"Don't do this," I say softly. "Don't throw away your life. Don't make me your murderer. Stop. Let it go. Let go of that hatred. That despair. It's over."
Aurion looks from me to the wall of eyes that are staring at him. He stands alone. Finally he stares at me, and something leaves him, the fight goes out of his body. I can see the change. His shoulders slump, and his head seems to have grown heavy.
"Well done, my son." His voice is weary beyond imagination. "You have truly proved yourself to be a better man than I."
I have no idea how to respond.
"I-I am proud of you." He chokes the words out, though he won't look at me. "Perhaps one day I shall return. For now, you have given me much to think about. To consider." He hesitates, and then, before I can speak, turns and slips away into the night, his tail flicking once before he's gone.
I realize that I've been holding my breath all this time. The other shifters roar their approval and swarm around me. They're celebrating, welcoming me home, but all I can do is watch the space where my father disappeared and fight the pain and gladness that are warring in my heart.
Chapter 15
Rachel and I are waiting in the living room at the front of Honeycomb Hall when the men return. The fire's crackling, and I've fallen into a reverie as I stare at the dancing flames, mesmerized and exhausted. Rachel's reading a book with enviable poise, but all I can do is play over the past few days in my mind and wait.
Then: footsteps on the porch, and the sound of the front door opening. Rachel closes her book and we both rise to our feet as the library door opens and Alexander enters, followed by Blake.
Oh, be still, my heart. Alexander is another man. It's like his sun has come out from behind the clouds. He's resplendent, alive, burning with a fierce vitality that leaves me no doubt at all: this man is a king amongst shifters, and he's staring at me in a way that melts my knees, heart and panties all at once.
"You did it?" I take a step forward and stop.
Alexander nods, and I see that his hair has grown. No longer cropped close to his head, it now falls to his shoulders, a wild mane that I can't wait to bury my fingers in. He smiles, and I feel a flood of heat pass over me as if an oven door has just opened. How can I need him so badly?
"I defeated my father. I'm the new elder of the cairn." His voice echoes with authority and sears its way into my core. It's a delicious rumble, an avalanche of sexiness in which I want to be buried.
"And your father?" My voice is weak. I feel like I'm floating outside my body and watching from six feet above my head.
"Alive. I didn't fight him."
Blake grins and moves forward. "He did a power play. Stole Aurion's authority right out from under him. By the time he was done speaking, the cairn was his, lock, stock and smoking barrel. It was amazing."
Alexander doesn't even glance at Blake. Instead, he extends his hand to me. "Come."
I don't think twice. I move forward, sliding my hand into his.
He looks at Rachel. "We're going to need one of your rooms."
"Take your pick," says Rachel, voice wry. "They're all empty."
"Good," says Alexander, and the way he looks at me makes me want to start moaning right here and now. How did this happen? How did I get connected to such a ridiculously hot man?
We go upstairs. I can't breathe. I can't think. A thousand questions tumble through my mind like a collapsing Jenga tower, but all I can do is focus on not tripping. Alexander's intent is clear. He's not hurrying. He's not shy or nervous. He knows what he wants - what he needs - and he's going to take it.
We walk down the hall and he pushes open a door, revealing a cute room with a large dark window that must look out over the lawn. A king-sized bed takes up one entire wall, and he leads me to it, turning me at the last second so the bed presses against the backs of my legs.
"Myra Cole," rumbles Alexander, a smile curving his gorgeous lips. "You've brought me to this. You've changed the direction of my life, and helped me become my true self."
"You're welcome," I manage to whisper, eyes wide.
He chuckles, a rich sound like a dark chocolate waterfall. "Without you I might have done the unthinkable. I might have split myself in two. I might have insisted on the impossible. But you brought me back to myself. You helped me unleash my lion. You gave me a taste of what it feels like to be whole, and for that I can't thank you enough."
"I-I can think of some things you can do," I croak.
He arches one fine eyebrow, and I blush like crazy, unable to finish my line. Unable to tell him where he can touch me, lick me, by means of repayment.
