“Mmm,” she wailed.
At the same time he slid two fingers inside her, and curled them forward, stroking her inner wall until he found a supremely sensitive spot that made her jerk and cry out.
“Oh, my God!” she screamed. Lightning bolts began rippling through her, and he sucked harder, nipping ever so gently with his teeth and then torturing her with his tongue. He had all the power in the world over her, the power of life and death even, because if he stopped, she was sure she would die.
He didn’t stop, though. He kept sucking and stroking until she convulsed. She lost her footing, hanging from the handcuffs and gasping. She threw her head back and cried out as her orgasm rocked her, and still he tormented her, thrusting his tongue inside her.
She didn’t know how long she orgasmed, but it felt like forever. When she was done all she could do was whimper as he stood up, turned her around, and wrapped his strong arms around her.
His body was a solid wall of muscle. She sagged back against him, reveling in his strength. He slid inside her, and she realized she was still spasming. He groaned in pleasure at the sensation.
“Yes, baby. That feels so good.” His voice was a low, harsh rasp as he pumped into her, again and again, before quickly pulling out with a growl of frustration. She felt his hot, sticky cum on her back.
“I’m dying to cum inside you,” he said. “Someday soon.”
After the gushing water had cleansed them both, he turned off the shower and they both toweled off.
She felt light and hollow, wrung out with the emotional release she’d just experienced. Fear clenched at her. This man had too much power over her.
“I need to go sleep in my own room now,” she said. At his startled look, she added “I just – this is too much for me right now. I keep walls up, Ty. My walls are what makes me feel safe. I’ve never surrendered myself to anyone like that.”
He nodded, frowning. “All right…for now. But you’re missing out on some amazing cuddling.”
“I believe you,” she said, and she fled. Every cell in her body screamed to be with him, to fall into his arms.
That was why she had to sleep by herself.
As long as it was just sex, her heart was safe, wasn’t it? She couldn’t depend on this man. She’d learned early on what happened when you believed a man’s promises. First her father, then the few guys she’d dated who’d made it clear that she wasn’t a cat to be taken seriously. She was okay to date, but marriage? To a Padfoot? It had been made very clear to her that she was damaged goods. After a while, she’d given up on dating.
It’s just sex, she told herself, as she hugged a pillow to her chest. Nothing more.
Keep telling yourself that, her subconscious whispered to her scornfully as she tossed and turned all night.
Chapter Eleven
“I wouldn’t go back there if I were you.” Leah levelled her ice blue gaze at Kimberly, one of the girls from her cabin, who was heading towards the woods.
“Ignore her! She’s a freak!” Anthea, who’d walked ahead of her, screamed back at Kimberly. Anthea had decided that she and a few of the campers were going to sneak off into the woods so they could pretend to get lost and get Virginia in trouble.
Anthea had talked one of the other girls into providing a distraction by pretending to be stuck up a tree on the other end of the camp site. Now Virginia and her two bodyguards and the other counselors were trying to coax the girl down. Leah had trailed behind the girls who were sneaking off, watching them with cold, clinical interest.
Once they got a little further into the woods, their plan was to shift and run for it.
“Anthea.” Kimberly, a skinny fourteen year old cougar shifter with round gold rimmed glasses, stopped and put her hands on her hips. “Virginia said not to call her names.”
“Do what you want. If you stay with her, you’ll be a member of the Weirdo club,” Anthea sneered, and kept walking.
Kimberly turned and walked up to Leah. “I’m sorry. I’m sure it’s not your fault you’re weird. My brother can levitate things, and everyone makes fun of him for it.”
“Thank you,” Leah said gravely.
“You can come with us,” Kimberly added. “If she calls you a freak again, I’ll just punch her in the head. Then if I get in trouble, I’ll just tell them that I have ADD and I can’t control myself. That’s what I do at school. It works really well.”
“No, thank you. The reason I said you shouldn’t go in the woods is that there’s an injured bear in the direction they’re heading. A pure bear, not a bear shifter.”
