“I like when you show your claws, Kitten. You should do it more.” His voice practically rumbled at the low tones in which he spoke, all while rubbing his thumb along my jaw lightly.
With that confusing statement, he dropped my chin and stepped back from me. Before I had a chance to comprehend what it meant, he continued on as if the odd exchange never occurred.
“Jameson requests your presence at the meeting. Said that we need someone to fetch us refreshments and appetizers until dinner is ready. It is a day of celebration after all.”
Was that a hint of sarcasm I detected?
Apparently I was on a roll with my snarky responses as I said, “I must hurry then, because whatever his highness says, goes,” while dropping into a fake curtsy.
His lips turned up, spreading into the most dazzling smile I’d ever seen, and my breath caught in response. He shoved the longer pieces of his dark hair that had fallen onto his forehead off to the side, and I wondered—not for the first time—at how the odd white patch in the front of his hair matched Milo’s.
“Do you need accompanying to the shower, Kira? We can’t have you gracing his highness in an undignified manner, now can we?” The smirk occupying his face somehow heightened the flustered feeling that Milo had inspired in me earlier.
Was he flirting with me?
The look on his face spoke of hunger, and I couldn’t figure out his abrupt change in demeanor with all the joking and flirting with me. Seth usually kept quiet around me. Never bullying me, but also never stepping in to stop it. A silent bystander.
Why was he showing interest in me now? I didn’t trust this.
Tilting my chin up in what I hoped looked like a dignified manner, I responded with fake confidence. “I don’t need you or anyone else to accompany me anywhere. I’ve had to protect myself the majority of my life here.”
His warm hand once again found my face, spurring the butterflies in my stomach to erupt once more and my lips to part.
“Why don’t you give someone the chance to protect you? Sure, it might be a first, but you know the great thing about firsts?” He traced his finger along my jaw as he waited for a response.
My lips closed and parted again, but no words came from them as I fumbled for words. My brain reeled from this odd interaction.
He leaned in close to me, his minty breath fanning across my lips with his whispered words. “Good or bad, your firsts are always memorable.”
Heat simmered between my legs, an ache traveling through my entire body from the need this man created in a matter of seconds.
As quickly as he moved in, Seth drifted away, my cheek now cold without the warmth of his touch. He strode toward the showers and called over his shoulder, “Are you coming, Kitten? You have some Daimona blood on your face.”
I chided myself internally for this infernal attraction to him.
Pull it together Kira. He can’t be trusted...
With a huff, I shut my cottage door behind me and trailed after him, glaring daggers at the large and exquisitely muscled back visible beneath the tight fit of his black t-shirt.
We made the quick walk in utter silence, and when he paused at the doorway, I ignored him and walked past into the open expanse of the bathing room.
“Make it quick, Kitten, or I’m coming in after you.”
I flipped him the bird, not quite trusting myself to speak but needing to rebel in some small form.
Now that I had opened the floodgate on speaking up for myself, I felt like I didn’t even know who I was. But shockingly, a small part of me reveled in it.
A self-satisfied smirk crossed my face as I turned one of the showerheads on and set my kit into the cut-out shelf in the wall. The water heated up quickly, enveloping the space with steam as I took my hair out of its bun, shaking it out as I stepped into the stream.
The tension in my back from my hunched position all morning began to loosen almost immediately as the hot water hit my skin. A small groan slipped from me as my muscles relaxed, and I tilted my head back into the water, letting it soak through my hair.
“Are you thinking of me, Kitten?”
My head snapped up as Seth’s voice broke my serene moment of bliss.
“If I was thinking of you, Seth, you would hear a lot of profanities,” I quipped back, satisfied with my witty responses today.
His deep laugh sounded, throwing me off. Here I was trying to insult him, and he acted like I didn’t phase him in the slightest.
What the hell?
After spending the last sixteen years as a subservient human, I guess I really didn’t have the hang of this witty and sarcastic banter after all.
“Oh, Kitten. There are many ways in which I’d love to pull profanities from your beautiful lips.”
My cheeks flushed in embarrassment as I finally understood his train of thought. I had no response for that—I was too busy trying to get my body’s desires in check.
Why did that statement send a shiver of pleasure through me?
Turning around in the shower, I grabbed my body wash from the shelf and lathered myself up, wiping every trace of the Daimona’s blood from me. It took practically rubbing my skin raw before I felt satisfied.
My hand faltered over my mound, which ached for relief from the sexual tension riding my body since that moment with Milo in the Pit. Tentatively, I parted my lips and traced over my swollen clit with a single finger. Biting down on my bottom lip to keep the hiss of pleasure from escaping, I rubbed it with only the slightest hesitation, hoping that I could bring myself to that peak despite Seth waiting just outside.
Slipping a finger into myself, I gasped at the slick heat that met me. I couldn’t recall ever being this wet and ready in my life. Something had gotten into me today, and I felt insatiable in my desire. Maybe I’d finally reached my limits on the amount of teasing and flirting I could take with Milo without shredding his clothes off and giving into my needs.
Thinking back to his mouth inches from my own and the explosive tension crackling between us, my breath hitched as I pictured that moment going further.
