Footsteps sounded behind her. Ry. Every one of her senses screamed the presence of her mate.
“They’re still awake?” He came to a halt beside her, his expression open with joy and love as he gazed at their children.
“Yes.”
Azura gave a big yawn and her brother repeated the motion two secs later.
“Not for long,” Ry murmured. “I thought you said babies didn’t sleep for long and caused their parents sleepless nights. Ours seem to sleep when we do.”
“Maybe they’ve decided to deprive us of sleep once they become teenagers. I think that’s about the time you said feline youngsters start to shift?”
“According to Lynx and Shiloh. I didn’t shift at that age, but I did everything differently from what I’ve learned since we arrived on Viros.” He tugged the covers higher so his daughter wouldn’t get cold and did the same with his son, his face full of tenderness.
Camryn’s heart twisted with longing, followed swiftly by determination. If he thought she’d allow other women to drape themselves all over her mate, he wasn’t as intelligent as she’d thought.
She leaned over the cribs, to kiss the smooth brows of each of her children. “I think they’ll go off now. They seem to wait for a good night from us before they go to sleep for the blacklight.”
Without looking back, Camryn strode into their connecting rooms and marched through the separate reception room where they relaxed on comfortable gel-seats. They had an area over to the left where they could dine if they wanted, but mostly they went down to the main dining room where they ate with Jannike and her men and Ellard and Gweneth. Nanu, Kaya and Mogens also had rooms at the castle. Sometimes Jarlath, Lynx’s older brother and his mate, Keira, plus their three adopted boys stayed in their castle suite instead of out at their farm. Life at the castle reminded her of shipboard life on the Indy.
Almost, she thought with a pang.
The crew of the Indy had experienced so much together—the hell-horse training and racing on Ornum, the visit to planet Ibrox to clear Ry’s name and meet his foster family, and the desperate flight to Manx Two in order to rescue Jannike, Lynx and Shiloh from the clutches of a slaver—and they were as much family to her as her twin brother. A fact brought home to her when they visited Earth during Christmastime and had a fun vacation together. They were safe here on Viros. Happy.
She glanced up at Ry as he strolled into their reception room.
No, not true. Ry had allowed another woman to caress his spectacular chest while in the market.
At the thought, Camryn curled her hands to fists and stomped into their chamber. A feline growl rushed from the base of her chest, pressuring her throat with its force. She gritted her teeth and refused to allow her anger release. Instead, she sat to pull off her boots then stood to disrobe. She left her clothes on the bed, and naked, sashayed to the sanitizer room.
The sanitizer room soon filled with steam and the scent of a perfumed body wash—one of her favorites from Earth that Sheera had conjured for her as a surprise after she mourned using the last of her supply. When it became obvious, Ry didn’t intend to join her, she set her jaw, pushed back her anger and hit the dry button. Instantly, warm air blew the moisture from her skin and dried her hair. She stepped from the tube.
“Finished?” Ry called.
“Almost.” She broke off a bit of the teeth-cleansing root, courtesy of Mogens and chewed until her mouth felt squeaky-clean. After spitting and rinsing, she padded into their chamber.
Ry rose as she entered, his cool, impersonal gaze up and down her naked body raising her hackles. The growl she’d refused to utter earlier, sprang from her throat and filled the chamber with an angry feline echo.
His brows rose. “Something wrong?”
“Not a thing.” She had trouble pushing the lie free, her chest aching, the weight of disappointment, of anger, of plain pissiness almost too much to bear.
He stared at her a fraction longer then nodded. “I’ll go and sanitize.”
Good, Camryn thought, her hands hurting with the force of her squeeze. She forced her fingers to uncurl, saw the pinpricks of blood and snarled under her breath. She licked away the blood and waited for her feline side to heal the wounds before she yanked back the covers and climbed into their gel-bed. Immediately, the bed conformed to her shape and sensing her tenseness, began a subtle vibrating massage to unkink her coiled muscles. Normally, she enjoyed this bed but today her tension stemmed from the heart.
