The Breed: Nora's Choice (7 page)

           
Wanting
one however, was a
different story. He had been studying her emotions carefully and all her
competitive fire was being replaced with another fire entirely. He could see it
in the way she was studying him, her eyes traveling over his body, measuring
him up.

            Desire had replaced her blood lust, she
was so exhilarated that he couldn’t wait to give her exactly what she wanted.

“You know, if you just
gave up and kissed me, we could quit this fight,” he suggested, his voice
already low with seduction, “then you could go back to your friend and whatever
you’re supposed to be doing.”       

Nora really hated the
way his lips lifted at the corners of his mouth, and the way his shoulder
muscles flexed as he shrugged.

“Not a chance,” she
choked out, hating how weakened her voice sounded.

By now he had to have
felt her lust growing, had to know how hard it was to keep her eyes off of his
big body.

A bead of sweat ran
down his neck and caught her eye. She followed it hungrily, her fingers itching
to trace over its path.

She lunged at him and
again he dodged, this time pressing his hard body against her back, and sliding
his hands around her waist to pull her around and face him.

“We’ll say you won,” he
flashed a smile at her, and her heart felt danger, “I get my kiss, you win the
fight, it all sounds good to me.”

Nora’s legs felt stiff
and useless beneath her, her arms refusing to push him away.

Her body was a traitor,
already resigned to her fate.

She waited for him to
rush her, to try and force her to choose, but he didn’t, he simply waited for
her to make up her mind.

If she was honest with
herself, he could have ended the fight hours ago and made her stick to the bet.
He was nicer than most men would be by giving her, and her pride, a way out.

One kiss shouldn’t be
enough to bring on a PTSD attack…. A little kiss never hurt anyone.

~

            Sebastian hadn’t dreamt in so long he
was utterly shocked to find himself stumbling through one.

            He was in a strangers home, a female by
the photographs on the wall, and was following the most delicious sound of
humming he had ever heard.

            Somewhere in this house a beautiful
melody was calling out to him, and every instinct in his body was screaming for
him to find her.

            Part of him felt suspicious, not even
wanting to trust a dream, but he shook it off and went in search.

            Moving silently up a narrow stair case,
a flash of color caught his eye. Through a crack in the door way he could see
the back of an olive skinned woman, and not only was she humming she was
dancing
.

            Her body swayed so soft and erotically
she immediately captured all of his senses.

            His eyes refused to break away from her
curvaceous body as his erection shot to life stiffer than he had ever felt it.

            He needed to see her.

            If he died tomorrow, he wanted to die
knowing her eyes, needed to see the face of the woman who had so completely
stunned him.

            Throughout his life he had seen
thousands of dancers in dozens of countries and none of them had ever made an
impression on him, but something told him he would never forget about this
dream or this woman.

            Walking like a convict soon to be
released he hurriedly took the rest of the stairs, his body alight with nervous
energy.

            As if she could hear him mentally
calling out to her, she turned to face him.

            His legs wobbled beneath him, stopping
him in his tracks, and he took in the full sight of her beauty.

            Her face was heart shaped, with two
vibrant hazel jewels for eyes. There were so many shades of green, brown, and
honey that he was sure he could lose himself completely staring into them.
Chocolate brown hair fell in waves nearly reaching to her elbow.

            Dark ruby lips smiled at him as she
crooked a finger and beckoned him forward. An entire army couldn’t have stopped
him from getting to her.

            With each step he took he felt his body
tensing, winding itself up tighter and tighter.

            When he finally entered her bedroom she
smiled and slowly danced her way to him. Each of her movements drew his
attention to the way her muscles flexed and released, and the way the sheath
dress she was wearing rose and fell, hugging her body tightly.

            More than anything in the world he
wanted to rip the flimsy white fabric from her body and expose all that olive
skin underneath. His hands shook with the effort not to touch her.

            She held out one hand to him as she
continued to sway, her hips rocking back and forth.

            He grabbed at her like a starving man
finally given food. If this hadn’t been a dream he would have been ashamed at
his reaction, but it
was
a dream and he would cling to her desperately
if he wanted to.

            For so long he had been starving for her
touch and hadn’t known it. The epiphany rocked him, stealing the breath from
his lungs.

            Her hips circled and flared as she led
him to her bed.

            Sweet heavens a bed.

            His cock throbbed painfully with all the
ideas he was coming up with for her and this glorious bed.

