Dakota couldn't breathe. Aven kissed her hard. He worked the fastening of her jeans, pushed them down. Dakota only made it through Aven’s belt. She whipped it free of his pants so fast that it cracked in the air before she dropped it.
She stepped out of her jeans, watching Aven toe off his shoes, unbutton his pants, and pull the zipper down. It had been days since Dakota had felt the hard length of Aven’s cock against her belly, but she hadn’t forgotten the sensation. Now she would finally get to see what she’d been imagining all this time.
He shoved his pants down, underwear with them. The sight of his naked body made Dakota’s lust stick in her throat. Lucky he had just the thing to help her wash it down.
Aven was big. Not scary big, but definitely impressive, even at half-staff. Absolutely going to ruin me.
Dakota met Aven’s eye. He smiled back with the confidence of a man who knew what he had and how to use it, but luckily Dakota wasn’t thrown by a big cock and a sexy grin. She walked closer, slowly, feeling Aven’s gaze rake her body like lightning. Her nipples pebbled against black silk. Aven’s sharp eyes narrowed, the look making Dakota’s nipples tighten further, almost painfully hard. Aven’s nostrils flared.
He met her eye again. Heat, hunger, desire; everything they’d been suppressing since that first night, when they first discovered this thing they’d been fighting. Dakota was so ready to stop fighting.
She stood toe-to-toe with Aven. He held her eyes and asked, “What do you want, Dakota?” There was a hard look in his eyes, deep under the passion.
Her answer fell off her lips, so simple and yet no less true, “I want you.”
* * *
Aven was still for a moment after Dakota spoke. He felt the steep rise of his heart that told him it was what he wanted, too. To give himself to her. All of him, to this woman. A woman strong enough to take him on.
Her skin in the moonlight looked soft as satin, softer than the lingerie she still wore. Aven put a hand on Dakota’s waist and let it fall to the ripe curve of her ass, felt the strength of her muscles under the soft glide of silk. His cock stiffened further, pushing against Dakota’s upper thigh like a heat-seeking missile on a mission. He pulled her close to kiss her neck.
Dakota gasped at his kisses. Her hands found his hips, gripped his cock. One hand squeezed, moving back and forth with just the right pressure and rhythm to make Aven’s eyes cross. The other played around his tip with light caresses that had him growling against the flesh of her collarbone.
Aven grabbed a fistful of Dakota’s hair and used it to tilt her head back, give him better access. He gripped her ass tighter, pulled her closer, held her rock-steady with his arm around her torso, supporting her fully.
She arched in his arms. Aven kissed down her chest until fabric met his lips. He sucked her nipple through slick silk, leaving the fabric stuck to her skin. He wanted to consume her scent and flavor, take them inside himself, so she could never be fully gone from him.
He would have Dakota with him forever, even if she never knew it.
They found their way to the bed. Dakota was on him in an instant. She straddled his waist and looked down with a conqueror’s grin as she unfastened her bra. Aven’s already-fast heartbeat leveled up. He ran his fingers lightly over Dakota’s hips to steady himself.
Not even inside her and she already had him tangled. This female might be the best thing that ever happened to Aven, even if she ended up being the worst, too.
Dakota brought her hands to the straps of her unfastened bra and slowly, slyly pulled them down until the cups barely hung on the tips of her tight nipples. A growl started in Aven’s gut and rolled up his throat at the teasing look she threw him.
Aven sat up straight, tipping Dakota back suddenly. Her mouth widened in surprise. He caught her before she tipped too far, one hand splayed between her shoulder blades, the other taking hold of the bra she held to her chest. She sent him a saucy look, daring him to go further. Aven snatched the bra away.
He slid his hand up her neck and into a fistful of Dakota’s hair, arching her back so that his shaft pressed against the cleft of her ass. He used his other hand to tease her breasts as lightly as she had the tip of his cock. Dakota’s gorgeous mouth stretched wide, gasping at every touch.
The teasing only lasted a few minutes before Dakota’s need showed in the frantic undulation of her body. She rocked against Aven’s cock behind her, arched into his fingers teasing her breasts, melted against the insistent grip in her hair. Aven wanted to give her more. He wanted to see that sexy mouth scream with pleasure.
