Illicit Passions

by Crystal Jordan

  “Noted.” He wadded up the plastic and lobbed it toward her sketchbook. Then he let the rope uncoil while her eyes widened.

  Tongue darting out, she licked her lips. “Lykaios…”

  “Ever tried being tied up before, Haida?”

  Her nipples tightened until he could see the clear outline of them through her shirt. She pressed her thighs together. “I could get free if I really tried. Even swans have enough strength to snap rope. Or I could shift.”

  “True.” He walked over to the end of the sofa and bent to fasten one end of the clothesline to the thick wooden leg. “But that assumes you want to get free.”

  Her breathing sped up, and he could see her pulse hammering at the base of her throat. Her heady scent wafted on the air.

  “Want to play, sweetheart?” He put just enough challenge into his tone that he knew she’d never be able to back down.

  Her gaze narrowed on his face. “Fine.”

  She jerked to her feet, stripping off her clothes. The smooth paleness of her curves came into view and his dick throbbed, chafing against his fly. Her beaded nipples all but begged to be sucked, and he licked his lips.

  “Come on, slowpoke.” She snapped her bra in his direction, and it hit him in the face. “Keeping a lady waiting is just bad manners. Didn’t your mother ever tell you that?”

  “Yes, and that’s the last I want to say about my mother while I have a woody.” He stepped out of his shoes and shucked his clothes. “Lay down on the sofa.”

  She did as he ordered, but her gaze was glued to his thick erection. “I want you.”

  A groan escaped him. She was killing him. It took a matter of seconds to have her arms drawn over her head and secured by the clothesline. Ah, yeah. That was a view that would stay with him for the rest of his life—his mate, naked and bound, waiting for him to fuck her.

  “Let me suck you,” she demanded, tugging at her bonds.

  “Nope.” He dropped onto the couch between her thighs, forcing them wide. Then he let himself take in the incredible view. She was flushed with desire, her breasts quivering with each quick breath. His gaze dropped to her sex. Slick with cream, the lips were swollen and gaping wide. Perfect. He drew in a lungful of air spiced with her musky smell.

  Flicking his tongue out to tease her clit, he felt her body bow against the cushions. A mewling sound spilled from her as he settled in to feast. The flavor of her wetness was like a mellow liqueur that went straight to his head, and he drank deep. Her hips bucked, but he held her down, driving his tongue in and out of her pussy. She twisted like living flame in his arms, but he continued to fuck her with his mouth. He caught her clitoris between his teeth, tugging gently. A sharp cry broke from her, and he felt her shiver with her first orgasm. He loved how responsive she was, loved how he could make her incoherent with want.

  He glanced up at her face as he pressed three fingers into her pussy, a swift stroke designed to shock her system. Her eyes flared wide, and her breath stopped. “Bastian, please!”

  “Don’t I please you, sweetheart?” He withdrew his fingers until he circled the outer edges of her slit. Extending his claws, he used the very tips to toy with her flesh.

  “Yes. You please me. Don’t stop!” She spread her legs wider, rocking her hips up.

  After retracting his talons, he slammed his digits back in, filling her. “Never.”

  Watching her squirm made fire boil through his veins. He nipped at her inner thigh, and she squeaked. Her wetness increased and she pulled on the ties that lashed her down. She was the sexiest thing he’d ever seen. But he wanted to feel her come against his mouth again. He licked her clit while he worked her with his hands.

  “Oh. Oh God. That feels so fucking good.” Her words rushed out as she undulated on the sofa. “Don’t stop, don’t stop, don’t stop.”

  Her thighs closed over his ears, muffling his hearing, but that sharpened his other senses. The feel of her silky skin, the scent of sex, the exquisite taste of her cream. Her need fed his own, and he rocked his hips into the leather cushions. The friction was a lesson in control, but he couldn’t stop himself from moving. Forming his lips around her clit, he sucked hard, then batted his tongue against the little nub. Her heels dug into his back, and he felt another orgasm roll through her. The tiny spasms of her inner muscles rippled around his thrusting fingers.