            With surprising strength she pushed him
down.

            He growled with the lust that was
building up inside of him. He wanted her more than he had ever wanted any
woman. In fact staring at her now, he couldn’t remember the face of a single
other woman he had had. None of them mattered but her.

            He grabbed at her hips and tried to pull
her down to him but she danced out of his reach, instead standing between his
open legs.

            Seductively she spun her hips, rubbing
her hands down across her flat belly and across her sheath dress.

            “Who are you?” he croaked out, his voice
rasping over each word.

            “Shh…” she whispered, pulling her dress
up and over her head. Rocking her hips with each inch she pulled the fabric up,
deliberately being slow, intentionally driving him mad with desire.

            Words utterly failed him as she finally
unwrapped her beautiful body. Standing in nothing but a black bra and panties
she was the most exquisite creature he had ever seen.

            “I’ve waited so long for you Sebastian,”
she moaned.

            It took every ounce of strength he had
to keep from lunging out and pressing her tightly beneath him.

            “I’m so lonely without you,” she ran her
finger tips across his strong jaw, “you have to find me.”

            Confusion mixed in with the soft
pleasure of her touch. He wasn’t sure what she was saying, he
had
found
her.

            “You won’t be lonely anymore, I’ll never
leave this dream,” he vowed, his bright green eyes glowing with all the
emotions he felt.

            Damn his life in reality, it was a
pitiful shell of an existence. He had locked himself away in his mansion with
the excuse of “running the shelter” but really all he was doing was hiding.

            He didn’t want to be part of a life
without his parents, or one that was filled with people who could so easily
destroy another’s life and happiness. He had been strong for so long, only now
seeing how weak he had truly been.

            To hell with all of it.

This gorgeous woman in
front of him made him feel alive again, and he never wanted to leave her side.
In just minutes he had become addicted to her skin, utterly obsessed with the
sound of her voice.

Straddling him, she
lowered her body down to sit on his lap.

His cock jumped and
strained painfully, pressing hard between her thighs and she smiled down
wickedly.

He wanted to see that
look everyday for the rest of his long life.

“Who are you?” he
pleaded, needing to know. He didn’t just want her name, he wanted her life story.
Surely this couldn’t just be a dream. Nothing had ever felt this real to him.

“Find me, and you’ll
know me,” she whispered, then lowered her mouth over his.

A guttural moan left
his throat at the feeling of her warm lips. Nothing had ever prepared him for a
feeling like this. Every muscle in his body reacted to her touch, every cell
screamed for him to push it farther, to take more.

It was dangerous to be
this infatuated with a woman, but he didn’t care.

She pulled away from
the kiss and ran her fingers across her own lips.
Good
, he thought to
himself, she was feeling something emotional too.

“What’s your name? I
need to know who you are,” he cupped her face with his hands and stared into
her eyes.

“I’m yours, don’t you
feel it?” she smiled at him.

Sebastian leapt forward
in his bed gasping for breath with his heart thundering in his chest.

Remy pressed her face
against the cold glass window and watched as Quinn and Nora played together.

            Nora had dismissed the sentiment, but in
Remy’s eyes they were already a happy couple building memories together.

            Jealousy stabbed at her as she let out a
sigh.

            Her 30
^th
birthday was closing
in, and she still hadn’t met her mate or begun a family.

            Since childhood she had been convinced
that she was destined to join the Breed and follow in her mother’s footsteps.
No matter how much of an outsider her gift had made her feel among her Breed
classmates, she ignored her parents suggestions to attend a human school.

            Somewhere among the Breed her soul mate
was hiding, she just had to find him.

            Year after year she had watched
co-workers and classmates fall deeply in love, and had attended enough weddings
to make her sick.

            Loneliness ate away at her. Everyone
else around her had an eternity to find their mate, in comparison Remy had just
a few short years.

            It had been suggested many times to her
that she just join the Breed. For anyone else this would have been the obvious
choice, but for her it wasn’t even a passing thought.

            Joining the Breed meant losing her gift,
and losing her gift meant losing her identity.

            Who was she without her healing ability?

            Nobody. An empty wandering nobody, with
less purpose and drive in her life than she had now.

            Again she compared herself to her mother,
and wished her life could have followed the same path.

            She had been a strong and unyieldingly
stubborn gypsy woman, with dark hair and wild features.

