by Milly Taiden
“You have got to stop doing that,” she joked. “Those looks are going to be the death of me.”
He leaned in and kissed her. “Why?”
“I don’t know, Sav. You make me feel things. Things I’ve never felt before and it’s making me want—”
She glanced at the stage and he grabbed her chin and made her face him. “Wanting is okay as long as you’re wanted in return.” His voice grew deep. “Trust me, love. I want you. I want you every way possible.”
“I want you, too. More than I have ever wanted another man,” she admitted with a sigh. “It’s a little scary.”
His eyes held her entranced. The liquid amber pulling her in and warming her blood. “No, love. There should be no fear between us. Only love. Lust. Hunger. Only forever. I want you to crave me the way I crave touching your skin and feeling its petal softness under my fingertips. I want you to be hungry for me. The way I close my eyes and can taste your sweet honey falling on my tongue as your orgasm explodes in my mouth.
“I want you to never want to be a foot away from me because you feel empty without me near you.” He moved closer. “Like I love having you by my side. That’s where you’re meant to be. Always with me.” He rubbed a thumb over her bottom lip. “I want you happy, Zuri. Life is meant to be lived with someone that fills your heart with love.” He licked his lips. “And that makes your pussy cream and orgasm.” His hand slid down to cup her breast and stopped at her belly. “Someone who gives you the family you want. The one I want.”
What was she saying, again? Oh, yeah. She was in such deep trouble. Savage was on the hunt and it was clear she was the prey. How long could she hold out and more importantly, did she really want to?
Chapter Twenty-Three
Savage watched the sparkle grow in his mate’s eyes as she danced and sang to songs she and every other female in that concert knew. He hadn’t realized how badly Zuri needed that outing.
He saw a different side to the woman he loved. A laid back, relaxed, and fun side that he wanted to see all the time. At the end of the concert, she leaned into his side and hugged his waist, her head resting on his chest.
“I had a great time today, Savage.” Her voice was full of wonder and joy. “If someone asked me what the best date a guy could take me on was, I would be wrong in any answer I give because today was the best date ever and I could not even imagine you doing this.”
He grinned and led her back to the car. Sage was right. Zuri’s happiness was infectious. He’d never smiled or danced before. Never. But he did it for her. He used roller skates for the first time the previous day, only long enough to learn to move around in the damn things so he wouldn’t make an ass out of himself. Thank god, his animal had good balance.
The driver took them to the hotel he’d booked for the night. His mother used to tell him all the time that once he found his mate, he needed to make sure he did his best to treat her like his queen. That was Sav’s mentality. Zuri was his world and his queen.
She was still mumbling a song as they got off the elevator to their suite. When he led her into the room, he thought she’d want to relax and get some rest.
Instead, she tugged on his shirt and pulled his head down to kiss him. The scent of her desire filled the room with its perfume. He loved knowing she was so turned on.
Her hands worked on the zipper of his jeans and soon they were flying south and her small hands were on his cock, working his hard-on while she continued kissing him. He loved Zuri. Loved her smiles, her curiosity, her fears and her sass, but right now he fucking loved her boldness.
He cupped her face and pulled away from the kiss, groaning at the perfect hold she had on his dick. “You don’t have to do this.”
Her smile warmed his heart. Yeah. He loved her so much, he’d give up anything for her. “I want to.”
She lowered to take the head of his cock into her mouth. The hot, slick cavern of her mouth clasped around his hardness. Once she began to suck, he saw stars. Fuck, she was good. Hot and tight and perfect.
Holding the silky mass of curls away from her face, he watched her take him deep and pull back to leave his cock in a perfect shine. She added one hand to jerk him as she sucked and the other fondled his balls.
“Fuck!” He couldn’t think straight. She glided his cock in and out of her mouth like she couldn’t get enough. Her mouth sucked harder, spit sliding down his length to be used as she jerked him more and more. She made slurping sounds that were the sexiest fucking thing he’d heard in his life.
Finally, when he couldn’t take any more, he pulled out of her gorgeous mouth and got her back to her feet. Clothes flew off their bodies. He didn’t know where anything landed because getting her naked was his sole focus.
Then he took her to bed, placed her at the center and kissed his way down her body, sucked on her nipples and felt the heat of her sex draw his cock to it. He couldn’t wait. The image of her lips on his dick was still fresh in his mind and he worked hard on his self-control.
He met her gaze and saw more than passion and desire in her eyes.
“Please, Sav. I want you in me. Deep. Fill me.”
Her words woke the beast inside him. He drove into her in a single-minded thrust, his pelvis meeting hers. His balls ached from how badly he wanted to come inside her.
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath to calm the animal inside. He had to keep control, but it was useless. He craved her body like a drug and with this addiction nothing would ever bring him back under control. He took her, over and over again, he fucked her hard without stopping. The beast wanted her as much as he did.
“You want my cum in you?”
“Yesss,” she moaned. “I want it all. I want all of you.”
He loved hearing those words. He thrust in and out of her in quick hard drives, her moans pushing him to lose total control. A loud growl sounded at the back of his throat. Her warm, soft body cushioned him into riding the line between him and his beast.