I imagined his hands shoving me against the wall of the Pit and tearing my shirt off to fondle my heavy breasts in his hands. His lips kissed down my neck, and his voice whispered how much his cock needed me as he unbuttoned my jeans and shoved them down far enough to access my pussy. His lips captured my mouth to swallow the moan that came from me as his fingers found their way under my thong and into my heat.
Adding another finger, I curled them slightly up to hit my g-spot. Biting down on my lip so hard I could have easily drawn blood, I pictured myself riding his fingers and screaming his name out, echoing in the small space, loud enough for outsiders to hear.
Shockingly, Seth’s face popped into my head. I considered the fact that he waited right outside, and a sudden desire for him to hear me took hold. This time, I didn’t even attempt to stop the moan that came from me, too consumed with the high of these sensations.
A deep growl came from outside, and Seth’s next words were my undoing.
“I can smell your arousal, Kitten. Are you thinking about my cock in you?”
“No,” I gasped, not wanting to stroke his ego.
He practically purred, “Tell me what you’re thinking about as you touch yourself.”
An odd need to make him jealous overcame me. “Milo... finger fucking me.”
My answer was meant to rile him as I moaned another man’s name. It worked.
Snarling, he threatened, “I’ll come in there and make you realize whose name you should be calling out.”
Continuing my languid strokes in and out of my pussy, I let his aggression fuel my desire. He wanted me.
My mind filled with images of adding him to the mix as Milo pleasured me, and I imagined his dominant words in my ears. His tongue licking the outer shell of my ear before nipping at it and wrapping a hand around my throat from behind me.
“Come for me, Kitten,” he growled from outside at the perfect moment, in tand
em with the image in my head.
The demand in his words sparked a desire in me that threw me over the edge and left me gasping as my orgasm ripped through me.
“Good girl,” he purred contentedly.
I placed a hand on the wall to steady myself as my mind reeled from what had just happened. Perhaps I had appreciated the physical aspects of Seth in the past, but I’d never allowed myself to go past a casual inspection before forgetting about him due to his unwavering allegiance to Jameson. Much less fantasize about him.
What the hell had gotten into me today?
Before I could even begin to process that, Seth’s voice rang out, lacking any of the warmth I had heard in it just seconds earlier.
“Sorry, the showers are occupied. Come back later.”
An edge laced his voice that held no room to argue.
Despite the hot water still spraying over my body, Sofia’s high pitched voice instantly ruined the lingering bliss of my orgasm as if a bucket of ice water had been dumped on me.
“You don’t get to tell me what to do, Seth. After tonight, I’ll be next in line to rule by Jameson’s side. You’d do well to remember that.” Her haughty tone made me want to punch her in the mouth. Though, I’d admit, it’s not like I knew the first thing about properly hitting someone.
A laugh came from Seth, but it carried no trace of amusement in it. That was the sound of someone thrilled at the chance to put another person in their place and keen to relish in it.
It sent a chill through me, but not in a fearful way. More of a “why the fuck am I attracted to the sound” chill.
“Sofia, you would do well to remember what I’m about to say.” He paused for dramatic emphasis, and pure venom laced his voice, “I will never bow to you, and neither will Jameson. You’ve chased after him your entire life, trying to spread your legs for him every day. When will you realize that he doesn’t give a shit about you?”
I clamped my hand over my mouth to hold back the gasp-snort threatening to spill from me. To hear her put in her place as harshly as she did to others was a moment I would cherish for the rest of my life.
Silence ensued for a few moments, and I could easily picture the rage and sneer likely painted across her annoyingly beautiful face. She looked like a doll—elegant and exquisite with her large eyes and plush lips that were somehow always stained the perfect shade of pink.
“I’ll remember this, Seth,” she tutted at him like a disappointed parent, before I heard the gravel churn beneath her feet as she turned and walked away.
He began to whistle a song I didn’t know, and my body relaxed at having narrowly missed another encounter with Sofia. This could have turned south quickly if Seth hadn’t blocked her entrance.
He’d protected me. The useless human.
That caused too many conflicting emotions to whirl in my head, and I wasn’t ready to unpack any of them to analyze the depth at this moment.
Throwing my clean undergarments on, along with my white cotton dress that was my required garment for ceremonies and gatherings, I dried my hair with the blow dryer located near the granite sinks.
Why couldn’t I have a cottage with a private bathroom?
“Come on, Kitten. I’m sure you look fine. We need to go.”
Why did him saying I looked ‘fine’ send a pang of insecurity through my brain?
Why did I want him to view me as more than fine?
How did I manage to pine after men who would likely find their fated mates tonight, no doubt forgetting about the human girl by sunrise?
Classic Kira, wanting what you can’t have.
Chapter Three
Kira
After my hair was dry, I put a small bit of make-up on to hide the bags that were painfully present underneath my eyes from the lack of sleep the past few nights. Something in me felt unsettled and anxious every time I lay in my bed, alone with my thoughts.
I had chalked it up to those my age hitting this huge milestone in their lives and knowing that despite their upcoming transition, nothing would change for me. I’d stay stuck here, doing the same thing day-in and day-out for the rest of my bleak, mortal existence.
