by Scott, Talyn
Gage MacGelton was building up a fiery, hormonal passion she had no intention of releasing with a total stranger. She pushed at him, but he didn’t budge. He was frustrating her, but Azure didn’t seriously think he would hurt her. Considering his strength and what he’d said earlier, he could’ve already accomplished that quite easily. And although he exuded some type of unnamed power, she felt certain he didn’t use it against women. He just didn’t have that cruel vibe. More than likely, he was a successful man used to getting what he wanted – the sex he demanded, and probably thought she was playing hard to get, maybe into the rough stuff. He could think about that all he wanted to. Right after, she walked out the door.
Through all her squirming around to get away from his embrace, she worked herself into a creamy lather. He inhaled sharply, and she could have sworn another electrical jolt ran from his body, this time, right into hers.
“If I only asked for a full kiss,” he whispered softly, back at her ear, flicking the tip of his tongue deep inside, “would you give it to me?”
That gruff whisper sounded darkly familiar. “A kiss?”
“Um hmm.” He raked his nails up the back of her thigh, and her breath hissed between her teeth. “Azure Malloy, even weirdoes are apt to go mad if not permitted a simple kiss.”
“I didn’t exactly say you were a weirdo.”
“I think you did.”
“I didn’t mean to.”
“Prove it,” his low gravelly voice startled her as much as his roaming fingers did. Finding her panties, he nudged the lacy edge to the side just as Jayce misted to the opened door, one foot planted on the balcony and one in Gage’s new bedroom.
Azure raised her hips to him, her low breaths stroking his skin in the most delicious way. “Gage?” It was a question. She needed assurance, afraid he’d cooled down on her when she so blatantly needed release.
Nerve endings were jumping all over the place, calling him to pleasure his female, but something was wrong. Majorly wrong. Otherwise, Jayce wouldn’t bother him in this moment. “Love, look at me.”
She blinked her golden eyes open. He gave her a few seconds to get her bearings, waiting for that tell-tale flush humans always gave when they’d been caught doing something impish. She wouldn’t understand that her fierce attraction to him was wholly natural to her inner Were, and now wasn’t the time to explain. “I have to speak with my business associate,” he spoke softly.
“Oh,” she gasped, lurching forward to see Jayce standing a few feet away. “I didn’t know anyone was up here.”
“You guys didn’t hear me come in.” Jayce cleared his throat and reached over to take her trembling hand.
In that simple clasp, palm on palm, Jayce was reading her genetics in the way of his Alpha, and placing her under the pack’s protection. Gage had drunk from her, but he hadn’t had the right opportunity to mate her. And hopefully, when the time came to claim her fully, she would be staring back at him with passion-darkened eyes, thrashing as she enjoyed his branding.
“A-Azure Malloy,” she said quietly, not making eye contact. In natural deference to her Alpha, but she didn’t understand that inborn instinct.
“Jayce Jordan, nice to meet you.”
“Of…oh, you’re the Jordan in Jordan Marketing,” he voice strengthened with her enthusiasm, but she still didn’t meet his eyes.
“Oh, don’t listen to anything you’ve heard about me, especially from Gage.”
She laughed at that while easing off the chaise a little too slowly, hitching her purse over her shoulder. “You played pro-football.”
“Guilty.” He shifted, signaling for Gage to get her moving. “You enjoy football?”
“I used to.”
“When you decide to like it again, I’ll take you guys to a game along with my family.” He stepped back, looking pointedly at Gage. “Heath is downstairs. Maybe she would like a tour of the new digs. That is, unless you’ve already shown her around.”
“Haven’t had the chance,” Gage said, pushing down a frustrated growl and plastering on a smile for Azure’s sake.
“I’ll head back down.” She walked across the floor with a noticeable limp, one Gage hadn’t picked up on.
When she was out of earshot, Jayce said, “I don’t like that limp. She’s weak, shouldn’t be wearing those shoes when she can’t walk straight.”
Gage frowned. “Wonder if that’s from birth?”
