Passion's Prey: The Shadow Shifters

by A. C. Arthur

  X needed right now, he needed this as badly as he needed his next breath. And dammit, he was going to take his fill!

  When he finally was able to pull his mouth away from her it was to nip at the soft skin of her thigh. When his sharpened incisors touched the light skin, she gasped, hissed a curse.

  She did not push him away.

  That was key, because if there was one thing X was not into, it was forcing women to do his bidding or abide him in any way. Whatever he did, he did with the knowledge that his partner was in full agreement. And Caprise wasn’t telling him to stop. She was, in fact, no longer telling him to get out or to get away from her. What she was doing was creaming for him as if she heard his silent commands, feeding his steadily growing hunger for her. Looking down at her center as arousal glistened over her plump folds, he growled, ready for more.

  His gaze raked over her body as he stood full-length in front of her. X snatched those silly things off her nipples, wanting to see all of her right here, right now. Her breasts gyrated with the action and she made a mewling sound that had his gaze flying up to hers. Her eyes were gold, like liquid sunlight, and mesmerizing to both X and his cat, which now scraped at the surface.

  It knew there was another cat close; it scented her and wanted just as badly as X did. It was weird, this being part man and part beast. There were two parts he had to satisfy, two parts that were hungry and needed desperately at this moment.

  “You ready to come for me?” he asked in his signature deep voice.

  She tilted her head only slightly, as if through these different eyes she needed to study him. He was sure his cat’s eyes were alight with the hunger it felt and was rewarded by her licking her lips, her own incisors clearly visible.

  “You ready to come for me?” was her retort.

  His dick grew harder, threatening to break the damn zipper of his pants. Instead X did the honors, pulling his length free then moving his hands to palm both her breasts. He looked down at his dark skin against her light, and even the contrast was arousing.

  When her fingers wrapped around his thick length he didn’t suck in a breath—even though ripples of pleasure from the intricate piercing he had along the underside of his dick soared up his spine.

  “That’s right, sweetheart, hold on tight,” he said roughly.

  She jerked and massaged his dick with the hands of an expert. As he palmed her breasts, fingering her nipples, X’s jaw clenched. She’d asked if he was ready to come for her. He was ready for her, period, and hoped she was for him.

  His answer came when she leaned forward, scraping her sharp teeth over his shoulder blade, then licking over the spot with her warm tongue. Inside his cat roared, prompting him to mimic her action. When his teeth settled on her soft skin he bit down harder, to the point where he tasted her blood on his tongue.

  This was normally where X pulled back, searched the eyes of his partner for any revulsion or fear associated with his actions. Caprise’s back arched, her fingers tightened around his dick, and her teeth once again found his shoulder. X licked her wound then scraped his teeth along the line of her shoulder. He squeezed her breasts so hard, if she were pregnant they would leak. And all the while her purring had continued, her breath growing heavier, her body trembling beneath him.

  She was enjoying this as much as he was and for X, that was huge.

  He pulled back from her, dropping his hands from her breasts and moving them to her rounded ass once more. Pulling her to the edge of the table, he used his thighs to push hers farther apart, then speared his dick right into her entrance. She bucked beneath him, her arms going around his neck to scrape along his back.

  Pumping began immediately because he couldn’t hold back. Blood roared in his ears as he drove deeper into her. She lifted her legs, locked them at the ankle behind his back.

  “Come for me,” she taunted, her eyes glittering with arousal as she held on tightly.

  He gripped her ass, his fingers slipping into the crevice as he pulled her closer to him. “After you,” he replied.

  She pumped back, matching his motions stroke for stroke. Her acceptance of his entire length at one time was phenomenal. No woman had ever been able to take him all at once.