A sudden chorus of screams ripped through the air.
“They found it.” Leah nodded with satisfaction.
Kimberly’s eyes went wide with panic. She looked around; they were out of sight of Virginia and the other counselors.
“They’re climbing a tree,” Leah said, looking mildly amused. “The bear can’t climb because it hurt its leg, but if they come down, it will eat them.”
“Hmm.” A wicked gleam sparked in Kimberly’s eyes. “We could leave them up there for a few hours. It’s pretty hot out. They’d get thirsty.”
Leah considered that. “I approve of your thought processes. That is certainly what I would do, but I suspect my sister would disapprove, so unfortunately, I have to go get help.”
She shifted into Lynx form and dashed off to find Virginia. Kimberly shifted into cougar form and followed her.
Minutes later, Virginia, her bodyguards for the day, and half a dozen other counselors were at the scene, shifted into animal form and growled threateningly at the bear.
The bear growled back at them, but, faced with a pack of snarling wolves, finally limped off.
Leah watched Riley, in Lynx form, slink after it. Virginia didn’t notice; she was too distracted getting all the girls down out of the tree.
A couple of minutes later, Riley stumbled out of the woods, pale and sweaty, in human form.
“Is he all right?” Kimberly asked. She walked over to Riley. “Are you okay? You look kinda sick. Do you need a healer?”
Riley managed a pained laugh at that. “I get headaches sometimes. I’m fine.”
* * *
“This road is hell on my shocks. I should have just shifted and ran up here,” Karen grumbled to Isadora as they jolted along the dirt path that led up to the campsite. Sunday was visiting day, and she’d come to make sure the camp was still standing.
Isadora had come up to visit her for the day. Apparently there really was nothing to do in Crystal Falls.
“By the way, did you and Pierce end up doing anything?” Karen asked, as they rounded a curve and came to a clearing with a cluster of little log cabins.
“Nah. I’m still debating. I may just hang out by the main house and help with their cookout today. Then I can watch him circle around and pretend that he’s not staring at me.” Isadora flashed a feral grin. Then her expression turned serious. “Oh, my parents emailed me for the first time in a month. They’re in Paris. Diana’s engaged, apparently. They sent me a little message saying not to worry, I’d find somebody someday. I was tempted to send them a picture of me dancing naked on a tabletop. Passive aggressive assholes.”
“Or you could just ignore them. Be even more passive aggressive. Oh, for the love of…what have those little heathens done now?” Karen asked.
Riley, Leah, Virginia, and a group of campers were standing in a group. Something had them all agitated. There was a lot of yelling and arm waving going on.
“Go, Leah and Riley!” Isadora cheered.
“You shall not encourage them,” Karen said sternly.
Karen quickly pulled up and parked, and the two of them jogged over to the group.
“You can’t throw me out! It’s not fair! I’ll tell my father!” a skinny girl was screaming at Virginia.
“Your father works for my father, so good luck with that,” Virginia said to the girl. “You put all of these girls in danger with that little stunt of
yours. There’s a reason we don’t let you run off into the woods by yourself; there are actual wild animals out there, and they are bigger and meaner than you.”
Karen pushed her way through to Virginia. “What happened?” she said, surveying the campers for signs of mortal injury. “I can pay for the damage. Is anyone injured?”
“Oh, hey, Karen! No, your sister saved the day. She rescued a bunch of campers from getting chewed up by an injured bear when they tried to sneak off, which won’t happen again, will it, girls?” Virginia raked them with a glower as Karen tried to contain her amazement at the news.
They all hung their heads.
“No, Miss Virginia,” they chorused.
One of them said to Leah “I’m sorry we weren’t nice to you. Anthea said she’d set our hair on fire in our sleep if we talked to you.” She cast a resentful glance at Anthea, then clutched her hair nervously.
