She laughed. Yeah, she probably shouldn’t have found it amusing that her mate was in hell surrounded by people, or that she could make him hard that easily, but she so did. “Let me finish my cake and coffee.”
In truth, Shaya was eager to leave, because Nick was finally taking her to see the house he’d bought for them. He’d refused to tell her anything about it—not even where it was—and she wasn’t a patient person. Still, she wanted to enjoy this meal with the Phoenix Pack because she knew that after that day, things would be very different. She’d be an Alpha female.
Though Nick was reluctant about being an Alpha again, she knew it was a given. Unlike with many other dominant males, he didn’t have to showcase his alpha qualities, he didn’t have to actively work to gain people’s attention—he just was. And that was enough for people to notice and be inspired by him. He didn’t have to demand to be obeyed, or respected, or followed—those things happened for him automatically. It was kind of annoying when people often sought him out for help or advice and seemed to gather around him. But it was also kind of funny considering he had such an aversion to company.
“Wrap up the cake with a napkin and bring it with you.”
Grinning at the impatience in his voice, Shaya said, “No, I want to eat it now.”
“But…people keep smiling at me.”
“So smile back.”
“I don’t want to.”
“Just so you know: They’ll still be friendly to you, no matter how much you try to keep them at a distance. They’re determined to break down your defenses and make you one of their own.” Like Jaime, however, the guys also did it to irritate Nick. Yeah, the males of the Phoenix Pack—particularly Trick—lived to tease one another and everyone else around them. As Tao was so easy to provoke, he got it the worst. Ryan simply grunted in what looked like impatience whenever Trick tried it with him.
“Stop hogging my grandson,” complained Greta at Taryn as she held out her arms to Kye, clearly expecting him to reach for her—he didn’t.
“I think you mean hugging,” said Taryn sweetly, holding Kye closer. He giggled, playing with her hair.
Greta placed her hands on her hips, scowling at Taryn. The old woman had spent the past half hour insulting the Alpha female and didn’t appear to be done. “You know what I mean, hussy.”
Taryn sighed tiredly. “Greta, I think you’ve delighted us long enough. Why not go select some favorite hymns and poems—it won’t be long before the funeral. Have you put any more thought into whether or not you want an open casket?”
“Humph. I still have no idea why my Trey mated with you. Tiny, sarcastic, disrespectful—”
“Greta, seriously, careful your vile tongue doesn’t get your false teeth knocked out.”
Of course that made Greta ten times worse.
Nick turned to Shaya. “I really don’t think I can take much more.” These people were crazy. “You done yet?”
Chuckling, Shaya held up her index finger. Drinking down the last of her coffee, she nodded. “Now we can leave.”
Both relieved and excited, Nick took her hand in his and helped her rise from the table. All at once, Derren, Roni, Eli, Kathy, Kent, Jesse, Bracken, and Zander rose from their seats. “Oh no. Shaya and I want some privacy for a change.”
“We just want to know where we’ll be living,” said Derren innocently. The others nodded. Most likely in response to Nick’s growl, he said, “You’re not going to get rid of me, you know that. Nor are you going to get rid of these people. And you’re not going to get out of being Alpha either.”
As an idea came to mind, Nick crossed his arms over his chest. “Okay. You want me to be Alpha? You got it…as long as you’re Beta—no more bodyguard shit.”
Derren gawked. “Hell no. I don’t want responsibilities. They scare me.”
“Then I’m afraid I don’t have a place for you. Derren, with regret, you’re officially out of the pack. I’m permanently firing you.”
“Hey, you can’t do that. I’m the one who organized the pack,” he more or less whined.
“Doesn’t matter. If I’m Alpha, it’s my decision. So, are you going to accept the position of Beta or not?”
Derren had the look of a sulky teenager. “Fine.”
Smirking, Nick led Shaya around the table. “I’ll show you the house tomorrow,” he told his “pack.” Being an Alpha again was going to take some getting used to. “Shaya and I want to spend our first night there alone.” They all nodded respectfully.