Ry.
“Illumination off,” she snapped and the room went to blacklight. She wished her mate would trip over a piece of furniture and put a dent in his sexy features, although she knew this was a fruitless desire. His feline sight would grant him safe passage through the blacklight.
She lay there, eyes squeezed shut, heart pounding, muscles tight, the bed attempting to relax her while the force on her chest made her think she might explode.
The sanitizer shut off, the drying function commencing. The door squeaked open, creaked shut. A pause—probably while Ry chewed on the teeth-cleaning root. Spit. The rapid flow of water as he rinsed. The water shut off, and her pulse jumped into overdrive. She didn’t hear his sure steps through the darkness, even though she cocked her ears. She sensed him next to the bed then felt the cooler rush of blacklight air as he pulled back the covers to join her.
She swallowed, hurt and pain making her vibrate like a fine-tuned instrument. Everything churned inside her, pushing, pushing, pushing until she snapped.
“Illumination twenty percent,” she ordered and then she leapt.
She caught the surprise in Ry, the slight widening of his eyes as she sprang at him. Mere secs passed and she straddled his body and pushed down on his arms. “You let another woman touch you,” she snarled at him and shoved her face close to his. “I smelled her perfume on you.”
“No, I—”
She squeezed his biceps in warning. “I watched you. You let her trail her fingers over your chest, your face. You laughed together.”
Ry’s face blanked, but a tic in his jaw gave away his demeanor.
Camryn sucked in a huge breath, and immediately wished she hadn’t since his gaze went to her heaving breasts. Her naked, heaving breasts.
“You let another woman touch you,” she repeated. “I know you wouldn’t cheat on me, so what the fuck were you thinking?” Her voice rose with each successive word until she was shouting. Her throat worked in a swallow as she struggled to maintain her equilibrium. Now wasn’t the time for shrieking. Another quick breath helped her level out, claw back some of her simmering fury.
“I know you would never cheat on me, just as I couldn’t do that to you. The mating bonds won’t allow that sort of treachery. But that doesn’t mean you can’t hurt me. You won’t make love to me. If something has changed, you need to talk to me. Gabriel taught me that.”
Ry stiffened even more at the mention of her first husband.
“Don’t even think of complaining. Gabriel. My previous lovers, your previous lovers—they don’t matter. Each of those relationships helped to form us, to make us into the people we are now.”
“Gabriel should still matter,” Ry said in a thick voice.
“Thanks,” she said, the conciliatory words allowing her to relax her grip on his biceps. It was important he understood a small part of her would always belong to the older man who’d loved her enough to marry her. She’d loved him, mourned his passing and thought of him occasionally. Gabriel had held mana—strength, prestige and power and held the respect of many people. The Maori word fit perfectly to explain her first husband who had died without warning and set her on a journey of destruction and redemption. “If it wasn’t for Gabriel, we wouldn’t have found each other.”
“I know,” Ry agreed in a quiet voice.
“Tell me about the woman in the market. Why did you arrange for her to contact Jannike with a job?”
Surprise flickered across his face then a rueful smile curved acros
s his lips. “I should have known you would put things together. I can’t tell you right now, but I’ll tell you once I have clearance from Lynx and Shiloh.”
She felt a frown settle into her features as she stared at him, measuring his response, searching his features for any hint of deceit. When he didn’t add anything else, she released his arms and sat up. He froze when her sex pressed against his abs. Ah. Interesting. And she noted he hadn’t replied to the sex part of her tirade. “So this is something you were doing for Lynx and Shiloh?”
“Yes.”
Her lips twisted at the blunt reply. “They couldn’t let Rosina Simi paw them in case Jannike ripped them a new one?”
Ry snorted. “Something like that. She is pregnant.”
“Hey.” She slapped his arm. “I was pregnant not that long ago.”
He sobered. “I know. You were—are—beautiful. I love you.”