“What?” Karen yelled, swinging around to glare at Anthea. “Are you kidding me?” Dear God, she was so tired of people picking on her brother and sister because of who their father was.
“Seriously? If you were just a couple years older, I’d beat your furry little butt for that. I still might.” Isadora’s claws shot out.
“Tattletale!” Anthea screamed at the girl who was clutching her hair. “You’re all a bunch of freaks! I’m glad I’m leaving, I hate all of you!” Anthea turned and ran back to her cabin.
“Don’t worry, her parents are on their way to pick her up. That’s Evangeline’s cousin, by the way, which explains a lot,” Virginia said to Karen. “I think now that she’s gone the rest of the summer camp experience will be much more pleasant.”
“I think freaks are cool,” Kimberly piped up. “I wish I was one, but unfortunately, I’m perfectly normal.”
One of the other girls shrugged. “I am a freak. I can make flowers grow faster. So what?”
“I’m going to be a healer,” one of the other girls added. “That’s kind of being a freak, right?”
“Show us the flowers! Oooh, show us!” The girls all crowded around her and watched her make daisies sprout and unfurl.
“See?” Virginia said to Karen. “They’ll be fine now.” Karen nodded. She’d definitely come back next Sunday to check on them again, though.
“Call me right away if things get out of hand here,” she said. “I really appreciate what you’re doing for them, Virginia, but I don’t want them stuck here if anyone’s giving them any grief.”
“I am totally with you on that, I promise,” Virginia said. Then she called out to one of the male counselors, “Hey, we should make sure that the bear is gone.”
“He ran off pretty fast,” he called back to her. “His leg suddenly seemed a whole lot better, but we’ll go sweep the area just to be safe.”
Karen saw Riley and Leah exchange a glance with each other, and Riley gave a tiny nod of satisfaction, then looked away. What was that all about?
* * *
Ellwood Padfoot stood outside his battered old van and viciously kicked one of its tires. He’d slept in that van for weeks now. He was parked on a tiny dirt road in the shade of an oak tree, desperately trying to get some relief from the sun. It was hot, the air conditioning was broken, and the engine was making funny noises. He’d just tried calling Karen for the tenth time, and the phone had gone straight to voicemail.
She’d really meant it when she said she wouldn’t help him any more. How dare she treat him like this? He was her flesh and blood. She wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for him.
He’d hoped that her new alliance with the Battle family could be worked to his advantage, but after his last talk with her, he could tell that he wouldn’t be reaping any benefits from it.
Word around town was that Ty was hot for Karen, probably wanted to marry her. By rights, that meant that all the Battle money would be hers, didn’t it? And if the money was hers, then it should be his as well.
All that juicy money. He could live like a king, he thought, a happy smile drifting across his face. He could hit up the casino every night until he finally won the big stake he knew was just waiting for him. He could dine on filet mignon and drink the high end beer, not the cheap crap that tasted like water. Those snooty waitresses wouldn’t be turning up their little noses at him any more, not with him flashing wads of cash in their faces.
Then he turned sullen again. She’d be rich soon, and there was no way she’d ever give him a cent. Selfish bitch. She’d been his last hope, and now she’d driven him to desperation.
His phone rang with the ring tone that he’d assigned to the man who would solve all his problems. He scrabbled to answer it.
“Hello,” he said quickly.
“Can you deliver the package?”
“Yes, but it’s going to be a little more complicated than I thought. It can still be done, though. I’ve got a person on the inside helping me out.”
“Can this person on the inside be trusted?” the man’s voice deepened with suspicion.
“Absolutely. They’re highly motivated.”
“We can’t risk exposure. I’ll need to meet with the person myself. You will arrange it for me. It has to be by tonight, or the deal is off.”
Ellwood hesitated. What if his inside source double crossed him? Unfortunately, he needed this deal. He didn’t have any choice.
“All right. I’ll call you back with the details. And you’ll have my money for me as soon as the package is delivered?”
“If the quality of the package is as promised, you will get your money.”
