Breanna

by Karen Nichols

  “Do you want to talk about it, Brea?” The grin he offered reminded her of his 264

  wolf.

  “Not right now. I think you’re deliberately distracting me,” she whispered, the heat from his touch spreading through her middle to the spot between her thighs. Her hips shifted slightly, the scent of her arousal blending with the forest around them.

  “Your mother said you had a great deal of energy to burn off. I could feel your power when we were in town, Brea. It’s amazing.”

  “It’s frightening, Jase. I…I felt it like…..like a river raging through me. Screaming for me to fight back but I knew if I did….if I let it go…” her voice fell off to a whisper.

  “I know. It’s why I held you so tight. Let it pour into me, babe. I don’t want you having to go through the pain and guilt.”

  “Did you? Ever….” She dragged her tongue around her lips. “Fight back and someone died? Because I knew if I fought back, I’m not sure I could have controlled it enough to pull it. To stop it from killing him.” Jase lowered his forehead to the cap of her shoulder.

  “Have I killed, yes. It’s not an easy thing even when the other person deserved it. And it never leaves you alone, Brea. I don’t want those kind of memories for you.”

  “I bet people don’t see you as the sweet one,” she rolled to her side, lifting her arms and wrapping them around his neck.

  “Shh…..you’ll wreck my reputation. And Nick will be devastated,” he told her with a wink.

  “Oh, he’s sweet. But you work hard to hide it and pretend it’s not there,” she pressed against him, her mouth moving against his while his palm stroked down her 265

  side and onto her ass, pulling her hard against the erection that had been swelling between them. “You want everyone to believe you’re such a hard ass….but you don’t frighten me, Jase.”

  “I don’t think you frighten easily, Brea…..and it was never my intent to frighten you,” he rolled to his back, pulling her along with him and running both hands down her flanks.

  “Oh, I think it’s your intent if you believed you could reign me in,” she told him with a soft laugh. She didn’t resist when his palm gripped the edge of her tank top and pulled it over her head, dropping to his side. His palms began at her shoulders and pressed hotly down her spine and into the running shorts she wore.

  “That would be a serious mistake on my part.”

  “I bet you’ve controlled all your relationships.”

  “Are you fishing?” He laughed, parting his thighs and letting her legs slide between them. His thumbs hitched in her shorts, his muscles tensing on his abdomen and angling himself up and sliding the fabric down her legs.

  “Are you evading?” She countered, raising one knee along his body. Brea put her palms flat on the rock, using her strength to level herself over him, sliding the damp center along his erection, her lashes dropping, her head back and groan low. “You both make me feel so sexy….almost like I’m a different person when I’m with you….like I’m free to be whatever I want.”

  “You’ll always be free, Brea, I promise you that. But I think there are times you enjoy being controlled,” he whispered hoarsely, his hands gripping her ass tightly, 266

  manipulating her lower body while letting her ride the hard length of him. He felt her jump slightly when the head of his cock rubbed heavily over her clit.

  “Maybe,” Brea answered honestly, gasping and supping in a deep breath.

  “Jase….”

  “More, baby? Tell me what you want.”

  Jase watched her eyes darken, those thick tawny lashes narrowed.

  Oh, his mate was smart. And stubborn.

  He laughed, his hands on her hips, keeping her from seating him inside her.

  “Tell me, Brea….what do you want?”

  “Touch me,” she ordered with a groan, her gaze locked on his and her hips trying to stroke along his cock.

  “I am…..I have my hands on your waist….very soft skin….” He murmured seductively, his eyes burning with intensity. “Tell me, Brea…..show me, baby….” He felt his cock harden when she ran her tongue around her lips, her palms slowly releasing his wrists and moving to her breasts, letting the small, full mounds fill her hands before her fingers brushed around the pink areola.

  Jase groaned. He felt the hot syrup sliding down his cock, the swollen petals parting to let him slide through the snug center. The intoxicating sensuality of the silken, smooth flesh rubbing along the straining flesh of his erection was almost too much to continue the game.

  But he had more control than that.

  She had been right about his nature in that regard.

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  “Bend forward.”

  His voice was hard, low and vibrating when she continued to look at him through the passion aroused eyes, her body limbering leaning forward. Her palms continued to stroke and her fingers caught the aroused, puckered nipples over and over. She leaned forward, still holding her breasts, tiny low whimpers breaking from deep in her throat.

  Jase groaned, his face pressed between them before his mouth moved and took one of the ripe berries between his lips, his teeth nipping just sharp enough to make her body jump. And jump just enough to seat his cock at the hot entrance flowing with fairy syrup.

  Two low, hungry groans echoed off the rustling branches above them.

  Brea loved the feel of him. Gliding inside her slowly, hard and demanding entrance. Then his teeth nipped at her again. Her sex clutched at him, gripped and pulled. Something his body was unable to fight much longer.

  Jase stroked over her sides, closing around her at the same time his mouth took in as much of that sweet nipple as he could. He felt the quaking inside her; felt the soft flutter of her walls clinging to him, forcing him deeper. He held on to her, arched his hips and sunk his cock inside the hot sheath in one long, hard thrust.

