His hand clenched around hers. She brought it to her mouth and kissed it, heart hurting for him. “How old is she?”
“Thirteen. She’s frickin’ smart, too—and even prettier than her mom.” His voice rang with pride. “Her animal is a jaguar, like all the Joneses. And she’s all black like me—another black panther.”
“She sounds awesome.”
“She is.” He didn’t speak for a while, and she was about to say something when he grated, “For two years, I thought she was dead. Two fucking years.”
“Oh, Jace.” She hesitated, and then did what came instinctively—took him into her arms.
“Takira should’ve come to me, damn it. Why didn’t she come to me?” His voice was a harsh whisper against her neck. “Why did she run like that? She had to know I’d help her, no questions asked.”
“I don’t know.” She stroked his nape, heart breaking for him. “But if things were as bad as you say, maybe she thought it was better you didn’t know.”
He pulled away and stared down at his hands. “Or she just didn’t trust me.”
“Oh, Jace. Why would you say that?”
He lifted his head, his expression bleak. “Because I told her straight out not to mate with Silver.”
“Oh.” She swallowed hard. “I see.”
“I was a fucking ass. But I came around. I could see how much she loved Silver, and he would’ve done anything for her. And when I found out she was having Merry, I was so happy for her. She was such a cute cub—still is. So when Takira disappeared like that with no warning, what was I supposed to think?”
“Maybe she was protecting you. If you didn’t know where she was, you couldn’t be forced to tell anyone.”
His eyes flashed cat-green. “I wouldn’t have given her up to anyone.”
“Not even your alpha?”
“No.” His fingers curled on his thighs. “Fuck. Maybe. It’s hard for a fada to say no to his alpha. And our alpha then was the mother of all bastards. He might’ve dragged it out of me—I was younger then, not much older than Kyler.”
“That has to be it. It’s the only reason that makes sense. She didn’t hide Merry from you—you knew her up until she was four. If your sister ran without telling you, it was to protect all of you, not because she didn’t trust you.”
He scrubbed a hand over his face. “Maybe you’re right. I guess I’ll never know.” He pulled her toward him. “I want you, Evie. Come back to bed—please?”
That please arrowed straight to her heart. She cupped his face. The kiss they shared was soft, special. She knew he wouldn’t want pity, but she ached for him. “All right. Just give me a minute.” She pulled on her sleepshirt and headed to the bathroom.
When she returned, the room was awash with early morning light. Looking up, she realized that the ceiling had slits reaching all the way to the surface. An air circulation system was running as well, but the slits let in sunlight and additional fresh air.
Jace had used the other bathroom, but he’d beat her back to the room and was reclined against the headboard, an arm behind his head. Even at rest, his biceps bulged. His stomach was ridged, the scars thin pink lines that somehow made him even sexier. Nearly hidden beneath black chest hair were flat brown nipples, and lower down, his cock nestled in another patch of dark hair. It was already at half-mast, but as she watched, it lengthened into a full erection.
She swallowed, her mouth literally watering.
His hazel eyes gleamed in the dawn light. “Come here.” He beckoned with one hand.
She pulled off the sleepshirt and climbed on top of him. His thighs were large and hairy between hers, his penis a hard stalk between their bellies. She set her hands on his shoulders and gave him a long kiss. Pouring all the understanding in her heart into him.
Because sometimes sex was just sex, and sometimes it was more—a way to share your deepest self with someone. To say, You’re not alone.
The kiss transformed, went from compassionate to heated.
She raised her head and looked down at him through lowered lids.
Jace’s mouth quirked. The sadness in his eyes had retreated, replaced by something hot and a little wicked. He rocked his hips, his meaning clear.
She began to move, sliding up and down on his erection, not taking him inside, just teasing them both as the underside rubbed against her pussy.
Jace’s fingers tightened on her hips but he allowed her to take the lead. When she stopped, he cupped her breasts, pinching the nipples into sensitized points before reaching between their bodies to swirl his thumb over her swollen little nub. Unhurried, tantalizing strokes.
