as he moved around her. The cat’s fangs scraped her wrists and he nudged her palm with his muzzle, encouraging her to pet him.

  Needy beast.

  Tess’s tinkling laugh filled him with joy. “You’re just jealous.”

  Harding didn’t deny it. True, the cat was part of him, and any affection Tess gave the feline was affection to him, but it was…different. She was snuggling the beast, not the man. After last night, he wasn’t sure if she wanted the man. And that irked the hell out of him.

  The lion grumbled, nipping and tugging on Tess. Beneath it all, Harding sensed a word emerging from the beast’s mouth, a single syllable that would send the world crashing down around him. She’d already told him that mating and men weren’t in her future. How would she react to finding out she was his mate? Because when all was said and done, she’d be his. He hadn’t had anything of his own to love in so long… Tess was his, damn it. His.

  A low growl reached him… Mmmmmiiiii—

  Tess? Jackie is getting impatient. She’s fighting… He let his words drift into the ether. A small lie, but enough to pull her away from the lion, who was poised to ruin things even further.

  “Right.” She nodded. “Just hold on. I have to leave a hint of me here, but I’ll move on to Jackie. You’ll…” She paused and nibbled her lower lip. “You’ll get a bit of feedback. Try to remember that it’s not your memories filtering through, but hers. I’m not sure what I’ll find, but it could be…bad.”