“What’s that?” she asked hesitantly.
“I need to convince you to go with me,” he said before kissing her. This time, there was nothing gentle or tentative about his kiss. Leaning over Quinn, he nipped her lower lip and drank in her gasp as he slid his tongue into her mouth. Her hands reached up to clutch his biceps, and Danny groaned into her mouth when her nails raked his skin.
Pulling back slightly, he trailed kisses along her jaw line before sucking at the pulse on her neck.
“You need to feed,” she panted out.
Danny pulled back to study her face. “I don’t want you to feel obligated to donate blood to me.”
“I want to,” she said, touching his cheek. “Actually, that’s too mild a word for what I’m feeling. The idea of you taking my blood makes me so hot I can barely think.”
A growl rumbled from low in Danny’s throat, and suddenly, his fangs were aching from hunger—only a small portion of it had to do with his need for blood. As his fangs slid into her throat, Quinn’s nails dug into his back. Danny took long pulls from her vein and slipped one hand below the covers to find her already soaking wet. He used his fingers to spread her juices around her clit, and then he stroked her lightly. Quinn wasn’t in the mood for tender. She clawed at his shoulders, moaned, and tried to rock against his hand to increase the pressure. As soon as Danny was done feeding, he moved down her body and lifted her legs over his shoulders, pinning them in place so she couldn’t move as his tongue plunged into her.
“Oh!” she said with a startled squeak which quickly morphed into a moan.
Danny loved the uninhibited way she reacted to his touch. As he brought her to the edge of orgasm, Quinn tried desperately to move against his mouth. Danny wasn’t about to let her take charge of this situation, especially when he could tell she was getting hotter from him controlling her body. He was tempted to draw things out longer, but he’d never been one to deny a lady in need. Sucking her clit into his mouth, he drove her over the edge, then quickly released her legs so he could reposition himself and thrust into her as she pulsed around him.
“You are the sexiest woman I’ve ever seen,” he ground out as the spasms from her orgasm nearly drove him over the edge.
Quinn still looked dazed until he started to thrust into her welcoming body. Then her dazed look quickly turned hot, and she lifted her hips to meet his thrusts. Looking down, his eyes locked on her sexy throat, and suddenly, his fangs ached again. That flesh called to him.
“Fuck,” Danny hissed before pulling out of Quinn and flipping her onto her stomach. He lifted her slightly to slide a pillow under her hips. When she started to protest, he straddled her legs and entered her from behind. “Easy, beautiful,” he soothed. “Your throat is too much temptation in my current state of mind.”
“Just fuck me, now,” she demanded, and he was glad to oblige.
In this position, she felt unbelievably tight, and her firm little ass wiggling under him was sexy as hell. His strokes started out slow, allowing him to savor the feel of Quinn’s body wrapped around him like a glove. It wasn’t long before her mewling little cries of pleasure stripped him of all restraint, and he found himself desperately pumping into her until he came in a violent wave.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Lying in Danny’s arms, Quinn felt a sense of belonging she’d never imagined possible. If he were to ask to mark her that very moment, she would probably say yes. There was this part of her that wanted to ask him to do it now while she was okay with the idea, but she still hesitated, which made no sense. It’s not like she was afraid he’d turn her down, or even that she was worried about being forward with him. Yet, something still prevented her from bringing it up.
“I wish I could stay in bed with you all day,” Danny said.
“Why can’t you?” she asked as she kissed his chest.
“I need to find your cousins,” he explained, carefully avoiding eye-contact.
“Why?” she asked, but she had a feeling she already knew the answer to that question. She also had a feeling she wasn’t going to like the answer.
“They never came back to tell me when they’re going to Roger’s settlement to get the cougars,” Danny explained. “I guess it’s possible they didn’t have any luck finding Claire.”
“They’re going in tomorrow,” she said quietly. “Jase figures the cougars will have enough resistance to the tranquilizers by then to help if there’s any fighting.”
