Seneca's Faith

by Abigail Owen

  She reached behind her to undo her bra, but he stopped her by taking both her wrists and pinning them above her head.

  “Please,” she whispered.

  He knew what she was asking, but shook his head. “Not yet.”

  He continued exploring her body, stemming the tide of his own rising desire, relishing every inch of her body until she was squirming beneath his touch, doing her best to move his hands to the parts he’d neglected thus far.

  Finally, he tugged her bra free. Leaning forward, he played with the perfect mounds of her breasts, using hands and tongue and teeth until she was panting. Then he hooked a finger in the strap of her panties and shimmied them off. Seneca managed to suck in a breath as he touched her where she’d been begging him to. She was all silken wet heat, the musky scent of her arousal driving his even higher.

  Seneca didn’t lay idly by while he worshiped her body. Her hands explored every part of him she could reach. She laid a thousand tiny kisses along his shoulders, his neck, teasing him with the barest of touches, pulling the breath from his lungs.

  Gage didn’t know how long he could last, but he was determined they’d both squeeze every ounce of pleasure from this moment out of time. He could have lost her tonight. Whoever had given her those bruises had been a large individual who could’ve snapped her neck in an instant.

  Having her here now, beneath him, vitally alive and gorgeous, was a precious gift.

  Her hands at his shoulders urged him up her body from where he’d been suckling at her breasts, enjoying the moans he elicited from her. Urgency in her movements, she dragged him up to her mouth, which took his in a greedy kiss.

  In an instant, their leisurely exploration of each other turned hasty. Not stopping their kiss, even for a second, they hastily divested Gage of the rest of his clothes. He hardly remembered removing the items he’d already discarded anyway. After fishing around in the drawer, he snagged a condom, and she rolled it on for him.

  Then he lay between Seneca’s legs. She was ready for him, and her body welcomed his as he slid deep inside, clamping around him, slick, hot, and tight. Sweat broke out across his brow, and he groaned her name. He wanted to make this moment last and last, to draw out their pleasure, but he was close to release.

  Slowly, angling his strokes to give her the greatest pleasure, he moved inside her. He kept each stroke long, deep, and deliberate, building the ecstasy inside them both. Even when she thrashed underneath him, clamping her legs tight around his hips and canting her own, he continued the excruciating bliss of loving her his way. Until, finally, he could hold out no longer.

  He leaned down and kissed her, long and deep, then pulled back. Threading his fingers with hers, he held her hands above her head and pumped his body into her. Wonder filled him as he watched her every expression, elation building with the pressure inside him as he moved them both closer to ecstasy.

  Her gaze locked onto his, her amazing eyes, more hazel today, going wide even as the first tremors of her release quivered through her. “Gage,” she whispered.

  “I’m with you, gorgeous.”

  That’s all she needed. Seneca threw her head back and screamed her release. Her throbbing muscles triggered his own, and Gage’s shout mixed with hers as he continued to move inside her, drawing out their shared pleasure, milking every ebb and flow of their orgasms until they floated down from the pinnacle.

  He reluctantly left her to dispose of the condom, then curled around her in the bed, drawing the covers up over them. He laid a soft, reverent kiss on her shoulder.

  “I need you too,” he murmured.

  Seneca twisted to gaze into his eyes, her own questioning.

  He placed a lingering kiss on those gorgeous lips. “My protective side has less to do with the whole macho alpha thing than it does with needing to keep you safe.”

  Those amazing mercurial eyes stared back at him. Was that wonder or fear in their depths?

  “I need you,” he repeated. He couldn’t put into words yet all the reasons why—he didn’t fully comprehend them himself yet. But he did know her life was one of the most important things, maybe the most important, in his world.

  She visibly swallowed. “I can’t promise not to take risks, but will you trust me to know which risks are…the right ones to take?”

