Noah kicked off his shoes, slid his shirt up over his head, tossed it on the chair, and then lay down in bed beside her. After kissing her gently on the temple, he slipped down some, and rested his head on her full breasts. An arm went over her waist, holding her snuggly to him. Aurora’s brow furrowed, her nose twitching as it was tickled by the slight stench of something she couldn’t identify at first. It took her a moment before it hit her. Sulfur.
“Noah? Where have you been?” This time, she didn’t care what he thought. She had a bad feeling that she wasn’t going to like his response. There was only one reason he would smell of sulfur.
“I just need a little sleep.”
His voice was muffled as he rubbed his cheek against the soft curve of her breast, a small sigh slipping past his lips.
“Noah, please. Tell me. I need to know,” she pressed, afraid of the answer. He wouldn’t have done what she thought he did, would he?
“Hunting,” he admitted quietly, one hand coming up to cup her generous breast, kneading it gently, sending a shudder through her body when he ran a thumb over her nipple.
Aurora stared down at him in shock, ignoring the way her body was reacting, knowing exactly who he’d been hunting. “Noah.” His name was a breath on her lips, quiet and filled with dread, but he didn’t reply. His eyes were closed now, his breathing slowly beginning to even out. His hand stilled, his mouth opened slightly, and soft snoring filled the air. He was already asleep.
Aurora shifted, holding him closer, filled with terror at the thought of him going up against demons. There was no doubt in her mind that was where he’d been. Fighting for her. Hunting the demon who was trying to lay claim to her. His mate.
Chapter Eight
She was in his arms, right where she belonged. Her body quivering where his hand trailed lightly over her sensitive skin. He’d woken just moments before, hard as hell. A driving need pushing him to claim what was his. He was so damn tired of fighting it. Somehow, he had fallen hard for her over the past few months. He loved everything about her, from her vibrant red hair to her fiery disposition, to the delectable toes he could see were painted a dark red that were a sharp contrast to her white bed sheets.
Noah inhaled deeply, breathing in the most amazing, tantalizing scent he’d ever smelled in his life. Aurora, his beautiful witch. She lay halfway underneath him, squirming in his arms as her breath came out in small little pants, the sweetest moans escaping from her throat. His darkly tanned leg was thrown over one of her long, creamy white ones, her nightgown hiked up to her hips, exposing a pair of bright red panties trimmed with bright orange lace. That was his woman. All fire and sass. She was perfect. Why hadn’t he been able to see it before? He hated the way he’d been blinded by hatred that should never have been there in the first place. His anger from so long ago should have been directed at Josephine and her partner, not an entire group of paranormals. He’d wasted so much time letting his rage consume him when he should have been showing his breathtaking woman how much she meant to him.
His hand gently stroked the silkiness of Aurora’s breast that was peeking out from the thin, deep red, satiny material that was barely covering her chest. He pulled the nightgown down, revealing the entire breast, cupping it in his hand. “Mine,” he groaned, his mouth trailing kisses down the long length of her neck as she arched back with a loud moan. He licked his way down the front of her chest, over the soft curve of her breast to the nipple, encircling it with his tongue.
“Noah!”
“I got you, sweetheart,” he promised, sucking the nipple into his mouth, lightly scraping his teeth over it. When she cried out, reaching up and grasping his head to hold him to her, he grinned around her breast. Hell yeah. This was what he wanted. Aurora hot, aching for him as much as he was for her.
Letting go of her nipple with a small pop, he moved to the other breast to give it the same treatment.
“Oh, Goddess!” Aurora cried out, arching into him. “Noah, I need you!”
“I’m yours, baby,” Noah promised, sliding down further in the bed. He raised his head to look at her as he moved his hands to her hips, slipping his fingers inside the waistband of her panties and sliding them slowly down her hips. He chuckled when she glared at him, tightening her hands in his hair. “Nice and slow,” he whispered. “I want to worship you. Show you how much you mean to me.”
