Hunger Awakened (The Feral Book 1)

by Charlene Hartnady

  Her first thought was that she’d slept. Her second was ‘how long have I been like this?’ Then she wondered how to extricate herself without waking Talon up.

  Shit.

  Shit.

  So much for not getting handsy. So much for staying on her half and him staying on his. Talon lay sprawled across the entire bed. He was on his back. Vicky was almost on top of him. Of course she was. It wasn’t like there was much bed space with him in it. Her boobs were flat against his chest and side. One of her hands was curled around his neck, while the other was flat on his abs. His shirt was riding up in that particular spot. Very close to his— Good lord but that was big. She swallowed thickly, eyes on his boxer shorts. Talon took up a ton of bed space, his cock took up the rest. No wonder he needed to rest a foot on the ground. It was to support that thing.

  “You shouldn’t look at me like that.” A deep rumble. Talon sounded amused. Really?

  Shit.

  He was awake. She sucked in a deep breath, preparing to evacuate the bed ‒ make that the room, make that the house ‒ when his hands closed on her hips. “No need to rush off.”

  This whole ‘hot and cold’ thing was giving her whiplash.

  Big time.

  “We’ve been like this for most of the night.” His voice was thick with sleep.

  “Oh shit,” she said, squeezing her eyes shut. “You should have woken me.” She forced her eyes off his cock and onto the wall. Safer.

  “I tried to stick to my side but you made it impossible.”

  “I made it impossible? I find that hard to believe. I think you took all the bed and I was forced to—”

  “Forced?” His voice definitely had an edge of amusement.

  Vicky looked up, acutely aware of him. How hot his skin was. How hard his abs felt beneath her fingers. Talon was smiling. Oh boy! Other than look at him, Vicky was too scared to move. Too scared to breathe. Her heart raced. Why did he have to be so cute? So everything?

  “Well, I’m sorry, I …” She uncurled her hand from around his neck and began to pull away.

  Talon clasped his fingers over hers, holding her in place. What the—? “I liked sharing a bed with you, Vicky.”

  That look on his face was far too serious. It looked like his gaze drifted to her lips. What? Why was he looking at her lips? What the hell was going on here? “Sorry I hogged the bed,” she tried to sound flippant. “I’d better get going, Maggie needs me to—”

  “It’s five-thirty. Everyone is still sleeping.” Talon’s hand tightened over hers. “Stay.” His eyes drifted back to her lips. His jaw tightened. A look of … hunger? Could it be? A look of hunger took up residence on his face.

  “I’d like to kiss you, Vicky.”

  Shit!

  Shit.

  “Why?” she blurted. “Friends don’t kiss friends, Talon.” She realized just how badly she wanted him to kiss her and it scared her. “You’re really starting to confuse me with your whole ‘yes, no’ vibe.” Quite frankly, it was pissing her off.

  “I’m sorry,” he breathed out. “I know it’s wrong of me. We are friends. There can never be anything more and yet …” He closed the distance between them, his lips touching hers. It was like an electric shock. His mouth was softer than what it looked. She must have made a squeaking noise, or tensed or something, because his arms banded around her waist. Talon lifted her onto him so that she was straddling his belly. His hands closed over her ass and he squeezed.

  What the hell?

  Then he was sucking on her bottom lip. She’d never had a guy do that. It wasn’t clumsy or weird. It was good. Really good. She moaned as his tongue slipped into her mouth and dueled with hers. Talon was a great kisser. Wait a minute. Why was he kissing her? He shouldn’t be kissing her. One of his hands rubbed up her back, while the other stayed clamped on her ass. This was insane. The way her body reacted to his. The way her boobs got this whole heavy feeling. Her clit throbbed as he sucked on her tongue. Just one quick suck before taking back her mouth. Again, there was nothing weird about the move. It felt good. His hands felt good. The one on her ass dipped between her legs.

  Her clit all out sprang to life and Vicky moaned again.

  “Not too loud,” Talon said as he broke the kiss. He took back her mouth, his hand slipping past the band of her pajama pants.