  As her mate, as an Alpha, letting her take risks at all went against every instinct he had. However, he didn’t need the bond between them to be able to sense this was the best she could offer. That even this much was a big concession for his secretive, do-it-herself mate.

  “I trust you, Seneca.”

  Her body relaxed against his as she bestowed a smile that sucked the breath from his body. He smoothed a strand of hair back from her cheek, letting his gaze roam over the lovely contours of her face. “I hope, someday, you will trust me too.”

  Her smile dimmed. Barely, but he noticed, and his heart squeezed at how the thought of trusting him was so difficult for her.

  “I trust you more than anyone I know,” she whispered.

  The vice around his heart loosened a fraction.

  “But sometimes trust isn’t the issue. You want to keep me safe?”

  “Yes.”

  “Maybe I want to keep you safe too.”

  Gage leaned his forehead against hers and closed his eyes, inhaling her winter scent, humbled this amazing woman would feel the need to protect him. “Maybe the answer isn’t me protecting you. Or you protecting me. Maybe it’s somewhere in between.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Seneca woke still wrapped in Gage’s arms. With a lazy stretch, she hummed her satisfaction. How was she going to give this up when it finished? She shoved those thoughts from her mind, unwilling to dwell on tomorrow when she was in his arms today.

  Gage’s arm tightened around her when she tried to get out of bed. After a bout of tug of war, interspersed with a lot of giggles, she managed to get out of his reach.

  After dressing quickly in calf-length tights and a cream-colored tunic with turquoise design around the sleeves and hem, she waited for Gage to dress, raising her eyes when he pulled on jeans instead of dress pants. Dang they looked good, showing off his excellent backside.

  He caught her look. “What?”

  She dragged her gaze up to his eyes, trying not to blush at being caught ogling her mate’s body. She shrugged. “Nothing.”

  “You were checking me out, weren’t you?”

  His teasing surprised another giggle from her. “Maybe.”

  “Good. That way I won’t be the only one.”

  She laughed as she opened the door, only to stop when Edward blocked her path. The two lions hadn’t been sentinels in days.

  “It would be wise to stay in your room today,” Edward said.

  “What’s going on?” Gage asked from behind her.

  Edward’s mouth flattened in a grim line. “One of our people was attacked and killed last night. By a mountain lion.”

  Her happy bubble with Gage burst like a ruptured appendix and dread sank in her stomach. If the lions had been hostile before, they’d be murderous toward them now. Seneca placed her hand on Gage’s arm and was marginally comforted when he squeezed it.

  “Who?” she asked.

  Edward shook his head. “No one you’ve met, but it isn’t safe for you to wander the castle today. Even with me and Beno.”

  Gage angled his head to look at her. Without words, she knew exactly what he was thinking and gave a small nod. She was on his side.

  “We can’t hide as if this was our fault. The pride will never fully accept us if they continue to doubt and distrust us,” he said.

  She ran her eyes over his button-down shirt and jeans. “Different clothes would be better if it came to a fight.” Her outfit was more forgiving for hand-to-hand combat and if she needed to shift in a hurry. “But if we came dressed differently than usual, they’d take it as a sign we want to fight.”

  His lips quirked. “I love it when you get all pr
actical. It’s damn sexy.” Gage offered her his hand, which she took as, together, they stepped around their guards.

  “Do you want an escort?”

  “No, Eddie. We’ll be fine.” She paused. “Where are Andie and Tieryn?”

  “They chose to stay in their rooms.”

  “Bet Andie was thrilled about that,” Seneca murmured.

  Eddie raised a single eyebrow. “I believe her words were F-this, or something along those lines.”

  Sounded about right.

  They headed off to the large common room where meals were served, where the large male lion, one she’d never seen, had cornered her. Had that only been yesterday? She’d pulled her submissive act, going all weepy and shaky on him. Thank heaven her maneuver had worked and he’d let her go. Most men did suck at dealing with women in tears.

  Now here she was again, being blamed for other people’s issues.

