* * * *
Drake looked down at Natasha as she finally gave up fighting. The drug worked every time, putting the user into a deep peaceful sleep. It was something he had to use a few times during his heat. A safe, sleeping drug for shifters. Perfect for a fighter.
“She’s beautiful,” Allen remarked. “I can see why Millard has kept her well hidden from the male population.”
Drake glanced up at his father for a second. His full attention was on Natasha. He turned her on his lap, cradling her like a child. Damn if she wasn’t delicate feeling in his arms. So light, so soft.
“You do know he’ll come for her,” his father went on. “The full moon is in one week. You don’t have much time.”
“I’ll make sure he can’t take her away,” Drake said.
“Don’t force her, son. You do that and she’ll only resent you for it.”
Drake touched the side of her face that her father had slapped and saw a light bruise forming on her cheek. “He doesn’t deserve her.”
“Let’s hope you do.” Drake looked up quickly at his father. “She’s a prize, Drake. I don’t think she’s the kind of lady for your darker side.”
Drake looked back down at her. Again, he touched her face, running his fingers over every feature—her cheeks, her nose, lips, forehead, chin. She is perfection. “She’s my light. She’ll tame it.”
The rest of the ride was done in silence. Drake kept staring at Natasha. Kept touching her, assuring himself that she was indeed real, and that she was his. Well, sort of. He still had to mark her, mate with her, claim her as his own. As his father said, the full moon was a week away, not much time to get to know her. She would be going through her cycle two days before his heat, meaning they were going to have a small problem. Time sure as hell wasn’t on his side. A week wasn’t long enough to convince any female to be a mate.
“I see you’ve gotten the gates up and working.” His father’s voice tore him from his sleeping mate on his lap. Drake looked up just as the limo turned into the long drive. “The house is coming along good then?”
“It’s livable.”
They pulled up to the front door. Allen got out first, held the door open for Drake. He stepped out with Natasha passed out in his arms. A quick shift and her head rested on his shoulder.
One cook and one man to run the rest of the house was all Drake hired. He couldn’t cook and needed to eat, and the other, well he just thought having a man to help him oversee the house would be nice.
Nelly, his cook came out with a big smile on her face. She was a plump shifter in her late fifties. Dark brown hair pulled back into a bun, skirt, white blouse, and apron all the time. Tony, his other servant quickly joined her. Tony was much younger; in fact, he was about the same age as Natasha. He needed a job; Drake needed the help, so they fit perfectly together.
Tony greeted him with a quick nod on his way to the trunk for the luggage that awaited him. Neither asked about the girl in his arms.
“I’ll keep you posted on what goes out about her,” Allen stated with a nod. “I’m sure there are going to be calls coming in. You keep low and keep her well hidden until you finish your claim. If you’re serious about this Drake, then you need that claim before facing her father. Remember, he has the power to banish you.”
“I’m only following his rules,” Drake said. “He can’t fault me for that.”
Allen nodded and got back into the limo. Drake turned and went into the house, Nelly right on his heels.
“Well I do have to say I didn’t expect this,” she remarked. “You were heading for a meeting and bring home a mate.”
“An unwilling mate,” Drake told her.
The house was still in a major state of remodeling and building. He fell in love with the grounds and took the house as is, knowing that the place was going to need one huge ass make over.
Walking inside, you were greeted with fresh marble flooring, a brand new staircase with oak banister. To his left an open dining room, still in a state of being worked on. Beyond that the kitchen that was finished. To his right, a front room, uncompleted, to the back of that the living room which was somewhat finished. He had two wings of rooms upstairs. Each had its own private bathroom. A total of fifteen bedrooms in the house, and each were going to be re-decorated. Why he decided on taking such a huge house, Drake couldn’t say. He just fell in love with the place.
Nelly went right up the stairs with him to the master suit. Tony followed, lugging all three of Natasha’s bags up the stairs without one complaint. When he reached the double doors to his room, Nelly was right there opening it up for him.
