When Hell Freezes

by Rebecca Royce

  She stroked the side of his face. His words would be super-dramatic if she didn’t believe he meant everything he said. Tasha sniffed the air, and then her heart skipped a beat. “Colt, I can sense you, and I don’t mean catch a whiff of your smell. I mean all the facets. The way you smell like the wind in the woods, the way you carry the aroma of home on you. Spicy cinnamon, chives.”

  “What a really big night.” He raised an eyebrow. “Do you want to stop this, and go shift and run?”

  He was sweet to offer. For them, shifting constituted an integral part of life. It had been hard to get used to the idea that sometimes she couldn’t. Heck, during full moons, sometimes she even hurt as if someone had shoved silver into her gut.

  “No. I think right here is where I want to be.”

  She kissed him, hoping she could show him through their embrace how much she truly meant what she said. Out of anywhere she could be in the world, in Colt’s arms, heading where she hoped they would end up, took the top of the list.

  He grinned, his mouth rising in a crooked slope. “That’s what I hoped. Although I would enjoy shifting and running with you at some point. That’s a must-do.”

  “Well, hopefully, my Wolf skills will cooperate again.”

  “Things will be better.”

  She’d believe him. If it was a decision between faith and disbelief, she’d take faith any time. Especially now that her mate had returned and didn’t seem to mind that half of her face looked as if she had been through a meat grinder.

  “I intend to be gentle with you. I promise.” He placed his nose on the center of her throat and breathed in loud enough she could hear the inhale. “You smell like home to me, Tasha. You can’t believe how incredible the sensation is for me. How long since anything felt like mine.”

  As if to show her, he ran his finger from her chin down her neck, heading toward her breasts. She shivered beneath his ministration.

  “You enjoy that?” His voice had lowered. That had to mean something in the world of sex, didn’t it? She inhaled the air, taking in the scent of his arousal. His scent came across as…stronger. The same way he would smell if he’d been fighting. His scent hugged her, surrounding the places in her soul that had been empty without him.

  Colt leaned over, caressing with his tongue where his finger had traced. She shivered. “Do that again.”

  “Oh, sweetheart, it’ll get a lot more exciting than that. You taste like strawberries. I want to lick you all over, but first I have a whole internal list going on here of other things I want to taste.”

  He tugged at her shirt, and she helped him lift it over her head. Maybe she should have worried about how she looked naked, but the truth was that if her face didn’t throw him off, her non-scarred chest wouldn’t.

  Colt touched the lacy fringe of her bra. “This is pretty, but I want it off. Now. Because in another second, I intend to rip it from your body, and I think you probably don’t want to have to mend your clothing.”

  She paused at his words. “What makes you think I know how to sew?”

  “Isn’t that something you’re taught in childhood?”

  She tried not to laugh. “Not even a little.”

  “Well…hell. Then what I said was really sexist.”

  Tasha nodded. “Totally was.”

  “Kiss me so I’ll shut up.”

  She did as he asked, and he ran his fingers over her stomach, finally moving north where he encountered her bra again. With a stifled curse, he moved his hand. “Tasha, I need you to do something about this bra.”

  “Front clasp, does that help?” She could remove the bra herself, but this was more fun.

  “I guess.” He fiddled for a second and eventually got the thing off. When he’d swung it off her body, he tossed it aside. “I see no reason why you need to ever wear a bra again. Stay without one from now on.”

  “Yeah. Great idea. Then I can have the ladies totally unrestricted, slapping around and giving me a black eye.”

  He snorted through his nose, and she had a sweet moment knowing she had caught him completely off guard.

  “That’s quite an image.” He pinched her nipple, and her back arched off the hay. This was happening; this was really happening. She was going to make love to Colt as she’d always dreamed she would.

  Colt continued. “I think we can find better uses for your breasts than to have them assaulting your pretty eyes.”

  He took her nipple in his mouth and sucked. A surge of sensation traveled up and down her spine. How could something hurt and feel so good at the same time? She moaned before she closed her eyes.

  Colt chuckled, and the sound moved right through her. There was no mistaking the pure male satisfaction in his amusement. He liked that she had made that noise. Her eyes flew open.

  “Are you laughing at me?”

  “I’m loving that you’re so responsive, and I’ve hardly started yet.” He took her other nipple in his mouth, this time biting down slightly when he did. She hissed out a sound that she’d never heard herself make before. Colt could do that any time he wanted. Ten times a day….

  “I want to touch you, too.” She was shirtless, and he remained fully clothed. Where was the equality in that?

  “Sounds fair.” He grinned before he pulled away a bit to take off his own shirt. Beneath his clothing, Colt appeared as muscular as she’d imagined him. The universe had gifted her mate with lean muscles that begged to be touched.

  She reached out to caress his stomach and felt him jump beneath the pads of her fingertips. Tasha smiled. He wasn’t any less affected by her than she was by him. “You’re built like something out of mythology. They make statues from images of people who resemble you.”

  “No one will be sculpting me, princess. The only one I want looking at my body is you. And if you want to talk about images, your perfect breasts are the stuff of legend. You hide them under your clothes.”

  “No one is looking. I wear what fits, and what I feel comfortable in.”

