by Tami Lund
Olivia ignored his incredibly sexist comment and said, “Las Vegas. It is two days’ drive from here.”
“Or four hours by airplane,” Dane added, and both Olivia and Samuel stared at him.
“You rode on an airplane?” Samuel asked, sounding utterly shocked. Lightbearers didn’t get out much.
Dane nodded. “It was pretty intense,” he assured Samuel.
“Cecilia too?”
“Cecilia and Olivia drove cross country,” Dane explained.
Samuel looked at the SUV again. “You planning on driving that into the coterie?”
There were no vehicles inside the coterie. Lightbearers used their feet or horses to get around. In some ways, they were permanently stuck in a bygone era. Olivia thought about her father’s refusal to let her train to be a healer, because he was determined that she would mate and birth babes and carry on his family legacy.
In many ways, they were stuck in a bygone era.
Dane glanced back at the SUV. “Yes,” he admitted as he slid a pleading glance in Olivia’s direction.
Inspiration struck. “I’ll be right back,” she promised, and she ran back to the SUV.
“Cecilia, I need your help.”
Cecilia hopped out of the SUV and followed her back to where Dane and Samuel stood, chatting quietly. As soon as Cecilia recognized Samuel, she stopped. “No.”
“Come on, Cici.”
“No. I am not going to distract Samuel so you can get into the coterie,” she said, guessing Olivia’s intent. “No. He’ll have us mated by midnight if I even speak to him.” She shuddered.
“Please. For me. For Dane and Sofia and the babe.”
“And Lisa and Tanner. Mostly Tanner.”
Olivia didn’t reply. Cecilia sighed.
“He is handsome,” she said, glancing back at the SUV. Olivia knew she referred to Tanner, and she wanted to ask Cecilia what she meant by that comment.
“You owe me,” Cecilia added, and then she trotted up to greet Samuel and Dane. It seemed like it took less than thirty seconds for her to have Samuel so completely preoccupied that Tanner was able to drive the SUV within a few feet of him, and Samuel never tore his gaze away from Cecilia.
* * * *
Dane’s cottage was a small, two-bedroom, one-story, cozy place that, like most of the cottages of the coterie, was perched on the edge of the beach stretching out to Lake Michigan. The backyard was comprised of wispy beach grass, a few straggly bushes and trees, and then the foot of a tall, sheer cliff.
At the top of the cliff sat the largest beach house Tanner said he had ever seen. When he inquired, Dane explained that it belonged to the king of the Lightbearers.
Olivia had purposely avoided going there and therefore making her presence within the coterie known. “To your house, Dane,” she’d whispered to him earlier. “I’m not ready to face him yet.”
“Sooner or later, you will have to,” Dane replied ominously.
Tanner strode across the living room to stand in front of a massive plate-glass window that overlooked the beach and the lake beyond. Sofia spotted a pile of colorful blocks on the floor and struggled to get out of his arms. Tanner placed her on the floor and then watched as she quickly turned the blocks into a miniature train and began pushing it around the room.
“Does Dane have his own children?” he asked.
Olivia shook her head. “A lot of nieces and nephews, though. He’s a good guy. A real family man. He’ll let Lisa and the kids stay here for a while, until we figure out what to do. Your mom, too, if she wants.”
“What about me?”
Olivia fidgeted. She wanted Tanner to be closer to her, like in her bedchamber. She wasn’t sure yet how to arrange that, though. Since she still lived with her parents, she had a feeling it would be difficult to hide him.
“I’m still trying to figure that part out. But I get the feeling you don’t want to stay here, and it would be too crowded anyway.”
“You’re right, I don’t want to stay here. Where do you live?”
Olivia glanced over her shoulder, at the cliff she could see through the back window. “I, um, still live with my parents, actually,” she admitted.
Tanner lifted one brow. “I admit, I wasn’t expecting that.”
She waved her hand. “It’s the way of our kind. I am expected to go from my parents’ home to my mate’s.” Except in her case, her mate would be expected to move in with her. The irony was not lost on her.