Which made the questions about lovemaking seep to the fore again.
“But you can tell me about her once Lynx and Shiloh give you the word?”
“Yes,” he replied without hesitation, which went some way to ease her jealousy. “But it might be several cycles. Maybe not until after your Earth Christmas.”
She nodded, some of the oomph leaving her anger at his ready agreement to tell her everything in a few days, two weeks at the most, since the date they’d calculated for Christmas was less than two weeks away. “Thank you. I look forward to your explanation, but I don’t care what you eventually say. If you let any other woman touch you in a familiar manner in my sight, I can’t guarantee my good behavior.”
He laughed, his facial muscles relaxing now that her anger had dispersed. “Same goes, sweetheart.”
Camryn leaned down and kissed him, an unhurried meeting of lips with the faint hint of apology. “Next time she comes near you, I want you to think of how you’d feel if you arrived home and could smell another man all over my clothes. And we won’t be taking the job.”
He growled as she kissed him again, and knew she’d made her point. He’d think twice before he repeated his actions. And meantime, she sat in the perfect position to begin a seduction. She deepened their kiss, using tongue and twined her fingers in his long black hair in order to hold his head in place. Every bit of her expertise poured into the sensual exchange, and mentally, she held her breath as she felt her mate hesitate. A brief way-too-long pause before he finally, finally wrapped his arms around her shoulders and drew her close.
Relief made her lightheaded as she melted against him, yet determination gave her spine steel. Tonight they would make love, and if he attempted to escape full penetration, she’d elicit the help of her friends—embarrassment be damned—to tie him up and help her with the interrogation. No way, no how would she accept failure or secrets from her mate.
With each kiss, each stroke of his callused hand up and down her back, her arousal swelled. The stress she’d experienced earlier lifted and the bed ceased its massaging at each point of contact. She glided her fingers over his arms and shoulders, pressed soft kisses, tender kisses to each of his pulse points. Wary of her recent experience, she didn’t make any overt sexual moves, wanting to lull him, have him floating on a sea of pleasure. Then, and only then, did she intend to pounce with the speed of the feline she’d become.
Heat roared over her as his hand traveled down her back and came to rest on her arse. His fingers squeezed in a pleasurable massage of her flesh, each of her nerve endings jerking to full attention with each rhythmic pulse of his strong fingers.
She moved her attention from his lips to nuzzle his neck and graze the mating spot—the same location where he’d bitten her all those long months ago. As always every part of her shot to attention, yet when he attempted to shift her from her straddled position, she fought him. For her plan to work she needed to be on top.
“Let me explore you,” she whispered. “Touch you. Kiss you.”
“You have,” he countered. “You are.”
“You’re gorgeous. Sexy.” She interspersed her words with lingering kisses on his neck as she headed again for the same sensitive spot at the base of his neck. He tensed as she neared, and instinct told her to wait. His brain was too busy and on alert. Whatever his stupid male thoughts, they’d jumped into prominence.
No, she wouldn’t make the same mistake she’d made during recent petting sessions. He hadn’t even let her get him off, which told her he’d be easy, once she slid past his defenses. Once she had him inside her, she doubted he’d manage to fight her off.
At least she hoped her plan worked that way.
She licked, enjoying the taste of his clean flesh and the hint of feline mate seeping through his pores. Pleasure and happiness increased with each silken touch. As his palm cupped one breast, she sighed and turned a fraction to gain some friction against her nipple.
“You like my touch.”
“Always.” My numskull mate, she added silently. If he didn’t understand that now…
Of course he did. He knew how much she cared and loved him.
I love you. She opened her mind and sent the mental message, yet it struck a solid wall and bounced back in a mocking echo. She scowled.
“What’s wrong?”
“Why are you blocking me?”
“You don’t like me in your head. Not all the time.”
