With a wild yelp, she jumped off the rock and onto the sand and raced along the beach towards where Iain was chasing the waves.
He met her half way, and almost as if he could sense her need, led the way up the path, across the fields and back to the house.
It was quiet. She had no idea where the others were and didn’t really care. It only mattered that Iain was here. With her.
She led him to her bedroom, still in their wolf forms. She pushed open the door with her paw and trotted in, turned to see him paused in the door.
‘Are you sure?’ she heard in her mind.
She answered him by changing back into her human form. Naked, she stood before him, meeting his amber gaze, breath a fast push in her chest. If he denied her, if he turned away now, she didn’t know what she would do.
‘There will be pain, but you will survive.’ The voice, the past presence, was a whisper in her mind. She knew it spoke the truth. She would survive. She hadn’t known herself capable of it in the past, but she knew that about herself now. She would survive. But without this, without him, without pack, without their purpose? She didn’t know. Didn’t know enough about herself yet to know if she would want to bear the pain of loss once again.
‘He loves you. There is no need to worry.’
She didn’t know if that was true. His hesitation was too long. He was …
Prowling towards her, changing as he walked, so that by the time he reached her, it was a man’s arms that pulled her against a hard, male chest, male lips that captured hers in a hot, wet kiss. He pulled back, his breath a hard pant against her face, his gaze capturing hers for a searing search she felt down to her soul. And then his lips were on hers again, demanding, taking, giving.
His erection pressed hard and heavy against her stomach. The sensation made everything feel heavy and warm inside her, sinking, swirling. She gasped, grasping his shoulders, pushing urgently against him. He backed her up against the bed and lowered her, coming down on top of her, his weight pushing her into the mattress, thrilling, making her want more. But he pulled back from her, fingers brushing her cheeks, her hair.
‘Are you really sure you want this? I don’t want you doing something you’re not ready for simply because you think this is what I need.’
A sound of frustration escaped her. He raised himself further back, as if he was going to leave her. She moved, rolling over, hands on his shoulders pushing him back so that their positions were reversed, him underneath, her on top. ‘I do feel your need. I won’t lie. But it’s my need too. I can’t deny it anymore. I always felt something missing inside me, and since being here with you, your pack, I’ve realised it was the need for touch. To belong, truly belong. Today, Cain almost took that from me again. Almost took you from me. And I realised I couldn’t do without it. I can’t do without this,’ she ran her hands over his chest, ‘this feeling you create inside me when you touch me and let me touch you.’
He opened his mouth to say something but she put her fingers over his lips, silencing him. ‘I’ve learned so much about myself with your help. I know I’ve got so much more to learn. But the one thing I do know is this isn’t about me feeling thankful. It’s not even about what the past presence inside me feels. She just brought this to my attention. Helped to break down some barriers that would have broken down with time anyway. This is about me. About what I have to give. And what I want.’ She bent down, lips lingering over his for a moment, before she leaned back again. ‘And what I want right now is to share myself with you. If you want that too.’
‘If I want that too?’ His eyes blazed with heat as his gaze swept over her, his hands gliding down her back to press her more firmly against him. ‘I don’t think I’ve ever wanted anything more in my life.’
‘Really?’
His erection grew, flexing against her, his gaze deepening. She laughed, thrilling to the sensation of what she did to him, and then his lips were on hers again, swallowing her laughter. With a sigh, she gave herself up to the sensation of skin against skin, hardness against her softness, the spicy taste of him filling her mouth, the heady fresh scent of him filling her senses. She wanted to fill herself up on the taste and feel of him and hold onto it forever.
His mouth left hers and went exploring. She whimpered but the whimper quickly turned into a murmur of approval as he nipped and sucked and licked his way down her throat, skating along her collarbone. He sucked on her shoulder, his fingers chasing ice and fire up and down her arms and along her sides. He shifted, flipped her over onto her back, his gaze raking over her.
‘Beautiful,’ he breathed, fingers brushing across her ribs to cup and circle her breasts. Her breath caught in her throat. She’d thought it had felt good before when he’d touched her through her clothes the few times they’d kissed—but this was so much better, so much more. In fact, she wasn’t sure she could take all the more it was.
His lips ran along her chest, down her sternum and across to the mound of her breast. Fireflies danced in her eyes as the sensation of his lips on her skin set off multiple explosions inside like the pop and fizz of fireworks building to a crescendo. She thought she would die of the pleasure of it. His lips covered her nipple, his tongue flicking the tip just as his fingers had done earlier. The wet slip and glide of it intensified the sensation. She cried out, her back arching off the bed, hands digging into his hair, clutching—whether to pull him closer or push him away, she didn’t know. But he didn’t stop. Just sank his teeth in, marking her again, then kissed and licked the little pain away before transferring his attentions to her other breast.
His fingers played with the wet nipple as he lovingly sucked and nipped at the other one, then his fingers dipped down her stomach, making her muscles jump and quiver, and speared through the hair covering her core.
‘Iain!’ she cried. He looked up at her briefly, a wicked smile on his lips, before returning to her breast, his gaze capturing and holding hers as his fingers found and rubbed the nub of her clit. Then slowly, he made his way down her stomach. Before she realised what he was going to do, he put his mouth where his fingers had been and licked.
