Biting Back: A Motorcycle Club, Shifter, Romance (Shifting Steel Book 1)

by Stephanie West

  Iris wandered outside feeling giddy. It was such a nice day she didn’t mind waiting outside, in fact she loved being outside. Iris still couldn’t believe she was free of Hank. She hadn’t even lamented the loss of total freedom having to stay under Cain’s protection. Fearing for your life put some things in perspective.

  Cain had treated her with respect. Sure he was scary at times but not once since that first night had he truly made her fear for her life the way Hank had. Add that to the fact that he was rapidly becoming a nightly feature in her erotic dreams and Iris was a goner. More and more Iris was hoping Cain would do more than send ardent glances her way. Why in all the times he moved in close, hadn’t he attempted to kiss her?

  Cain soon reappeared from the store. Iris almost blushed, then felt foolish. It’s not like he could hear her tawdry thoughts. His broad chest swathed in black leather made her want to rub up against him like a cat in heat. His masculine lips tempting her to kiss him. Iris wanted to feel the stubble on his chin graze against her skin in intimate places. Shit she was horny. Cain stowed the bag on the back of his bike.

  “Thank you.” Iris smiled slightly embarrassed as they loaded up.

  It had been such a great afternoon, Iris wanted it to continue but Cain had things he had to attend to and left her to do his thing, whatever that was. It was a slow evening. The Reapers held “Church ” which was a meeting of Reapers only, closed to outsiders.

  As it got later Iris found herself in Cain’s room distracted by the memory of herself pressed against him, the motorcycle rumbling between her thighs. Her fingertips nearly burned at memory of gripping his abs, feeling the ridges.

  “Bad girl! DOWN! SIT!”

  Iris couldn’t seem to drag her mind out of the gutter. She was tempted to run her hands under the sheets, down her stomach and…

  Cain walked in and moved to his chair then stopped. Shit! Iris almost got caught.

  “Sorry did I wake you?” Cain asked as she startled.

  Iris took a deep calming breath, but didn’t feel any calmer. Nope she was on edge.

  “No.��� Iris paused then went for it. ���You know I’ve been thinking this is a really big bed. You don’t have to keep sleeping in that chair. It can’t be comfortable.”

  That made sense, sounded good right? Cain looked at her hard.

  “I don’t think that’d be a good idea. I don’t want to hurt you.” Cain huffed.

  Iris started to point out all the space beside her but was cut off by him shaking his head “No”.

  “Okay” Iris said quietly feeling stupid and rejected as Cain proceeded to walk back out the door.

  Apparently she’d misunderstood his gestures, thinking just maybe he was as into her, as she was him. Iris felt like such a fool.

  “I really am just a pity case.” Iris murmured into the pillow. “A man is nice to me and I leap to conclusions. Of course I’d have the hots for the guy who saved me. He could have any piece of pussy in the place. I mean really…. I’m covered in yellowy green bruises. Real sexy!” Iris curled up on her side only to fall into a fitful sleep.

  Cain

  Cain knew he was fucked the moment he walked into his bedroom. Iris’ sweet musky perfume filled the air. He could see one of Iris’s hands on top of her thigh beneath the sheet. Visions of what he had interrupted made him groan.

  “Just go to your chair.” He told himself.

  Then Iris invited him to share his bed.

  “Nope gotta get the fuck out.” He berated himself.

  Iris was too tempting and likely just wanted a little attention not the mauling she would get from him. She tempted him too much. He’d never be able to get himself under control enough to be gentle. The beast wanted her and it attempted to push out and take control. Cain took off like his ass was on fire, but not before he witnessed the look of rejection on Iris’ face. If she only knew what lurked beneath his visage.

  8 Raising Cain

  Iris

  “Well I did a good job scaring the man off.” Iris grumped.

  For the last couple days Cain had slept on one of the couches in the rec room and attempted to avoid her as much as possible. It was probably for the best.

  But despite numerous reasons she came up with to convince herself Cain wasn���t meant for her, the voice in the back of her head kept whispering “He’s a good man.” It was enough to make Iris bang her head against the wall. Stupid voice needed to keep its mouth shut. Iris couldn’t see anything about her future here, and Cain now acted like she had the plague, regardless of what her inner voice said.

