Walk on the Striped Side

by Jessie Lane

  Alec had never been a wise person.

  So his brother rolled his eyes and then muttered, “I’m never getting mated. After watching both you and Adam turn into snappy little hormonal girls over a couple of women, I’ve thoroughly been cured of even thinking about it.”

  Gage opened his mouth to let his brother have it, but Elena beat him to it. “I don’t think that we’ll ever meet a woman that has an IQ as low as yours Alec, so you shouldn’t have to worry about it. I seriously doubt there’s a woman on the planet with that low of a brain cell count. And Lord knows any woman with a higher brain cell count would be smart enough to run in the opposite direction than mate with you.”

  Gage barked out a surprised laugh as his brother glared menacingly at his mate. Alec meant for the look to scare her into submission. That just proved how little Alec understood Gage’s mate. Which was proven perfectly after a small silent staring contest between Alec and Elena, when she said, “Maybe your weird white hair and freaky blue eyes intimidate other people, but it just makes me want to take my baseball bat to your head so I don’t have to look at you anymore.”

  Gage scooped Elena up in his arms and carried her out of the kitchen towards his bedroom, laughing the whole way. Misunderstanding why he was carrying her away from his brother to the other end of the house, Elena said “You don’t have to protect me from him. I don’t care if he can turn into a giant sized kitty cat, I’ll kick his ass.”

  Shaking his head, “Alec would never hurt you love.”

  Confused, Elena asked. “Then why did you carry me out of there?”

  Dropping her to her feet in his bedroom, he led her over to his closet and pulled out his smallest t-shirt, an XXL red t-shirt that Elena had given him as a prank gift during their relationship that said ‘I would cuddle you so hard’. He then grabbed himself a grey ARMY t-shirt and handed both of shirts to his mate to hold for them. As he dragged her over to his dresser and then opened one of the drawers, he finally answered her.

  “We have to get ready to go meet Pack Master Davies.” He grabbed a pair of jeans for himself and a pair of grey sweatpants for her before dragging her towards the bathroom. The dragging her bit became a little harder, so he looked back to see that his mate was literally dragging her heels across his floor to try and stop him. Cocking an eyebrow at her he asked. “What’s wrong?”

  “We can’t take a shower together!” She squeaked.

  He smiled at her nervousness. It was so unusual for his ferocious little mate to be spooked like this. “Why not?”

  “If we go in t-there and s-start to get n-naked… w-w-well… I THOUGHT YOU SAID WE WEREN’T READY FOR SEX!”

  From stuttering to shrieking? Elena really was spooked. And her sudden worries over having sex were a complete one-eighty from her earlier seduction attempts today. That could only mean one thing. He was finally tearing down those seemingly impenetrable emotional walls she’d put up against him. She was feeling vulnerable, and that meant he was that much closer to convincing his mate that she was his. And it had only taken him a day to do it. It damn near made him want to pat himself on the back for such an accomplishment! Of course, he really shouldn’t be surprised that he was succeeding already. In two hundred and sixty four years he’d yet to fail at getting anything he really wanted. Gage had just assumed it would have taken her loner to get her to start to come around. And he had been more than prepared for a long wait if that’s what it would have taken. Tigers were notoriously known for their patience while hunting. But, if Elena was starting to give in already, he wasn’t going to complain.

  Today’s agenda: Find out what Pack Master Davies wanted and unnerve Elena some more with some third base action.

  Tomorrow’s mission: Get Elena to admit she still loved him and have amazing make-up sex.

  It was only Wednesday, so if they kept this schedule up, he could have her bitten and mated by the weekend. His Babushka was going to love this.

  “EARTH TO IVANOV! ARE YOU KIDDING ME? YOU’RE UCKING DAYDREAMING RIGHT NOW?”

  Elena now had a death grip on their t-shirts and had braced her legs like she was ready to fight him tooth and nail about going to the bathroom. It was cute, her thinking she’d be able to stop him. Unfortunately, they didn’t have time to waste. Scooping her up in his arms again, he carried her struggling body across the hall to his bathroom and kicked the door shut.

  “Calm down woman. We’re not having sex, although I wish we had time for that. But the fact is that we don’t, so we’re going to get undressed, take a shower, and then get dressed and go. So stop your hissy fit and get your ass in gear.”

