Hunting Season (The Gathering Book 1)

by Shelly Laurenston

  He did, and she slapped herself in the face.

  Yager winced. “Sorry.”

  She rubbed her slightly wounded eye and sighed again. “Look, I know you guys aren’t gunning for us or anything…”

  “See, that’s where you’re wrong.”

  Bright black eyes narrowed. “What?”

  “Maybe we should make a few things clear, Lawrence.”

  Could she kill him? Could she possibly get away with it? Nah. The doorman could I.D. her. “Such as?”

  “What I feel for you has nothing to do with Odin or Skuld or anybody but you and me.”

  “You and me?” What in hell was going on? “Have you lost your mind?”

  He took a step toward her, but she refused to move away from him. She didn’t back away from anything. Never had, never would… unless, of course, it was Will Yager answering his door in a towel, but there was only so much a girl could take in a day.

  “I like you, Neecy. A lot.”

  He liked her? What? Was she back in high school? Next the man would ask her to the prom.

  “That’s great and all, but I don’t know what that has to do with me.”

  Yager sighed. “You are such a difficult woman.”

  “No. Just a confused one. I don’t get you, Yager.”

  “Yeah. I noticed.”

  She ignored him and kept right on talking. “I mean, I don’t exactly see why one of the Odin Chosen would have any interest in a Daughter of Skuld.”

  “Did that hurt?”

  She blinked in confusion. “Did what hurt?” She sounded frustrated even to her own ears. Neecy didn’t get frustrated. Damn him! He kept bringing out all these weird emotions from her and she didn’t like it one goddamn bit.

  “On your throat.” Instinctively her fingers reached out and touched the brand on the left side of her neck. Once you agreed to join her, Skuld marked you as one of The Gathering. From a distance, her brand resembled a tattoo. But up close, you could see the Naudhiz rune for what it was. A five-inch, pitch-black burn mark resembling a slightly askew cross, placed on her flesh by a god.

  “Yes. It hurt. Just like yours did.” She remembered that day better than any other. Yager, all big and half-dressed, looking unbelievably hot—kind of like now. Neecy could see every one of the Valkyries creaming over him, hoping once the Elders completed the ceremony, Yager would take one of them somewhere and fuck her brains out.

  While Neecy was making bets with herself on which slutty Valkyrie Yager would pick, an evil-looking Raven Elder pulled a brand out of a pit fire not five feet from where Yager stood. Pushing his head down, the Elder brutally slammed it against Yager’s neck.

  She waited for it… a cry of pain. A sob of pure torture. Something. But Yager didn’t do anything. He didn’t flinch. He didn’t cry out. He didn’t ball up his fists or plant his feet firmly. The son of a bitch didn’t even blink. He just stood his ground and took it.

  Suddenly she was no longer at the Call of the Leader rite, watching Yager get marked like an animal. Instead, she was waking up in bed with Yager next to her, on his stomach. That damn unruly hair of his partially covering his face. White sheets wrapped low around his narrow hips and what she automatically knew as her little bite marks all over his shoulder and neck. Those long scratches down his back were hers, too. As she stared at him, he opened his eyes, looked at her with a smile and sighed her name.

  Then, like that, Neecy brutally snapped out of her little daydream and found herself back at the ceremony with her panties soaked, her nipples hard as rocks, her heart beating like she’d just run fifty miles in thirty seconds and Wilhelm Yager staring at her. For a moment, she thought she zipped out during the rest of his boring speech and he busted her over it, but then Mike Molinski shoved him and he turned away from her. She realized he’d gone somewhere himself and, to be honest, she was too afraid to ask where that was.

  Never before or since had Neecy been so turned on by anything and it terrified her.

  A year later, and Neecy now watched Yager’s hand reach out, his big fingers sliding across her jaw, settling on her cheek. His thumb dragging across her bottom lip. He did it so casually. Like they’d been lovers for years.

  “Christ, what is with you?” She wished she’d put more force behind that statement. Instead her voice broke and she couldn’t stop staring into his steel grey eyes. His unruly shoulder-length golden brown hair fell across his face as he bent down. She always wanted to comb that hair and never understood why he didn’t. Especially since his out-of-control hair made her absolutely insane. She saw it and her nipples got hard.

