Southern Shifters: Scents and Scentability (Kindle Worlds Novella) (6 page)

T
o hell with caution
. He swept his tongue across the seam of her lips, and they parted on a gasp. She’d wanted to know him; and he wanted to know her. The sizzle of contact shimmered over his skin with every stroke of her tongue against his as he devoured her.

He’d promised he wouldn’t force her, but she fisted his hair and raised her hips to grind against him. All that separated him from her luscious form was the blankets. Tension in his gut unfurled to pour lava into his veins. Desire galvanized his system. The banked hunger he’d fought to keep contained as she spoke to him, invited him closer, and stroked his fur, loosened—threatening to burn him alive.

Darcy Ashwood wore his mark. Despite everything he imagined in the mission set forth by the Clan council, he never dreamed he’d find the woman marked to be his. The mountains he’d grown up in had been overrun by death. Fire and bombs killed with indiscriminate force. She-cats he’d courted had been beheaded for trophies, if any bodies had been found at all. Snow leopards were solitary creatures, yet he’d never imagined being totally alone.

Not anymore…
Tears wet his cheeks, and he broke the kiss. Darcy cried as his thoughts bled into her. His memories, yet she wept for him. Nuzzling her cheek, he lapped away the salty tears.

“Do not cry for me,” he whispered against her skin. “I’m not alone.” Seeing the mark on her collarbone had decided him. From the first moment he’d seen her on the trail, he’d wanted her. Irritating, she ruffled his fur with her tart comments. Yet every single interaction left him hungry for more. Even when he’d kept his distance, he’d never been far. He’d watched her. Awareness of her within his mind, hearing and tasting his memories didn’t rankle.

She’d opened herself to him, been honest, and confessed a secret he hadn’t even begun to guess she possessed.
I’m sorry,
she whispered into his thoughts.
I don’t mean to intrude.

His cat surged forward. Bennett rubbed his nose against hers, aware the moment she sensed the beast beneath his skin and the feel of fur rubbing against them both.

We’re not sorry, and you are
not
intruding.
The animal wanted him to sink his teeth into the mark, shaped by nature indicating her perfection for them. But it didn’t work that way. They couldn’t take without tasting, teasing, and tempting.
I want you, Darcy Ashwood. I want you to be mine.

Remaining aloof protected the heart and soul, kept his distance from Clan. They gave him territory and a sense of purpose. Darcy offered him so much more. Nuzzling kisses along her jaw, he traced a path down to the mark. Hooking a finger against the collar of her nightshirt, he drew the cotton away so he could follow the outline with his tongue. The desire drenching her scent seemed to pool, drawing him ever closer.

On a moan, she arched her head back and bared her throat to him. The wild pulse of her fluttering heart, a decadent tempo, beckoned his sensual assault. Bracing a palm flat against the bed, he lifted his weight so he could push the blankets away. Catching the hem of her shirt, he dragged it upward. She lifted her hips then rose to sit in an effort to assist him.

The cotton flew through the air and drifted past the railing. Her laughter captivated him, and he canted his head to find her eyes shining at him in the dark. “I thought I would be nervous,” she confessed as she rested her hands on his shoulders for balance.

Cupping the full breasts he’d only imagined before, he found the weight of them satisfied a deeply primitive need. The softness of her skin, the way her nipples pebbled and drew tight against his rougher palms, tantalized him. Massaging them, he loved the way they filled his hands. The contrast of his ruddier skin against her honeyed tones reminded him of autumn covering the hills, when the bite of winter kissed the land with every gust.

Rawness spilled into his veins. The animal clawed at him, demanding they take their mate. It hadn’t held an ounce of his reservations or caution. She’d been made for them. Yes, she was theirs, and he would make her his, but on
his
terms, not his animal’s.

Do not fear me.
Teasing her by sneaking up to startle her was one thing. If she really were afraid, it would gut him.

I don’t.
As if to prove her point, she stroked her hands over his shoulders as he circled one areola with his thumb then caught the wide nipple with a soft pinch. Her lips parted on a gasp.
I love the way you see me. I love—I love how tactile you are.

