He took over the kiss, pressing her into the mattress, pinning her with his kiss, his body, his cock, as she writhed beneath him. Her claws sank into his shoulders. Her teeth found the artery in his neck. Her “Yes” was a primal scream in his mind as she bit down.
His own satisfaction exploded right alongside hers as she drank his blood, his energy, his passion. And he didn’t fight, letting her take what she needed, unable in that moment to deny her anything. She was his mate. Her survival was most important. He sank into her energy, the bliss of climax, holding her through the storm, steadying her as she fought with her need, lust, and love. And as he held her in that deepest level, he felt something else. Something wonderful. Something that brought every inch of his primitive instincts to the fore in a primal roar. The tiny flutter of new life.
“WE’VE got trouble.”
Caleb slid into the shadows of the clearing alongside Derek. Below, shadowy figures haunted the edges of the clearing. Sanctuary vamps. “How many?”
“Just two. So far.”
“Shit.”
Derek looked over his shoulder. “They’re scouting the area.”
“Yeah.”
“Word from the D’Nallys is there’s a gathering of activity south of here.”
“For attack?”
“Maybe. And there’s a lot of new blood joining the fray.”
“Why?”
“Apparently there’s a hefty reward for whoever brings Allie to the Sanctuary compound.”
“And here I was hoping that killing Vincent would be the end of it.”
“That would have been too easy.”
Derek sighted his rifle on the two wolves hunkered down in the brush. “There’s only one reason why they’d push so hard for her.”
Caleb filled in the blank. “They suspect she’s pregnant.”
“Hate to burst your bubble, but this much activity would indicate they know.”
“How?”
“Could have been the way you broadcasted the news when you found out for sure.”
Caleb winced. He didn’t know what had come over him in that moment, but he hadn’t been able to resist it. Part challenge, part victory, he’d opened his mind and shouted his impending fatherhood to all who could hear. “I was kind of hoping the news would stay local.”
“Apparently not.”
“Apparently.”
He studied the energy coming off the two wolves. Vamp, not were. That at least was a blessing. For a second he’d feared it would be the D’Nallys. “Where do the D’Nallys stand on this?”
“Best I can tell, they’re pissed intruders are trespassing on their territory.”
Derek reset the safety on the gun as four wolves stalked the two intruders from below. A scan revealed them as were. Derek rested the rifle butt back on the ground.
“They’ve been taking them out as fast as they appear.”
“So they haven’t joined them yet?”
“And it’s doubtful they will. The D’Nallys might hate your brother with a passion, but they’re damn clannish. They fight where they want, when they want, with no loyalty to any cause but their own.”
The four wolves took out the vamp wolves with silent, lethal efficiency. Blood dripped from the lead wolf’s jaws as he looked directly at Caleb, eyes glowing yellow within his black mask in the faint moonlight, his ruff standing on end, a challenge in the set of his shoulders.
“Let’s hope they stay unattached. That is not a clan we need fighting against us en masse.”
“You can say that again. It’s been tough enough with the feud we have.”
Caleb jerked his chin at the wolf, returning the challenge, meeting strength for strength. The wolf yipped at his companions, and then loped away. Caleb didn’t get the impression they’d gotten anything settled with the exchange beyond the fact that if either of them picked a fight, the other was willing to settle it. “Damn!”
“Kind of wish Jace hadn’t alienated them,” Derek muttered. “It’d be good to have them on our side.”
If wishes were horses they’d all take a ride. But they weren’t, and they were stuck with what they had. “For sure a fight’s coming?”
“Yup.”
“With the prize being Allie?”
“Yup.”
He cut him a wry glance. “I would’ve been a lot happier if you’d just answered that last one no.”
“I’ll work on my dishonesty.”
“Don’t bother.”
Derek was one of the most trustworthy men he knew. If he told a body they’d live, they did, and if he told them they’d die, they died. Either from his hand or whatever ailed them. The rest of his pack possessed the same unwavering loyalty and honesty. “Have I mentioned lately how glad I am you’re on our side?”