She closed her eyes and let him tease her. Tiny shocks reverberated up and down her spine, and her inner thighs tightened as she began the slow spiral to climax.
But she didn’t want to hurry things, so she moved his hand away and leaned forward to rub her lips over his. He tasted of mint and morning. She gave him a leisurely kiss and then started to move down his body.
He went to roll her onto her back but she stopped him with a hand on his chest. “Stay there. I want to taste you.”
His indrawn breath was all the answer she needed. She moved down his hard, flat stomach and circled his erection with her fingers. He was long and thick and a little sticky from her juices.
She lapped at him. Delicate licks that made his thighs go rock-hard.
“Fuck, you look hot,” he said, and slipped a hand around her nape. “Take me, Evie,” he said in a stern voice that made her insides melt. “Now.”
She tightened her grip on him and obeyed. He tasted dark, salty.
She glanced up to see him watching her with smoky eyes. She smiled and sucked him deep into the pocket of her cheek.
“Yes,” he said between gritted teeth. He tightened his grip on her nape, guiding her to please him. She continued working her mouth up and down him, loving that she could excite him like this. When she got tired, she scraped her teeth lightly over the cap, and his groan told her how much he liked it.
She palmed his balls. They were cool and tight. She rolled the sacs between her fingers.
He let her suck him a few more times, and then stopped her, saying, “I want to be inside you.”
“Mm.” She licked him one more time—a leisurely slide of her tongue up and down his heavily veined erection that had him muttering a curse.
When she lifted her head, he reached for her. “Give me a kiss.”
She straddled him again and fitted her mouth to his. He framed her face with his hands and stroked his tongue over hers, firm and self-assured. A man preparing to take his woman.
He kissed her until she was panting for breath and squirming against him, and then he lifted her away from him. She gave a groan of protest and his mouth quirked.
“Easy, angel. You’ll get what you want.” He flipped her onto her stomach and smacked her bottom. “Raise your hips.”
Jace watched as Evie obediently propped herself on her forearms, her pretty round ass lifted to him. She was all smooth pale curves. Her scent filled his head, tart with arousal.
He’d never told anyone the whole story about him and Takira, and it had left him churned up inside. Scraped raw—but with the promise of peace. Maybe not today, but someday soon.
Now he just wanted to forget. Seeing Evie in such a graceful, submissive posture triggered the dominant male animal in him.
Lust punched through him. He wanted to fuck her long and hard, hear her make those sexy little moans that went straight to his dick.
He wanted to fuck her soft and slow, until she was begging to come—and then he wanted to make her scream.
He covered her body with his and speared his fingers in her short platinum locks. His cock was hard enough to drive spikes. It nudged against her ass, but he ignored it to nibble at her nape.
She made a sound of pleasure and arched her back, pushing that heart-shape bottom up against his erection.
His heart smacked against his ribcage.
Every muscle in his body strained to take her.
He grabbed a condom and rolled it on, even while his animal grumbled at putting anything between him and that lush pink perfection. He probably didn’t have to. Fada didn’t spread diseases to humans and vice versa, and it was rare that a fada impregnated a female who wasn’t his mate. But it could happen, and he didn’t want to take the choice from her.
Evie’s breath shuddered in. She glanced over her shoulder at him, her pupils so dilated her eyes appeared almost black.
He placed himself at her center and thrust home. Her body clenched around his, tight and hot.
Yes. Fuck, yes.
He withdrew almost to the tip and thrust in again. Taking her slow and hard and perfect.
She made a high, needy sound and he curved his body over hers, scraping his teeth over her nape, tonguing the turn of her shoulder.
She gasped his name. “Please. I need…”
He took one of her hands and brought it to her clit. It was slippery and swollen with arousal. “Touch yourself.”
She rubbed herself, shuddered.
