Pret Ops: Familiar

by Emma Ray Garrett

  Chapter 8

  And there go the underwear. The strange thought interrupted Natalie’s lovely dream of a warm beach, surf hot from the day’s sun lapping between her legs. The slightly rough press of sand-heavy water against her labia made her blood thrum. Wait, that isn’t sandy water lapping at my… Oh my GOD!

  Instinctively, Nat called a tiny amount of steady, rhythmic earth magic to control her heartbeat and breathing. While her brain woke up and assessed the situation, her body continued to lie still and relaxed. The little trick was one of her best weapons, though she couldn’t recall a time when she’d used it for quite this reason.

  The cool air in the berth teased her nipples to aching points, the frazzled edges of her sweater ruffling against the exposed skin of her ribs. Hot breath danced against the trimmed hair covering the top of her pubis, stirring the curls and caressing her exposed clitoris. Magic surged, quelling the rising moan and stemming the dispersal of endorphins. Her breath didn’t hitch, her heart throbbed in the same slow rhythm.

  Natalie registered the stiffness of denim around her waist and beneath her bottom. How the hell did he split my jeans at the inseams without waking me up? Curiosity tickled her brain and her brow nearly crinkled. The calm power of the planet once more came to Nat’s aid, this time masking the physical responses of her body. She felt the magic smooth over her forehead, stopping her frown.

  While her brain struggled to understand what had suddenly changed to cause Stas to finally come to her sexually, her body nearly danced a jig. No, she had no questions as to who was between her thighs. Her small nipples drew tighter with anticipation. Her labia were swollen and unfurled, exposing the heart of her to pleasure. The walls of her pussy contracted softly, excitement pooling deep inside and flowing out, making the sensitive skin of her perineum tingle when he breathed against the damp flesh.

  A low chuffing sound startled Nat. Her muscles jerked as the addition of fear into her body broke the small magic concealing her wakefulness. A growl broke through the night and the feel of claws against her intimate lips prevented her from moving. Stas didn’t break the skin or even act as if he would, but she could feel each needle-like tip of his nails, holding her throbbing sex open.

  Stilted breaths hiccupped from her chest. Though her body was more than ready for whatever Stas had in mind, Natalie’s mind wasn’t. Yes, she wanted to let things happen as they would. She trusted him. But she also didn’t want to face the going back, which she knew would happen, if they fucked.

  “Stanislov?”

  “Yes.” The guttural voice wasn’t exactly human. “No.”

  Oh, shit. The tiger?

  He growled, low and deep, vibrating the responsive skin of her inner thighs, leaving no doubt she was right.

  Nat had a flash of guilt. “He doesn’t want this.”

  Despite her statement, liquid heat and hunger surged through her. The truth of the situation belied her reservations. Stas’s need must have been far greater than even Nat had gleaned for him to make himself vulnerable to the animal. He had to choose to allow the beast control. And it was determined to get what they wanted. Nat bit her lip to stop from begging him to follow his instincts and take her -- hard, deep, and forever.

  “We do. We will.” The beast’s reply rang with finality. It wasn’t wasting any more time.

  Broad, softly furred shoulders pressed against her inner thighs, as the deadly tips of his fingers pulled her labia farther apart. When his roughened tongue touched the wet, needy flesh at the mouth of her pussy, Natalie released a keening cry.

  The pleasure was unimaginable. It was everything she’d ever wanted and not enough at the same time. She raised her hands from her sides, moaning when thick fur greeted her fingers instead of short, human hair. She curled her fingers, tugging his face closer to her core. She lifted her hips to him, all internal arguments extinguished when he pressed his long, thick tongue deep inside.

  “Yes!” Nat pulled her knees up, giving Stas more room and better access. She let go of his head, covering her aching breasts with her own palms. She squeezed the globes, making her body shudder hard, before taking each nipple between her fingers and twisting them firmly enough to create a lovely hurt. The pain zinged straight to her clit and her cunt contracted around his almost feline tongue.