For a moment, her eyes clouded over with an emotion he couldn’t identify, and then she snapped, “Show me later, Noah. I think you’ve waited long enough.”
“Long enough?” Noah asked in confusion, pausing to look at her, eyebrows raised, before sliding her underwear completely off and dropping them to the floor. She was the one who had stayed away from him these past few weeks.
“To take care of my needs,” she huffed, her eyes darkening, sparks seeming to shoot from them. “Women have needs, Noah Channing. I’m sick and tired of having to rely on Bob to satisfy them.”
“Bob?” he snarled, his fangs dropping as rage filled him. “Who the fuck is Bob?”
Aurora rolled her eyes, before leaning over to open a drawer on the nightstand. Holding up a large, hot pink dildo, she pressed a button on top and grinned as it started shaking wildly in her hand. “Noah, meet Bob. My battery-operated boyfriend.”
Noah stared at the vibrator as it shook in her hand, pissed off at the idea of it satisfying her when he was unable to, even though he knew it was stupid. It was a vibrator, for fucks sake. Not a man. But he didn’t want anything to touch the wet, glistening pussy in front of him except for him. Grabbing Bob, he threw the dildo across the room, a satisfying grin crossing his face when he heard the plastic pieces on it break when it hit the floor, buzzing once, then twice, and then stopping all together. “Looks like Bob’s had an accident. He won’t be pleasuring you anymore.”
“Dammit, Noah!”
Lowering his head until he was hovering just over that part of her he wanted to taste so badly, he snarled, “No one touches you anywhere except me.”
“It was just a freaking toy,” Aurora said, laughter dancing in her eyes, but he could tell her mind was already back on him and what he was going to do next. She leaned up on her elbows, her tongue slipping out to wet her lips, her hips moving up slightly as if of their own accord.
“You don’t need toys anymore,” he growled. “You have me.”
“Do I?” she whispered, reaching down with one hand to cradle his jaw in her hand. That look was back, the shadows in her eyes.
“Yes,” he vowed, before lowering his head and breathing her scent in. He would prove it to her. Somehow. “Mine.”
“Yours,” Aurora moaned, raising her hips, urging him to taste her. He didn’t make her wait. Lowering his head, he licked her slit, groaning when her sweet cream touched his tongue. It was better than he could have ever imagined. Sliding his hands below her, he grasped her ass and lifted her slightly, his tongue sliding deep inside her. He played for a moment, his tongue stroking in and out, before moving up to her clit, licking and sucking the small nub into his mouth. He growled in pleasure, low and deep in his throat, careful not to nick her with his fangs that refused to recede.
“More,” Aurora whispered, thrashing her head from side to side. “Noah, please, I’m so close!”
Noah grunted, his tongue flicking quickly back and forth over her clit. His dick throbbed, begging for her touch. He’d wanted her hands on him for so long. He growled, reaching down to release the snap, lowering the zipper, and then slid the constricting material down over his thighs and off. The minute his cock sprang free, he grasped it tightly, trying to hold off his orgasm. Aurora’s taste, her moans, the way she screamed for him had him so close he felt like a fucking schoolboy. He wanted to sink deep into her, needed to feel her heat surrounding him.
Aurora’s voice rose with passion, husky with need. She screamed his name over and over as she flew apart, coating his tongue and chin.
One minute he was licking up every delicious drop of he
r that he could, the next her hands were on his shoulders and she was pushing him over onto his back, straddling his hips. Grasping his thick length in her hand, she positioned the tip of his cock at her entrance, and then slowly lowered herself down on him. He fought to maintain control when her tight, hot sheath enveloped him, wanting nothing more than to take over and pound deep into her.
“Fuck, Aurora!”
“My turn,” she rasped, rising up on her knees, her hands still on his shoulders, her nails digging into his skin. She began to move, not wasting any time going slow. She rose and fell, fast and hard, rolling her hips into him, taking everything he had to give and more. Her eyes began to glow the brightest green he’d ever seen on her, and he stared in shock as a white light appeared, surrounding her. She didn’t seem to notice. Throwing her head back, she moved faster, digging her nails deeper into his skin. It was wild, hot, crazy.