  “Jase!”

  Perfect, he groaned against her breast, the heat from the soft panting above him sending his body impossibly harder. He lifted his head, letting her body form to his as the hard contractions of the orgasm beginning in a low, pelting strum.

  Brea arched against him shoving down and closing her eyes, taking the slow 268

  rush building within her. His name echoed around her when he withdrew; when he moved her hips; when he plunged hungrily inside. Long, hard thrusts that had the spiral upward ripped from their control and breaking over them.

  “So tight…..hot and wet…..ahhhh….Brea…..”

  He was almost frantic when the convulsing walls gripped him, squeezed him past the level he’d imagined possible, the pleasure shot through him with his own eruption.

  The pounding of his hips against hers, the thunder of their heartbeats as his body shot load after load, releasing him with each thrust inside her.

  His arms wrapped around her, their labored breathing deep as they both worked to gather the air that just evaporated in the heat of sex. Jase groaned when Brea slowly unfolded her legs and stretched out on top of him, her face pressed to the spot between his shoulder and throat. His body gave a jolt of surprise when she nipped at the soft spot there. Hard.

  “Was this your prescription for helping me burn off energy?” Brea lifted her head and grinned down at him.

  “Always glad to help out, beautiful,” Jase kissed her, soft and lingering. “We should get back. You need to talk to your mother, Brea. I understand the urge to protect her, even to shield her. But you don’t hide your feelings well enough and you worry people who care about you.”

  She sighed and laid her head down.

  “I didn’t mean to make people worry.”

  “Talk to your mother, babe. She can help you with answers about the power 269

  thing. I don’t know how,” his palms stroked tenderly down the narrow column of her spine.

  “I will,” she nodded and straightened up, sitting astride him and stretching her arms high above her head before using the muscles in her legs to stand
up.

  Both of them groaned at the loss of heat and more.

  She quickly gathered her two pieces of clothing and went toward the wide stream, the tinkling sound of the water falling between the rocks and trees. She didn’t see him shift behind her and come up to drink while she used the very cold water to clean up a little. Brea dressed quickly and headed down the wide path toward the house, her wolf running ahead. She was grinning when she reached the kitchen door and he continued around the house to the laundry room entrance.

  Brea went to find her mother and talk. And think. Something was off and she only knew one person who could answer the puzzle that had popped into her head during her run.

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  Chapter 29

  Brea relaxed, her hands beneath the hot water, the dishes quickly vanishing into the drainer two days later. She was surprised at how easily the people around her had slipped into friendship – okay, mostly friendship - and each other’s lives.

  Delivery people had arrived Tuesday afternoon with various pieces of furniture her parents had bought. She watched the things being carried up the stairs and went to supervise the placement. Her parents were off talking to the school about positions for the fall.

  It was getting easier to see them so young. Not real easy, she thought with a sigh. But easier. On Thursday, Nick and Jase actually didn’t protest when she tried sliding out of bed at six. She frowned at the pair of them rising right behind her and wandering down the hall to their own bathrooms. It wasn’t until they appeared in the kitchen that she found out they had full days of interview scheduled.

  She made an extra pot of coffee.

  “Don’t you have an appointment with Matt to go over your renovations?” Nick looked up from the English Muffin he’d dropped from the toaster to the plate and dug a jar of peanut butter from the cabinet.

  “I will be there in less than twenty minutes,” she told them.

  “We’ll drive you in. We have our interviews scheduled for the new office,” Jase told her, draining the coffee and brushing the surprised OH of her lips with his. “We 271

  forgot to tell you that part?”

  “I’m thinking we forgot to tell her that part,” Nick agreed, crunching down on the muffin as he walked toward their home office. “I’ll get the files.”

  “You’re not working at home anymore?”

  “We won’t be in a week,” Jase answered, walking with her to the front of the house. “Final inspections for the building are this afternoon. Then it’s finished and ours.”

  Brea looked from one to the other, eyes narrowing suspiciously.

  “Where is it?”

  “Come along, Miss Cooper,” Nick winked at her.

  “What are you two up to?” She knew she was dragging her feet and jumped when the solid, large and swift palm struck her jean covered behind. “Hey!”

  “That sounded nice,” Jase teased, lifting her to the front seat of the SUV and closed the door.

  “I warned you about the caffeine,” Nick said with a chuckle, sliding behind the wheel.

  “He’s like that with or without caffeine and you don’t drink coffee, so what’s your excuse?” Brea buckled the seat belt and shifted to the side, glaring at them both.

  “Hmmm…..the lady seems to have claws after all,” Jase teased on her sore subject.

  “Grrrr….” She raised the corner or her mouth like she’d seen their wolves do, slumping back in her seat and sighing. “All right, fine.” 272

  “I’m not sure she handles surprises well, Jase,” Nick glanced at his friend as he read through some files.

  “It’s not the surprise….she thinks I’m controlling,” Jase murmured, listening to the chuckle from the front.

  “Huh…wonder how she got that idea?”

