She needed him as close as possible. Inside her.
Please! Fuck me!
Had she shouted out loud? She wasn’t certain. Only knew that he was holding her hips now, bringing the head of his cock to her slit. Nudging her entrance. Her skin was scorching and she needed him.
“Gonna take what’s mine,” he growled.
Moaning, nearly out of her mind, she pushed backward, and that was all the assent he required. His cock slid inside, stretching and filling her. So good, so right. He was huge but it didn’t hurt, simply made her feel complete as he slid all the way home. His balls nestled against her, springy hair from his groin and thighs sensitizing her to every nuance of him. Of them together, connected as they should be.
Then he began to thrust, spearing deep into her core. Tantalizingly slow at first, letting her feel every inch of him. Then picking up speed, putting some power behind the pumping, his fingers digging into her flesh.
Not just fingers, but claws. Stinging just a bit, but only adding to the wicked pleasure.
Somewhere in the back of her mind, she was surprised she didn’t object to his feral nature coming out during sex, and wasn’t afraid. Instead, his barely leashed wolf only turned her on even more, and she was shocked to realize she embraced them both as they fucked her into oblivion—Jax and his beast.
Beyond that, she couldn’t think. Her body was caught in a raging inferno only he could sate. Flesh slapped against flesh as he impaled her repeatedly, driving even harder when she made helpless whimpers. Almost there.
“B-bite me,” she begged. The words slipped out of their own volition, a reflection of the need she couldn’t acknowledge before. Almost as though she had no choice.
“God, baby. You don’t know how much I want that.”
Her orgasm exploded and she cried out, convulsing around his cock. He stiffened and followed her over the brink with a shout, pumping her full of cum. Emptying into her with such force, he was plastered to her back for several moments after.
Panting, she floated back to earth, the post-orgasmic haze leaving her boneless. And very unsure where they now stood.
“Why didn’t you bite me?” she asked quietly.
Kissing her shoulder, he pulled out and then turned her around, gathering her into his lap. “Because that would have mated us, and you weren’t ready.”
“How do you know? It felt like I was ready. It was all I needed at the time, so badly I couldn’t think straight.”
His eyes were a little sad when he replied. “Exactly. You feel so strongly about not giving in just because it’s nature, yet you were helpless to the pull of mating while we fucked. Think about it, baby. If I’d done what you asked in the heat of the moment, you would’ve hated me for taking advantage.”
“No, I wouldn’t have.”
“You would,” he insisted. “Has your opinion changed about mating before love, then?”
She stared at him with a sinking feeling in her gut. “No.”
“Then you would’ve hated the sight of me, and I might never have earned another chance to win your trust.”
Oh, God. He’s right.
Face heating, she looked away and wished she could disappear.
“And there’s something else you should know.” He paused, obviously reluctant to continue as he took her chin, made her look at him. “If I bite you—hell, if any shifter does—there’s a very good chance you could become one of us. You need to decide if you can live with that before we mate. Because if we do, I
have
to bite you.”
Her mouth fell open. Of course there was a chance. Why hadn’t she thought of that possibility? She might become like him. A wolf.
“Jax, I—I—” Overwhelmed, she fumbled for a response that wouldn’t hurt him more than she had already. “I need time to think.”
“Hey, it’s okay. I understand, even if my wolf is howling like a banshee and threatening to claw his way right out of my skin, leaving me nothing but an empty husk.”
His attempt to joke made her feel worse. “I’m so sorry. I know you’re in pain and it’s all because of me.”
“No, angel,” he said softly. “It’s nobody’s fault. Let’s just take this as it comes and we’ll be fine.”
“You won’t be fine.” She touched his face. “You’re burning up, and it’s not just from having hot sex. I’m scared to death about what Dr. Mallory told me could happen to you.
Is
happening.”
He shook his head in dismissal. “Melina is overly cautious. That’s her job. Us shifters are tough and it’ll take more than a few raging hormones to bring me down. We’ve got plenty of time to decide what we want, and I don’t want you worrying about this anymore.”
“I can’t promise that.”
“Do your best, because I’m okay.” He kissed her nose.
“Promise you’ll tell me if it gets too bad?”
“Sure.”
He didn’t exactly say the words and she frowned, knowing he’d keep his misery to himself as long as possible. That he’d put her feelings before his own needs, no matter how much it hurt him, caused something warm and wonderful to expand in her chest.
“I’m glad you forgave me for what I said in the clinic,” she told him.
He winked. “Me, too. Got me laid, didn’t it?”
She dug her fingers into his ribs. “Smart-ass.”
Falling backward, he laughed, pulling her with him, and the tickle fight was on. She managed to get a few more digs in his ribs before he latched on to an ankle and tortured the sensitive bottom of one foot.
“Uncle!” she squealed. “You win!”
“I’m the boss. Say it!”
“Ahh! You’re the boss,” she gasped, trying in vain to wrench away her foot.
Mercifully, he released the appendage and helped her up. “The boss demands you shower with him.”
“Humph. I suppose you’ll want me to wash your back, too.”
“Of course. But I’ll do yours, too.” His voice promised more extracurricular fun than a simple shower.
The hunky wolf delivered, too, soaping certain crevices perhaps a tad more than necessary, making her laugh and shudder in delight by turns. She wasn’t laughing, however, when he guided her to brace herself on the tiles, his hardness rubbing the crack of her butt, declaring that they weren’t finished playing.
“Gotta have you again,” he murmured. “What you do to me . . .”