  Setting her down on her feet, he reached back and locked the bathroom door to keep his brother from intruding on their privacy. Then he pulled his shirt over his head, but had to stop when it was stuck on the handcuffs. He still wasn’t ready to take the cuffs off of them, determined Elena would get his point about his refusal of any separation between them, so he did the only thing he could do. He tore his shirt so that it was no longer hanging from the cuffs. Rid of the garment, he unbuttoned his jeans and let them drop around his ankles, before kicking them completely off. Left in nothing but his boxer briefs, he quickly pushed them down his legs and stepped out of those as well. When he looked back up to see Elena’s progress, his eyes were met with a completely clothed woman who was standing there staring at his junk with her jaw dropped open.

  He thought that if he stood there for a second, she would realize that she was staring and stop, but nope, she just kept staring. Which caused the certain appendage she was gawking at to start to get hard. Damn the woman! She was making this difficult!

  “Did you want to get undressed, or did you want me to undress you?”

  Her head snapped up, and she scowled at him. “I don’t think this is a good idea! Why don’t you just take the handcuffs of and we’ll take separate showers?”

  Heh. If she thought she could negotiate with him, fat chance. “Are you ready to tell me that you love me?”

  Her brows dropped into a deep and her jaw tensed.

  “Yeah, that’s what I thought Amazon. So the answer is no. Now, get undressed so we can hurry this up. As much as I’d like to fuck you until your screams are echoing around these tiled walls, we don’t have time. This meeting with the Pack Master is important.”

  “Well if you don’t take the handcuffs off, how the hell am I supposed to get my shirt off all the way?”

  Losing his patience, Gage reached over, took the neckline of her shirt with both of his hands, and then ripped the shirt down the middle. While Elena cussed him a blue streak, he reached over and tore in half the sleeve on the arm that was handcuffed to him in half as well.

  “There, now you can get your shirt off. Would you like me to help you with your jeans too, or can I go turn the water on for us?”

  She gave him a death glare while unbuttoning and unzipping her jeans. Ignoring it, Gage maneuvered his body around her so that he could reach into the shower and turn the water on for them. Sticking his hand in the stream, he waited until it was a comfortable heat level for his ornery mate before he turned back around to get her… and stopped dead in his tracks.

  There in front of him was something that he’d recently been afraid that he would never see again. A naked Elena. Every inch of her gorgeous olive toned complexion could be seen. Standing there outraged, hands on her hips, one hip cocked with attitude, full of fiery passion and more beautiful than anything he’d ever seen. How had he ever thought that he could go on without her in his life?

  Holding his hand out as an offer to help steady her, she frowned at it for a second, before giving in and placing her hand in his. He pushed the shower curtain back to invite her in, and then guided her into the relaxing rush of water. Stepping in behind her, Gage closed the shower curtain and then watched in fascination over his mate’s shoulder as Elena ignored him while washing the front of her body with a soapy washcloth. Funny how such a simple act could transfix him entirely.
If he could, he’d stand there and watch her do that all day.

  Unfortunately, he didn’t have all day. Grabbing the bar soap he lathered up his hands to wash the front of his own body. He tried to keep a little distance between himself and Elena regardless of the difficulty because of their handcuffed hands while they both washed because his dick was still harder than a steel pole. He didn’t want to make her any more uncomfortable than she already was.

  Of course, that plan was shot to hell when she reached her free hand around to wash her back. Her hand accidentally brushed his dick, causing his eyes to cross from the small pleasure that shot down to his already aching balls. The moment she made contact, her whole body froze. Gage thought for sure she’d move her hand away, not wanting to touch him so intimately, but his mate always seemed to do the opposite of what he expected her to do.

  He felt her tentative fingers massage the tip of him through the cloth and he groaned in pleasure. With a little more surety she slid her hand and the washcloth down his shaft, and then up again up to the tip. Simultaneously cleaning him and torturing him at the same time. When he hand slid back down to grab his balls he knew he had to stop her before this went any further.

  Reaching over her head with his handcuffed hand, it enabled him to hold her around the waist and trap her free hand between their bodies. Smoothing his hand over her abdomen till he was cupping her small breast, he squeezed her nipple in warning. He loved the sound of her gasp.