  “Whatever. I look hot.” Even though she still had some gross bruises. Iris admired her new dress, the one Cain bought, in the mirror. “Hubba hubba.”

  Tonight the Reapers were hosting a special party. The old ladies and families would be at the clubhouse. There’d be a BBQ and a big pitch-in. Iris made a giant batch of potato salad with lots of pickles.

  She wandered outside and was greeted by laughing children playing pile up. Iris spotted Penny wrangling a three year old that looked a lot like her. Eric, the Viking swooped in and tackled the little girl, tickling her pudgy belly. The child’s peels of laughter filled Iris with a joy that made her heart swell. Iris stood for a minute soaking it all in. Every minute was a gift.

  “Oh girl, look at you” Penny said when she saw her approach the picnic table with the big bowl of potato salad.

  “Thank you.” Iris twirled for her. “You look good too.”

  Iris was glad to see she wasn’t overdressed. Penny had a cute sundress on, and a lot of the old ladies and girlfriends looked a little nicer than usual. Iris told Penny about her love affair with the dress she wore as they set up the food.

  Iris glimpsed Cain occasionally as the night fell and the stars came out. But for the most part he kept his distance. It disappointed her more than a little. The kids and several ladies went home just as several of the club groupies showed up. The weather turned and everything moved inside.

  In between drinks Iris became entrenched in her morose thoughts of how she made a fool of herself with the elusive man.

  “Penny for your thoughts.” Penny giggled and hiccuped.

  Iris groaned and because of her toasted state she started to relate her embarrassing tale. Penny looked thoughtful.

  “You know I like you girl and as much as I’d like to have you around for good, well my brother is a rough, wild man.” Penny said almost soberly.

  Iris was so frustrated she spouted off without thinking.

  “Yeah and he has claws, stripes and his teeth grow a mile long” Iris snapped.

  Penny had a look of surprise as she pulled her into the kitchen.

  “What did you say?” Penny asked.

  Iris couldn’t look her in the eye. She should���ve kept her mouth shut.

  “What did he do?” Penny followed up with an accusing glance across the room.

  “Nothing” Iris evaded. No more booze she thought. Busted.

  “Does he know you know?” Penny demanded.

  Iris shook her head.

  “You know I’m not quite normal Penny.” Although Iris had already shared what Hank had done to her, Iris hadn’t told Penny why till now. When Iris was done Penny whistled.

  “Oh wow that’s a mind fuck.” Penny stared at her in amazement. “Does Cain know?”

  “Yeah, so we all have our little issues.” Iris moaned.

  “Apparently. Damn I’m glad my brother found you.” Penny said as she grabbed Iris’ good hand.

  “I was worried at first they’d use me like Hank did.” Iris said as she looked out at all the Reapers. They were such big scary looking dudes.

  “Never!” Penny reassured her.

  Iris looked at her skeptically.

  “Even if they knew how to make my gift ten times more powerful?” Iris mumbled.

  “What do you mean?” Penny asked in confusion.

  “Nothing never mind.”

  “Iris the
Reapers are good guys. I know it may not seem like it at times but it���s true. We aren’t like outsiders so it’s harder for us. But there is honor among us. We’re family.” Penny explained.

  Iris nodded, she understood being different was hard. Penny confirmed what she’d been sensing, despite the Reaper’s outward appearance they were a solid group.

  “So tell me is everything I saw for real?” Iris asked her about the details of her revelation when she looked at Cain.

  Penny confirmed her suspicion plus some.

  “Yes most of the Reapers have this particular ability, or they were born to at least one parent who was a Shifter.” Penny whispered.

  She went on to explain in hushed tones that her people didn’t fully morph, were strong as hell, but weren’t slaves to the full moon or any of that mythical shit. The woman of their kind like her didn’t inherit the trait but could pass it on. And well that was about it.

  Iris wasn’t disturbed at the confirmation of what she’d suspected, in fact she felt less out of place. Iris felt like less of a freak for the things she could do. That was saying a lot since she���d felt like the odd man out for most of her life.

