Caelan stretched his legs out. He needed her again and had a feeling he would be in this constant state of arousal forever. With a click, he released his phone from its belt clip and punched in Eli’s number.
“Yeah,” his brother answered.
“E, I’m at Tieran’s.”
“You don’t sound too happy about that.”
“You ever fucked a woman unconscious?”
Eli barked out a laugh. “Once, but then, she was dead drunk. Might have been the alcohol and not my sexual expertise.”
“Hmm.” Caelan stabbed his fingers through his hair.
“I guess she’s good with you?”
“I didn’t get a chance to tell her.”
The silence on the other end of the line spoke volumes.
“You mated with her, possibly impregnated her, but didn’t tell her yet?” Eli’s voice was ripe with disbelief.
“Pretty much.”
“Damn, Cael. I thought we agreed a long time ago, when we found our mates we’d treat them with more respect. At least give them the chance to understand what we are before going on to more drastic measures.”
“Yeah, we did, and when you meet your mate, you can tell me how that goes, because I’m telling you, you won’t be able to keep your dick zipped up either.”
Eli snorted. “Okay, so why exactly are you calling me during your post-coital bliss?”
“She’s fucking dead to the world, E. Did you get that, or did you think I was bragging about my prowess in bed?”
“No need to shout, I got you. Tell me what happened.”
Caelan winced and shot a look at Tieran. She was still out even though he was shouting. “Christ. I don’t even know. She came, I came, then bam, she’s gone. Her eyes rolled back, her head lolled to the side, and her body went all rigid. It was like some kind of seizure or something. It took me almost a full minute to shake her out of it.”
“Then what?”
“She starts pushing me away, telling me to leave. Panicking almost.”
“Where is she now?”
“Bed.” He had to stare hard at the blanket draped across her chest to make sure she was still breathing. She hadn’t moved yet.
“Damn.”
“What do you mean, ‘damn’?”
“Cael, another file came through the fax a little while ago. A buried one someone went to a lot of trouble to hide. I was kind of hoping she’d tell you about it first. When you put her name in the system, it alerted someone in Florida.”
“So?”
Tieran shifted on the bed, the first movement she’d made since he laid her there. He reached over and re-covered her with the dislodged blanket.
“So she was involved in a serial rapist case down there when she was younger.”
“Fuck. No.” Not his mate. Please God don’t let that have happened to the woman he’d just made love to. The woman who’d shown no inhibitions in letting him fuck her.
“No, not that,” Eli spat. Caelan could almost see Eli’s hand dismissing him and let out a breath of relief. “But she was almost instrumental in putting the bastard behind bars.”
“How are you almost instrumental?”
“She’s psychic, Cael. She has visions, sees things somehow.”
Caelan shot out of the chair and stared down at his mate. Is that what had happened? Had she had a vision of some sort as he ejaculated deep inside her pussy? It appeared they both had secrets, which should make his a tiny bit easier for her to accept.
A cold blast of air pressed against his back. Caelan jerked around, looking for a possible source. It wasn’t the first time he’d been bombarded by an unexplained sensation inside Tieran’s home. Drafty fucking house, he decided when he couldn’t come up with a source. He turned back to Tieran. Her face was drawn tight with whatever was troubling her.
He found himself rubbing unconsciously at another set of goose bumps attacking the bare flesh of his arms. Had she had some sort of vision? About him? If not, then what?
He moved to stand by the window where he saw a man walking a dog on the sidewalk. The dog lifted its head and stared at Caelan, its tail wagging ferociously, before letting out a bark in greeting.
“You still there, Bro?”
Caelan cleared his throat. “Yeah.”
“The police didn’t believe her. She took a lot of heat, so much that her parents moved back here, where her grandmother lived. Florida police eventually arrested the man she’d told them about, but they couldn’t find her and closed the case without talking to her again.”
“Son of a bitch. Then maybe she already knows I’m a shifter.”
His breath puffed out in a neat white cloud, frosting the window and making him drop the phone. It was seventy fucking degrees outside! And not much cooler in the house. No way should he be able to see his goddamn breath!
“Cael. Cael?”
“What?” he hissed, picking up the phone and putting it back to his ear.
“Cael, if she is even halfway able to see our Mate Killer, and he somehow finds out, she’s as good as dead.”
“I’m aware of that. Fuck! E, I need you to bring me some things. It looks like I’m going to be here awhile.”
“What?” Eli sounded surprised.
“Would you have me leave her here unprotected?” Caelan growled. What was his brother thinking?
“No. Jesus, that didn’t come out right. Maybe you could just get it over with and tell her about us. Then get her the hell out to the ranch where you know she’ll be safe.”
Caelan sighed. “She’s not ready for that yet. Besides, I have a feeling she had a vision and that’s why she’s unconscious.”
“Do you know that for sure?”
Why did Caelan detect wariness in Eli’s voice? “What in the hell is wrong with you, E?”
“Nothing,” he insisted, but Caelan could practically hear him squirming in his seat. “It’s weird, ya know? I wonder what kinds of things she can see.”
“You got something to hide, Bro?”
“Hell yeah. What if she sees one of us shift, goes ape-shit and tells someone?”
