Beast Denied

by Faye Avalon

  “Bedroom time, sugar.”

  Determined to escape into mindless sex, Naomi forced the unwanted thoughts from her head. She slid off the stool, stepped aside and half turned. About to waltz past him, she wasn’t surprised when his hand came out and swatted her backside. She gave the required “ouch” and looked over her shoulder at him, eyes lowered.

  While they climbed the stairs, he palmed her ass. She’d often thought Nathan was an ass man, but then he seemed to like pretty much every part of a woman’s body and knew what to do with it for maximum pleasure.

  In his bedroom, she climbed onto the massive bed and lay on her back. Nathan went to the nightstand and came to the bed armed with a handful of condoms.

  “Someone plans on being a busy boy,” she said, stretching her arms over her head and writhing enticingly while he watched her. “And I thought I was just here for a quickie.”

  “I’m thinking I need to get you off at least three times before you even begin to relax.” He dropped the condoms onto the side table and crawled over her. “I take my duties seriously.”

  “I’ll say.”

  Naomi wrapped her arms around his neck, and he lowered his head to her breasts. Slowly, he began to swirl his tongue around one nipple while using his thumb and forefinger to toy with the other.

  By now, Naomi was barely capable of remembering her own name, which was exactly how she wanted it. So she slid her fingers down his back, the play of muscles sensuous beneath her palms. His flesh felt hot, hard and satisfying.

  He pulled away, then reached out to the side for one of the packets. Naomi didn’t even try to help. She knew Nathan never wanted her to sheath him. It was something he preferred to do for himself. She’d once wondered why, but reasoned that he, like she, pushed away from the intimacy of certain acts.

  So she observed him take care of things himself, watching the rubber glide over his impressive cock while his erection jerked and pulsated in eager expectation. The walls of her vagina clenched, her pussy drenched with her own desire.

  He inched down the bed, nudging his knees between her legs to spread them wide. He dropped his hands to either side of her head and lowered over her. The first nudge of his cock against her heat made her gasp. With his gaze on hers, he pushed forward and seated himself fully inside her.

  It concerned her a little that she could so easily match his rhythm, but she shrugged it off. They had been screwing whenever the itch took them. Why wouldn’t they be in tune in the sack?

  She thanked her lucky stars she and Nathan had hooked up. After last night’s debacle, she had to wonder if her antenna was off in that area of her life. In London, she had only chosen human males—a grand total of two, to be exact—her choice based solely on the fact that each of them had stoked her fire on a purely sexual level. She liked them well enough, but she didn’t feel anything deeper for them. Which suited her just fine.

  Apart from Nathan, her only sojourn into sexual adventures since she’d returned to Bodmin had been last night. From now on, she’d stick to what she knew.

  And what she knew was currently bringing her to orgasm once more. Nathan’s eyes were closed, his breath hissing through gritted teeth. He speeded up, his cock pumping hard and fast. He let out a cry and emptied himself into the condom mere seconds before she came too.

  “Shit,” Nathan hissed. “Fucking came before I got the chance to work you hard.”

  Naomi laughed. “Not sure I could have survived if you’d worked me any harder.”

  She shifted, encouraging him to withdraw.

  “Wait,” he grated. “Give me a second, okay?” It took him a full minute to slide out of her and roll onto his back. He turned his head and looked at her. His dark hair, cropped at the sides but longer on top, combined to make his hooded eyes seem languid. “You get off?”

  She wondered that he could have any doubt, seeing as her cries would have woken the neighbors, if he had any. She grinned. “Am I beginning to look relaxed?”

  His gaze traveled leisurely up and down her naked body, then he returned her grin. “Yeah. I’d say so.” He sat, swung his legs over the bed and glanced back. “Let me get rid of this, and I’ll see what more I can do to help our esteemed town doctor unwind.”

  She watched that sexy swagger all the way to the bathroom and wondered why her thoughts turned to Tynan. Probably because he had that swagger thing going too. In fact, they all did. Caleb, Nathan and Tynan. They’d probably learned it from each other, seeing as they’d grown up together and been thick as thieves all their lives.