“When were you going to tell me?” he asked, sounding more hurt than angry.
“I wasn’t going to tell you because you shouldn’t go,” she said as she climbed out of bed and started to dress. “That’s why you wanted to know, isn’t it? Well, you can’t go.”
“Don’t you think I should be the one to make that decision?” he demanded as he stood and stalked toward her naked.
Danny’s anger was enough to make Quinn lose her temper. Glaring at him, she barely suppressed the urge to smack the stupid vampire.
“Fine,” she said with a deceptively sweet smile. “We’ll both go rescue the cougars.”
“Hell no!” Danny shouted. “You may be stronger than the average human, but you’re not as strong as the shifters or vampires. It’s too dangerous for you to go in there. Besides, I still don’t completely trust Cord. You stay here where you’re safe, and no more wandering around the woods alone now that we know Cord can get to you there.”
“What right do you have to tell me what to do?” she demanded. This argument was becoming increasingly ridiculous. Quinn completely agreed that it made no sense for her to go with them on the rescue mission. She was a good fighter, but she’d distract the others. Shifters did not come anywhere near full-strength or speed until their twenty-seventh birthday, when they had their first change. Her mage abilities would take even longer to fully surface—whatever those abilities ended up being. She also agreed with sticking closer to the settlement until she gave in and let Danny mark her. Still, she was irritated with him for believing he had the right to tell her what to do while she had no say over what he did. “I am the only one who makes decisions regarding my life.”
“You’re my mate!” Danny ground out.
“I don’t recall agreeing to that,” she shot back before realizing taunting Danny was probably a bad idea.
Visibly struggling for control, Danny stared down at his clenched fists. “So, you’re saying you don’t want me?”
“Stop acting like a child,” she snapped. “What is it that causes all males to act like children having temper tantrums? You’re all just big, hairy babies.”
Surprisingly, that was enough to change Danny’s mood. He laughed and reached for her, but she pulled away. “Quinn,” he cajoled with a goofy lopsided grin.
She had no idea how he’d gone from angry alpha to charming so quickly, but she wasn’t ready to forgive him. “Are you insane? We’re fighting. You can’t just laugh at my insults and then think we’re done fighting.”
His grin widened. “We both know you aren’t really planning to go rescue the cougars. Can’t we just move on to the makeup sex?”
“Don’t even try that with me,” she warned. “I can’t believe you are being such an idiot. First, how dare you try telling me what to do? Even if I accept you as my mate, I will never allow you to treat me that way. I am not, nor will I ever, be your property. Second, why would you risk your life like that?”
Danny started to answer, but she put her hand up to stop him. “Don’t say a single word. If you do, I might not be able to stop myself from punching you in the face.”
It annoyed her even further that Danny was now grinning at her, and the moron was also aroused again.
“Ugh!” she yelled. “You are so annoying.”
Quinn stomped out of her home in search of something to take her mind off of how angry she was with Danny. She especially needed something to take her mind off of how her pulse quickened when Danny smiled. She was not going to encourage his idiotic
behavior by falling into bed with him.
Then again, she wasn’t exactly proud of how she’d handled things, either. She wasn’t foolish enough to think she’d be any help with the rescue, so her threat to go with them was ridiculous. It was the equivalent of threatening to hold her breath until she got her way. Her cousins were so overprotective, they’d never even consider letting her go. They weren’t likely to let Danny go, either, so it was a stupid argument. That didn’t make her any less angry.
“What’s got you so distracted this morning?” her friend, Rae, asked. Rae was around Quinn’s age, and one of the few shifters who wasn’t bothered by Quinn’s mixed heritage. Quinn always figured that was because Rae’s mom, Liz, had been friends with Quinn’s mother.
Quinn felt a little bad that she hadn’t even noticed Rae standing there with a small basket containing soap and a scrubber. She’d almost walked right by her.
“It’s not a what that has our Quinn all worked up, it’s a who,” Liz said with a pleasant smile as she approached them carrying a basket filled with laundry. “How is that vampire of yours?”