  As the night progressed Iris did her best to not shadow Cain. She refused to follow him like some damn love sick puppy. Iris groaned. Samantha was back shaking her half dressed ass on the riser stage. Red did her best to catch Cain’s attention, which pissed Iris off, even though she had no claim on the man. Then it pissed Iris off even more that she felt the green monster of jealousy rear its head. When Cain didn’t seem to take the bait, Red had no trouble wiggling in front of the other guys.

  “I was right! I’m pretty sure her pussy’s hanging out. Classy.” Iris mumbled to herself as she and Penny stood to the side listening to the music and chatting with one of the other old ladies.

  Penny saw the slutty move Red did and snorted loud. Samantha whirled around pinning the three women with a menacing gaze.

  “You think you got something better than I do.” Sam snarled as she walked towards them, singling Iris out. “Did you steal that dress from my Grandma’s closet. It looked better on my grandma. At least she’s not green.” Samantha almost hollered.

  She had all the guy’s attention now. Iris was surprised the men hadn’t started taking bets on the cat fight. She smirked at Red.

  “Look little girl, sexy has less to do with this,” Iris gestured towards the redhead’s body. “than it does this.” Iris pointed to her head. “By all means use what God gave you, but don’t fool yourself into thinking it’ll make up for a shitty personality.”

  Iris didn’t realize she’d said it so loud, but the snickering amongst the onlookers clued her in.

  “Says the bitch with fat hips.” Samantha replied.

  Iris smiled sweetly at her.

  “Fine, you want me to give it a try? I’ll get up there and shake my ass fully clothed. I won’t expose my tits, or grab someone’s cock and we’ll see what the men think.”

  Iris looked at the music available and quickly found a song she liked, Arctic Monkeys “Do I Wanna Know”.

  Cain

  Cain watched Iris educate Samantha doing his best to not laugh. Sam was a bit young, but that didn’t excuse her shitty immature attitude. Iris was right, sexy had a lot to do with attitude and less with the package it was wrapped up in, however Iris was endowed with a rather nice package. Dudes didn’t like skin and bones. A man needed something to grip and a bit of cushion when he pounded between a lush pair of thighs.

  Iris had curves in all the right places, but even at that she was still smaller than him. It had taken all his restraint to keep from tossing Iris over his shoulder and fucking the shit out of her on more than one occasion. She’d been man handled enough.

  But damn she got him hard enough to drive nails.

  Despite that Cain wasn’t really sure he wanted Iris dancing for all the guys. They were his brothers and he’d lay down his life for any one of them, but he still didn’t want them ogling her. Cain’s beast threatened violence at the thought of one of his brothers laying a hand on Iris.

  Iris picked out a song and when she turned back around it was like a switch had been flipped. Iris��� expression had changed into that of a temptress. Cain found Iris sexy but this was a side of her he hadn���t expected to find hiding behind that angelic facade.

  ���Shit!��� Cain groaned.

  He should not have bought her that dress and those heels. He���d had a hard enough time keeping hands off her when she was wearing baggy sweatshirts let alone a sexy little number like this. The way the black dressed flared out just above her knees, hugged her waist, and dipped low in the back, showed off enough for every man in the room to see she had a body to drool over.

  Her deep green eyes scanned the various brothers gathered round moving from one to the next capturing their attention. The seductive smile that graced her face hinted at a carnal mystery that they could only dream of possessing. Cain was ready to turn feral with the way his brothers eyed Iris like starved mongrels ready to pounce.

  At the first beat of the drum her gaze zeroed in on Cain and he was frozen, everyone else forgotten. Iris rocked her hips back and forth, back, forth as the beat pounded. The deeply tuned guitar broke in, crooning a whining rhythm. The slow swaying melody, like a snake charmer might play, held them all in her spell. Iris moved with the beat, dangerous and hypnotic, like she was the snake being charmed. Except Cain was pretty sure he was the one hypnotized.

