by Lacey Thorn
“Logan…” Tah started again but trailed off as Logan just shook his head again.
“Your words said it all.” Logan looked toward the door and found Clara standing there. He wasn’t sure how much she’d heard, but her eyes said she’d caught the gist of it. He turned and walked to Clara, taking her hand and linking their fingers. “I’m taking Clara to find her things. We’ll be back later.”
“Logan, don’t,” Tah said. It wasn’t an order. It was a plea from a friend, from someone Logan thought of as a brother, which meant the pain Logan was feeling was raw and cut deep.
“Reno’s upset,” Logan said. “You’d better go check on him.”
He tugged Clara with him from the room and headed down the hall toward the front door. He needed air.
“Logan.” Clara whispered his name as they walked away from the house toward the woods.
“It’s okay.”
“No, it’s not. I can feel your pain. Your heart is crying.” She stepped in front of him, blocking his path and forcing him to look at her.
He gritted his teeth against the surge of anger he felt when he saw the tears streaming down her cheeks. Once again, his mate was in tears. It tore him up to see her this way.
“I didn’t mean to hurt you, Logan. If I’d know this would happen, I’d…”
“You’d what? You’d have continued to try and deny me as your mate?”
She nodded her head slowly. “I’m tearing you apart.”
Funny how she echoed exactly what he was feeling. Only it wasn’t her actions tearing him apart, but the wash of emotion staining her cheeks.
“No, you’re not,” he said, pulling her into his arms and holding her tight against him. “None of this is on you. Tah said what he said. Only he can own the words he spoke. That’s on no one else.”
“Finding your mate is supposed to be a joyous occasion, a celebration.”
“It can be. It will be. I promise, Clara. We’ll be okay.”
“I’m not sure of that,” she countered.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, suddenly realizing what he was feeling wasn’t all him. Some of it was her feelings bleeding into him.
“Something’s wrong, Logan. My Uncle Thomas is missing. Lydia said he left her in charge, but it doesn’t feel right. He’d never leave her in charge.”
“Your uncle doesn’t trust her?”
Clara shook her head.
“Why would he keep her around then?”
“Because my dad sent her to us. He wouldn’t have done that for just anyone.”
“I can’t wrap my head around all this. Amia’s mom has been with you?”
“It’s a long story, and I’d rather tell it once. I get the feeling my phone call has earned me another inquisition.”
“I’ll be right beside you the whole time. I’ll say it as many times as it takes to sink in. You will never stand alone again.”
“I don’t want to tear you apart. That’s not what mates do.”
“And I’ve already told you. None of this is your fault. Whatever choices Tah makes, we’ll face it together.”
“I think I’m going to love you,” Clara whispered.
“I think we’re going to love each other,” Logan answered and bent to brush his lips over hers.
It was an odd thing to have his heart so filled with love for a woman while at the same time being ripped apart over what was happening with his two best friends. God help them, they needed to be sticking together, not doing this. He gripped Clara’s fingers and started walking again. He really hoped this new beginning didn’t portend of another relationship ending.
* * * *
“We should call for help,” Zane said again as he and Murphy sat in the Jeep. “We have no idea who has Finn or why. We could be walking into a trap. And what then?”
“That’s why I’m going in after him alone when we do find him,” Murphy said.
“The hell you are,” Zane grunted, glaring at Murphy in challenge. “How the fuck do you plan to stop me from going with you?”
“I don’t want to fight you, Zane.”
Zane laughed. “Good thing. I’m fully in touch with my panther. I can summon his strength in this form, as well. You wouldn’t stand a chance against me.”
Murphy just looked at him, and once again Zane wondered what the other man held inside him. Something was blocking Zane from being able to scent it or pick up on any trait signs of it. Murphy was either very good, or someone or something was protecting him. What? Or who?
“Tell me about your family,” Zane said. “You said Finn left with you when you were forced to go.”
Murphy sighed, scrubbed a hand over his face, leaned his head back and closed his eyes. Zane could see he was bone-weary but wasn’t sure if it was from their lack of rest or Murphy’s connection with Finn. Whoever had Finn must have tortured him most of the night. Murphy had been a mess of pain, yet somehow managed to keep his focus on finding his brother. Unfortunately, they had little idea of where to search now, just the feelings that Murphy was getting from Finn. Whoever had him was good at covering their trail.
“My dad,” Murphy finally said. “It near broke him when he came home and found mum. He blamed me and rightly so. If she’d no been protecting me, she’d still be alive.”
“You don’t know that,” Zane countered, letting his anger show through. “People die.”
“They were there looking for me,” Murphy explained. “I musta been careless and let m’self be seen at some point.”
“Or someone else blabbed about what you were,” Zane suggested.
Murphy shook his head. “No. I can’t believe anyone would do that.”
“You’d be surprised what people will do for the right amount.”
“We left our dad, two brothers, and…and a sister behind. I can’t believe any one of them would want that to happen. Our mum died!” Murphy rubbed his chest again as he spoke.