  Colt sucked in his breath. “I’m looking. And I want to see you in form-fitting clothes and reveling in your hotness. Everyone else can look, but you belong to me alone.”

  He kissed her, his hand cupping her stomach. She closed her eyes and lost herself in the moment. She’d never wanted anything as much as she wanted Colt right then.

  Chapter Five

  Colt knew he needed to slow down, to not give in to the need to claim her hard and fast. His animal instincts wanted his scent embedded deep inside of her where everyone would be able to smell his ownership of her traveling through her pores.

  But Tasha was a virgin. She hadn’t played while she waited for her mate. He had to treat her gently. Even if he strained every muscle in his body, Colt would make this good for her.

  Tasha moved her hand, and seconds later, he felt her caress the tip of his aching cock through his pants. He hissed in his breath. “You can’t believe how good that feels, but I’m holding on tightly to my control. I don’t want to give in to my animal instincts. Keep your hands to yourself for now.”

  The moonlight traveled through the window, and, for that second, as if the sight had been cued, he could see her eyes clearly as if daylight had come instead of them being deep into the evening hours. Right then, with her gaze hitting him so clearly, he could see the Wolf she thought had abandoned her. There, in her sharp eyes that saw deep within him to places he didn’t even know existed anymore, was her Wolf-side staring at him.

  Strong, compassionate, and willing to meet any challenge she faced. Whether it was that Tasha could feel her Wolf-side more intently at that moment or if it was always there, hidden away where Tasha kept the scars of the past, he might never learn, and it really didn’t matter. Colt and Tasha would heal together over time.

  And now he could show her how much she meant to him. He could worship her body as she deserved. Colt lovingly touched her stomach until he got to the waist of her pants. They needed to come off fast.

  His bo
dy felt as if he was on fire, and, somehow, he had to cool off.

  Colt tugged on her pants until he got them off. Her legs were long, smooth, and curved in the way that a woman’s should be. “You’re so damn beautiful.”

  He couldn’t believe how husky his voice sounded. Had he always been this close to the edge, or did Tasha bring this out in him? Urgency made his hands shake when he moved over her.

  “I don’t want you to be so tense. I can actually smell your strain, and if I couldn’t, I’d still see you were from the way you’re clenching your jaw.”

  Had he been? He hadn’t even realized. “I want this to be so fucking good for you.”

  “Colt.” Her voice sounded so musical. How did she do that? “I’m here in the moonlight with you, and we’re about to make love. Don’t overthink. I’m sure whatever happens will be fantastic. It’s not up to you to make this one way or another. We’re both responsible. Maybe I’ll be horribly mediocre. We’ll have to practice and practice.”

  He doubted she’d be mediocre at anything that had to do with sex, but he liked the idea of practicing over and over again.

  “Alright.” He took his thumb and traced it down to the top of her mound. Beautiful brown curls caught his attention, and he ran his fingers through them, feeling the heat from inside her beckoning him to come closer, to actually be deep inside of her. “I won’t hold anything back then. I’ll give you all of me. If you promise to tell me if anything hurts.”

  “I think it’s supposed to hurt, kind of. In a good way?”

  He grinned, her words evoking erotic images from the porn the humans liked to watch. “Who told you that?”

  She blinked up at him. “Television.”

  Her skin tasted of cinnamon, and his mouth watered to taste her everywhere.

  With a sigh, he moved forward, letting his tongue find the small bundle of nerves he knew would be there. He tried a few swirls, and, for a second, he wasn’t sure he was getting the movement right, but when she gasped, he knew he’d found the right spot. Her scent filled his nostrils—sweet and so completely Tasha—and she tasted akin to sweet manna from heaven.

  Hell, if he got any more poetic in his own thoughts, he might explode from the cheese. Colt couldn’t help the thoughts. Tasha brought these feelings out in him.

  “Oh, my gosh, what are you doing to me?” She panted.

  He didn’t answer, his focus totally on bringing her pleasure. He growled. His mate was untouched. No one had done this for her before. Possession surged through his blood. He would make her come over and over again until she understood to whom she belonged.

  She shuddered, and he knew her pleasure would be coming fast. Her body had wanted this as much as he desired to give. Tasha needed him as much as he did her.

  But even better than that, she desired him, too. Even knowing everything about his past.

  Her body jerked, and he tasted the sweet nectar of her pleasure on his tongue. She gasped, the sweetest sound in the world, and the tones moved through his body, making his cock jerk in his already uncomfortable pants. He adjusted to look at her. “Well, that was fun.”

  Her eyes were glazed when she stared up at him. “I want your pants off, Colt. I want to be able to make you feel amazing.”

  “You do, sweetheart.” More than she’d ever understand. He’d returned, thinking to rule, but he’d be glad to be led if doing so meant he could have nights like this with her, to finally feel as if the other half of his soul was safe and secure.

  Still, her wish was his command, and he tugged his pants and then his undergarments off before discarding them somewhere in the barn. Wherever they fell, he’d find them later.

  Tasha reached out and caressed his cock. His whole body jerked, and he sucked in his breath. This might be over a lot faster than he intended if she did too much of that. “I love your hands on me, sweetheart. You can’t conceive how much, but I want to be inside of you when I come, not in your hands; at least, not this time.”

