by M. J. O'Shea
“Hi,” he murmured as soon as our faces were close.
“Hey.” I couldn’t help but grin. I was so happy.
I cradled his hips between my thighs and arched up, rubbing against him. PC leaned over and kissed me, with lips and tongue and gentle teeth nibbling my bottom lip. I couldn’t get enough of his taste or the silky warmth of his skin under my fingertips. The slight pressure of his erection against me was familiar. We’d been there before, but it’d always ended in aching, half satisfaction.
Not tonight.
He slipped a hand between us, rubbing gently at my entrance. Yes. That’s what I want.
“Baby, can you grab your lube? I want to get you ready for me.”
I gave him a slow, melty smile and leaned out from under him to fumble for a second in the drawer of my nightstand. Wordlessly I handed him the bottle.
His hands trembled a little as he popped the cap and dripped the slippery lube all over his fingers, rubbing them together and warming up the liquid.
“I feel like I’ve wanted this my whole life. I didn’t think I’d be nervous.” His voice was just as shaky. It made my heart thump.
“Don’t be nervous. We were made for each other.”
I guided his hand to where I needed it most. He took a long breath, then pushed, slipping his index finger inside me. He slid in and out, massaging me and stretching me before adding a second finger and sinking deep. I didn’t know if it was instinct or the culmination of hours practicing it in his head, but he was doing everything exactly right—even better than I’d dreamed.
“That’s good. Just like that. You feel so perfect….” I was babbling. Couldn’t help it. He just did that to me.
“So tight…. Can’t wait to be inside of you.” His words, his sexy breathy voice, and the way his fingers were curling just right to hit my prostate every single time they moved made me shiver. It was so much more than what I’d imagined, the pleasure rolling through me in waves of bliss. I had no idea that anything could feel like it did to have him touch me in that sweetest of spots.
I pushed and bucked my hips, grinding down on his hand, wanting to feel more, afraid I’d lose it before it was time. He leaned over and sucked on my neck hard.
There was definitely going to be a mark.
“Now, please. I need to feel you. You have to be inside when I come.”
“Are you close? “
I gulped and nodded. PC kissed me then, a breathless greedy kiss that was everything I loved. Then he gently pulled out of me and reached for the lube. He looked nervous again, sweetly uncertain. I reached up and cupped his face, rubbing my thumb across his lips.
Then I took the lube from him and poured some in my palm. I stroked it over him, taking my time, wanting to remember.
“Wanna cheat a little?” His voice was shaky, but he smiled.
“Just a little,” I answered and guided him onto his back.
Then I slipped my thigh over his hips, and with my eyes on his and one hand braced on his chest, I slowly started to lower myself down.
“Slow, slow, slow,” I murmured when he bumped his hips up a little too hard.
“Sorry.” He moaned and closed his eyes. “You feel too good.”
“It’s okay. Wait for me.”
He clenched his jaw and watched while I took him in inch by slow inch, stopping and starting, pulling back, then pushing again until he was all the way inside.
“Oh my God,” he groaned, covering my hands with his and pushing up with his hips. I wiggled a little to get used to the fullness of him inside of me. “You okay?” I could tell it was hard for him to talk.
“Yeah.”
I moved again, lifting myself and pushing back down. It hurt a lot, I’d be lying if I said it didn’t, but the pressure was beautifully intense and the knowledge that it was PC inside me, filling me up, made me moan. He was finally where I’d wanted him to be for what felt like a lifetime. I leaned back a little and moved again, inhaling sharply when he bumped into my prostate. “Definitely okay,” I groaned, chuckling breathlessly.
He gave me an intimate smile and sat up to kiss me. I wrapped my arms around his shoulders and moved my hips back and forth, lifting and lowering, wincing when I got a little too adventurous. I was getting to know his body and mine, learning all the best ways to feel.
“So good…. I had no idea.” PC kissed me again.