After he and Shaya had said their good-byes and she had been molested by Dominic—which almost led to the pervert losing a limb—Nick and Shaya went out of the tunnels and down to the indoor parking lot. He held up something he’d taken from his back pocket.
Shaya tensed. “You want to blindfold me?”
“I told you, I want this to be a surprise.”
“But…you want to blindfold me?”
“What part of ‘surprise’ don’t you understand?”
A little irritated that she wouldn’t even be able to look out the window and guess where they were going, she nonetheless nodded. He gently put on the blindfold, plunging her into complete darkness, and kissed her lightly on the mouth before guiding her into his Mercedes.
When Nick finally drove them out of pack territory, he released a sigh of relief. Those people had the potential to drive him insane. The only person he wanted to be in the company of was Shaya, and now he had her all to himself finally. He soon realized that he probably should have brought a gag as well as a blindfold, because she did nothing but quiz him throughout the entire journey—no doubt to annoy him. It worked.
When the car finally came to a stop, Shaya practically bounced in the seat in anticipation. She probably looked like a toddler in a playground, but she didn’t care. Three long months of “it’s a surprise” had her feeling beyond excited—as well as exasperated. “Can I take the blindfold off now?”
“No, that’s my job. Wait there.”
Sighing, Shaya waited as Nick exited the car and then came around and opened the passenger door. Taking her hand, he helped her get out of the vehicle. The familiar scents of pine, sun-warmed earth, and moss hit her nose. The place itself had a familiar scent…she had been here before. “Blindfold. Off.”
Nick tsked. “No patience.” He led her a short distance and then, standing behind her, untied the piece of black cloth. “Now you can look.”
Blinking a few times to adjust to the light, Shaya fully opened her eyes and gasped. “Oh my God.” Yeah, she’d been here before, been here many times as a child. It had been her favorite place back then. “You bought the hunting lodge I told you about?” It was just as she remembered it. The first level was made with large stone while the second and third levels had timber frames. The large glass dove windows took clear advantage of the natural light, practically illuminating it. To add to that, fairy lights now decorated the trees that surrounded the lodge. “I can’t believe you did this.” With emotion clogging her throat, the words came out in a whisper.
Surprising the hell out of Nick, she sharply pivoted and dived on him, wrapping around him like a clinging vine. He caught her easily and curled his arms around her. “Does this mean you like it?” Her “I love it!” made him inwardly sag in relief. Nick had believed he knew her well enough to know this was something she would love, somewhere she could think of as home, but a tiny part of him had been worried that he’d been wrong. His wolf was thrilled by her reaction.
When she finally untangled herself from him, he explained, “It’s not just the only lodge here now. The owners built and rented out several other lodges on the land, which would be perfect for the ‘pack’ to live in. It means you and I will have our own space.”
Touched to the point that she was tearful, she said, “I really, really can’t believe you’ve done this. I never would have guessed. I suppose I should have—you always try to spoil me.”
“It’s my right, and it’ll happen a lot, so
you need to get better at accepting gifts.”
She waved away that comment. “You know what else I can’t believe? That the prejudiced humans sold the place to a shifter.” When he opened his mouth to speak, she raised a hand. “Don’t tell me…Your contacts got involved, right?”
“Right,” he confirmed. “Want to go inside?”
“Do Dalmatians have black spots?”
“One thing first: I made a few…changes.”
“What do you mean? And don’t look so panicky about it. Just because you’ve made changes doesn’t mean I won’t still love it.”
Smiling, he explained, “The place hadn’t been properly looked after. It needed some work, so a contact of mine—”
“A friend of yours,” she stressed.
“A friend of mine,” he allowed, “who runs a business specializing in restoring and also modernizing buildings worked on the place. I told him what I thought you’d like, and he and his team have been working on it. He’ll also work on the other lodges when they’ve each been claimed and the ‘pack’ tells him what they want. Ready?”
