Feral Series IV: Feral Fallout (3 page)

In many ways.

We grabbed plates of food, and I led them to the closest table with a few empty seats clustered together where we descended among many other Tigers. Cassie took the empty chair across from me, smiling at the orange-and-black Lord to her left and white-and-black prince at her right. At least, the biologist could spend the meal searching for her own mate while I tried not to squirm into mine's lap.

Two years without sex truly leads a girl to walking the plank when surrounded by splendid Tiger males.

Jump, Theo. Jump.

Wrank's muscled arms bulged so much I had to scoot down along the bench a little or wind up elbowed to death while we ate. I guess that's a good thing given I didn't want to appear too needy with his steely body within arm's reach after that amazing kiss.

Or I'd be jumping into his lap from that lofty plank.

Before we'd finished eating, someone had decided to shove the tables against the wall as they emptied and set the cavernous room rocking with some ethnic drum beat.

Dancing wasn't on my agenda. Although pumping hips could do a lot for a girl. I wasn't ready to stand around watching my Lord's hips mimic what I wanted him to do between my legs. Given I finally had little time to myself, I intended on being selfish with my free time. So, I motioned my guardian shadow to follow as we plied through the vibrating thong of pulsing bodies. Into the shadowy corridor.

Now, I'd get the Lord in my bed. I shot Wrank a grin with an arched eyebrow and took his warm strong hand. The man was so easily led to my personal quarters that
done deal
echoed inside my head.

Jumping off the plank never seemed so easy.

The door clapped shut at his heels.

Gods he was tall. Wrapped in delicious leather like a big steak gift. And the desire on his face...

Jump, Theo. Jump!

He grabbed me around the waist, lifting, pinning me against his chest where we could see eye to eye, and inhaled.

So damned slowly. Haunting words like touch, kiss, strip, and thrust whirled my thoughts into nothing but the possessive glint in his eye. I slid my palms along the supple muscles of his arms. Up to his warm pliable skin of his shoulders. To his queue he always wore and pulled the leather tie from his black hair.

He just watched me.

Waiting. Like I was the dessert we opted to bypass at supper instead of hanging out with everyone having pseudo-sex in some courting ritual, thrusting through the motions, dancing the night away. The fools. I ran my fingers through his shoulder-length straight hair and combed it out until it framed his face mimicking a wind-blown style.

Gods, he was going to ravage me by the hunger in his eyes.

Devour me.

Like a shark in the water beneath the plank.

And I didn't care.

Now. What was taking so long? Someone had to get us past this point. I pressed my lips to the warm velvet of his, weaving my fingers back into his silken hair.

We were nothing but a tangle of writhing limbs. Lips. Hot wet tongues gliding across suddenly nude body parts pressed against my rumpled bedding. Groaning. Gasping. Whining. I finally pinned him atop me in the crook of my groin by hooking my ankles together at his lower back.

The sleekness of him.

The strength in his body.

Gods, fuck me.

He shoved away, leaned back at the waist, staring down at me, pressing his hard shaft against my ass where I presented my sex to him.

That sweet
wrench
of his was going to bind our souls together.

Yes.

Now. I stared into his hungry gaze.

Warmth billowed through me, rooting low beneath him in my belly.

Right where he pinned me down with his narrow hips.

He leaned onto one hand and teased me with all those glorious muscles.

Stripes. Everywhere I looked stripes pointed down. Down to where I ached for him.

He glided a roughened palm across my navel.

My skin quivered.

His hand slid up between my ribs, up to curl around one of my breasts and tweaked a nipple. “You're beautiful, Theo."

His voice rippled through me, making me quake with need. I shut my eyes and arched into his touch.

I wanted that enormous steely hard-on that he kept so damned handy, inside me.

"Loosen your hold on my waist,” he whispered.

Done.

He slid his palms across my thighs and shoved them wide.

Deliciously wide. Like a man who'd done this countless times before. But I thought Luvk Lords didn't have sex until mated? What did it matter, really? I wasn't a virgin. He was locking the smooth head of his cock into my sex. This was a
done deal
. Wrank was mine. All mine.