  She felt his eyes on her, though his tongue never stopped twisting and curling inside. His claws released the lips of her sex and trailed over her thighs, her belly, and around the outside of each breast. He withdrew the nubile muscle creating such amazing sensations in her wet cunt, lapping up and over her rigid clitoris. Another cry, louder, burst from Nat’s mouth.

  “Fuck! I’m going to come!” Sharp nails raised goose bumps over her chest and arms, tightening her nipples impossibly more, before fur-covered fingers brushed her own aside to take possession of the pulsing tips of her breasts. Stas undulated his rough tongue against her clit, scraping and soothing and bringing her to a screaming, soul-shattering, muscle-dancing orgasm.

  She covered his hands with hers, digging her nails in, her hips bucking as she rode his mouth while the pleasure remade her. She pulsed, cream slipping from her sex, her thighs pressed tightly against his face. Natalie had never been so satisfied, but she wanted more.

  Her legs released his head even as she tightened her grip on his hands, making his fingers ply her nipples even harder. She hummed her pleasure, lifting herself to him, saying with her body what she wouldn’t with her lips.

  “Ouch!” Natalie tried to jerk away from the teeth buried in her right thigh, but powerful hands held her still. “Holy shit, you bit me!”

  She felt the blood welling. It wasn’t that she was afraid she’d catch his metamorphosing syndrome. Her magical abilities negated that possibility. But he’d fucking bit her.

  “Let go of me, now.” Nat lifted her head, finally looking into the eyes of the man between her legs, responsible for so much of her pleasure and her pain.

  “No. Marked. Come again.”

  Light fur covered his face, softening his strong features. His visage was nearly human. The changes were subtle -- his mouth and nose elongated, cat-like, and the ears shifted up on his skull. The one thing completely unchanged were his eyes. Nat looked into his penetrating peridot gaze and lust surged through her body again. He still looks like Stas.

  “Heat, Natalya.” The use of his familiar name for her gave Nat a jolt. His words weren’t nearly as animalistic this time. She wanted to ask if it was still the tiger in charge, but he pressed his mouth against her and purred. The sound rumbled from his belly, fluttering his lips. The sensations shivered over her skin, making her gasp. As her back arched with need, Stanislov twisted her nipples and she spasmed. Her vision grew unfocused.

  His mouth left her for a moment and she groaned. He didn’t go far, his lips covering the small wounds on her thigh. When he sucked the flesh inside, she moaned at the press of sharp teeth. He could kill her, sever her femoral artery before she could stop him. It didn’t matter.

  His fingers continued to torment her nipples, pulling them out, pinching them hard, bringing her clitoris to raging life. Nat let her head fall back, before laying herself down again. She moved her hands down her body. She wanted his magical hands to continue with her breasts, but she needed to feel something between her legs. Sparing only a moment to stroke the side of Stas’s face, Natalie slowly inserted the first two fingers of her left hand inside her molten sex, while she began to roll her clit with her right.

  It didn’t take but a few strokes for Stas’s mouth to leave her thigh and join her fingers. He lapped at her, along the slick lips, somehow managing to curl his tongue around her clit and dip a little inside at every opportunity.

  Her body quaked. She moved her fingers out of the way, pulling the lips of her sex back. Stas plunged his tongue deep. A thin, reedy cry echoed in the berth along with her ragged breaths. She needed something more.

  “Come, Natalya.” Stas released her nipples, his hands engulf
ing her breasts. His mouth moved away again, and she cried out.

  “No!”

  A wild, savage roar overshadowed her protest. His sharp teeth suddenly pierced the tight flesh of her left thigh. The pain was exactly what she needed to go over the edge.

  “Stanislov!”

  Magic exploded from her, through her, and Natalie intuitively rode the massive wave of power. She opened herself up and allowed it to ravage her, making her pleasure a thousand times more intense and silencing any pain. The power dissipated as fast as it had struck, leaving Nat blind and deaf and staggered, too drained to protest when she felt him move back to his bunk.

  * * *

  You are an idiot. The wolf and the tiger agreed wholeheartedly with Stas’s conscience, although not for the same reason. He pressed his still furred palms to his eyes, trying to press away the throb in his cock and slow his heart, which felt as if it would pound its way from his chest.

