Falke’s Renegade

by Anna Leigh Keaton

  Damn, the man looked good in nothing but gym shorts and a plaster cast. His sleep-tousled locks softened his hard features and made him appear more approachable, more...adorable.

  He glanced at his bag again. “Am I going somewhere?”

  “I’m taking you to a hotel.”

  He smiled. “Ready to get rid of me already?”

  “No,” she said too quickly, then met his gaze and frowned at the humorous glint in his eye. Was he glad to be getting away from here...or her? “I mean, I figure you’d want some privacy and a chance to heal in peace, away from...all of this drama.”

  “Ah...the drama.” He nodded and stared at her.

  With a shrug, she handed him his toothbrush, zipped the duffle and slid it toward the door. “I left a change of clothes on the chair by the bathroom door. Cereal okay for breakfast?”

  “Sure.”

  “I’ll have a bowl ready for you when you come out.”

  Watching him make his way into the bathroom, she sat on the foot of the bed and wondered if she was doing the right thing.

  She wanted to get to know him better, but doing so in her home surrounded by the watchful eyes of her fathers and brothers created more stress than she could deal with.

  He was moving with more confidence today. In another day or so, she’d be able to remove the cast, and he’d leave. That thought bothered her in more ways than one.

  She didn’t want to see him go, but that neediness made her edgy, angry with herself. Javier was a stranger who’d suffered the loss of his mate. Past hurts that tugged at her heart and helped her better understand his tough façade, the gruff demeanor and volatile explosions of anger.

  He was hurting and alone as far as she knew, but he was also a grown man with a life to live in another country. He was not a stray pet she could beg her parents to let her keep.

  The night before, his face-off with her brother had worried, surprised and irked her. Javier opened up to Axel with things he’d been unwilling to share with her. A hint of jealousy still burned. She wanted him to herself, to reach beneath that crusty exterior to gain his trust, to rekindle the fire he’d shown for too brief a moment during their first kiss. But he’d been dreaming of another woman. His deceased mate. Isabela...not Heidi.

  That reality was the one thing she couldn’t deny, couldn’t get out of her mind.

  So when her fathers suggested that perhaps it was time to move him into town and out of her bedroom, she didn’t argue.

  But she did fear the move would speed his departure from her life for good—something that would surely please the males of her family, but left her feeling unbalanced and confused.

  * * *

  “Well, here you go,” she said, dropping his duffle on the luggage stand just inside the room’s closet. She’d driven him to a hotel on the outskirts of Leavenworth, stood by while he checked in and then helped carry his bag to the room. Although the Bavarian Inn was closer to her clinic, it was also where Ritchie worked—not a good idea to put Javier under the same roof as the man who shot him.

  He eased into the room and let the door close behind him.

  “I guess I should go.” She had no further reason to stay other than a desperate longing to remain.

  His gaze held hers. “You guess?” He moved closer, making her take a few steps backward, farther into the room.

  Her heart rate sped, and she fluttered her hand toward the bed. “I mean, you probably want to rest.”

  He shook his head, dropped his crutch and closed the space between them. He didn’t even wince as he put weight on his casted leg. “I slept well last night. More rest is the last thing I...want.”

  The backs of her knees collided with the edge of the king-sized bed. “What...what do you want?”

  “You.” He reached up and cupped her nape, pulled her forward, and his lips covered hers for a breath-stealing kiss that made her skin tingle from the top of her head to the tips of her toes. She had to grab hold of his thickly muscled arms to keep from falling as her knees threatened to give way. When he at last pulled back, he murmured against her mouth, “What do you want, Heidi?”

  No question in her mind what she wanted. She fisted his shirt, jerking it from his shorts. “You.”

  With a sexy chuckle, he spun her around and fell backward onto the bed, pulling her down over him. “I am all yours.”