Nodding enthusiastically, she slipped her hand in his and let him lead her inside. The second she entered, she gasped again. It was very different from before; the living room, kitchen, and dining area was one huge, open space—the main feature being the living area with luxurious sofas and armchairs and a state-of-the-art entertainment system. Between the TV and sofas was an oval white fluffy rug that just made her want to go curl up on it. There was also a big stone fireplace that added to the rustic tone of the place. It had such a homey, spacious, warm feeling that hadn’t been there before.
Nick led her up the golden curved staircase and gave her a tour of upstairs—showing her the large bathroom, the many guest rooms, and the game room with a cocktail bar. The master bedroom could only be described as sensual with its red, gold, and white color theme and the grand four-poster bed—the room made a person think of sex, pleasure, and desires fulfilled.
As if it wasn’t great enough that there was a Jacuzzi in the stylish en suite bathroom, there was also one on the deck outside the bedroom balcony, overlooking the river and the sun that was setting beyond it. The whole place was like a peaceful oasis for her and her wolf. Turning, she found her mate in the doorway of the bedroom with his gaze locked on her. “I absolutely love it. But…no decorative pillows?” she teased, pouting.
He shook his head and began advancing toward her, intent on taking her on that bed as he’d imagined doing since he’d chosen it. “No decorative pillows.” Finally reaching her, he trailed his fingertips up her arms. “As for the basement…it’s now an indoor pool, but you can see that later. Now that I finally have you in this room, I’m keeping you in it for a little while.” He took a single step backward. “Take off your clothes.”
Shivering at that authoritative tone that brooked no argument, Shaya removed her tank top, stilettos, jeans, lacy bra, and matching panties. Eyes flashing with need raked over her, making her entire body tingle in awareness and anticipation. But he didn’t touch her. Instead, he began to very slowly circle her predatorily in that way he sometimes did. Behind her, he licked along the curve of her shoulder and delivered a sharp nip to her earlobe. Then his deep, seductive voice was murmuring in her ear.
“Perfect…every single inch of you.”
Coming to stand before her again, he still didn’t reach for her. But his hungry gaze felt enough like a touch that a tremor rippled down her spine. As he slowly undressed, her breathing deepened as electricity arched between them and the silence seemed to stretch on and on. Every part of her seemed to ache for him; her breasts felt heavy, her nipples were hard, and her clit was pulsing. “Nick,” she appealed.
His piercing gaze ensnared hers. “What do you want? Tell me, Shay. Tell me, and I’ll give it to you.”
Somehow, his dominant tone created a trancelike effect that made both her and her wolf total slaves. “You,” she rasped. “All of you.” It was an echo of something he had once said to her. And it got Shaya what she wanted: a growl rumbled up his chest as he fit her body to his, crushing her breasts against him and cupping her ass. His mouth, tongue, and hands were demanding, dominating, and possessive. She more or less liquefied under the assault to her senses, threading her fingers through his hair and tugging.
He closed his mouth around her nipple, sucking hard and raking his teeth over it. Moving on to the other nipple, he lashed it with his tongue and then drew it into his mouth. At the same time, his hand skimmed over her flat stomach and down to cup her hard. Then two fingers sank deep inside her and swirled around.
“I love how you get so wet for me.” Kissing her again, Nick slowly thrust his fingers in and out of her, loving the moans she fed him, watching every expression that flashed across her face. Withdrawing his fingers, he moved one to circle the puckered hole where a butt plug was snugly positioned inside her. “I’m going to finally take you here tonight, baby. Do you want that?”
Shaya nodded, wanting her mate to have claimed her in every possible way—this was the only step they hadn’t yet taken, because Nick had wanted her to be totally ready. Also, he’d explained that he didn’t want her to surrender this way just to please him or out of curiosity, that he wanted her to want it as much as he did. She did, and she wasn’t embarrassed to admit it.
“On the bed, baby.” Once she clambered onto the bed and lay on her back, he crawled over her and took her mouth, branding it. He ended the kiss with a bite to her lip. “Spread your legs,” he rumbled. “I want to taste this pussy that was made for me.”