“Annoying,” Quinn muttered.
“He’s so pretty,” Rae said in a silly breathy voice. “I really like his dark red hair. It makes me think of blood.”
Rae was the strangest combination of romantic and morbid Quinn had ever met. She also had an innocence about her that made Quinn feel old. With thick brown hair that was tinged with red, pale green eyes, and a heart-shaped face, Rae was often described as cute.
“He is a very attractive vampire,” Liz agreed. “Why haven’t you let him mark you? It’s clear from your scent that you’ve been with him. I heard Max has given him permission to claim you as his mate.”
Before Quinn could answer, Rae grabbed her arm tightly.
“You are soooo lucky,” Rae said excitedly. “Mama says I can’t be mated until after my first change. That’s over a year away! I wish I could find a yummy mate like yours.”
“Quinn’s situation is different,” Liz said gently, giving Quinn a sympathetic smile. “She needs the protection of a mate. You can wait until you’re older. It’s best not to rush these things unless you have to.”
“I need protection too,” Rae said with a grin before bumping against Quinn’s side. “Don’t you think one of your cousins would make a wonderful mate? I’m sure they’d protect me, and I’ll bet they’d make me ache all over when they claimed me.”
“Ewww,” Quinn said. “They’re all like brothers to me, so that is a disgusting thought. It’s bad enough they talk about sex around me.”
“They’re also too old and too wild for you,” Liz admonished her daughter.
“Zane is only thirty years older than me,” Rae argued.
“He’s the one who’s too wild,” Quinn pointed out. “I really don’t see Zane taking a mate any time soon. The only way someone might catch him is during their heat cycle when he’s feeling the need to procreate.”
“We’ll see,” Rae pouted. “Why aren’t you with your vampire? I’ve been trying to talk to you for the last couple of days, but he’s always around you, and my mom said you need to be alone with him to sort things out.”
“I suppose we do have things to work out,” Quinn admitted.
“Did you argue with your mate?” Liz asked, looking concerned.
Quinn decided not to remind Liz that Danny wasn’t technically her mate. “Sort of,” she admitted.
“Don’t get too worked up about it,” Liz assured her. “Fighting is a natural part of life. The fun thing with mates is you get to make up after the fight.”
“I’m not quite ready to make up with him,” Quinn said.
“Would it help if you talked about it?” Rae asked, slipping an arm around Quinn’s shoulders.
“Maybe later,” Quinn said. “For now, I just need a good distraction.”
“You could come with us to do laundry,” Liz offered. “It’s not much fun, but it would be a distraction.”
Quinn smiled. “I never thought I’d be tempted by laundry. Let’s go.”
Chapter Thirty-Nine
“Why are you avoiding me?” Danny called out when he finally caught up with Cam and Zane.
“I just got back,” Zane said, practically bouncing over to rub his cheek against Danny’s shoulder. “I’d never avoid you.”
“It really says something about my sanity that I find that more comforting than disturbing,” Danny muttered. All the while, Zane continued rubbing his cheek on Danny’s bare arm.
Cam laughed. “He kinda grows on you, doesn’t he?”
“Like an annoying rash,” Danny agreed.
Zane stopped rubbing and cuddled into his side, wrapping his arms around Danny’s waist. At first, Danny had thought Zane was trying to be annoying. Now, he understood that shifters were physical with their affection, and Zane was more so than most. If Zane liked someone, he expressed it by touching them frequently. He suspected, when Zane found a mate, he wouldn’t be able to keep his hands off of her.
“Please tell me you’re looking for blood,” Zane said with a hopeful look in his amber eyes.
“Some days, you get on my last nerve, Zane,” Danny said with no real conviction in his voice.
“Liar,” Zane accused. “You’d miss me if I stopped coming around.”
“That I would,” Danny said with a grin. “I still may need to beat the hell out of your brother.”