We stayed like that for a long time, kissing, moving in small circles, driving each other insane, shivering and clenching but never diving over the edge. It was torture; that much was for sure. But it was the hottest moment of my life so far and I didn’t want it to end. He reached between us and touched me. It felt so good it nearly hurt.
“Oh, not fair,” I breathed. “I’m going to come if you do that.”
“Yeah?” He stroked me firmly. “I wanna feel you come. I want to know what it’s like.”
My body quaked and I laid my forehead on his shoulder.
“So close, PC. Going to come if—” It was too late.
It washed over me in exploding, blinding tumbles of pleasure. I threw back my head and cried out, grasping his shoulders and grinding my hips hard enough to bruise.
He shouted too and grabbed on to me. It felt so intimate, so close, like an act of claiming.
Mine, my body said with every clenching shiver.
Mine, his answered with the heat that was filling me.
It took a long time to get my breath back. When I finally did we were sitting, me in PC’s lap, rubbery arms draped loosely around each other, him still buried deep inside of me. He let out a long breath and something that sounded like a chuckle. Then he leaned forward and kissed me on the chest, trailing his lips up my collarbone and my neck. We ended up face to face, grinning at each other silently.
“Are you sorry we broke the rules?” I asked.
“Yeah, I’m all conflicted.” His smile turned sly. “Wanna do it again?”
I laughed and held him tight, not wanting to move. Finally, our skin started to chill in the night air. Instead of lying down, I just pulled the shoved-aside comforter around us, making a tent to keep us warm.
“Miles?”
We’d been quiet for a few minutes, almost sleepy even though we were still sitting up.
“Yeah?”
“We gotta cover the windows before we go to sleep. I don’t know how much the sun is going to bother you already. Tomorrow we’ll go get the same curtains that Zack and Noah have. They block out enough light so that you’ll be comfortable in here during the day.”
“Okay. We can deal with the windows in a minute. I don’t want to get up just yet.”
“Yeah, me neither. This feels really nice.” He leaned his forehead against mine.
It was obvious neither of us wanted to move. We just sat there in our warm cocoon exchanging kisses and touches, smiling at each other silently. Finally, PC spoke.
“C’mon, baby, let’s cover up the windows and get some sleep. I have a feeling there are going to be some very irritated calls coming our way in a few hours.”
I rolled my eyes and gave him one last kiss before I untangled our legs and stood, wrapping the blanket around me.
Definitely time to silence the cell phones….
Chapter 16: Michael Komarov
“OKAY, SHOW me a werewolf’s weak points again.” Zack’s voice was patient and kind. If he ever really wanted to go into teaching, he’d be perfect for it… well, except for the obvious daylight issues.
I forced myself not to roll my eyes. He was just trying to help, after all.
“Zack, I had this the last four times you showed me. I am pretty smart, you know.”
I was also tired. My legs and arms felt like they were going to fall off at any second from all the defensive moves he’d been having me repeat, and despite my professed intelligence, my brain was starting to hurt. There were so many details!
“I know you’re smart. You’re stronger and faster than you used to be, too; but
you need to learn to use what you’ve got. PC would kill me a million times over if he thought I’d left you unprepared.”
“Unprepared for what? I thought we weren’t going after the werewolves because it was the lycans’ war. Last time I checked, neither one of us were lycans.” Even if I should’ve been one.
“Yeah, but you’re going to be mated to a lycan and that makes you a target. If they knew enough to assume you were PC because he’s always with me and Noah, then they’ll eventually figure out who you really are and what you mean to him. Probably soon. PC wants you to be safe. You know how paranoid he gets over you.”
“Which is adorable but still slightly annoying.” I paused and looked at my watch. “What’s taking him so long anyway? I thought he was supposed to be here an hour ago.”
Zack grinned. “I don’t know what PC did, but apparently he’s in a world of trouble with the elders… not to mention his mother.”
I could feel the heat rise on my cheeks. Oh, that. I couldn’t believe they were taking it so seriously. Didn’t the lycans have better things to worry about than whether or not PC and I had sex?
