by M. L. Briers
Neve’s fingers sought his skin, just a touch, but she needed that touch, and they snaked up under his shirt until the felt the warmth of him. Her actions brought another gentle growl to his throat as he slowly made his way down towards her shoulder where he needed to place his mark. A hand brushed against the globe of her breast and a thumb stroked over the hard bud as he cupped it. There wasn’t an inch of her that wasn’t crying out to be skin on skin with his body.
‘Mine.’ Nero’s beast urged him to claim her, mark her, take her as his, and yet Nero knew there was no time for what he wanted to do to her, with her and most of all for her, to take the edge of the pain. He felt his fangs start to elongate as he nuzzled against her scent, but his mind was instantly distracted when her hand reached between them for the hard ridge of his erection, still bound behind his jeans.
This time the growl he gave wasn’t so gentle, this time it was a possessive warning of what she was doing to him, tempting him and his beast to lose themselves in her body. He reached down to brush her hand away, but the feel of her tugging at his zip had his mind racing to catch up with the needs of his body and not consider time or anything else that had been a factor here. When her hand wrapped around the heat of his shaft he was lost to the pure pleasure of her touch as she released him.
Nero wasted no time in claiming her lips. How could he have her touch him this intimately and not have claimed her mouth yet? It had been with fear that if he kissed her he might not be able to stop from wanting her. All of her. He may not have time for every last inch, but surely he had time to bring her to pleasure.
The hardest thing Nero had ever had to do was pull away from her in that moment. But he knew she was wearing far too many clothes for him to be able to do the job properly. In a heated rush he stripped her naked from the waist down and took a long moment to remember to breathe as he tugged her hips forwards. His hands ran up the inside of her thighs and he opened her sex for the long swipe of his tongue.
Neve felt his hot breath against her sex a heartbeat before his tongue tasted her. Her head fell back against the wall and her hands fisted his hair when he nuzzled into her, devouring her with his tongue to the point where she was in two minds whether to pull him closer or push him away. The intensity and speed with which he was bringing her towards an orgasm made her head spin and she yanked, pulled and pushed at his head until she managed to get his attention.
“Inside me, I need to feel you…”She wasn’t sure if she was making any sense, but when he released her sex and pushed up to his feet in front of her, she guessed he’d got the message.
Nero palmed the cheeks of her backside in his hands and lifted her against the wall. There was no time for ceremony. He’d only meant to offer her a release and then place his mark within her flesh to ease the pain, but she was offering him so much more. He held her hips away from his and rolled the tip of his erection over the wet heat of her body until he nudged the opening of her channel and felt her hips push towards him. With her legs wrapped around his hips, she urged him inside her and with one long thrust he buried himself to the hilt within her body.
Neve felt the pleasure and pain of his body filling hers. Her inner muscles tensed hard around the length of him and she heard the corresponding growl that rolled within his chest. Full wasn’t a word she would rush to lightly, but it was the word that slammed inside her mind as her channel stretched to its limits and pulsed with the sensation of adjusting to the size of him.
Nero claimed her lips with a passion that went beyond pure sex, desire or need. There was a hunger for her, a reverence and a sense of fulfilled longing that he expressed with every stroke of his tongue. He could feel her fingers biting down into his shoulders and waited for them to ease their pressure slightly as her body eased against his. Her inner muscles relaxed their grip around him and he moved his hips, pulling back until just the corona teased the rim of her opening before he thrust to the hilt again.
With each long stroke of his hardness in and out of her, she could feel the pull and push along the length of her channel. The way he held her against him made sure that each stroke moved over the already sensitive nub of nerves that he’d tongued and sucked to life. With her hips, she pushed against him, matching him stroke for stroke, and with her feet she urged him on, begging for him to go faster without words.
‘Mine.’
Nero could feel her body tightening about his. He could feel the inner muscles hold him as he pulled back to the very tip of his length as if she was trying to keep him anchored within her. Her fingers were back to digging into his shoulders in a way that said she was getting closer to finding her release. The noises that rumbled in her throat and mixed with his growls burst forth when he finally released her mouth and started to move down her neck looking to place his mark in her shoulder.
“Mine.” He growled against the damp flesh of her shoulder. His fangs elongated into place and he ran one hand up her back and fisted her hair at the base of her neck, pulling her head back and to the side as he locked her upper body against his. This wasn’t how he had wanted their first mating to be, fast and furious up against a damned wall, and yet it called to his feral side and caused him to become more forceful against her.
Locked against his body, there was no way that she could push her hips back against his the way she wanted, and when he moved faster, she all but gave up trying. Accepting each long, hard thrust with the need for release that was screaming through her body, she felt the press of his fangs against her skin and it took her over the edge. There wasn’t an inch of her body that didn’t ignite with the hard pulsing orgasm that tore through her, and she barely noticed the sting of his fangs as they pierced her skin.
