by Sam Crescent
Chapter Eight
May stared at their entwined hands. Sisu’s was large, tanned, warm, comforting. She could visualize herself holding it every day. Yielding to his strength, his confidence, his trust in this crazy thing about soulmates.
Every time she glanced his way, something inside her stirred. She wanted to get closer. She yearned for him. His touch. His scent. His proximity.
She hadn’t told him, but after the mind-blowing orgasm he’d given her in the entrance to her home, the ache had faded. When he was at her side, it subsided, changed into something malleable, something which whispered in her ear and urged her for more, enticing her to believe. Only when she thought of asking him to leave, did it violently rekindle.
She looked Sisu in the eye. There was no anger or fear in his gaze, only patience and understanding.
Tell him.
Her instinct spoke loud and clear. She had nothing to lose.
“You’re right, Sisu. I didn’t tell you the truth. But can you blame me? I hardly know you. Even though we share this.” She waved her arms in the air, struggling to find the appropriate words. “This connection. I know nothing about you and I grew up in a world where soulmates and insta-love doesn’t exist. That’s a myth left for romance novels.”
“It exists for us, sunshine.”
“Maybe, but I was brought up to believe soulmates was a term loosely used by men as a ruse to trick women into their beds.”
May sighed. It was time to come clean.
“My father was a shifter.”
Sisu’s eyes widened. He licked his lips.
“Go on,” he said.
“My parents had an off-and-on relationship for a year before my mother became pregnant. According to my mother, Killian, my father, didn’t really believe I was his child and, though he stayed until I was seven, their relationship was rocky to say the least.”
May swallowed the lump that formed in her throat every time she thought of her mother and father.
“When I was seven, my father left for good. I distinctly remember the day.”
May wiped at her eyes.
“He sat me down and told me he’d met someone, his soulmate.” She smiled through her tears. “He explained he wouldn’t be living with us anymore, but he’d keep in touch.”
“I never heard from him again.”
“Bastard.” Sisu growled. “Now I see your reluctance to believe in love.”
“There is more. My mother never recovered from my father’s abandonment. She slipped in and out of relationships. Every time one of them failed, she’d come to me. I spent all my life hearing stories about unworthy men who treated my mother like shit.”
Sisu tensed.
“That wasn’t everything. My mother didn’t hide the fact that Killian had been a shifter. Occasionally, she’d throw comments at me.”
“What do you mean?”
“Things like, thank goodness you’re not one of them, I’m glad you aren’t a freak. Those shifters are animals, dirty, dangerous beasts.”
“Between your mother and father, I can now see why you’re so averse to shifters,” Sisu said. His eyes blazed and the nerve in his jaw ticked.
Her phone started ringing again.
Sisu snarled. He sucked in his cheeks. “But all this still doesn’t explain—why were you hanging out with Alkaline?”
“Three years ago my mother became terminally ill. I cared for her until the end. The day before she died, she revealed she’d been lying to me all my life.”
May laughed derisively. “It’s taken me two years of ongoing therapy to get over that alone.”
Sisu stroked her forearm, giving her the necessary courage to continue.
“She admitted to having tricked my father into having a child. He’d been truthful to her from the start, but she’d ignored his warnings and had hoped to tie him down. She didn’t understand shifters would spend their lives searching for their one and only. Regardless of that, my father did love me. She confessed he had tried to keep in touch with me, see me, take me out, but she hadn’t let him. She destroyed any letters he sent me and eventually moved us away. In her delusion, she thought he’d find us, but he never did.”
“I’m sorry.”
Sisu tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear. The feather-light touch made her shiver.
“This is where Alkaline and my step-brother come in. For months, I pondered on whether or not I should try to find my father. I only had his name and an old picture to go by. I did some research on the Internet, but the results were overwhelming.”
“So what did you do?”