Derek stood with a ripple of muscle that reminded Caleb how tough the big man really was. The kind a man wanted guarding his back in tight quarters.
“You could show your appreciation by having Allie whip up some more of those bear claws.”
He shook his head. “That might be more than I can finagle. You’re still on her shit list.”
“Don’t tell her they’re for me.”
“I could do that.”
They’d been together too long for Derek to miss the slight emphasis on “could.” He slung the rifle over his shoulder. “But what?”
“But I need something from you first.”
“Which would be?”
“I need you to talk to the D’Nallys.” Caleb adjusted his hat on his head. “We need this feud settled.”
“Hell, the only reason we’re still on speaking terms is because we don’t speak of you all.”
And because the McClaren weres didn’t involve themselves in the Johnson-D’Nally feud. Caleb understood that.
“It’s time to break with tradition.”
Derek glanced in the direction the wolves had gone. “This could put them over the edge.”
“It could also get them to spill why they’re so dead set against my brothers and me.”
Derek’s expression closed. “They have their reasons.”
“Which none of you will share.”
“It doesn’t concern you.”
“So you keep telling me, but it feels damn personal whenever one of them tries to sink their teeth into me.”
Derek smiled, his canines gleaming faintly. “I bet it does.”
Caleb pushed his hat back and followed the direction of Derek’s gaze. “I know it’s a lot to ask, but with Allie being pregnant, there’s more at risk here than pride.”
Derek rubbed his chin. “We might be able to work the angle of her pregnancy. With wolf births down to almost nil, it’s a safe bet a vamp getting pregnant is going to raise interest.”
“Because vamps don’t get pregnant?”
“So everyone used to believe, but Allie’s sure put a kink in that.” He rubbed his chin again. “They’re going to want something in return.”
“Anything.”
“Even if it’s Allie or your brother?”
Damn! “Anything short of that.”
“You don’t ask much.”
“YOU don’t ask much.”
Allie stood by the old stove, testing the heat with her hand.
“He’s a good man.”
“The jury is still out on that.”
“He loves your cooking.”
“That’s one point in his favor with about forty still against.”
“He’s saved my life twice.”
She cast a knowing glance at him from under her eyebrows. “And you’ve saved his a time or two, I understand, which makes you about even.”
Caleb forced a sigh, pretending an exasperation he didn’t feel, the same way Allie was pretending an aversion she didn’t have. The instant he’d reminded her about Derek saving his life she’d caved, inside where it mattered. The display now was nothing more than pride. “He’s my friend, Allie.”
The heavy oven door closed with
a thunk. She dropped the oven mitt to the counter. “And that means what to me?”
“It means if he wants bear claws, you could bake them for him.”
She untied her apron. “And what will you give me in return?”
The seductive sway of her hips as she took a step toward him clued him in to which direction her thoughts had traveled. He took a step closer, meeting her halfway. Her next step brought her into his arms where she belonged. He tugged her head back, catching her smile with his lips in a hard kiss. She smelled of woman, hunger, and sweet dough. “How about a kiss?”
“Getting there.”
“How about I play with your pretty breasts?”
She stood on tiptoe sliding her body up his in one long caress. His cock twitched as her lips brushed his ear. “If I tell you I’m not wearing any panties, does that give you an idea?”
The knowledge froze him in place. Ten minutes ago the kitchen had been full of weres and his brothers and she’d been running around in that short skirt of hers that showed way too much of her legs, and nothing beneath?
She yelped. “Watch the claws.”
“Sorry.” He slid his hand over her hip, tucking his fingers under the hem, pulling it up as he searched for the material he expected to find, discovering nothing but bare, warm flesh. “Son of a bitch, you’re not wearing any!”
She had the gall to look smug and raise her eyebrows while her hips cuddled the leap of his cock. “What part of ‘I’m not wearing any’ did you not understand?”
“The part that said you weren’t teasing.” All that lush femininity had only been a flip of that nonexistent skirt away all night? The knowledge skipped along his veins like wildfire in front of a dry wind.