There was a large king sized bed to the left of the room with a soft cream silk comforter and plush thick pillows. The bed faced the door to the closet and bathroom, which was side by side. In fact, you could go from the closet right into the bathroom if one wanted to. A small balcony overlooked the large wooded backyard, which was still being cleared out. A pool that had seen better days was getting a makeover, and the small pool house already had its turn. Tony now lived in it.
Drake went right up to the bed and gently put Natasha down in the center of it. He sat down next to her and Nelly went to work at unpacking her things. Tony quickly exited the room, closing the doors behind him.
“She’s pretty,” Nelly remarked. “What’s her name?”
“Natasha,” Drake answered, touching her face again, brushing hair away.
“Lovely name.”
With a sigh, he forced himself away from Natasha. He stood up and went to the bags Nelly was going through. He flipped through some of the clothing wrinkling his nose at the plain panties and bras. In fact, most of her things were boring as hell.
“I have the same thoughts,” Nelly said. “A beauty such as her should have silk and lace, not things like this.”
Drake picked up one of the plain pairs of panties. It was cotton. Same as the bra. “Burn them all, and get her new ones before she wakes.” Nelly nodded. “Get the silks, lace, and color. She needs to have pretty things, not this shit.” He tossed the panties back into the bag and went on to the next. The couple of nightgowns she had were also boring. Long, up to the neck gowns that hid everything. “Get rid of this shit also. Get her better stuff to sleep in.”
“What about the rest of her clothing?”
“Leave them for now. I’ll replace all of it later, but I want her sleeping in better shit. My mate deserves silk and lace. The dainty stuff. Camisoles and those low hip panties. I want to see that on her. Even the baby doll nighties.”
“Then I better head out now if you want all that before she wakes.” Nelly picked up one of the bras and panties. She nodded to herself, tossed them back with the rest, and picked the bag up.
Not trusting himself, Drake finished the unpacking. He hung everything up in the closet next to his things. He had to smile a bit at the sight. He sure as hell didn’t think he was going to have female things in his closet so soon.
Once finished, he finally went back to Natasha. She still slept and would until late in the night. He looked down at her. Man, she seemed so damn tiny in that huge bed and fuck if he was carrying stone between his legs. So hard from just looking at her that he couldn’t stop himself from sitting back down next to her and lowering his lips to hers. He kissed her lightly before pulling back and moving to the foot of the bed.
He took her shoes off, socks and felt her legs. In fact, he skimmed his hands up her legs to the waist where he pulled at the snap of her jeans, tugged the zipper down, and gently pulled her jeans from her.
Peaches and cream. That’s what her skin reminded him of, had him thinking about. Again, he lowered his face and just rubbed his lips over her bare legs. The sweet scent that came off her was toxic. He didn’t trust himself to remove her shirt. Drake knew better. If he did that then he wouldn’t be able to stop until she was completely naked. Then he would just be tempted to touch her and feel her and he really wanted her awake for that.
With great willpower, he stood back up and walked away. She wasn’t going anywhere.
Walking away was the hardest thing he did. Drake wanted so much to go back into that room and stay there, but he didn’t. He closed the doors and walked down the stairs heading for the kitchen. Tony was there, putting the food away. He gave Drake a quick smile before tossing him a beer out of one of the sacks.
“Thanks.” Drake raised the bottle up in the air before twisting the cap and taking a deep drink. Tony didn’t speak much, which was pretty much why Drake liked the boy so much. Nelly did enough talking for all of them. “Got a job for you.”
“I’m listening.”
“Want you to keep your ears open. Philip Millard is going to be putting out the word about his daughter. I have her.” That had Tony stopping what he was doing. “She’s my mate and I’m following his law, his rules as to my claim. I need you to find out what ever you can about what he’s up to where she’s concerned. Think you can handle that?”
Tony nodded. “I can do that.”
“How long does it take someone to shop for shit?” Drake couldn’t still the growl from his voice. He set the bottle of beer down on the table and stood up.
