Blue Moon

by Angela Colsin

  The sight made her breathless. But she resisted the urge to touch him there just yet, ignoring it in favor of his hips, then his legs. By the time her hands began to wash over his ass, Cade was panting. Not bad for a novice. But now what?

  “What do you want, Cade?” She asked, finally letting her soapy fingers drag down, then across his shaft. “That?”

  His low moan told her he definitely wanted that, and she drew her hand lower to cup him. “What about that?”

  “That and a lot more.”

  She pressed a kiss to his chest, whispering the question, “Like what?”

  “Everything you have to give.”

  Everything, huh? I can do that. Breathlessly, she whispered, “I still wanna use my mouth.”

  Ashley didn't wait for any signs, merely dragging her lips along his torso, making sure to kiss every inch of skin she found, loving how his abdomen tensed beneath her mouth.

  Hopefully, she'd get an even better reaction when she reached her goal.

  Waiting to get home was grating for Cade.

  Every time they turned up a dead end that evening, his ire grew. It was lost time he could've spent with Ashley, figuring out what was bothering him in their relationship. So when Mike told him just to get his ass back home, he didn't have the motivation to argue.

  Now, he was staring down at his mate in a daze, watching her lips slipping across his abdomen, throbbing at the thought of them wrapped around his aching length. Her kisses felt like heaven across his skin as she sank to her knees, and the sight was even more arousing, like something out of an erotic dream.

  He promised himself he'd drive her crazy later, but for now, let her do whatever she felt. Besides, he couldn't think when she was circling his naval with her tongue, anticipation making him burn. Her fingers wrapped around him as she gazed up a little uncertainly, her expression rendering him even more senseless.

  “Just take it sl—fuck,” he stopped when she parted her lips, drawing her tongue over the swollen cap, around it, laving slowly as he watched. Moisture collected there, and Cade gripped her shoulders tightly as Ashley closed her lips around him, giving a generous suck.

  He growled loudly. “Fuck, that’s it, sweetheart. Slow.”

  When he felt his erection sinking into her mouth, his head fell back. Experience or not, he was lost. Gonna make her scream for the rest of the night.

  Something in him amended that to the rest of my life, but for the time being, he ignored the implications of it.

  Ashley pressed her tongue along each hard inch as if to memorize him before she started slowly bobbing her head. His chest heaved, the suction nearly too much to bear.

  He glanced down, watching his shaft disappearing into her sweet mouth, and at the same time, caught her aroused scent as she moaned over his length. The thought that pleasuring him was exciting her nearly broke his control.

  But this was another first for Ashley, and he didn't want to overwhelm her, rasping “I'm already close, baby. I don't wanna . . . ”

  He trailed when she batted his hands away for trying to stop her, then latched her arms around his back and took him even deeper, swallowing his shaft hungrily with a loud groan.

  “Ashley, stop!”

  His voice strained as he fought to hold back, his hips bucking. But she only became more greedy when his body tensed, rolling her tongue into him as her head bobbed, and he couldn't think.

  It was over.

  Cade bellowed in pleasure as his seed erupted, unable to control it, and Ashley dug her nails into his ass to hold him close. He gripped her firmly, reeling from the intense pleasure she was giving him.

  But even in the midst of that mind shattering orgasm, he had the thought that something wasn't right.

  Why? His satisfaction was so complete, making him desperate to give her exactly the same. Yet he couldn't stop feeling discontent, as if missing something with her that he desperately wanted.

  What the hell is it?

  Chapter 36

  When Ashley realized just how much pleasure Cade was in, she couldn't stop. He'd wanted everything, and she did her best to give it to him, hoping it was good enough.

  Finally letting go, she looked up while dragging her tongue across her lips, asking, “Why did you want me to . . . ” and then trailed when she saw the look on his face as he lowered himself to his knees. Predatory.

  Cade tugged her in with a greedy jerk, dominantly claiming her mouth as her body pressed to his. Good enough? Maybe I did better.

  Ashley tried to keep up while he reached to turn the shower off without breaking contact, leaving a steady stream running into the tub which he plugged. Then he broke the kiss to trail his mouth to a breast, covering one of her pink nipples as his hand pressed between her thighs.

  When his fingers teased her sex, slipping just inside where she was slick with arousal, Cade lifted his face to look at her.

  “Giving me head made you this wet?” he asked gruffly, his expression ravenous.

  Her breasts heaved as she panted, nodding shamelessly. In response, Cade kissed her hungrily, sinking his digit deep to thrust in and out.

  Ashley moaned into his mouth, her heart pounding and legs parting wider.

  “Cade . . . ”

  “Want that?”

  She bucked, her response getting stuck her throat when his thumb began circling her swollen nub.

  “Do you want it?” he repeated.

  “Yes! I want you, Cade! Now!”

  Satisfied, he released her, directing, “Turn around, grab the back of the tub.”

  Ashley panted as she turned and slowly bent forward, looking over her shoulder once her hands were in place. Cade was admiring her with a carnal expression that made her heart skip. Guess I did damned good.

  The water was now rising just past their knees, and he turned it off without looking away before leaning over her back. She sucked in a breath, feeling his length against her aching flesh, saying he was already hard again.