“Hmm.” She unbuttoned the top button of his shirt. “I prefer to think of myself as accessible.”
“To whom?”
She touched her tongue to the center of his chest. His heart stuttered and then took off doing its best to break free. The growl burned from within as her scent drifted up to him. She was aroused, vulnerable, and eager.
Her “Who do you think?” revealed sass and humor, but not one wit of caution. He was really going to have to work on his intimidation when it came to her. “Unbutton my pants.”
“I thought you’d never ask.”
The five little brushes of her knuckles as she worked him free stroked his cock with the hottest of touches. Her hand slipped inside the opening as he took the two steps to the chair.
“Now you’re getting the idea.”
Amusement rode double with pure, unadulterated lust as he shook his head and sat. The chair creaked a protest. He paid it no mind. “You keep a man on his toes, Allie girl.”
“Good.” Her hand was hot and warm as it surrounded his hard flesh. Very careful as he worked it free. “Oh.”
“What?”
Her smile was smug, her gaze greedy. “You’re very hard.”
“Knowing that little ass is only a toss of a skirt away has that effect on me.”
She pumped him through her hand, the whisper-light touch driving an agony of pleasure straight to his balls. “I have that effect on you?”
“Oh, yeah.”
She straddled his hips, pumping her hand up and down his shaft, drawing his pike-hard cock away from his body with each long stroke. He could feel her heat and moisture just a breeze away. She went up on her toes, teetered, and then steadied as he caught her hips in his hand. Her muscles flexed as she lowered herself, fitting him to the sweet well. Her grip switched to his shoulders as her head dropped back. “Hmm, you feel good.”
Good didn’t half cover it. “Not as good as you feel to me.”
He arched his hips up, spreading her that first tiny bit.
“Ah!”
In the next instant, he felt the edge of her talons cutting through his shirt. “You liked that.”
“What’s not to like?”
“Not a darned thing.” A hand on her hips kept her poised for the next inch, which he fed to her one increment at a time. She was too damn tight for much else. He moved his right hand in, dipping his thumb between the hot, wet folds begging for his touch, seeking and finding that sensitive little nub. Her head snapped forward, her forehead hitting his collarbone with a muted thud.
“More.”
Caleb pulled back, ignoring Allie’s whine and gently thrust back in, rubbing his thumb in slow circles as he did. “There you go.” She took a bit more this time, but not any easier.
“Stop teasing me, Caleb.”
“I’m just warming you up.”
Her laugh a low, husky rasp rubbed along his lust, coaxing it higher. “In case it’s escaped your notice, I’m trying to have a quickie here.”
“I’m getting there.”
She bounced in his hands, impaling herself in tiny increments on his cock.
“Quickie means fast.”
“I prefer thorough.”
Her fangs grazed his chest, snapping his entire being to attention. “But I want quick.”
He rubbed again, his breath suspending in an agony of anticipation of the bite. “You’re too delicate for quick.”
“Trust me . . .” She stood on her toes on the inhale and then dropped down on the exhale. Her frustrated mewl when he caught her thighs threaded through her words. “There’s nothing delicate about me.”
On that they were never going to agree. Everything about her was delicate and fragile. Infinitely feminine, infinitely sexy, but very delicate. Even if she couldn’t see her own vulnerability, he was well aware of it. Her lips slid up his chest, her tongue lapping at the sweat on his skin in burning flicks of impatience. “I could prove it to you.”
“How?”
She nuzzled her face into the hollow of his throat, her fangs pin-pricks of erotic promise on his skin. “You could let go of my hips and let me call the shots.”
He tilted his head to the side, granting her access to the spot she needed. “Too dangerous.”
“Afraid I’ll screw your brains out and put paid to your delicate notions?”
“More like I’m afraid you’ll hurt yourself in your impatience.”
“You’re big, baby, but not that big.”
In truth, he was getting bigger every minute, part because of his response to her challenge despite his efforts to remain calm. His vampire side swelled at the challenge, eager to pick up the gauntlet. “Dangerous words.”