“No way, man, I scent fresh injuries and the slightest dram of immortal blood, fresh, and definitely not hers.”
“But I drank from her. I didn’t notice.”
“Not when you’re pumped for mating, ready to fly with her body as your anchor.” He clapped a large palm over Gage’s shoulder. “Whatever happened to that leg of hers was bad, and I suspect a Species vampire donated some of his juice to patch her up. Why? Might have something to do with Sayer.”
“She was asking about him.”
“Well, she can do more than ask. Soon. He’s on his way home, heading to Miami as we speak. In fact, he’s about ten minutes away.”
“That’s the emergency?” Gage barked, irritated that he’d been interrupted over something so trivial as compared to his initial mating with Azure.
Jayce smiled broadly, clearly enjoying himself. “It is when he’s your co-mate.”
Chapter Ten
Gage’s beast dangled on the very end of full transformation, teetering back and forth. He had his girl right underneath his nose, and what was he doing? Heading out for the afternoon so that he could speak with Sayer in order to settle matters between them. He rubbed the back of his neck, releasing a sigh of pure frustration. “Oh, Azure, the things I want to do to you…”
He walked the service hallway, listening as she knocked around in the kitchen - her kitchen. Obviously struggling and needing his help but she refused to ask for it. God gave him a stubborn female. And all Gage thought was, bring it on.
Padding along quietly, he couldn’t recall the last time he walked in any of his homes since he always misted around, but making minute changes in his lifestyle was an easy adjustment. Keeping his head from between Azure’s thighs was the hardest thing he’d ever done, meaning he’d pretty much reached the end of his dwindling patience. Holding in another frustrated sigh, he placed a palm on a column that separated the kitchen from the service corridor.
“I’ll have it cleaned up in a second,” Azure said nervously with a bag in one hand while chasing melting ice cubes across the tile with the other. The poor girl had been making an ice pack for herself.
“Please, get off your knees,” he pleaded desperately because she seriously needed to get off her knees. There was only so much a gentleman could take, especially considering the gentleman in question wasn’t human. Sporting a growing erection, he stepped inside, rubbing a palm over his aching chest to stave off his gnawing desire. “I’ll take care of it.”
“I clean my own messes.”
He gazed down at Azure, lowering himself beside her, discretely adjusting a throbbing aggravation in his pants. “You’re hurting.” And I’m so incredibly hungry. Walk away before you find out what I am.
She glared at him. Obviously upset from Jayce walking in on them. “I don’t want your help,” she said in clipped tones. “Thank you… anyway.”
“What do you want?” He placed his hands on the floor on either side of his knees, willing heat into the surrounding tile, effectively melting the remaining ice as well as drying the surface. Simple Were magic he’d learned as a kid. Azure’s forehead creased before she tugged on the front of her blouse, lifted the neckline, and blew on her breasts. She taunts me. After taking a couple of long seconds prying his eyes from her creamy swells, he studied her ankle. Somewhere along the way she tossed off those dreadful shoes. Pink scars were already fading, a blessing from the immortal part of her body that was, indeed, werewolf. But he couldn't figure out her initial injury. The scary part? She looked as if she'd been bitten, many times over. And when
he found out who was responsible, he would peel his or her flesh from their bones with his canines. Slowly. Over years. A torture he never tired of inflicting on the cruelly deviant.
“I want to go home.”
Never. “Your things are no longer there.”
“I don't normally act like a slut.”
“Thanks for the information, Azure, but I'm not too worried about your earlier behavior. I was with you, remember? Two people came together with a common goal. We want each other. I'm not ashamed to admit that, and you shouldn't be either.” With the reluctant sigh, he asked, “In the short time you’ve been here, have I treated you badly?” I want to spoil you.
“No. It’s not that.” She glanced around, frowning at the drying floor. “You can get anyone you want, and here I sit. For what reason, I mean, what’s really in it for you? I feel as though there's something you are not telling me.”