            Looking at her reflection in the window
all she could do was laugh at how strong the Breed blood was. She didn’t have a
single feature of her mother’s, instead she was a female clone of her father.

            In 1960’s England her mother had been
riding along with her fellow gypsies looking for the next town to set up in,
when they had come across a bloody Breed battle field.

            Nathanial, her father, had been one of
the only members left still alive, and though everyone ordered her to leave
him, she ignored them and used her gift to save his life.

            From that moment on they had been
inseparable. Her father had bonded to her, and no matter how stubborn and
apprehensive her mother had started off, he had worn her down easily with his
charms.

            Growing up all Remy had ever wanted was
a strong lasting love like her parents shared. They fit so perfectly together
that at times it had seemed like they were a single well oiled machine instead
of two individuals.

            Unfortunately, when she looked at her
own past love life, it was a ghost town. Besides a string of friends with
benefits and affectionless flings, she had never even had a boyfriend.

            The Breed was notoriously anti
commitment, unless it was to their mate. Honestly what was the point of
committing to someone if they simply weren’t the one for you?

            She smiled brightly as she watched Quinn
pull Nora off to a darkened corner. If they weren’t fully committed to each
other by Christmas she would be shocked.

            Remy closed her eyes and wondered again
what her mate would be like.

            Would he be a poetry reading romantic,
or tough as nails with a soft spot only for her? Would he be athletic?
Intelligent?

            As long as he loved the snow as much as
she did, he would be perfect for her, she smiled warmly.

            Being a Christmas baby, Remy had always
loved the winter. All she needed now was someone to share it with. Someone to
buy presents for, to help decorate the house for Christmas and kiss when the
ball dropped at midnight.

            Thinking of her birthday had made her
think, once again, about the ultimatum she had given herself two years ago on
her 28th birthday.

            If she hadn’t found her mate in the
Breed by her 30th birthday she would stop wasting time and give up on this
fantasy of hers.

            Her mate had until December 26
^th
to find her, or she was leaving the Breed and going out to start a human life
and find a human husband.

~

            Sebastian’s fingers shook as he dialed
the number of the only person he would ever trust to tell about the dream:
Casstiel.

            The last thing he wanted to do was call
his brother to whine, but as his heart hammered and his fingers shook he knew
he had to tell someone.

            That was no ordinary dream, and
somewhere deep down he felt like that woman was going to mean more to him than
any other. She had said that she was his and part of him felt that no matter
how crazy it sounded, it was true.

            On the second ring Cass answered,
immediately alert at the sound of panic in his brothers voice.

            “I didn’t know who else to call,” he
despised his own weakness.

            “Where are you? Are you hurt?” Cass
demanded, sitting straight up in bed.

            “I’m fine, I’m at the embassy, I just,”
had
a dream?
The words sounded so stupid he couldn’t make himself say them.

            “Wuzz going on?” a sleepy female voice
wafted through Casstiel’s end of the phone.

            Great, he had woken up Tessa. He ground
his teeth in frustration, what the hell had he been thinking by calling him?

            “Nothing love, go back to bed, it’s just
Sebastian,” he soothed his mate.

            “I’ll go make some coffee,” she
whispered, as blankets ruffled into the speaker of the phone.

            “I’m sorry brother,” he felt so bad he
actually used the words, ‘I’m sorry’, for the first time in decades.

            “What’s going on, you’ve never called me
like this before,” he demanded, not going to let things go.

            “I had… this dream,” he grunted, raking
his hair in frustration.

            “Ahhh,” Cass chuckled, taking him by
surprise.

            “It was ridiculous of me to call you, I
apologize,” he spoke soberly, hating the scorching blaze of embarrassment
spreading across his skin.

            “Actually I think you called the perfect
person,” Casstiel replied, sounding ecstatic, “let me take a wild guess at the
dream you had.”

            “Honestly brother, it was childish of
me-”

            “More realistic than any dream you’ve
ever had, it felt more like traveling through time than dreaming,” he began,
and for the second time that night Sebastian’s heart stopped beating.

            “You were cautious at first, but then
you saw her,” he let out a soft sigh, “the most beautiful woman you had ever
seen. I don’t think I need to go over what happens next.”

            “So you’ve experienced this… this….
thing
.
What does it mean?” he was hungry to know the secrets of the dream.

            Casstiel threw his head back and
laughed, a mixture that sounded both like joy and insanity.