Tony chuckled, “You sent Nelly shopping. She’s going to be a while.”
“Better not be. Not sure how long before she wakes up.”
“I was only gone for less than an hour.” Nelly walked in from the back door with four large begs in her hands. “You sound like it’s been hours. Mind you, I think I could’ve stayed there and bought everything in the store. It was hard picking. Everything would look good on her.”
Drake shook his head and followed Nelly out the kitchen to the dining room where she stopped and turned on him. “You’re not going up with me.”
“Nelly…”
“Don’t Nelly me. If I’m going to change her then you don’t need to be up there watching. She’s a lady, not some hussy that you’ve been known to mess around with.”
“That’s my mate!” Drake knew he sounded like a small child right then, but didn’t give a shit.
“Not yet she isn’t. Now go eat a sandwich or fix her something. You can go up when I come back down.” She thumped him, turned, and walked away. “But don’t trash my kitchen!” she yelled.
“When did she take charge?” Drake frowned, watching her go up the stairs and disappear.
“When you gave her the run of the kitchen,” Tony answered, brushing past him.
Drake didn’t go back to the kitchen and fix something to eat. Instead, he went up the stairs, to his room and paced back in forth in front of the doors.
The time it took Nelly to change Natasha and open the doors for him was a lifetime. It really did feel like it took forever. Nelly smiled at him and Drake quickly went into the bedroom closing and locking the doors behind him.
A short, soft pink nightie replaced her clothing. It was snug around her breasts, thin straps on the shoulders and a free flowing skirt. For one split second, he wondered if Nelly bothered with panties, but knew better. Natasha was a lady. Of course she would have matching panties on with the new outfit.
“Go take a shower Drake,” he said to himself.
Drake forced his feet to take him to the bathroom instead of over to that bed. He closed himself in, took several deep breaths, and willed the raging need to take his mate back.
* * * *
Natasha slowly came back to her senses. She felt different, drugged, tired and realized she was without clothes. Raising her hand to her face, she groaned. When she moved slighting in the bed the first thing she felt was silk under her bare legs.
It took a lot of strength for her to open her eyes and when she did, she was shocked.
A room, not her own. Clothes, she knew without a doubt she didn’t own, and a bed she saw, that sure didn’t belong to her father or the boarding school where she lived.
Sitting up, which was a slight struggle, Natasha looked down at herself and gasped. She definitely wasn’t in her home, her bed, or in her clothes. Panic began to set in then at the sound of a shower running nearby.
Pushing her legs to the side, she squirmed to sit up fully and touched her forehead when the room began to spin. Water shut off, but she didn’t have the strength to get up off the bed and make a run for it. Whatever the drug was that they gave her seemed to have zapped all of her energy leaving her weak and helpless.
“You’re awake.” Natasha turned and gasped again. Standing in the bathroom doorway in nothing but a towel was the man from the party who dared talk to her. “I was hoping we didn’t give you too much.” He rubbed another towel quickly into his hair before tossing it inside and heading for her.
The room spun around again when she tried to look for something to cover herself. She almost swayed her little butt right to the floor if it wasn’t for him rushing to her, steadying her.
“Easy now.” His hands were warm, hot on her bare legs, sending shivers down her spine from the contract. It was the first time anyone really ever touched her. “Don’t need you falling on the floor. That drug can sometimes be a bit much.”
The mention of the drug had her cringing away from him, but it wasn’t far. He knelt down at her feet, close—so close she could smell the male scent that belonged only to him.
“Why am I here?” Even her voice sound drugged.
He stood back up, went to the bathroom and soon she heard water running again. He returned with a glass of it in his hand and went right back down to her feet at the floor again. He handed the glass to her and she took it, sipping the liquid. Natasha almost sighed at the pleasure of the drink and the way it took care of her dry throat, but didn’t. Not with him touching her legs, rubbing up and down them.
