Feral Craving (22 page)

With that, she stepped around him and made her way to the
back of the cave. He watched her retreat farther into the cave, a measure of
anger building at her abrupt departure. From her words he could only assume she
still was unclear of his intentions. If she thought he was going to turn around
and head back to the hell of being without her, she was beyond wrong and even
more so if she thought he wanted to be anywhere else but with her. He leaned
back against the cave wall, allowing her some time to clear her head and for
his temper to cool. Lacing his fingers behind his head, he stretched out his
legs and crossed them at the ankles as he allowed her words to repeat. She
wanted to stay with him wherever they ended up. She wanted to be together, and
that fit his plans perfectly. He loosened his fingers and got to his feet, his
frame hunched over to keep from scraping his head on the low ceiling of the
cave as he moved down the path Mackenzie had taken.

The soft sounds of water being disturbed in the otherwise
silent cave aided him in locating her easily. He paused in the shadows as he
watched her cup her hands together and bring the warm water to her face, a
serene pleasure reflecting from her features as it poured over her. Her breasts
floated upon the water, soft ripples from her movements hiding them for a brief
time before they resurfaced. He held in the groan of pure lust that bowled into
him at the sight her naked, his body immediately reacting to it as he adjusted
himself as best he could beneath his leather pants. Mackenzie turned, her back
taking up the view he had been studying, and as she moved her arms over the
water, her palms soothing the top of it, he admired the play of her muscles
shifting beneath her silken skin. His eyes traced over the white scars
scattered over her back and he fought down the red haze, the urge of fury. She
was an education in perfection, soft skin covering the strength that was more
than physical.

His booted feet moved without thought as he left the
shadows and crept forwards. He perched on a rock at the edge of the pool, his
movements as silent as the cave around them, and began to remove his boots. He
dropped the first one on the ground purposely, causing Mackenzie to start with
a small squeal as she turned around and crossed her arms over her bared
breasts. A teasing eyebrow arched up on his face as he stood after taking off
the other boot and undid his leathers, shoving them down over his thighs to
step free of them. “You aren’t the only one that could use a rinse, Mac. It’s
not as if I have never seen you.” Tugging his shirt over his head, he dropped
it next to his leathers and stood bared to her before he squatted down to enter
the pool. Her eyes were wide, a hint of fear reflecting from the green irises
as he sank into the water. He made no move toward her; instead he leaned his
back against the edge and rested his arms upon it as he motioned with one hand
for her to come closer.

The sound of her heartbeat pounded through the room. He
heard it along with the sudden rapid succession of her breath. Instead of
coming to him, she stood rooted to the spot, almost like the soft sand below
her feet turned to cement.

He frowned briefly, wondering if maybe he misheard what she
said earlier. Washing his face of any emotion, he shifted, and the water lapped
at his skin. He watched as she tightened her arms over her chest and walked in
an arc to the side of him, her gaze cast down to the water.

“I know, Bari. Though things are different now, don’t you
think? We’ve both changed.”
And I don’t
know if I can handle getting so close to you again
, whispered unsaid in her
mind. As she reached the wall of the pool, she turned her body and sat down on
a ledge beneath the water, the movement bringing the level of fluid up to her
neck. “What’s going on here, Bari? What’s happening?”

The difference in her was absolute, the normally confident
woman he knew nowhere in sight and instead a shy female whose skin tinged pink
from the heat of the water sat next to him. He shielded the smile that threatened
to upturn the corners of his mouth as he took in the way she sunk down deeply
into the water.

“Mackenzie, I feel a need to protect you and that means
from myself as well as anyone else.” When they met originally, both were too
young for anything more than a companionship born of a like situation, but as
the years stretched by, he noticed the changes as Mackenzie blossomed into a
young woman, each affecting him in a way no other ever had. He hadn’t lacked
for companionship, had offers thrown to him often but hadn’t found anyone that
did what she did for him. Stretching his arm out, his fingers brushed through
her steam dampened hair as he spoke to her, her eyes still casting around the
cave but not meeting his.

“Do you find me distasteful, Angel?” A feeling he hadn’t
known hit him square in the chest, something akin to fear and he didn’t care
for the way it caused him to second-guess himself. Maybe Mackenzie wasn’t as
drawn to him as he thought. She had always found comfort in his arms, what if
that was all she ever saw him as?

He reached over and tugged her off her seat to stand
between the vee of his legs stretched before him. He didn’t pull her up close,
but refused a retreat from her either. “Tell me, Mac, would you mind my touch
on your skin?”

Her eyes fluttered closed, and she took an audible breath
in before she opened her eyes and let it out slowly. Her gaze met and locked on
his and as if on cue he watched and heard as her breathing sped up and her
heartbeat accelerated.

“I don’t understand, Bari. How or why would you feel the
need to protect me?”

His lips thinned, and he worked to find the right words.
“Angel, you know about most of my life. What I dealt with in my childhood.”

“Which one?” she asked quietly.

“Before I was adopted. My father killed my mother, Mac. And
I watched as it happened, saw the whole thing. I’ve never forgotten a moment of
it, including the monster he turned into when it happened.”

Silence ticked by, the sound almost deafening.

“Hell, Angel.” He rolled circles along the outsides of her
thighs, lost in thought. “He was who I’m told I am changing into.”

Mackenzie frowned. “I don’t think I understand. How can you
be anything you don’t want to be?”

He started and then let out a sharp laugh. “When you put it
that way, it sounds so normal. You’re correct though, Mac. But when you grow up
with something like that, it’s sort of hard to believe you can’t be anything
else.”

She stared at him for a few minutes, almost as if she were
trying to peer into his mind. “Is this why you left?”

He couldn’t answer her. He didn’t have words. But
apparently she saw it on his face. “Oh you stupid, stupid fool.”

