by N J Adel
“Oh c’mon. If you could have more than one woman with them okay with it, would you choose?”
“I would.” The answer came unhesitant and authentic. He didn’t have to think about it for one second. He just knew. “I’m a one woman man.”
The kettle whistled, and I poured the tea in two black mugs. “Those are rare to find, not even in romance books. Sugar?”
“No, thanks.”
“Me neither. I’m going to have that pie with it instead.” I walked to get it. When I spun to return to the kitchen, I pumped into his body. A gasp escaped me as our fronts collided, and I felt him, his need poking my stomach, his gaze raking me from head to toe.
He didn’t touch me, but he didn’t move either. He just wanted me to know how he felt for me with physical proof. I wished I could have done the same. Taken his hand and showed him what he was doing to me. Instead I just shoved the paper bag between us. “Share it with me?”
A wince contorted his face, and his teeth clenched. He looked like he was about to snatch the food and throw it away then pounce on me.
Yes, please.
I never made the first move. I didn’t know how. He had to do it. Get over whatever he was struggling with and do it. DO IT!
But he stepped back. Again. “Anything you want, Isabella.”
Really? That was it? Damn it, Joshua. Why do you have to be such a Jane Austin guy? Didn’t he know as much as a girl wanted pie, she wanted cock more?
I stalked into the kitchen, got the damn thing out of the bag and grabbed two plates and a knife.
“Why did you decide to leave the class you were so eager to teach?” he asked.
Changing the subject completely now? Fine. “You were right about stressing myself out. I should take it slow,” I lied. Then I proceeded to cut his slice.
A little bit too harsh. “Shit!” I jerked my finger, blood streaming down.
Before I stuck it in my mouth, Joshua reached out quickly and grabbed my hand. He held my finger in front of his face, gazing at it as if hypnotized.
Then he looked up at me, his beautiful gaze glowing, smoldering, holding mine. And he stuck my finger in his mouth. His tongue slid over my wound, warm and wet licking at my finger, sucking on it—all of it.
I moaned. Hard. He wasn’t sucking blood off my finger. He was sucking my phantom dick, and I was about to come.
He pulled my finger out. It seemed to be much better, no longer bleeding, the wound only a tiny scrape.
Had he actually sucked the blood off the wound?
I imagined what other good uses I could put that mouth to….
“Too gross for you?” he asked.
Gross? Was that what he got from the moans and the look on my face?
Note to self: you really really need to work on your horny face.
This could be gross to some, but for me it was sinfully delicious. Even romantic. We had exchanged an intimate moment. The two of us had connected far beyond what was considered appropriate given our professional relationship to each other.
At this moment, I didn’t care about anything, how the world would see me if I jumped into bed with another professor, on the very first day of my new job. I wanted him to touch me in every possible way, to push his body against mine and make sweet love to me.
How could he not see that?
“No. I find it very sexy,” I blurted out, my chest rising and falling with every shuddered breath. In romance books, men noticed and appreciated that view. Did he?
“A man touched your arm and you had a panic attack. Is that how you’re going to react if I kiss you? That’s the only reason stopping me from doing just that.”
“Oh.” Oh. Everything made so much sense now. He wasn’t asexual or religious. He wasn’t an asshole. He wasn’t a creep. He wasn’t anything but a panty-melting hotness with the manners of an eighteenth-century man.
And I liked it. Loved it. All of it.
Joshua was a loner like me. With PSTD like me. The only difference was that he knew how to live with that, saw the world the way it should be seen, had the confidence to move on to the best of his ability.
I envied that about him. I wanted to reach that, too. And I believed from the moment I’d laid eyes on him, he would get me there.
My arms moved on their own accord, wrapping around his neck. My body leaned into him, my heaving chest now pressed against his as hard as I could. I let my hips thrust forward to see if that erection was still there.
Holy fuck. He was twice as hard.
I couldn’t wait any longer for feeling it inside of me. I licked my lip, bending his head to me. “How about we conduct an experiment to find out… Professor?”
