The Shifter's Mate (Other World Series Book Three)

by Ramona Gray

  His entire body was trembling and he made a whining cry as he twitched and shook on the pelts. A low, continuous whimper was erupting from his throat and she swallowed thickly, her fingers tightening in his fur.

  “Kane? Come on, honey. Wake up.”

  He made a sudden lurching shudder and then he was standing over her, the fur on his neck raised and his eyes glowing brightly. He stared at her in fear and confusion as his hot breath washed over her face. She reached up and stroked the side of his face, digging her fingers into his warm fur.

  “You’re all right. It was just a nightmare.”

  He whined and then shifted abruptly. He crouched over her and she stared at the goose bumps on his skin before silently pushing back the pelts. He crawled under them without hesitating and burrowed his body against hers. He pushed his face into her neck and she rubbed his broad back tentatively.

  “What were you dreaming about?” She whispered.

  “My mother.” His voice was muffled against her throat and he squeezed himself even closer to her. “I was in the field and watching the humans take her head and skin her fur from her body.”

  “Oh God.” She tugged on his hair until his head was tilted back and he was staring up at her. “Tell me you weren’t actually there.”

  He shook his head. “I wasn’t.”

  She breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank God.”

  He was still trembling and she could see pain and sorrow in his dark eyes. She smoothed her hand across his forehead and gave him what she hoped was a reassuring smile. “You’re okay, honey. It’s just a bad dream.”

  “I’ve missed your voice,” he whispered.

  She blinked in surprise. “Kane, I – “

  “Go to sleep,” he said gruffly. He started to turn away from her and she clung to him with a surprisingly strong grip.

  “Why were you lying on top of me?” She asked.

  “It’s cold. I was afraid you wouldn’t be warm enough.”

  “That was nice of you,” she whispered. She was acutely aware of his nakedness, of the way his hard body felt pressed against her soft one. She had missed his warmth and his kisses and if she was honest with herself, his cock.

  He stared silently at her before whispering, “Are you cold?”

  “Yes,” she lied. “Will you make me warm, Kane?”

  He inhaled deeply. Her desire had returned and he was almost giddy with relief and excitement and need. “Aye, if you want me to.”

  “I do,” she murmured.

  He pressed his mouth against hers and she kissed him eagerly, sliding her tongue into his mouth as he gripped her ass and pulled her against his rapidly-hardening cock.

  “Your skin is so soft,” he muttered against her mouth.

  She stroked his back, liking the way the large muscles rippled under her fingers. She gasped when he cupped her breast and pulled lightly on the nipple.

  “Oh God,” she moaned quietly.

  “Say my name again,” he suddenly demanded.

  He had just enough time to see the gleam of amusement in her eyes before she bent her head and licked his throat. “Why should I, shifter?”

  He growled, his hips arching helplessly against hers when she nipped him with her teeth. She licked the spot and then bit him again, this time hard enough that he jerked against her.

  “Say it,” he growled warningly.

  “What? You don’t like being called shifter?” She kissed his chest and then traced his collarbone with her tongue. He cupped the back of her neck, breathing harshly and moaning a little when she lifted her head and sucked on his earlobe.

  “I want to hear you say my name, human. I like it,” he confessed hoarsely.

  “Hmm, that’s too bad for you. Isn’t it, shifter?” She teased lightly before kissing his shoulder with warm, wet kisses.

  He snorted with frustration before flipping her on to her back. He pushed her thighs apart and settled his large body between them, rubbing his cock against her wetness. She moaned lightly and arched her pelvis upwards as he kissed her hard on the mouth, nearly shoving his tongue between her lips. When they finally broke apart, she was moaning and trembling against him, and he smiled with satisfaction at the look of need in her eyes.

  “Say my name,” he whispered into her ear as he placed the head of his cock at her tight entrance.

  She shook her head in refusal and wrapped her thighs around his hips. He took her wrists and held her arms above her head, pinning them to the furs as he stared at her naked breasts. He bent his head and teased her nipples with his mouth and tongue, moving from one to the other until she was moaning and twisting beneath him.