  Cain watched as Iris’ hips undulated ever lower till the hem of her skirt brushed the floor. Then she worked her way back up again slowly. Iris didn’t gyrate frantically. More and more he was certain she was some sort of goddess that had fallen from the stars.

  Iris glanced occasionally at her other admirers which made Cain want to growl. She was a muse, and everyone that stared at her was caught in her thrall. She teased with her body as she turned around. Then repeated the move, shimmying low, this time so he could watch that luscious ass move. Her mouth pantomimed the seductive lyrics, making everyone in the room think about what her mouth might be like wrapped around their cock. Cain groaned.

  The lyrics cried out a despondent tale about some poor lost sap groveling, crawling at a temptress��� feet, desperate for a spec of affection. Iris mouthed the phrases as she stalked, prowled towards Cain swaying. Cain knew the feeling, he was ready to drop to his knees and do just that.

  Iris��� hands rose up slowly, caressing her sides and full breasts, mussing up her long dark hair, gripping the tresses. Cain imagined pulling on those silky waves as he fucked her sweet pussy.

  God his cock was so fucking hard, it hurt trapped in his jeans.

  Iris tilted her head back thrusting her tits out as she pivoted her hip, then let her long hair fall back down her back in sleek waves. She was so close Cain could scent her musk, the smell driving him wild. Iris��� erotic performance had her just as turned on as he was.

  Fuck!

  Cain’s beast demanded that they claim her. Closer now Iris��� hand brushed his rough cheek, swept down and along his shoulder. Her faint touch lit him on fire. Tempting him in ways, she’d later regret.

  The singer lamented, hopelessly seeking a kiss, and Cain agreed. He wanted those ruby lips that teased him. The way they were parted wantonly as Iris sang made him picture her in the throes of passion. He wanted to savage them till they were swollen, then taste every inch of her body till she writhed beneath him.

  Iris crossed behind his back trailing her hand along Cain’s neck, her body grazed his ever so slightly. Every place she touched burned, leaving him desperate for more. Quietly she sung along with the music teasing him with the suggestion they could be together, if only he wanted her. It was meant for his ears only but he knew several of the brothers heard when they groaned in reply.

  Cain wanted Iris. The furious need burned through him like match to gasoline. At the moment he couldn’t even think of the rea
sons he’d resisted. The beast inside roared out its possessive demand.

  Iris sauntered away again before Cain could act on his desperate need. He clenched his hands at his sides as she shimmied away giving him a great view of her swaying pert ass.

  Iris tossed a teasingly suggestive look over her shoulder. No more games, the girl had tempted the beast and now she would learn just what that meant. A low growl rumbled in his throat.

  The song ended, but before Cain could pounce his sister pulled Iris towards the bar bribing her with a chocolate shake spiked with Kahlua. He wanted a taste, no, he wanted more than just a taste.

  Iris

  Iris really hoped she hadn’t made a fool of herself again with that little display. The majority of the men hooted and hollered when she’d finished her dance, but Cain just stood silent staring at her with those penetrating eyes that made her squirm.

  Penny and Iris finished off most of the decadent chocolate treat as they babbled in the hall saying goodbye.

  Cain moved their way. It was more like he prowled down the hall, looking every bit the predator. He dismissed his sister with a look.

  “Goodnight” Penny slurred with a giggle as Eric pulled her away. She was so smashed.

  Alone now, Cain turned on Iris with a cryptic smile.

  Uhh Ohh.

  Iris fumbled a bit with the cup worrying her bottom lip with her teeth. Iris looked down to see she’d spilled some chocolate on her hand. Iris moved to lick it off only to have Cain grab her hand.

  “Very few people seem to understand biting.” Cain said his voice deep and husky. “Personally I need it, crave it even.”

  Iris watched as Cain slowly lifted her hand to his mouth. Wicked thoughts about what that mouth was capable of made a delicious heat spread through her body. Iris felt a twinge go through her that centered unrelenting between her legs. God this man was making her come unglued.

  “Few understand there are different kinds of biting.” Cain’s eyes trained on hers as he spoke, her fingers poised at his firm full lips.

  Iris wanted him to stop teasing and just kiss her, anything. He was driving her mad.