"You've challenged me, changed me, loved me. I'm about to start a new journey. A new phase in my life. I'll be staying here in Honeycomb Falls. I want you to stay with me."
I blink rapidly. "But... but -"
"Don't answer yet," he says. "Let me convince you."
"Convince me?"
"Oh, yes. I plan to do that. Thoroughly." He leans forward and traces the line of my jaw with one finger as he inhales my scent from my hair. "Slowly," he says, his breath tickling the curves my ear. "Till you can't say no." His lips trace fire across my cheek. "Till you can only scream one word." His lips close on the lobe of my ear, his teeth sharp against my flesh.
"Yes," I whisper, closing my eyes. "Yes."
Alexander's hand moves down to grip my shoulder, squeezing me slightly before sliding down to the small of my back, pulling me closer. He's so strong. I press myself against his impossibly hot body, molding myself to him, and almost groan at the sheer size and rigidity of his cock where it strains against his jeans and my tummy. I want it in my hands, hot and silky smooth; I want it in my mouth, and buried deep in my pussy. I want to taste his cum, watch him pump his shaft slowly as he kneels over me, ready to take his seed over my breasts, deep inside me, every and any way.
Instead, he takes my sweater by the hem and pulls it up and over my head, then tosses it aside. His lips are on the side of my neck, kissing a trail that leaves me feeling delirious. My nipples are almost painfully hard, and I move my hand down to rub at the length of his cock, wanting it freed, but before I can work his belt he tugs off my shirt so that I'm just standing there in my bra.
Alexander leans back and drinks in my body. "You've got the most perfect breasts," he whispers. "Your whole body. I'm going to claim it. Every inch. Till I know it better than my own."
I shiver with anticipation. He's a completely different man from the dark, driven stranger I fucked in his loft. He's fully in control, burning with desire but in no rush. This isn't going to be a fuck. This is going to be something infinitely more tender, hot, and intense.
He cups my chin in his hand and raises my face to his. "Myra. You're the woman I want. The mate my lion needs. I'm going to make you mine, and give myself to you. You feel this connection. You've felt it since we first met. We were meant for each other."
"Alex." It's all I can manage. I feel overwhelmed. Feverish. I want him to take it slow, and I want to cut to the chase all at once.
"Mine," he growls as he leans down and kisses my chest, his stubble scratching at my skin, his lips soft and demanding. My bra falls away and he groans in appreciation as he cups my large breasts, lifting one then the other to his hot, wet mouth. I sigh as my nipple slips between his lips, and then gasp as he nips it and then traces my areola with his tongue. It's a long, circular torture that never quite hits my aching nubbin, then dances across to my other breast. His fingers are large and sure, holding my breasts as if they're his to do what he wants with, and oh, god, they are. He massages them as he presses one leg between my thighs so my crotch rides up on his leg, and I moan and press against his shamelessly, needing that friction, that burning heat and fire as he torments my nipples.
I reach up and clasp his broad shoulders, then bury my hands in that wild mane, pressing his mouth more firmly against my flesh as I begin to work my pussy from side to side then up and down, his muscled thigh the perfect surface o
n which to torture myself. It feels so good but is so inadequate at the same time. He licks and suckles and works my tits with such perfect skill that I have trouble thinking. Is it possible to orgasm just from having your breasts sucked? The pleasure is mounting, growing as I rub harder and harder against him. He wraps one arm around me and nearly lifts me off my feet, taking my breast deep into his mouth, working my nipple with the broad flat of his tongue.
It's so intense, so hot, that I come, a shuddering release that causes me to gasp sharply and flutter my eyes. That has never happened to me before, nothing even close. I squeeze him tight and feel him smile against me, pulling free of my breast to look up at me with his devilishly hot eyes.
I gasp and smile at him. "You're good."
"You convinced?"
I shake my head slowly. "Not yet."
He grins. "Good. I'm just getting started." With that he scoops me up and lays me on the bed as if I weigh less than a dream. The comforter is soft and smooth beneath my bare back, and it cools my fevered flesh. I wriggle my hips as he pulls my pants down, so that I'm just wearing black lace panties, almost naked in front of his devouring gaze.