No mates.
No true family.
Why had my parents abandoned me?
I shook my head to clear that twinge of longing and collected my supplies to leave. Maybe one day I'd find my purpose outside of the pack, if the Goddess allowed it.
I wouldn't hold my breath, though.
Emerging from the bathing chambers, I walked past Seth, pretending he didn't exist. I remained painfully aware of how he affected my mind and body, and it needed to stop.
His large hand wrapped around my bicep, the grip just light enough to stop me in my tracks. I refused to look back at him and kept my gaze forward, staring towards the path to take me back to my cottage.
He circled around to stand in front of me, his hand trailing lightly down my arm to grab mine. His fingers left a path of scorching heat in their wake. My breath hitched, and I steeled my resolve to not look into his eyes.
Why did these men have such captivating gazes? I was a goner every time I allowed myself to become ensnared by them.
He used his hand to guide mine to settle over his chest, right above his heart, laying my palm flat against him. The erratic beating of his heart matched my own, almost eerie in its synchronization.
"Look at me, Kitten," He practically whispered, a tenderness to his words that scared the shit out of me.
No. I would not fall for his act or whatever purpose he sought.
Just yesterday, we’d acted blissfully ignorant of each other, and today, it felt like two opposing forces magnetically drawn together.
My lips opened and closed multiple times before I managed to stutter out, "I...I can't."
His corded muscles pulled his black t-shirt deliciously taut over his chest and arms. I trained all of my focus on those areas in an effort to ignore the desire to look up at him.
I nibbled my lower lip softly as his hand held my chin lightly, the soft pressure tilting my head back ever so slightly. Before our gazes could lock, I ripped my head from his grip and pushed past him, bumping my shoulder against him as I went.
My chest heaved from the tension between us, but I knew that he would never truly be interested in someone like me. A mere human. And honestly, how could I forget all the years he’d just stood by and watched the others’ relentless bullying of me?
"Kitten—"
I cut him off, calling back over my shoulder with a bite to my words, "Don't call me that. My name is Kira. I'll be at the meeting in a few minutes. Stop following me."
I heard his feet crunch against the gravel as he moved to follow me, and it ignited a fury in me I wasn't aware I possessed. I whirled around and let my contempt bleed across my features.
"Did I not make myself clear? Stop following me. There is nothing we need to discuss, and no reason for us to linger around each other."
He halted mid-step and placed his hands into the front pockets of his dark-wash jeans. A flash of disappointment crossed his face.
"Kira, can you honestly deny that you don't feel whatever this is between us? I've never felt this type of pull in my life."
My heart fluttered at his words and the sincerity with which he spoke them, but I dared not believe him. Not when he'd never shown me an ounce of kindness before, and he could find the other half of his wolf's soul tonight.
My face softened, and I turned halfway around before responding, my long hair fluttering lightly around my shoulders.
"It's not fair for you to tell me things like that when we both know this can never lead to more. Why now of all times? Where was this pull between us when you stood by and watched me be harassed constantly?” My words held pain and sorrow within them, not that he’d care though, which was blatantly clear by his clenched jaw and silence.
“You're lucky enough to have the opportunity to find your fated mate tonight. Don't let anything get in the way of
that. I know I wouldn't if I was given the chance..." I trailed off, the disappointment of being an outcast human consuming my mind once more.
His continued silence served as answer enough, so I continued on towards my cabin, ready to forget about the past hour completely.
As I finished the quick walk to my home, I couldn't help but glance behind me to see if he’d followed.
The path was empty, and I quickly worked to shove down the sliver of disappointment that reared its ugly head. This was for the best. I already felt guilty enough about my attachment to Milo. I didn't need to complicate my life—or any of theirs—more than I already had.
I hurried to stow my bathing and make-up kit and gave myself a quick once-over in the floor-length mirror in the corner of my room.
My tanned skin contrasted beautifully with the white of my dress, despite its simple design. My hair had dried in soft, white waves that cascaded down my back to my waist. My black eyeliner lightly lined my bright blue eyes, and my normally white lashes were curled and full from the mascara I'd used. A pale pink blush stained my cheeks, and a clear gloss coated my full lips to finish off the look.
It wasn't much, but I made do with what I had. Every month, a few of the pack members made a supply run into the nearest town and to complete trade deals for lumber. It was the main source of income for us during the winter months.
While they were there, someone would collect the laundry list of items requested by the women for our basic wants and needs. I only ever managed to get whatever items remained in the pile after everyone had already picked through.
I slipped on my white sandals, squared my shoulders, and released a deep breath.
“You can do this, Kira. Just get through the night.”
Being around the entire pack was not my idea of a good time, but hopefully I would stay busy enough with stocking the food and refreshments that no one would pay attention to me and the night would go quickly.
As I approached the back porch of the dining hall, I entered through the french doors to the kitchen. I didn’t want to alert the pack to my presence until it was absolutely necessary. I made quick work of getting the serving platters out and assembling the finger foods on them.
Outcast: A Paranormal Shifter Romance (The Pack Prophecy Book 1) Page 2