The universe sucked all the oxygen from the room as he thrust inside me.

I couldn't see. Couldn't breathe, Could only loll my head left and right as he wedged himself inside me, inch by magnificent thick inch. Slowly stretching me to take the full length of him. Torturing me with a sword as if I feared jumping off the plank.

If only I could stop aching for more. Stop my inner channel from fisting around him. Just relax and embrace my future. But, hell, a girl didn't stumble upon Mr. Right every day making her way beyond the big three “O” and find someone with indomitable strength, intelligence, all packaged in animal-print gift wrap and leather.

He shoved the last bit of air from my lungs as he groaned, grinding the coarse hairs on his stiff sac against my groin.

Gods. Gods. Gods. This was all happening too fast. We'd have to work all night to do everything that flashed before my eyes as I took the liberty of leaping into a free dive with a twist that would rival any Olympian record. But I wanted more. I wanted the fevered frenzy. I wanted everything now. “Wrank?"

His blue gaze slid to meet mine.

"You've waited forty-two years. I've waited thirty. I want this hard and fast."

He sucked in a deep breath.

"I'm yours.” I raised up and brushed a kiss against his orange lips.

"Lie down,” he said.

I sank my shoulders back into the soft bedding.

"Tighten your legs around me,” he ordered.

He could tell me what to do anytime.

He shifted a bit, and I followed orders.

He moved his hard rod, withdrawing the full length along my inner channel until almost free from my tightened muscles, and waited, his cock's head still inside me. “Hold on, Theo. Tight. This is like riding my war beast. And I don't want to hurt you."

Now that was an image to ponder. I slid my hands over his shoulders, realizing the rumors about his harness’ purpose were true, and wrapped my fingers around the thin leather straps.

He thrust into me with one wild plunge, pulled out, groaning, lunged, and the room faded away. Nothing existed but how my fingers burned clutching his strong flexing body. How he stirred a mushrooming need deep inside me with only one outlet—for me to scream. How I tried to choke back the sound but couldn't fight the quivering wave of pleasure shaking every cell in my body. And he matched my cries blow by blow until the universe shook with a force that froze us into one gasping form shrieking in unison.

His cock lunged inside me.

Scalding seed kissed my womb.

He paused as if in some sort of Tiger reverie then started to pump his hips again.

Forcefully.

I clenched my inner muscles around him. Milking every drop of his seed into my soul.

He groaned, tucking his chin into his chest.

Like he prayed for mercy, his muscles straining to empower his prayer.

I felt like a goddess. Out in the middle of nowhere outer space. Drifting on a planet full of Tiger folk. With the most incredible example of a Tiger Lord pumping his essence into me, one vigorous stroke at a time. I matched his dying enthusiasm.

We ground our hips together until our heartbeats calmed ever-so-slightly. Until there was nothing left in us but a fraction of a movement that left my heart crying for more.

More. Dammit.

He could no longer move, hunched over me in a silent trance.

My Tiger had really taken care of me. “Hey,” I managed a breathy whisper and uncurled a few fingers. Stiff as they were, the feat wasn't easy.

His black hair curtained his face. But he turned his blue gaze to mine.

One of my hands slipped free of the harness. I slid the palm down the corded damp skin of his neck to his prickly beard. “Well done, husband."

The smile stretching his black moustache liquefied what was left of my heart.

"Wrank, get ready. You're about to have to do that again."

Blessed stars, Wrank could have thrust right back inside his mate's silken heat but his thundering heart demanded he hold her sleek sweaty curves close and stare into her sparkling eyes where he held her quaking curves on her side against his chest, staring into the face that saved him.
To feel her breathe trapped inside my embrace
, he thought. After living for what seemed like an eternity as my mother's Royal Guard, mating with a female was the most sacred act. Equal to nothing other than wearing the mask of a Royal Guard. Hiding a man's emotions. But The Order of the Marshals liberated the Lords and gave us a chance to claim mates outside the advantage of political marriage for our mothers, Queens of the Realms. The most holy act. And all I could think about was gazing into the eyes of a female who gave me her heart.