  He’d thought her taste exquisite; now the feel of her threatened to consume him. She was so wet, her walls clenching him so tightly he almost couldn’t breathe. Years ago when he’d decided that piercings could also offer the stinging pain he seemed to thrive on, X had gone to his old pal Geo—who’d done all of the seventeen tattoos on his body—and explained what he wanted. Geo hadn’t bristled, just set to work. The four one-and-a-half-centimeter metal balls that had been inserted just beneath the skin of the underside of his penis created exactly the effect X wanted. At the moment of insertion and for a short time thereafter there had been pain, but whenever he was inside a female the pleasure was damn intense and well worth it.

  Right now, as he thrust deep and pulled out of Caprise, he felt like roaring, it felt so damn good. Instead he lifted her into his arms and turned her away from the table. She could only hold on to him for support now. And that she did well. Her breasts were plastered to his chest, her wet pussy sucking his dick like a hungry baby. X pumped harder, faster, wanting her release right now.

  She didn’t moan his name but her nails were going to make a permanent mark on his back, her signature of sorts. Inwardly he smiled at the thought of walking around with a piece of her with him for all time. When she pulled back from him, X moved a hand to the small of her back to keep her steady.

  “Now,” she said through clenched teeth. “Right now!”

  Her words echoed his thoughts as their thrusts continued, the smacking sound of their connection filling the room. He knew the moment her release hit her because her back arched almost all the way back. If she weren’t a cat she would have surely broken some bones with this position. But she was, and she was a beautiful feline at that. Her eyes were bright with desire, her body long, lithe, sinewy.

  His dick was buried inside her to the hilt, his own release coming seconds after hers began. X had to hold on to her extra tight as the effort racked his entire body, had even his bicep muscles trembling. He’d barely made it to the wall before he felt like his legs would give way.

  But they didn’t. X held her tight to him as his dick continued to pulsate inside her. She was releasing her legs, trying to push away from him when he bit the lobe of her ear to keep her still.

  “Not yet,” he whispered roughly. “Not fucking yet.”

  She lowered her head to his chest, not lying on him, but her forehead resting against him as she gathered her breath. Her hands were no longer on him and X felt her pulling away second by second. The desire was ebbing, if only slightly. In a minute she’d be ready to bolt or to kick his ass, neither of which he was going to stand for.

  He had some really bad news for Caprise Delgado—he wasn’t leaving this place without her. And if she wanted to argue about that … wait. X paused, lifted his head to the air, and inhaled.

  Rogues.

  Chapter 5

  The foreign shifter was right behind him. Black and Thunder were both at his side, until the hallway narrowed out just before hitting the dressing rooms. Darel calculated the odds of him taking the Goddess and Black or Thunder killing the new shifter, Rolando. Odds were heavily in their favor. As he’d come down the stairs his mind had only half been on Rolando and the look of pure rage on his face. The other part of him had been focused on following the scent that came from that fuckin’ Faction shifter. After their altercation on the side of the road he’d never forgotten the three of them—the leader with his pompous ass, the second that walked around like the Incredible Fucking Hulk, and the one who’d tried to kill him. His side still ached a bit from the injuries he’d sustained that night. He was healing, albeit a little too slow for a shifter. But Darel wasn’t in the mood to question the whys about that. Now he was out for blood—and the Hulk was on his turf.

&nb
sp; At the last door near the end of the hallway Darel stopped. Placing both his palms on the door he lowered his head, inhaled deeply over and over again. “They’re in here,” he said with a growl rumbling deep in his chest.

  “What are we waiting for?” Rolando questioned.

  “Shut up!” Black warned.

  The air was thick with scents, from rage, to feline, to lust, and finally resting on sex. They’d had sex, of that Darel was sure. He didn’t really give a damn if the Faction shifter had sex just before he died. Maybe that would make death more acceptable to the big bastard. Rolando would probably go nuts once he picked up that scent, but Darel wasn’t in the mood to care.

  He took a step back and nodded at Thunder. Darel hadn’t been sure how this shifter had gotten his name until he’d heard his growl, which sounded like a rolling clap of thunder that rippled through the sky. That same sound was emitted from the six-foot-one-inch, 290-pound Rogue as he lifted a foot and kicked the door to the dressing room right off its hinges.