“Still hurting?” Zane asked.
“Just an ache. They must be giving him a break this morning. I feel more of a numbness filtering through me now than any kind of pain.”
“Numbness?” Zane asked and felt a chill of foreboding go through him. “Fuck, Murphy, that’s not good. We need to find him now. Right the fuck now.”
Chapter Seven
It was late when Logan headed them back toward the house. They’d spent a lot of time just walking around in companionable silence. They both had a lot on their minds. There was a big part of Clara that wanted to leave and go in search of her uncle, but she couldn’t. She would never leave Logan. And right now, with the amount of pain he had radiating from him, she was deeply concerned.
No one was around when they walked in, and she thought they’d make it back upstairs without Logan seeing anyone. But luck wasn’t with them. Tah’s voice stopped them at the bottom of the stairs.
“Logan,” Tah called.
Clara felt her mate blow out a breath of air. His shoulders tensed, and he dropped his head forward for a minute.
“We need to talk,” Tah said.
“Is Amia all right?” Logan asked without lifting his head.
“She’s resting,” Tah answered.
“Good.” Logan tugged Clara and went up another step.
“Logan, we need to talk about this.”
Clara looked back, taking in the pain her alpha was feeling. It was as intense as that of her mate.
“Later, Tah. I’m tired, and I just don’t feel like getting into all this right now.” He eased an arm behind Clara and urged her up the stairs in front of him. “By the way,” he called over his shoulder. “Clara’s moving into my room. We’ll be down when we wake up in the morning. I showed her around tonight, walked the perimeter. She can work with me for the next few days until we figure things out.”
“There’s nothing to figure out,” Tah swore.
“In the morning, Tah,” Logan reminded him. “Go be with your mate and let me be with mine.”
With that,
Logan propelled them both up the stairs and down the hall to his room. The door was still open and someone had moved the things from the room she’d been in before to his. She tossed her pack on the floor while Logan closed the door behind them and heaved a sigh. She turned and saw him undressing.
“He’s hurting, too,” she told her mate.
“I don’t give a shit.”
“Yes, you do. That’s why you’re so upset.”
“Let’s just go to sleep. We’ll deal with whatever we need to in the morning.”
“I’m so sorry,” she whispered.
“You have no reason to be sorry,” he said, just as he did every time she apologized. “Come on. Let’s take a shower.”
She followed him into the bathroom, stripping while he played with the water until he got it to whatever temperature he’d decided on. His eyes devoured her when he turned and found her naked.
“You are the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.”
“I don’t deserve you,” she whispered.
He smiled and made quick work of shedding the rest of his clothes. He slid the glass door open and held a hand out to her. “Why don’t you step inside and let me show you how much you do deserve me?”
She shivered with anticipation, her nipples pebbling into hard buds and sending a streak of hot need down through her core. She took his hand and stepped in, moving under the hot spray to make room for the even hotter man at her back. He wound his hands around her waist and tugged her back against his broad chest. She turned her head to glance back at him then moaned as his teeth grazed her neck.
“I need you,” he murmured.
“Yes.” She needed him, too, desperately. She turned in his arms until she faced him. “Right here,” she urged. “Take me.”
He took her mouth as he reached down to cup her ass and lift her. She prayed his feet would stay firm on the mesh matt in the bottom of the shower. Her back brushed the wall and she lifted her legs to wrap around his waist. He used his hold on her ass to position her over his cock then let gravity take over as she slid down on him. Sheer pleasure.
“Take me,” she dared. “Take me just the way you want to.”
He shook his head. “Not here.”
“Then sate the need enough so we can clean up and move this elsewhere.”
He grunted in agreement and began fucking into her slow and easy. The angle had every stroke striking deep. She clutched his shoulders and held on as he rode her. There wasn’t much she could do in this position, not without putting them at risk of losing their balance and falling. So she just held tight and let him control the loving.
She eased her hand down between their bodies and rubbed over her clit.
“That’s right, baby. Come all over my dick. Let me feel that pussy milking my cum out.”
“Yes! Oh, God! Yes!”
She bucked against him as her orgasm hit, arching so that the only things touching the wall were her ass and the top of her head. Logan dropped his chin to her chest and found a puckered nipple with his mouth. She cried out again as he pulled it deep before nipping it with his teeth. He moved to the other one and treated it the same.
“Logan.” She wailed his name as another orgasm hit.
Before she realized his intent, he pulled out and dropped to his knees in the tub. She balanced on shaky feet, leaning against the wall to help steady herself. One of his arms pinned her belly to the wall while he used the fingers of the other hand to spread her flushed cunt wide for his perusal. He took her up again with his mouth, licking and sucking on her pussy, lapping the juices spilling out of her as if it were the tastiest treat he’d ever devoured.
Clara had one hand braced by her hip on the wall and the other wrapped in his hair, holding his head exactly where she wanted it.
He eased off her clit and nipped her inner thigh.
“Look at me,” he ordered then smiled as their gazes clashed. “Feeling a little on edge, baby? A little primal?”