CHAPTER 17
JOSHUA
Her mouth parted, and I could taste her sweet breath as I licked my lip and took hers between mine. Oh, that felt so good. The soft warmth of her mouth against mine, the life behind it, her energy, the smell of her blood, all of it was so enticing that I could hardly think about anything but my need for this one woman.
Rena.
In all her reincarnations.
I had a feeling this one would be the last. No more waiting. No more fighting the filthy beasts over the love of my life.
Oh, Isabella. How much I wanted your soul to live forever. With me.
Her mouth opened up a little more, caressing my lips with her own. Our mouths intertwined as our tongues writhed rhythmically against each other. She moaned softly, her breasts pushing against me, beckoning me to touch them.
It was pure lust for her. She didn’t have the time to feel anything else for me, while I…
Two hundred and fifty years, Isabella. I’d fallen for you two hundred and fifty years ago.
Had she known how many times I’d waited for her to come back only to have her for a few years before she’d die again, she would have felt me, felt safe with me, known how much she meant to me.
And hopefully, loved me.
She paused for breath, her eyes half-opened with arousal as they met mine. “See? I didn’t have a panic attack. It’s just my heart that’s about to stop from that kiss.”
I took a deep breath, the smell of her wetness filling my nostrils, sending a nagging pulse in my cock. “I understand you just need to feel pleasure, have a good time to erase this heavy day. And I’m more than delighted to provide that for you. The truth is I need this probably more than you do. But before I take this any further, I want you to know, whatever you’re thinking or suspecting, I would never hurt you, Isabella. I would do anything I possibly could to keep you safe and happy.”
Not waiting for a reply, I kissed her harder, my cock aching to be freed. I could not wait to be inside her again, feel her tightness around me, make good love to her and show her how much she meant to me.
Now that the time had arrived, I couldn’t stand the anticipation any longer. I pushed her jacket off her shoulders, careful not to rip it off. Then I pulled her blouse up over her head and threw it to the side.
I savored the sight of her breasts in that bra before I undid it and let them hang bare in front of me.
She gasped. “Can you turn off the lights?”
Perplexed for a second of the sudden request, I almost snorted. Why would any woman that beautiful ask not to be seen? Then I saw it.
The scars. On her abdomen, chest and arms. Some were faded, some barely healed.
She sheltered her body with her arms. “Please?”
“No.” I held her tense body so hard before she’d think my pause had anything to do with her body. It was my rage that I was attempting to control, the bloody images of my needed vengeance over that piece of shit that hurt the woman I loved. If I lost it now, I’d lose her, too. I just couldn’t let that happen, not after she was finally in my arms.
“You’re beautiful. Perfect just the way you are.” I looked at her so she could see I meant every word. “You don’t ever have to hide anything from me. Do you hear me?”
She eased in my embrace. I
savored her lips one more time, unable to keep my hands to myself. I filled one hand with her breast, stoking it slowly, rotating my thumb over her nipple, carefully observing how it was affecting her. Her moans of passion grew, and her hands were tugging at my t-shirt. I shrugged off my jacket and slipped the t-shirt over my head for her.
“Wow.” Her fingertips glided up my abdomen, feeling the contours of the muscles and reaching my chest, tracing my tattoo.
The talsam that allowed me to walk in the sun. Courtesy of the devil himself when I and the shifters had made the deal with him. The agreement that brought Rena back to life. I got to not turn into ash under the sun, and they got to shift on demand.
“You got a very nice...tattoo.” The softness of her touch was too much to bear. I moaned quietly, my need for her mounting painfully.
“You’re so hot, Professor,” she murmured.
The way she said Professor drove me crazy every time. I wanted to take this slow, but she was making it impossible. With a hiss, I yanked her up in my arms, her breasts bouncing in my face. Then I placed her on the counter, lifting up her skirt in the same move.
A quivering gasp escaped her, but then she smiled. “So strong, too.”