  When the first-borns had been called away to help another pack, and Caleb had been kidnapped, Nathan had stayed on in South America to try to find out where his friend was being held. Tynan had gone too, but Naomi imagined that being forced to conduct his efforts from behind a laptop, while Nathan was in the thick of the action, would have weighed heavily on someone as proud and fiercely loyal as Tynan.

  She felt for him, she really did. His accident had not only limited his physical abilities, as bad as that was for a shifter, but had stolen a fundamental part of his identity, of his purpose in life.

  She knew how it felt to be in that position. Knew how devastating such a loss could be. And how it ripped away everything that made you the person you believed yourself to be. The life you were born to live, everything you hoped for, planned for, was gone.

  On the surface it would seem that Tynan had fared much better than she had. Or had he? Like her, he had shaped a new life, and while it wasn’t the one he wanted or had been born for, he now excelled at his imposed profession.

  She pushed down both the guilt and the little tingle of pride that welled in her chest.

  And damn it. Why was she thinking about Tynan again? Because that bloody kiss had stirred things up, that was why. It had plunged her back into the past, to things she didn’t want to remember. To things she wouldn’t remember. Tynan wasn’t the only one who had moved on.

  Nathan came back and flung himself onto the bed. “Want something to eat before we get down to round two?”

  Seeing she had been denied her supper when Tynan came calling, Naomi nodded. “What’s on offer?”

  Nathan pillowed his head on his folded arms. “Can heat up a pizza, toss some salad.”

  “If you didn’t live in the middle of nowhere, we could get takeout delivered.”

  He tapped her on the nose. “You love my pizza.”

  “Right now I’m so hungry, I’d love anything as long as it’s remotely edible.”

  He was silent for a few moments, watching her. “Feeling better?”

  His soft inquiry gave her pause. “I’m fine. Relaxed, remember?”

  Turning onto his side, he propped himself on one elbow. “Why don’t you shift and go for a run while I get supper arranged? Burn off some of that residual energy.”

  Her insides jolted. Nathan didn’t know. Nobody knew. And she was planning on keeping it that way.

  “Better still,” Nathan said, sliding his fingertip between her breasts, “why don’t we both go?”

  Shit. “I’m really not in the mood. I want pizza and sex. That’ll do me fine.”

  Thankfully, Nathan rarely asked her to run with him. When he had, she’d always managed to get his mind off it by flashing her body at him. Now, she stretched languidly, pushing her breasts up toward his wandering hand.

  “You’ve got sex on the brain right now,” he said, toying with her nipple. “Still want to experiment?”

  “What did you have in mind?” She’d try anything once, especially if it got his mind off shifting and running together.

  “I can set it up. A threesome.”

  She threw her hands over her eyes. “Hell. Not that again.”

  “So you’re saying you’re over it? No longer want to try it on for size?”

  Despite what had happened last night,
she couldn’t quite bring herself to deny she wasn’t still curious. “Didn’t say that.” She lowered her hands. “You’ve done it before; what’s it like?”

  Still toying with her nipple, Nathan pursed his lips. “Intense. When it’s done properly.”

  Intrigued, she tilted her head. “How do you mean, when it’s done properly?”

  “The dynamics have to be right. Everyone needs to respect certain boundaries, expectations. If they don’t, it can be a disaster.”

  “Has it ever been a disaster for you?”

  He shook his head. “But then I’ve always gone in with someone I respect and trust. To my way of thinking, you can’t put a woman in that position if you don’t trust the other guy.”

  Before she could stop herself Naomi asked the question she knew she shouldn’t. “Who was the other guy?”

  He grinned. “Now that would be telling.”

  “Oh, come on. You males love to spill. Was it Caleb?”

  “Maybe.”

  Hell. She couldn’t resist. “Tynan?”

  “Same answer.”