Something to claim as mine forever. Earthlings may age faster and live shorter lives than Luvks. But that mattered little. Theone was mine.

"You're staring at me,” she smiled and traced a finger along my upper lip.

I kissed the soft pad of her finger. “What would you have me do otherwise?"

Her smile split into a wicked grin. “Do you really have to ask?"

Not by the gleam in her eyes. I squeezed her stiff ribcage and rolled us over until she draped my chest.

She squirmed and giggled against me. “Feeling frisky?” She planted a kiss on my chin.

Oh yes. But there were things that must be said. I waited for her to calm down.

"Oh no. You're too quiet,” she groaned.

The dread in her voice only made me burst out laughing. Before her face twisted into a scold, I rolled her shoulders back into the mattress and sank between her thighs. “You, Theone Kember, made me burst out laughing.” So happy that words escape me. Or I fear speaking will detract from the moments we share together."

Her eyes stretched with her budding smile. “Wrank—"

"I will say what I mean to say.” And smiling would only encourage her to insert her thoughts. So, I forced a stoic mask and leaned down until our noses almost touched.

Her warm breath came in choppy clips.

She was thinking. Perhaps not about what I would say. Maybe more about coupling. Not bad thoughts. Just untimely because I would declare her significance to me. “You have made me happier than all Luvk warriors, Theo.” I pressed a kiss to her soft lips then pulled back to watch her eyes rim with tears. “I will treasure every moment we share together. You and I, our bonding is a gift from the Gods."

Her body trembled beneath mine.

But she didn't speak. Just watched me.

Hopefully joy fueled her pooling tears. Not pain. I gently placed a palm against the side of her beautifully carved face and marveled at the harsh contrast of bright stripes on my skin compared to the pale pure white swath of her cheek. She was everything any Lord dreamed of possessing. But I won her heart. Me? How? I would cherish her. Always. I rubbed my thumb across the velvet of her cheek. “I love you, Theone."

Her mouth flinched into a grin. “I love you too."

Tears spilled from the corners of her eyes.

"I'm sorry,” she whispered. “It isn't painful. Not at all. But I never thought I'd have a chance to have a family. Not where I came from.” She glanced beyond my shoulder. “Not the way I lived back on my home world."

She never spoke of those days. I tilted her face until her gaze flicked back to mine. “You do not have to speak of those things.” Not when the past was behind us. “Now, we have each other."

She nodded and thrust her hands into my hair. “Yes. And I expect to have lots of younglings."

"It is not the number of younglings a man brings to life, Theone, but—"

"The time spent with them,” she finished the rest of the words with me. “But,” she added, “You're not sharing a mate with a half a dozen or more males, Wrank. So, prepare yourself for fatherhood because I intend on keeping you extremely busy making and raising younglings."

She didn't have to declare such things. I knew all along that Theone would be my partner in and out of bed. My bed. The future would be anything but dull with her by my side.

Maybe I was insatiable. Or I just had such a freaking drought in the sex department since going AWOL from planet Earth that I needed to refuel with my big Tiger? But we'd danced every type of dance the bedroom allowed inside my personal quarters before Luvk's sun tickled sunlight through the cracks around the window's curtains. And the only thing that could possibly make life better would be a big juicy ribeye. Scratch that, a big juicy ribeye with a loaded baked potato.

Wrank would have to do.

Wrank slept, his warmth wrapped around my body like I was his supportive body pillow. And I didn't want to move. Didn't want to lose the moment. So, I'd been on crazy missions back on Earth. I'd survived them all. And now I was going to have a were-assassin mate in outer space. No problem. We'd deal with the blood exchange after he woke up and took care of my needs. Again! Gods know I have a lot of needs this morning. Sleep wasn't one of them. I slid a palm up the bare pliant skin of his back and wriggled my fingers into his soft warm hair.

He groaned, shoving his nose into my jugular, smacking his lips. “I hear your
heartsong
, little one."

Well, I was average height for females in the United States. But he could call me
little one
if he wanted. Especially the way he ran a thumb up and down the curve of one of my breasts.

"It's playing a song for you,” I chuckled.

"I heard that sweet melody ages ago."