  “Don’t tempt me you little minx. You know we don’t have time for this right now.”

  He wasn’t sure what his little wild cat was thinking, but he wasn’t going to question this small show of affection. Even if it was lust driven. Gage carefully turned their bodies so that their backs faced the shower head and then pulled her backwards so that he could get her hair wet. In the most docile manner that he’d ever seen her, she allowed him to shampoo and then condition her hair slowly, giving her a sensual massage as he cleansed the strands. Once he made sure all the conditioner was rinsed out he used his free hand to wash his own hair quickly.

  Then he grabbed the washcloth from her and added more soap to it. With slow sweeping motions he cleaned Elena’s abdomen, up to her breasts, lingering momentarily on her nipples. He loved listening to her needy little moans as he ran the soapy rag over her body. Reaching down, he ran the cloth over the folds over her pussy.

  When she whispered his name, it sounded close enough to begging to shred some of his restraint. He let the washcloth slip from his fingers before cupping his hand over the sweet warmth of her little pussy, dragging his fingertips through her trimmed curls there. With his other hand, he reached up and turned her chin so that he could capture her lips. Taking slow, drugging sips from her lips.

  As he swept his tongue into her mouth for deep, lingering kisses he used two of the fingers playing with the curls covering her folds to rub over her entrance. Her hips started to rock, encouraging him to continue, so he eased his fingers inside of her tight sheath. The tips of his fingers were high inside her, rubbing over her g-spot at the same moment that his thumb brushed over her clit. Elena moaned into his mouth and deepened their kiss.

  They didn’t have time to make love, but he had a few minutes to sate his mate. After being unable to touch her for the past two years, he’d be happy to give her as many orgasms as she wanted. Hell, he’d give her so many orgasms that she wouldn’t be able to walk for a week if she let him. Thrusting his fingers in and out of her in a slow, steady rhythm, he made sure to rub over her bundle of nerves on the inside while keeping steady pressure on her clit. It didn’t take long before she was begging him.

  “Faster. Harder.” She panted in his mouth.

  He sped his movements up little by little, enjoying the feel of her walls starting to clamp down on his fingers. But his impatient mate wanted more, because she screamed. “PLEASE GAGE! GOD PLEASE FUCK ME!”

  God he wanted to fuck her so badly. His cock was rubbing against the seam of her ass and it took everything he had not to bend her forward a little bit and slam home inside of her. His instincts were screaming at him though. Telling him it still wasn’t time and that she wasn’t ready to give into him completely yet. He couldn’t accept less than everything from her, so he held himself back, but just barely.

  Speeding up the thrusts of his fingers so that they were moving both faster and harder inside of her, he dropped his mouth to the side of her neck and nipped the skin there. “Do you like the feel of me inside of you mate?”

  “Yes!” She gasped.

  He added a third finger and then pushed up high inside of her to rub of her bundle of nerves again. “Do you need to come baby?”

  “YES! Please Gage. PLEASE!” Elena screamed.

  Pistoning his fingers in and out of her in a superhuman speed, he watched her face as she threw her head back to rest on his shoulder and wailed her need. Watching her like this, on the verge of coming for him was heady, going straight to his head like the finest of wines. Making him dizzy with so many emotions that his head started to swim. She was right on the precipice of falling over into what he imagined would be one of the most explosive orgasms she’d probably ever had. Her pussy convulsed around his fingers as he kept up the preternatural pace. Moving his thumb over to brush her clit again as he kept up the motions, he nipped her neck again even more sharply this time, just short of breaking skin and then growled, “Come for me mate.”

  Her back arched and she screamed his name out in a shuddery breath, her entire body trembled in climax. He held her through it, relishing this moment as he would everyone after it as well. To see his strong Amazon so vulnerable in her passion was one of the greatest gifts that she could ever give him.

  He was panting into the skin of her neck. Strung tight with his own needs and emotions that were making his heart beat faster than it ever had before. The words he wanted to give her. Promises and plans he wanted to make. She wasn’t ready yet though so he would continue to wait until she was, all the while praying that it would be soon.