  His cocky grin infuriated her. Now she was beyond intrigued. “Just how many times have you indulged, exactly?”

  “A gentleman never tells.” When she shoved at his shoulder, he laughed. “The thing is,” he said. “If it’s something you want to try, then let me set it up.”

  It was almost too tempting to contemplate, but she had a feeling it was best to simply cut her losses in the ménage-indulging stakes. Not that Nathan would let things drop that easily. The gleam in his eye told her as much. So she cocked her head. “With Caleb as third? I don’t think Talia would agree to that.”

  “Funny.” He tapped her nose. “I wouldn’t dare ask. Seeing as Caleb won’t let another male so much as breathe near Talia without threatening to slice off his balls.”

  “Definitely not wise to ask, then.” She hiked up to sitting, reluctant to contemplate what his next suggestion would be. Or rather, who. “So, let’s get that pizza you promised me.”

  He pulled her back down. “How about Ty?”

  Double hell. “I’m not his favorite person. And he’s certainly not mine.”

  She had no idea if Tynan had told his friends about their liaison almost a decade ago. She certainly hoped not. And from Nathan’s blank expression, it seemed he wasn’t aware that he was poking a stick at a sleeping snake.

  “You can trust him to play it safe,” Nathan went on, oblivious to her trembling nerves. “And he’s certainly not the kiss-and-tell type.”

  So it would seem. Naomi scrambled up again and reached for one of Nathan’s discarded shirts.

  “I’m rapidly going off the idea anyway,” she said, pulling his shirt over her head. “Maybe it’s not all it’s cracked up to be.” She glanced over her shoulder and, seeing Nathan’s sexy grin, raised her eyebrows. “You’re going to tell me it is.”

  “Like I said, get the dynamics right. It can pretty much blow your head off.” Another wicked grin. “In more ways than one. Ty’s got some fucking amazing moves. Always leaves the ladies with a smile on their face and begging for a repeat performance.”

  Oh damn. Now she was getting hot again.

  She almost fell over her own feet in her haste to get out of the bedroom. Hurrying down to the kitchen, Naomi tried desperately to shake off the image of Tynan and those moves that could make a woman beg. Another image replaced it. A flash of memory. Of her weeping. Of Tynan trying to placate her, telling her it was all okay and there was nothing to concern herself about.

  In the kitchen, she got pizza out of Nathan’s freezer, popped it into the microwave and closed the door. She stared at the glass door, images of that night on the moor flickering in her mind’s eye.

  It was her eighteenth birthday. She and Tynan had been seeing each other in secret for almost six months, since the day he had kissed her full on the mouth and turned their friendship into something more powerful and needy.

  She’d wanted him to be her first. Had planned for the day when she lost her virginity to him. Her parents had been alive then, but despite her mother’s best attempts, her birthday hadn’t been a stellar affair. Mostly because her father was in one of his moods. The kind that made everyone in the immediate vicinity run for cover. She had almost counted the hours until she and Tynan had escaped to the moor. He’d parked his battered old car and they had stripped off their clothes. A little embarrassed, Naomi had avoided looking at him. She’d kept her eyes closed while he’d talked her through her first transition, teaching her how to use her emerging power to change form gradually and with control. Eager for the experience, she’d been a quick learner and was soon reveling in her primal state and the newfound freedom it provided. They’d run side by side, covering parts of the moor unknown to Naomi before her change to feline form. It had been exciting and exhilarating.

  After what seemed like hours, they returned to where the car was parked and shifted back to human form. Naomi had stared, mesmerized by Tynan’s nakedness. In turn, he had raked his gaze over her, his eyes gleaming. In that moment, he made her feel like she was the most desirable female he had ever seen.

  Nerves danced as he continued to peruse her body, and the feelings she had were so much more intense than the ones she had whenever she dreamed of Tynan touching her.

  He’d coaxed her down to the ground, kissed her, then slid his hand down her body. So slowly, so gently. His fingers felt wonderful sliding over her mound, and she’d opened her legs just a fraction, wanting more.