  Later on, if she wanted to stroke him to completion, he’d never complain.

  “You’re so big, so wide. Is this going to work between us?” He could see the actual fear in her gaze. The woman wasn’t being coy.

  “I can assure you we will. In our particular case, we were made for one another.”

  He craved being inside her, inserting his hard length into her warm pussy and finding the new kind of heaven he knew would greet him there. She’d come on his tongue, but was she ready for him? He inserted two fingers deep inside her. She was wet, and if her little gasp at his quick invasion showed anything, ready for him, too.

  “This might hurt a little. It’s the last thing I want, but I’ve heard the experience can be slightly uncomfortable for the woman the first time.”

  She raised a dark eyebrow over a dark, amused eyebrow. “None of the other women you’ve been with were virgins?”

  “Have there been other women?” He really couldn’t remember.

  Kissing her before he plunged deep into her warmth, he tried to be gentle. Her body froze at his first push, and he silently cursed himself. Would someone else have the ability to do this gentler? Was he a clumsy ass?

  “Colt.” Her voice hitched, and it nearly killed him. “You’re inside of me.”

  He swallowed. “I am.” What was the right thing to say here to the woman he knew he would kill or die for? “Is that okay?”

  “Oh, more than that. Phenomenal.”

  He smiled at her wording. “I’m going to press even farther in now, sweetheart.” Sweat broke out on his forehead, and he could feel the bead travel down the side of his face. If he survived this, he’d consider it a small miracle. If his balls got any harder, they would actually explode. “You tell me if anything hurts.”

  “It won’t. Even that didn’t hurt. It was startling but not in a bad way.”

  She was so sweet, but he could feel that her body strained against his with every inch he moved. Tasha closed her eyes and sighed. Her muscles clenched against him. “Shit.”

  “Relax. This is so amazing. I wish you could see that.”

  Oh, he could. The moonlight shown down on them, and every small move she made or sound she released moved through him like tiny pricks of pleasure traveling up and down his spine, taunting his cock with early release.

  Tasha opened her lids and stared up at him. “Please. More.”

  How could he not give her what she asked for? With deliberate slowness, he pushed inside her, and then pulled out. “Yes, Colt. Please, more.”

  At this point, he would have stopped if she had wanted him to, but he was hugely relieved that wasn’t what she asked for. “Gladly.”

  He moved a little faster, and time ceased to matter. With every plunge, she raised her hips to meet him, calling him deeper inside her, urging him to move faster and faster. His thoughts fled. All that existed was Tasha, her scent, her moans, the way the night brushed her skin. If he lived a million years, he’d never forget this moment.

  Her muscles suddenly spasmed, and she cried out her pleasure as her womb coated his cock with her sweet juices. His mouth watered. He wanted to taste her again but would have to wait. She wasn’t finished, and he wouldn’t stop until he knew he’d wrung every ounce of pleasure from her.

  She cried out his name, and he barely held back another second before he spilled inside her, his balls so tight they throbbed. How long he spent or exactly what happened after, he wasn’t entirely sure.

  At some point, he ended up beneath her with her body sprawled atop his. The hay dug into him, and he felt sorry she’d been lying on it the whole time. Why had he thought hay was soft?

  Her fingers caressed his bare chest. “Can we do that again?”

  He laughed, running his fingers through her hair. “It’ll take me less time to recover than a human male, but I still need a moment.”

  His words were true, and they shouldn’t have been. The woman had spent him. He’d poured every ounce of his soul into her, and he couldn�
��t regret a second.

  ***

  Colt left her sleeping in her bed, having carried her from the barn some time before the moon had decided to start trading places with the sun. He grinned to himself, knowing that if he actually ran into anyone, they’d think him deranged from the dumb smile on his face. Who the hell cared? All was well with the world.

  His mind drifted to the conversation he’d had with Drew earlier. His cousin had defied his expectations.

  They’d stood regarding each other in the glow of the early evening light. Birds had ceased their evening chirping, and even the wind had died down. As if all of nature knew the two of them had decided to finally face off.

  “I promised not to kill you now. I haven’t promised forever.”

  Drew nodded, rubbing his chin. What was the man thinking? Colt sniffed the air. He couldn’t make out a single scent. The Taos had always been good at hiding their deranged thoughts.

  “Maybe I can change your mind.” Drew sounded mellow, but Colt didn’t believe the tone. He couldn’t have led for even a moment if he’d actually been mild mannered. The pack had to fear him a little bit. They had to believe he could and would commit violence if need be. He’d obviously proved himself when he’d killed Magnum. How deranged did a shifter have to be to kill the most insane shifter of them all?

  “Doubtful. Highly.” Colt shook his head. Why had he agreed to come out here?

  “Cousin.” So now the man was going to try to play the family card? Big mistake. Colt hated nothing more than their family connection. “We have a security problem. I’m facing attacks everywhere I look. Other wolves. Former pack members who still follow my father even after death. Cats who may or may not want my head. I need people I can trust here.”

  “You can’t trust me.” Why bother with this conversation?