He cupped her chin, drawing her head back so her spine arched.
“Harder,” he told her. “Make yourself wet for me.”
She shook her head, and he knew it was more that she was dazed than that she was saying no, but he nipped her shoulder anyway. “Evie.” He put all the force of his dominance in his tone. Fada males liked to master their women in bed, and his animal craved this. But he would’ve backed off if he couldn’t tell it was exciting her as much as him.
At his tone, she squeezed around him like a hot fist, and he nearly came out of his skin. Holy Mother Goddess.
He felt her fingers move beneath his as she began playing with herself in earnest.
He dragged in a breath, his muscles shaking with the need to drive into her harder. “That’s it.” He set both hands on her hips as he rocked slowly out of her and then back in. “Touch yourself. Just like that. Make yourself come.”
He couldn’t see her touching herself, but he could picture it. The visual filled his head with a dark heat.
Lost in pleasure, he didn’t even question why it was so important that she submit to him. He just pumped in and out, teeth gritted at how good it felt.
His quartz brushed over her back, and that felt good, too. Somewhere in the back of his mind he thought, That’s fucking odd. Because even a casual touch of his quartz by the wrong person could send a shock of pain through him. But as he’d told Evie, magic had its own logic.
Just before he came, his quartz heated against his chest. He glanced down to see that the smoky gray and purple was shot through with emerald.
And suddenly, he just knew. She was his mate.
Damn, he was an idiot.
He growled in helpless surrender—and then thrust into her, hard and deep until he touched her womb.
She moaned and twisted under him, saying his name over and over, and then changing to please please please.
And in the end, she screamed.
21
Jace tucked Evie close to his side and stared at the ceiling. What the hell was he going to do?
He could deal with her being a mixed-blood. He felt a stab of shame that he’d taken Leron’s twisted prejudices as his own. If nothing else, he’d seen with Merry that a fada who was one-quarter fae and one-quarter human could still shift—and be the best niece a man could possibly ask for. If Takira were here, she would’ve slapped him upside the head.
Leron was dead, and it was time to bury his prejudices along with him.
Not that this was a done deal—the female always had the right to refuse a mating. But Evie wanted him, was maybe even a little in love with him. Hell, just the fact that she’d had sex with him was proof. He’d known she wasn’t the type to sleep around even before her confession that it had been a while.
But would she want a fada for a mate? Because the prejudice wasn’t all on his side. It was a huge step from taking a fada as a lover to joining his clan, and as his mate, she wouldn’t have a choice. He was too important to the Baltimore fada, and besides, he didn’t want to live as a solitary.
And yet how could he walk away now? Might as well ask him to rip out his heart.
Court her, said the cat and conjured up a hazy scene with candlelight and wine and Evie in a skimpy red nightgown.
His lips quirked. But hell, yes—wine, flowers, chocolate…whatever it took. And a job for that brother of hers, because the two of them were a package deal. Jace wanted to ease her burdens, let her focus on what she really wanted to do, which was become a healer. His mate was strong in a way both man and cat approved, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t use a helping hand.
He pressed a kiss to her mussed blond head, and with a fatalistic shrug, accepted that this was his new life: Evie at the center. And he guessed he’d gained a teenage brother, too. His existence had just gotten a hell of a lot more complicated.
A family, the gods help him. With a mate that was part human, part fae—just like Silver. Somewhere in paradise, his sister was laughing her ass off. He let out a breath—and grinned.
Evie nuzzled his jaw. “You’re thinking too loud.”
“Sorry.” But there was more proof; she was picking up his emotions.
She wriggled closer so that she was plastered against his front. He smoothed a hand down her back, heart full.
She smothered a yawn. “Damn, you tired me out.”
“Sleep, then.” He patted her bottom.
“Mm,” she said.
He listened as her breath slowed, deepened. A few minutes later she was asleep.