The bed slammed into the wall repeatedly, the sounds booming off the ceiling with every slam into her pussy. He knew this would happen. He’d asked for the suite next door to be theirs as well. He didn’t want to disturb anyone while he made love to his mate.
Her nails raked his shoulders, digging into his muscles. She pushed at his ass with the balls of her feet, urging him deeper.
Her breathing hitched and her body tensed. Her orgasm neared. He sucked on her shoulder, biting the same areas he’d bitten the first time he mated her. Slipping a hand between them, he spread her lips apart, fondling her little clit and watching her body jerk under him.
God, she was fucking gorgeous. In a second, he pulled out of her and flipped her on her stomach, driving back into her so fast, she gasped from the speed of his movement. He licked the back of her shoulder. Gripping her hips so hard, his fingers had shifted into claws, leaving another mark that she belonged to him on her body.
She reared back with every thrust, meeting him move for move and ready to keep going harder and harder. Her moans and his groans grew louder as did the sounds of skin-slapping.
He curled one hand around her hip and flicked her clit again, harder this time and with more speed. She tensed and her pussy clamped on to his cock as her orgasm rocked her.
She screamed, her back curled into him. Her body vibrated and her pussy sucked at his dick with each contraction of her sex. He couldn’t hold on.
Driving deeply once again, he came harder than ever. His cock filled her with his cum. He came in jerks and spurts and he grunted with each one. Her pussy sucked it all up. As if it wanted to be bred by him. As if it wanted his babies in her womb. Fuck, he wanted that so badly. He could only hope this would do it. Starting a family with his mate was his goal.
Afterward, he pulled out of her and hugged her to his side, her head on his shoulder, the sound of their harsh breathing the only noise in the suite. It was like that until her breathing slowed and he felt her body go lax. He glanced down and caught
a soft smile on her lips.
He loved that. Loved seeing proof on her face that she enjoyed when they were together. Now he had to convince her to stay with him forever.
His heart expanded at the thought of her giving him a family. How could he explain to her what she represented in his life?
The past few days felt like a lifetime. He’d found the woman whose smile made his heart feel full of joy. Whose arousal got his dick hard in zero point three seconds and whose sadness tore him to shreds without even trying. She owned him.
It wasn’t about sex, though he couldn’t stop thinking of being inside her. It was about finally finding the woman meant for him. Only him. And he was never letting her go.
Chapter Twenty-Four
After he took her to her home, Savage returned to his own house, took a shower and handled some issues with his clan. Billy was still making threats and Savage was going to have to address them. When Tyson called him, asking to see him urgently, he rushed to the precinct.
“I got your message,” he told Tyson, walking through the front door of his office.
Tyson continued writing and nodding, his cell phone to his ear. He raised a hand for Savage to wait, and after a few moments hung up. “Where the hell have you been? More humans are disappearing.”
Sav frowned. “Still women?”
He gave a sharp nod. “All women. All human. None live in the shifter vicinity. There’s no rhyme or reason for this.”
“That’s strange. There’s no witnesses? No one to explain or give any insight?”
“No!” Tyson slammed his fist on his desk. “I need to figure this out. My town is in a full panic.”
“I’ll send some of my men to help search. More than what you had before. I’ll close down the logging for the next few days. We’ll have all hands on deck to help find the females.”
Tyson sighed and nodded. “Thank you. I appreciate that. I’ve got eagle shifters scouting from overhead. And I’m taking some of my pack and going to the last location they were seen.”
“Keep me up to date with this.” His cell phone rang. “It’s Zuri. Hang on.”
“Hi,” she said, her voice bright and cheerful. “I had a shower and I’m getting ready to take a nap.” She lowered her voice. “You really wore me out.”
He grinned, the memory of her screams filling his mind. “So you decided to call to tempt me?”
She gave a throaty giggle. “No. I just…hang on a sec. There’s someone at the front door.”
“Be careful.”
She laughed. “I’m not stupid. You have a chain at the door and I don’t ever open it. I just speak from behind the door.”
He frowned at Tyson’s face. He was tired of waiting. Still, Sav listened to what was happening with Zuri.
“Can I help you?” she yelled.
“Is your husband home, ma’am? We’re checking cable lines from a recent number of complaints of poor service in this area,” came the muffled reply from the other side of the door.
“I have no problems, so no need to check here,” she said. A moment later, she was back on the phone with him. “That was random.”
“Everything okay?” he asked, his bear on alert for his mate.
“Yeah, but I looked through the peephole. My cable company guys don’t wear the clothes these had on. I’m pretty sure they were—”
There was a big breaking noise and a scream.
“Zuri!” he yelled, running out of the precinct and into his truck. Tyson was right behind him. He hopped into the passenger side and they took off. Sav’s heart thundered wildly. Fury filled his chest. Whoever touched his mate was going to die.
Zuri winced at the bruises on her arms and legs. She’d gotten a single scream out before she had something shoved on her face that made her pass out. She woke in the back of a van, hands tied behind her. She was alone and didn’t know where they were taking her. All she could think of was that these were the men responsible for the other missing women in the area.