“In that case, I’m glad you still live with your parents,” Tanner said, and then he slipped his arm around her waist and hauled her to him. “Because it means you aren’t mated.”
He kissed her until she panted and then he nuzzled her ear. “Is there someplace we can go that doesn’t have so many windows? I feel like I’m on display here.”
She playfully pushed him away, even though it was the very last thing she wanted to do. She wanted to hold him tightly and never let him go.
“This is also the way of the Lightbearers. We live in glass houses because we need the sun’s energy, remember?”
“Does this mean you prefer morning sex over evening sex? Because I think that’s kind of hot.” He rolled his hips and Olivia’s eyes rolled into the back of her head.
“Sofia is right there,” she pointed out, trying to maintain some semblance of decorum.
In response, Tanner scooped her into his arms and carried her to the washroom. “How’s this?” he asked after he closed the door and backed her up until she was wedged between the sink and his body. His very hard body. He ran his hands along her side and then cupped her neck as he rained kisses on her face.
“This is a bit of a change from yesterday, when you told me to stay away from you,” Olivia could not help but tease him.
Tanner stopped kissing her, and when she opened her eyes, she found that he was watching her with a very serious look in his glowing eye. “At some point last night, while I held you as you slept, I realized that I was fighting a losing battle, trying to stay away from you, Olivia. I have never wanted something so much as I want you. Now that Freddy is dead, I realize that I can’t wait any longer to have you. I might not have tomorrow. We might not have tomorrow.”
“Oh Tanner.” Olivia practically breathed the words, and launched herself into his arms, wrapping her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist.
* * * *
He wasted no time. He kissed her, urgently, desperately, while he tugged off her panties and shoved the skirt of her dress out of the way. He cupped her bare ass and then let his fingers skim along her most sensitive area. His fingers came away wet, and he groaned as he thrust against her, his clothing creating a frustrating barrier between them. She whimpered and pleaded with him, without really explaining for what she pleaded. But he knew. He knew what she wanted. And he damn well intended to give it to her.
She reached down, tentatively at first, her fingers skimming along the edge of the waistband of his shorts. It was erotic as hell. Especially when her movements became frantic, as she fumbled with the snap and zipper, pulled the fly apart, and grabbed the elastic hem of his boxer shorts. He pushed her hand away, half afraid that if she touched his erection, he would lose it before he even had the chance to penetrate her.
“Tanner?” His name was accompanied by a soft knock on the door. “Tanner, are you in there?”
Tanner groaned as he dropped his forehead to rest it against Olivia’s. His pants were undone and he had his cock in his hand. He’d been just about to thrust. He’d been just about to find heaven.
Until his mother’s voice cut off his ascent.
“What do you need?” he snapped irritably. Olivia, the little minx, was silently laughing at him. He fully intended to make her pay for that laughter. Of course, his version of making her pay would bring pleasure to them both, but even so.
“Lisa is asking for you, dear.”
Concern instantly replaced desire. One of his pack needed him. He pulled away from O
livia, zipped his pants and then bent over and scooped her panties off the floor.
“I’ll be there in a minute,” he promised, and then he waited until he heard his mother’s footsteps fade away before turning his focus to Olivia once again.
“I’m beginning to think this is never going to happen,” she grumbled as she slipped her legs into her panties.
Regret lanced through his system. “I’m sorry,” he said. “But I’m all she has left now.”
He watched the guilt crawl across her face. “Go,” she said as she waved her hand at the door. “I understand.”
He knew she didn’t, not really, but he appreciated the fact that she did not hold him back. He did not want to have to choose between his desire for Olivia and his responsibilities to his pack. It was bad enough that he’d already come to think of the small motley group as his pack.
* * * *
“How did you sleep last night?”
Tanner asked the question when he walked into the kitchen and discovered Olivia standing near the window, nursing a cup of tea and staring moodily out at an overcast sky. He glanced over his shoulder before stepping up behind her and trying to nuzzle her neck.