‘Mmm, delicious.’
She had no idea what he was talking about because there was a roaring in her ears as he licked and nipped and sucked. She knew she was whimpering, could feel the vibration of it in her throat even if she couldn’t hear the sound through the roar in her ears, but she didn’t care. Her entire being became centred on the little nub of nerves at her core and when he sucked it into his mouth at the same time he thrust his fingers inside her, pumping once, twice, there was no more build. She just exploded.
‘Yes, Little Bird. Come for me.’
She couldn’t reply. Could only ride the waves of sensation as they rippled through her, over her, carried her away.
Long minutes later, her scream still ringing in her ears, her skin wet with perspiration, she looked down her body at him watching her, grasped his shoulders and said, ‘Please’.
Rising, his body covered hers, thighs nudging hers apart. The tip of his erection brushed against her curls. She wanted him inside her more than she’d ever wanted anything in her life.
‘Once we do this, my little bird, there’s no going back. Even though Lone Wolves don’t mate, I know myself too well to think I could let you go after you give yourself to me in this way.’
She touched his cheek, met his gaze. ‘What makes you think I’d leave even if you wanted me to go?’
He barked out a laugh. ‘My stubborn Little Bird.’
‘My equally stubborn Shadow.’
His eyes blazed and then his lips were on hers and with a flex of his hips, he was inside her.
She tensed as a tearing pain shot through her.
He stilled. ‘Shh, shh,’ he murmured, stroking her hair back from her face, then stroking down her arms to tangle his fingers with hers. ‘It will be gone in a moment. Do you trust me?’
‘Always.’ Moving her hips up, she urged him to slide dee
per.
And Goddess, he did!
The slow slide in and out filled her with so much pleasure, it was almost torture. She could hardly take it. She needed him to move faster. Needed more of him. All of him. Tilting her hips higher, she wrapped her legs around his waist, let go of his hands and grabbed his hips, urging him to move faster. He moaned into her mouth as he obliged her urging.
His chest hairs rubbed against her sensitised breasts, lightly at first, then harder as he wrapped an arm around her and lifted her up so they were sitting, him on his haunches, her with her legs wrapped around him, his cock buried even deeper inside her than before. His mouth captured her scream, holding her tight as he encouraged her to move, riding him, their bodies pressed so closely together it was difficult to know where she ended and he began.
His pace sped up, then she was on her back again, his hands tilting her hips, giving him even deeper access. She moaned as he pressed deeper and deeper inside her.
‘Oh… My… God… dess,’ she cried out as he pounded faster and faster into her. ‘Iain. Iain. Iain!’
The last was said on a scream as the orgasm ripped through her. In some distant place, she heard Iain cry out her name before he collapsed on top of her, his heart thundering against her chest, his breath a harsh pant against her ear.
When neurons began to spark in her brain some time later, she couldn’t help but smile. She was thoroughly and utterly taken. He had blown her mind—twice. Her first experience had been more than she could have ever hoped for. Despite the fact that her bones had turned to mush, she managed to wrap her arms around him, hold on tight and kiss his neck.
She never wanted to let him go. Never wanted this to end.
But it had to.
The sobering thought made her shiver, her grip on him slipping. Tears pricked her eyes, but she couldn’t let him see them, so she turned her head, biting her lip, hoping she would be able to pull it together before he recovered.
As the thought circled in her mind, he lifted his head. ‘Hey! What’s this?’ He touched her cheek.
She should have known he’d recover quickly—he was a Were after all. ‘Nothing,’ she sniffed.
‘Did I hurt you? I know it was your first time. I shouldn’t have been so rough.’
‘Oh, Goddess no!’ She brushed her thumb over his lips, a bubbling laugh escaping as he chased it playfully to give it a little nip. ‘It was perfect.’
His grin was lopsided, his gaze filled with pleasure. ‘It was for me too.’
‘Really?’
‘Really.’ He kissed her nose, her forehead, her eyes, her lips. ‘You are truly amazing, Eloise.’
‘I think that’s my line.’
He chuckled. ‘It’s both our lines.’
He was still inside her, still so large. She frowned. ‘Didn’t you … you know …?’
His lips twitched. ‘I think if you’ve experienced it twice you can say the word, Little Bird.’
‘Smug!’ She slapped his arm. ‘I wanted to know if you came too.’
His smug smile disappeared as he touched his forehead to hers, his breath a warm puff against her face. ‘Oh, I came. Didn’t you hear me?’
‘I heard you roar my name.’ Her skin heated. ‘But I don’t know… that could have been a Were thing.’
‘No. That was an “Eloise, you blow my mind and make me come like I’ve never come before” kind of thing.’
She tried to stop the smile from breaking out, but couldn’t. ‘Really?’
‘Really.’
She bit the corner of her lip, uncertain how to ask. ‘Then why… how are you… I mean I can feel—’ She waved her hand towards where they were still joined so intimately.
