Carnal Secrets (24 page)

She should have guessed he’d be the type to love begging. He was a dominant male after all. Although she’d been with dominant males before, she knew without a doubt that it would still be nothing like sex with a very dominant alpha male—particularly when this male was her mate. She had to admit that she was beyond intrigued.

She knew that some people thought females who enjoyed sexual submission were weak, but Shaya didn’t believe that. How could it make her weak when it took a lot of strength to give up that level of control, to entrust herself and her safety to someone else? Despite that Shaya enjoyed submitting in bed, it didn’t mean that she could easily give up control. No, the male had to be someone she was comfortable with.

Her wolf was just as intrigued about tonight. Having a strong, powerful, dominant mate was what her wolf needed, what made her feel safe and secure. Being sexually dominated by her mate was an extremely attractive idea to her wolf. But Shaya had no intention of making it easy for Nick. Where would be the fun in that? “You really think I’ll beg? Aw, bless your little heart.” Complying was one thing, but begging was a whole other thing.

“Oh, you’ll beg, baby. I can promise you that.”

Shaya snarled at the woman sitting a few seats away who was ogling Nick…just like Shaya had snarled at the waitress in the restaurant, and at the girl who served them popcorn, and at the group of young women who had been behind her and Nick in the line. Annoyingly, the guy was ogled wherever they went. Although it was perfectly understandable, Shaya—much like her wolf—did not like it.

Most of the time, he didn’t seem to notice the ogling, though that was probably because his focus was on Shaya. When he
did
notice, he never reacted other than to come closer to Shaya or to touch her, almost as if he sensed that it bugged her and that the reassurance eased her irritation. Maybe he did sense it. After all, she wasn’t exactly discreet with her snarls.

The ogling had been a little easier to deal with when she’d rejected the idea of giving him a chance and had kept an emotional distance between them; it had dimmed the possessiveness slightly. But now that she had made the choice to include him in her life, this shit was getting annoying
real
quick. And so she was cranky.

Maybe her level of crankiness wouldn’t have been so high if Nick wasn’t doing his best to make her so freaking horny she couldn’t stand the feel of her own clothes. At every given opportunity, he was touching her. He licked the bite mark on her neck, or nipped at her mouth, or sucked on her earlobe, or kissed her. Even when he simply brushed a hand through her hair or splayed a proprietary hand on her lower stomach, there was a sensuality and teasing quality to it that made her shudder. In essence, the foreplay had begun the very second she had stepped out of the house to find him waiting on the doorstep. Right now, she wasn’t sure whether she wanted to slap him or straddle him. Her wolf liked the latter idea better.

True to his word, he’d spent the majority of the movie kissing and touching her, but each kiss and touch was featherlike—designed to frustrate her, designed to make her push for more. She had, clinging to him, sucking on his tongue, and unsheathing her claws to dig into his skin and keep him in place. But never did he give in, and she quickly came to understand why: He was communicating to her, her body, and her wolf that
he
was the one in control; that though he wouldn’t expect her to hold back, and though he didn’t want a puppet, he wouldn’t be pushed into handing over dominance—that the control was his.

In short, he was ensuring there would be no misunderstandings when they got home.

When the movie finally ended, a sigh of relief left her. At this point, her face was flushed, her body felt restless, and she was so wet that she would bet even a human could smell her arousal. Nick’s smile was smug as he noticed her discomfort. If it hadn’t been for the fact that she could scent how much he wanted her, she might have thought he was totally unaffected. Marching down the aisle of seats, she gave him a sideways glance. “You’re an asshole.”

Nick slid an arm around her waist and pulled her back against him. “I told you there would be lots and lots of foreplay.”

“I thought you meant when the date was over—silly me.”

Smiling at her snappiness, Nick spoke into her ear as they walked down the rest of the aisle with his arm still locked around her. “There’ll be foreplay when we get back too.” He subtly ground himself against her, letting her feel just how hard he was.

“I vote for skipping it.”

“Of course you do. You have no patience.”

“So?” she snapped.