She stiffened and stepped away from him. “I slept in a bed with your mother,” she said coldly. “There were precious few other options.”
Cecilia had reluctantly gone home the night before, but Olivia had chosen to spend the night at Dane’s cottage. While Tanner hadn’t been able to share a bed with her last night, he liked that he was able to see her first thing in the morning, at least.
“I’m sorry,” he said, guessing that she was annoyed that they’d yet again been interrupted yesterday, just when they were about to finally shift their relationship to the next level. The fates knew he was eager to couple with her.
Somewhere along the line, she’d become his obsession as much as capturing and killing a Lightbearer had been his father’s. Some small part of him worried at that fact, and wondered if it meant he was, as he always feared, turning into his father.
But one look at Olivia, with her flaxen blonde hair and big, bright blue eyes, her regal, lithe body, that heart-shaped mouth, and those pert breasts, and he knew his obsession was nothing like Quentin’s. Tanner wanted her the way a man wanted a woman. Tanner wanted her in the way that all men wanted all women, when they were ready to take a mate.
He froze, as that thought filtered through his head. Ready to take a mate? Him? He focused on the currently frigid woman standing before him.
Was he ready to take a mate?
It was curious that the thought did not send him running for the hills, as it always had previously. It was curious that now that he’d found a Lightbearer, an entirely different species, he would actually lend credence to the idea.
Taking a mate. It didn’t sound like such a bad prospect after all. He’d obviously proven that he was not his father, when he’d risked everything to save a Lightbearer. Maybe taking a Lightbearer to mate was the answer. Siring pups that were half Lightbearer would obviously negate any destructive urges they might feel toward Lightbearers, right?
Maybe taking this particular Lightbearer to mate was the answer.
“You have no reason to be sorry,” Olivia was saying, and Tanner forced himself to focus on her words, instead of the thoughts tumbling through his head. “It makes perfectly logical sense, actually.”
Tanner frowned. “What are you talking about?” he asked. Clearly, he’d missed some part of the conversation.
“You,” Olivia said, and then she waved her arm at some point behind him. “And Lisa. You’re both shifters, you’ve obviously known one another for a very long time. You told me yourself that you, Lisa, and Freddy were actually quite close when you were younger.” She looked as if saying the words caused her great pain.
Tanner gave her a speculative look. “Olivia, you’re talking in riddles.”
“No, I am not,” she insisted. “I realize you and I have some sort of—of sexual attraction. It’s strange, I’ll warrant, but it happens, I suppose. But you and Lisa, what you have goes much deeper than … than …”
“Than?” he prompted, and then he stopped and gave her an incredulous look. “Are you implying you think I should mate with Lisa?”
“I don’t think I was really implying, so much as stating,” Olivia said as she frowned.
Tanner barked out a laugh. “Olivia, Lisa and I would fight like cats and dogs. Literally. We were friends because of Freddy. He was one of my best friends, and he was in love with Lisa. It’s as simple as that.”
“You slept with her last night,” Olivia protested.
He lifted his hand, cupped the back of his neck, and grimaced as he tried to work out a kink with his hand. “I fell asleep in a hell of an uncomfortable position while she rambled on and on about all the good times with Freddy,” he amended. “She was actually pretty pissed off at me this morning, because I was in her bed. And if you saw me sleeping like that, why didn’t you wake me?” he accused.
“You looked … looked …”
“What? Uncomfortable? Because that’s what it was like, sleeping with her. I don’t think I’ll ever get rid of this damn kink,” he complained.
“Oh for the love of the light,” Olivia grumbled, and she reached up and pushed his hand away. A moment later, Tanner sighed in bliss as she pumped her healing magic into his system.
“Thank you,” he said solemnly, and then he snaked his arm around her waist and pulled her tightly against him. “Can I make it up to you?”
She was not quite ready to forgive him, he could tell. She squirmed out of his grip. He let her go.
“She wants you,” she accused. “She’s suffering, and she’s alone and she’s probably frightened. She’s looking for someone to replace Freddy.”