  His beasts were pacing, as much as they could being a part of him and not separate. They wanted the culmination. They wanted Natalie as their own. It was nothing new. Regardless, Stas had known how powerful the hunger was in his alter egos, and he’d allowed the beasts their reign. He’d barely managed to stop when he had.

  Effort wasted! In that, Stas didn’t disagree. He’d spent the better part of two hours carefully cutting away all of Nat’s clothes, slowly baring her body to his hunger. She was magic to look at, to be with, but his desire for her was a curse.

  Thinking of magic brought back her orgasm with vivid recall. If Natalie hadn’t sent a surge of magic into him when she came, he might not have been able to take back the reins. He was still reeling from that as well as the sight of her flying apart in his arms. She had been magnificent, radiant. Her nipples tight red nubs from their punishment, her skin shining with sweat. Her luxurious mane had come undone, wisps of golden hair sticking to her shoulders and face. Stas had never seen anything so perfect, so erotic, in all his life.

  Mate. Need.

  Stas growled low at himself. “Yeah, well, it isn’t going to happen.” This thing, this beast that had been growing between Nat and him since she was sixteen, was getting out of control. But he couldn’t let it go any further than it already had.

  Take her! Stas gritted his teeth. “Hey, I still run this body!”

  The animals retorted with a surge of base, animalistic lust, and Stanislov choked on a howl. His rigid cock pressed unbearably at the fly of his jeans, the confines bending it at a painful angle. With a flick of his wrist, he eased the pain, but not the incessant throb.

  Stas turned his head. A quick glance assured him Nat was out and unlikely to wake until morning, and so with a groan, he smoothed the soft fur on his palm over the sensitive skin between his legs. He couldn’t stop the gasp as pleasure engulfed his system.

  The smell of sex overwhelmed him, his senses heightened by adrenaline, lust, and his baser selves. He groaned as his cock swelled in his grip, the signature nubs rising beneath the skin. Stanislov licked his lips, the taste of Nat ratcheting his excitement to air-stealing levels. His hand moved faster, smoothing over the slick head, slamming back down the aching length to his balls. He vividly remembered the feel of her pussy clamping down on his tongue, so strong, so eager, so responsive.

  She’d been so ready for him. Stas’s hips surged. The fact that he’d been furry hadn’t bothered her in the least. His cock swelled as he remembered the sweet sound of her pleasure when he’d bitten her. Her blood was spicy, the flavor strong. The feel of her flesh between his teeth had been just as erotic as plunging his tongue into her molten pussy.

  Stas bit his lip, drawing blood, fighting to hold back the groan of need. His cock was wet, pre-come flowing from the tip. His balls drew up and Stas took them in his free hand. He rolled the heavy orbs between his fingers, pressing them, relishing the bite of pain.

  He tightened his grip, pulling up on his cock hard, stretching the skin tight. His breath froze in his lungs and his back bowed, but he slowed his pace, dragging out the pleasure.

  He played his fingers along the shaft, teasing the head, gliding down the length and back again. His cock pulsed, every beat of his heart making it throb. His balls got heavier, and Stas pulled them away from his body, gripping them tight, holding back his orgasm until his entire body shook with the need to come.

  The first pulse of his orgasm exploded between his legs, up his back and into his brain, then back down again. Come covered his fist as he continued to stroke his cock, his hand getting wetter, sticky with the release of his need. Stas didn’t let go of his cock, didn’t stop the pleasure, until he was limp and his wrist was sore.

  When the last shudder left him, Stanislov moaned loudly at the feel of cooling come on his dick and thighs. He wanted Nat’s tongue, her lips, to clean it from him. And with that stirring thought in mind, he succumbed to sleep.

  Chapter 9

  Natalie awoke to an empty berth and a terrible jittery feeling. Though part of her wanted to pretend sleep, the soldier in her needed to get prepared for the journey ahead. She rose, redressed, and had settled back on her seat with her sewing kit and jeans, when Stas re-entered the cabin.