  “Please!” She begged.

  He pushed the head of his cock into her wet warmth and stopped as she moaned loudly and arched her back.

  “Don’t stop!” She gasped out.

  “I want you to say my name,” he repeated. He hesitated and then lowered his face to hers. His warm breath washed over her. “Please, Reese.”

  “Kane,” she moaned it immediately and a large shiver of lust went through him. He thrust into her and waited with gritted teeth as she stretched around him.

  Kane stared down at Reese. Her eyes were closed and she was biting at her bottom lip compulsively. Her nipples were hard against his chest and when he released her wrists, she immediately wrapped her arms around him. Her fingers dug into his back and she pushed her hips against his.

  It felt a little odd being on top of her with his body nestled between her legs and all of her limbs clinging to him. Female shifters preferred to be on their hands and knees or riding him, and he never took them in this position. He was surprised to discover how much he liked it, and how turned on he was by the feel of her soft body nestled under his.

  She was large and strong for a female but tucked under his body like this with her legs parted around his hips and unable to close, made her powerless and he was once again surprised by how much he liked it. Lust coursed through him and he thrust in and out of her, taking her more roughly than he intended.

  She cried out and her fingernails raked across his back. He stopped and gave her an anxious look. “Do you like this? Am I hurting you?”

  She shook her head immediately. “No, I like it. Don’t stop, Kane.”

  He hesitated a moment longer. “Are you sure?”

  Her eyes popped open and she gave him a look of frustration mixed with need. “Yes, dammit! Kane, you’re driving me crazy!”

  She slapped him sharply on the back and he grinned down at her. “I like how needy you are for my cock, human.”

  She glared at him. “For the love of God, shifter! Now who’s talking too much?”

  She suddenly squeezed her inner muscles around him, grinning like a satisfied cat when he moaned loudly and thrust into her in response. He bent his head and took one swollen nipple into his mouth, teasing it with his tongue and lips as she twisted and squirmed on his thick shaft.

  “I like this position,” he suddenly announced. “I like how you look underneath me, and that you can’t stop me from fucking you.”

  “Sweet Jesus,” she muttered grouchily. “I’m glad you like it. Now, could you shut the hell up and actually start fucking me?”

  “I can do that,” he agreed. He thrust in and out of her as she clung to him and met each of his strokes. “You feel so good, Reese.”

  She made a little moan, her pussy tightening around him when he said her name. He released his breath in a harsh rush before putting his mouth to her ear. “You’re mine, Reese. Tell me that you’re mine.”

  “I’m yours,” she gasped out, her hips thrusting frantically against him. “I’m yours.”

  “You will mate with no one else but me. Do you understand? You will not mate with a human or a shifter, and not Dagon.” He punctuated each point with a hard thrust of his pelvis, and she cried out with pleasure.

  “Say it, Reese.” He wrapped her long hair around his hand and pulled roughly on it, exposing her pale throat.
He licked her soft skin and she shuddered beneath him.

  “No one else, Kane. Only you,” she moaned.

  “You belong to me, Reese,” he whispered into her ear as he squeezed and kneaded her large breasts.

  “I belong to you,” she repeated.

  “That’s right, you do.” He hooked her legs over his arms, pushing them up and out until she was completely open to him. Propping himself on his hands, he plunged in and out of her, his eyes glowing and a low, hoarse howl starting in his chest.

  Reese, her body pinned under his and her hands digging into his shoulders, cried out loudly and stiffened beneath him. His cock was flooded with the hot wetness of her orgasm. Her pussy squeezed madly around him and the howl burst from his throat as he thrust one final time and climaxed explosively inside of her.

  Weak as a kitten, he collapsed against her soft body. She muttered a curse and pushed at his broad shoulders. “Kane, I can’t breathe.”

  Panting, he rolled off of her and on to his back. He had just had the best orgasm of his life and it had been with a human. He stared stunned at the ceiling of the cave. Reese bent over him, staring worriedly at his face.