There was a monumental something he wasn't telling her. On top of that, she had issues he needed to address. “A stupid man must have slammed your self-esteem with the efficiency of a sledge hammer,” he summed her up, watching her gape at his words. And right then and there, he knew she’d been dumped. Recently. But he refused to back down. Why should her stubbornness – her very backbone – take a nosedive over some idiot stomping her heart? “Why do women automatically assume they are to blame when a man goes to another’s bed?” Apart from their bodies, he still couldn’t figure human females out. “I’ll never understand your logic.” Full-blooded, werewolf females would never make such a assumption. They knew better. “Azure Malloy, sometimes men are assholes.”
She stammered, flushing beautifully, tempting him to redden her ass with a lover’s spanking. “I don’t think there’s anything wrong with me.”
“Yes,” he refuted her, “you do.”
She shook her head numbly. “You know nothing about me.”
He lifted his hands from the floor, boldly placing them on either side of her hips. “Ah, my sweetness, I know things about you that you don’t.” She didn’t blink at that, instead, choosing to watch him - watching her, albeit warily. Her breathing picked up, her chest rising and falling as if she’d ran a marathon or was afraid. Very afraid. Or could she be aroused? He’d been holding his breath since he neared her, keeping the Beast at bay by not scenting what was his. The visual before him was hard enough.
“How can you say something like that?” She swallowed hard, putting some distance between their bodies by leaning against the cabinet. Not making any attempt to rise, maybe because of her pain, but he doubted it. More than likely her legs were shaking. And my Beast senses weakness.
“I see beauty you apparently don’t. I see a passion you’re hiding. I see acute physical needs you’re fighting by the hour. Embarrassment shouldn’t stand in the way of nature. Why deny something that feels so good?” He leaned in after her, pressing his lips against her ear and brushing her tiny lobe with every word, “I see an extraordinary woman who’s meant for a man like me. In every way, I want you. You can’t deny it, Azure. You want me, too.”
She shook her head weakly, blindly reaching for the countertop behind her in an attempt to pull herself up. But she still didn't make it. After spotting her beaded nipples, he knew she was fully aroused, but he refused to take a breath. Not when he had to leave in just a few minutes.
“Azure,” he purred, rubbing the tip of his nose across her jawline, “I consider this day as the start of our new relationship.” And you need to put out.
Her breathing kicked up, short pants shaking her little frame. She was at a loss for words, so he decided to press his advantage. He couldn’t imagine spending another moment without crawling inside her skin. One way or another tonight was the night.
Gage wrapped his larger hand around her smaller one. It was ice-cold from clutching her makeshift ice-pack. After removing it from her hand, he brought her freezing fingers to his mouth. While never taking his eyes from hers, he kissed all five fingertips. When his lips moved over her palm, he gently nipped the tender skin between her thumb and index finger, giving her an inclination of what he did to do to the tasty flesh between her neck and shoulder. When he had marked her, he bit hard and deep.
Staring in her tilted, golden eyes, he made her a promise. A whisper from his Beast meant only for her ears. “I can make you forgot any men who’ve come before me. I can make you forget yourself. I can bring you into a state of raw consciousness where my skin against yours is more necessary than your next breath.”
“Y-you can’t possibly do that.” Though her look said she wanted him to try.
His fingers tightened on hers. “We’re going to enjoy changing your mind.”
“We?”
A slip up. “You and I.”
“Tell me -” She trailed off when he parted the bag and slowly placed a still-frozen ice cube between his front teeth, easily biting down since its temperature didn’t affect him. Closing his lips around the cube, he pressed it against her chin before trailing it down the front of her throat, circling it in that little dip separating her clavicles.
Twirling. Twirling. Twirling.
Her poor nipples must be painful, he thought. The way they jutted out for attention. Gage decided they would have to wait until he heard at least one pleading groan from Azure’s stubborn throat. Slowly, he wended his way back to her lips.
Swiping. Swiping. Swiping across the seam of her mouth until his tenacity paid off when she parted her reddened lips. I want the same down below, my mate. Her eyes went wide once he pushed the ice over her tongue, but she didn’t think to stop him. “Suck it,” he ordered around the cube, never letting it leave the confines of his teeth.