"You're so fucking hot," he growls, moving forward to loom over me. "Your curves. A real woman. My woman."
The heat of our eye contact is through the roof. I move my hands up to my breasts and squeeze them. "You like what you see?"
His growl is all the answer I need. I move one hand down my stomach to cup my sex. "You going to taste me?"
His growl deepens into a sound that only a lion could make, a claiming, muted rumble that might strike fear into any other being, but in me only heightens my lust. He tears his shirt off, revealing his perfectly chiseled torso, and lowers his face to my breasts, then traces a line with the tip of his tongue down my body to my slit.
I move my hand aside as he manifests a claw and cuts my panties away. The air is cool against my slick pussy, and then warm as he breathes on me. I ache for his tongue, his touch, but he holds back. I can't help myself. I lift my hips, moaning. "Please," I whimper. "Lick me. Now."
His hands curve around my hips and clutch my ass, keeping me elevated. I spread my legs and feel my lips pull gently apart, so wet they almost stick together. I'm completely open to him, nothing hidden, my most private and sensual core open to his eyes. Waiting. Ready. Trembling. Needing his tongue. His release.
Which he finally gives. Alexander licks my slit from its very base right over the lips to the painfully sensitive nub of my clit, a slow, languorous lick that sends fireworks exploding through my mind and soul, my skin goose bumping and hot. I clutch at the covers and turn my face to the side, squeezing my eyes shut. Again Alexander licks me with the broad, flat surface of his tongue, his rumble causing minute shivers to shock my clit and send a pleasurable buzz down into my core.
"You taste so good," he whispers. "So sweet." Then he lowers his mouth and closes it completely over my sex, taking me all in, his tongue pressing between my folds, tasting and teasing them, probing and pushing into my canal. I gasp and arch my hips higher, trying to take him deeper. It feels like heaven and hell at once, amazing but not enough.
His hands are firm on my ass, and slowly he moves his head from side to side, his tongue deep within me, and god, I'm so wet I'm almost embarrassed. Then he pulls his tongue free and flicks it over my clit. I cry out, and then he circles, circles, flicks and teases it till I can't take anymore.
"Eat me," I groan. "My lion. My man. Eat me. Make me scream."
"As you command," he says, his smile so hot it could almost make me come by itself. He lowers my ass back to the bed, pushes my legs open wide, and then slides in one finger, two, then three. I cry out, muscles tensing, and he begins to undulate them within me, touching and pressing me in all the right ways, sliding them in and out and then making a come-hither motion that rubs right against my g-spot. My eyes pop open wide and I can't breathe, not even gasp, as the pleasure mounts and mounts and then his tongue is on my clit and it's just way too fucking much.
I scream, a sharp cry as my orgasm crashes down upon me, wracking my body, and I sit up, convulsing, squeezing my legs together as the intensity overwhelms me. My whole pussy clamps on his fingers, and I just sit there, shivering and shaking as he wraps me in his arms, kissing me all over as I gasp and cling to him like a drowning woman. It's like he's known my body his whole life, has spent decades mastering the techniques that will make me come so powerfully I can barely handle it. Like we were made for each other. In just a few moments he's made me come twice, harder than almost any other experience in my life.
"Myra," he rumbles beside me. "I need you. I want you. I want to learn all about you."
I try to focus. "All about me?"
"Yes," he says, and our eyes lock. "As much as I love your body, love watching you come, I want all of you. To know your spirit and mind. And it gives me more joy than you'll ever know to think that we have the rest of our lives to share our secrets with each other."
My mind scrambles. I gulp, trying to catch my breath. "Who," I say, trying to steady my voice, "said I was convinced already? I thought you were just getting started."
Alexander laughs, delighted, and stands. And strips. He takes hold of his glorious cock and begins to slowly work it as I watch, eyes wide. "I am. Come on. Let's get started."
I go to move forward, to take him in my hand, just as he goes to push me back against the bed. "No," I whisper. "Let me."
He rumbles, clearly wanting to move to a more intense stage, but I place my hand on his ripped abs and push him back gently, looking up the length of his perfect body. "I want you in my mouth. I want to feel you throb against my tongue. To cup your balls and drive you crazy."