  “Kane, are you all right?”

  “What do you mean?” He asked hoarsely.

  “You have a funny look on your face. Did you hurt yourself? You were um, thrusting pretty hard at the end there,” she said.

  A small grin crossed his face. “No, human. I did not hurt myself.”

  “Just checking.” She smiled cheerfully at him.

  “Did I hurt you?” He suddenly asked anxiously and she shook her head immediately.

  “No, of course not.”

  “Are you positive?” His gaze fell on the faint marks on her chest. “You did not tell me the last time I hurt you.”

  “I’m fine.” She relaxed on the pelts, curling up on her side with her back to him. He turned and spooned her. He pressed his body against hers and cupped her breast possessively as he buried his face between her shoulder blades. She twitched with surprise.

  “What?” His voice was muffled against her back.

  “Nothing,” Reese said quickly. She didn’t know why he wasn’t shifting to his wolf form like he normally did but she wasn’t going to ask. He had told her she belonged to him and that she wasn’t allowed to mate with Dagon. For the first time since she had found out what the shifters had bought them for, a trickle of hope went through her. Perhaps she wouldn’t have to be the alpha’s mate after all. Perhaps Kane would take her as his mate. She could think of worse things than warming Kane’s bed every night.

  He won’t. He said he had no interest in mating with someone for life, remember?

  She sighed and, her mind whirling, listened to the sounds of Kane’s soft snoring.

  Chapter 12

  “Kane?”

  “Aye, human?”

  “Did you mean what you said earlier?” Reese, her body wrapped in a pelt, joined him at the entrance to the cave.

  He stared out into the darkness and the rain without answering and she touched his shoulder hesitantly. “Kane? Did you mean it? About me not mating with anyone else? About belonging to you?”

  He sighed heavily. “No.”

  She stiffened and took a step back from him. “Why did you say it then?”

  “I do not know.”

  “Oh.”

  “I cannot go against my alpha’s orders. If he wants you as his mate, nothing can be done about it. You will be mated to him.”

  She didn’t reply and he took a quick glance at her. He worried that she would be crying again but she was dry-eyed with a strange look of pity mixed with disgust on her face.

  “I’m sorry, human.”

  She shrugged and turned away from him. “Don’t worry about it, shifter. I’ll figure it out myself.”

  He caught her bare arm. “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, I’ll figure out a way to get out of being Dagon’s mate. He might not choose me anyway, right? And if he does, I’ll just talk his ear off.” She grinned bitterly. “Neither you or your pack mates seem to think he’ll want me if I’m mad.”

  An odd trickle of fear went through him and he spun her around more roughly than he intended. She winced and he loosened his grip on her arms. “If he chooses you, do not show him your madness. Do you hear me, human? You keep it hidden from him.”

  She frowned. “Why should I? I don’t want to be his mate. If that means riding the crazy train all the way to the station, then I will.”

  “Stop talking so foolishly!” His fear was growing and he pulled her closer. “If he chooses you, keep your tongue in your mouth and do whatever he asks of you. Do you understand?”

  She actually laughed. “Do you really think I’m capable of that?”

  He shook her roughly. “This is not a joke, human! He will kill you! If he thinks you’re mad, he will take your head. He will show you no mercy.”

  “Some leader you have there,” she said quietly.

  “Please, Reese. Do this for me. Would you rather be dead than mated to Dagon?” He nearly shouted.

  “You’re hurting me,” she said mildly.

  He looked down and whined softly. His fingers were disappearing into the soft flesh of her arms and he released her abruptly. He made another soft whine at the red marks that appeared.

  “I’m sorry, Reese. I did not mean to hurt you.”

  “I know,” she replied quietly. She turned and walked back to the pelts.

  “Will you do what I ask of you?” He called after her.

  She just shrugged and climbed into the bed of furs. He howled with anger and shifted abruptly. She watched as he paced back and forth in his wolf form, and clamped her hands over her ears when he sat at the mouth of the cave and howled repeatedly into the cold night air.