  Gently kissing the spot he had bitten, he squeezed his arms around her in a hug before reluctantly giving up their moment intimacy. It sucked to give this rare moment of peace with his Amazon up, but they had other battles besides their own to fight. It was time to go face the one that came from Germany.

  CHAPTER-FIFTEEN

  Elena

  “Stop dragging me around dammit!”

  “Well then walk a little faster Amazon. We’re running late.” Gage grumbled in annoyance.

  “And let’s not forget WHY we’re late, shall we lovebirds?” Alec’s eyes were full of mirth and he gave her an eyebrow wiggle.

  Elena did her best not to blush again. Gage’s brother had been throwing verbal jabs their way ever since the two of them had emerged dressed and ready to go from the bedroom. She’d heard everything from, “So do you feel a little relaxed now?” to “Awww… you’re wearing his shirt! HOW CUTE”.

  Elena really didn’t like being picked on about Gage’s shirt because that brought back memories as to how she was dressed in said shirt in the first place. When the epically blue balled and frustrated tiger had realized that he was going to have to uncuff one of them to get her dressed, he’d literally roared in frustration. That roar hadn’t been enough to intimidate her into not trying to escape though. So the minute he’d popped the lock on his cuffs, she’d started attacking him. Punches, kicks, elbows to his head plus scratching and biting him wherever she could.

  Elena became a whirlwind of arms and legs trying to get Gage off of her. Not that it had done her a lick of good. He’d pinned her to his bed on her stomach, with her wrists trapped in one of his big hands above her head, and then slipped the red t-shirt over her arms and head faster than she would have thought possible. His speed hadn’t kept her from trying to break free while she thought she could though. Elena had started bucking her body to try and Gage off of her when he did what might have been the most shocking, but sexy thing she’d ever e
xperienced in her life. He’d placed his teeth in a warning grip in the back of her neck and bit down just enough to shock her into submission.

  For a second there, when she felt the sharp points of his teeth on her skin, she hadn’t been sure if she was going to piss herself or cream her panties. She’d quickly found out that answer though after he had growled against her skin. Those vibrations against her neck had somehow traveled every nerve ending she owned straight to her clit, causing her to throb in an erotic pain. A throb she was still feeling at this very moment. And since she knew that both Gage and Alec would be able to smell her desire, she was freaking mortified about it.

  Halfway across the parking lot, Alec start needling her again. “If I remember correctly, that’s the t-shirt you bought Gage as a gag gift, right Elena? I’m pretty sure he told me about it one time. But don’t worry, I think it looks better on you rather than it did on him. You know, you don’t have to advertise to get some cuddling girl, I’d be more than happy to do it if Gage won’t.”

  Luckily, Gage wasn’t inclined to let his brother pick on her anymore. He swiped a hand out at Alec, and when Elena saw the claws protruding from his fingertips she figured he wasn’t playing around with his brother at the moment. Apparently mate status came with some serious perks, like pest protection.

  Not that she was accepting Gage’s mate claim or anything though.

  As the snarly tiger dragged her through the familiar bar’s entrance, the hairs on the back of her neck immediately stood up. Someone was watching her. Glancing around the bar, she tried to spot whoever it was that was setting off her internal radar, but didn’t see anything out of the norm. Probably because Gage was still dragging her at a fast clip behind him through the main area towards to door to the back that she had watched him come out of the first time she’d come here.

  Once through the door, she found several sets of eyes watching her. All of the faces instantly recognizable since they were the same ones she’d seen the day she’d come here to confront Gage. The black haired woman and the red haired man who seemed to be a couple. Two men, one older at the head of the table, and the other younger sitting on one side of him, both of whom resembled the black hair woman. And finally Gage’s grandmother and another man with brown hair and a pretty boy demeanor which instantly irked her. She briefly studied all of them, taking in whatever bits of info that she could, and storing it all away in her head for future use. They all seemed just as curious of her, as she of them, so she figured there was no shame in blatantly giving each of them a good once over. But she had a hard time looking Gage’s grandmother in the eye because she was somehow sure the woman knew that Elena had been getting down right freaky with her grandson less than an hour ago. Some of the room’s inhabitants studied her with curious expressions, while the others eyed her warily like she might try and steal their wallet.