by J. A. Saare
Luke.
She knew he would be coming for her, just as he warned when she left his home in New Orleans. That was one of the many reasons she had accepted Wolfe and Arden's generous offer of staying at their private cabin while she took the time to ground herself and come to terms with what was now her life. Alexander was gone, she was free, and everything was as she'd always hoped. But while the wounds on her back were nearly healed, the ones in her heart ached miserably.
A quiet mew gained her attention. She smiled and bent over to scoop up the kitten she'd adopted on her way out of the city. The softness of fur still amazed her, so silky and perfect. Burying her face into the fuzzy neck, she wound her fingers around until she could rub her fingers just behind his ears.
"Toby,” she crooned. “You can't be hungry. I just fed you."
She stepped away from the porch, carried the feline into the kitchen, and placed his fragile body on top of the table. His tiny paws swatted at the placemats while sharp claws snagged the cloth as she retrieved kitty nibbles from the counter. The play stopped when he smelled the fishy aroma of food, and he waited while she placed several of the Hershey's Kisses—sized drops on the table.
"There you go.” She smiled and patted the top of his head, turning on her heel to return to the porch.
She came up short, frozen in place.
An enormous beast with eyes like emeralds stood inside the entranceway, its broad shoulders brushing the sides of the frame.
There was no hesitation on her part, no need to stop what she had accepted and yearned for. Time alone told her what she already knew—that life without this male would be a fate equally unbearable as the curse she bore. The weeks without him had passed like decades, minutes stretched beyond capacity. She dreamed of him, ached for him, cried for him.
She wouldn't go back to that.
She couldn't.
She kneeled and extended her hand, perfectly still as he crossed the threshold and approached. Opening her mind, she allowed him to hear her wishes, to know her absolute acceptance. Once done, there was no going back. She would be as he was. She would live as he did. And love as he loved.
"My mate.” His voice echoed in her head.
He struck the fleshy portion of her palm, burying his teeth in the mound of Venus. Almost instantly, he was licking the wound and soothing the sting. His body started to shift, hair receding and skin forming. Within seconds, his hands rose to cradle her wrist as he nursed at her skin with his tongue.
"I love you,” she whispered to his bowed head, raising her uninjured hand to stroke his hair.
His large body shuddered at the admission, and he lifted his head, meeting her eyes. The relief in those green orbs was evident, as well as something more.
"Tell me again."
She smiled and did as he asked. “I love you, Luke."
"It's about damned time.” He pressed his nose against hers until his face blurred. “I love you so much it fucking hurts."
They met in the middle, eager tongues and desperate fingers exploring and marking. Whereas Luke was gentle before, he was violent now. His hands were rough, his fingers raking into the softness of her skin. She mirrored his madness, clawing at his back with sharp fingernails, growling wildly into his mouth.
His strong arms surrounded her waist, lifting her feet from the floor. Luke carried her up the set of stairs beside the kitchen, to the loft directly above. He placed her feet on the bed and began tearing her clothes from her, heedless of the destruction caused. Her jeans ripped, her sweater tore, and her underwear was obliterated.
When he finished, they were both panting, chests heaving. Something inside her demanded to be unleashed, a newer, feral portion taking life inside her body.
Knowing what he wanted, she dropped to hands and knees and took his fully engorged length between her lips. His husky groan enflamed her desire, causing her sex to clench and release. A wet heat formed between her legs, her clitoris throbbing painfully. He grasped handfuls of her hair, pumping his hips in time with the bobbing of her head.
The anger in him was drowned out by the lust and need for his female. She felt it, knew it, and embraced it. Those weeks spent apart had been agony for him—torture. Lycae did not separate from their mates. He had suffered for her, had battled the wolf when it fought to go to her side, wanting to give her the space she asked of him.
"I always wanted you," she thought, wanting him to know.
"And you ached for this moment as much as I did, didn't you?” His voice was as heady as his taste, totally dominant, utterly male. “Have you spent nights thinking about this, Onyx? Have you dreamed about me taking you and marking you? Because that's exactly what I'm going to do, darlin'. I'm going to taste that sweetness between your legs, and then I'm going to fuck you so hard you'll never think of leaving me again."