Nero tasted her blood against his tongue and growled out his satisfaction of putting his claim upon his mate. His beast pulled back from the surface and he released his fangs from her flesh. Licking over the wound to clean and seal it was akin to finishing the last delectable morsel and having the ache of wanting more. There wasn’t a muscle in his body that wasn’t tensed with the need for his own release and he took her in long, pounding thrusts with a speed that no human could ever match.
He could feel the hum of his orgasm as it shot through him. One long moment of anticipation before he buried himself to the hilt and spilled his seed inside her. Over and over, he pulled back only to thrust back against the neck of her womb as the hard throbbing of her inner muscles milked the last of his seed from within him. He hadn’t realised that he had growled out long and hard through clenched teeth, and now even his jaw ached as he pushed her back up against the wall and nuzzled against his mark, slowly recovering himself from the best damn orgasm of his life so far and soothing her back to him.
“That wasn’t how I wanted that to go.”His gently growled words against her neck brought her all the way home to him.
“Really? Because I thought that went very well.”Neve could have stayed wrapped around him like that for the rest of the night. A long moment of guilt for her sister rushed through her and she pushed it away. Natasha and Colt were dealing with that, she needed to worry more about the damn Were’s attacking the compound while she was dallying with her mate.
Nero lifted his head to gaze at her face, taking her in and liking what he saw. The passion still ebbed within her for him and it mirrored the way that he felt for her. He palmed her cheek with one hand and lightly brushed his thumb down her face. The fact that her lips parted in anticipation of more from him was a welcome sight.
“That’s not what I meant.”Nero could see the glint of mischief in her eyes; it ran right alongside the amusement.
“Don’t go getting all soft and gooey on me just yet Alpha. We have some butts to kick.” Neve wanted soft and gooey like she’d never wanted it before. She wanted to curl inside her arms and feel his body the length of hers as she drifted off to sleep. She wanted the gentle growl of him against her ear as he stroked her back…
“Alpha’s don’t do soft and gooey…”T
here was a definite growl of annoyance within his tone, but he couldn’t keep it up and that growl turned gentle again.
“Except with their mates, and you already did.”She teased him and saw the the hard line’s appear on his face for a long moment before those too were chased away by having his mate in his arms.
“We need to get dressed…”Nero pulled back from her heat with the reluctance of a starving man turning from the banquet that was sure to satiate him. Placing her down onto her feet, he made sure she was on steady legs before he turned to find her discarded clothes. There was nothing wrong with being a gentleman. She couldn’t accuse him of being soft and gooey for that, could she?
“Ah, that’s so sweet, thank you.”Neve teased him again and watched the frown appear on his brow. Maybe she could, maybe it was just in her Fae nature to be insulting, mischievous and damned annoying. He guessed he would get used to it in time. He tucked himself back into his jeans and watched as she stepped back into her clothes.
“You’re going to be as obnoxious as possible, aren’t you?”
“Pretty much, and only because I can. Do you have a problem with that, Alpha?” Neve had just finished putting her clothes to rights, when his hands came out and snagged her around the waist and he hauled her up against his body. She looked up at him expectantly, wondering when his irk gene would completely kick in.
“Not right now, Mate, but when I do I’m sure you’ll be more than aware of it.”It was his turn to show the mischievous side of his nature and she couldn’t help the wonky grin that filtered across her face.
“I’m sure I will.” Neve heard the breathlessness of her voice and wondered at it. She knew about the mating pull, the mating desire, the mating need and every damn thing else to do with the mating attraction, but feeling it was something different entirely. She’d never expected to feel this way about any man, and the truth was she never would for any man, just for him.
“I don’t want to let you out of my sight.”The protective nature of the man was in full mode. He wrapped his strong arms about her and held her to him, not wanting anything to come between them, even this damn war with the Were’s. It was an impossible dream to have, he knew it and so did she, but just for the moment he would hold that thought dearly within his heart. She was his life mate. Now that he’d found her there was nothing more important to him.
“That’s not going to work well for either of us.”Neve could feel his heart hammering within his chest. Anxiety was running rampant within him, and she knew why. No one had ever cared that much for her that they would willingly die to protect her. No one had ever feared losing her. It felt strange to be the centre of someone else’s world, and yet it felt so damn good.
“Promise me that you’ll curb the need to be a kick arse Fae and that you’ll protect yourself…”He’d read her personality the moment he met her. Dropped to his knees on the dirt and dazed and confused, he could still sum her up quite nicely. She fought to protect her own and she would give her life for that cause. That assumption had only been strengthened by knowing her better. But he wouldn’t lose her.
“I can’t promise that. But I can promise you that I’ll try my damnedest to be warming your bed for the rest of our, very long lives.”Neve wasn’t one to go looking for a fight. Well, not unless someone had threatened her family first. But she was one to finish it if the need was there. The need was there today. Her sister, her mate and her new pack were all at stake in this fight, and nobody wanted to sit down and talk things through. Come what may, she would protect her own.
Nero nuzzled against the mark he had placed at the soft curved between her neck and her shoulder. Taking in her scent, he knew he would never get enough of her. “Good enough.”He gently growled against her skin. The rumble made her shiver as it rolled through her.