Noah met her thrust for thrust, his fangs throbbing, filling his mouth as he fought the urge to rear up and sink them deep into her skin. A deep growl built in his chest, rising up his throat. His eyes went to her shoulder where he wanted to leave his mark. Sweat broke out on his skin, and he snarled her name as his balls began to tighten.
Noah’s eyes widened when the room suddenly lit up like a Christmas tree, shining brightly with what he assumed was Aurora’s energy, seemingly thousands of lights shimmering in the air. His woman cried out, her entire body going rigid above him, and then she began to pulse around him as she came for the second time. Noah couldn’t hold back any longer, and he shouted when he allowed himself to follow her over the edge. As he came, spilling into his mate, something seemed to move inside him, as if clicking into place, and he froze. What the hell? It was similar to the way his brothers described the mate bond, but that couldn’t be. He hadn’t bitten Aurora. She didn’t wear his mark.
“Oh shit!” Aurora cried, her eyes widening with shock as she pushed herself off him, scrambling down to the foot of the bed. “Oh Goddess! Noah, I’m so sorry!”
“Sweetheart, calm down,” he rasped, reaching for her, lost as to what was happening, but somehow knowing she was about to run. “Everything’s going to be fine.”
“No, it’s not!”
Noah frowned, watching Aurora slide from the bed and run to her dresser, grabbing clothes from various places and slipping them on.
Rising, he quickly moved to her and grasped her arm to stop her from leaving. “Aurora, talk to me. What the hell is going on?”
Her eyes filled with tears and she shook her head. “I didn’t mean for it to happen. I know you don’t want me, Noah. You don’t want this.”
“I don’t even know what this is,” he growled in frustration. “What did you do to me? To us?”
He cursed silently when Aurora’s eyes filled with horror, realizing he had sounded as if he were accusing her of something.
“I bound you to me,” Aurora whispered, bowing her head. “In the way of my people. It’s similar to your mating.” Taking a deep breath, she raised her eyes to meet his. “You will be bound to me for all eternity. There is no way out. I took the choice from you.”
As Noah watched, Aurora seemed to shimmer in front of him, a white mist surrounding her.
“Wait. Aurora!”
But she was already gone.
Chapter Nine
Aurora materialized in the alley behind the Sassy Wolfe, wiping angrily at the tears that streamed down her face. She wasn’t a weak person, but right now she felt as if she could easily fall apart. How could she have been so stupid? Only the strongest of her kind could bind someone to them magically the way she just did with Noah, but she’d known from the start that it was a very good possibility it could happen. She and her sisters were blessed by the Goddess with several gifts when they became a part of their coven, making their already substantial powers grow. There weren’t many more powerful than the covens specifically chosen to guide and protect others who were important to the future of the paranormal world. Each of her sisters would bind the men they fell in love with to them, as she had Noah. She just prayed they were all willing participants, because she was sure Noah wasn’t.
To make matters worse, she’d lied to Noah when she told him there was no way out. That wasn’t exactly the truth. Technically, there was one way. If she were to be stripped of her powers, it would sever the link that was now binding them together. Only the Goddess had the ability to take her magic from her, and Aurora wasn’t sure she would survive. It would be one thing to remove the additional gifts she’d been given when she joined her coven, but her magic was a part of her. Removing it all would be like taking away a part of her soul. It was who she was, all that she knew.
Although, maybe, if her powers were gone, Noah would finally be able to accept her. The thought made her pause for a moment, her energy crackling around her as she considered what the possibility of having her powers removed would mean. She wouldn’t be able to help others in the way she’d been helping them, but there were other things she could do. Other ways she could contribute to her coven. Aurora’s brow furrowed and she sucked in a deep breath as a sharp stab of pain ran through her. Her coven. They wouldn’t be her sisters anymore if she lost her magic. She would be removed from the circle. She would have to be. There wouldn’t be a choice. No magic, no witch, no coven. It was a simple as that.