If they weren’t separated by the phone, Caelan would slap Eli upside the head. “That’s one of the reasons I’m not leaving, and short of kidnapping her, I can’t make her leave the one place she probably feels the safest. Besides, as you’ve already pointed out, normal people tend not to believe the spouting of a psychic.”
“You’re right,” Eli said. “I don’t know what my problem is. What do you need?”
After requesting the items he wanted, Caelan flipped his cell phone closed. He climbed onto the bed next to Tieran. Her body relaxed into his arms. He combed the sweat-dampened hair off her face and kissed her temple.
He tried to shrug off the nagging suspicion there was something wrong with his twin. When this was all over, he’d have to sit down with him and find out what had been bothering him the past couple of weeks. Eli was becoming increasingly agitated about something and Caelan wondered if it had anything to do with Nikki Taylor.
He inhaled. Since the moment he’d smelled Tieran’s scent at the bar, he’d been worried about putting her in danger. Now, because of her special abilities, the threat level had increased tenfold.
Caelan buried his nose in the crook of her neck. It was too late to turn back.
She was already carrying his child.
* * *
Tieran tried to focus through the pain holding her brain in a vise. What happened?
The last thing she remembered was the screaming orgasm Caelan had forced on her as she sat on her counter.
“Forced, Tulla?”
“Yes, forced. I didn’t ask him to do that to me.”
“You’re right. I believe you begged. Are you saying you didn’t like it?”
“Gramama! I am not having this conversation with you. And please tell me you did not watch because that would just be way too creepy and I would definitely have to disown you.” Tieran shivered.
“I most certainly did not watch. Not after he stuck his tongue down your throat anyway, but oh how it made me remember being so young. Your grandpa could turn me on like a light switch. We used to go at it no matter where we were.”
“Oh my God, stop! Do not talk to me about you and Pawpoo. That is so…eew. Go away, my head is killing me.”
“Think, Tullabelle. Think about what else happened on the countertop. It is important you remember.”
Well, let’s see. She’d had her legs wrapped around Caelan’s lean hips as he’d buried himself inside her pussy one last time. She’d felt his release in hot spurts against her womb.
She’d felt his release in hot spurts… Oh, good God. They hadn’t used a condom. How could she be so stupid!
“Forget about the condom, Tulla, what’s done is done. Focus on what happened next.”
Forget about the condom? Had she really just said that? Holy shit. What else had happened then? Must have been pretty damn big for her grandmother to tell her not to worry about the fact they hadn’t used protection.
It hit her like a sledgehammer between the eyes. A vision. She’d had a vision of the woman from the newspaper. The one who’d caused her eye to twitch earlier. The one who’d been nearly eaten by a wolf-like beast.
Tieran gagged and prayed her Doritos stayed down because no way would she make it to the toilet.
And where exactly was Caelan?
“Right beside you, Tulla.”
She groaned silently and hoped he was asleep so she could get out of bed unnoticed.
“I thought I told him to leave.”
“There are things you don’t know yet, Tieran. Listen to him. Please.”
“Whoa, must be serious, you said please.”
“It is life or death, Tulla.”
“Whose?”
“Yours.”
Tieran shuddered. Gramama had never steered her wrong. She guided without telling Tieran what to do, pushed when a vision was serious enough to warrant attention, but didn’t normally interfere with Tieran’s decisions. She trusted her granddaughter enough to do the right thing.
Then again, Tieran had never encountered a situation that might lead to her own death.
“He is not going to go away, Tieran, and he is not like most men. Trust him enough to tell him what you just saw.”
“You’re asking a lot, Gramama. You, of all people, know what happened the last time I trusted someone.”
“Yes, but Caelan is different. You’ll see.”
Fine. She’d think about it. If her gramama thought Caelan was a good man and could handle Tieran’s visions, maybe she would tell him. It would serve her grandmother right if she had to do a lot of consoling tomorrow for getting her granddaughter’s heart broken again.
And besides, why on earth would the man be interested in a wolf attacking a woman?
Tieran started to roll to her side but her head spun crazily, making her stomach dip and threaten an upheaval. Puking after a vision happened more times than not. She couldn’t wait to see how Caelan would handle that. Peter had looked at her in horror the three times it had happened in his presence.
The third time he’d actually accused her of having morning sickness and not telling him she was pregnant. She’d still been making a disbelieving fish face at him when he stormed out spouting horrible things about her. She’d never seen him again.
She sucked in a deep breath when her belly swayed and waited for the sensation to pass. A few seconds later she was good to go.
What must the man be thinking watching her at her finest? On top of this, he probably thought she was easy. She’d given in to him with a minimal amount of resistance. Might as well go find a corner to work.
She blinked her eyes slowly open knowing even that slight movement could cause another revolt. Caelan had to be asleep because he hadn’t moved or spoken since she’d woken several minutes ago.
“Aaaaaahhhh.” Her scream echoed through her small house, mixing with the loud thump her body made as she landed in a twisted heap on the floor. She tried to get up but got tangled in the blanket wound around her legs and torso.
She would never make it! It would tear her apart like it had the poor woman.
