Authors: Tressie Lockwood
Sienna stopped several feet away from her alpha, and closed her eyes. She tried recalling Stella’s scent, and she thought maybe there was a hint of rosemary. Was that right or just her imagination? She opened her eyes and padded closer to Toron. He waited unmoving but watching her. The yellow gaze held expectancy. Sienna breathed in. There it was—rosemary—but it was subtle, too little to be more than what would be left behind with casual exposure.
Toron shifted. Sienna mewled at the sight of his naked body.
He touched the top of her head. “You’ve got something.”
She hesitated and then changed. To his credit, Toron didn’t allow his gaze to lower from her face. She crouched and covered her breasts anyway. When she shivered, he drew her into his arms. A wave of warmth spread over her body.
“How can you do that?” she said in wonder.
“There’s a lot more you don’t know about me.”
She bit her lip. “I want to learn. Toron…”
“Yes?”
“Did you…I mean…Oh, hell , I have to know. Are you and Stella lovers? Or is any other woman sharing your bed?”
“No.”
She gasped and twisted in his embrace to look him in the eye. “Are you just saying that to get me in it?”
He caressed her cheek with a feather light touch that brought goose bumps to her arms. “I don’t have to lie to get you on your back.”
Sienna laughed and rolled her eyes. “Arrogant jerk.”
“No, you’re just so open to me, I can’t miss what you’re feeling.”
“Damn.”
“That’s what knocked me off my feet when I first met you. I have never met a woman who could make me use my power on her without even noticing. It scared the hell out of me, and when you left I was relieved.”
“Gee, thanks.”
He kissed her hair. “Not because I didn’t crave you. I did and still do. However, there are things in my past I’ve never shared.”
“Your father?”
He started.
“I had a visit from your mother.”
He swore, and she laughed and then sneezed. Toron squeezed her and set her on her feet. “Come on. We need to get you inside. We can continue this conversation in my room.”
He strolled some feet away, but Sienna put a hand on her hip. “What makes you think I’m coming to your room?”
Toron spared her an impish glance before he shifted and ran. Sienna could come up with all kinds of excuses, but the pull the man had without even trying had her on all fours chasing after him.
* * * *
Sienna settled on Toron’s, chest, the tub filled with bubbles. He squeezed strawberry scented bath gel into a cloth, lathered it, and then ran it over her breasts. Her pussy clenched, and she mewled. He leaned his head down and nuzzled her neck with his lips.
“If you do that, I won’t be able to wash you.” The rumble of his voice sent chill s down her spine.
“I can’t help it. My nipples are sensitive.”
“If you say nipples…”
She laughed. “Basically, everything gets you hot.”
“Everything about you.”
“Tell me about your dad, please.”
He let the cloth slip from his fingers, and she felt the tension increase in his body. Sienna stroked his forearm and rested her cheek against his as a way to comfort him.
A hint of his pain reached her, but then he cut it off.
“He loved my mother more than life. She was his mate, and he would have done anything for her.”
“When you say mate, you mean like husband-wife?”
“More than that. To use a clichéd expression, she completed him. It was written in her DNA to be with him, to bear his children, to walk by his side, all of it.”
Sienna considered what he was saying. Something didn’t sit right with her. “She cheated though. Call me a romantic or unrealistic, but aren’t shifters supposed to not be able to cheat? Like once they’re bonded, they can’t be with anyone else? At least that’s how it is in books.”
“Maybe that’s how it should be.” Toron and appeared to ponder her words. “Our kind are different in many ways to other kinds of shifters. There is always an alpha, call it the king of the jungle so to speak. He may choose several partners, and he does not allow other men to rule in his pride. Remember I told you, if another man rises in my group, the beast in me is compelled to either run him off or kill him—or if he happens to be stronger, he kills me.”
Sienna shivered, and he hugged her tighter. “I can’t imagine that since you have the power of the alpha.”
“I wouldn’t use it to fight for my place. I would do it because of my authority, not my power.”
“All of this is so complicated.”
“It’s simple.”