  * * *

  X had never run from a fight, not in all his adult life, nor in his life as a shifter. He’d always stayed and fought to the bitter end.

  Not tonight.

  He scented the Rogues, knew there was more than one, and looked at Caprise—who was still naked, damn beautiful, and glaring at him as if she, too, would like to clamp her teeth into his neck. The decision was already made.

  “Let’s go!” he told her while he looked around the room for something, anything she could put on.

  There was a bag by the table with clothes sticking out of the top. He reached down and grabbed the garments without even knowing what they were or if she could fit into them. “Put this on.”

  “You are not in control here,” she told him.

  X heard her words but was too busy kicking out the window across the room from the dressing table where he’d just fucked her to reply. When he turned she was standing there, arms folded across her generous breasts.

  “Dammit,” he growled, stalking over to her. “I said put it on!”

  Ripping the garment from her he found an opening and pushed it over her head. It looked like a shirt, but it was long enough to cover her ass and that was all that mattered. Of course she fought him the entire time, her arms flailing out, her knee coming up to just miss his unsuspecting groin. But X was used to fighting dirty. He bent forward, grabbed her at the waist, and tossed her kicking and screaming over his shoulder.

  “You’re a big stupid jackass ogre!” she screamed, the effort to get out as many names as she could almost funny to X. Except for the fact that in about two seconds Rogues were going to knock down this door and most likely either take them captive or try to kill them.

  X hated having to leave the Rogues behind, especially since they were the original reason he was there. But the risk of Caprise possibly being hurt was not one he was willing to take.

  He pushed her through the window first, his palms giving her ass a powerful shove that most likely had her falling into the alley face-first. She definitely would not be happy about that. Going through the window next, X hit the ground then felt her kick at his side and cursed once more.

  “Don’t put your hands on me again!” she yelled.

  Oh, he was definitely going to put his hands on her again, and soon. But right now he needed to get them out of here.

  He grabbed her by the waist and pulled her down the alley to where his black Ford F-150 SVT Raptor was parked. Seth appeared out of nowhere, yanking open the back door after X had found his keys and hit the automatic entrance button.

  “Where the hell have you been?” X growled at the younger shifter.

  “Giving you two some space” was his reply, accompanied by a smirk that X didn’t appreciate.

  “Give Eli a call and let him know Rogues are in the area. Tell him I want the area canvassed and guards on a scheduled watch for the next few blocks,” X said as he opened the driver’s-side door.

  His personal guard, the one he hated like hell having, Zachary Villareal, looked at him questioningly. Zach was pure Brazilian with a dark sunburned complexion and thick eyebrows. His hair was shaved crew-cut-style, and his specialty was weaponry. If there was a weapon out there that could shoot a missile out of the sky on the other side of the world in the midst of a hurricane, Zach knew about it. Hell, he’d probably invented it.

  “What’s doing?” Zach asked him.

  “I’m driving. You stay here and find out which Rogues are in residence and report back to me.”

  “I’m supposed to stay with you,” Zach insisted. “FL’s orders.”

  He didn’t have to add the last sentence because X didn’t care. He was the commanding officer in this situation so Zach was going to listen to him. X would deal with Rome’s wrath later. Besides, he didn’t want anyone to know where he was taking Caprise.

  “Just get the hell out of my truck. I’ll deal with the FL. I want to hear from you in the next hour with names,” he told Zach as the shadow finally relinquished the driver’s seat and X slipped inside the truck.

  Zach nodded just as Caprise slapped her palms against the back windows. The doors had been locked the moment she was put inside. As trained guards both Seth and Zach knew the drill; besides, they both also knew Caprise. She was hell on wheels—the shadow hellion, as they’d taken to calling her when neither X, Nick, nor Rome was around. For the most part all the shadows at Havenway thought she should be locked away on a daily basis.

  Tonight, X figured, he’d be giving them all a welcome reprieve.