  Heidi straddled him as she yanked his shirt off over his head and then bent down for another hard, lust-filled kiss. Their tongues dueled, breaths mingled, and he drank in her moan of pleasure even as he tore at her clothes. In seconds, her blouse and bra were gone. Her sandals dropped to the floor, and his hands were shoving her panties down with the cotton skirt she wore. She continued to kiss him, caress the incredibly hard, rippled planes of his chest and abs, his biceps and shoulders.

  God, he smelled wonderful—wild musk, all natural, all male. She buried her nose against his neck and inhaled deeply, wanting to imprint his scent on her brain.

  His flesh was smooth dark silk over iron. His kisses, moist and hot, promised ecstasy to come. Her pussy grew slick with anticipation as she clawed at the zipper to his khaki shorts. With an impatient growl that made her giggle, he nudged her hands away to complete the task, freeing an impressive erection. She reached for his cock, but before she could take time to enjoy the feel of him, he lifted her with both hands and slid into her to the hilt with one incredibly hard stroke.

  “Oh, God,” she gasped on an inadequate gust of air. He filled her like she’d never been filled. Thick, solid heat penetrated her to the core, and she trembled with erotic ecstasy. She swore if he moved an inch she’d spontaneously combust.

  “Chata, tu cuerpo se siente tan bueno.”

  “What?” She looked into his eyes. The dark lust she witnessed made breathing impossible. No man had ever gazed at her the way Javier did in that moment, as if she were the one thing he needed to survive.

  He shook his head, lifted her by the hips only to pull her down harder than before, drawing a gasp from her. In a hard voice, he demanded, “Ride me.”

  His words were all she needed to let go of the last bit of her self-imposed restraint. She rose up and thrust down, taking him balls deep, making herself cry out at the pleasure-pain of his length striking her so deep.

  “Again,” he growled.

  She rose up and bounced down onto him, grinding against his groin, taking all of him again and again as heat spread through her, her orgasm building faster than ever before.

  “Yesss...” His fingers dug into her skin.

  “I don’t...want to...hurt you,” she said amid pants of exertion, though she didn’t slow her pace. She wasn’t sure she was capable of stopping now. The sexy slap, slap, slap of her ass against his thighs pushed her, made her hotter, made her muscles clench around his thick cock.

  “You won’t.” He slid his palms up her sides to cup and squeeze her breasts, thumbing her tightened nipples. “Don’t stop.” His hips thrust beneath her in powerful contrast to her downward motions, and she groaned.

  “That’s it, chata. Harder.” He popped her on the ass and squeezed her butt cheek, making her shout in surprise, before he drew her head down with his other hand to claim her mouth once more.

  Her heart raced, her muscles burned, and damp heat simmered inside her until at last she burst with a climax so strong her body shuddered from its impact. She screamed into his mouth as she rode him hard through the explosive orgasm, gripping his shoulders to keep from flying away on a cloud of ecstasy unlike anything she’d ever experienced.

  He wrapped his strong arms around her like unbreakable steel, buried his face in her hair and held her tight as he pulsed inside her, groaning low and long as he too joined her in paradise.

  “Wow.”

  Heidi’s panted exclamation pulled a groan f
rom Javier, even as his heart tried to hammer out of his chest. Slowly he eased his hold around her and ran his hands over the soft flesh of her back.

  “Mmm. That feels good,” she murmured as she snuggled into him, resting her face in the crook of his neck and winding her arms around his shoulders.

  She felt good. More than good. Almost...perfect. Never had he had a woman take all he had to give. She was not afraid of his wilder needs. When he told her to give him more, she had without question, without hesitation. Even Isabela—

  No, he would not think of his wife while in bed with another woman. It was disrespectful to them both. He could only conclude that Heidi’s acceptance of him and his sexual demand was due to the shifter blood running through her veins. Although she might not be able to shift, she was just a little bit wild herself.

  The thought made him smile.

  She sighed, a sound of pure contentment. Her feather-soft hair tickled his cheek and chin. Her sweet scent filled his senses. Her slick pussy, still surrounding his softening cock, fluttered every now and then, and he vowed it would not be long until he filled her again.