He slid his hand from Dakota’s breasts over the soft swell of her belly and lower. Where his fingers slipped under black satin and he felt heat like he’d never imagined could live inside another person. Dakota’s hair was trim and soft, velvety. Her hips bucked so sharply he touched slick wet flesh. Her scent surrounded him, that rich combination of heat lightning and warm stone settling deep in his bones. Indelible.
Aven lay back, bringing Dakota with him. Her eyes bored into his. His fingers slipped closer to where they both wanted him to be. Dakota gripped his waist with her knees. Her hips rolled in a slow circle, urging him on.
His fingers parted her lips, one easing deeper into her wet heat. Aven felt his hunger take over, the urge to make them both into bodies instead of people. But he was keenly aware that this female was Dakota, and that she saw deeper inside him than anyone ever had.
She kissed Aven as his fingers found her swollen clit and caressed, flicking at the tender bundle of nerves. She gasped a sweet breath into his mouth. Their tongues tangled wickedly. Aven rubbed faster, lighter, until Dakota was forcing out little breaths. He could feel her tightening towards an orgasm.
He slowed down then, rolled them both over so that Dakota was beneath him. She looked up in confusion, a tiny wrinkle between her eyes. “I was so close.”
Aven couldn’t hold back a smirk. “I know.” He pushed to kneeling between Dakota’s legs and pulled her panties off. Dakota raised her legs to help. When she brought her feet back down to the bed, he could tell she thought about keeping them together, acting coy or embarrassed. But she met his eye and let her knees fall open, let him see everything.
She was exquisite. From her muscular thighs to her pink-tipped breasts, from her wide smile to her sexy ankles, everything about Dakota sucked Aven straight to the bottom of the whirlpool without a fight. He was going down, in every way that mattered.
Aven stretched out, his shoulders between Dakota’s thighs, admiring the view. Dakota looked down with hungry fire in her gaze. He slid one finger over her wet lower lips and felt the surge of lust when her hips flexed. “What do you want, Dakota?”
If it had been a dare she would have taken it. Aven had no doubt. He just wanted to hear her say it. “Make me scream, Aven.”
Aven gritted his teeth as his dick filled to rock-hard with her sultry words. He added another finger to the first, gliding over her slick flesh, slipping to her clit, circling it until she gasped, and then back to the warm heaven that waited for him. Later.
He drew a breath, his mouth watering for a taste of her. The scent of thunder in the desert teased his nostrils with desire as sharp as a lightning strike. Aven couldn’t hold back anymore. He used his fingers to part her and leaned in for his first taste of paradise.
Dakota shuddered when his tongue touched her, tasting the sweetness of her. But Aven was lost to it all. Her flavor on his tongue short-circuited his brain, made him ravenous for more. He moved her body for better access, grabbed hold of Dakota’s thighs to keep them spread wide for him.
She wriggled on the bed, her fingers in Aven’s hair, her sweet, dirty words urging him on. Begging him to lick her, suck there, use his fingers, go deeper. He followed every order she gave and was rewarded with sighs and moans so beautiful he wanted to record them into a symphony.
Finally he heard and felt the urgency in her again. The little gasps, the shudders of her belly that told him
she was on the edge. There was nothing he wanted more than to see her go over.
Aven pushed everything he was doing to eleven. Dakota tightened like a bowstring and snapped.
She came hard, her voice lost to the moonlight. Her inner muscles gripped his fingers, pulling them deeper. Aven wanted to be buried inside her when it happened again.
Dakota dug her fingernails into Aven’s shoulders, trying to pull him to her. He kissed and licked his way up her body and into her arms. One feminine hand went to the back of his head, pulling him into a ferocious kiss, while the other guided his cock toward her.
Aven paused. “Condom?” He couldn’t get her pregnant, since they were different species, and shifters were largely immune to STDs. But it was still good manners to ask.
Dakota shook her head, tightened her grip. “I need you.”
Aven groaned at her breathy voice, begging for his cock. He let her pull him, easing his hips forward until the tip of him met heaven. Dakota gripped him tight, slipping him an inch inside, teasing them both by keeping him from going any deeper. Their kisses turned frantic. The warmth and wetness were maddening. It was all Aven could do not to pin Dakota’s arms and plunge inside her.