  He came up for air, his cock so stiff and aching he thought he might explode before he ever got the chance to be inside her. She lay limp against the couch, the rope digging grooves into her wrists from where she’d pulled on them. Her breasts rose and fell in rapid pants, and he reached up to tweak one pert nipple.

  “Thank you,” she gasped.

  Blinking, he startled into a laugh. “What?”

  She spoke between ragged breaths. “You said…I’d thank you…when you got back.”

  Well, then. A chuckle bubbled out of him. He didn’t think he’d laughed so often in a long time. She was good for him. He dropped a kiss to her belly.

  Her toes flexed against his shoulders and she sighed. “That was definitely worthy of giving thanks, Lykaios.”

  “I love you,” he stated quietly. He didn’t know why he felt this was the right time to say it, but he did.

  She sucked in a sharp breath, her mouth forming a perfect O of shock. “Bastian.”

  Rubbing his chin over the lower slope of her stomach, he pushed his case. “I know you’re thinking about leaving, and I wanted you to know that if you go, you’ll take my heart and soul with you.”

  Tears filled her eyes, her lips quivering as she spoke. “That’s not fair.”

  “I never promised to play fair.” Then he lunged up and buried his cock inside her.

  “Bastian!”

  He heard the rope creak and knew she’d snap it soon. So he twined his fingers with hers and pinned her down. She arched into him, her legs tight around his waist. He plunged into her hard, and she was so wet the glide was smooth perfection. His heart raced, and his lungs worked like bellows as he moved as fast as his wolf speed would allow. She met him thrust for thrust, their movements in sync. It was too good, and he was so hot he was shaking.

  “I love you, Tori.”

  “Oh God.” Her sex clenched around him, her legs cinching tighter. He saw tears quiver on her eyelashes, but then she glanced away and rocked her hips into his. “Please, Bastian.”

  No way was he making it that easy for her. He stopped moving, even though his body screamed in protest. “Tori, look at me.”

  Her eyes focused on him. Conflicting emotion flashed wildly in her gaze, and he watched self-preservation war with something much more tender.

  “I love you.” He thrust into her. Once. Slow, but hard.

  “You can’t—”

  “I love you,” he repeated. And he plunged in again. He wouldn’t let her deny this or run away from it. If he did, she might never stop running. “I love you, my mate. My Tori. I love you.”

  He kept up that rhythm. One full thrust, one declaration of love. Her gaze never left his and he saw her resistance begin to crumble, saw how his words affected her. A tear tracked down her smooth cheek, but she met each of his movements, silently urging him on. He began to pick up speed, and they shuddered and gasped together. Her sex fisted around his cock every time he entered her. She quivered on the edge of climax and he knew it. Need stretched taut between them, almost to a breaking point.

  “Tell me,” he demanded.

  “I love you too,” she sobbed, and shattered in his arms. Her body stiffened, then quaked with orgasm. The sensation of her inner muscles milking his dick sent him careening over the edge after her.

  He spurted into her in hot jets, the climax so intense stars burst behind his eyes. Pinpricks raced over his skin, and he fucked her until he began to soften inside her. A quick yank and he snapped the cord binding her, then he sank down on top of her, shaking in the aftermath.

  A long time later, she sighed. “It doesn’t change anything.
You’re still the Beta, and I’d still have to give up everything in order to be with you.”

  “You’re assuming the life you’d have with me would be worse than the life you’d have on your own.” Or with someone else, but he couldn’t bring himself to say that.

  “Not worse, just not of my choosing,” she corrected quietly. “I can’t just be your mate, I have to be the Beta’s mate too. I’d choose you in a hot second, Bastian. Don’t think I wouldn’t. But a clan leader’s mate?” She shook her head. “Loving you doesn’t suddenly change me into a good candidate for a ruler’s mate. I’m blunt and outspoken, I swear a lot, I have a bullshit tolerance in the negative numbers, and none of those are good qualities for the political lifestyle.”

  “I don’t want you to change.” Never. He loved her exactly as she was.