He could’ve lain there all day holding her. Maybe even gone back to sleep himself—and there was almost nobody he trusted enough to fall asleep around. And yet last night he’d curled himself around Evie and slept deeply, untroubled by nightmares and more relaxed than he’d been for years.
Wonder filled him. This was what being happy was—this warm, contented feeling.
His cat settled its head on its paws and purred…and Jace dozed.
He was awakened by the buzz of his quartz. He silenced it and, easing out from under Evie, slipped into the hall, closing the door behind him.
It was Adric. “Just wanted to check in. How are things?”
“Okay on this end.” He wasn’t ready yet to talk about this thing with Evie, even with Adric. “Corban?”
“At least someone had a good night.” Adric’s tone was amused. Not much got past the alpha—he might not know that Jace planned to mate-claim Evie, but it was clear he’d guessed Jace hadn’t slept alone. “Me, I’m on my way back to my den to catch some sleep. I’m sorry, bro—we didn’t find Corban. The prick’s disappeared into thin air.”
Jace’s contentment fled. “Fuck.”
“He’s here in Baltimore—I’m sure of it. But I can’t narrow down his location. He’s got a new quartz that I can’t track him through, and he’s smart enough to hide his scent.” His friend expelled a breath. “Anyway, I called Beau, and he’s on his way back with Suha. She wants to talk to your Evie anyway. Seems she might be a healer.”
“Yeah.” Jace didn’t even argue that Evie wasn’t “his.” Because she was.
“Beau’s under orders to stick with you for the next few days. I don’t want you going anywhere alone until we find the bastard—got it?”
“Damn it, Ric, I don’t need a fucking babysitter. I took on Corban and his little friend, remember?”
“Humor me,” his friend drawled. “If nothing else, it’s safer for Evie and Kyler.”
“Fine.” Jace dropped his head back against the wall. “Get some sleep. I’ll report in later.” He ended the call.
Fear crawled up his spine. Because now that he was wide awake and not stupid from sex, he realized that mating with Evie increased the chance that Corban would go after her. Tyrus, too. Jace’s stomach bottomed out at how difficult it would be to keep her safe. That brother of hers as well.
&nbs
p; Claws pricked his fingertips. Inside, his animal gave a jaguar-roar, ready to take on the world for its mate.
Evie appeared in the hall, dressed in the striped sleepshirt. It was so old it was practically see-through in places.
The roar faded. A word came through loud and clear. Mine.
And he would die to protect her.
“Morning.” She gave a stretch that had the shirt riding up until he could see the notch at the top of her thighs. “Is it okay if I take a shower?”
He swallowed hard and for a few seconds, forgot all about Corban and Tyrus.
“Sure,” he managed to say. “Towels are on the shelf.” He ran a proprietary hand down her hip and tried not to stare at where the threadbare material clung to the hard points of her nipples. “I’ll get breakfast started.”
“Thanks.” She came onto her toes and kissed him.
He watched as she slipped past him. That shirt barely covered her ass. Damn, he wanted to follow her into the bathroom, bend her over the jacuzzi, and—
He heard Kyler moving in his bedroom and pulled himself up short.
Shower. And breakfast.
And that shower was going to have to be alone. He muttered a curse and headed down the hall to the other bathroom.
22
When Evie emerged from the bathroom, the den smelled of breakfast.
A couple of fae lights trailed her to the kitchen. Jace was at the stove, barefoot and shirtless, a pair of shorts hanging low on his hips and a shaft of sunlight illuminating gleaming brown shoulders. Fried ham sizzled in a skillet while he cracked eggs into a bowl. As he beat the eggs into a yellow froth, the muscles under his jaguar tattoo flexed so the cat appeared almost alive.
Heat curled through her. It was insane. She’d just had sex with the man, and already she wanted him again.
Kyler had his back to her, taking plates from the cupboard, and Tigger was supervising from a perch on a kitchen stool. On the counter, an old-fashioned French press was slowly filling with coffee.
Saving Jace Page 18