Did she really? He projected an image of one of his fantasies forward, one he’d used when he’d gripped his cock and stroked himself to release. Her lips parted on another gasp and her pupils dilated.

Yes.
Consent thrummed from her, and he pushed her back against the sheets. Dropping his mouth to the nipple he’d tweaked, he latched onto the dark morsel of perfection. One hard suck pulled the tip taut against his teeth and she fisted his hair as the pressure mounted. Like a clamp, he cut off the blood supply and then released her carefully to lave his rougher tongue against the sensitive skin. The blood flooded back into the tip, and she released a cry.

Repeating the action with her other breast, he continued to kneed and massage until she loosed another shout. Nothing inhibited her response as he continued a slow trek across her belly. He loved the feeling of her soft and supple curves against him. Throughout their climb to the cabin, she’d proved an unrelenting spirit even when fatigued. This was a woman used to being cared for, protected. He knew she might argue the point, but her Council had coveted her skills and sought to give her all she might require so she would provide for them.

I will protect you.
He sent the thought toward her pleasure-drenched mind, and he could almost feel her mental fingers gripping him, lashing herself to him as waves of sensation crashed over her. His cat extended, offering her an anchor as he nudged her thighs apart.
I will provide you with everything you need.
Everything he was, he would give her. She would never need for anything.

The scent of her arousal filled his nostrils as he spread her slick labia. The passionate musk she’d taunted him with from the beginning flooded his lungs. He stroked her from her entrance to her clit. When she bucked her hips, he firmed his grip on them, letting his fingers bite into her luscious ass.

Her ass.
He’d had fantasies about it, of rolling her onto her belly and thrusting his cock inside of her. Casting those thoughts toward her, he settled onto her clit and sucked the bundle of nerves against his teeth before using his tongue to thrum against the swollen bud. The rawness in her response sent another flood of need to drench her nether lips and he lapped at her cream. Drunk on the taste of her, he pushed her toward orgasm with a relentless pursuit. The predator within him starved for every groan and cry he could wrench from her. Her thighs tightened and her hips arched. Devouring her release as she shattered satisfied him, but left his balls aching. Raising his head, he glanced along the length of her to find her dazed eyes blinking slowly.

Darcy…?

“Hmm.” Gratification seemed to eddy through her voice. Stroking her thigh, he nuzzled another kiss against her sex, eliciting a sharp gasp.
Complex…
The word drifted to him.

What is complex, sweetness?
He rubbed his cheek against her thigh, needing to mark her everywhere—needing to leave his scent on her even as he continued to taste her on his lips.

So many flavors. Top notes of pure winter crisp air…darkening with hints of a storm, like lightning and thunder amidst the blizzard. You smell so good.
She elongated every word, emphasizing the syllables, and then she sent an image of him with his eyes glowing and his teeth bared as he gazed at her. His jaw was taut with control.
Powerful. Beautiful…

The compliments stroked his ego. After drawing a finger down the seam of her nether lips, he eased inside the tightness of her sheathe. She softened around him, slick with need, like a flower spreading its petals.

A flower.
Her mental giggle was the sexiest fucking thing he’d ever heard.
Will you pluck me?

Laughter during sex was not within his experience. Usually, by the time he’d found himself in a woman’s bed, it had been to answer very basic needs and words weren’t used, much less humor.
I already did.
Teasing her came easily.
I’m drunk on your nectar.

Rising on her elbows, she threw her head back and laughed—a full-throated, belly-shaking sound which drew him like a magnet. She was a goddess against the dark sheets, cast perfectly half in shadow, half in the firelight flickering from below. Perfection such as he’d only glimpsed in the old mountain temples of Rati—the Hindu goddess of love, carnal desire, lust, passion and sexual pleasure.

From her full hips, to the majestic vee created by her voluptuous thighs, to the heavy breasts, she personified his ideal of a woman created for
rati-karman, rati-bhoga
, and
rati-laksha
.

I don’t know those words, but the way you think them and see me…it fills my heart.

Good. You leave me
kama-rati
, a man stupefied by desire.
The cat wanted to claim; while the man wanted to play out every erotic fantasy, explore every position, and discover what gave her pleasure on every level.