He chuckled. ‘Now, that is a Were thing. It happens when we have mind-blowing sex and is the first step in the ma—’ A strange expression crossed his face. ‘No. It’s not possible,’ he whispered.
‘What’s not possible?’ she said, shifting a little under him, aware that, despite his consternation, he had suddenly grown bigger inside her. He blinked and looked down at her, the expression in his eyes one of wonder and unutterable joy. It was a look that made her feel treasured and special and she couldn’t help but smile back at him in the face of it. ‘Iain?’
‘It’s not possible. Unless—’ His gaze raked over her face. ‘Can we have been wrong?’
He kissed her, stealing her breath, making her jerk beneath him as something powerful and golden tugged deep inside her heart. It squeezed, spread, wrapped around her, fired all her nerve endings, but before she could even gasp, it was gone. No. Not gone. But it didn’t hurt anymore. It just was. ‘What was that?’
‘Something miraculous.’ His words whispered across her lips and then he was kissing her again, the heated passion of it stealing her breath, her words, her thoughts as she lost herself in sensation once more.
Sometime later, after they’d made love again and he’d held her for what seemed like minutes but could have been hours, he lifted his head, thumbs making lazy circles on her cheeks. ‘You should sleep. It’s been a long, hard day.’
She sighed. She wished she could sleep, but Cain was out there, waiting for her to do as he wished and there was a time constraint on her doing just that.
Oestra. The full moon. It was tonight. If she didn’t move soon, Cain would come looking for her and she knew what he’d do if he found her here, in Iain’s arms.
She shuddered.
‘Cold?’
He reached for her but she shifted away. ‘No.’ She pushed up onto her elbows, brushed her fingers over his forehead. ‘It’s not that. And I can’t sleep, not now. Not until after I’ve done what needs to be done tonight.’
‘What are you talking about?’
She clutched the sheet to her breasts as she sat up, face stiff with the knowledge she was about to tear the beautiful feeling rising between them to shreds. ‘I have to tell you what happened with Cain.’
His jaw tensed, lips thinning into a tight line. ‘I know what happened with Cain. The bastard killed Gabbie. Tried to kill me, too.’ His gaze burned with violence as he looked at her. ‘I want to kill him.’
‘No! You can’t.’ She tried to swallow down the panic in her throat, but the look in his eyes wedged it there.
‘I know he’s your brother, Eloise, but he’s a murdering psychopath and deserves to die.’ He sat up, swung his legs over the edge of the bed, back to her. She wanted to reach out, stroke the long muscled length of his spine, but the warmth between them had become some brittle, tenuous thing at her mention of her brother. As she knew it would.
As she wrapped her arms around her knees, her instinct was to press into the corner, to shrink away from the violence and hatred emanating off him in waves. But she’d come too far to react like she used to. Couldn’t let a lifetime of repression take over when she needed to stick to her guns, to act, to ensure what needed to be done was done, before anyone else was hurt. Or killed.
Fingers gripping into her skin through the sheet, she forced herself to speak. ‘I don’t want to save Cain because he’s my brother. I know he deserves to die. I wish we could go right now and put him out of his misery.’
He peered at her over his shoulder. ‘You’re just saying that because you think it’s what I want to hear.’
She flinched. Couldn’t help it. His words hurt. ‘I thought you knew me better than that.’ She scrambled past him off the end of the bed, losing the sheet in her effort.
‘Eloise. I’m sorry. Eloise!’ He grabbed her before she’d made it halfway across the room to the ensuite. She fought him when he tried to turn her around, desperate for him not to see her tears, so he pulled her back against him. His warmth, his strength, seeping into her back, drew all the fight right out of her.
‘I’m sorry.’ His apology was a warm breath across her ear. ‘I shouldn’t have said that. I’m just so angry. My wolf … I … am grieving. He … we, lashed out. I’m sorry. I do know you. I know you’re in pain too over
what your twin did.’
‘My twin is dead. That thing out there today is some creation of Morrigan’s. I don’t know who he is.’
‘I know. I know.’ His lips brushed over her shoulder. Up her neck. ‘Forgive me. Please forgive me.’ He took her earlobe between his teeth, sucking gently. She moaned, leaned back against him.
‘I should be asking your forgiveness. If it wasn’t for me, Gabbie would still be alive.’
‘No. Don’t think that. Don’t let my stupid words make you ever think that.’ He gripped her shoulders and she turned then, needing to see his face, to read the truth of his feelings in his eyes, to see that the lash of his anger wasn’t aimed at her.
He cupped her face, his gaze telling her she was everything precious and wonderful to him. ‘You are not responsible for what Cain did.’
‘I know.’
He smiled, a breath of relief brushing over her face. ‘Then why did you say that?’
‘I just meant that if I hadn’t gone down there, he wouldn’t have done what he did.’
‘I think he would have done it anywhere, no matter where you were.’
He was right. She knew he was right.
‘So why did he do it? What do you need to tell me?’
‘Can I get dressed first?’ She couldn’t have this conversation with both of them naked. There was too much of what they’d just shared still between them, and she didn’t want Cain there too, the evilness of him touching places only Iain had ever touched.
‘Okay.’
Shifter Bound Page 19