Instead he retaliated with little movements. Minute thrusts that made his breath catch and Dakota moan in surrender. She eased her grip and Aven pumped again, dipping deeper inside her. They moaned together at the new sensation, and gasped at his retreat.
No more playing after that. Dakota’s hand left his cock, both her arms wrapping his waist. Aven planted his toes in the bedcovers and pushed deep.
Too good. She’d said it that first day but Aven hadn’t believed her. Now here he was, buried in slick velvet and lightning strikes. Aven couldn’t see how he was going to navigate this minefield.
Didn’t matter. All he had to do was make her feel good.
Aven pushed to his knees again and wrapped both arms around Dakota’s middle, lifting her waist off the bed, making her arch on his driving shaft. Her head fell back in surrender. He feasted on her breasts, reveling in the way Dakota dug her hands in his hair and held him to her.
She chanted with the rhythm of his thrusts, “Yes, yes, yes.” Aven could feel her tightening, her climax building. He wanted to give her that release. Wanted to feel her peace saturate him.
But seconds later, when Dakota’s fingers tightened at his scalp and her sweet core pulsed around him like a heartbeat, like a song, Aven felt something that wasn’t just peace. In the moments between her climax and his, in the thrilling nirvana of knowing he’d brought her to that place and would soon join her, Aven felt something he’d never sensed before from a female in his bed.
Aven felt Dakota fall in love with him.
Chapter 25 - Cat’s Outta The Bag
Dakota awoke all at once. Hard man warmed her back. She smiled, relishing the feeling. What a perfect night. Aven had made her scream, moan, and laugh, sometimes all three in the space of a minute. Memories flooded in, all of them good.
But.
But.
She was in love with Aven.
She’d made a huge mistake, sleeping with him. All those promises about having what they could, while they could, and she was going to have to chicken out before they even made it through every position.
Dakota slipped out of Aven’s protective embrace and padded to the bathroom. Maybe she wouldn’t wake him up with her panic attack in here.
Aven’s phone chimed in the bedroom. Dakota heard sleepy stumbling before it stopped. Her reprieve was over. Dakota walked naked back to the bedroom in time to hear Aven’s raspy voice say to someone, “See you in thirty.”
If they had to be anywhere in thirty minutes there was no time for talking. No time for her to screw this up more by telling Aven how she was feeling. She’d have to ride out this panic.
She ogled Aven’s naked body in motion, stalking toward her with eyes like banked coals in a waiting fire. His hair was adorably rumpled, his gorgeous cock on unabashed display.
“Good morning,” he said, as he kissed her. “Jameson called. Emergency hearing, we’ve got to rush.”
“Gimme five minutes.” She bent for her clothes.
Behind her, Aven groaned when she bent. “I know what I want to give you, but it would take a lot longer than five minutes,” he said. “Let’s get this done, then get back here. This bird is hungry for pussycat.”
Dakota purred at him, panic clawing at her. She’d said they could have a fling, and he was all in, not knowing she’d suddenly changed the rules. Maybe she wasn't really in love with him.
Aven headed out. She followed, knowing she absolutely was in love with him, and she was a fool for letting it happen.
* * *
In the car, Dakota figured out where they were going. The courthouse, but Aven was too busy with phone calls to fill her in. Dakota parked a block away, a sick feeling in her stomach, not knowing why.
They walked to the courthouse steps, where Dallas and Jameson waited. Dakota’s nerves ramped up when she saw the guilty expression Dallas wore. She glanced sideways. Aven had a puzzled look on his face, like he was picking up on something sketchy.
Dakota’s heart sank. Was she about to be outed?
When they were still yards away, Jameson called out to Aven. “Rangers just got a call, I need you in the forest. Cove Springs, reports of some kind of blue light, have to assume it’s Cause-related. I need you to get out there and find out what happened.”
Cove Springs? That was where Brittany had shifted. Yes.
Aven nodded and started to turn. Dakota did the same, but Jameson’s voice stopped her. “Not you, Dakota.” Jameson shook his head. “You’re out, you know why.”
