Devil Hills: #2 Luna & Lydia

by Diroll-Nichols, Karen

  “I…we...I probably should have a hotel or…something…”

  “Why do you want to push me? Too used to being alone to think you belong somewhere? With someone? With me?”

  Lydia heard the hurt edge the hard tone, her face turned to look around her as he drove.

  “I’m not easy to be around, Jude.”

  “And this is news to me?” Was the bitter response, his head shaking. “They teach us when we’re young that we should trust the guide inside us, that the animal is oft times much smarter than we are alone. Your cat chose me, Lydia. Like it or not. We’re mated.”

  “I don’t dislike you, Jude, I’m just not sure what to do with you,” she whispered, genuine confusion in a voice that shook slightly. “I know what to do with the assignment. How to guard someone. How to keep them safe. How to keep others away or secret someone from one location to another. I learned those things and I do them well.”

  “As I said, the training begins today, Lydia,” Jude guided them down a long, solid gravel road to a large, single level log home built against the backdrop of pines. He handed her the keys and gave her a code. “Tap in the code and use the key. I’ll get the bags and be right behind you.”

  Training. She turned the word over and over inside her mind. She wasn’t stupid. She knew the meaning of the word. She was just a little uncertain how Jude intended to use it. She stepped into the huge room that seemed to fill the center of the large home.

  A bright carpet of deep reds, golds and blues covered a shining dark hardwood floor. The furniture was heavy with cushions in a solid shade of forest green, the sofa wide and enticing. She slid her jacket off and dropped it to a high backed stool near the kitchen, the holster she wore opened and hung over the corner.

  “This is your place?”

  “This is our home,” he corrected softly, having decided that one of the first lessons in her training would be use of the proper words for things.

  “How are you so certain, Jude? How do you trust so easily?”

  The cases he held were set to the side of the hall that led to the master suite. Long, strong fingers speared the thick dark blond hair as he looked at her, watched her stare down at her own hands nervously shoved into the front pockets of her jeans. He wanted to be angry with her. Lord knew she gave him plenty of reason for the anger and yet the same part of him fought the urge when she sounded so confused, so lost.

  “You fight everything, Lydia. Why didn’t you fight the cat when she told you to mark me?” He crossed the open space, his hands on her waist and leading her to the sofa. Before she could protest, he had thrown his jacket to the chair and tugged her palms from her pockets. He almost laughed at the wide eyes when he sat back on the sofa and pulled her onto his lap, facing him and straddling his thighs. His hands closed over her knees with a firm refusal to allow her to bolt.

  “I…it just…I don’t know! I remember wanting to seriously hurt you and there were all those women in the room…” she shoved her hands into her hair and closed her eyes. “I could smell them!” She hissed furiously. “They all wanted you and the cat kept telling me…over and over…”

  “What did she tell you, Lydia?” He asked softly, his hands sliding along her thighs to her hips, pulling her closer, rubbing the center of her against the hard length of him straining against his jeans. “What did the cat tell you to do?” He pushed.

  “To mark you…that you were mine…that I had to stake my claim…” Her head shook.

  “You fought it.”

  “It was like having this shouting match inside my head,” she whispered. “Next thing I knew…I bit you…and didn’t realize I had that sharp of teeth until I…I tasted the blood and…it didn’t even feel freakin’ weird! And it should have…”

  “What did you feel?”

  “Why are you doing this? I don’t know! I don’t know why and I don’t…”

  Green eyes widened, her breath caught in her chest when his hands moved quickly, gripping her hips and pulling her hard against him before one palm wrapped in the thick strands at the back of her head.

  He directed her position, slanting her head slightly and covering her mouth, silencing the frustration inside her and him. His tongue slashed between her lips, circling hers and pulling it along, stroking and thrusting until he heard the softest whimper from deep in her throat. He pulled her back, biting her lower lip and kissing along her jaw.