  With a quick glance, Gage checked behind them, before turning to her. “I didn’t want to say in front of Eddie and Beno, but I don’t like you out here. You should go back to our room.”

  She glanced back to see they were alone. At least Gage had waited until they were out of earshot. Still she turned a glare on him. “No. I’m your mate. I belong at your side. We present a united front.”

  Despite his flat lips, the corners of his mouth tilted with what she hoped was approval. “I thought you might say that.”

  Pride puffed her up. He hadn’t argued or doubted her, simply expressed his concerns as her mate and quasi-protector.

  “If things get ugly, I’m not defenseless,” she reminded him. While he still didn’t know about her fighting skills, he was aware of her tiger.

  “True.”

  She nodded, as though emphasizing the point further.

  Together, they turned and walked a short distance in silence.

  “I like it when you claim me as your mate.”

  Seneca did a double take only to find him gazing down at her, a tender smile on those kissable lips belying the tension around his eyes and jaw. She wrinkled her nose, stared forward, and silently reinforced the mental walls around her heart.

  “I think maybe you’re falling for me.”

  He said the words so casually, they didn’t sink in for a moment. When they did, she gasped at his outrageousness.

  He chuckled. “At least a tiny bit.”

  Despite the warmth that invaded her chest and spread outward through her body, she managed to keep things light and casual. “Now why would I fall for a scrawny mountain lion shifter?”

  He snorted at the comment, since scrawny was not a descriptor anyone would associate with Gage. However, her tiger was much larger than his cougar. Couldn’t argue with nature.

  “I guess you haven’t met quad-zilla yet?”

  “Huh?”

  He stopped and flexed his leg muscles, pointing at his quads.

  A surprised laugh erupted from her. “You did not just say that.” He was trying to lighten their tension, she was sure deliberately, and part of her loved him even more for it.

  He gave her an unapologetic wink in return, grin stretched ear to ear. She turned and kept walking, and he kept pace.

  “Or have I showed you the gun show?” He flexed his biceps.

  She bit down on her lip, trying not to laugh at the silly side Gage was showing her. Though she was secretly delighted that he’d share a bit of absurdity with her. She’d bet he never had with Tieryn. Where had that idiotically jealous thought come from?

  “I can’t wear a jacket without a concealed weapon license.”

  She rolled her eyes. “That’s terrible.”

  “Are you thirsty?”

  She refused to play, and kept walking.

  “Because I brought a six pack.” He actually lifted up his shirt to display what she already knew were fabulous abs.

  Seneca groaned. Time to put a stop to the horrible jokes. “I’m not thirsty, but I wouldn’t mind licking that six pack all over.”

  A choking sound greeted her statement, and he shut up.

  She was still chuckling as they entered the dining hall. Silence settled over the room, thick and heavy. You’d think an evil witch had blanketed the place in a spell that muffled all noise. Their few stolen moments of levity melted in the face of the hostility glaring at them. They took a risk being here at all. While they could both fight, escaping every lion in the room was doubtful. Seneca battled back the adrenalin-tinged fear that tightened in her belly.

  Time to turn on the submissive/latent act. She pasted on her most innocent smile, and shrank in on herself, eyes lowered in an appropriately non-threatening manner. She even huddled slightly behind Gage, hanging on to his arm.

  Together they walked around the edge of the room—long, picnic bench-style tables were set up in the center so people could eat together, family style—to where the food was set up on a long trellis table by the lions who worked in the kitchens. The usually mouth-watering scents of bacon and pancakes swirled with the putrid scent of hatred her tiger’s sense of smell could pick up.

  As they moved, Seneca peeked up through her lashes, searching for those few lions she’d already met. Though perhaps met was a loose term. When she came across anyone she recognized, she would raise her head, smile and wave. If they were close enough, she’d say hi.