He made love to her there with the water cascading over them, nice and easy, with such gentle heat her eyes burned with unshed tears. Never had there been a connection like this with any other man. Never anything that felt so right. As though everything she’d been searching for had coalesced here, with this man, in this place filled with strange inhabitants.
He took them to the peak and they exploded together, him buried deep inside her, whispering endearments in her ear. She was so at peace, yet when he withdrew again without giving in to the need to claim her as his own, guilt pricked at her conscience.
Despite his insistence that he was fine, she couldn’t help but imagine what terrible price his patience might demand.
And whether she’d ever be able to reconcile the man as one with the beast without the fire of his touch blowing apart all reason.
“Jax?”
“Hmm?”
Kira trailed a finger over the broad expanse of his chest, hoping he didn’t close off when she pried. But she had to know more about the man at her side. “Tell me about Afghanistan. When you were changed.”
He went so still for a few moments, she wasn’t even sure he was breathing. When he finally began to speak, his voice was so low, bleeding with remembered pain, that she held him tighter.
“What’s to tell? We ventured into the mountains on a routine patrol, and encountered creatures out of our worst nightmares. Then some of us awoke to realize the lucky ones were dead, and the rest had to live with the fact that we’d become freaks at best, enemies of the human race at worst.”
She hugged him tight. “Obviously neither was true. You guys were put in the unique position of protecting the world from creatures most people don’t even know exist. Have you ever stopped to think about all the lives that would’ve been affected if you
hadn’t
been changed? How many would be lost by now?”
After a moment, he admitted, “It’s crossed my mind. But it’s hard to get that through my head when the personal cost has been so damned high. Call me selfish, but that’s how it is.”
“That’s not selfish, just human.” She cursed herself for her blunder. “You know what I mean.”
He kissed the top of her head. “Yeah, I do.”
“You’re not a freak.”
“And yet you don’t know if you can embrace both sides of me.”
Rising up, she propped herself on his chest and looked him right in the eye. “Get it through your head, that’s not true the way you mean it. I’ll admit I was a little unnerved by the shifting at first. But the only problem I have is with the biology of the mating thing not giving us a choice. It’s like we’re not in charge of our destinies.”
“Everyone has a choice.” He arched a dark brow. “You’re here, for instance, and nobody forced you to get down and dirty with me. Twice. Three times if you want to get technical.”
“You’ve got me there.” She couldn’t help but smile at his self-satisfied expression. “You’re a hard man to resist.”
“Just hard, period.” He leered at her.
“You have a
point
,” she teased, wiggling against the hardness in question.
The chirp of his iPhone interrupted them. With a putupon sigh, he grabbed it off the nightstand and peered at the display. “Text message from Nick. We’re meeting in one hour, and he wants you there.”
“Me?” She frowned. “Must have to do with my old employer.”
“My guess is he’s ready to plan the recon on the NewLife building. We can obtain the floor plans, but you might have other information we can use.”
“I don’t know. I’ve told you everything.”
“We’ll see. In the meantime we need another shower.”
“Without the messing around, or we’ll be late.”
His grin made her pulse leap. “Punctuality is overrated.”
They were almost ten minutes late. Holding her hand, Jax pulled her into the room where the rest of the team was already assembled and talking among themselves, waiting for Nick to start. All eyes swung their way and a couple of the guys snickered. Nick gave them a knowing stare, appearing curious. And if she wasn’t mistaken . . . was that a wave of sympathy, maybe laced with a touch of sadness, she felt from the boss as he studied them? What was that about?
Embarrassment colored Kira’s cheeks at the others guys’ razzing, but she kept her head high as she and Jax found seats. She was grateful when Nick began the meeting without any remarks about their tardiness. He hadn’t struck her as that kind of man, but the lack of censure was still a relief.
“First off, I invited Kalen to join us so he can get a feel for how we work,” Nick said. “Does anyone have an objection?”
“Not as long as he keeps his wand pointed in the other direction,” Aric cracked. The others laughed, except for Nick and Jax.
Kalen accepted the challenge. “I wouldn’t point my wand at you if you were the last ugly, one-eyed, threelegged shifter on earth.” One corner of his mouth quirked up. “Not that I use one, ’cause those are so last century. Just sayin’.”
“You’re all right, man.” Aric slapped him on the back, and a couple of the others did the same, as though he’d passed some sort of male test.
Kira slid a glance to the young Sorcerer, who was unusual to say the least, even among present company. She’d never seen someone who seemed so alone in a roomful of people, though he appeared okay with the group’s good-natured ribbing. If he planned to stick around, he’d have to get used to that.
“Since there are no protests, let’s move on,” Nick said, gaining their attention once more. “I checked on the NewLife facilities, and the closest one is in fact the Las Vegas location. As most of you are aware, our newest staff member, Kira, used to work at that building and fled from there with some tissue samples and a suspicion that her bosses are involved in altering human DNA and gene strands. Based on study of the four bodies provided courtesy of the sheriff’s department and coroner, Melina and her lab assistants have concluded that these same changes were being forced on these men at the time of their deaths.”
“And your team heard the corpse, Henry Ward, tell me about one of the bastards who killed him wearing a polo with the NewLife logo on it,” Kalen put in.
“This guy is powerful shit,” Jax whispered in her ear, referring to the Sorcerer.
She glanced at her lover. “No kidding.”
Nick acknowledged Kalen’s statement with a nod. “And that’s why we’re sending a team into the Vegas building in forty-eight hours. You’re going to do a search, see what you can find. Which brings us to why I asked Kira to come.” He turned to her. “Tell us what you can about the level of security there.”