But she would have Noah. His love, his devotion. Once her powers were gone, he would have no reason to reject her. Shifters mated for life. Once they found that one person who was meant to be the other half of their soul, there was no going back. There would be no other. Could she do it? Could she leave everything she knew behind for the chance at a future with her bear?
Aurora cursed, angry at herself for thinking even for a second of giving up her magic, even for Noah. Raising her head, she made one last attempt to remove her tears, and then stalked across the alley to the back door of the Sassy Wolfe. She needed a drink. A strong one.
Five minutes later, she was sitting in the shadows at the back of the bar nursing a glass of whiskey when Barbara Wolfe slid into the chair across from her. Beautiful with sparkling blue eyes that seemed to see right inside a person and pretty blonde hair cropped into a short bob, the woman was a force to be reckoned with. One Aurora just wasn’t up to sparring with right now.
Barbara stared at her in silence for a long moment, then reached over and laid a hand on hers. “You look like hell, child.”
A short burst of laughter slipped out, and Aurora glanced around the bar, looking for an escape before bringing her gaze back Barbara. “Hello to you, too, Mrs. Wolfe.”
Barbara grinned, squeezing her hand gently. “That bear of yours giving you trouble?”
Aurora dropped her gaze to the table, unsure what to say. For some reason, she felt the urge to confide in the other woman. Tears sprang to her eyes, and she swallowed hard, biting back the words.
Barbara leaned in close to whisper, “If you need some help reeling him in, I have some ideas. That mate of yours won’t know what hit him.”
Aurora laughed again, unable to stop herself. She’d seen the way Barbara Wolfe worked. Had heard about the day she dropped off a present for Knox and Emery to celebrate their mating. A gift bag full of sensuous lingerie and sex toys. Remembering the way Noah threw Bob, she shook her head. A bag full of fun would probably be a bad idea for them. She had a feeling Noah would never approve of the toys, even if he was the one using them on her.
She sighed, staring blankly at the glass still close to full in front of her. Not that they were going to have a future. Noah probably hated her now after she used her magic on him. Something she never should have done without his permission. He despised her powers as it was. Shit, what had she done?
Once again, Aurora thought about what a normal life with Noah would be like. One without her gifts. Could she give it all up? She honestly wasn’t sure that she could. The need to help others was a part of her. It was so deeply ingrained in her that she didn’t kno
w if she would be able to stop. But could she really go through life without her mate? At one time, she thought she could. For his sake. But now, she couldn’t imagine a life without him in it. Her heart ached at the thought of losing the one man who was supposed to be hers, but he’d never really been hers in the first place, had he? She was so confused.
“I think it would be best if we left him alone for now,” Aurora finally said quietly, slowly disengaging her hand from Barbara’s and wrapping both of hers around the small glass on the table in front of her.
“Whatever happened, it isn’t anything that can’t be fixed between mates.” The older woman’s voice was matter-of-fact. “We can’t stay mad at one another for long.”
“You don’t know Noah.”
“I know mates, Aurora. Trust me, your bear will forgive whatever it is that you did that is eating away at you right now.” Aurora looked at her in surprise. “The guilt is pouring off you in waves,” Barbara told her. “I can see it, scent it.”
“I…” she didn’t know what to say. It was the truth. The guilt was weighing on her, suffocating her. She’d basically taken away Noah’s free will. Bound him to her. A witch. One of the things he hated the most. Aurora shook her head, lowering her gaze. It wasn’t that long ago that she was contemplating altering their future and possibly having the life she yearned for. After what she just did, she was sure that idea was off the table. How could he ever trust her? You couldn’t have a relationship without trust. “He will never forgive me for what I did, and I don’t blame him,” she whispered softly.
“What exactly did you do?” Barbara asked curiously, cocking her head to the side as she watched her closely. “It can’t be that bad.”
Accepting His Witch’s Sass (Sass And Growl Book 3) Page 7