“Please don’t.” Again she cringed away some, looking around the room, at anything but him.
“Don’t what?” His hands moved higher up her legs, causing Natasha to squirm. “Touch. Feel.”
Again, she pressed her hand to her forehead and took a deep breath, “Who are you and what do you want?”
Reaching up, he took the glass from her hand, and then heard it touch the nightstand next to the bed. She jumped when he took hold of her hand, pulling it away from her face. “Drake, remember? Drake Draeger.” She pulled her hand from his and once more, both of his hands went to her legs. “And I have what I want. You.”
The simple statement stole her breath away. Natasha looked at him as if he lost his mind. Her eyes widened, mouth opened, but nothing came out. She was speechless. So she shook her head no.
He reached up, touched her cheek and Natasha turned her head away. Her breath caught in her lungs when he reared up and kissed her cheek. It was the same side that her father had slapped her.
“I never knew pure raw rage until I saw him slap you,” he said. The statement had her turning her head to face him, which was a small mistake. It put her just about nose to nose with him.
“You saw that?” she whispered.
“He had no right to do that.” He delivered another kiss to her cheek. Light, gentle, pecks that stole not only her senses but her breath.
“Please stop.”
“I like touching you,” he said, his voice lowered, lips moving from her check down to her chin and lower still. “You’re like silk.”
Down the side of her throat his lips moved, all the way to her shoulder. She shivered at the gentleness of his touch, the heat from his breath.
“Please stop,” she breathed out. The feelings, the sensations he was making her feel confused her. She couldn’t think, could barely breathe.
“I don’t want to stop,” he mumbled ever so lightly. His lips closed over her shoulder, a gentle bite followed by a suck and Natasha jumped again, scooting away from him.
Drake also moved. He repositioned himself on his knees, between her legs dangling on the side of the bed, hands on her hips. The dark intent in his eyes frightened her. Natasha couldn’t stop shaking. There was just something about him that had her wanting to ru
n as far away as she could get.
“I frighten you,” he stated.
“Yes,” the word left her lips on a breath.
What little breath she had left, he stole it. Drake rose up and kissed her full on the lips. Everything and anything she might’ve been thinking about went right out the window. He stole her senses just as he stole her lips, her breath, and her mind. Thinking was impossible.
Her first kiss. Drake was her first kiss and it was mind blowing. He slanted his head, pressed his lips against hers, and sipped until she opened her mouth to draw breath into her lungs. Once she opened her mouth, he slipped his tongue into hers.
Natasha couldn’t stop the moan from slipping from her lips. She couldn’t stop him from rising up, coming over her and pressing her back down into the bed. His body rested on top of hers, the heat of his flesh warmed her from the inside out as the kiss deepened.
She didn’t know what to do with her hands. Hell, she didn’t know what to do at all for that matter. Drake flicked his tongue inside her mouth touched her own tongue and seemed to go even deeper with the kiss. She jumped again when his hand touched her legs, his hips wedged themselves between her legs, and she felt him go up under the gown, all the way to her hips.
Where she got the strength, she didn’t know, but somehow Natasha pushed at his bare chest, breaking the kiss. She didn’t have the strength to push him off her completely.
“What’d you want from me?” she asked.
He kissed her again, and then began to skim his way down her body, kissing parts as he went. He didn’t answer her, only moved down until he was once more on his knees between her legs. When her skirt started to go up, Natasha put both hands between her legs and sat straight up, shaking her head.
“Shhh,” he soothed. “I’m not going to hurt you.”
“Why am I here?” Now she sounded desperate and couldn’t help it.
He stopped, looked up at her, and the darkness in his eyes had her once more shivering. He was so dark, so forbearing. “The moment I saw you I knew you were the one. I picked up your sweet scent. It called to me and then I saw you and I could feel your pain.” He picked one of her legs up and kissed the inside of her thigh before putting it over his shoulder. “I knew without a doubt that you would belong to me.”
Shifter 08 - Draeger Legacy Page 3
