Ruling Fire (Bad Boys Of The Underworld Book 4)

by Crowe, Mallory

  He slammed into her side, knocking her over as the momentum from the high speeds sent her tumbling over, rolling three times before she came to a dizzying stop.

  She tried to push herself up and stand, but Brock pounded on top of her; sharp pangs shot through her shoulder as he held her in place with his fangs. A bolt of fear and something much more primitive went right to her core.

  But then the teeth were gone and something else, a hand, pressed the nape of her neck down. “Now change back, Elsie,” ordered Brock from above her.

  The son of a bitch had changed right on top of her! She had to be stronger than him now. She tested this new dynamic, but he quickly proved that if he didn’t want her to move, she was stuck no matter what form she was in.

  “I said, change back,” he said, this time closer to her ear, as though he was leaning in.

  If she could change back, she would’ve! Last time she changed, it had taken her days! Did he really expect her to just flip it off like a switch?

  As though he’d heard her thoughts, he said, “If you don’t change back now, I’m going to stick a leash on you and walk you back to my place like a dog. Now change the fuck back, Elsie.”

  Anger and fear and, for some stupid reason, arousal, mixed within her and finally the whole thing became too much; she felt the power burst out in one big rush, her body going from wolf to human in a fraction of a second.

  Suddenly the relaxing grass beneath her was cold and the body on top of her was burning up. She pushed herself up, but Brock stopped her as he covered her with his body. His erection pressed into the exposed curve of her ass. Her breath caught in her throat as she tried to collect her thoughts. “Damn it, Brock, anyone could see us.”

  In a flash, he flipped her over onto her back as he slid between her legs. The head of his cock pressed right against her entrance.

  Elsie had to bite her lip to stop her moan.

  “Are you telling me you don’t want your punishment?”

  She wanted to tell him yes, but all she could think about was rubbing her hips up and sliding his cock farther into her. God, did all shifters get this horny after turning?

  Brock reached between their bodies and slid two fingers inside her wet heat. He groaned at the sensation as he closed his eyes, seeming to savor the feeling. Elsie couldn’t help but watch him even as his fingers worked magic.

  “Didn’t you know?” He leaned down, nipping at her neck as he pressed his palm into her clit just the right way to make her shudder. “You always get wet for your mate. You can run from me as much as you want. You can make the dumbest deals imaginable with my greatest enemy, but you’ll always want me, Elsie. You’ll always need this. So if I were you, I’d think long and hard before you pull another stunt like today.”

  His fingers moved faster and Elsie’s head fell back. Why was he still talking about punishments even as he made her feel so good? “Are you blackmailing me?” she asked, somewhere between words and a moan.

  He kissed his way down her collarbone until he reached her breasts, gently kissing the taut peak of one before he gave the other a gentle bite on the bottom swell. “Oh, no. You’re going to come for me.”

  He kissed and licked at the valley between her breasts before he removed his hands from her thighs and pressed her breasts together as though presenting them to himself, his look of unmasked approval somehow as erotic as his fingers sliding inside her.

  “I’m sorry, I swear. Just tell me what to do...” Was she begging? Damn, she didn’t mean to. But at this point, her entire body was balanced on the edge of orgasm, and he sure as hell didn’t seem as if he was in any hurry to alleviate her pain any time soon.

  “Tell me you’re mine.” He kissed the skin right above her belly button.

  The grass didn’t seem as cold anymore. Instead, the difference between his body and the rest of their surroundings just turned her on more, as though he’d wrapped her up in some sort of sexual spell where anything and everything made her want him.

  “I’m yours,” she breathed as he went lower. She arched up into him and he cupped her ass as he nipped at the sensitive skin of her inner thigh.

  “Tell me that you’ll obey me from now on.”

  “I can’t—”

  He pushed her legs farther apart and his tongue shot out, just touching her over-sensitized clit.

  “Oh God,” she moaned as her breaths came in terse pants.

  “Tell me and I’ll let you come,” he said, his breath like an erotic caress against her core.

  “I’m your mate, not your subject,” she said in an act of defiance that even she didn’t know she was capable of.

  Brock drew back and she felt his absence immediately as the cold seemed to envelop her. “We’ll just see about that.” He flipped her over onto her stomach and wrapped an arm under her stomach, lifting her ass for him.

  Elsie started to push up on her hands as he entered her in one swift thrust. The sudden pleasure shook her; the fullness might’ve been painful if she hadn’t already been so wet and ready for him.

  And now she was ready for him to move. “Please, Brock...” She pushed back against him.

  He reached around her. His thick forearm rested between her breasts and his fingers wrapped around her neck. Not pressing down at all, but letting her know he was in control.

  He pulled her up and flat against him, his front to her back. Why couldn’t he just move?

  “Tell me you’ll obey me,” he breathed into her ear.

  “I...” She fought the dueling urges in her mind and body, searching for the words...searching for some way to give him what he wanted. “I love you,” she finally said. “Isn’t that enough?”

  For half a second, neither of them moved. Neither of them breathed. She kept waiting for his anger or rage, but instead she finally got what she wanted. He started to move. He held her so tightly that she was practically immobile so he could take her however he wanted.