  “Thank you, but you can’t speak for your whole clan on this one, can you?” Her gaze was serious, but something pained lurked in her expression. “Tell me you honestly think your clan would welcome me with open arms just as I am. Hell, tell me the Alpha alone would.”

  He couldn’t. They both knew it. His father would never tolerate the kind of insolence Tori dished out. And there were those on the Wolf Council who were positively archaic in their views on women. But there was no way in hell Bastian would give her up if she wanted to stay with him.

  “We’ll find a way.” He put as much confidence as he could muster into the words.

  Her gaze was doubtful. “I wish I could believe that.”

  “I love you, Tori.” His tone brooked no argument. “We will find a way to make this work.”

  “I love you too.” A small smile curved her lips. It was sweet and sad at the same time. “But I could use some distracting right now, my mate.”

  So could he. Covering her mouth with his, he gave them what they both wanted. It solved nothing, but he craved the connection and he sensed she did too. He could only hope he was right. That they’d find some compromise, or he feared he’d spend the rest of his days regretting that love just wasn’t enough.

  Four days left. Two weeks had slipped down to one, and now Tori was counting down the days and hours. The Alpha would return today, the leopard leaders would be here the day after and then…she had to make the hardest choice of her life. She tried not think about it, tried to make the most of every second.

  Creativity poured out of her, and she worked on the design for Bastian’s car with more focus than she’d ever had in her life. Because it was for him or because this was the first time it would actually become something real? She wasn’t sure, but she knew she needed to get the ideas in her head onto paper.

  Her life had fallen into a kind of rhythm over the last few days, where she tried not to dwell on how quickly her two weeks of vacation were slipping away. How she’d have to leave Bastian. While he worked on family business or clan affairs, she worked on the sketches or on the Impala. She went into town every other day to pick up parts she needed and when she was there, she’d meet up with a few old bird friends or members of her mom’s family.

  Today, she was having lunch with Sarah Beth. They’d only just met, but Tori already knew she liked the fox-shifter. Tori strode into the little Italian place Bastian had introduced her to the night before. It had been stellar enough that she wanted to try everything on the menu, so a repeat visit was more than welcome.

  “Hey, Tori.” Sarah Beth waved from a booth in the corner.

  Bypassing the seating hostess, Tori joined the fox. “How’s it going?”

  “I’m working on a new house with my brothers. The testosterone was getting pretty thick, so I was glad when you called.”

  She chuckled. “Happy to give you an escape route.”

  “I love the chicken parmesan here.” Sarah Beth set down her menu. “Have you tried it?”

  “Last night was my first time and I had the three-cheese lasagna. Amazing. Chicken parmesan sounds good though.” Tori slapped a hand over her grumbling stomach. “And I’m ready to order if you are.”

  “Bastian’s showing you all the good places, huh?”

  Indeed. They’d spend most of dinner making out at one of the café tables outside. The man had the most amazingly talented mouth she’d ever had the pleasure of kissing. What they’d done in the backseat of the SUV on the way home was enough to make her blush. Damn, but he got to her in the naughtiest possible way. And it seemed to get better every time. She squirmed a bit and made herself tune back in to her lunch companion, who was still talking.

  “There’s supposed to be a new Greek place opening next month. We should check it out. Ajax likes Greek food.”

  Next month? She was supposed to be leaving at the end of this week. A dart of pain shot through her chest at the thought. She didn’t want to leave, but she wasn’t sure she should stay. Her dismay must have shown on her expression because the fox-shifter gave her a knowing glance.

  “You haven’t decided if you’re going to stay yet,” Sarah Beth said quietly.

  “No.”

  “It took me a while to accept my mating too.” She grinned unrepentantly. “I drove Patrick a little crazy.”

  “He was a little crazy anyway.” Tori waved that away. She’d met Patrick Aquinas when she was a teen. He was incredibly hot and as overbearingly alpha male as they came. “Tell him I said hi, will you?”