  “Stop banging on my windows,” he told her as he backed out of the alley.

  “You’re a jerk,” she spat.

  X thought a minute before responding. He didn’t blame her; he wanted to curse and roar over his actions in her dressing room as well. He’d lost control. And X never lost control. If there was one thing he’d learned in all his years, it was to always remain in command of the situation. It was deadly not to. Yet with Caprise … it wouldn’t happen again, he vowed.

  Instead he replied lightly, “Funny, you weren’t saying that about fifteen minutes ago.”

  “I wasn’t being kidnapped fifteen minutes ago,” she shot back.

  He caught her eye in the rearview mirror and stared. There was more he wanted to say, but his body was too busy warring with his mind for that coveted control he knew he possessed.

  She didn’t break eye contact. That would be too submissive for Caprise. No, she would meet him round for round, blow for blow, whether it be a verbal battle or a sexual one. X admired that about her, even though he was sure she didn’t know that.

  * * *

  She didn’t want to be with him, not a second longer. Giving in was a temptation, one that had been taunting her for weeks. She’d imagined how good a lover Xavier would be—because she’d known right off the bat he would be good. Something about his thick build, his muscled body, and that fuck-you attitude he wore like one of his tattoos had told her sex would just be another one of those things he did amazingly well.

  And her intuition hadn’t been wrong. He’d been hard and fast and potent, all the components she loved when it came to releasing her own sexual frustration.

  For some women it was about candlelight and roses. For Caprise, who had learned long ago that romance was definitely for the birds, it was all about instant gratification. X had given her just that. Her release had come like a bullet out of the air, fierce and deadly as it hit her head-on. Her body had trembled and shook with pleasure and then it was over. Simple as that. His high-handed treatment later was over-the-top and she planned to show him that she wasn’t the type of female to tolerate such actions. But she hadn’t had the chance. He’d thrown her through a damn window then had her stuffed in the back of this humongous truck—which by the way fit X’s big bad attitude to a T.

  She wanted to jump out and return to Havenway, but that was most likely suicidal considering how fast he was driving.

  “You always kidn
ap women after sex?” she asked, mainly because she’d begun to calm down and accept that he’d probably saved them from a lethal attack. She sat back against the seat and looked out the tinted windows at the evening streets of DC.

  “You always ignore the scent of your enemy planning a sneak attack?” was his comeback. It figured it was another question instead of an answer, the bastard.

  “I work in a strip joint, there’re a lot of stenches going around in there. Besides, I don’t have any enemies that would want to attack me.” There was an air of untruth to her words, but she ignored that little tidbit of information.

  “There were Rogues in that place. Is that normal? Do you know any of them? Since you work there and all.”

  He could be snide and ignorant and a pompous ass. But he was a damn good fighter. Caprise knew this because Rome would never have made him second-in-command if he wasn’t. She knew they were friends, had been since they were younger, along with her older brother, Nick, but Rome was a top-notch leader who expected only the best from his team. If X was a part of that team, a close part, it meant he had to be the best of the best.

  If there were Rogues in the club, X could have taken them, Caprise didn’t doubt. So why did he run instead?

  “You aren’t afraid of the Rogues, are you, Xavier?”

  She knew her voice was taunting, had meant it to be just that. But she’d also wanted a real answer. She wanted to know what ruffled his feathers—the fierce but contained FBI agent and shifter warrior. What was he hiding behind that persona he so desperately wanted everyone to believe?

  But he didn’t answer. She should have expected that. When he took the next corner with even more speed and she slid along the backseat because fastening her seat belt hadn’t occurred to her, Caprise cursed.

  “I’m not afraid of anything,” he answered finally. His voice tight, his gaze straight ahead, shoulders squared.

  He wasn’t lying. Fear wasn’t a part of X’s makeup, that she knew for a fact. Still, Caprise couldn’t shake the thought that there was much more to this shifter than anybody knew. At any rate, it wasn’t her job to find out.