"Woman," he growls. "Be careful what you unleash."
I wrap my fingers around his thick girth and take his heavy balls in my other hand. "I want to see you lose control, my lion. I want to see you as you've seen me."
He caresses my hair, and without waiting for another answer, I take his cock into my mouth. His crown is large and smooth, engorged beyond belief, and tastes salty with his pre-cum. I loll it around my mouth, kissing and sucking and working it with the sides of my tongue, and am rewarded by a low groan. My hand works his shaft, slowly pulling his skin tight, just as my other hand carefully plays with his balls.
His hand on my hair caresses me with greater need, and I look up to see that he's half-closed his eyes. This man is a king, I think, my king. Will that make me a queen? I have no idea, but I work his cock as I watch him drift into the seas of pleasure, a pleasure I'm giving him, which he only wants from me. I start taking him as deeply as I can into my mouth, and think suddenly of how I first saw him, all alone in that shadowed annex, handsome and distant and impossibly desirable. That man, Alexander Adams, is here right now, with me, wanting me as his mate, his cock in my hand. I can't believe this is happening. I've somehow been rewarded with the hottest, best man I've ever met.
And better yet, he wants me like no other.
I work his shaft, pumping, and bob my head up and down, taking his cock as far back into my throat as I can. He's rocking now, swaying like an oak tree battered by a storm. He's growing thicker, and when I pull him free so I can run my tongue down the length of his shaft to flick it across his balls, his groan becomes an almost despairing sound. His cock is throbbing, almost spasming, so I quickly maneuver it back into my mouth and pump his shaft faster and harder until I feel his every muscle clench.
He's going to -
He comes deep into the back of my throat, and I go still and focus on milking him dry, swallowing with each jet that fills my mouth, salty and delicious. I look up and see the most beautiful sight. Alexander in the throes of orgasm, eyes clenched, jaw tight, lost to ecstasy, the most handsome and fucking hot man I've ever seen losing himself in the sweetest, most amazing sensation. I feel a wave of heat pass over me, excitement and delirious happiness. He's feeling this because of me. Wants it from no other woman but me.
Finally he takes a deep, shuddering breath. He takes me in his arms and falls onto the bed, pulling me close against his muscled body. I scoot up against him and just lie there, entranced by his heaving breath, by how his cock still jerks against my hip as his orgasm slowly recedes.
"I thought," he finally manages, "that I was the one doing the convincing."
I grin and wiggle my ass against him. "I'm not the passive type."
He props himself up on one elbow and grins at me. "That I've known from the beginning."
I gaze up at him, his mane of hair framing his face, and cup his cheek. "Is this real?"
He places his hand over my own. "The realest thing I've felt in my whole life."
Tears prick my eyes. "I can't quite believe it."
"Believe it, Myra. You've challenged me. Provoked me. Pushed me and helped me rediscover myself. If it weren't for you, I'd still be lost. You helped me find my way home. And I want you here with me. By my side. Forever."
My whole body tingles, and then he leans down to kiss me. Oh, god. I've died and gone to heaven. It can't get better than this, I tell myself.
And then he shifts his hips, and suddenly, oh, lord, suddenly it does.
Chapter 16
I'm lying on my side, snuggled up against his broad chest, when I feel his cock press against the lips of my pussy. My eyes snap open wide. How? He just came. Most men only come once a night, or if they're real studs, maybe twice, with a good long break in between. I look over my shoulder at Alexander, who grins at me.
"What? Did you think I'd be content with just appetizers?"
"I'm in real trouble," I say. "Aren't I?"
"You have no idea," he whispers, and then moves his hip and presses forward.
My lips resist at first, holding firm, and then they part before his cock head, and with exquisite slowness he slides into my pussy, my slick canal taking him even as he stretches it wide. He's so big, I think, bigger than any other man I've ever been with, and somehow I've almost forgotten how large he is from our previous session.
A Lion After My Own Heart: (BBW Paranormal Shape Shifter Romance) (Honeycomb Falls Book 5) Page 10