She moaned around his flesh, tasting the salt of his seed as it trickled against her tongue. Suddenly, those fingers and hands were painful, forcing her to remain still. He bucked his hips, forcing the head of his cock against the back of her throat.
"I'm going to claim all of you tonight, Onyx. So you'll never forget where your place is. And I'm going to start with that beautiful mouth of yours."
Accepting the brutality of his domination brought an eerie sort of calm, and as if Luke sensed it, his hands went lax, and the thrusts of his hips gentled.
"I'll never hurt you, darlin',” he grated, hissing as his shaft escaped the heat of her mouth and then returned. “But you won't ever leave me again. I won't let you."
Tears came to her eyes, but they weren't from pain. As the creature taking root inside her body developed, so did her ability to feel and hear Luke's thoughts. A portion of him still believed she would flee, that she continued to damn him as being no better than the man who had forsaken her. He wanted to punish her as much as he needed to punish himself, feeling he had failed her.
Tenderly, she found and caressed his thighs and arched her back slightly. As she did so, she repeated her love for him inside her mind, knowing he would hear. In turn, his touches and motions became loving, and images of what was to come flashed in her mind. She blushed even as the wolf inside quivered in excitement.
The barb extended, and Luke, driving into her lips, didn't pull away. She met his shallow plunges, cradling the extension with her tongue. Her jaw ached as she was forced to widen her mouth to the point of pain, her throat protesting the angle placed upon it. He cried out as he released inside her mouth and she swallowed his thick, salty fluid, taking care not to use her teeth as she struggled to keep her mouth open.
A tug of her hair broke the seal of her lips, and she was suddenly flat on her back. Luke placed her legs over each of his arms and lowered his torso. He dipped his head between her thighs, and his hot, wet tongue darted against her sex. He wasn't easy or teasing, tonguing her until she writhed and groaned. Within seconds, two fingers worked themselves inside her, thrusting roughly against her trembling flesh.
"Come for me,” he ordered and then latched onto her clitoris with his lips, sucking roughly.
Her body detonated like a grenade, exploding from the inside out. She shouted as she came, screaming Luke's name. Before she had time to process the orgasm, Luke was sliding into her, claiming her in a smooth thrust.
Her legs dangled over his arms, her feet flopping as he pounded into her. Like this, he went in deeply, bouncing against her womb. She gasped at the sensation it wrought, a pleasure bordering on pain. She arched her back, unable to do anything more.
"You're so goddamned beautiful."
His eyes were bright when she peered up at him helplessly, his expression pained.
"Please,” she begged, nearing climax again.
Luke's fingers were gentle when they found the swollen nub and pinched.
Everything seemed to shatter—her body, the bedroom, Luke. Nothing but raw feeling existed. The orgasm seemed to last forever, going on and on. As the feelings ebbed, she felt Luke scoop her up an
d climb onto the bed. He had her straddle him, her knees on either side of his hips.
"I want you to take me this time. Show me how much you want me."
He urged her onto her knees and guided the head of his cock to the swollen lips of her sex. She spread her legs to allow him to slide easily inside and then lowered herself. He eradicated her emptiness, inch by slow inch, until she felt the warmth of his sac against her bottom.
"Yours,” she told him, rising onto her knees and lifting away from his claim.
"Mine,” he moaned, closing his eyes.
She took her time, riding him in sultry movements, arching her back. She saw how she looked to him as he shared the image, her breasts full, her pink nipples hard and erect. Uncertain if it would work, she tried to do the same, gazing at his slitted eyes and parted lips.
"I don't get excited by seeing myself, darlin'. That comes entirely from you."
His large palms cradled her bottom, urging her up and down, slow and then fast. A bead of sweat weaved between her breasts, and Luke leaned forward, claiming the crystalline drop with the tip of his tongue. His face remained there, lips, teeth, and tongue alternating between her breasts, torturing the nipples.