  Gripping an arm around her waist, Cade parted her legs wider with his own. She was burning with anticipation for him, lifting her head back with a loud moan as he began filling her.

  There wasn't any pain this time. Instead, the deeper he penetrated, the more pleasure she felt until he was fully wedged within her.

  Against her ear, he growled, “Never gonna get enough of you.”

  Ashley's back bowed with the first thrust. Cade leaned one arm against the wall above her, the other still around her waist, and began wickedly moving his hips. Her eyes fell shut, lips slowly parting as he surged in and out without cease.

  He didn't keep his pace slow either, his movements gaining speed, the friction building, sending her mind reeling.

  “Even inside you,” he moaned, “I need more.”

  Wrapping both of his arms around her waist, Ashley jolted when Cade pounded his hips into hers with a low grunt, then drew back slowly and did it again.

  “Oh my god!”

  “That it?”

  “Yes! Again,” she rasped, but was barely able to keep up when he began working mercilessly, wild and unrestrained.

  She gripped one of his hands around her waist, lifting her hips as she rocked from taking her mate's hard thrusts while he groaned loudly in pleasure, so wet that his thick shaft was filling her tight walls with ease.

  Her muscles instinctively clenched him, the pleasure building until she let a desperate cry.

  “Cade, it's so . . . !”

  “You're already close,” he growled, his voice deep and sexy.

  She couldn't find the words to respond, resorting to nodding. So fucking close!

  That's when she felt his fingers sneaking between her thighs, seizing her clit, making her bow up as he strummed it, demanding, “Come for me, now.”

  Ashley bucked, and Cade wouldn't stop. Hard, fast, deep . . . There!

  “Cade!” she screamed, the waves of her orgasm remorselessly crashing into her one after the other. Unable to hold herself up w
ith the pleasure wracking her frame, she buried her face in the crook of her arm as he continued on, drawing out her release.

  The movements only stopped once she'd gone limp, the pleasure slowly rolling away. Her breathing was ragged when he cupped her breasts, pulling her back to his chest with a quick jerk.

  That's when she realized he was still hard inside her.

  “We're not done, sweetheart,” he promised sinfully against her ear.

  Cade refused to take his release with Ashley, no matter how perfectly her body milked him for it. He wanted to draw this out for as long as possible.

  “You didn't . . . ?” she rasped breathlessly.

  “Not yet,” he responded, turning her to face him before claiming her mouth while lifting her to settle on the back edge of the tub.

  As she raised her legs around his hips, Cade took himself in hand, finding her slick entrance again just as she broke the kiss to ask uncertainly, “Did I do something wrong?”

  Ashley gasped when he began penetrating her. “Hell no,” he groaned in answer, his voice thick with pleasure as he slowly sank inside. “I've wanted you all day, and you feel so damned perfect, I want this to last for us both.”

  She clutched him tight as he fully embedded himself, kissing along her neck and drawing his hips back, making love this time with slow, purposeful strokes.

  Her fingers slipped down to grasp his ass, her breasts dragging along his chest, increasing his pleasure as she moaned his name. Couldn't be more fucking perfect . . . could it?

  Cade nearly stopped when the thought struck him. What the fuck could he want besides this? She was so warm and inviting, affectionately trailing kisses along his neck and shoulders. He couldn't imagine not having this whenever he came home anymore, would do anything to keep it.

  So that sense of discontent was really starting to piss him—

  “I love you, Cade,” Ashley whispered against his ear.

  And with those words, he finally had his answer—Cade wanted her love more than he could've thought.

  Somewhere deep down, he'd known he was falling for Ashley, but his instincts had him so tied up in knots that with everything else going on, he hadn't even considered it. Now, that sense of discontent turned into fulfillment, and the declaration spurred him on, his pace increasing knowing that he had her heart with everything else.

  Their bond was becoming unbreakable, and he had no idea how they could be more tied together without a marking. Never giving her up.

  Just as the thought struck him, his canines sharpened. The urge to complete their bonding became a brand on his mind, something he couldn't change even if he wanted to.

  Cade needed to mark his mate.

  He knew she was feeling the same urge as well. With the thought, he buried his face against the left side of her neck, inhaling her sweet scent while she moaned his name again.

  But he resisted, gritting his teeth against the urge to claim her due to a single thought—confrontation with a demon in my future. If he completed their bonding only for something to happen to him, where would she be? Dying without her mate? I'll be damned.

  So Cade resisted the instinct, which grew stronger when she repeated the words, “I love you so much!”

  In response, he started moving harder, hammering between her thighs in the hopes of distracting her. But Ashley reacted by crying out in pleasure and thoughtlessly moaning the phrase again and again.

  Desperate, he growled, “Stop saying it! Fuck, not yet, baby!”

  “W-why?”

  Knowing she'd see his glowing eyes, he raised his head, growling, “Just wait.”

  Ashley panted, clinging to him tightly. “Aren't you gonna . . . mark me?”

  Cade didn't answer, and she scoured his back with her nails as he grunted with each hard push, bringing her over the edge a second time when he found release in the clutch of his mate's sweet body, spending his seed with her name shouted in pleasure.