  “How’s your leg?” Heidi asked, her voice soft and a little sleepy.

  Truthfully, it ached some, but he would not admit this to her. He didn’t want her to move. He was healing well and would be ready to leave within forty-eight hours, in his estimation. With a non-committal sound, he ran his hands up her back, into her hair, and lifted her head. “Kiss me.”

  She did, without hesitation, her tongue slipping between his lips to stroke his. Her cunt spasmed around him, and his cock jumped. When she laughed into his mouth, there was no way to keep in his smile of pleasure. Perhaps he’d needed this respite from the hunt, the chase, the mission that had consumed him for the past two years. He was not finished, and as soon as he could drive he would leave Leavenworth, leave Heidi. Until then, he would drown himself in her and let her heal his wounds. All of them.

  Perhaps he would never be a father, a husband, but maybe he could enjoy the life he had. Heidi’s fathers had spoken of going on with life after losing their woman. Once Durchenko was dead and buried, Javier could return to a normal life, a job that occupied his time, a woman warm and willing to share his bed. Some woman who, like Heidi, would accept his needs. With no mate, no siblings, he wouldn’t need to ever reveal his true self.

  He did not wish to replace his Isabela; that was not something that could ever be done. But now he realized that if he were to continue living after he’d dispatched Durchenko, he could not do it alone.

  He was no rogue. He had loved. Perhaps he’d never love anyone the way he had his mate, but lying here, wrapped in Heidi’s warmth, he knew if he had to live out his life alone, without the softness of a woman’s body, of a woman’s heart, there would be no point in breathing.

  Heidi slowly pulled away from his mouth and, resting her forearms on his chest, gazed down at him with those beautiful eyes. “You’re hard again.”

  “I am.” He cupped her ample, lovely ass cheeks in his hands and pressed her against him. “And you are very wet.”

  She grinned and dipped her head but brought her gaze right back to his. “You make me that way. Just a kiss from you and...” With a little shake of her head, she laughed. “You’re different from anyone I’ve known.”

  “Because I am the only shifter you have met you are not related to?”

  “No. Yes, that’s true. But no, that’s not the reason.” She skimmed her fingers over his chin and down his neck. “You’re very handsome.”

  “There are no handsome men in all of Leavenworth?”

  She laughed, and the sweet sound made him smile.

  “You are also very large, very muscular...” She ran her hand over his shoulder and squeezed, “...and have a sexy accent.”

  He smirked. “Please. Continue.”

  “You also aren’t afraid of...” Her smile faded, and she swallowed hard. With a slight shrug, she said, “My family intimidates most men.”

  “You think they do not intimidate me?” He touched her cheek with the backs of his fingers.

  Her brow wrinkled. “But you faced down Axel without so much as a flinch.”

  A soft chuckle rumbled in his chest, and he pushed her wild mane over her shoulder. “Ah, chata, I am injured. If Axel, or even the smallest of your brothers wished to tangle with me, I fear I would lose. That does not mean I will willingly submit or dare admit to them that I am unable to stand against a fight. I would fight to the death even knowing the outcome would not be in my favor. It is our way. And you, silly woman, should never have tried to come between us. You could get yourself hurt doing that.”

  She tweaked his nipple, hard, making him jump and grab her wrist. “Don’t you call me silly. Axel’s my brother. He wouldn’t have hurt me. You two were facing off like a couple of tomcats fighting over a dead fish.”

  Surely someone brought up in that household would understand the hierarchy. Understand why he refused to accept Axel as his alpha, when he was one in his own right.

  Then again, perhaps not. “Did your brothers ever fight for dominance?”

  Still scowling at him, she pressed her lips together in thought. “They used to fight a lot when they were younger. And last year there were some fights when Beth came into the family, but that was because she could have outted us.”

  “I do not understand what you mean by ‘outted.’”