“I knew my brother had been gambling with shifters, so I contacted him to ask for his help. I figured shifters would know other shifters, and it’d be easier that way. He put me in touch with Alkaline. He said they’d help narrow down my search and find him. I was supposed to give them the information I had the night we met.”
“Shit, I’m sorry, May. I fucked things up for you.” Sisu’s face fell. He passed a hand across his face.
“It’s okay, Sisu. I guess it’s why he’s calling me. “
“Is that why you were holding on to your purse all night? Because you had the picture and the information in there?” Sisu paused. “And money? I saw the bills when I grabbed your phone.”
May nodded.
“Yes, a thousand grand. It was the agreed-on price. Alkaline wasn’t going to help me out for free.”
“Shit.” Sisu pulled her into his lap. She wrapped her arms around his neck, surprised at how natural the gesture felt.
“Now everything makes sense.” Sisu rubbed soothing circles across her back. “Including your pain.”
“My pain?” she repeated.
Sisu’s gaze didn’t waver.
“May, I think you might have shifter genes.”
May pulled back. “What? That’s impossible. I’m human. I’ve never changed into anything else.”
“Easy, sunshine. You might have never shifted because you didn’t know you could, or maybe you only have some shifter traits. After all, your mom was human, but the ache you tell me about, that’s what I felt when I first transformed. And even now, it’s a constant presence within me. It’s the beast in my soul, driving me onward. It has a voice of its own, which only I can understand and interpret. It’s wild and wonderful at the same time.”
Sisu cupped her cheek. “It’s nothing to be afraid of.”
May stared at the man in front of her. The thing within her swirled, squeezed her heart tightly, making itself known. What if he were right? What if she were a shifter? What would that imply to them? It’d explain her feelings, her sudden compulsion to be with this man. To hold him, kiss him, make love to him. Keep him as hers, forever. May swallowed.
Then, the phone rang.
Chapter Nine
May stared at the gadget vibrating atop her bed, Alkaline’s name clearly flashing against the backdrop. She froze.
“Pick it up,” Sisu coaxed.
“I’m scared.”
“I’m here for you, but you need to hear whatever he has to say. He’ll only keep calling if you don’t.”
May took in a deep breath. She knew Sisu was right. This was Alkaline’s third or fourth missed call. She didn’t quite understand why he was so desperate to speak to her, but she knew she couldn’t postpone it any longer. She grabbed the machine and slid her index across the screen. Sisu’s hand on her waist tightened, and she was glad for his solid strength beneath her.
“Hello,” she said.
Alkaline spoke quickly, his tone harsh and businesslike. Disappointment wormed its way into her gut at his words. She thanked him for his help and hung up, biting her lip to keep the swell of tears away.
“What happened?” Sisu asked, running his fingers through her hair.
“Alkaline said the deal is off.”
“Why?”
“He simply said that after the incident last night, he can’t in good faith help me anymore or take my mon
ey.”
“In good faith? The incident last night?” Sisu snarled. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
May shrugged. A tear crawled out of the corner of her eye.
“He wouldn’t explain.”
“Goddamn bastard,” Sisu barked. “I’ll rip him to pieces.”
May jumped, alarmed. “No, don’t. It’s probably best this way. It’s better not to know.”
Sisu tugged her back into his lap and cradled her cheek. “Don’t cry, sunshine. I can help you, too.”
“How?”
“Alkaline is no longer the only shifter, you know, and I’ve got my sources, too, love, but there’s also a way for us to confirm if you’re a shifter or not, right now.”
“There is?”
“Yes, although, you might not like it.” Sisu looked sheepish, increasing her curiosity.
“Tell me.”
He cleared his voice. His piercing gaze found hers. Her breath hitched.
“I mark you.”
May’s brow furrowed. Her heart beat wildly against her rib cage.
“What does that mean exactly?”
“It’s easy, love. We have wild sex and I give you a tiny bite on the shoulder, right about here.” He brushed his fingertips slightly over her collarbone. She shivered.
“It’d be like a hickey,” he said.
“Will it go away?”
