Walk on the Striped Side (12 page)

CHAPTER-TWELEVE

Gage

He’d been lightly dozing for the
past couple of hours like any respectable feline shifter would do when he
sensed his mate start to wake up. He wasn’t ready to hear her bullshit, so he
pretended to keep sleeping since he knew she wasn’t going anywhere anytime
soon. At the moment, she was serving as his personal body pillow because he was
still lying on top of her with his face resting between her breasts, and he
didn’t plan on giving that up anytime soon. She was just so damn comfortable!

The remaining arousal of her scent,
leftover from her previous orgasm, started to dissipate, he tried not to cringe
at the sudden slight tang of her wariness. After all, it was his own fucking
fault his mate was reluctant to believe how much he loved her. He was the idiot
who had spewed a bunch of hurtful bullshit in order to push her away. All he
had to do was continue on with his plan and she would eventually forgive him.

Right?

Okay, so he might be a little more
worried than he cared to admit before. Elena was one of the most bull headed
individuals he’d ever met. They’d once gotten into an argument while dating
because as she was staring out his apartment window, she’d said the sky was the
prettiest shade of powder blue she’d ever seen. He’d stupidly looked over from
the
tv
, out the window, and
had replied “Babe, it’s just blue.”

This led to the dumbest thirty
minute argument of his very long life, which he’d then foolishly made worse by
telling her it was the “Dumbest fucking argument of my life.”

Yeah, not his brightest moment. So,
it was a good thing he’d ducked when she’d thrown that glass at his head, but
it was an even better thing when he’d caught her after she’d tried to take a
flying tackle at him. Twenty minutes of pretending to let her wrestle him
later, he’d had the best make-up sex with an angry, energetic woman known to
man. Or
Other
.

Now, as his mind moved back to the
present, Gage started to wonder if he was going to break through to his
stubborn Amazon at all. The idea that she might deny everything they had due to
her stubborn pride scared the shit out of him. If he could sit her down and
flat out explain the ‘why’ of doing what he’d done, then she’d forgive him. But
he couldn’t do that, because knowing his Elena, the moment she realized that
he’d tried to prevent himself from attaching to her both physically in a mating
sense, and emotionally, was because of her mortality, she’d leave him. A
shifter’s odds of survival after losing their mate weren’t good. The human half
of them might survive the depression, but their bestial half usually pushed
them over the edge.

The McPhee Wolf Pack had almost
taken out their own Alpha Adam when he’d mistakenly thought he’d lost his mate
Jenna in the hospital a couple of months ago. The man’s wolf had been enraged
enough to take over and Adam had terrorized the woods surrounding his Pack’s
property for days before Jenna had been able to go to him and calm him down.
Now Adam had a second chance with Jenna and forever. Even if Gage talked Elena
into a second chance, he’d never have forever with his mate. He would have the
duration of her life span. When she died, he would probably perish shortly
after. If he didn’t die from the depression, then someone would probably have
to kill him because his tiger went insane. Very few shifters ever survived both
circumstances.

The feeling of movement beneath him
brought Gage out of his somber musings. Elena wiggled her hips, which caused
her breasts to jiggle in front of his face, and he had to bite back a groan.
What was she trying to do to him? Was she trying to entice him, or trying to
escape? Not that she could escape since she was still handcuffed to him. He
felt her wiggle again while shifting her legs a little. Even though their
bodies weren’t exactly lined up for her inundations to be beneficial, it was
driving him crazy because he could imagine sliding up a couple inches until the
most intimate parts of them were rubbing each other. Holy shit, the woman
needed to stop! His dick had gone stiff as a board at the first wiggle and now
he was lying here with a hard on big enough to hurt somebody… or cause
permanent damage due to blood loss to his brain.

A few moments later when she
wiggled her hips again, he couldn’t help himself any longer. Wrapping his free
hand around her waist, he gently squeezed her to him while rubbing the side of
his face between her breasts, marking her with his scent.

“If you don’t stop wiggling those
sweet little hips I’m going to do something we’ll both regret.”

By the end of his statement Elena’s
entire body was frozen with stiff muscles. “Regret?” Her sleep husky voice
asked.

Growling a little he picked up his
head to look her in the eyes. “YES. REGRET. I know you’re not ready for me to
spread your legs and fuck you so hard that we threaten to pummel our way
through the damn mattress. So, until you’re ready for that, stop with the damn
wiggling woman!”

The scent of renewed arousal filled
the air, and the smell of it was so thick and lush that Gage’s mouth actually
watered to taste it on her. Elena’s pink tongue peeked out to swipe nervously
over her bottom lip.

“Who said I’m not ready for that?”

He was shaking his head no by her
third word. “You’re not tricking me Amazon. If I fuck you now, you’ll try and
play us off as a one night stand for old times’ sake. Or some other cheesy ass
line. That’s not happening. The next time I slide my dick into that tight
little pussy of yours will be after you admit to me that you still love me. And
not one second before.

The sharp tangy scent of her anger
filled the air between them. “Then what the hell was that earlier, huh? If you
didn’t plan on having sex with me, why’d you start fooling around in the first
place?”

She was pushing at his chest and
shoulders now with her free hand, trying to move Gage off of her. He snorted.
Like that was going to happen? But her attempt was kind of cute. “I don’t know
what you’re complaining about. You got off and I didn’t exactly hear you say no
while you were screaming my name.”

He watched as his mate’s face
turned an interesting shade of red then she sputtered. “Y-You’re a cock
blocking
twatwaffle
!”