My hands slid up the sides of her thighs. “And you are so extremely sexy…and naughty…Professor.”
She bit her lip, the smell of her arousal more intense. “You like it when I call you that?”
“I do.” I ripped off her panties swiftly, and she gasped again. I spread her legs with my hand, the other wet with her juices from drenched lace. “So much.”
My gaze fell between her thighs, at the trickling trail her desire for me had left. Between that and the panties in my hand, I didn’t know how much willpower I had left. I needed my cock inside her pussy and my teeth in her veins.
A groan ripped from my throat, and I went on my knees, burying my face inside her. A delicious shiver engulfed me as my tongue took that first taste. It wasn’t any different from Rena’s. Same old sweetness that blurred my sanity and turned me into a hungry predator.
My mind and body began to surrender to the pleasure. I pushed my tongue into her slit, into the wetness and slurped the mind blowing nectar. She gushed heavier, and I was at the mercy of her immaculate scent. I inhaled sharply, over and over again, growing harder as I smelled and ate her pussy, lapping the juices into my mouth.
I found her clit, licked it carefully not to let my teeth touch it. It protruded against my tongue. Her hands plunged into my hair now, and she purred and hissed and moaned.
I licked harder, faster at the sensitive nub with gossamer pressure. Her body undulated up and down, riding my face. My hand gripped her ass, the other fondling her breast, kneading it while I fucked her with my tongue.
My cock ached, my balls engorged, begging for release. Please, come now so I can thrust my cock and every lament need I’ve had for you inside your heaven. The only heaven I would ever go to.
I entered her deeper, and she clasped around my tongue, her fingers ripping at my hair, her screams a frenzy of yeses and happy curses.
I sucked every drop, fantasizing I was drinking her blood instead, not that I wasn’t enjoying these scalding hot juices. They were so good they unleashed all my deep, forbidden desires for her, unshackling my self-imposed restraints.
Rising to my feet, I started to unbuckle my belt, hoping when I let out that one need, the other would blur away. But her fingers worked the buckle faster and pulled my pants and boxers down to my knees, the brazen gesture making me even thirstier. My cock swung free while my mouth watered. I needed to taste her blood as much as I needed to have her.
Her eyes widened. “You’re really blessed in that department.”
A woman saying I had a big cock was always flattering, but I wasn’t really listening. I was fighting so hard not to make the worst mistake of my life.
I closed my eyes for a second, reminding myself of what was at stake here. If I bit her now, she’d never be mine again. My thirst silenced my mind in a heartbeat. My control almost nonexistent, I peered up at her neck, at the two throbbing veins calling for me to do the one thing I needed the most.
The ugly bite glared at me, provoking me even more to replace it with mine. It was clearer, now that the makeup faded away, and it looked worse than I thought. But what if the shifter bite had already consumed her? Kayden assured me she wasn’t transitioning, but the mark had never faded.
If either I or they turned her before she’d made the choice, we both would lose her for good. I—
“Are you okay?” she asked.
My teeth clenched as I dragged my gaze away from her neck. Then I lifted her roughly off the counter and swiveled her that her back faced me. Her ass was the perfect distraction. I rolled her skirt up to her waist, and I bit at each cheek—I had to bite something.
“Ouch,” she moaned.
“I’m sorry.” I kissed the sore flesh, wiping my thumb around it to soothe it a little. “Did that hurt?”
She tilted her head to look at me, her hair sliding off her shoulder revealing that fucking mark again. “Yes. But I like it.” She swallowed. “Pain is all I’ve known for ten years. I’ve learned to enjoy it. Even ask for it.”
I didn’t need to hear that. It was disturbing and arousing at the same time, and I was already out of my mind. Pushing her down, I spread her ass as far as possible without tearing her up and slid the tip of my cock into her wet pussy.
Her body squeezed against mine until I was all the way inside of her. She let out a muffled scream as she braced against the counter, bending lower and spreading her legs farther.