“No, but it will fade into something akin to a sexy birthmark. Humans won’t know what it is, and shifters will know you belong to me.”
“Oh.”
“If you’re a shifter,” Sisu continued, “something within you will change and you will bite me back, claiming me as yours. If you’re human, nothing will happen.”
“Nothing?” May winced at the whine in her voice. She didn’t like the idea of Sisu not bearing her mark. “But how will other women know you’re mine if nothing happens?”
Sisu’s blue eyes twinkled and his grin grew devilish until he was beaming. May’s cheeks burned.
“You don’t need to look so pleased. It was just a question,” she mumbled.
His deep rumbling laughter resounded within her, giving her a strange sense of homecoming.
“Sunshine, human or shifter or both, we belong together. You are my mate. I want no other woman, and don’t sweat it, they’ll be perfectly aware that all I want is you,” Sisu said, lightly kissing her cheek.
May leaned into him. His hand curled around her back, holding her close.
“When we’re together I’ll only ever have eyes for you, May.”
May shivered. The depth of his feelings showed through the blazing intensity in his gaze. This was more than lust. This connection ran deeper than blood. Sisu didn’t need to speak for her to see it. It radiated from him.
“When we’re apart, I’ll only be thinking about you. Your taste,” he continued, brushing his lips over hers. She gasped when he nipped her bottom bow, tugging. Pent-up arousal shot through her system.
“Your fragrance.” Sisu buried his face in her hair. A low moan of approval came from him, ricocheting straight to her core.
He twisted and pushed her back against the mattress. Looming over her, he slid his palm down the side of her breast, over the curve of her waist and hips, and rested there. Her legs parted of their own volition and his lips curved into a sinful smile.
“When I’m not at your side, I’ll be remembering the passion in your eyes and the heat between your legs.”
He cupped her sex, one of his digits worming its way beneath the elastic of her underwear.
“The way your body responds to me and only to me,” he rumbled, entering her with two fingers.
“Sisu,” May whispered.
He took possession of her mouth, pressing his tongue and demanding for more like a persistent sledgehammer. May curled her hands over his biceps. Her mind swam with emotions and thoughts, but her body responded to Sisu like a fine-tuned instrument waiting to be played. They broke apart, gasping for air.
“Do you have any idea how hard you make me? How desperate?” he whispered in her ear. “You bring out the wolf in me, May. I’ve yearned to make you mine from the moment I saw you. All I need is your consent.”
May gasped. Sisu’s eyes had shifted. The blue in them deeper, wider, almost taking over the white. She turned her head to the side, aghast at the surge of emotions swirling within her.
You are his.
The words rang in her head, threading with the curling pain which had taken permanent residence in her chest.
“Deny it,” Sisu dared. “Look me in the eye and tell me you don’t want me.”
May licked her lips. She gazed up at him. The nerve in his jaw ticked.
“I want you,” she said.
Sisu grinned, and for the first time, she glimpsed his sharp canines. May swallowed. She expected the throbbing to increase, but instead, it changed again, rolling over her like a wave in the ocean on a hot summer’s day. It had the sting of the salt, but the pleasure of the coolness.
“You are mine,” Sisu declared.
Yes.
Chapter Ten
Sisu ripped May’s t-shirt to shreds. Her cry of surprise echoed in the room, mingling with his heavy breathing and the rushing in his ears.
She wanted him. She’d finally said it aloud and he wouldn’t give her a chance to change her mind. He’d claim her. Mark her. Show her how well they fit together, forever.
He tore her panties and she rewarded him with another gasp.
“Mine. My sunshine,” he said.
His voice sounded deeper, huskier. His wolf lingered at the edge of his consciousness, eager to come out and play. To stake its claim. He couldn’t allow it. Not yet, but soon.