Once she’d followed his order, Nick kissed, licked, and bit his way down her body to dip his tongue into her navel before going lower still. He flicked her clit with the tip of his tongue, eliciting a sharp intake of breath from her. He might have made her beg a little, but the scent of her pussy was much too tempting. Sliding his hands under her thighs, he tilted her hips and hooked her legs over his shoulders. Then he licked, sipped, and drank from her, savoring her taste and her moans. Each one of his senses was filled with, and overwhelmed by, her.
One thing he loved about Shaya was that her responses were without deception or exaggeration; she simply allowed her desire to flood her veins, rule her, and take her where she needed to be. The way she writhed and arched, the way she pulled on his hair, the way she groaned and whimpered and dug her heels between his shoulder blades—all of it was real, and all of it sent an agonizing need rocketing through him. “I need to be inside you. Right fucking now. Turn over.”
Those words caused quivers deep in her stomach. Needing to come so badly, Shaya obediently positioned herself on her hands and knees. He smoothed his hands over her ass as he came to kneel behind her, letting his cock rub against her slit. It felt good and all, but she really couldn’t wait much longer. “Nick, I need to come.”
He positioned his cock at the entrance of her pussy. Keeping one hand on her hip, he held her shoulder with the other. “When I’m ready for you to come, I’ll tell you.” He slammed home, groaning as her walls clamped down on him. Buried inside his mate, the aching need in his body eased. But then it exploded.
Shaya cried out as Nick began to ruthlessly hammer into her, thrusting hard, driving deep. His pace was feverish, frenzied, and was sending her into that same frenzied state; she was moaning, whimpering, and instinctively pushing back against him. Well, actually, she was trying to push back, but his iron hold prevented her from moving. Still, her attempts earned her a growl and the prick of claws against her skin—Nick’s way of telling her to keep still, that he was in control and she’d take what he gave her.
“I love the feel of your pussy around me. Know what else I love?” Nick slid his hand into her hair and pulled, urging her upright so her back was to his chest, and bringing her face to his. “You. Every goddamn inch of you—inside and out. Can you feel it?”
She could. She could feel it flowing over her, centering her, sheltering her, and wrapping around her. E
ven if she hadn’t known it with every cell and every bone of her body, she would have known it from the look in his eyes right then. He loved her. Loved her with an intensity that he would never have thought himself capable of—it was deep, and boundless, and true. It was also returned. She looped her arms around his neck. “And I love you.”
The words made Nick pause in his movements. He truly hadn’t expected her to give him those words, hadn’t believed she felt that way—not yet. He could have used their bond anytime to find out for sure, but he hadn’t wanted to delve that deeply in case what he found wasn’t what he’d hoped to find. But now what she felt was radiating from the bond. So knowing that it was true, feeling it was true, Nick was filled with elation and a sense of completeness that only Shaya could have given him. It made something settle deep inside his wolf, gave the animal a peace he’d never otherwise have known.
“Come here, baby.” Her mouth met his, and Nick devoured it, dominated it, but also cherished it. Then he placed a hand on her lower back and gently pressed forward until she was leaning on her elbows. “Now I’m going to make you come.” With that, he began fucking her with hard, feral digs that made her cry out, made her gasp his name and tear at the bed sheets with her claws. “Now.”
The combination of his order, the feel of his teeth buried in her shoulder, and the light pinch on her clit had her body imploding. She threw her head back, screaming. That was when, in one smooth movement, he pulled out the butt plug and thrust into her ass. She screamed again as the sensation intensified her climax.
Nick didn’t move one single inch as she came down from her orgasm. When she began to writhe, he cinched her hips and held her still. “You okay, baby?” He couldn’t sense any pain from her, but he needed to hear her say it.
“Move, Nick; I need you to move. It hurts a little, but it’s a good hurt.”
Satisfied, Nick slowly withdrew until only the head of his cock was inside her, and then he thrust forward just as slowly. “Fuck, baby, that feels so good.” He did it over and over, not picking up the pace until she became restless against him and begged for more. When she tried slamming back into him, he hardened his thrusts slightly, staying fully connected to her through their bond so he could make sure she wasn’t in pain.
Carnal Secrets Page 36