  But it didn't provide any distraction from his needs, which only became stronger and harder to deny. Having her coming over him felt so utterly perfect that fighting the tension in his gut telling him to mark her was painful.

  She slid down his body as the powerful release subsided, and he braced and arm against the wall, holding her trembling form tightly in the other while recovering from his orgasm, as well as his denied claim. His canines remained sharp, his primal nature as strong as it could get without changing him into a wolf.

  Now Cade knew for certain why lupines didn't deny themselves.

  Chapter 37

  “Cade, you still want me, right?”

  Ashley was lost, not only in pleasure, but also confusion. With her cheek against Cade's chest, panting for breath, she could hear his drumming heart going in time with her own. But even so awash in the blissful aftermath of their sex, she was baffled by what just happened.

  Her confused question had him squeezing her possessively, rasping, “I'll never stop wanting you, Ashley. I love you, too.”

  She sucked in a breath that she forgot to exhale, the declaration unexpected. “You do?”

  “More than anything,” he murmured gruffly. “I fucking need you.”

  Dizziness overwhelmed her. When Ashley admitted her feelings for him, the urge to mark rose in an instance, as if ingrained in her very being. Now, his confession only made her yearn for it even more.

  Turning her face up, she whispered the question, “Then why didn't you mark me?”

  “I can't risk you,” he explained. “If something happened to me, it could kill you. I want us past everything before we're tied together that way.”

  Ashley bit her lip, wondering if that was really the best course of action when he was still on the cusp with glowing eyes.

  “Are you sure you can wait?”

  “Not for long,” he muttered, “but it'll be fine for now. Besides, we'll never stop if I mark you here.”

  She wasn't certain she liked the idea of waiting, but his last line confused her. “What do you mean?”

  Cade pulled her up, climbing out of the shower before grabbing a towel to help her dry off, answering, “When I mark you, I've heard it described as a lethargic euphoria overwhelming you before we're hit by the need to consummate our union.”

  “More mystical stuff?” she inquired, taking the towel to finish on her own.

  “No,” he smirked, “physical stuff. We'll spend the night in bed.”

  She found a smile over his joke, but couldn't help thinking he's getting over protective alright.

  “We should discuss this, Cade.”

  “What's to discuss?”

  “Our feelings for one thing,” she started, tossing the towel with her dirty clothes before tugging her panties on. “The way I look at it for another.”

  Cade pulled his jeans up once he'd dried off, leaving them unbuttoned as he responded, “I know it's hard, Ash. It was painful for me to resist, and the urge probably seems even more raw to you. But this can wait another day or two.”

  Frustration was building as Ashley tugged her top on, then made quick work of her sleep pants and grabbed her dirty clothing to take downstairs.

  On the way out, she muttered, “Because you know best, right?”

  Heading through the bedroom, she heard thunder outside, realizing a storm was coming up. She also heard Cade behind her, turning to face him when he grabbed her arm.

  He'd yet to put on a shirt, but the task didn't seem to matter when he asked on a hard tone, “What's that supposed to mean?”

  But Ashley didn't flinch in response to it—she railed.

  “It means I'm irritated, Cade! All of this shit keeps flying in the way, and now you're just making up your mind for me, like I don't get a say in what's best for us. But I thought about you all damned day too, and I realized something. I couldn't go back to being a human if I wanted because I can't imagine my future without you in it.”

  Then she motioned at him, adding, “You're the one who helped make this life wort
hwhile for me, and I know how good we'd be together. So I don't care if you're fighting a demon, or the fucking Easter Bunny, I need to support you, and resisting this marking feels like you're saying I can't because I'm too weak to be with you.”

  “I'm not saying that,” he retorted quickly. “I just want this to be right for us.”

  “I know,” she grumbled loudly. “That's what you do, Cade. You've put me first, it's one of the reasons I love you. But I don't wanna wait for this because I know that if I survived those fucking fights, I can survive fighting for you.”

  He looked torn, and if he felt the way she did, then he had good reason to be. After all, how could anyone figure out the right thing to do here?

  “Ashley,” he started, “I can't stand the thought of you dying, even if I'm already gone. I just can't.”

  She wanted to yell at him and hug him at the same time. He was only trying to protect her, and hell, she could go along with waiting, but not for this reason. It was somehow insulting even if he didn't mean for it to be, and the fact that denying this urge left her feeling so raw and anxious inside only furthered her irritation.

  Lupines don't like denying themselves, she thought, and knew there was a good reason for it.

  “Damn it!” she cussed, impulsively shoving Cade before allowing him pull her in. “Have some faith in me, Cade! You're being overprotective! It's not—”

  Ashley stopped when thunder boomed so loudly outside that it rattled the walls. Lightning flashed at the same time, and as it faded away, the power unexpectedly went out along with it.

  She was left staring at Cade's glowing blue eyes, and would've made a comment over the occurrence, but her instincts were telling her something very important.

  We're not alone.

  Cade hated denying them, but even though he wanted their bond completed, the timing simply wasn't right. He managed to tell her as much, but no more when the power suddenly went out.