Beside her, Aven came to life. “What the hell, J? Dallas, are you hearing this?”
Dakota didn’t meet Aven’s eyes. She knew what had happened; Dallas had ratted her out. He’d never done that before. It shook her.
Dakota stared at Jameson, instead, telling him without words they weren’t done here. She knew she had two choices. Cry. Or push forward on her own.
She had to get to Cove Springs.
* * *
Aven couldn’t believe what he was sensing. Guilt poured off of Dallas in thick waves. Aven smacked him on the chest with the back of his hand. “You knew about him keeping her out? What the fuck?”
Dallas glared back, secrets on top of secrets in his eyes.
Dakota didn’t say a word. She turned her back and stalked away. Dallas called after her. She didn't stop.
Aven was caught in utter indecision. He turned on Jameson. “That’s some bullshit, J. Why would you do that?”
Jameson said nothing, just looked at Aven with cool acceptance. Aven wanted to shake him. “Is this about me and her? That’s even bigger bullshit. Don’t punish her for what I did wrong.”
Jameson’s jaw hardened. “Cove Springs. Blue light.” He spotted a woman walking up the courthouse steps. “That’s our lawyer. Gotta go.” He hurried away.
Aven turned to Dallas, but Dallas only had eyes for Jameson’s lawyer, a plainly-dressed woman with glasses, and everything about him said it was love at first sight. He ran up the stairs to the door, tripping over himself to open it before the female got there, without even a goodbye.
Aven went the other way. Dakota was all that mattered to him. He found her ten feet from Luxe, walking hard and fast. Her mood was desperate.
“You’re coming with me,” he said.
She stopped in her tracks, turning to face him. “There’s something I haven’t told you.”
The look in her eyes was torture, like she didn’t trust him. It twisted in his gut. He touched her cheek gently, trying to tell her she could trust him.
“I can’t shift,” she said.
His hand stopped in mid-touch and he searched her eyes, her scent, her sense, knowing this was the secret she’d been hiding. Now everything made perfect sense. Why he hadn’t seen her shift, Shiloh not liking her, Jameson kicking h
er out, Dallas telling Jameson in the first place.
But obviously none of them knew Dakota like he knew Dakota.
He pointed her to her car. “Good thing you’re a badass. Let’s go.”
Dakota cranked the car as Aven laid out the plan. “We’ll stop by J’s place for his ATV, it’s closer. I’ve got to get to Cove Springs.” He’d be there in five minutes if all he had to do was fly, but with Dakota it was going to take a lot longer. Still, he wasn’t leaving her behind.
He started thinking aloud. “It shouldn’t be dangerous. No vampires, or else J would have had me bring a switch.”
Beside him Dakota muttered, “I wish it was a vampire. Both of them together would have to work.”
Aven looked over. “What?”
Dakota spoke tightly. “Dallas smelled pine and bitter herbs when he first shifted: vampire. Brittany said Cove Springs was where she first shifted. Put them both together…”
She trailed off, but her meaning was clear to Aven. She expected a vampire to force her to shift. A dangerous plan, but a good one. After they dealt with duty, he might just help her with it, somehow. He was confident they would find no vampires where they were going.
Still. “You’ve got your firearm, right?” he asked. No sense going anywhere unarmed if she couldn’t shift.
Dakota nodded soberly.
They sped off toward Jameson’s, Dakota’s mood closer to desperation than Aven wanted to admit.
Chapter 26 - More Than One Way To Shift A Cat
They pushed the speed limit and were at Jameson’s cabin in ten minutes. Aven got Dakota on the ATV a few minutes after that, then pushed from the ground into his eagle flying low to the ground, leading Dakota to the trail they wanted.
He flapped his wings hard and pushed high, looking for any signs of life in the direction of Cove Springs, but there was nothing he could see, so he swooped low again to check in with Dakota. She lifted one hand long enough to give him a thumbs-up. Aven stayed low for a few minutes, cruising close to the treetops, guiding Dakota through a couple of turns off the trail, then lifted up for another look.
Raptor's Peak: Switch of Fate 4 Page 13