He nodded. This might be a challenge to pull off, but it would be his biggest job yet, and his most profitable. He’d be able to retire with the money he’d get from this. Karen was the one who’d driven to this, he reflected, as he climbed into his van. She’d forgotten her obligations to her own family, and she’d left him no other choice.
Chapter Twelve
Ty insisted on driving Karen to Crystal Falls to meet her client on Monday. The talk of female shifters going missing brought out his protective side, although Karen told him he was over-reacting. She wasn’t a healer, so she wasn’t likely to be a target.
He put his hand on her inner thigh as he drove. “I’m not risking it,” he said. “I finally got you in my clutches; I won’t lose you again.”
“You think you have me in your clutches?”
He slid his hand up higher, and began moving it, rubbing, as he expertly negotiated a curve with one hand on the steering wheel. She moaned, and struggled to suppress a rumbling purr.
Then he pulled his hand away and laughed.
“See?” he said smugly. She ignored him, and bit back a smile. They’d spent a very hot weekend together. She was sore and aching in all the right places. She was still refusing to sleep in his bedroom afterwards, though. That was her last bit of control, the only way she could tell herself that this relationship was on her terms.
“By the way,” he said casually, “I made a few calls yesterday and I paid off your father’s most recent gambling debt.”
“All that money?” She was horrified. “Ten grand? Ty, you can’t!”
He shook his head, puzzled. “It was only two grand. I didn’t want him to have an excuse to come back and manipulate you any further.”
Of course. She laughed bitterly. “He said that he was in debt for ten grand. Wow, he lied to me, I’m shocked. And for that matter, I gave him like three hundred bucks in tips.”
“No, that was all he owed. I have connections all over, I would know. I also called him and offered to send him to a center that deals with shifters who have addiction issues, on my dime.”
“What did he say?”
“He told me to go fuck myself. Said he didn’t have addiction issues, he had issues with ungrateful kids and meddling wolf shifters calling him up and trying to stick their snout in his business. I just want you to know that if he gets in deep again, it’s his choice. As of now he has no debts, and he has the opportunity to go to
rehab for free. Next time he comes crying and howling about how somebody’s going to cut his throat because he screwed up again, for the love of God, don’t let him take your brother and sister’s money.”
Karen winced. How typical of her father to bite the hand that offered to feed him. “I’m sorry he was such a jerk to you.”
Ty snorted. “Don’t be sorry. I can take it; I’m a big boy.”
“Yes, you are.” She looked at him coyly.
“Karen Padfoot, was that sexual innuendo? Don’t think I won’t pull over right here.” His voice came out in a sexual rumble, and Karen felt a pleasant tingling between her legs.
“Wait,” she teased. “That’s too many double negatives for me. Does that mean you will pull over?”
“Oh, someone’s giving me a hard time. Trust me, my dear, I’ll be the one giving you a hard time later tonight.”
She laughed and relaxed in her seat. She’d have something to look forward to, then. Ty was a man who kept his promises, she was finding.
He turned another sharp curve, and Crystal Falls came into view. “You know, if you needed help with any of your bills or anything…”
She shook her head. “I can’t, Ty. I really appreciate you paying off my father’s debt, and letting my family go to summer camp for free. I just – aside from the fact that I like my job, it’s important to me to be independent. I need to know that I can support myself and my family.”
“I admire that. I’m just saying, the offer is there if you ever need it.”
A short time later they pulled into the downtown area of Crystal Falls. The town was bigger than Timber Valley, with a community of about ten thousand shifters. “We’re half an hour early,” Ty observed.
“Yep. I’m kind of compulsive about being on time,” she said.
“I hadn’t noticed. Let me buy you a coffee.”
They walked into the coffee shop down the block from her office, the Java Joint. It was bustling with shifters of all species. As they approached the coffee counter, she automatically reached for her wallet.
Purr For The Alpha (A Paranormal Romance) (Timber Valley Pack) Page 8