He chuckled and meshed his fingers with hers as he led her out of the movie theater. As he made his way to the car, he passed two of the Nazi’s wolves waiting in a vehicle: his bodyguards. He gave them a wave, which made them roll their eyes—they didn’t seem to like him much as he always insisted on losing them.

A few car spaces away from them were two of the human extremists in a white van. So Nick gave them a wave too, which made their faces turn interesting shades of purple. Derren, who was waiting in his SUV near Nick’s Mercedes, had his window down and was talking with the rebels.

Shaya shook her head. “If they weren’t so dangerous, it would actually be funny the way all three groups are watching you like this. Particularly since you have absolutely no interest in bothering any of them.”

“Yeah, ironic.” As Nick arrived at his car, the rebels turned studious gazes his way and nodded in greeting. Nick returned the nod before sighing at Derren. “Why are you still following me when I fired you again earlier?”

“I just wanted to park up and admire the evening sky.”

Rolling his eyes, Nick urged Shaya into the car.

“The rebels want to introduce themselves,” announced Derren. Turning his focus to the three males, Nick waited.

“I’m Jesse”—the well-built male with dark eyes and stubble for hair was clearly the leader of the three—“this is Bracken”—a tall male with playful eyes and an equally playful smile nodded at Nick—“and this is Zander.” The blond, athletically built male gave a slight incline of his head.

“I’m not interested in trying to take over here, if that’s what you’re wondering.”

“Yeah, we noticed you haven’t joined Hadley,” said Jesse. Quietly—most likely because the human extremists were close by—he added, “He believes the humans are running a game preserve where they hunt shifters.”

Nick also kept his voice quiet. “I know, he told me.”

“Do you believe him?”

“Yes. You should be careful that you aren’t the next shifters to be taken.”

Jesse exchanged a look with the others. “We aren’t sure we can trust him.”

“I can’t vouch for his nature; I don’t know him. But I do believe he’s being honest about the game preserve. In any case, you guys need to watch your back, because if Hadley’s not after you, the humans will be.” Finally, the three males nodded and walked away. As Nick went to hop into the driver’s seat, he asked Derren, “Do you think they’ll stop hovering around us now?”

Smiling, Derren shook his head. “You really don’t know why they linger?”

“If I knew, I wouldn’t ask.”

“They see you and all the power radiating off you, and they’re drawn to you, just like their wolves are. You could provide them with the guidance and direction they need, and they sense that.”

“I’m not here to form a pack. I’m here for Shaya.”

“I know that, and I’ve explained it to them.”

“Good.” Nick slid into the car and was just about to close the door when Derren spoke again.

“Have fun.”

Nick grinned. He’d be having all kinds of fun.

Neither he nor Shaya said a word during the journey to her home. Anticipation built inside him and licked over the surface of his entire body. Shaya’s own anticipation was like a buzz in the air, seducing his wolf with its intensity. The scents of their arousal filled the car, which suddenly felt much smaller than it was. As such, it was a relief to finally get out of it.

Having helped Shaya out of the car, he let her take the lead as they advanced up the path. When she unlocked the front door and held it open for him, he paused. “Be sure that you want this, Shay. Be absolutely positive. I can hold off on claiming you until you’re ready…but if I walk through that door, I
am
going to fuck you. Not soft and slow, but hard and deep. Over and over, until neither of us can move. Are you ready for that?”

He hoped to God that the extent of his dominance didn’t unnerve her because he was who he was, and he truly didn’t know how to tone it down. He half-expected her to fidget nervously, considering his words. What she did instead was shoot him a sexy grin and stroll inside, leaving the door wide open in invitation. That was all Nick needed.

Shaya was a calm, practical female who was
not
reduced to being tongue-tied and shaky at just a guy’s presence. But as she and Nick stood in the hallway like two cowboys about to have a showdown, it was exactly what happened. His intensity and power wrapped around her like a cloak—not just his power as an alpha, but his masculine power. It seized and overwhelmed both her body and her mind, and she felt totally captivated by it and by him.