  As she closed her eyes and let her head fall back against his shoulder, he reached down with his free hand to touch her as his thrusts came faster and harder.

  She bucked against him, but he didn’t let up at all. Where before he’d been withholding pleasure from her, it was as though he’d opened up the dam, giving her everything he had and more.

  And when he bit into where her shoulder met neck, the orgasm finally hit.

  She forgot where they were. She forgot that anyone could see them. The only thing that mattered was her and Brock and the pleasure coursing through her veins.

  Right before the orgasm started to wane, Brock let her go. She fell onto her palms and he pulled her hips hard against him, taking her in a hard, primal rhythm. Taking her as if she was his. As if he was hers.

  The lines all seemed to blur. Hell, everything was a blur for Elsie as Brock thrust three more times, hard, before his fingers bit into her waist as his own orgasm hit.

  He groaned his release as he held her impossibly tighter.

  When it was over, Brock fell onto his own hands, his body covering hers. They were both gasping for air, and a little shiver shot down her spine as Brock turned in to kiss her shoulder. She pushed into him, savoring the sweet gesture after their frantic...mating? She didn’t even know what the hell that was. She knew she liked it. She also knew they were buck-ass naked in the middle of the most populated city in the country.

  So it was a strange night.

  “What the hell was that?” she asked aloud, still trying to catch her breath.

  “That was your first truly successful change,” said Brock, completely ignoring the mind-blowing sex that had just happened.

  “Really? That’s how you’re going to play this?”

  Brock chuckled into her ear as he gently pulled away. “It made sense. The last time you changed it was because you were running for your life. All I had to do was get you running again.”

  “And this had nothing to do with you being upset with me?”

  “You knew I’d be upset
with you, so don’t act all surprised.”

  “But you’re happy Dani is back.” It wasn’t a question.

  “Yes, I’m glad she’s back. But if I had to choose between your safety and hers, it wouldn’t be a choice.”

  Brock stood and he didn’t seem too concerned about his naked body in the park. Sure, it wasn’t busy and this wooded area was relatively secluded, but they were by no means alone here.

  “Hang tight for a few minutes. I’ll bring you your dress.”

  Before she could say anything, he flashed back into wolf form and sprinted away. As soon as he was gone, Elsie tucked her knees up to her chest and held them close, alternately trying to stay warm while keeping herself covered at the same time.

  Though she wasn’t alone for long. After only a minute or two, Brock was back. He was dressed and in human form as he handed Elsie her dress.

  “That was fast.”

  “I’m not going to leave you out here by yourself all naked without rushing back.” He winked.

  “Good to know,” she deadpanned as she slid her dress on. As much as she wanted to think the entire ordeal was behind them, she still hadn’t mentioned her tentative alliance with Lucian. That was a conversation she’d rather have...never.

  Elsie smoothed her dress over her, looking for any sign of dirt or stray grass on the flowy material. “Maybe next time we can try to get me to change without all the running and threatening?”

  Brock wrapped an arm around her and leaned in for a quick kiss. “Are you telling me you didn’t like running at all?”

  She tried to keep a straight face, but a smile crept in. “The running was fun.” And the being caught part. That was fun too. “For a second, I thought you were going to do, um, that while we were still furry.”

  “Oh no. Don’t worry. That’s a human-only activity.”

  “It’s not like it’s something I’m into, but are you saying that no wolf couples have tried it before?”

  “I tried it so you don’t have to,” he said with a wicked smile as he took her hand in his and started to walk back toward where they entered the park and, hopefully, to where she’d left her shoes.

  “So it wasn’t fun, I take it?” she asked.

  “It was...a need. Like drinking water. It felt good. We had a drive to do it. But there wasn’t the same rush or pleasure that we get in this form.”

  “That sucks. For you and her, I guess. So is that kind of weirdness a relationship ender or did you two tough it out afterwards?”

  Brock’s expression went blank and it was as if she could actually see the wall he threw up around himself. “It was Delia. My first mate.”

  Elsie opened her mouth, but nothing came out. Sometimes it was easy to forget that she wasn’t Brock’s first mate. After all, he’d mated to Delia back in the fifties, well before Elsie was ever born. But it was naive of her to act as though she was Brock’s first.

  “You don’t talk about her much.”

  “It doesn’t really come up a lot.”

  Just then, Elsie saw one of her discarded tennis shoes. She let go of Brock’s hand as she ran for the protection from the cold grass. For some reason, the pebbles and stones hidden among the park hadn’t bothered her. Really, the cold hadn’t seemed quite as cold either. Maybe she was more wolf even in her human form...

  “You don’t have to talk about anything you don’t want to.” Elsie slid on the shoes. “I know it can be a sore subject.”

  Brock rubbed at his temples. “No... It’s not that sore. Delia and I weren’t the closest of mates.”

  Elsie raised a brow. “Really? Was it some sort of political match?”

  “Something like that. She checked off a lot of the requirement boxes. Good family. Good age. Was good with people. And, most importantly, she was a hundred percent certain she could handle the queen.”