  Staring, mesmerized, Neecy watched as those delicious lips of his came nearer, finally settling across her mouth.

  Her body jerked at the contact. She’d kissed quite a few guys, but no one had ever kissed her like this. Slow. Sure. Like he had all the time in the world.

  Yager’s tongue swept across her top lip, then her bottom. Neecy opened her mouth just a bit and in usual Norse fashion, he grabbed the advantage, his tongue sliding in between her teeth. She stared straight ahead, debating how much his kitchen cabinets cost, as the tip of Yager’s tongue rubbed the roof of her mouth.

  She really had no idea what to do with the man. When she came here today, she had it all planned out. She’d mentally prepared herself to deal with him like she would deal with any Raven. She would be in charge, confident, and determined. She wouldn’t let him put her off by calling her “baby” or asking her out on another goddamn date. She’d been so ready to deal with him and his bullshit.

  But she never expected to see him in his way-too-small white towel. All wet and delicious from the shower.

  Damn. Damn. Damn.

  Both his hands framed her jaw as he tipped his head to the other side, his lips slowly taking her, claiming her. She held her tongue back. But he didn’t seem to care. Instead, he used it as an excuse to delve farther.

  She knew she could pull away. She knew she should. He wouldn’t stop her. Not slow-witted, nice-guy Yager with his amazing sense of honor. But the man really knew what he was doing. His tongue curled around hers, coaxing it to join in. That’s when it all changed. They both groaned at the contact and her eyes slid closed as his grip tightened on her jaw, pulling her closer.

  Part of her knew she should be ripping herself away from this man. Ripping herself away and beating the living hell out of him with his very fine Calphalon pots and pans.

  Instead, one hand grabbed his shoulder while the other wrapped around his waist.

  The man felt so good under her hands. All hard muscle and smooth skin. She slid her hand across his ribs, her fingers brushing against the ridges where her talons once tore and ripped into his flesh during a fight. A complete accident, but she couldn’t help but feel Yager somehow now belonged to her.

  She had to stop this. He had to let her go. She had to let him go. But dammit, she wasn’t made of stone. Her last boyfriend had ended their relationship four months ago. He’d turned to her one day and suddenly announced, “You don’t love me at all, do you?” She’d shaken her head and replied, “No.”

  Of course, it wasn’t that big a loss. The entire Jersey Gathering didn’t call him Mr. Tiny Penis Man for nothing.

  Yager, however… well, he was one of Odin’s finest. Every Valkyrie in the tri-state area would give their left tit to be in this man’s bed. Yager was a true warrior and Neecy had seen him grind men into dust at his feet. She’d also seen him save those who couldn’t fight for themselves.

  Now here she stood, in his really nice kitchen, letting him kiss her. And, Jesus Christ, what a kiss.

  Yager leaned into her body as he sucked her tongue into his mouth. As soon as he’d seen her at his front door, he’d been fighting a mighty hard-on. But now he couldn’t hold it back any longer. Not with her soft and pliant in his arms.

  Her tongue slid around the tip of his, then rubbed under it. He thought about her doing that to his cock and he almost exploded.

 
He pulled his mouth away from her, but kept his hands on her face. Christ, he never wanted to let this woman go.

  “Stay with me, Neecy.”

  “What? When?”

  He smiled. Neecy Lawrence was a stone-cold killer and yet she could be such a bubblehead at times. “Now, woman.”

  “I can’t.”

  “Why?”

  She glared at him. “Because I can’t. I got shit to do.”

  “Oh, really? Besides me, what else have you got to do?”

  Neecy turned her head, but not fast enough to hide her smile. “I hate you, Yager.”

  “Liar.”

  He let his hands slip down to her neck, then down her body to her hips. He leaned in and kissed her throat, bit the same spot. She moaned and his cock hardened even more at the sound.

  “Stay, Neecy. Stay with me.”

  “Not on your life, Yager.”

  Rubbing his nose against her neck, “Why?”

  “You know why. Because it will be messy and complicated, and I don’t do messy and complicated. I’ve got priorities and they don’t involve you.”

