“Agreed. Methinks we’re seeing a crack in the Wylfen world. Jesus H Christ. We need more eyes analyzing the Rath and Prakov data. Too bad BUD/S starts next week. Jaz is arguably our best hacker. Where’s Bandit? Can we pull him in?” Lycus had a familiar glitter in his eyes. The Rogue alpha needed to hunt.
“Way ahead of you. Texted him and it’s a go. Bandit can give us three weeks of his time. I’m thinking we need to bunker down. You and I are out of commission for the BUD/S duration. What do you think of giving Bandit the lead and headquartering at my place?”
Axe held his breath. Prymal had only been formed two months ago. The seven alphas leading the pack still hadn’t worked out ranks, or defined the SOPs under which the pack would operate.
“Best maneuver under the circumstances. Too bad Apache and Taran are on deployment. Dax and Eva are in town tomorrow night, right? How about suggesting they stay with you for the duration, too?”
Axe’s lips almost spilt he grinned so wide. “Fan-fucking-tastic. I know Eva and Tania were once close. Eva can ease Tania into the differences between us and the Wylfen. Don’t know if Dax will agree to it, though. He’s in major overprotective, moats-around-the-castle mode.”
“How do you think Tania’s going to react when she sees Eva? And you know the whole sordid tale will come out.”
Axe plowed a hand through his hair. “Dunno. I’m beginning to think she doesn’t hold with Wylfen perfection. But Eva’s injuries haven’t had time to mend. She’s still too weak to shift and accelerate her healing. And as for the ‘sordid tale’ as you put it, my guess is Tania will be in denial at first.”
“How fucking often do I have to say it? You’re being girly paranoid about Tania and your scars. You don’t see the fucking adoring way she looks at you. It’s puke-able.” Lycus stuck his middle finger in his open mouth and shuddered.
“Fuck off.” Did Tania really look at him like that?
“Pussy-wuss. How’d she take to Jurango and The Kydd?”
“Like a duck to water. Actually, she wasn’t in the least bit fazed by Jurango’s tats like I thought she’d be. The Kydd set out to charm the pants off her. She totally ignored his aw-shucks-cowboy bit. But she balked at having guards.” Axe grinned when he remembered his mate’s reactions after she’d met the two Prymal pack members.
“Jurango? Really? And The Kydd? Is he some kind of cowboy? And just for your itty bitty brain, I am not offended by tattoos, or scars.” Hands planted on jutting hips, chin tilted in a just-test-me angle, she had scowled at him big time.
His cock did a quick jerk and twitch and hardened into a Tania-fuck-me-now-arousal. Just to make sure he didn’t embarrass himself, Axe glanced at his crotch and sighed when he found the baggy fatigues he wore hid his engorged dick.
Axe expected that Tania’s fear and trepidation would ratchet during the day, and he had no clue what to expect when he returned to the ranch. Willing mate or hostile, Wylfen female.
Lycus snapped his fingers in front of Axe’s face. “Hello. We’re not done, Senior Chief Smith.”
Axe shook his head. “What?”
“Breaking news.” He flipped his cell around and showed Axe the screen.
Axe read the Huffington Post headline and then scanned the article. “Fucking-A. Lionel Rath the First dead of a heart attack. Doesn’t say when or where.”
“So, which Rath fired Wasserman and Litchfield? Lionel Rath II or Lionel Rath the First prior to his death?” Lycus’s shit-eating grin widened.
“The plot just coagulated. I’d lay any odds you want that fucking Lionel Rath II is the one behind the Jäeger thrashing Jaz and Tania’s hotel rooms and scatting over Tania’s possessions.” Axe’s internal danger alarms went viral. He bounded out of his chair. “I got to get to Tania.
“It’s sixteen-hundred. You can’t sign out now.”
“Lycus, this is turning me inside out. I’m not re-enlisting. Know why? ‘Cause I can’t stand the thought of being away from her for fucking ten hours every day. I hate the way I feel. All I want is to be with her twenty-four seven. I’ve been sitting here sniffing her panties—”
“Way too TMI. Crap, have you lost it. Jesus save me from ever having a mate if this is what it does to you.” Lycus stood. He planted his hands on Axe’s desk. “Grow some balls. Fuck her senseless and then persuade her to claim you. Heck, blackmail her. Tell her no more fucking unless she takes the plunge. I’m outta here.”