  Which she couldn’t. “I’m sorry that you didn’t choose me either.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, it’s bad enough your first mate wasn’t exactly a love match. And then I fell into your life out of sheer luck.” Good or bad luck was yet to be determined. Besides...he hadn’t exactly said he loved her. Even after her, admittedly lust-driven, admission a few minutes before. Hell, he might’ve forgotten. They were a bit distracted when it happened.

  Either way, now wasn’t a good time to bring it up. She had one more thing to clear up with him before they started exchanging “I Love You’s.”

  “Brock... You need to know something.” He looked over to her but didn’t say anything. She’d kind of hoped he’d change the subject somehow and she could get out of this conversation. “Do you remember the myotis who showed up in my house?”

  “Creepy monster who wanted to kill us? Yeah, I remember.”

  “He was my backup. I made a deal with him to find him a siren wife and he held up his end of the deal.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  Brock stared out over the murky New Jersey water. Though, at three a.m., he supposed most water would look murky, but he knew from experience the green-brown color of the ocean crept farther inland. And even if he couldn’t see it, he could certainly smell it.

  “You look rough,” said a voice from behind him.

  Brock twisted around, scenting the air to verify this beast was the same one who’d threatened him and Elsie so recently. “Lucian, I assume?” Considering he hadn’t smelled or heard the man before, he must’ve teleported there.

  “That’s me. I’m assuming your mate told you about our little extracurricular activities?”

  Brock growled low in his throat. Granted, Lucian wasn’t threatening in his current form, but Brock knew that the monster’s face was only one of two. And myotises looked like any other supernatural being during the day. Too damned attractive for their own good. “She told me you helped her get Dani back. I’d like to extend my gratitude.”

  “I don’t need your thanks, wolf. Your mate already agreed to my demands.”

  “Elsie isn’t making any deals with you. From now on, you deal directly with me.”

  “If you would like to deliver me a siren bride, I’d be more than happy to work with you.”

  “I don’t have any spare sirens. But I have one better.”

  “I doubt it.”

  Brock reached down for his briefcase and snapped it open, pulling out a thick manila envelope. “My kind have been keeping tabs on your people for longer than you can imagine. And you’re not the first coven leader who’s worked to find out how to solve your little fertility problem.”

  It was Lucian’s turn to growl menacingly. No one really liked having their weaknesses pointed out. Brock glanced around but didn’t see any sign that Lucian had brought backup.

  But that didn’t mean they weren’t ready to pounce at any second. “Your predecessor was looking into the fertility crisis. During one of his...spats with my people, we raided one of his labs. This is all the research he had.”

  “I already know about his research. What good would that do me now?”

  “From what I read in these files, he was damn close. And you didn’t take over for another decade. I think your time would be better served if you gave up on trying to coerce a siren and find a solution for your species instead of just you.”

  Lucian snatched the files from Brock’s hand but didn’t look through the thick stack of paper. It was probably hard to read with the thick claws.

  “Take a few days to look it over. I’ll still even owe you a favor. But from now on, you deal with me. Elsie is off-limits.”

  “I’m not agreeing to anything until I can look these over.”

  But he wasn’t disagreeing either, which was good.

  “Take your time. I’ll help you any way I can.”

  “Any way that doesn’t involve Elsie.”

  Brock stepped forward, closing the distance between him and the myotis, refusing to be intimidated by the creature in front of him. “Elsie is mine. Mine to protect and mine to have. And w
hen you have a mate of your own, you can trust I’ll respect those boundaries.”

  Lucian was quiet for a moment as though deciding whether he was going to test these boundaries Brock was putting in place. Instead, he nodded and held up the folder. “I’ll keep that in mind.” With that, Lucian was gone.

  Brock glanced around, verifying he was all alone before he bent to pick up his briefcase and head out. As soon as he was in the car and headed toward the freeway to take him back to his Manhattan apartment, he dialed Lana.

  Because of how late it was, Brock had expected to get her voicemail, but she answered right away.

  “Brock, dear, I hope everything is all right.”

  “Everything is not all right. What’s this I’m hearing about you telling Elsie to leave me?”

  “What on earth are you talking about?” she asked in a perfectly innocent tone.

  Brock gripped the phone tighter. “You and Elsie went out to lunch and, from what she told me, you weren’t too friendly.” There was a brief pause and Brock imagined Lana was formulating how to talk her way out of this one.

  “Well, I don’t know where she got that idea. I suppose I can be rather abrupt at times. Maybe this is all a misunderstanding?”

  “It’s not a misunderstanding, Lana. You made no secret of how you felt about Elsie from the moment I brought her home, so don’t treat me like an idiot. But if you can’t get along with my mate, you’re going to have to remove yourself from any place she might be.” Including the cabin where Lana currently lived. He wouldn’t kick her out on the streets. Brock owned a few properties she could have her choice of. But she would have to go somewhere away from him.

  “I want what’s best for you! I was there for Delia. I remember how excited the two of you were. How sure you were that she could take on the queen. I was also there the night she died. No wolf should ever have to go through the pain of losing a mate.” Her voice cracked, reminding them both that she had firsthand experience of what it was like to lose a mate.

  “I’m not losing Elsie any time soon, so stop trying to push her away.”

  “She’s been having the dreams, you know.”