To prove his point, he pressed a little deeper, letting her feel the changes happening. Her breath sucked in on a gasp.
A glance at her eyes didn’t reveal the caution that should be there, rather a greedy anticipation that found an equally greedy “Yes” inside him.
“Let me go, Caleb.”
His vampire side didn’t want to do anything else. His human side held on tight.
“I want to feel you in me, Caleb.” Her tongue flicked over her lips. “Hard and deep. Don’t you want that?”
“Eventually.”
She raked him with her teeth, her talons, the tight grip of her velvety walls. “I want it now.”
She bit down, ecstasy shot through him with debilitating force. His shout echoed around them as his grip loosened. Her laugh followed his shout; airy sweet and confident, it ended on a groan as she dropped onto his length.
“Jesus, Allie.”
He grabbed for her, sanity returning too late. She’d taken him all, her body shook, her inner muscles rippled around him. He dug his fingers into her buttocks, which quivered against him. Fear ate like acid at his desire. “I told you, nice and easy.”
Her fisted hands opened on his shoulders. The right one slapped at his muscle.
“Caleb?”
The wall between their minds dropped, and he was assaulted with a powerful projection of feminine power mixed with uncertainty and determination. And an incredible amount of frustrated desire.
“Shut up and make love to me.”
Caleb took a breath, lifting her. Immediately, delight and pass
ion thrust to the center of his being, different than his male lust, less centered, more mental. Sweeter. At least to him.
He held her suspended on his length for one heartbeat, savoring the sensation and her pure enjoyment of his possession. When Allie shuddered and dropped her head back, he lowered her again. Slowly, feeling her pleasure at the overstretching. The almost pain that made her breathless. He took her passion as his, and sent his own back along the connection, amplifying the pleasure he found in her heat, the ecstasy he felt when her muscles contracted around him. Her eyes flew wide and locked on his.
“Yes,” he groaned with the remaining fragment of his voice. “That’s good.”
Arms shaking, legs braced, he lifted her again, the erotic slide of flesh on flesh bringing him close to the peak. He ground his teeth, resisting. She wasn’t there yet. This time when he lowered her, it was easier, her body adjusting. He let her linger on the descent, tilted her hips the inch forward necessary to bring the thrust of her clit in contact with his pubic bone. Allie gasped that way he liked, and rocked against him. Pressing down with his hands, arching up with his hips, he brought her that much closer to the delight that had her inner muscles milking him in a prelude to release. “That’s it, baby. Take what you want.”
He lifted her, Allie’s “No” barely past her lips before he dropped her back down. Her grunt came hot on the heels of his. The spike of her lust burned through the tattered thread of his control.
“Now that was a sweet little sound. Let’s see if you can give me some more sexy little noise.” Threading his arms under her calves, he lifted her legs up, grasping her waist, doubling her forward, leaving her stretched. Open. Helpless. He pressed down with his hands, forcing her to take more. She did, with a groan and a whimper that couldn’t be confused with anything other than a plea for more. More of his cock. More of his passion. More of him. Wild and primitive, the vampire rose to comply. He lifted. She rapped his shoulder as her eyes closed on a shiver of joy and her head dropped back.
“That’s it, Allie girl. Take what I can give you.” He lowered her. “All of it.” His cock throbbed and swelled as it struggled to satisfy her craving. “Every inch.”
This time when her rear met his thighs, her breath caught for another reason. He lifted her again, man surrendering to vampire as he took her harder, faster, not letting her control the pace, not letting her do anything but accept the passion he forced between them. Faster and harder, his grunts blending with her cries, his shouts with her screams as she gripped him in a stranglehold. Her muscles made intimate demands of their own, squeezing him so hard he thought his head would explode, before releasing him, only to contract in rhythmic flutters that caused a different explosion. He slammed her hips down one last time, grinding her against him as the agony detonated in an orgasm so powerful he lost thought, lost control, lost a sense of anything except the need to fill her with his seed, his love, everything. She was his. His.
Caleb Page 33