  “It felt right,” she whispered feverishly. “I didn’t know why…I didn’t understand why…I just knew it felt right and…and a little part of me ached when I had to walk away from you that night…”

  “And you’re still fighting the why of it,” he responded, not pausing the trail of warm kisses along her throat to the mark he’d placed on her shoulder. A shudder ran through her, slim fingers gripping the fabric of the shirt he wore. Her body arched closer, her neck exposed and the soft whimper low and hungry.

  His hands moved to her hips and around to her ass, lifting her closer and holding her firmly in place, he slid to the edge of the sofa and stood up.

  “What are you doing? Put me down…” Lydia pushed against his shoulders as he carried her to the bedroom, letting her slide down his body but not releasing her. “Jude…”

  “No work until tomorrow, Lydia Jones,” he told her, sweeping in and covering the parted lips with his own before she could protest. Jude felt the moment’s hesitation before her body relaxed against his, strong palms stroking down her back to pull her shirt free, breaking their kiss only long enough to tug the shirt over her head and toss it aside.

  “You have so much patience…and you’ve brought so many things into my life that I never gave a thought to,” Lydia ran her tongue around her lips, her smile teasing when his eyes darkened watching her. “And I know I grate on your nerves, Jude. I suppose I’m getting the idea about this mate thing but…what you’re asking…”

  “It’s beyond asking, Lydia Jones. I am your mate and I’m demanding as hell,” he growled before tossing her to the center of the bed and reaching for her boots. He had them off and his own in seconds, his shirt following before he was crawling over her, pinning her to the bed.

  “Now you’re just trying to piss me off, cat,” she growled back, sending both hands up only to have them snagged and pushed to the bed, both wrists held in one of his palms and stretched above her head.

  “Beautiful,” the word came out as a low snarl, his tongue out and dragging very slowly over the small pink areola, the flesh puckering and the nipple hardening. “Tell me, Lydia…tell me how much you want me more than you’ve ever had before. Tell me I’m in the center of that want…” He growled and bit just hard enough to make her gasp aloud.

  “Jude…” His name whispered free in a long stream. “I want you so much it frightens me. I love you…I’ve never let myself care before you,” lashes blinked rapidly, trying to stop the tears when he lifted his head and stared. “I want you so much I made a promise to Luna. I made you promises…I’ve never…I’m afraid, Jude.”

  “Christ, Lydia Jones,” he fell to the side, pulling her against him with a band of arms that refused her room for more than breathing.

  “I thought I was crazy but I always trusted my cat. I…I made up some story about her being my guardian angel,” Lydia’s body shuddered against his, her arms around his waist, clinging; pale lashes squeezed tightly closed. “She told me you were mine! Only mine! And, god, I wanted that so much! I wanted you so much it hurt. But if I let myself…”

  “It’s too fucking late, Lydia. You’ve got me and I’ve got you. We’re a team,” Jude murmured against her head, his mouth moving down to her jaw to nudge her face up to meet his kiss. Hot and ravaging; taking and tasting and teasing until both broke of just to grab some much needed deep breaths.

  “Yours,” she whispered against his mouth, a long purr breaking from inside her. “Is it honestly that simple, Jude?”

  “We make it what it is, Lydia. I can’t lose you now that we’ve jus
t found one another. Finding my mate…” His head shook, still more than a little floored at the complexity of the feelings inside him. “We’re raised to trust our animal inside. But when you’re lucky enough to find your mate, you have to trust now. I won’t let you put yourself back where they can…will…drug you and god knows what else. But I will help you and be with you to make things better. That’s my promise. My love.”

  “All mine,” she swallowed hard, biting the corner of her lip. “I don’t know if I’ll be able to stop the panic now and then, Jude. I…”

  “Shhh…we’re together. It’s not just you anymore. Another promise, baby.”

  “I think love makes you crazy,” she sighed, his palm sliding along her ribs until it fit her breast neatly inside.

  “I know a certain woman who’s done nothing but make me crazy since I first saw her. Crazy. Hungry…”

  “Hmmm…that sounds promising…and you wouldn’t dare hold back because I’m some soft little girl, would you?”

  By the end of the day, Lydia Jones knew her mate would never hold anything back from her. Anywhere.