  “Don’t you start. You just hide it better,” Jase snorted, closing files and collecting the things they wanted to carry into the new building.

  Brea straightened slowly in the seat, watching Nick guide them toward the mid-sized industrial park just outside the national park. She had her window open, the scents of sand and tidal swells making her sigh. Her eyes kept darting around, her lips pulled into a taut bow. Her new shop was right near the coastal highway, the truck parked in front and the crew doing the renovations. The large specially made sign ready to be mounted above the doors.

  Her gaze shot to the office that occupied the block. Only the two of them.

  She turned slowly to look at Nick and then glance back at Jase. The SUV was parked in a slot to the right side of the unit. She pulled the corner of her lip between her teeth, all the events rushing through her mind like a tsunami.

  “That’s why the purchase was so easy,” she looked from one to the other.

  “Why should we have made it difficult, Brea?”

  “You made the decision before we altered the price,” Nick said calmly. “Much better to have it in the family, don’t you think?” Brea collected the large tote she’d prepared and left them sitting in the SUV, her 273

  head shaking as she went into the half-finished café.

  “It was quieter than I expected,” Nick stepped from the SUV and reached for the briefcase he’d brought with him. The pair of them went to the propped open door of their new office, stepping quickly aside for the people moving desks into the offices.

  There was a large open area in front with a reception desk. Off to the left were two smaller offices and to the right, their large shared office, similar to the one they’d set up at home.

  “I’m not sure it’s over yet,” Jase warned.

  “Yeah, I got that feeling,” Nick went to the computers that had been brought in and began pulling wires and equipment from various boxes to get their office set up.

  Brea sat in what was going to be her new office an hour later. She’d gone over the things to be done with Matt, who assured her they were easily on schedule and might even have things done a couple days ahead of time. She stared out the window.

  She’d positioned the built in shelves and desk so she would have a nice view of the sand dunes spreading out far to the left of the building.

  It was their building.

  She opened the contract for sale and looked over the name.

  J & N Security.

  She’d never asked the name of their business. Only that they provided security teams for people requesting them and that the majority of the people working for them were shifters. It heightened their usability because of all the extra senses, she remembered them telling her.

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  She sighed and leaned her elbow on the desk, her chin resting in the center as she stared. They’d settled into a nice, peaceful and fun rhythm. And it hadn’t been at all uncomfortable at all to lay in bed, talking, reading and laughing. And those other things, she thought. They were open and talked about every topic her brain would bounce to without flinching.

  But they’d also made sure she didn’t bring up the topic of someone hunting her.

  They were very good at changing the topics and diverting her attention.

  Brea sat back in the comfortable desk chair, put her arms at her sides and leaned back, eyes closed. She had questions and wanted answers.

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  Chapter 30

  The forest hadn’t changed. Nothing much seemed to ever move without the humans or whatever inside to alter things around them. Even the broken branches seemed to have vanished. She thought about how happy she was with Jase and Nick and felt the leaves and branches flutter around her.

  She didn’t change her appearance or play today. She just wanted to talk to him.

  She wasn’t entirely sure how it worked, or even how they were connected, since he really didn’t seem to like her much. But she also knew no matter what he said, she saw sadness in his eyes when she asked about her grandmother.

  “Is there a good reason you’ve decided to interrupt my breakfast and stock reports?”

  Brea swung to the side, meeting the dark eyes of the man she
’d met in a business suit. She wasn’t sure why it made her smile, but she did. A bright, innocent smile that she wasn’t even aware of as she walked toward him.

  “Do you have a job?”

  Sullivan Moore couldn’t help the laughter. And he’d been fighting it since he’d first met the child. She sounded so surprised and fascinated. So young and innocent.

  “I’m sure I’ve done something to warrant this,” he said with a sigh, a wave of his palm and suddenly they weren’t in the forest any longer.

  Brea blinked, eyes wide as she looked around. He walked to the large white 276

  decorative table and took his seat. To his right was a laptop, open and scrolling something. She stared at the screen. Nick had that same thing on his computer a lot of the day. But it wasn’t so much the breakfast laid out, or the laptop or the newspaper.

  It was the view. The railing was white, stark white and waist high. She moved to it and stared.

  “It’s gorgeous!” She breathed deeply, her hands on the wide stone railing, staring out at the sharp blue waters spread below her. Roofs in deep red tiles were spread around them, the buildings like their patio, all done in a stark coastal white.

  “Yes, it is. Breakfast?”

  “Oh, no thank you, I ate earlier,” she wandered the length, peering over and taking in the sprawl of the house behind her. “Where are we? Is this your home?”

  “The coast of Greece,” he answered and spread marmalade on a slice of toast.

  “Yes, it’s my home. Yes, I work. I have a company that produces some of the finest sailing yachts in the world.”

  “My dad teaches physics,” Brea went to the chair across from him and sunk down, staring at him. “Did you know that?” Sullivan Moore closed his eyes for a long minute. “Yes. I don’t recall a time when he wasn’t interested in enhancing the minds of the young or physics. He even offered several very profitable design changes to some of the yachts we create. And all before he was twenty.”

  He met the tiny smile on her face.