  Her mind was foggy. The need to come raged through her. What was she doing? What were they doing? Was this him doing her another favor?

  Only one way to find out. Vicky reached down, closing her hand over his—

  Talon scooted away, his eyes wide like she had hurt him. “I want to touch you, but you can’t …”

  “I can’t what? I can’t touch you back?”

  He shook his head.

  “Why not?” She knew the answer to her question.

  “I liked spending the night in the same bed with you. Waking up with you. I would like to touch you one more time.”

  “It’s confusing.” She pulled her hand out of his. “You’re adamant we’re just friends, and yet you just kissed me and you want to touch me … intimately again.”

  “Yes.”

  “It doesn’t work like that.”

  “Why not?” He snaked an arm around her waist. “I’m being honest. I want to make you feel good but I can’t be with you. Does that make sense?”

  “No, none whatsoever.” She knew why he felt this way though. “It’s because you consider yourself to still be mated?”

  Talon’s eyes clouded, his throat worked as he swallowed. “Yes.”

  “Then you shouldn’t touch me at all.” She didn’t believe that. Talon’s wife had been gone for a long time. She thought it was crazy that he felt he needed to go through life alone. It didn’t make any sense. Why would he punish himself like this?

  “You are right. I shouldn’t be doing this. I shouldn’t have kissed you either.”

  “You don’t understand. Touching me, being touched back, it isn’t bad. You aren’t doing anything wrong.” How did she make him understand?

  “It is wrong. I keep hurting you. I’m truly sorry.”

  “Stop apologizing already.”

  “I will go and shower now. Let’s forget this happened.”

  “Let’s talk about this,” she said as he climbed off the bed.

  “Nothing to talk about,” he said as he left the room.

  Well, shit! Vicky scrubbed a hand over her face. That was the best kiss of her life. The best. It seemed that maybe Talon was attracted to her after all. The knowledge should make her feel better but it didn’t. Not even close. It made her feel infinitely worse.

  Chapter 21

  Why is that guy looking at me like he wants to break both my arms?”

  Talon was working on her very last nerve. “He won’t hurt you, don’t worry.” Vicky took another sip of her champagne, trying to ignore the brooding shifter who was indeed looking at Peter like he wanted to kill him.

  "No really, I'm starting to get worried." Peter shifted in his seat but didn't leave, which was kudos to him. "He might just break one of my legs as well, and he's big enough to be able to pull it off. Easily."

  “I promise, he won’t hurt you. He’s harmless.”

  “Doesn’t look it. I thought Maggie said that you guys weren’t together.”

  “We aren’t,” she snapped, her eyes drawn back to Talon. She’d specifically asked Maggie to put them at separate tables. She was still angry with him.

  It didn’t help that he rocked a suit. He looked even better now that he’d lost the tie, his shirt sleeves were rolled up, exposing his forearms. Maggie’s cousins had only recently given up trying to pick him up. Vicky sighed. “Right now, I don’t think we’re even friends.” You can’t be friends with someone you want sexually. It was something she’d come to realize. Vicky looked back at Peter. He was tall with an athletic build and a full head of blond hair. “I plan on firing him as my client come Monday morning.”

  “That bad, huh?” Peter took a
sip of his drink.

  “I guess so.” She widened her eyes. “I can’t anymore. I just can’t.”

  “You’re in love with him.”

  “No.” She made a face. “That’s crazy. I haven’t known him long enough. Am I attracted to him? Like really attracted to him? Yes. Otherwise, no, don’t be crazy.”

  Peter looked at her pointedly.

  “You really think it’s possible to fall for someone so quickly? I mean, we haven’t even slept together.”

  “Well, he’s coming over here,” Peter said.

  “He isn’t.” She squeezed her eyes shut.

  “Yeah, he is, and I hope you are right about him not breaking any of my bones.”

  “Excuse us,” Talon growled before she could answer, eyes shooting daggers at Peter.

  “What are you doing?”

  “I think we need to talk.” He shot Peter another scathing look. “Alone.”

  “I wanted to talk this morning, remember? You said that there was nothing to say.”

  “I changed my mind.”