  A more brutally honest female he’d never met. Still, she made that little speech while grinding her hips against his.

  Yeah. Neecy Lawrence was a difficult woman, but the woman he wanted. He’d have to play this very differently from anything he’d done in the past.

  Because he knew what he wanted. Maybe what he’d always wanted.

  He straightened up and growled, “Twenty-four hours.”

  Frowning, she asked, “Twenty-four hours… what?”

  “I want you for twenty-four hours.” He pulled her hips tight against his; otherwise her constant grinding would have him coming all over her. “I want your adorable body under me, over me, whatever way I can think of, for the next twenty-four hours. Just you and me. Anything I want.”

  Maybe, just maybe if he could come a few thousand times in the next few hours, he could actually focus on something other than those scrumptious tits and that luscious mouth. He’d actually be able to figure out how to keep this woman. Still, he absolutely had to get this out of the way first or both his heads would explode.

  She tried to step away from him, but he held her tight. He didn’t want her to bolt again… Besides, he wasn’t sure he’d closed the window in his bedroom.

  “Anything you want, huh? That must be nice,” she sneered. “And what do I get?”

  “Anything you want. Anything.”

  She looked away, an expression of intense thought on her face. It suddenly hit him that he’d actually gotten her to consider it. He worked hard not to let his surprise show. He didn’t want anything spooking her at this point. So, he waited… and prayed.

  Finally, she looked up at him, her eyes clear… and determined.

  “Twenty-four hours, just to get it out of our systems. Nothing else. Then I go.”

  Holy shit! Okay. Breathe, Yager. Breathe!

  Yager offered his hand to shake. “Deal.”

  She stared at his hand and Yager feared she may have changed her mind, but instead she grabbed hold and gave a firm, determined handshake.

  “Deal.” He released her hand and she continued. “So after this we never discuss this again. I want you never to look at me the way you’re looking at me right now again. This ends here. Now.”

  That wasn’t the agreement they just shook on. But why bog down the moment with little details?

  He shrugged, hoping she wouldn’t push for a verbal yes. He never gave his word unless he meant it. And as far as he was concerned, this wasn’t the end of anything. It was just the beginning.

  Chapter Five

  Christ, what did she just get herself into? What bargain with the devil did she just make?

  All this time Neecy thought Yager was sweet but kind of dumb, as only big Vikings can be. But the grey eyes staring at her this very moment looked far from dumb. More like shrewd and calculating.

  Well, it didn’t matter. She was going to do this because she really wanted to do this. Neecy didn’t let herself “go”. She left that to rich debutantes with trust funds. Where Neecy came from, you let yourself go… bad things happened. But for once, Neecy was going to do something she really wanted to do. And, at the moment, she really wanted to do Yager.

  So she wouldn’t worry about anything long-term or the ripple effects it may have on The Gathering. She didn’t need to worry about any of that. Because after twenty-four hours, it would be over. She’d have gotten Will Yager out of her system for good.

  She smiled at the thought and Yager groaned.

  “That smile of yours gets me every time, Neecy.”

  Startled, Neecy looked up at him. He watched her with that delicious intensity, which immediately made her all hot and jittery. Oh, man, she was in trouble.

  His phone rang, yanking her out of her near-panic, but nothing seemed to be able to make him stop staring at her face.

  “Don’t move.” He reached over and grabbed the phone from its cradle. “Yeah?” The fingers of his free hand caressed her throat and jaw as he stared at her.

  “No. Don’t send him up. Tell Mr. Molinski I’m not feeling well today. Tell him to come by tomorrow around this time. Okay… thanks.”

  He replaced the phone and turned all his attention back to Neecy.

  Neecy shrugged as she glanced around his big kitchen. “So now what?” Good. That sounded confident and almost bored. She would need to stay in charge of this so it didn’t get out of hand. And she would, too. This was “nice guy” Yager—he was no match for her.

  “I need you naked. Now.”

  Uh-oh.

  “Here?”

  He didn’t answer her. Instead, he started pushing her jacket off her shoulders, the backpack going with it.