Lycus slammed out of the room
Axe had to admit, it wasn’t a bad strategy.
Three hours later, Axe slid open the back door to his house and simply stood there staring. Following his mate’s nimble form as she went from the convection oven to the island in the middle of the kitchen. Inhaled the wondrous fragrance of apples, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
She hadn’t noticed him and was humming to herself. He recognized the melody. Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman, one of his all-time favorite songs. His heart battered his ribcage. All he wanted, needed, was her.
In the midst of chopping toasted pecans, she froze, glanced up, and the wide, wonderful smile that flashed across her lips jolted his cock erect and ready to thrust in a nanosecond.
He fisted his hands. Locked himself in place even though every instinct jarred him to take her. Leap to her. Drag down her painted-on jeans, lick the neckline of her skimpy tank top up, suckle her cute brown nipples, and pound into her hot, tight pussy.
“Yes. I want it too.” She flew to him. Tiptoed and flicked her tongue across the seam of his lips. “I’ve been trying to keep myself busy. I’ve cooked enough pastries and pies to feed an army. I don’t know what you like to eat. And those two idiots are so incredibly duh-uh—”
He surrendered. Plundered her mouth. Tasted every crevice, smeared each tooth, but couldn’t resist tracing every inch of her two canines.
She shoved at him. Shook her head. “Tell me this is going to get better. That I won’t feel empty if you’re not here. I’m feeling so wild. Every second you’ve been gone, all I can think about is you inside of me.”
Axe groaned when she cocked her head and bared her claim spot.
His mouth watered.
Saliva dripped from his fangs.
His stones ached blacker than the proverbial blue.
She sighed this wonderful sex-pot smile. Trailed a finger along his jawline. Ducked her head to stare at the erection stretching his pants to bursting. Stroked him and caressed his balls. He tightened every muscle in his groin and grabbed her hands. “Stop.”
“Nope. I want you in me.”
No way could he repress the victorious howl emanating from his throat.
“It makes me so hot when your wolf explodes.”
He pulled her tank top over her head.
“All day long I’ve been thinking about licking your cock and your balls,” she murmured, her lips tickling his earlobe.
“You’re going to do me in.” He picked her up by the shoulders, kissed her forehead and planted her on her feet.
She grinned. A smile more beguiling than the Madonna’s. “It’d be great, huh? Us dying during the frigging best orgasm on the planet?”
“Get ready,” he ordered, unzipped, and hissed when his erection met the fragrant steam in the kitchen.
“Oh yeah,” she mumbled and wriggled her jeans down her legs.
In less than thirty seconds he was sheathed deep inside her convulsing pussy.
He squeezed his eyes shut and surrendered to the ecstasy of her channel squeezing his dick. The wolf in him burst through. He flipped her around. Set her hands on the island and palmed her ass cheeks. Traced the seam three times and nipped the pretty globes loving the way her flesh pinkened for him.
She shot him the sauciest over the shoulder glance in the universe. Nodded. Wriggled her fine butt. “Hey sailor-boy. Get a move on.”
He hammered into her.
“Like this? You want me to fuck you hard?” Axe circled around her gripping and snatching pussy.
&n
bsp; “Yeah, sailor-boy. Do me hard. Always do me hard.”
He lost it. Fucked her silly. Pinched her clit until she screamed. Didn’t stop pounding into her until his balls fucking drew up tight. Until she drained every drop of cum from his cock.
Even after that he was a goner. Jerking and twitching into her veracious pussy like the animal he was. “Meant to be gentle.”
“Don’t want you gentle. Want you like this. Hard. Pounding.” She peeked at him, cheeks dimpled, eyes at tad unfocused.
He surrendered to the siren temptation of the damp, short curls dusting her nape. Bent low and took the crook of her neck with his teeth.
His hackles rose. How he craved claiming her. But that wasn’t Prymal’s way. Axe soothed the near bite with a languorous tongue-stroking. He breathed in her essence.