Her first slight moan had pushed its way into his mouth before she sucked greedily. Right away, her hunger speared him, driving his dick up into a painful spike pressing against his zipper. Her shoulders slowly unknotted, and he sensed that she wanted to submit, but needed more. More would chip away at those stark inhibitions, which were keeping Azure from hurling over passion’s edge. I’ll serve you up some more.
She gasped when the cold became too much, so he lost the ice and slanted his mouth right over hers – their first real kiss. The press of her soft lips made him burn until he drew in a long breath of air. A seriously wrong move.
Mine, his werewolf snarled, slamming into the front of his skull with a vengeance.
Soon, more time is needed, Beast.
A low growl erupted from his chest, rattling his body and hers as he urged her mouth to part the way it had earlier for the ice. Need me. He ravaged her tongue, sucking madly, contrasting the bitter cold with his fire. Feel me burn for you. As he warmed her thoroughly, he thrust against her tongue, retreating, extending, and swirling. She mimicked his rhythm. Shyly at first, but she caught on. When her hand reached up and clasped his shoulder, clinging, he gripped her tightly, marveling at how perfect she felt.
He sank deeper, lowering her to the floor without regard for where they were or even her comfort. It was too late for him – for her. The time had come, and he wouldn’t make it to a bed to soften his blows. Her tongue was still seeking him out as she uttered baby moans from deep within her body.
Must fill her need, his beast screamed, rattling the inside of his head.
Happening now, he snapped. Back off! No transformation!
Suddenly, her dress was around her waist. Maybe it happened when she slid on the floor, maybe his hands were faster than he realized. His cock was jutting from his pants, semen now streaming over the rows of silver. But he was careful not to give her a first glimpse right now, no point in scaring her away so quickly. Gage lined up the underside with her needy clit, rubbing her rhythmically through the thinnest panties he’d ever felt as his licked his new mark on her throat. He was so proud of that damned thing, wanted the world to see it. I branded her as mine. She raised her sweet ass, matching him grind for grind. The heat building up inside her fisting walls, more of her groans reached his ear, and he k
new she was going to gush deliciously.
As her strangled cries grew louder, he grazed his mark with his roughly whiskered chin, stinging her to the point of pain, but not going over. One last roll with his piercings digging into her bundle of nerves and she froze stared at him unblinkingly for no more than two seconds before she jolted underneath him repeatedly. Arching her back until he thought her spine would break. The most beautiful thing he had ever seen or even felt. Another two seconds passed, and then her musk perfumed the air with her cries. A scent claimed by his Beast. One he savored. Nipping a line between her mark and her ear, he whispered. “Think about how good we feel together, Azure. How perfectly we fit.”
“Gage,” Heath said, shuffling behind them. “I think you’re forgettin’ our meetin’.”
Oh, he’d forgotten alright. And now he had to show up with a fucking two by four in his pants.
Jayce ordered an entire bottle of Pinot Noir for himself, and every meat dish off the minimalistic menu opened before him. Only then, did his eyes move to Heath.
“I’ll be havin’ the same, lass.” Heath flashed despondent, silver eyes, probably looking for more of a selection than what was offered. But this place was trendy. A restaurant that was not truly meant for dining, but used as a central hub to climb social ladders by networking with those who graced it – a place at which to be seen. An open area where rogue vampires wouldn’t dare start anything and that was just what they were counting on. “Just fetch me ale instead of wine. Your largest ale, that is.” Curling his lip back at Jayce in a ‘what true male drinks wine’ kind of way, he then added, “And I would have some fresh fish on the side.”
“We have fourteen brands of beer on tap,” the server said, licking her lips in blatant invitation.
“The darkest you have, sweeting,” he said in the darkest voice he had.
It took her a second to remember her next question. “W-what type of fish would you like? We have a separate sushi menu, but I recommend our seared tuna encrusted in black sesame seeds with a side of pickled ginger. It’s the best in Dade County.”