  “Look, Yager, maybe we should…”

  He kissed her and she realized she’d completely forgotten what she was going to say. How could she think anyway? With his tongue in her mouth and his hands on her breasts.

  Yager pushed up her T-shirt and unhooked her bra in record time. And as soon as those big hands of his grabbed hold of her tits, she was lost. Possibly for good.

  There was a desperation to Yager’s actions that for some unknown reason didn’t turn her off. Maybe it was because she’d seen the man in battle. Yager didn’t get desperate. So if he was feeling desperate, it was because of her.

  Whatever he was feeling now was forcing its way into her. She wanted him inside her. She had to have him inside her. Now. This second.

  Yager knew he should slow down, but he couldn’t. Not when he finally had her. Her skin felt so amazing under his hands. And he had no idea if she knew it or not, but she’d begun moaning softly as he stroked her breasts, the nipples turning hard under his fingers.

  Determined to get her naked as quickly as possible, Yager dropped to his knees in front of her. He unzipped her jeans, pulling them down with her panties. Leaning in, he rested his head against her stomach while he maneuvered off her boots and jeans. He could already smell her arousal and the scent almost made him slam her to the floor. He wanted inside her so bad, he didn’t know what to do.

  Glancing around his kitchen, he realized she stood in front of his butcher block. He easily lifted her up and laid her out on the cold marble.

  “Yager! Yager… wait!”

  He closed his eyes. Goddammit, she was bailing on him.

  “Get this fucking T-shirt off me. It’s strangling me to death.”

  Yager’s eyes popped open and he saw that her T-shirt had somehow twisted tightly around her neck. Leaning over, he pulled it up and off. That’s when he felt her mouth against his neck.

  She leaned up, her teeth grazing his throat as she kissed him. Her hands desperately clutching his shoulders, her legs wrapped around his chest, holding him tightly in place. And that’s when he knew. All these months, he hadn’t been wrong. The vision that rocked his world hadn’t been wrong either.

  Neecy Lawrence wanted him. Based on th
e way her short nails cut deep into his shoulder, she wanted him bad.

  Growling, he pulled away from her only to settle his face comfortably between her legs. He’d spent so many lonely nights dreaming about this. Of course, in his dreams they were on satin sheets in a bed at the Ritz Carlton. But hell, his mighty butcher block would do.

  Yager slid his tongue into her hot pussy. She was already so wet, he was shocked he didn’t drown. As soon as he started licking her, her hands grasped his head, her fingers digging into his scalp. He licked the lips of her pussy, teasing them with the tip of his tongue. Her back arched, so he flicked her clit and she almost shot off the butcher block.

  A lot of the Ravens figured Neecy was an unresponsive, cold bitch. Taking bets on whether she simply lay there during sex, waiting for it to be over, or if she did her best to get the guy off and out so she could sleep or go hunt. Well, he was going to let them keep those delusions. Because all of this, all of her, was his. Not anyone else’s. This woman whose hips continued to surge against his face as she responded to his exploring tongue would always belong to him.

  He went lower, pushing his tongue deep inside her and she groaned, deep and low, making him shudder. Did she even know what she was doing to him? Did she care?

  “God, Yager.”

  No, no. That wouldn’t do. He pulled away, replacing his tongue with a finger. “It’s Will.”

  “Wha…” She stopped to grunt as a second finger joined the first, her eyes closed and her head thrown back. “What?”

  “My name’s Will,” he told her as he steadily fucked her with his fingers. “People I work with call me Yager. For the next twenty-four hours, you call me Will.”

  Her hips surged forward again, now riding his fingers as they’d ridden his tongue. “Whatever,” she gasped out.

  “No. Not whatever.” With his other hand he grasped her clit between thumb and forefinger. “Will. Say it.”

  Neecy tightened her fingers in his hair, unwilling to let him go. “Will. Fine. Will. Just don’t stop. God, please don’t stop!”

  He didn’t. Instead he returned his tongue to her clit as he kept his fingers pumping away inside her. Her groans became louder and louder as her body began to shake. When he knew she was close, he gently grasped her clit between his lips and sucked hard. Her soft groans became a hoarse shout as she came on his face, every muscle in her body tight.