“Want to love you, sweet girl. Want to stamp me all over you. Want you to claim me so bad, it hurts.” He went nuts on the bridge of her shoulder sniffing and nibbling like an addict on crack.
“So, do me,” she crooned.
Chapter Fourteen
All day long she’d yearned for this. Him inside of her.
Tania knew he was close to climaxing. She ground a tight circle around him.
“You’re going to kill me.”
Oh yeah and then some. She twisted back to peer at him over her shoulder. Sucked in a huge gasp at the look on his face. His lips were bared, and the sexiest canines on the planet glistened in the twilight.
Her pussy went insane. She clenched him again and again. Loved the length of him lodged thick and bursting-to-flame inside of her.
His fingers bit into her waist.
She threw her head back.
Contracted her vaginal muscles.
The orgasm was so close.
She jutted her ass higher.
Moaned when his balls hit her clit.
Yes. Yes. Yes. One more time.
She backed onto him. Sheathing him deeper. Let loose a shriek when the crown of his cock slammed her g-spot.
The climax hit her like a tornado. Funneling down into tighter and tighter spirals. Until her vaginal muscles sucked at him in furious, continuous squeezes.
And still he jammed the head of his cock right on that bundle of nerves.
Her nails scraped the island counter seeking purchase.
Breasts slick with sweat stuck to the granite.
The contrast between her burning nipples jabbing against the cool stone spiked her orgasm into the stratosphere.
His fingers delved across her mound, found her clit, and rubbed sharp circles. “That’s it, sweet girl. Come for me. Take me home.”
Somehow she found the energy to tighten her walls.
The primal howl he emitted had her shuddering.
For the first time she felt his hot semen jetting in minute detail. The delicious spurts had her moaning his name over and over and over.
He licked the back of her neck.
Nothing felt better than his coarse tongue lapping there.
“This can’t be comfortable for you. Let’s see if I can get you turned over. At least that way you’re on your back and I can feast on your amazing breasts while my cock fills you. Hold on, I’m going to rotate just a tad.”
She stifled a wince.
“Two more and we’re done. One. Two. There.” He eased her bottom onto the counter, snatched a couple of towels from the bar on the side of the island, folded them into a mini pillow, and, with the utmost gentleness, slipped it beneath her head.
Her lips curled at the corners. “Oh yeah. This just gets better and better.”
Axe nuzzled one damp nipple. “One of the benefits of being a shifter. And it’ll get exponentially better once you claim me.”
She went still. “Axe?”
He looked up at her. No man should have lashes so thick and lush. “Tanichika?”
A clogging lump of enormous proportions jammed her words. Her eyes misted. He had used Mishe’s pet name for her, her diminutive. She’d never hear her big brother call her that again. Unable to speak, she shook her head, and stretched to kiss his scarred cheek.
Axe froze. She couldn’t even hear him breathing. “You don’t have to do that. I have another cheek.”
She kissed his scarred cheek again. Stroked the stubble on his jaw. Looked right into his gorgeous pewter eyes. “I want you to know that to me, your scars are scars of honor. And they only make you more handsome in my eyes.”
For an eternity they gazed at each other.
She could not imagine life without him. He had become vital to her. It was as if they completed each other.
Only when his cock popped out of her with a wet, slurping noise did the spell break. That, and a pounding on the door.
“You decent Axe?”
Her heat pounded faster. She didn’t recognize the voice. Definitely not her twin, or Jurango, or The Kydd, or Lycus.
“Gimme ten,” Axe bellowed and scowled at the back door. He dropped kisses on her temples. “That’s Bandit. He’s one of the Prymal founders. Come on. Let’s get you to the bathroom.”
When he palmed her bottom and curled an arm around her back, she hooked her ankles on the ridge of his ass. “Bandit?”
“He makes out like a bandit. Didn’t think he’d make it up so quickly.” Axe carried her to the master bedroom.
“You knew he was coming?” Had she cooked enough food for five people? She assumed Jurango and The Kydd would also be joining them for dinner.
“I knew he’d agreed to come, but not when he’d arrive. Here you go. I’ll shower in the other bathroom. When you’re ready, we’ll be in the kitchen. Bandit is a coffee fiend.” With that he tweaked her nose and padded out of the master bath.