You.
Her response stumped him.
You give me pleasure. Seeing myself through your eyes, I feel beautiful. I feel exquisite and coveted. I love the way you smell, and how I can taste…
He didn’t let her complete the thought, surging upward to catch her mouth in a kiss. She demanded as much as him. Her teeth scraped his lower lip and then her tongue stroked his, lapping against his mouth as though she sought to taste herself.

Taste. Touch. Scent. They intertwined in their courtship.
I want you, Darcy.

Yes.

Rolling in the freedom her permission granted him, he fought to hold onto his sanity. His control shredded and his cat was so with him, a second being pressed against his skin so close, so he too could feel her as their mate writhed beneath them. She had to understand. To know that once he took her, once he made her his, there would be no going back for either of them.

He would not be able to live without her, nor her without him.
Two bodies, one mind, one heart…

Breath still warming his lips, she captured his face in her hands, much as she had done earlier. The bite of her nails against his skin grounded him.
Forever?

Were it any other person hearing his thoughts, he’d have raged, but he wanted no barriers between them—the intimacy of sharing with her as profound as the feel of her body beneath his.
Forever.
Sliding a hand down her throat, he settled his palm against her collar then traced the mark.
You have my mark. It tells me you are mine and answers a question my soul has wanted to ask since I met you.

Her eyes narrowed a fraction.
You were too annoyed with me when you first saw me, because I didn’t wait.

Truth.
But your gorgeous ass attracted me before I saw your face, before I heard your voice and tasted of your scent on my tongue—it provoked my basest reactions.

She paused.
So you only liked me for my ass?
The tantalizing joke aroused him further. His cock swelled to the point of pain, but he longed for the hurt. It showed his mate he could give her everything while taking nothing until she gifted it to him. His control would always be infinite for her. Her body would be his temple, and he would worship her every day and night, delaying his gratification until she was wholly satisfied.

I love your ass. Your mouth. Your beautiful eyes. Your silky skin…

A nip on his lower lip, then her tongue stroked the injury and his thoughts stuttered.
If you are mine, then I am yours. If you want to worship me, then I want to worship you. If you want to give me pleasure, you have to take yours—the image earlier, the one you shared.
She threw it to him—her on her belly, her ass raised as he pounded into her sex. The thought of his total dominance and her complete submission raked claws through his soul. His purr reverberated through him and her smile, open, artless and so full of joy, devastated his resolve.
Mating for a psi is forever, too.
My mind will be yours, and it already wants to be with you. I’ve never been so open to another mind. Don’t hold back with me, Bennett. Never with me.

Catching her hair, he pulled her mouth to his for another kiss. She flowed with him, her body satin and silk against his hardness. Breaking the kiss, he pulled away only long enough to flip her. The need to mate her, to mark her, and take her forever rode him like a fever. They didn’t need words, because her mind opened to him. Her thoughts punctuated her gasps as he smoothed his hands down the line of her back, admiring the simple perfection of her body.

Adjusting her hips, he lifted her. She filled his arms, and he settled on his knees. No patience existed within her. The pulse of her demand matched his, so he satisfied them both. Lining his cock to her entrance, he entered her with one ruthless, penetrating thrust until he sank balls deep. His harsh exhale echoed in her soft cry, and then she moved with him, obeying the lift of his hands on her hips. The rhythm dragged his cock through her soft folds, then into her again, and he became nothing but a creature of passion filled with one all-consuming need.

Her.

Falling forward, she rested on her elbows as he rose, never losing their connection. She mirrored the pose of his fantasies, and his cat roared. Slamming into her, his control shredded utterly. All he wanted was her.

Her pleasure. Her submission. Her mind.

The hunger writhing within her amplified his. His teeth ached and his mouth watered. Draping over her, he braced one hand next to hers then slid his other beneath to catch her clit. With one stroke, she shattered utterly, and he experienced true wonder as her mind collided with his in a dazzling array that left him uncertain where he ended she began. Sinking his teeth into the mark, he came, filling her with his seed as her world spilled into his.