Sisu nudged May’s knees apart and stood between them. He took her in. Her pussy glistened with her juices, her lips red and puffy, beckoning to him. Her stomach rose and fell with each one of her breaths. Her breasts, the chocolate areolas and tight nipples, jiggled. Her bee-stung mouth parted and her eyes shone with lust and concern.
He wouldn’t allow that last emotion to develop.
“Do you have any idea how hot you look? Naked, flushed, eagerly waiting for my touch. I’m so hard it’s almost painful.”
A whimper escaped her.
“And those noises, fucking hell, every single one of your tiny noises has me staining my jeans like a teenager.”
“Please, Sisu.”
He kneeled before her and pressed his face to her cunt, inhaling deeply. Her musky, feminine fragrance entered his system like a drug. He ran his tongue across her slit. She yelped and pulled his hair.
Sisu chuckled.
“Easy now.”
Placing his hand on her lower abdomen to keep her from squirming, he licked her again from bottom to top. Her body bowed. He left open-mouthed kisses on her outer lips. Then, he lightly touched the hood of her clit before dipping his tongue into her weeping hole. May moaned and bucked. Her fists clenched and unclenched on his hair, urging him on. Sisu replaced his tongue with his fingers and moved to her clit. He pressed the flat of his tongue against it. May cried out. Pumping his digits in and out of her, he sucked her clit hard. She screamed her climax.
Leisurely, Sisu lapped at her juices until the tremors in her legs ceased. Sisu got to his feet.
“Now, it’s my turn.” He grunted.
Grabbing a condom from his back pocket, he rid himself of his pants. He kept his gaze on May. She leaned back on her elbows and watched him with undisguised hunger.
“You’re desperate for this, aren’t you?” He palmed his cock, spreading the pre-cum at the top. “You want it inside of you, pushing, and shoving, filling you to the brim.”
“Yes,” she said, hoarsely.
“You’re going to get it, sunshine.”
He ripped open the wrapper and rolled on the latex. Grasping May’s legs, he pulled her to the edge of the bed, lifted her legs to his shoulders and sunk into her welcoming heat. May cried out, digging her
nails into his biceps. Sisu held still. He shut his eyes. The wolf within him jumped within its confines, eagerly chanting for more.
Fast.
Now.
Claim her.
Sisu breathed slowly through his nose. A snarl escaped him. The wolf had never challenged his restraint as much as it had done since he’d met May.
“Fuck me, Sisu,” May said.
She rolled her hips against him. Sisu reopened his eyes. May’s brown orbs were changing. The flecks of gold he’d seen earlier were spreading, taking over the white. With a roar, he pulled back and slammed into her. A low and needy sound erupted from May. Grasping the back of his head, she pulled him down and kissed him deeply. He pumped into her, gaining speed with every thrust.
“Tell me you’re mine,” he said.
“Yes, yes,” she panted.
“Look at me and tell me.”
Their gazes locked. Her eyes glowed like liquid amber.
“I’m yours, Sisu” she stated.
Sisu howled victoriously and bit her shoulder. Her pussy clenched around him, wave after wave of her orgasm drawing him closer to his own release.
Pinpricks of pleasure traveled through every one of his nerve cells. His vision swam. The wolf ran wild in his chest, battling for freedom. The tangy smell of sex, sweat, and May’s fruity fragrance filled his nostrils. The sound of her panting turned louder, mingling with his own harsh breaths. Sisu struggled to breathe.
Mine.
“You’re mine too,” May whispered in his ear.
Suddenly, May turned her head. Her teeth sunk into him. Sisu threw back his head, gasping. He ejaculated, his seed spewing forth and filling the condom.
Sisu collapsed over May, breathing hard. He licked the mark on her shoulder, sealing it. A low, sensual moan came from her.
He pulled out, and set the used condom aside to discard later. Throwing himself on the bed at her side, he rolled her so she lay on top of him. May squealed and giggled. She rested her cheek on his breast, drawing lazy circles over his heart.
“I can hear something inside you,” she said softly, “different to your heart beat.”
“My wolf,” Sisu said.