“They’re still riding him over last night? Get over it.” I was mumbling to myself, but Zack heard it right away. Damn vampire hearing.
He started to laugh. “Okay, what happened? You obviously know why they’re pissed at PC, and something’s different about you today.”
God. Do I really have to say it out loud? I cringed. “The lycans have very strict, and dare I say antiquated, views on how mated couples should behave before their mating ceremony.”
Zack raised his eyebrows, as if to say, “Continue, please.” He was going to make me say it.
“They told us we weren’t allowed to have sex, okay?” I blurted.
“So all these weeks you’ve been—”
“I’ve been very well behaved. Not by choice,” I grumbled.
“And last night?”
I rolled my eyes “Uh, we broke the rules, of course—hence the massive lecture he’s probably getting as we speak.”
Zack grinned at me and clapped me on the back. “Can I say congratulations? I’m assuming it was worth all the trouble.”
The dreamy look I couldn’t keep from my face probably said it all.
Zack chuckled. “Yeah, it was worth the trouble.”
“What was worth the trouble?” I heard Noah’s voice from the front door. He came in carrying bags from Neiman Marcus. I’d never even set foot in the place, nor did I ever imagine I would. Just the idea of clothes that expensive made my heart race.
“Oooh, what did you get?” Zack breathed excitedly, distracted from my problems by the shiny bags of new clothes. I looked down at my own jeans and sweatshirt, feeling rather plain. Zack didn’t usually look quite as expensive as Noah, but he had great style. I wondered if I’d better start working on my look since I was one of them. A thrift store vampire somehow didn’t seem quite right.
“I needed some new jeans. And I got you these.” Noah pulled out a super-dark-purple button-up that would look awesome with Zack’s pale skin and black hair, and a soft-looking navy blue V-neck sweater.
“Thanks. I’ll have to try them on later.” He brushed Noah’s lips with a gentle kiss.
“Where is PC? We were supposed to leave five minutes ago.”
“He’s getting his ass reamed by the elders.”
“Ouch,” Noah murmured.
PC did manage to show up a few minutes later. He looked a bit shamefaced but still came over and gave me a long greeting kiss.
“Hey, gorgeous.”
“Hi.” I gave him a bashful smile. He looked at me then, and I could see he was remembering every moment of the night before, just like I’d been doing since we woke up earlier that afternoon.
“How bad was it?”
He rolled his eyes. “I got a big lecture about lycan tradition and how I was supposed to be the one responsible for upholding it in our relationship. Oh yeah, and I’ve disgraced this district with my irresponsible behavior, blah, blah, blah. I think they managed to use the word ‘responsible’ like a hundred times.”
“Sorry, babe.” I cupped his face in my hands and kissed him.
“Don’t apologize,” he whispered. “You were worth getting in trouble over.”
“Does that mean we’re back to the way things were?” I supposed I could live with it until the ceremony. I wouldn’t like it, but I’d deal.
PC made a rebellious little face. “No way. They can shove tradition up their collective asses. One of us could have died last night because of the damn lycans and their feud with the werewolves. If that happened, we would have never had the chance to be together. I’m not giving that up for some rules that I had no part in making. My mom’s going to have to understand.” He looked up to see Zack and Noah waiting for us. “So, we ready to go?”
They nodded, and I laced my fingers through PC’s as we headed to the door.
“WHO’S GOING to be there?” I asked.
We were walking from Zack and Noah’s to PC’s apartment. Every block I got a little more nervous. The lycan elders had asked for a meeting with PC and the others to discuss the information they’d gathered when they were investigating the vampire killings. My plan was to keep my mouth shut and listen. I didn’t know much about the investigation, and I was still a bit worried about being in trouble. It was going to be awkward to look the lycans in the face knowing that they were upset about what PC and I had done. Honestly, it was bad enough that they knew what we’d done at all. I could’ve sworn I felt their disapproving stares from all the way down the block.