“Great!” Zane said, bouncing back to give them more room. “I’m dying to see how this turns out. You’re pretty damn strong, and I’ve seen you fight. Cam’s definitely got you beat with speed and experience. That sparring stuff we’ve been doing hardly counts as a real fight. This should be good.”
“You’re a moron,” Cam told his brother with a shake of his head before turning toward Danny. “You can’t go with us tomorrow. I know that’s why you’ve been looking for me, and it’s not going to happen.”
“Go where?” Zane asked, proving he really had just returned and had no idea what was going on.
“They’re going to sneak into Roger’s settlement to rescue some cougars,” Danny explained.
“Cougars?” Zane shouted, attracting quite a bit of attention from nearby shifters.
Cam glared at Zane. “Let’s go somewhere without an audience,” he suggested before he stalked away from them.
Zane and Danny followed Cam to the creek where they were less likely to be heard. One thing Danny had noticed about the shifters was that they could tune out most conversations around them—a useful skill when you had exceptional hearing and lived in close proximity to others. Zane practically shouting ‘cougars’ was going to be a little hard to tune out.
“Cord showed up here yesterday,” Cam said.
“No shit?” Zane asked. “How did our father take that?”
Cam just raised an eyebrow.
“Right, that was a stupid question,” Zane admitted. “I assume you didn’t tell him about Cord’s visit.”
“Not until long after Cord left,” Cam said. “Actually, I went out looking for Claire with Jase first.”
Zane looked confused and annoyed. “Maybe I should have you explain what happened,” he said to Danny.
“Cord found me out by the creek with Quinn,” Danny began. “At first, I figured he was going to try to grab Quinn again, but that wasn’t why he was there. Roger took some of his cougars, and Cord figured sharing a common enemy made us friends.”
“In this case, I think he’s right,” Zane said. “I don’t like the idea of Roger torturing anyone, even the cougars. So, that’s why my brothers went out looking for Claire,” he deduced. “You need a way into the settlement to help Cord rescue the cougars.”
“Exactly,” Cam said. “We need the vampires on the inside to work with us if we’re going to get to the cougars.”
“And you’ve been avoiding me ever since you went out to find Claire,” Danny said to get back to the point of why he’d tracked Cam down in the first place
.
“I’m not avoiding you. I’ve just been busy,” Cam argued. “Besides, you can’t go with us.”
“He’s right,” Zane said with a nod. “It wasn’t easy for Claire and her friends to get you out of there last time. They risked a lot to save your ass. There’s also the fact that it would be very bad for your born vampires if anyone from your settlement was involved.”
“They won’t even know we’re there,” Danny argued.
“If things go the way they’re supposed to,” Zane said. “You know as well as I do that, if all hell breaks loose, the rescue team will be fighting their way out, and your vampire council would view that as an attack if you’re involved. We have no allegiance to the vampires, so we can get away with more.”
Danny wanted to argue, but Zane made a good point—scary as that was to admit.
“You still wanna fight?” Cam asked, sounding only mildly curious. “I’m always down for that. Otherwise, we got some pretty good rainfall this year, so we could swim in the creek.”
“I don’t know how to swim,” Danny admitted.
“Really?” Zane practically gasped.
“Didn’t you say you grew up on an island?” Cam asked.
“An island where people occasionally tried to kill us if we got near the water,” Danny explained. “Swimming was not an activity we engaged in. You gonna offer to teach me how to swim?” Danny asked. “I always thought cats didn’t swim.”
“We’re lynx,” Cam said, clearly offended by the suggestion that he was merely a cat. “I can swim in both forms.”
“If you want to learn, we’ll teach you,” Zane offered.
“I don’t know,” Danny said, not sure he wanted to submerge himself in the cold creek water.
“Quinn loves to swim,” Zane said with a mischievous twinkle in his eye.
That thought instantly conjured the image of Quinn’s naked body walking into the water. He could practically see her nipples harden as the cold water made her shiver ever so slightly. Suddenly, swimming sounded much more appealing.
Shattered Restraint Page 18