  "Well, so did I." Vicky couldn't do this, she needed to cut things off completely with Talon. Needed to move on. "I don't want to talk anymore. I was going to wait until Monday to do this, but I can't keep you on as my client. You need to move out. Find another place to stay. In fact, you can probably go back home. You had all the women here buzzing around you like blue-assed flies. I think you'll be just fine."

  “We need to talk,” Talon took her hand in his, “please.”

  “I think the lady said she wasn’t interested.” Peter stood up and so did she, especially when she saw the look in Talon’s eyes.

  He growled at Peter. It was low and scary sounding. His eyes narrowed and his hands curled into fists. “I wasn’t talking to you or asking your opinion.”

  Peter took a step back. “You’re making a scene. Please leave Vicky alone.” She was surprised the guy hadn’t turned on his heel and run away. As it was, she could see how pale he looked. He was petrified but still standing his ground.

  “It’s okay, Peter.” Vicky could see that this was headed in the wrong direction. She touched him on the side of the arm.

  Talon looked at where her fingers touched his sleeve. He growled again.

  “Stop that.” She slapped Talon on the side of the arm before turning back to Peter. “I’m going to have a quick word with Talon. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

  Peter nodded, his eyes on Talon.

  Talon shook his head. “Vicky will not be back.”

  “Cut it out!” She tried not to yell. It was headed to the close of the night. Maggie and Will had already left but she didn’t want to cause a scene.

  Talon took her hand and she let him. Anything to keep the peace. They walked out the back entrance. Talon kept on going. They walked through the gardens.

  He finally stopped.

  Maggie put her hands on her hips, preparing to tear Talon another one when his clothing ripped off him.

  Gone.

  One second he had been standing in front of her and the next, he was a griffin. Her eyes had barely even registered what she was seeing before he was taking to the sky. Not just that, his claws, talons ‒ whatever the hell those were, were wrapped around her and they were shooting up. So fast, she almost lost her dinner, so fast she was glad she didn’t drink too much or she might spew everywhere.

  Her hair blew out of its pin-up, flapping wildly about her face, blinding her. Not that she could see anything anyway. It was night. The wind was rushing past so fast that she doubted she could open her eyes without tearing up.

  What was he doing?

  What the—?

  She was going to tear him more than just a new one. She was going to tear him a couple. He was acting like a Neanderthal. Hot no cold. Up no down. Left no right. I want you. I don’t want you. Her head hurt.

  Within a minute, maybe two ‒ time didn’t have too much meaning when you were being carried; when the person carrying you was a shifter and flying …

  Flying!

  In what felt like a minute or two, he slowed enough that she cracked an eye open. It wasn’t as dark as she had thought. The sky was a blanket of stars. The moon was at about three quarters and very beautiful. They were in the middle of nowhere. There were forests surrounding them. The lake was nowhere to be seen.

  Talon took them down slowly. Placing her on her feet before letting her go. She still staggered but managed to find her footing. Then he was landing in front of her. She watched in fascination as he changed back. His great body folding in on itself. His dark, gleaming feathers retracting. Same with his tail.

  Tail.

  Good lord, but he had a tail. And wings. Don’t forget about the wings. Those folded back too. His long, muscular limbs becoming human legs once more.

  It happened quickly. Within a few seconds, the beast became Talon.

  Talon.

  Standing in front of her. His yellow eyes staring right through her. His chest heaving. His mouth set in a grimace. Shoulders wide, abs all over the place. Oh boy! His cock was fully erect. It jutted from his body. He approached her. More like stalked her. Made her want to take a step back. Heck, part of her was screaming to run but she stood her ground.

  “What do you think you’re doing?”

  “I’m a selfish prick,” he growled. “I can’t look at you without wanting you. Watching you talking to that male … it drove me half-insane.”

  “Talon, you can’t play this game with me.”

  “It’s no game.” He shook his head.

  “It is. One I’m sick to death of.”

  “I do want you. I’ve wanted you almost from the start.” He gripped her hips, almost too hard. She might even have bruises in the morning. His chest heaved again. “Just like I wanted to taste you, to hear your moans as you found your completion. Just like I want you now. I’m selfish.”