He tipped her chin higher and kissed her. Sienna didn’t move from his embrace. She welcomed his touch and the warmth he shared. Running had been eliminated from her options, and so far she didn’t regret staying.
“My mate is the woman who completes me.”
She didn’t feel up to asking him which woman he thought that was, but asked instead, “So your father…why did he wait so long if she wasn’t faithful from the beginning?”
He frowned. “So long?”
“I thought you recently became alpha, like in the last few years.”
“My mother held the position up until ten years ago. I became alpha at twenty-one. To have a woman rule is almost unheard of among the lions, but she demonstrated the power, and she’s a strong-willed woman. My father committed suicide when I was just five years old, but I remember well. He was my world at that time. To have him taken away was more than I could bear. For a while, I hated my mother, and we still don’t often see each other.”
Sienna put a hand over her mouth and shut her eyes. For Toron to forgive must have taken a lot. Without knowing, she’d done to Simeon what Toron’s mother had in essence done to him—taken away his father. She licked her lips and swallowed the lump in her throat. “You chose to have several lovers.”
She looked away, but he made her face him. His gaze burned into hers, and Sienna felt like he wanted her to understand. Why now? Did he reach out to her just so he could secure Simeon and make sure she didn’t run off with him? What better way to keep her around than to make her fall in love with him?
“I chose never to be serious about any woman and to indulge my sexual fantasies. I thought I could live my life that way forever and one day choose a woman who could bear my children without holding my heart. I convinced myself if I never sought my mate, I would not end up like my father— broken and weak. Then I flew to New York to meet the newbie, and from there my life plan took a nose dive.”
Sienna lowered her lashes. “You mean me.”
He kissed her. “Yes, you. Baby, you are my mate. I couldn’t get you out of my head at that time or any other. I told Davon to get you to my house any way he could. I needed to spend more time with you, but I hoped I was wrong. After we made love, I let you go because I didn’t want what I knew was true. I told Hawke not to tell me any details about your life. I couldn’t bear to think about you with another man, and yet, I was tormented with the thought every day.”
His embrace tightened until she winced, and he eased his hold, kissing her cheek. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. Nothing happened between Hawke and me. He wanted it, and I was close to seeing where it could lead, but he was like a brother in my mind. I will tell you the truth, Toron. There was no one else, but also I’m not sure I’m ready for what it means to be your mate. Who you are scares me. You haven’t said you’re offering anything other than sex and—”
He put a finger over her lips. “You are my mate. I accept that. I will have you.” His gaze dropped to her breasts, and her nipples pebbled. “However, I can wait until you’re ready.”
Her eyes widened. “To be lovers?”
“Tsk, baby, you know me better than that.” Toron stood up and climbed out of the tub. He leaned down and lifted her into his arms. “I can wait until you’re ready to stand at my side. I will not wait to lie between your legs.”
Toron set her on her feet and grabbed a towel. He ran it over her damp skin, but then Sienna nabbed it from his hands. She smirked up at him and began toweling the beads of water from his chest. “I’m glad you said that because it’s been too damn long.” She followed up her words by running a hand down his perfect abs to the swelling erection at his crotch. Toron sucked in a sharp breath, and she grinned. “What? A woman can’t know what she wants?”
“By all means, enjoy yourself.”
Sienna spun on her heel and sashayed toward the bedroom. She paused long enough to cast him an inviting look over her shoulder. Toron caught her at the side of his wide bed and wrapped strong arms around her waist. The press of his cock into her lower back ignited lust in her core. Toron skimmed a palm along her belly and farther between her legs to cup her pussy. Sienna moaned.
She closed her eyes and dipped her chin into her chest.
“If we do this, Toron, I don’t want to share you. I get how you felt when your mother drove your father to what he did. You followed her footsteps anyway. No one wants to be on the other side of that, and while I’m pretty secure in myself, I’m not invulnerable.” She twisted in his arms and rested her hands on his chest. The rapid rise and fall told her he held on to his control by a thread. “If you cheat on me, I will castrate you.”
A bark of laughter escaped him, and he clasped her tighter. “You’re the only one, all there ever will be. I will prove it.”
“Well, Stella can’t live with you.”
“She moves out tomorrow.”