  “Will do.” Sarah Beth’s expression sobered. “Do your parents know yet? Your mom’s got quite a reputation among the birds. I’ve heard she can be—”

  “She can be. And my dad can be worse.” So could her brothers. Hell, so could Tori. She wasn’t an easy woman. She had attitude out the wazoo and wasn’t afraid to call a spade a spade. People either loved her or hated her, and that went double for the rest of her family. She cleared her throat. “I haven’t told them yet. I’m not ready. Not until I know what I’m going to do.”

  She’d talked to them on the phone, but she didn’t get really specific about why she’d decided to vacation in Tennessee. To relax, to reconnect with her mom’s flock of swans—never the whole truth. She never mentioned Bastian at all, and she felt awful lying to them, even by omission. Her family was usually brutal in its frankness, but now she was being everything except frank.

  “That has to be hard.” Sarah Beth made a face. “My mom would kill me if I kept that big a secret.”

  Tori snorted. “Yup. Just call me deep-fried.”

  They both laughed. The waitress showed up to take their orders and the conversation turned to less controversial topics. Tori had a good time, but she was living in the moment. Not able to make plans too far in the future, not knowing where she’d be.

  After picking up a few car parts she needed, she headed back to Bastian’s. Her mind wouldn’t let the mating problem rest. But that problem had to be weighed against the benefits of keeping Bastian. They loved each other. But it didn’t make their lifestyles any more compatible. Her heart and her logic were locked in an argument that didn’t quit.

  She had to admit that working on cars more was incredibly fulfilling, and having Bastian fulfilled her in other ways. If he were anyone other than the Beta, she honestly didn’t think she’d hesitate. However, clan leader was a lifetime commitment. Shifters weren’t elected like humans. It was who he was, and she didn’t want to change him. So where did that leave her?

  On the other hand, she’d loved her time in Tennessee. The jangling instinct within her that cried for change had dimmed to almost nothing. Sometimes it was surreal, sliding so easily into a life that had never been hers. Like it had just been waiting for her to show up and start living it. But if she did that, would she still be the Tori she’d always been? The simple existence she’d fallen into the past week and a half hadn’t yet sucked her into any of the bullshit of clan politics. She hadn’t been lying to Bastian—her tolerance for bullshit was somewhere between low and nonexistent. With the Leonidases, she’d had some emotional distance. It was just a job she could walk away from any time she wanted. Involved,
but not really invested. That would no longer be an option if she stayed with Bastian. She’d be all in. Was she willing to deal with that? Because it was harder and harder to imagine walking away from Bastian.

  The thoughts nagged at her as she drove back to Bastian’s place. And found that the wolf clan had descended.

  Her political reprieve was over.

  Shit.

  Bastian’s SUV sat in front of the house, but so did two other trucks. This did not bode well. Bastian was far too careful to let people show up unexpectedly when he was keeping something—or someone—secreted at his house. Which meant whoever was here outranked him in the clan. Or was family. Probably both.

  Double shit.

  She eased her foot off the brake and drove her car around to park in the garage. After this, she was probably going to want to bury herself under the hood and not come out for a while. Pulling up the convertible’s top allowed her to stall for a few more minutes, but then she had to face the music.

  Squaring her shoulders, she strode toward the porch steps. A vicious little twist of nerves within her had her wishing she could light up a cigarette and inhale deeply. Nice time for her body to decide that she hadn’t quite kicked the habit.

  She followed voices through the house to the living room. Bastian sat with two other men and a woman. Pausing in the doorway, she took in the scene. Bastian saw her first and something pained flashed in his gaze. His mouth opened to speak, but all conversation stopped as his family rose and turned as a unit to stare at her. Refusing to feel like a pinned bug under a microscope, Tori gazed back just as boldly and lifted a single eyebrow. “Hello.”

  The men looked so much like Bastian, there was no doubt of the relation. One was Michael Lykaios—she’d seen photos of him in the werekind papers. The woman was an older version of Celeste, which meant she was Michael’s human wife, Miranda. Meet the parents time. Greeeat.

  “It’s nice to finally meet you.” A sinfully charming smile curved the lips of the last man. “My older brothers have all had the pleasure before, but I clearly don’t visit my big sister often enough.”