  “It’s not selfish. It’s not. It’s normal. Don’t you get that?” She tried to get through to him. “Why are you punishing yourself? Sex is normal, it’s natural. It’s good.” She gripped his cock in her hand, marveling at how soft and satiny his skin was. At how wide its girth was.

  Talon clenched his teeth and threw his head back. He groaned, his hips rocking forward. “I want you too,” she whispered. “The thought of you inside me keeps me up at night. I—” She squealed when he lifted her off her feet.

  Talon walked a few feet before he placed her on a large boulder. He pulled at her dress, tearing it up the side in one fluid motion. Next to go were her panties, which he ripped clean off. “Legs around me.” She could barely understand him his voice was so deep. She was already hooking her legs around his hips as he spoke. She couldn’t wait for him, for this. Could hardly believe it was actually happening. Finally. She wasn’t going crazy or misreading signals. Talon wanted her. He really wanted her. Part of her was waiting for him to push her away even though desire burned in his eyes.

  It didn’t happen because then he was lining up his cock with her opening and pushing into her. Her pussy stretching more than it could handle. “Big … oh god … big,” she moaned. It was good but it hurt at the same time. Talon’s breathing was ragged. He found her clit and strummed it with his thumb. His movements were frantic. He continued to rock back and forth, his huge cock sliding in deeper with every movement. He grunted.

  Her eyes felt enormous. Her moans loud. His breathing matched his movements. Heavy and urgent. He was gritting his teeth so hard she was sure he might crack a tooth. Sweat beaded on his brow. “So tight. So very …” Another hard groan as he pulled back out. “Tiny snatch. So good.”

  Shit, if he kept rubbing on her clit like that she was going to come in the next ten seconds. There was another tearing noise as Talon destroyed her dress a whole lot more.

  His eyes were on her breasts, which were completely exposed now that her dress was a gaping mess. She didn’t care though. Not one bit. Especially when his eyes darkened with need. “So beautiful,�
�� he muttered, driving his cock deeper into her. “Dark.” He moaned, pinching one of her nipples. “Tight.” He bottomed out inside her, making a loud snarling noise that should have terrified her, but only heightened her desire. He stopped moving, just looking at her. His gaze moving from her face to her breasts and down, driving her wild.

  “Fuck me,” she moaned. She groaned when he picked up the pace again, growling loudly. “Yes, there, god yes.” He was thrusting into her now using hard, even strokes that had her breath catching. His abs pulled tight with every movement. His eyes were focused on her. They drifted down to where he watched his cock slide into her.

  “By feather,” he growled. “So good, your snatch … so very good.” He was driving into her. Her bare ass on the hard rock. Her boobs bounced each time his balls slapped against her.

  She was so close. Her orgasm right there. Her hands were braced on the rock behind her. Talon’s jaw was tight, his eyes dark, his skin looked tight as well. His growls and snarls filled the air. Talon found her clit again and strummed it. That was the end of her. She felt herself tighten around him. Talon’s eyes widened, his jaw fell open. His hand tightened on her leg, fingers digging into her. She didn’t care or feel it since pleasure was slamming through her. From deep inside her, through her lower belly and up higher. Shooting through her with every hard slam of his cock, every rub of his finger. Her eyes were wide, her mouth open.

  She was making a mewling noise but couldn’t seem to stop. Her boobs were jerking so hard but she didn’t give a damn.

  Then Talon was crouching over her. He roared, sounding more surprised than anything else. His roar went on for a good few seconds. His eyes wide, they too looked filled with shock and maybe awe. His hips jerked. His cock seemed to pulse inside her hitting deep, sparking another orgasm of her own. How was it even possible?

  Her yell punched the air. His finger was still strumming her clit. Her pussy spasmed around him. She threw her head back and clenched her teeth. She was coming just as hard as the first time, maybe even harder, only it didn’t last as long. Thankfully, since she was already oversensitive. Talon’s hips were still rocking softly, as if by their own accord. His ragged breathing filled the clearing.