MadMoon (5 page)

Sometime later, she woke up to find herself still alone and
when she checked the bedside clock, noted it was well after two. He should have
been home by now. Thinking to check things out, she slid from the bed and made
her way downstairs.

At the bottom on the stairs, she paused in the foyer then
glanced toward the back of the house. She’d left the stove light on in the
kitchen but when she saw a soft yellowish glow coming from the office, she
headed that way.

Anticipation along with a major case of nerves swept her as
she approached the open doorway and peeked inside. Mad sat sprawled in a chair
behind the desk, looking over a stack of what appeared to be receipts, light
from the computer monitor casting his face in partial shadows.

Hotter than hell, this man.

Lana’s belly tightened and her nipples swelled to rub
against the thin cotton of her nightie. Could any lycan lady be luckier than to
have this man for mate?

Well…her almost-mate.

There had been no frantic fucking, no toe-curling-kisses,
and any touching had been at night while they slept and that didn’t count. If
Madden didn’t make a move soon, she might scream. He glanced up at her and
smiled. He seemed tired.

“Why aren’t you in bed?” she asked, still poised in the
office doorway. “You look like you’re about to fall over.”

“Have some bills to go through, then I’ll be up.” He gave
her a sexy grin and leaned back in the leather wingback office chair. “I was
feeling kind of beat but the sight of you has perked me right up.”

“Glad I could help you with that,” she teased. He hadn’t
invited her in but Lana sensed he would welcome the distraction. She went
farther into the room and stopped by a chair. “Are you too busy to chat?”

He shook his head then, after she sat, he looked at her. He
was no longer smiling or teasing, his gaze turning positively predatory as he
studied her. “How are you?”

“I’m fine.”

“No trauma from being chased through the woods by two
shitheads?”

“Unh uh.” Lana had a feeling she knew where this
conversation was headed. Bring it, Madden, bring it! She’d wanted nothing but
to get down and dirty with this man since they’d met and his caution with her
was getting on her last nerve. Messing up the sheets with her intended mate was
the only cure for what ailed her.

“What about your dad? Are you still tired from running?”

“No. No, Madden, I’m not tired. I’m not stressed-out either.
I’m just—”

Silence fell then stretched into the space between them.

“You’re just what, darlin’?”

She swallowed, tension ratcheting up a notch. “Tired of
waiting, Madden,” she whispered. “I’m sick of waiting for my life to begin.”

“Oh yeah?” He practically purred the question.

“Yeah.”

“Then what do you say we do something about that?”

Mad was sick of dicking around.

He’d been burning the midnight oil for far too long, using
any excuse possible to give her time to rest, de-stress, and make herself ready
for what was fixin’ to go down between them. She’d had enough brutality in her
life and he wasn’t about to push her. A mate didn’t behave that way. Any man
worth calling himself a man treated his woman with respect and care. He’d
learned those lessons at his father’s knee. His parents’ marriage had been as
near perfect as he could imagine and he wanted the same for himself and Lana.

As he’d sat here tonight, his patience nearing an end, he
thought about how he would approach this mating business. In most lycan
cultures, sex built up slowly until the night of consummation when the male’s
cock would swell heavily at the base, locking mates together for hours of
mind-blowing sex. Then the female would shift into her beast safely and the
mated pair would spend their lives together, hunting and making little wolf
babies. With Lana, things were different because she had already shifted, but
Mad believed she deserved as much of his pack’s traditions as he could give her
and he’d been thinking about that tonight.

Would they have sex?

Oh hell yeah.

They’d have a lot of it, but he wanted to save the
electrifying power of the consummation itself for later. Mainly, he wanted to
get to know her. He wanted to ease into sex despite the howling needs of his
inner beast for a fast, primal mating.

“Do you know what happens to males of our pack when we
consummate a relationship with our mates, Lana?”

Lana went still on the chair. “I think so. Mom told me some
stuff. She said that in most packs there is first the consummation and then the
female shifts for the first time. We don’t get to do that.”

“How do you feel about that?”

“I think that women in my pack miss out.”

“Former pack.”

“Excuse me?”

“You are no longer of the Snow Wolf pack. Now you belong to
us, to me. You are a beautiful, strong lycan female of the Texas Rogues and you
will be my lupa.”

She shook her head quickly. “I forgot. I’m sorry, I wasn’t
thinking.”

Mad let several moments pass. He lowered his voice, needing
to be clear. “Do not apologize to me, Lana. I’m not going to belittle you or
hit you. There is no need to be afraid of me. Ever.”

“Okay. No apologizing.”

“Good. I’ve been doing some thinking tonight and I have come
to a conclusion or two. We are going to have sex, a whole lot of sex, beginning
tonight. Got that?”

Lana nodded.