“Fuck,” I groaned as her positioning allowed for even more penetration. I held her long hair and wrapped it around my fist. Then I pulled it as I found my rhythm in and out of her.
Her hips bucked into mine, rocking against me. “Oh, Professor. You feel so good. So fucking good.”
I slammed harder into her scorching tightness, utensils falling off the counter with loud clinks. With a spank on her beautiful ass, I pulled her head up by the hair, her long neck exposed. I thought fucking her would cool my thirst down, but I couldn’t have been more mistaken.
The disgusting bite flashed, and my inner beast hit the surface. I tilted my head back, swiping my tongue over my teeth.
“Oh my god, Joshua. I’m coming again.”
Hearing her screams of pleasure and feeling her tightening around me were all I needed to explode and for the predator to burst free.
I opened my mouth widely, and with sharp fangs, I speared the fucking shifter’s mark.
CHAPTER 18
ALEC
A fucking mess.
I was unable to concentrate, obsessively thinking about the smell of her panties. They were burning a hole in my bedroom nightstand for a week while I sat here, in the woods at dawn, at a bonfire pack meeting.
It had veered off-topic again, and I’d tried my best to look like I gave a fuck what anyone was going on about, but as soon as the endless debate of bears were more badass than wolves came back up, I was done.
All I could think about was her anyway.
Fuck. That body. That smell. That skin. I would’ve licked her from toe to neck and back again if she’d given me the chance.
“Hey.” One of the bear twins handed me the circulating bourbon bottle. “Where did you go?”
I lifted the bottle to my lips and immediately regretted it. How could a drink I’d had every day since puberty suddenly remind me of one of the best lays of my entire life?
As if I’d forgotten.
I couldn’t take my mind off Belle. Especially with that parasite hovering around her day and night. “I’m killed by boredom. I am sitting here, quite dead with the rivalry talk. Aren’t we here to figure out what we’re doing about Belle?”
“Easy, Alec. It’s the same old doubleganger shit we deal with every fifty years,” he said, and the second brother laughed.
I clenched my teeth. “Rena has never
been a doubleganger. She dies and gets reincarnated.”
“Whatever you howl, Wolf. The bottom line is, you and the leech are fighting over that voodoo reincarnated girl for the hundredth time. What else is new?”
“What’s new is that he’s winning,” I seethed and jumped to my feet, leaves crunching under, bourbon spilling down. Belle had shunned Kayden and me, wouldn’t even talk to either of us. And Asher’s smell had been all over her all week.
“The wolves and the bears aren’t exactly best buddies, but the last time I checked we’re still brothers. We all belong to the same pack,” I said. “Do you really want to see that parasite living off an innocent human? Sucking her blood? Turning her? You know damn well Asher can’t be trusted. Vamps have no control.”
I knew the bears never liked that deal we made with the devil two hundred fifty years ago, but they still hated the vamps.
The bear brothers exchanged glances. “I didn’t see you getting all worked up about human lives when you shook hands with the devil himself.”
“Guys, bringing this up again won’t solve any problems.” Kayden joined the conversation abruptly. He’d been silent, only observing, from the beginning of the meeting.
“Maybe, but it seems that your brother needs the reminder,” the bear brother said, looking at me. “That deal you made put us at a fucking peace with the vampires. We can’t touch our natural enemies. They get to live and hunt, and we just watch. Have you thought about how many lives Asher has taken so your precious Rena gets fucking reincarnated? Lives we were supposed to save from him? Or Rena’s is the only human life you care about?”
I scratched the back of my head and peered at Kayden for support. He just looked away.
Seriously?
It was no secret my own twin blamed me, too, for what I had to do to save what was left of my mate. But he’d never done it in front of others.
It hurt. I didn’t need this from him right now neither did I need the reminder from the bears. I blamed myself every day for the consequences. Having to live with the vampires on the same land, with equal hunting rights. Turning a blind eye to their kills, only to wait every fifty years for Rena to make a choice.