“What?” She struggled to emerge from the cocoon of pleasure.
“Your eyes are glowing the most beautiful shade of yellow,” he murmured huskily against her skin.
He placed another stinging kiss against her inner thigh and stood up. “Let’s get washed and move this to the bedroom.”
“You didn’t come,” she said. “Let me catch my breath, and I’ll take care of that for you.” She reached out and wrapped her fingers around his cock, giving it a squeeze.
Logan groaned with pleasure but took her hand and moved it away. “I want you on your knees, baby. But it’s not your mouth I want to fuck.” He kissed her hard and fast then turned her around so the water poured over her again. “I’m feeling a bit primal myself,” he said over her shoulder. “Think you could handle things a little rough?”
She felt a shiver of anticipation go through her. She glanced back, letting him see the excitement she felt. “I can handle it as rough as you want to give it.”
He slapped her ass with the palm of his hand, and she knew from the burn his handprint would remain on her skin. “Wash quick.”
She sped through, making quick work and moving behind him to wash her hair while he soaped up and rinsed. They swapped spots so she could rinse then switched again. He gave her another swat when he stepped out, leaving her alone to quickly rinse the conditioner out of her hair. Could she unleash with him? He was human after all, even though he was her mate. It wasn’t exactly a question she’d ever asked another shifter.
She turned off the water and opened the door. He was already gone, so she grabbed a towel and dried as best she could. She toweled her hair, leaving it in a wild mane around her. It was still wet, but she had other priorities at the moment. Logan, and seeing what he had in store for her.
She found him in the bedroom with a pair of cuffs dangling from his fingers. Her gaze wanted to remain between his thighs where his cock bobbed and teased her. Instead, she bounced it between his erection and what he held.
“Cuffs?” she questioned, licking her lips and forcing her gaze back up to his.
“I’d hate for my kitty to go crazy with her claws,” he purred. “Unless…you’re afraid.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “Cuffs? I’d say you’re the one who’s afraid. What’s the matter, Logan? Can’t handle a shifter for a mate?”
Logan grinned. “Maybe I just like my sex with a little more flavor to it.”
It was a challenge, and she knew it. But his pain wasn’t present at the moment, and she’d do anything to keep it that way. She walked over to him and held her wrists out. Even be cuffed.
“On the bed,” he ordered.
She moved easily to comply, crawling up toward the headboard on her hands and knees.
“Perfect,” he crooned behind her. He ran his hands over her ass, smoothing and rubbing the round curves, and she closed her eyes, just waiting for another sharp slap. He didn’t give one, though. Instead, he whispered in her ear. “Hold real still for me.”
He snapped one cuff on, and she blinked her eyes open to see he’d attached the cuffs to some type of chain that was wrapped around the thick post of wood that decorated the middle of the headboard. He took her other wrist and wrapped the second cuff around it while she watched. The heat in his eyes, the lust and need, had her body on fire with a fresh dose of carnal desire.
“I’m going to fuck you, Clara.”
“God, yes.”
“I’m going to fuck your sweet pussy until you scream my name.” He trailed his fingers over her shoulder and down along her side until he reached her hip. He opened his palm and ran it over her ass cheek. “I love your ass. So round and perfect.” His gaze flicked up to hers. “I want to fuck you there, fuck that sweet, tight ass of yours.”
She gulped as her pussy grew damper and her ass clenched with hot need. “Yes,” she whispered. She wanted him there, every inch of him.
“You’ll take me there?” he asked.
She nodded. “Anywhere and everywhere,” she prom
ised. “Anywhere and everywhere.”
He shifted onto the bed behind her, two big fingers spearing her pussy from behind while he cupped her hip with the other hand. “So wet. So ready for whatever I want.”
“Yes,” she agreed, desperate to feel him bury his cock deep inside her again.
He pulled his fingers out and she glanced back just in time to see him suck them into his mouth.
“Mhmm,” he said as he licked and sucked her juices off them. “You have the sweetest tasting pussy. I could gorge myself on your delicious cunt every day and still not get enough.”
“Logan.” She moaned his name.
“Shhh.” He growled against her flesh. “Soon, baby. Soon.”
He leaned forward and ran his lips over the top curve of her ass. His hands massaged and separated the globes while he continued to place kisses over her skin. She was shaking with arousal. At this point, she’d come as soon as he thrust his dick inside. He trailed his lips up her spine, using his hands to press her down until she lay flat on her stomach on the bed. He nipped at her shoulder then moved up her neck to her ear.
“When I’m done, when I’ve sated us both, I’ll take the cuffs off,” he promised. “And if you’re a really good girl…” He sucked her earlobe between his teeth and flicked it with his tongue. “I’ll let you cuff me next time.”
“Fuck!” she exclaimed as visions filled her head. “Fuck me! Now!”
His chuckle washed over her skin as he used his knees to spread her legs wider. His body pinned hers to the bed as he fucked his cock between the seam of her sex and the bed. “Rough and dirty, baby. Can you handle that?” he asked again.