“Now, let’s go and take these arseholes down so we can get back to mating.” Neve couldn’t help but make light of it all. She heard him groan at the mental image she’d delivered right into his mind’s eye and she chuckled. She was sure she’d pay for that later, hopefully over and over until both of them were sated and bonded together for life. But right now they needed to quash the obstacles standing in the way, and she’d do it with damn gusto if she had to.
Blake scented the air and turned his nose up at the stench of Were’s as he growled out his disgust. The very nature of the Werewolves offended him. Mindless beasts that were no better than rogues and Lycans made short work of rogues when they found them. These Were’s would end up the same way, even with the newfound abilities that they possessed thanks to magic.
While it was fair to say that he didn’t have much time within his life for anything but the security of the pack and making sure that everything ran smoothly for his Alpha, he did enjoy paying regular visits to Nadia. The little Witch was spirited, even though he’d tried his best to keep that spirit at bay for the good of the pack it was still there in her eyes, in her stance. The woman had a backbone that some Omega’s didn’t possess and he liked that.
Blake took his pleasure in woman where he could. Knowing from an early age that you would never grow old with your mate had been a burden that he had grown to live with. Sometimes it haunted his mind. The thought of the pups he would never have, of a life that was unobtainable to him, and then he would push those feelings away. It was no good to dwell on something that would never happen.
Following the little Fae around and watching her rush to annoyance when she spotted him. Dropping in on her to make sure she was reminded that the pack were ever watchful of her antics, and the verbal sparring that they shared had all become something of a highlight in his life, an escape from his more mundane duties. He didn’t want to think of her not being around anymore. If the Were’s had harmed her he would make every last one of them pay for it, and he wouldn’t be damn merciful about it either.
Nadia might have been a pain in the backside when she wanted to be, but she was the reason he looked forward to getting up in the morning, just on the off chance that Nero would want him to check in on her. He knew he was attracted to her physically, and he might even have acted upon it if she was willing, had it not been for the fact that he didn’t want to run the risk of her seeing him differently should the inevitable happen and it ended. She wasn’t his mate, and that meant that it wasn’t a lifetime commitment for either of them.
Blake put his hands on the cold wall and pulled himself up for a better view into the old mill that had stood idle for a number of years. Peering into the dirty window, he noted the discarded machinery and boxes that were scattered around the ground floor. His eyes flicked right with the movement of someone coming down the staircase. Knowing that the man was Were, he noted and then ignored his prey. Right now he was looking for bigger fish to fry, and as his eyes panned upwards towards the illuminated office that stood on the first floor, he took in the shadow of the man inside as he moved around the room.
Too far away to get a sense or scent from that room, he lowered his body back down the wall and moved off around the building as soon as his feet touched the dirt. He’d bet good money that the Warlock was the one up in the office, and he hoped that if Nadia was still inside then she would be in there with him. Before they even thought about entering the building they needed to know exactly where Nadia was. Rushing in blindly would only get them so far, possibly dead and that didn’t work for him.
Colt had stayed close to his mate and Blake thought that was how it should be. Right now they were off doing some witchy thing over by the shadowed end of the complex. He much preferred to get a hand’s on feeling for the area. He didn’t put too much faith in magic, it had its uses, but as he couldn’t perform it he liked to rely on what he knew. Hunting, tracking and taking care of problems by whatever means possible, that was his thing, and right now he itched with a need to get to the taking care part of the problem.
A small hole in the glass of the office window, probably from a stone or pellet gun wielded by bored youths, gave him th
e perfect opportunity to be able to scent what was inside. Although he needed to get off the ground to do it, the scent wouldn’t magically come to him… He grabbed a handful of pipe work that ran the height of the building and started to climb. Half way up he caught Nadia’s scent and had to hold the growl of anger that promised to be loud and menacing from tearing out of his throat.
Fae blood, he could scent Fae blood mixed with her natural scent and climbed faster, scaling the side of the building in his need to know what had befallen her. His hearing picked up the beat of her heart, strong and even, and his body relaxed slightly. She was alive, and from the sound of her pulse, not overly anxious about her circumstances. That stilled his beast within him from pushing forward in his need for revenge.
Drawing level with the window, he found a ridge within the wall to wedge the toe of his boot and leaned slowly towards the scene inside. His eyes looked past the years of dirt and neglect that shrouded the glass and locked onto Nadia. Sitting tied to a straight back chair, she looked a lot dishevelled and a little uncomfortable, but her back was snapped bolt upright and her chin was tipped up in defiance. A two inch gash over her right eye was the only visible sign of trauma, and the sight of her blood both infuriated him and calmed him. She was whole, and that was all that mattered.
The movement to the left inside the room caused Blake to pull back and hold his position. Alerting the occupants to his presence wasn’t what he had in mind. The thing they had going for them now was the element of surprise, and that worked for him.
“Do you really think this is going to work out well for you?”Nadia’s voice rung in his ears like a warning bell. His beast growled protectively within him and he had to calm the wolf’s need to be inside that room with her.