  * * *

  “If you’re going to lie on the bed with me then shift into your human form.” Reese’s voice came floating out of the darkness and Kane jerked in surprise. He shifted to his human form and knelt on the furs.

  “I thought you were sleeping.”

  “Nope.”

  “I don’t want you to be cold,” he said quietly as he crawled under the pelts beside her.

  She laughed. “Liar. You want to fuck me again.”

  “Reese – “

  “It’s fine. I want to fuck you too.” She reached for his cock, stroking it with her soft fingers and he groaned as he immediately hardened.

  “I thought you were angry with me,” he said hesitantly.

  She shrugged. “I’m not.”

  “Reese, shifters are not like humans. They live in packs and there is a very clear hierarchy within it. Dagon is the alpha and I cannot disobey him. It does not mean that I don’t uh, care for you or - “

  “I know,” she snapped. “Jesus, shifter. I’m willing to fuck you. You don’t have to sweet talk me or pretend to have feelings for me. I’m a big girl and I know what this is.”

  “What is this?” He asked softly.

  “Oh for God’s sake. It’s a way to keep warm, a way to pass the time, a way to have a little fun before I’m murdered by your damn alpha. What does it matter?” She said testily.

  “A way to pass the time?” He was surprised at how much her words stung.

  She rolled her eyes. “Are you kidding me, shifter? You told me yourself that I was an experiment, remember? So let’s experiment.”

  She started to squirm down under the pelts and he frowned at her. “Reese, I don’t think – “

  “Stop thinking, shifter.” Her voice was muffled and he pushed back the pelts.

  “Just wait a minute. We should talk about – “

  Her hot, wet mouth slid over the head of his cock and he groaned loudly. Her hand squeezed the base of his cock and pumped it firmly as she suckled hard on the head. Her soft and slippery tongue traced the sensitive ridge and he gripped her head. He twisted his fingers in her hair and held tightly as she slid her mouth up and down.

 
He moaned and panted and thrust his hips at her as the cave was filled with the sounds of his loud groans and her sucking. She cupped his heavy balls in her hand, stroking them lightly before tracing the skin on his inner thighs.

  “Reese, please,” he whispered when she trailed a path of hot wet kisses across his flat abdomen before dipping her tongue into his navel.

  “Please what, shifter?” She grinned at him before nipping each of his hip bones.

  “I want to be inside of you,” he moaned.

  She smiled and moved to her hands and knees, spreading her legs and reaching back to trail her finger down his chest. “Go on, big boy.”

  He frowned before he lightly pushed her onto her back and cupped one large breast. He pulled on her nipple before dipping his head and sucking it into his mouth. She moaned her approval and arched her back, running her hand through his short hair. He kissed his way down her body and licked the soft skin of her stomach before placing a kiss on the curls between her legs. He moved until he was lying between her legs and slid his hands under her large ass. He lifted her up slightly before staring up at her. She was studying the ceiling with her hands cupping and kneading her breasts, and he frowned again.

  “Reese? Look at me.”

  She glanced quickly at him, giving him a brief smile before returning her gaze to the ceiling. “Make me feel good, shifter.”

  “Kane.” He needed to hear her say his name.

  “Make me feel good, Kane,” she said with a touch of impatience in her voice. Her hand came down and pushed on the back of his head and he kissed the wet lips of her pussy. She moaned loudly and spread her thighs wide.

  “Keep going,” she demanded.

  He licked her with his warm tongue, sliding it between her lips to find her clit. He touched it delicately with the tip of his tongue and she groaned and thrust her pelvis at him. He kneaded her ass as he licked and sucked at her clit. It was swelling in his mouth and he sucked harder as he slid one thick finger into her.

  She cried out, her hands tightening in his hair, and twisted and squirmed beneath his mouth. He placed one arm across her stomach and pinned her down as he licked her clit with flat strokes of his tongue.