  She and Gage managed to get their food, although every lion in the room stood or sat completely still, watching them closely. They were searching for a place to sit and eat when it happened. A large man, easily several inches over six feet and muscled with it, stepped in front of Gage, body language screaming aggression with stiffly held shoulders, jaw locked, eyes already a feline gold, showing how close his lion was to the surface—only the most powerful shifters could shift individual parts of their bodies—narrowed and trained on his prey.

  Gage didn’t back down. Instead, he drew himself up to his full height and never took his eyes from the man. “Your fight is not with me.”

  The man drew back his lips in a silent snarl, his canines elongating in an intimidating display.

  Gage didn’t even flinch, though he tugged Seneca further behind him, putting himself bodily between her and the threat. “We are here to join your pride and put an end to all the fighting.”

  “You will never be part of our pride.” The words were spat at them, imbued with such hate, Seneca shivered.

  “As long as blind hatred continues on either side, you’re right.” Gage continued to talk in low, calm tones. Was it crazy that she chose this moment to find him dead sexy? He didn’t budge and he didn’t back down.

  Seneca stood beside him, offering silent support. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught Edward’s and Beno’s entrance into the room.

  “Your people killed my brother.”

  Seneca closed her eyes. No wonder this particular individual was angry. Her heart went out to his pain.

  “Not our people,” Gage insisted.

  Rather than backing down, the man before them seemed to gather, muscles bunching. A woman behind him barred her teeth, growling low in her throat.

  Gage held up his hands in a conciliatory gesture. “I don’t want to fight you, but I will if you force the issue.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  “Um,” Seneca tugged at Gage’s sleeve. “His guns are bigger than yours.” She wasn’t kidding. The man had a couple of inches on Gage, who stood about six-two, and in lion form would likely top him by a hundred pounds or more.

  Gage flicked her a pointed look, and she knew what his message was. If he didn’t establish himself now, he’d be a target for every lion who wanted to take a shot at him. Lions and mountain lions weren’t that different when it came to dominance. The pride wouldn’t see Seneca as a risk, since she was latent and submissive as far as they were concerned. But Gage, an Alpha, had threat written all over him.

  The lion attacked without warning. He sprung at Gage, who moved out of the way in a swift, sharp move, careful to maneuver Senec
a with him. Lions might have size in their favor, but mountain lions were faster and nimbler.

  No other lions made a move, so she stayed passively where she stood with zero doubt about the outcome of this situation. Gage would end on top. She believed that, her belief lending a calm to a situation that should have her crazed with worry. She watched silently from the edge of a large circle that had formed around the combatants, the tables that dotted the room miraculously pushed back in the crush. Edward moved to stand beside her, Beno on her other side. She stood straighter, grateful for the small show of support now.

  Gage and his attacker stayed in their human forms, at least to start. The big African, noticeably handsome with his dark skin and high cheekbones, took powerful swings at Gage. In a boxing match, he’d have been a heavy weight, and if he’d have connected, he would’ve knocked Gage unconscious with one blow. However, her mate moved fast, utilizing various different forms of martial arts.

  For every swing of his opponent, Gage would duck, then get in several rapid punches to the ribs, kidneys, and gut. At one point, Seneca’s sensitive tiger’s hearing picked up the sickening crack of a rib. She held back a satisfied smile. Her mate could fight. He’d had to, in order to earn the right to be Alpha anywhere in the Shadowcat Nation. Mountain lions didn’t follow others easily. Only blood was proof enough for them.

  Using one of the dining hall tables as leverage, Gage managed to maneuver up on top of the big man’s back and wrapped his arms around the guy’s neck. The lion shifter’s eyes started to roll, but he didn’t go down. Instead he shifted, his clothes shredding around the shift. Gage launched himself backward, and did the same midair. A murmur circled the room. Most shifters didn’t have the ability to both shift and move at the same time.

  Was it inappropriate that her mate’s display of the ability was a total turn on? She was beyond hope, that was for sure.