Another orgasm neared, and she ground her hips, rotating when she found the spot that would send her over. Luke's fingers raked into her skin, clenching as he brought her down to meet his firm thrusts.
"Look at me,” he rasped, breathing hard.
Her eyes remained open until a debilitating climax rolled through her. She braced herself against Luke's chest, palms limp against his straining torso, until she felt him engage deep within. The molten searing of his seed bathing her womb was accompanied by his hoarse moan. As she sagged against him, his hands came up to caress her back. Each time he found a scar, he traced the indention lightly, as if it pained him to maintain the contact.
"It doesn't matter,” she murmured and rubbed her lips against his chest. “It's over now."
"I should have killed them.” There was finality to his voice, an acceptance, but also a deep-seated anger.
"And created more problems for your pack in the process? You were thinking smart, not stupid. A moment's release isn't worth a lifetime of reimbursement."
The telltale tightening of his arms and throbbing of his cock arrived just before he came again, sending her into another orgasm of her own. Instead of resisting, she allowed herself to be overtaken. Her body was too exhausted to put up a fight.
"It won't be so hard on you next time,” Luke promised in a husky voice after the pleasure passed. “Once the change is complete, you'll wear me ragged."
She didn't attempt to stem the fear that came with the changes. Her sight was notably crisper, her ears able to distinguish Toby's purring downstairs.
"You won't go through it alone.” Luke began stroking her back, this time with confident touches. “Wolfe is more than capable of taking care of things at home for a few weeks. We'll get through this, darlin'. You and me. As long as you need. Nothing else matters."
"Promise?"
"I fucking vow it, sweetheart."
They clung to one another as the next climax tore through them in an orgasmic firebrand, sweaty limbs and chests pressing together. When the barb retracted, she slid from his arms and groaned as her head hit the pillow and she rested on her stomach. Luke waited until she was comfortable before he settled against her, his enormous body wrapping over hers, one of his large legs intentionally placed atop her own.
His lips pressed against her neck. “Rest up, darlin'. I have other things in store for you."
She grinned into the softness of the pillow. “Like what?"
As he allowed her to see what he had in mind through his eyes, her body warmed and her face burned.
"I said I would claim you everywhere, Onyx. Though you have doubted it in the past, I am a man of my word."
She thought she knew about sex, when in reality, she had absolutely no idea. Just thinking of him claiming her there made her both terrified and exhilarated.
"Oh, you'll like it,” he promised. “Go to sleep while you still can. The call of the moon has already started. It only goes downhill from here."
"Luke?"
"Hmm?"
She recalled the moment she barged in on a demon and a human female mistakenly, believing the sounds from the chamber were ones of pain and fear. The haunted mansion was supposed to house the soul they wanted to collect. Instead they discovered two creatures in the deepest throes of lust. The demon had the girl shackled at the wrists with black leather cuffs that were attached to the bed, and he was pumping into her as she shrieked and begged.
She thought it was torture or possibly rape, but knowing what she did, combined with the images he gave her . . .
Would he want to do that as well?
"Damn it,” he snapped playfully. “I tried to warn you."
Luke's weight vanished, and she was unceremoniously flopped onto her back. Without warning, his solid erection slid past the folds of her flesh and invaded her completely, until he was buried completely inside her sex. She gasped, arching her back, welcoming him into her tender body.
At her shocked expression, he chuckled. “You should have taken me up on that offer, darlin'. I'm going to love you until you can't move or think, until all you think, see, smell, and touch is me."
Fatigue evaporated, replaced by pure need.
She met his eyes, raked her nails into his back, and challenged. “Prove it."
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The End
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About the Author
Jaime Saare is a normal gal with a taste for the macabre. She started writing on the down low when she was in high school, keeping her work a carefully hidden secret—until now. In her spare, she can be found enjoying the simple pleasures in life, including: shooting a game of pool (straight eight if you please), listening to her favorite band (NIN), or spending time relaxing with her husband and rambunctious brood. You can visit her on her homepage: www.jasaare.com.
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