“No, I—” She slammed her mouth shut because there were quite a few times when she snapped at him for trespassing. A woman needed some privacy. She knew Jannike and Gweneth kept the same rules, and they all built walls in their minds for privacy, so she could hardly do an abrupt three-sixty turn and lecture about him having privacy walls. “You’re right,” she said, her tone grudging because of her inner turmoil.
Surely openness during lovemaking made sense. Of course it did. But she sensed he’d run—mentally—and cease their lovemaking session, and the thought kept her silent.
Instead, she bent to run her lips over the smooth muscles of his chest and abdomen. Sexy muscles. Taut muscles. Hers to play with, not any other woman. Her teeth sank into his pectoral and he grunted.
“Hey, woman. No biting.”
She wriggled lower and encountered a full-blown erection, yet she didn’t rub against him in a suggestive manner. Instead, she lapped the pinpricks of blood that had beaded from her bite. He moaned, as she’d known he would. Felines and biting went together during lovemaking, and before this blacklight ended, she intended him to wear the signs of her passion.
Marking her territory.
Figuratively lifting her leg.
The thought amused her, soothed her feline.
They agreed. Ry belonged to them, and no other woman would touch him without sensing her ownership.
She moved downward, taking care not to alarm him with attention to his cock. Instead, she ran her lips over the indentions of his abs. Breathed in his scent. Gloried at the tightening of his hand around her breast to a point shy of pain.
Her belly twisted, need digging in claws, her channel moistening, ready—more than ready for his cock.
He’d claimed her before when they’d first met, persisted despite her objections, and she intended to return this focus, no matter what crackpot ideas inhabited his silly male brain.
Camryn lifted her body, casually stretching and pulling from his touch at her breast. Smiling, he gave her nipple a sly pinch before she freed herself, and the sharp nip settled in her pussy. Her channel pulsed with hungry need, the scent of her need wafting on the air.
He hissed out a breath, his nostrils flaring and the heat of arousal sinking into his cheeks to highlight his striking masculine features.
She grazed her fingers over one flat nipple, heard his sharp inhalation and smiled inwardly. He’d relaxed his guard. She repeated the move and his eyelids sank to half-mast. Just a little more. A lick or two. A pinch and he’d be like playdough in her hands. Ripe for her pounce.
Although her feline urged her to hasten, she erred on the side of caution.
More lulling required. More seduction for him to drop his guard completely. She drew back and levered up in order to reach his mouth. His lips smiled against hers, parting to allow her access. Their tongues stroked and danced together, and she kept the pace slow.
Lull.
Lull.
Lull.
They were both breathing hard when she finally lifted her mouth. He worked to lift his eyelids, but when she started to kiss his face, and pressed a tender caress to one eyelid, he gave up the fight.
She kissed down his neck, and blew across the tender spot where she’d marked him. A shudder worked through his big body, and when she peeked at his face, she saw his eyes remained closed.
Perfect.
She moved down his body again, gifting him with kisses and more kisses. The odd nip with an instant soothing lick of her tongue. Without haste, she moved downward, stopping before she gained too much contact with his swollen shaft. Pleasure and satisfaction bubbled within her like a fine Champagne, and she couldn’t stop herself from rocking against him, her hips jerking at the intimate contact. Raw need pushed her to hurry and she fought the urge. She rasped her tongue over his nipple, languid and lazy, then ran it down his abs, the salty taste of his skin fueling her need.
She glanced upward. Yes, eyes still closed. Her heart gave an anxious beat since she didn’t seduce him in this manner—not often—and this was important.
This had to work.
She sucked a mark on his skin, surprising a groan from him. A sexy groan. A satisfied groan. A groan of pleasure as he responded to her ministrations. Camryn ran her tongue across his belly, circled his navel and sucked another mark.
Then, as he absorbed the enjoyment from her touch, she rose abruptly, guided his shaft to her entrance and sank downward with a wanton moan as pleasure coursed through her body.
His cock filled her, made her feel even closer to her mate.
Festive & Seduced Page 6