  The strength of his hand, the pressure of his touch—all so very different from her own touch on those nights when she’d imagined it was Tynan’s hand, not her own, sliding between her legs.

  Her body tingled with new sensations, her heart beating rapidly in her chest. And she ached so badly at her core. She knew the dampness there was due to her own arousal. Knew that the wet feeling against her thigh was precome from Tynan’s erection. She knew all that from her searches on the Internet, from the books she read and from conversations with her friends when she’d feigned experience and joined in their tales of sexual encounters.

  Everything had been so wonderful. Tynan had been patient, understanding. He had gone so slowly. She knew she wasn’t his first, that his name had been mentioned in those tales of her friend’s sexual encounters. But she really liked him and wanted him to be the first man to make love to her.

  He’d stroked her skin, kissed her breasts until the nipples were really hard and almost painful. He’d dipped his finger inside her slit and stroked her slowly and easily.

  Lost in sensation, she had tried to reach for him, curious as to how he felt, but he’d gently pushed her hand away.

  “Tonight is about you,” he’d said, his eyes glinting in the moonlight. “This needs to be something you’ll remember. The first time with a male should be special for a girl. It should pave the way for all your future experiences.”

  With those words, the first niggling doubts had set in. She couldn’t blame him in retrospect, seeing as she’d all but thrown herself at him and begged him to make love to her, to be her first. While they’d taken their friendship to a new and different level with that full-on kiss, and Naomi had fallen for him big-time, she realized he didn’t feel the same. To him, she was just another girl. One he was happy to fuck, before moving on.

  Although she had tried not to let the thought change anything, nerves had turned to full-out tension, and when he pressed another finger inside her and pushed deeper, she’d let out a little squeal.

  “Relax,” he said, stroking her. “If you tense, it’ll be even more difficult for you.”

  But instead of relaxing her, his words had the opposite effect. The tension heightened when he slid on a condom. She watched, her heart almost thumping out of her chest. He moved over her, nudging her legs apart, until she was bordering on distraught. She tried
so hard to relax, not to show her distress, but she simply couldn’t.

  He slid his hand under her buttock to raise her hips a little. The first press of his erection felt like a dull blade against her sensitive flesh. She was determined not to squeal again, because she wanted Tynan. So much. But he was pushing deeper, and everything inside her stiffened and felt so tight. She went rigid.

  Braced with his hands beside her shoulders, Tynan stilled. “You okay?”

  She gritted her teeth, her jaw tight, so that all she could do was nod.

  “It can hurt…the first time…let me know if you want to stop.”

  She nodded again. She’d heard tales, mostly from her friends, about just how much it could hurt. It could be painful for any female, but for shifters, it was worse. Something about their transition to full panther state and then reversion to human.

  Tynan tried again, this time inching in farther. He felt too big for her tight channel, and she couldn’t help but tense further against his stealthy invasion. It burned, and she tried to move away from him, pushing herself back against the ground.

  He froze above her, his breath coming in jerks. “Want me to stop?”

  Yes. She hadn’t expected it to be like this. She was so furious with herself for being so tense, especially when she’d planned for this, longed for this, for such a long time.

  She shook her head. “I’m…okay. I don’t want you to stop.”

  He waited a few moments, staring down at her, then began pushing forward again.

  The burning pain stole her breath and she thought she might die when she couldn’t take in air. Her throat hurt, her chest squeezed, and between her legs, the pain intensified. He was too big, and it hurt so much.

  Tynan gave a groan and pushed hard. The pain was so severe, it brought tears to her eyes. She squeezed them shut, arching her head back when, with one final thrust, he was in all the way. He didn’t move, and she opened her eyes to find him looking down at her.

  “Okay?”

  She gave him another nod, and he began thrusting his hips. The sharp pain had lessened, but it still hurt when he moved. It wasn’t supposed to be like this, was it? How come all her friends waxed lyrical about how great it was?