Tania hurried through her ablutions and was dressed, powdered and perfumed in record time. She chose an elbow-length baggy red sweatshirt and stretch black jeans from the walk-in closet. Sighed when she glimpsed the sexy little number she’d purchased that morning in the open dresser drawer and toed on her funky platform flip-flops.
How many founders of Prymal were there?
The brass button from Axe’s jacket winked at her from beneath one of the new jeans purchased that morning. Feeling both embarrassed and juvenile, she pushed the button under the blue denim.
She marched down the hallway and swerved right to the kitchen.
Axe had showered and changed too. He wore jeans and his customary black short-sleeved T. The man just didn’t feel the cold. But then he radiated heat. He noticed her hovering and beckoned.
Bandit had his back to her.
Axe turned his chair out and patted his thigh.
If any other man had commanded her like that, she would’ve had a hissy fit. But, this was Axe.
Axe who worried about her not accepting him because of his scars.
Axe who gave her a massage and let her sleep even though he’d sported a boner that must’ve ached like the dickens.
Axe who cooked breakfast for her even though she’d never met a man more alpha.
So, Tania strolled over to him and sat on his leg. He snaked his arm around her waist and pulled her closer. Her body hummed when he absently kissed her cheek. "Tania Prakov, meet Sancté Winston, aka Bandit. Bandit, Tania.”
Her stomach hollowed. She waited for him to add, my mate.
“Pleased to meet you ma’am.” Bandit extended an arm heavy with sinew.
Tania flicked a peek at Axe. He wasn’t looking at her, but sipping coffee from a mug. She gave Bandit her hand.
He gripped her fingers gently, which surprised her because he had an enormous hand. Then she inspected the warrior. No wonder. The man must be at least six-six and had the build of a wrestler. A ginormous wrestler. He had The Hulk features. This was the man who made out like a bandit? What was she missing?
Was he Rogue or Feral?
“Rogue, ma’am.”
Tania flinched. Had she asked that aloud?
“It was easy to guess what you were thinking, m
a’am. Axe filled me in on your situation. I’m here to help. He also says you’re a fine cook, but I guessed that almost two miles away. Those apple pies smell heavenly.” His baritone voice had a grated edge.
Heat scaled her neck and face. Compliments embarrassed her. Always had.
“Please call me Tania.” She hesitated. “Would you like a slice of apple pie with your coffee?”
He grinned. Winked. “Tania, you’ve just become my most favorite woman in the universe. Not only can you make a house smell like paradise, but you actually blush. Hey, why’d you have to meet that piece of dirt Axe first?”
And she immediately understood his Bandit reputation. That grin could entice any woman into bed. And he had the charm of the Irish. Actually, come to think of it, he had the look of the Black Irish. Inky hair and blue-black eyes.
Her cheeks burned.
“Fuck off, Bandit. Those pies are mine.”
She swatted Axe’s shoulder. Leaned in and whispered, “Don’t you dare. That’s just so rude.”
“That’s right, Axe. It’s downright rude. To refuse a visitor sustenance.” Bandit’s lips twitched.
Axe’s bicep spasmed under her palm.
She sensed an undercurrent tension.
For a few tick-tock moments the silence took on a life of its own.
“I’ll just get that slice of pie. Would you like a scoop of maple-vanilla ice-cream, too?” Axe’s hold on her tightened when she tried to stand.
“Tania, Bandit was just about to leave. He, The Kydd, Jurango, Jaz, and Lycus are heading to Alfie’s Rib Shack to grab a bite.”
She wanted to murder Axe. Folded her arms and glowered at him. “I assumed I’d be cooking for my brother, The Kydd, Jurango, and Lycus tonight. I have a huge pot of chili on the stove. I baked fresh garlic-cheesy rolls. What am I supposed to with all the food?”
“You cooked for us?” Axe appeared poleaxed by the notion.
Frowning, she retorted, “Of course. Didn’t you tell me to get the stuff for the tasting menu? And you wouldn’t let me pay for it. You’re letting me use all your expensive drool-worthy appliances to cook the tasting menu. The least I could do was make you dinner.”
Prymal Lust Page 12