They drove out of town to a remote location full of empty warehouses. She knew the area well. The warehouses were due for demolishing as were the surrounding buildings. New condos and high-rises would be built. Since the area was next to the water, it would bring new people to their town. The area was abandoned now, though, making it perfect for these men to use for their crimes.
Evening fell outside the van’s windshield. She was dragged out the back door, her legs almost buckling when she stood.
“Let’s go,” said a tall skinny man with a spider tattoo on his neck. “Yo, Mick, where do you want this one?”
Another man came toward them. Big, black and with a handgun pointed at her. “I’ll take it from here, Randall. You were gone a long time,” Mick complained. “I thought you’d bring back a few.”
Randall flipped his middle finger and grinned. “Fuck you, asshole. It was all me and Charlie. This one was harder. She wouldn’t open the door.”
Mick gave Zuri a considering look. “Is that so? Finally, a woman that’s not dumb enough to open a door to strange men.”
Randall laughed and snorted. “It didn’t stop us from getting her, though. Dumb broad.”
Zuri had to bite her tongue to not tell the idiot he was in deep shit when Savage found them.
“Let’s go,” Mick said to her. She walked and tried to pay attention to every detail she could. There were so far only three guys.
“Mick, Charlie, and me got some burgers. We’re going to eat them in the van before we head out again, okay?”
“Yeah, yeah.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Zuri tried not to panic, but she knew she had to figure something out. What if Sav didn’t get there in time to rescue her? Mick took her to the back of the warehouse, to a metal door. He unlocked it with a key he had hanging around his neck and shoved her inside. “Now be a good girl and get friendly with the others. Your transport will be here soon.”
He slammed the door behind her and his whistling could be heard growing fainter as he walked away.
There were about ten women in the room. They all looked at her with fear and curiosity. They were all big girls like Zuri. She wondered if the captors had a thing for big girls, but doubted it. She glanced around and growled. It was a windowless room with a high ceiling. They were fucked.
“Zuri?”
She heard her name from the back of the group. She frowned, her gaze searching the faces until she saw one she recognized. Monica. Edward’s old nurse. His new wife. This was so not the time for a reunion. Monica slipped between the women and when she was finally in front of Zuri, she threw her arms around Zuri and started crying in earnest.
Zuri wasn’t sure what to do. They’d never been friends. Monica had worked for them and then took Zuri’s husband and now she was holding her like she was her best friend. After a moment, she calmed down and pulled back, wiping her tears with the back of her hand. “I’m so sorry, Zuri. It’s the hormones.”
It was then Zuri realized Monica was pregnant. She didn’t know how she knew, but she could actually smell the baby in her. “I thought you already had a baby with Edward.”
Monica nodded. “Eddie’s four months. I’m almost three months if my guess is accurate.”
So, two babies. And if Eddie was four months, that meant Edward had lied to Zuri about never touching Monica while they’d been together. Lying fucker.
Monica glanced around and then met Zuri’s gaze, fear wide in her eyes. She could scent Monica’s fear. It was a strong ammonia-like odor that made her want to gag. What the hell was going on? Zuri’s mind whirled. There was something really weird happening.
“Do you think someone will save us?” Monica whispered. “Edward was at the office and I was home alone. I actually had called about bad cable service. It’s the only reason I opened the door!”
Zuri wanted to slap her forehead. “Don’t you look through the peephole?”
Monica shook her head, her face turning bright red. “I can
’t reach it.”
“I didn’t realize Edward was working again.” Edward had told her once they’d made enough money flipping houses that he was retiring forever.
Monica’s red cheeks turned redder. “He has really expensive tastes.”
Yeah. Welcome to that reality. “Well, he’s going to need the money with two kids now.”
Monica grabbed Zuri’s hand and gave her a pleading look. “I’m sorry for what we did. I never expected that he’d leave you for me.”
“I really don’t think—”
Monica squeezed her hand. “It was really innocent at first. I felt so bad for him. I wanted to give him the comfort he needed to fight. He seemed so lost.”
“I was there, Monica. I can assure you he was not alone. I was there.”
Monica winced. “I know. What we did was terrible. You were such a good wife. After I stopped working with him, I figured the emotions I felt were all in my mind, but he came looking for me. Told me he had fallen in love with me.”
“I really don’t want to—”
“I have to tell you!” she said. “I have to explain and then ask you to forgive me. I never wanted to be the other woman. I was not raised like that. I couldn’t even let Edward meet my parents until we got married.”
Zuri tried to stay emotionally distant, but it was impossible. She was angry and hurt over what happened. “Were you and Edward sleeping together while he was still with me?”
Monica’s eyes filled with tears and she glanced down, giving a slow nod. “I’m sorry.”
She was right. She’d known all along. “Monica, how old are you?”
“Twenty-five.”
Zuri knew she was younger but not that young. “Edward is forty-one. A grown man, Monica. I was his WIFE. He owed ME his respect. He owed ME his faithfulness. Edward knew what he was doing. He chose to go on, knowing full well how much it would hurt me. He didn’t care about my feelings. Not that I’m surprised, but it was a shock when it happened. Do you love him?”