            “Oh I’ve experienced it, and it means
that for the next five to ten years every time you close your eyes you’ll be
haunted by that woman, each day growing more hungry for her until you’re
ravenous,” he seemed close to hysterics as he spoke, “it was the most maddening
experience of my life, to dream of my mate daily only to awaken with empty arms
and a hollowness that nothing can fill.”

            Sebastian’s mouth went dry at the future
that had been laid out before him. He couldn’t live like that, he was not a man
of patience and virtue, he would find her, he would hunt to the ends of the
earth to have her.

            “I will find a way to find her. Is she
aware of the dream?” he demanded, already thinking up ways to track her down.

            “I know almost nothing about the dreams.
Until Tessa walked into my life I thought I was just going mad,” he sighed
sympathetically for his brother, “the dream both helps you and keeps you
apart.”

            “What do you mean?” Sebastian growled,
feeling like his brain was on fire. He could not go through ten years of this.

            “Tessa was completely unaware of the
dreams, so meeting her was… difficult. I was ready to pledge my life to her on
day one, but she wasn’t
quite
there,” he replied, and Sebastian felt
things getting bleaker.

            To be connected and intimate with
someone for so long, only to meet them and have to start as strangers? No, none
of that sounded particularly exciting to him.

            “On the other hand, the dreams will
leave you clues on how to find her. If I would have realized it before, I would
have went off in search of her,” his sigh was full of regret for lost time.

“Tell me about the
clues,” he finally felt a shred of hope.

            “The dreams always took place outside. I
used to think they were in a forest somewhere, but now I know that it was
actually the woods on her family’s property. So think about where the dream
was. I know it’s hard but try to focus on more than just her, and use those
things to find her,” each word Casstiel spoke gave him strength and
determination.

            “I will find her,” he pledged.

            “I know brother,” he smiled into the
phone, “I know.”

~

“Fine,” Nora did her
best to grumble and look like he was really inconveniencing her.

Immediately he flung
his bow staff to the ground and grabbed her hand to drag her off behind the
shed. The moment their palms connected her heart all but leapt out of her
chest. Again her body was betraying her.

In the shade of the
weapons shed her eyes swept over him. With his breath heaving, his skin
glistening and his eyes full of hunger, he was the most sexual being she had
ever seen.

Every inch of his body
was poised to strike, like a lion ready to take his prey, but instead of
kissing her with all the strength he possessed, he cupped her face delicately.
He didn’t greedily rush his lips against her, instead he stared into her eyes
letting her see all the passion that he felt for her.

He ran his thumb
lightly over her bottom lip, making her shiver and close her eyes. He took his
time closing the gap between them, making her nerves build and pulse with
anticipation.

Then softly he placed
his lips over hers.

She felt the how hard
he restrained himself, his hands balled into fists at his side to keep from
lunging at her. The feeling of his need lit her veins on fire, over whelming
her as he sucked in a jagged breath.

Breaking away from him
was the last thing she wanted to do, but she wasn’t in the mood to be kissed
sweetly. Raw emotions were pumping through both of them, and she needed to feel
it.

If she was going to
break her own rule and succumb to him, it was going to be worth it.

She shoved him hard
against the shed, his back slapping against the siding. Her lips smothered his
hotly, and through the heat she felt a grin slide over his mouth.

Cocky bastard.

Every rule she had for
herself went flying out the window as she gained control of the situation, and
it felt
so
good. 

Her nails scraped against
the jaggedly hard muscles of his abs as she wrenched his shirt up. The feeling
of his stomach flexing beneath her hands made her want to push for more.

Half an hour ago she
had promised herself she would fight to stay away from him, three minutes ago it
would only be a kiss, but now she was wondering if she could really stop
herself from yanking his belt buckle off.

She gasped for air and
felt his tongue slide against her lips. Strongly he surged inside her mouth,
claiming it.

Gone were the remnants
of the delicate kiss he had tried to give her earlier; she had set the bar and
he was eager to meet it.

His hands gripped her
ass tightly and pulled her close, crushing her against his body. His erection
was so hard she couldn’t help but moan as it dug against her soft flesh.

The memory of how large
he was exploded into her mind.

As he ground against
her again she knew he was fighting for the reigns, and for the moment she let
him.

The kiss was frenzied,
with gasps of air rushing in and out of their lungs. She had pushed him away,
kept them apart until they were at the breaking point, and now each of them was
poised to explode.