“It’s just going to be my mom, my uncle Roman, and Michael Komarov.” He winced at the last one.
“Who’s that?”
“Head elder. He’s a big uptight prick who’s all about traditional lycan values. He was pretty pissed at me today, but I managed to convince him that the whole thing was my idea and you protested.”
I sputtered a little, then shoved at his chest. “He’s going to know that’s not true the second he sees me looking at you. Right now I’m trying to come up with a reason not to drag you down the street to my place and start all over again.”
He grinned. “Hey, I already got in trouble for it, right? Might as well have some more fun. Let’s go.”
I pinched him and mouthed “later” as we opened the door to his building. He squeezed my hand, and we started up the stairs to the top floor.
“How did they know, anyway? It made sense before, when they could feel changes in the bond, but now? How can they tell what we do?”
Zack turned back and glanced at PC with raised eyebrows. He gave me a slightly uncomfortable look.
“They just can.”
“Okay, my brain didn’t melt all the way last night. Is one of you going to tell me what was that look was about?”
“It’s nothing, baby. We’ll talk about it later.”
I surprised myself by making an annoyed growling noise. I didn’t know where it came from. Noah chuckled softly from the stairs above.
“Miles looks so sweet that you forget he’s one of us.”
“I’m not sweet,” I grumbled. “I’m a badass.”
PC laughed out loud and pulled me close, nearly making me trip. “You, my adorable one, will never in a million years be a badass.”
I made another grumbling noise that they all thought was hilarious. Someday my inner badass was going to shock all of them.
PC’S MOTHER was waiting for us in the living room of his apartment along with two others, who I assumed were his uncle Roman and the head elder, Michael Komarov. I was surprised again by how young they looked. I knew lycans stopped aging when they began to shift. It was still startling to see someone called “elder” looking not much older than me.
I figured the one sitting in Amanda’s usual armchair was Komarov. His body language couldn’t have said uptight prick any more than it did. He gave PC one of those supremely disappointed looks that parents somet
imes give and gestured for us to sit. PC shot him a stubborn glare and lifted my hand to kiss it. He even used his teeth a little on my knuckles. I tugged at my hand, not wanting any more trouble than we already had, but it seemed PC was on a roll. He released my hand only to reach behind me and slip his fingers into the back pocket of my jeans. I was torn between laugher and wanting to strangle him. Could he have picked a worse time to turn back into his don’t-give-a-damn-about-the-lycans self?
Also present in the apartment and noticeably nervous were Leila, Amanda, and Colin. Colin gave me a halfway sad smile, like I’d abandoned him and left him to be the only human. Outside our little group of friends, neither vampires nor lycans typically regarded humans with much respect. I didn’t envy him in that room. Leila and Amanda, on the other hand, shot huge smiles my way. I could tell they were bursting at the seams with curiosity.
“Sit, everyone.” PC’s mother looked serene and composed.
I connected glances with her and smiled sheepishly. She smiled back, wryly, telling me she wasn’t all that upset at us for breaking the rules. I wondered if she could tell how happy I was. PC pulled me down next to him on the couch. Before anyone even started talking, he slipped his arm behind me and wriggled his hand up underneath the hem of my shirt to pet the skin of my back. In front of the lycans? Are you trying to get them to hate me? I tried to scoot away from his hand, but there was nowhere to go. I had to concentrate on not letting the pleasure show in my face at even the lightest brushes of his fingers. I shot PC a glare, but he only grinned back impudently and continued.
“Before we start, I think it’s fair to tell everyone exactly what’s going on.” It was Komarov who spoke. His voice was big, authoritative, at odds with his youthful appearance.
He went on to detail the attacks, most of which PC had already told Zack, Noah, and me. The others, however hadn’t heard much. All they knew is what had happened to me and the fact that the attack was meant for PC. Their eyes grew wide, then angry. It wasn’t just an attack on the lycans. It was an affront to the peace that the hunters constantly strove to keep.