Mackenzie gasped as he jerked her closer to his body, one
of her arms falling to catch herself beside his head. He could feel the heat of
her body through the water, and the temperature seared into his skin, making
his flesh break out with perspiration.

“Stupid isn’t a word I would use for the way you make me
feel, Mackenzie. I want you to touch me now, Angel. I don’t mind your touch. I
never have. Ever.”

Her eyes avoided him again, and he fought with patience. He
didn’t want to rush this with her. He needed her to be sure. She couldn’t look
at him, kept her eyes trained on the hair flowing over his ear. They were too
close. So close he could turn his head and set his lips to her like he had
earlier. The insides of his thighs now clamped around her upper thighs with how
close they were, and if he pulled her any closer, he knew what she had been
feeling through cloth earlier would be directly on her skin. The thought caused
his cock to pulse. She groaned next to him, and he stiffened, wanting more than
anything to hear the thoughts in her head right now.
“Why would you feel as though you need to protect me, Bari? You never answered
the question.”

Her body shifted and pressed closer between his thighs. He
moved his arms from their resting place on her hips and framed her face with
his hands as his eyes burned into hers. “Why would I want to protect you? Do
you not realize since the first day I laid eyes on you that you were mine? My
responsibility to keep safe?” He noted the stiffening posture of her body, and
his hands reached out to hold her where she was. “It wasn’t a damn difficulty,
Mac. It was what I wanted to do.”

Done with talking, as it hadn’t seemed to work, he pulled
her closer. His mouth met hers with a firmness that showed his resolved. She
didn’t understand what she did to him, so the best way to explain it was to
show her, to educate Mackenzie on how she affected him.

He caressed his hands over her slender arms, testing and
molding each move of her muscles beneath the creamy skin that housed her
strength. He dipped his head, lips skimming over hers before he laid them to
her neck. “I have considered myself in favor that you allowed me to care for
you, Angel.” His voice was low and strained. He understood the need to go
gently, recognized his craving had been beating at him for years and she was
just getting to understanding exactly what he felt for her, and that was on a
small scale.

“Let me show you…” He spoke in a low tone, the sound not
even echoing around the cave as he pulled her to him. His body temperature
spiked as if he were on fire as she came reluctantly into his arms. He couldn’t
make his length behave, couldn’t soften his need for her and instead tried to
divert her attentions with his lips as he crushed them to hers.

She moved her arms and thrust her hands into his hair, her
own mouth devouring his as he took hers. As her breathing quickened, she moved
closer, as close as the position their bodies could move to without her lying
on top of his lap. Her breasts pressed into him, and he groaned at the feel of
those silken soft globes against his chest. Her nipples spiked and created an
odd sensation, soft against hard, much like the differences in their bodies.

Her kisses grew in power, each of them almost like she
couldn’t get enough, wanted more. He felt as if she conquered him. As she
shifted, the water lapped at their skin like additional caresses as hands
roamed over bodies. She groaned, and he captured the sound greedily with his
mouth. He pulled her closer, as if it was even possible, and she grunted, then
lifted a leg, setting it on one side of his hip. The other came up after, and
he felt the brush of her strong thigh against his own.

Bari’s hands landed on her hips, and he urged her forward
as she came up on him. The heat of her core scorched in comparison to the hot
pool they already sat in. The head of his cock brushed against her silken
folds, and she stiffened.

Bari recognized her trepidation and willed himself to go
slower. He moved his mouth from hers and trailed a long line of kisses down her
throat. He worked his lips over her skin, and she tilted her head back and
moaned.

His sharp intake of breath was audible, breaths coming out
in short harsh pants. Having Mackenzie so close and so bare overloaded his
senses. He struggled to contain his control as he realized her exposure wasn’t
much more over the last nine years than it had been under his protection. He
stretched and afforded her a fuller view of his torso before his control
failed.

“Sorry, Angel.” As much as he wanted to take things slow,
to introduce her into touching him, he had fallen off an edge with no grip
left. He crushed her to him, assaulted her mouth with his own as he plunged his
tongue past her lips, his arms circling her waist. He didn’t hold her so she
couldn’t move, but held her enough for her to understand that he meant to hold
on to her. The taste of Mackenzie was like cotton candy melting over his
tongue, rich and sweet, something he couldn’t get enough of. He cupped her
face, pulling back to meet her eyes. “I am apologizing now….” His lips brushed
against hers with care while his veins throbbed in impatience with the desire
to have her. He gripped her hips crushingly, his fingers digging into the soft
flesh as her hips shot up under his direction.

“What’s wrong? Are you okay, Bari?”

He gulped down air as he turned his head, Mackenzie
overwhelming him as she had always done. Her soft question if he was okay
brought him to concentrate on her green eyes.

 
“I won’t lie, Mac,
I’m on fire for you. But I also won’t make you do something you are unsure
off.” He sat stiff beneath her hands, on a teeter totter of what was best and
what had to happen. He swallowed thickly and leaned forward to brush his lips
to her forehead. No matter his intentions upon seeing her bared, he wouldn’t
force her for any reason. He was giving her one time to escape him; one only or
it would be done. He would show Mackenzie exactly what it meant to be cared
for, to be claimed by him because his body was outweighing his mind over the
matter. “You don’t know how you undo me, Angel, what you mean to me and not
just because you are stunning.” He stopped talking and pressed his lips to her
cheek, wishing like hell he had more to give her. That somehow he could find
the right words.

She sat still above him, and he demanded his body not to
move. She had full control, and the decision she would make here would change
both their lives. Her arms moved slowly, sliding like silk over his heated
skin, and she wrapped her arms around his neck, stayed like that for a few
moments. He grazed his lips, just a soft touch, over her cheek.