Tanner shook his head and tamped down on the anger that bubbled at the idea of Olivia believing he would mate with Lisa just because she wanted a replacement for Freddy.
“First of all, Lisa has never been frightened in her life. She’s the toughest female I’ve ever met. And yes, I’m sure she’s suffering, but I highly doubt she wants me to replace Freddy in her life.” Olivia started to protest and he lifted his hand to stop her.
“Even if she was considering that, come on, Olivia. He just died a few days ago. Plus, she just gave birth to a pup. I imagine the very last thing on her mind is hooking up with me, or any man for that matter.”
Olivia still did not look entirely convinced. Tanner decided he needed to do something about that. The problem was, they were stuck inside this tiny cottage with far too many people. There wasn’t enough privacy for what he had in mind. Then he thought about the beach and the cliff and all the trees everywhere. There was a dense forest at the top of the cliff. Dane said there was a set of slate steps leading to the top, steps that had been built at the command of the original king. Surely they could find some privacy somewhere out there.
“Come on,” he said abruptly, and he grabbed her hand and dragged her from the kitchen. As he pulled her through the door, Olivia tried to convince him to turn around and head back inside house.
“We can’t go out here,” she protested. “You might be seen. No one knows you’re here, Tanner. You’ll send the coterie into shock and they’ll send guards after you and— ” he whirled around and kissed her, right there on the beach, to get her to stop complaining.
“There,” he said with a self-satisfied smile. “That’s better. Now, where’s the closest place we can have some privacy? Real privacy, where we won’t be interrupted for a nice, long time.”
She clearly understood the intent in his words, because her cheeks flushed. She snagged a lock of hair and twisted it round her finger as she considered his words.
“I have it,” she said triumphantly, and then she took off at a jog, along the edge of the cliff, and Tanner eagerly followed, feeling the familiar shifter urge to lay chase to his prey. A nice game of chase always made a shifter randy, no matter the circu
mstances.
By the time they found a niche in the rock that was well hidden and only large enough for them to fit, his shorts were so tight he could barely walk. He dropped to the sand and pulled her into his lap. Her eyes widened as she settled herself onto his erection. He lifted his hips and deliberately rolled them.
“See what you do to me?” he said in a husky voice. “I can’t stop thinking about you, Olivia. I want to see you. All of you.”
He pulled her dress over her head and tossed it to the side. Her small, pert breasts were tipped with pink nipples that hardened the moment the cool lake breeze hit them. Her waist was tiny, her hips narrow. His mother would cluck her tongue and comment that she didn’t have good pup-bearing hips. Tanner didn’t care. She was as perfect as perfect could be. And she was about to be his. All his. He was half tempted to flip her over onto her hands and knees right there, and take her to mate and be done with it.
No, not yet, he decided. First, he wanted her like this, sitting astride him, looking at him with a combination of lust and anticipation in her big blue eyes. He wanted to watch her when he brought her to her first climax. He wanted to touch her breasts, her belly, her waist, her face. The apex of her thighs. When she moaned, he realized he’d already done just that. His fingers were slick with wetness. Her wetness. Her need—for him.
“Tanner.” She breathed his name like a mantra, as she lowered her face to kiss him. He held the back of her head with one hand and pumped his fingers into her with the other, making love to her mouth, making love to her sex, reveling in the feel of her as her climax began to build.
She squirmed and panted and ground into his hand. He kept up the ministrations as he shifted the focus of his mouth to her breasts. As the almost-harsh hairs of his stubble brushed over her sensitive skin, she twisted her hands into his hair and squeezed to the point of pain, until she finally came apart around him, crying out as she flung her head back and let the orgasm swamp her.
“Oh yeah,” he growled as he shimmied out of his shorts and then grabbed her and pulled her back onto his lap. He barely had to guide himself. It was as if his body was meant to couple with hers. He thrust once and impaled her, filling her, her inner muscles squeezing him tightly. He groaned as he lifted her up, needing a brief breather, so that he would not go off after only two thrusts.