Shaya’s need to have him and be taken by him was primal and potent, making it hard to keep her breathing even and her hands steady. Her mouth was suddenly bone-dry, and her heart was pounding. He hadn’t even touched her, and yet she felt owned at the possessiveness now blazing from his eyes. Then he spoke, and his even, deep, authoritative tone made her and her wolf snap to total attention.

“Come here. Last night, I pounced on you. This time, I want you to come to me.”

And she had every intention of doing just that, but she also wanted to test him, wanted to see exactly how much she could get away with. It was in her nature to push boundaries.

“Shay,” he drawled warningly. “Come to me. Show me this is what you want. Show me you can handle this.” Pride filled him when she straightened her spine before coming toward him. When she was finally before him, she boldly met his gaze. “Very good.”

The drive to possess her in every way had him wanting to hungrily ravish her again. The only thing that kept it in check was that, having waited so long for this, he wanted to savor every minute. He wanted to familiarize himself with every inch of this body that had been made for him. He could sense that Shaya, on the other hand, was too highly strung to last through the savoring. She needed the edge taken off.

When his hands roughly slid into Shaya’s hair and he licked along the seam of her mouth, she gladly opened for him. Immediately his tongue delved inside and he groaned. He didn’t coax a response from her, he took it. Took it with the confidence of a guy who owned his sexuality and knew exactly what he wanted and just how to get it. Took it like no other guy had come close to doing before now.

Shaya sank into the kiss, locking her arms around his neck and scratching at his nape. A growl rumbled up his chest, teasing her pebbled nipples. As his hands palmed her ass and lifted her, she wrapped her legs around him. The breath left her lungs as he abruptly pinned her against the wall, snuggling his hard cock against her clit. She moaned and scratched at him as he rocked against her, irritable and restless as the tension that had been building within her all evening reached boiling point.

He whispered hotly in her ear as he agonizingly slowly lowered her zipper. “I’m going to fuck you, Shay. Very soon I’m going to bury every inch of my cock inside you. And I’m going to do it as many times as I want. Because I can. And you’re going to love it, baby, I promise you. But right now, I need you to come for me right here.” Then he slid his hand inside her panties and speared two fingers inside her. That was all it took: she’d been hanging on the edge so long that she shattered with a loud cry. He held her there until the reverberations stopped racking her body, dabbing soft kisses on her face, and then he carried her upstairs.

The second they were inside her bedroom, he slowly lowered her feet to the hardwood floor. Shaya swayed slightly, double-blinking—that had been one disorienting orgasm. She held still as Nick slowly removed her silver sequined top, black pants, and white lacy underwear, like he was unwrapping a delicate birthday gift. Then he was circling her with a predatory glint in his eyes, making her feel like prey, and it sent a shiver running through both her and her wolf.

Raking his gaze over every bare inch of her delectable body, Nick swallowed hard, and a surge of possessiveness swamped him. She was amazingly beautiful, all smoothly shaped muscle and curved in all the right places. Her breasts would fit just right in his hands, the same way her luscious ass did. Coming to stand in front of her, he bit her lip. “I have so many plans for this pretty mouth, but they can wait for another time. Now, I want you to lie on your back on the bed for me with your arms above your head.” She backed up until she reached the bed and then slid demurely onto the white satin sheets, but the usual impish benevolence was in her eyes.

When he didn’t do anything other than stare at her, she asked, “Are you going to join me, or shall I take care of myself?”

He arched a brow at her, his expression stern. “You don’t get to touch yourself unless I say you can. Now be a good girl and spread your legs for me.” Instead, she stared at him. He knew she was testing him, and he had every intention of starting as he meant to go on. “I don’t like repeating myself, baby. Don’t make me flip you over and spank your ass.”

“That actually sounds promising, especially when the alternative is you just staring at me.”

He loomed over her. “How’s this for an alternative: I’m going to explore every single inch of you until I know your body better than you do. I want to know what makes you moan, what makes you squirm, how much pain you like.” Every shifter liked the bite of pain, but he wanted to know just how much Shaya liked and could take. He stood upright. “Now, I believe I asked you to do something for me.” After a few seconds, she finally spread her legs. He loved that she was completely bald and smooth.