She sobbed and scrambled again.
The huge dark-furred beast hung its head over the side of the bed, resting on its paws.
“Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit.”
Its eyes sparkled a yellow-brown, not two feet from her face. Its tongue slurped along one jowl, and its teeth, sharper than ever-fucking hell, snapped together when it swallowed. Then its mouth dropped open again.
It panted little shallow doggy pants and cocked its head to look at her. Her heart pounded as it tried to force its way out of her rib cage and make its own run for the door.
“Nice doggy,” she breathed. “Good boy. That’s it. Staaay, staay.” She inched backward toward the door, untangling the blanket as she went.
The wolf thingy tilted its head in the other direction and she stopped moving. Its ears pricked upward. Wasn’t that the universal doggy sign for “I’m pissed”?
It’s going to pounce, it’s going to eat me, and I’m going to die. Please God, don’t let me die. Not like this. Not in the same agony as that woman did.
“How could you not warn me?”
“I did, Tullabelle.”
“You did not tell me there was a huge beast about to eat me. I would have remembered something like that!”
“Look closely, Tulla.”
How could she not? The massive thing sat back on its haunches on her bed, still panting like a puppy. His tail wagged behind him, thumping against the mattress. When it jumped from the bed, Tieran screamed like she’d never screamed before.
Two padded steps and it was on her, literally, covering her body with its larger…furry one. Its belly hair tickled her bare belly and she nearly peed on herself. She bit her lip to prevent herself from moving and possibly scaring it into mauling her. Her chest heaved with each breath. Play dead. No, no, that’s a bear thing, she thought insanely.
She went cross-eyed looking at it as it leaned forward and pressed its big, black, wet nose to hers. She screwed up her face. It was going to rip her face off first, she knew it!
“Tulla, would you stop thinking so much and look?”
“Fine. You want me to look at the thing about to devour me? I’ll stare it down with the best of them!”
She focused on its eyes and her breath caught. God, they were the same as…no. No, they weren’t the same as Caelan’s, but…no. Impossible. They couldn’t be. A man could not turn into a-a thing.
“You see things.”
“So what? No. No!”
Her head spun again, swirling her stomach with it. The effects of one of her visions usually lasted for hours. Adrenaline appeared to have no effect on them whatsoever.
A long, pink tongue poked out of the thing’s mouth and licked her lips, attempting to taste them. Wouldn’t that be fabulous if she barfed all over both of them?
Resigned to the fact she couldn’t get away with it standing over her, she collapsed onto her back and silently begged her stomach to settle. She wished if it was going to eat her, it would just do it and get it over with.
Caelan…no, it, it sat on its haunches. With a doggy whine, he licked her cheek. She should be screaming her head off, not feeling the sudden sense of calm wrapping around her. Caelan made her feel the same way. Like he could protect her from anything.
What was she thinking? It was not possible for a man to become a wolf.
That went over well. At least she wasn’t screaming anymore. He leaned in to lick her cheek again and ended up sticking his long wolf’s tongue in her ear when she turned her head. He let out a low whine.
“Gross.” Her hand came up and wiped at her ear, then pushed hesitantly at his muzzle. “Get off me.”
Caelan consented, giving her the space she seemed to need. He padded to the bathroom since she probably wouldn’t be receptive
to what he really wanted to do—shift into a human and sink his cock into her tight pussy again. While in his wolf form, her scent was even more enticing.
Caelan shook himself like a wet dog, his jowls flapping. He loved doing that.
The tile on the bathroom floor was icy beneath the thick pads of his paws. When he turned, Tieran was still lying on the floor, sprawled in the tangled mass of her blanket, staring at the ceiling. If the rise and fall of her chest was any indication, her breathing was becoming more regular.
He expected nothing less than the reaction she’d given him. There wasn’t another human woman alive who wouldn’t be running for their safety right now. Of course, she was probably more receptive to his differences because of her own.
He nosed the door partway closed and concentrated on shifting. His fur shrank and disappeared, tickling him as it did so. Joints and bones popped painlessly and with practiced ease as they returned to their human positions. She didn’t need to watch the actual shift just yet, there’d be plenty of time later.
Caelan rotated his head, working out the last few kinks, and walked, naked, back to her. She still hadn’t moved, except to close her eyelids, and for that small show of trust, he’d be grateful. Not that she’d have had time to get away in the few seconds it took him to shift, but she could have tried.
Her brownish-pink nipples were beaded tight and he longed to take one in his mouth and suck it.
His shaft grew, the purpled head bobbing against his abdomen when he reached down and stroked it.
“Do not even think about touching me with that thing again.”
He laughed and met her gaze. Her features were filled with a mixture of anger, fear and lust. The lust was apparently winning because the spicy scent of her arousal bombarded his nose, filling his senses with her essence.
“I think you’ll be begging for it in a few minutes. Your pussy is already creaming for me.”
He bent down and scooped her up off the floor, ignoring her startled squeal, leaving the blanket behind. Her skin was warm, soft and way too tempting against his. Tieran sighed, as if accepting the impossible, and snuggled into him. She traced a fingertip around his puckered nipple.
Seeing Eye Mate Page 5