“I don’t care that you’ve already shifted, honey. I want you
to have what every other female wolf has when she finds her mate. We’re going
to go slow and experiment with the mating energy because I have no idea how
much heat we’ll generate together and I want you ready to handle final
consummation. How does that sound to you?”

She eyed him steadily but quickly licked her lips, a sign of
hidden nerves. “It sounds good. Yes, fine.”

He stood from his chair and walked around the desk until he
could prop his butt on the edge. “After we’ve fucked in every way known to man,
woman or wolf, we’ll consummate this thing once and for all. You deserve the
fairy tale. You and I are luckier than most to find a mate ordained by the gods
and I’m not about to shortchange that event by letting the rituals go by the
wayside. We’ll consummate and then my pack will throw us the best consummation
party Sweetridge has ever seen.”

Lana stared up at him, no doubt stunned by his little
speech. Had he ever said so many words strung together at once? Madden didn’t
think so but he wanted her to know how things were going to be before they
started. “Lana?”

“Yes?”

“Stand up.”

“Oh boy,” she breathed.

He wanted to smile but was too fucking turned-on to do so.
Lana stood in front of him and he reached out to pull her between his spread
thighs. His hands went to the line of pearly buttons on the front of her shirt
and she sucked in a breath as he slowly circled the top button with the tip of
his index finger. “Did your mom tell you that when we finally fuck during the
consummation my cock will swell at the base and we’ll be locked together for
hours?”

Bright color washed Lana’s high cheekbones and she looked so
damn beautiful that his cock went impossibly hard. Finally, she nodded. “That
doesn’t happen for our pack but—”

“What did I tell you about that? You are no longer Snow
Wolf. As a Rogue, you’ll experience what our females do. How do you feel about
my cock getting that big? Have you ever imagined how something like that will
feel?”

“I have no experience with it. I’ve never had sex, Madden.”

“But what do you think?”

“It sounds a little scary, but scary in a good way. Is that
what you are trying to do? Make me afraid?”

Slowly Mad unbuttoned the top fastening then moved lower
until he’d slid the next button free. Continuing down, he watched the soft
fabric begin to part, giving him tantalizing little glimpses of her creamy
flesh. The inner slopes of her breasts were white and he wanted to bury his
lips there, stroke that skin with his tongue, taste the sweetness of her body.
Giving in to temptation, he swept his hands inside the shirt to spread it open
then settled his palms against the curve of her upper back. Hauling her close,
he pressed his lips to her throat. “What do you think, Lana? Do you think I
want to scare you or fuck you?”

“Fuck me,” she whispered.

“I plan to. I’ve been patient and you have no idea how hard
it was not to pull you beneath me in bed every night and take you in fifty
different ways. You’re all I think about and I’m sick of only imaging how good
it’s going to be.”

“Mad, oh honey.”

Her hands settled against his chest and when she flexed her
fingers there, a current whipped through his body, potent, reminding him that
she was his to take. He forgot to breathe. In the space of a moment he went for
what he wanted and, growling low, his beast awakening to the promise of sexual
release, he spun her until Lana was pressed to the desk. Launching his assault on
her body, he ground his cock against her sweet pussy. Over and over he pressed,
slid, then pressed again, loving her heat, knowing the denim of his jeans
provided a rough touch where she most needed it.

Lana’s head dropped back like the broken stem of a daisy,
the sight so tempting Mad filled one hand with her hair and leaned in to taste
the delicate tender flesh of her neck. While nipping and sucking her skin, he
dry-humped her until finally, he couldn’t stand it. He needed more. Had to have
it.

Mad slipped the satiny shirt from her shoulders and it
pooled on the desk behind her. She was naked except for a pair of miniscule
panties. The spit dried in his mouth. His body ached to have her. He reached
for her breasts and filled his hands with them. They were pale, perfect globes,
pink-tipped and succulent, the nipples hard against the palms of his hands. He
needed to be closer and he needed it now.

Dragging his hands to her waist, he lifted and turned her
until she sat on the edge of the desk. He spread her legs wide then stepped
between them and wrapped his lips around one taut nipple. Sucking hard then
softer, alternating the pressure, he ate at her flesh as Lana grabbed his hair
and held on. Mad applied his teeth and tongue to first one nipple, then the other.
One of her long legs curled over his hip as if to bring him even closer and the
action dragged a low moan from his throat.

He’d worried about pushing her but damn it, a man could only
take so much. The image of her had hovered at the edges of his brain since he
had first clapped eyes on her. After everything that had happened since then,
he was a goner. Both of them knew the Alpha called the shots and essentially he
didn’t have to ask her permission but damn, he was glad he had it.

She wanted him too.

Her passion blasted through him, a wave of heat touching him
in ways he’d never thought possible. He’d fucked more females, both shifter and
human, than it was possible to recall, yet this woman-on-the-run was different.
It was as if the very air in which they stood were electrified, impossibly
charged and filled with a lust that threatened to burn him to ash.