  “She’s a geneticist specializing in big cat research.”

  Javier’s lips parted in surprise.

  “Yeah. It was pretty tense for a while, but she came through, saved Sindre’s life and hid the truth of the family.”

  “That is how you found out I was not just a jaguar.”

  “Right. Any big cat blood she can get her hands on, she has to run through her computer. Your chromosomes came back like my brothers’, not like a jaguar’s—or any other cat.”

  “I am lucky I was shot in your town.”

  “Yes, very lucky.” She placed a soft kiss on his jaw. “But you’re not hard anymore.”

  “Perhaps you should do something about that,” he suggested, suddenly feeling very fortunate indeed. Her inner muscles fluttered around his cock, and he sighed. “You are a very sexy woman, Heidi Falke.”

  She nibbled his earlobe. “Touch me, Javier. Touch me and say my name again in that sexy accent.”

  He cupped her ass in his hands and pressed her down, grinding her clit against his pubic bone. She gasped. “Heidi,” he whispered, kissing her cheek. “Heidi.” He kissed her neck. “Heidi.” He sucked her flesh between his teeth and nipped, the odd urge to bite down harder, to mark her, nudging at him.

  No.

  He would never mate again.

  He resisted by moving back to her mouth and kissing her. His cock surged to fullness when her moans filled his ears, and she gripped his neck while thrusting her hips against him.

  “Ohhh... Javier....”

  Cast be damned, he rolled with her, pinning her beneath him. He gripped her thighs and jerked them up against his sides so he could take her more fully.

  She cried out and dug her nails into his shoulders at the same time wrapping her legs around his waist.

  “You will take more.” He bit at the fragrant, tender flesh of her shoulder, the side of her neck.

  “Yes... More...”

  He slammed into her. The bed knocked against the wall. She circled her hips as if trying to get even more of him.

  Madre de Dios. She was perfect. He fucked her as he’d never fucked another woman. Hard, deep, watching her face for signs of pain, of discomfort. But when her eyes squeezed tight, her mouth opened on an almost silent scream and her cunt muscles pulsed around him, he knew he pleased her.

  “Again,” he demanded the instant her body began to relax fro
m the climax. “Again.” Reaching beneath her, he grabbed her ass in one hand and squeezed.

  “I...can’t... Oh...God....”

  He pressed his middle finger against her anus.

  “Javier! What are you—”

  He drove into her fast, their flesh slapping, sweat slicking their bodies. “You will come again, Heidi.” He pressed his finger past the tight ring of muscle into her ass.

  Heidi bucked beneath him, and she screamed, every muscle in her body tightening with the force of the climax. Her cunt squeezed him, and he shouted. He saw stars dance around beautiful Heidi’s face. Blood roared in his ears. Still he drove into her, harder, faster, pumping his finger into her ass.

  “Please,” she screamed.

  “Again!”

  On a harsh sob, she thrust against him, seemingly out of control, but her pussy contracted and she gasped. Tears streamed from her eyes to her hair, and she gripped his shoulders until her body went lax beneath him, her chest rising and falling, her heart thudding against his chest.

  Madre de Dios, she would kill him before he was healed enough to leave.

  Chapter Nine

  Javier’s stomach tightened, his instincts buzzing that something was very, very wrong as he nudged the door open with the toe of his boot. Another smell hit him then. Rank, rancid. Some kind of animal, but nothing he’d ever scented before.

  Silence from within the house. He pushed the door open farther. Damn, he wished he had his sidearm on him. Isabela didn’t like weapons in the house, and only Juan was allowed to wear one home, since he was with the police department.

  The scent of death grew stronger as Javier carefully made his way through the house, keeping walls to his back, checking each room he passed. That scent, urine, he now realized, nearly gagged him. It seemed to cover the furniture.

  A bloody paw print in the hallway. Not his brother’s. Too small, the pads too round.

  What the fuck?

  Their bedroom door was open, and the sight that greeted him made him turn away as he gagged.