  He glanced at her briefly. Putting last night behind them would be for the best, but when Nat shifted and felt a twinge of pain from the bite on her thigh, she couldn’t stop herself from poking.

  Nat chucked her jeans at him, smacking him in the back of the head. “You ruined them, you can fix them.” He turned with a scowl, so she tossed him the sewing kit as well. “Just in case you need it.” He opened his mouth to reply, but the lurching of the train threw him forward, cutting him off. With a growl, he grabbed his duffel and slung the bag over his shoulder.

  “Let’s move out, Lt. Col.”

  With a barely concealed smirk, Nat stood. “Yes, sir.”

  He strode toward the door, his heavy footfalls startling a small brown mouse from its hiding place.

  A jolt of anxiety struck her, but it wasn’t her own, and she gasped. “Watch out!” Her heart leapt into her throat as foreign terror rushed through her system.

  “What?” His startled gaze snapped to her face.

  Nat pointed to the petrified mouse. “You almost stepped on him.” Confusion furrowed Stas’s face until he saw the rodent. Curiosity made a tiny dimple form near his mouth.

  “Forget it, Rubenesso. Let’s go.” Careful not to scare the small creature, Nat tried to slow her pounding heart as she left the berth. Her nerves calmed as they disembarked from the train. What the hell was all that? Was I feeling the mouse?

  * * *

  “Comfortable?” Natalie didn’t even bother trying to cover the raucous laughter exploding from her mouth.

  After forty minutes of haggling, Stanislov had finally managed to obtain a vehicle to take them deeper into lower Siberia. Too bad it was one of the tiny, clap-trap cars popular in this part of the world. Watching him struggle to fit his 6’4” frame into the driver’s seat was beyond hilarious.

  Not that she was in much better shape. There was barely enough room for her feet beneath the dash, but the tight quarters were worth it for her to be able to enjoy his discomfort.

  He growled low and glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. “Shut up.”

  She smothered a giggle and tried to find a comfortable position.

  The ride was tense and bumpy. The pregnant roller skate they rode in didn’t have the best shocks. Each rut tossed them about until Natalie was worried they might suffer brain damage before they reached their destination.

  When she was ready to beg him to pull off so they could hike the rest of the way, a tiny village came into view.

  “It’s Mostiev. From here on out, it’s horses and yaks,” he answered her unasked question.

  “Thank God.” Natalie almost groaned with relief. A rumble of sound slipped past Stas’s lips. “Are you laughing at me?” She watched him press his lips together to hold back the chuckle. “You are laughing at me!” Shock r
ipped through her system. Nat couldn’t remember the last time she’d heard him laugh. It’d been a very long time.

  Her nipples tightened beneath her layered tops and parka and her face felt flushed. Nat watched his nostrils flare and in a snap, all laughter ceased. Stas’s knuckles turned white where he gripped the steering wheel and Natalie blushed. He scented her arousal.

  Mostiev popped up around them and Stas parked the car. She cleared her throat, ready to say something sharp and cutting, when his desire hit her hard. Stanislov’s emotions were never subtle, but this was stronger than anything she’d felt from him before. It stole her ability to speak and it took all her concentration to maintain an unaffected façade.

  “We’ll leave it here.” The guttural tone of his voice raised goose bumps on her skin. “We need to secure mounts and I need to make contact with our informant.” Natalie opened her door, glad to escape, but his large hand on her sleeve stopped her. “Remember, we’re newlyweds.”

  She scowled at him before jerking her arm free, anger blocking out his emotions and unwanted feelings of her own. “I know my job.”

  They made their way toward a small building with a sign that read “Inn” hanging over its door. Nat couldn’t imagine what kind of inn it might be. The place looked like it had two rooms, tops. Stas fell into step beside her and laced their fingers together. She fought the urge to pull her hand free. The skin-to-skin contact made it hard for her to focus.

  His palms were slightly rough; the friction stirred her senses. She stopped trying to pull away and tightened her grip around his, relishing the wave of relief and desire Stas felt at her acceptance.