Emotion tangled with physical desire as that slithering
energy rolled through his belly and his bones. He’d suspected she was special
from the very first and now he knew. She was his…now and forever. Mad had
learned at his father’s knee that when men from their pack found a mate it
wasn’t just physical but more. Metaphysical. It was a connection impossible to
duplicate or break.

His. His. His.

The urge to possess rose higher within him, calling to the
beast that snarled and snapped its pleasure. He and the beast were one and the
same. Dangerous, primal lust built inside his body. The dead last thing Lana
needed was lust run amok. Dragging in a breath, he tried to staunch the
savagery of his nature. It wasn’t easy. Her scent filled his head. He wanted to
howl.

Learning her body, he plied a nipple with his thumb and
forefinger while sucking the other. He pinched lightly, testing her, and felt
her fingers clench in his hair. Her other leg whipped around his hip to pull
him closer.

He wanted everything with her and then some.

Wanting to watch her face when he touched her, he released
her breasts and brought a hand between their bodies to search out her deepest
heat. Her belly was soft and sweet but lower, yes lower, he found what he
craved. Mad slid his thumb along the center of her satiny panties, finding the
tight knot of her clit pressed against the drenched fabric. He took it between
his fingers to press and play. A current swept the air, hot and charged. He
swore he heard sparks
clicking
and
popping
in an atmosphere that
was filled with the scent of her passion.

Lana pressed her lower body against his teasing fingers and
made a tiny sound of frustration. He wanted the damn panties gone but if he got
her totally naked now they’d never make it to his room and he wanted his first
time with her to be there rather than on the surface of a desk.

“If I could, I’d be on you in two seconds flat, darlin’, but
it’s not going to work that way.”

She looked at him, her eyes shining, expectant and a little
confused. “Wha—?”

“I’m going to fuck you but it won’t be here, at least not
this time. I want you under me in bed. Hang on.” He settled a forearm beneath
her ass and lifted until she was wrapped around his body like a hot fluffy
blanket. Lana sighed. Her arms and legs slipped around his waist to hold him to
her and then she buried her face against the column of his neck. Carrying her
up the stairs to his bedroom was sheer torture. Her drenched pussy, covered
only by that miniscule scrap of satin, rubbed against his belly with each step
he took and the thin barrier of his tee shirt didn’t hide the fact that her
body was practically steaming. With every step he was made aware that they were
in this together.

In lust. In heat. Needing.

By the time he stepped with her through the doors of his
master bedroom, Mad was ready to roar with sexual frustration. The wolf inside
him curled and rolled, calling to life animal instincts that were natural but
had been relatively tame until now, further evidence that she was the mate
meant for him. He walked to the side of his bed and flipped on a lamp that sat
upon his nightstand, then turned to her. Her beauty, her sexiness hit him with
a wallop. Mad eyed her steadily, reached for the hem of his shirt and pulled it
off to toss immediately to the floor. For a moment there, she’d seemed
uncertain again but yeah, the lust was back now, shining brighter than ever as
she took in his bare torso.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a man like you,” she
whispered, approaching slowly until she stood mere inches from his body. Her
hand went out to stroke over his chest and then lower to his abs. Mad went
still. His first instinct was to close his eyes as she touched him but he
wanted to watch her tentative exploration. Her skin looked pale against his
much darker flesh and damn if it didn’t turn him on. “You look so hard but you
feel silky and warm.”

He rested a hand atop hers then moved incrementally closer.
Kissing her briefly, he stared down at her. “I’ve always thought a woman should
go for what she wants. Touch me.”

Lana explored his body, touching him everywhere. Her hands
cruised over his neck then down his chest, carefully studying his pecs before
heading south. Her fingers teased his ribs, his abs. Then one hand settled over
his belly. A coiling sweep of pleasure curled there and his cock throbbed to
dive balls-deep into her body. “The air is charged,” she said. “The power is
building, the need is growing. I’d heard stories of how it would be. How do we
know for sure?”

“Can you doubt it? Darlin’, believe me, I’ve never felt this
before.” Mad pressed her lips again then sent one hand down the sexy line of
her back to settle at the dip of her spine. “We’ll figure it out together.
Starting now.”

Moving in on her, he kissed her hard, releasing all the
pent-up frustration that whipped through his system. His tongue speared deep as
he slid his fingers beneath the edge of her panties, loving the feel of her warm
flesh and the way she pressed her breasts against his chest. She seamlessly
melted against him.

The panties had to go so he pushed them past her hips until
they slid down her legs to puddle around her ankles. When she stepped from
them, he lifted her high against his body. With little effort, he yanked the
covers to the foot of the bed and placed her on it, arranging her as he wanted.
Legs splayed. Hands lying limp near her face on the pillow.