Sienna raised an eyebrow.
“Tonight.”
She laughed. “Tomorrow’s fine seeing it’s eleven o’clock at night. How long are you going to keep me wanting?”
“We can’t have that.” Toron scooped her up and tossed her onto the middle of the bed, and a growl rumbled in his throat as he leaped up to join her. Sienna squealed and pretended to scramble away from the big, bad lion, but he caught her leg and dragged her under him. When he brought his weight down, she shivered in excitement at the brush of his stiff cock against her thigh. She wanted it planted deep inside of her and wiggled to get it there, but Toron stilled her movements. “Oh no, you don’t. I’m going to have a little feast first.”
“Toron,” she complained.
He ignored her whine and dropped lower on the bed.
Sienna didn’t get the chance to say another word before his tongue darted out and snaked along her pussy folds. She cried out, trying to raise her hips, but he held her down.
“I remember the sweet flavor of your come, and I want to sample it again.” He gave her another lick, and she was beyond fighting him.
“Eat all of me because I am on fire. I want to come so bad, I know I will give you plenty.”
There was no more time for talk. Sienna screamed as Toron licked her from top to bottom. He delved his tongue into her passage and scooped up all the come that dripped down her channel. He locked onto her clit and sucked until she was sure she would lose her mind. Just when she couldn’t take it anymore and threatened to disturb the entire household’s sleep, she came. Vibrations rocketed throughout her body, and a sob made her press a hand to her lips.
Before she could calm down, Toron sat up and pulled her with him. He perched on the edge of the bed with her facing away on his lap. A hand in the center of her back compelled her to lean forward, and she moaned when he aimed his cock for her entrance. Sienna sank down, her pussy walls stretching around her lover. His name rushed to her lips, and he cupped a breast, pinching her nipple between two fingers. When he began rolling the tip, it was sweet agony, and Sienna ground her ass into his lap. His shaft sank deeper, and his movements turned unsteady.
Sienna leaned into him and wound the tip of her tongue along his earlobe. A hiss sounded between Toron’s teeth.
She bounced a bit faster, loving the glide of his erection deep within her and the feel of it easing out. Each time the head came close to popping free, she sank down once again. Toron’s fingers dug into her sides as if the sensations sapped his control.
Sienna picked up the pace and thumped down on him, but Toron stilled her. “No, easy, baby. I’m going to come way too soon. You must know what you’re doing to me.”
She widened innocent eyes, and he spanked her ass lightly, not hard enough to sting. Sienna blew him a kiss and then braced herself, holding onto his thighs. She wiggled side to side, and Toron swore.
“You minx!”
Toron whipped her off his lap and marched her to the wall. He thrust her hands up to lean on it and smacked her ass a bit harder than before. Sienna got a kick out of teasing him and was about to move way, but power swept her from head to toe. She tried moving her hands but couldn’t budge them an inch.
“Toron.”
He threaded his dick into her snatch and shoved deep.
She went up to her toes, squealing. He pushed until he buried himself to the hilt, and then he drew back only to slam roughly into her. Sienna screamed in delight.
“Toron, you’re holding me.” Her breath hardly elevated beyond a whisper.
“I’m not touching you, baby.”
She frowned at him over her shoulder, but he was right, his hands were clasped behind his back as he thrust into her. “That’s unfair.”
“You’re saying I’m not making you feel good?”
She opened her mouth to answer when he pounded hard and fast. An orgasm blasted through her core without warning, making her knees give. Toron captured her and raised her into his arms. He placed her gently on the bed and slipped between her legs. The man cradled her head against his chest with such a gentle touch, tears sprung to her eyes.
He filled her with himself, and she welcomed him, spreading her legs. They lay on their sides, tangled together with arms and legs. Sienna clung to him. His power receded, and now he crushed her in an embrace that had her never wanting to be anywhere but here. She murmured soft words in his ears as he moved, and within a few short strokes, his hot seed spilled inside her.
Exhausted and sated, Sienna dozed until sometime in the middle of the night she found herself on her back, and Toron nudged her thighs apart. She raised her arms and invited him in just as she did before.