Cocking an eyebrow back at her,
Gage replied. “Cock blocking? Last time I checked it was my cock. I can block
it if I want to.”

“You cat nip addicted crack head! I
ought to take one of those squeaky mouse toys I left here and shove it up your
ass!”

He was trying really hard not to
laugh at her, but she was making it difficult on him. Her little insults were
more cute
than anything. Every time he got her riled up like
this, it just made him want to find really creative ways to shut her up. “I’m
not into that kind of ass play babe, but if you want me to play with your ass,
that’s good to go.”

Elena started slapping his chest
and bucking her hips wildly trying to dislodge him.

“Damn girl, why do you always have
to get violent?” Gage moved his legs to straddle Elena’s and then took the hand
that was still attached by cuffs to hers, and used it to cross over her chest
and pin her down. When his mate realized that he had her effectively pinned
down again, she sent him a death glare that would have scared the kiss out of
any man,
Other
or not.

He shouldn’t try and ruffle her
feathers anymore, but he just couldn’t help himself. “I do like it when you get
all feisty though. It makes me want to kiss you.” Bending down, he brought his
face in closer to hers. Before he could connect their lips, he found himself
once again thwarted from his goal by her free hand over his mouth.

“Oh no you don’t Ivanov. You’re not
kissing me.”

He nipped her palm just a little
too sharply this time, causing Elena to yip
an ouch
and pull her hand away. “Remember what happened last time you covered my mouth
so I wouldn’t kiss you? If you’re looking for another orgasm baby, just say so.
I’ll get my fingers and tongue involved this time.”

“YOU’RE SUCH A PIG!”

“No, I’m a cat.”

Elena gave a short scream of
frustration, which distracted her from Gage’s movements. So he utilized her
distraction to try and kiss her again, but she realized what he was trying to
do, and turned her face to the side, effectively blocking his kiss again. Gage
let his lips linger on the skin of her cheek. He pressed a light kiss, before
grazing the tip of his tongue across it to taste her skin.

“I just want one little kiss mate.
Why won’t you let me have one little kiss?”

Keeping her head turned away from
him, she mumbled. “You really want to know why I won’t kiss
you?
”

Gage skimmed his lips in a small
circle on her cheek, causing her body to give an involuntary shiver. “Yes.”

“
Okaaaaay
.”
She muttered mischievously. Elena turned her face towards his, so that they
were now eye, opened her mouth as wide as she could, and then huffed her breath
in his face.

The smell that assaulted his nose
was like something out of a toxic nightmare. Gage flinched backwards and gave a
short roar of affront. His nose hairs felt singed, his eyes were watering, and
he was pretty sure that he’d rather sit through another training session in the
Army’s gas chambers than ever smell that god forsaken smell again.

“Isn’t morning
breath
great Gage?” Elena chirped.

Gage stopped rubbing his watering
eyes to glare down at her. “Morning breath? MORNING BREATH! That smelt like a
chemical weapon! Are you trying to fucking kill me?” He yelled.

“Well, you were the one that wanted
a kiss. I tried to spare you.”

Moving off of her, and then
maneuvering himself off the bed, he reached down and scooped his malicious mate
up in his arms. He didn’t have to worry about her struggling this time because
she was laughing her fool head off. Gage carried the cackling Amazon into his
bathroom and then set her on her feet in front of the sink. Opening up one of
his cabinet drawers, he pulled out his unopened spare toothbrush and handed it
to her.

“For the love of all that’s holy,
please brush your fucking teeth. It’s killer. Literally.”

“Aren’t you going to
uncuff
me?”

“Nope.” Ha! Suddenly his little
Amazon wasn’t laughing anymore. Now she was back to glaring at him sullenly.
She started to open her mouth up and this time he slapped his hand over her
mouth. “Oh hell no! If you think you’re going to stand here and blast me with
your nuclear breath you’ve got another thing coming. You’re going to brush your
teeth, and then we’re getting some coffee. Without coffee, I can’t promise any
sane reactions to and hair brained things that you do.”

She pouted for a minute at him and
then turned around, faced the sink and brushed her teeth.

Gage started to prepare himself for
the many battles that he would face today trying to get through his mate’s
thick skull. The woman really had no idea how serious he’d been when he’d said
he wasn’t letting her leave his side. Which meant he didn’t have any plans of
uncuffing
her whatsoever. So if she thought it was bad that
he wouldn’t
uncuff
her to brush her teeth, wait till
she found out that he didn’t plan to
uncuff
her when
she had the urge to go to the bathroom either.

CHAPTER-THIRTEEN

Elena

Silently fuming, Elena poured her
cup of coffee with her free hand while ignoring the large idiot standing next to
her. The nerve this bastard had! It was one thing to keep her handcuffed to him
while she was doing something like brushing her teeth, but when she had to
potty? She was going to kill him! That had been the singularly most
embarrassing moment of her life. Sure she’d had to pee in front of people when
she’d been in the Army. That was why they were communal bathrooms for crying
out loud. But she’d never had to pee in front of someone she’d been intimate
with before.

Now she understood why some married
couples liked to say ‘Some things should stay a mystery’. Because peeing in
front of someone you’d seen naked was just too much. What was worse? She hadn’t
been able to make herself pee at first. Just
him
standing there with his back to her had been enough to keep nature from
happening. He’d literally scared her bladder into not cooperating! Elena was
pretty sure he’d rolled his eyes when she’d told him that she needed him to
turn the bathroom faucet on.

So now Elena continued to ignore
the overgrown fur ball and took a sip of her coffee.
Heaven
. When all
else was wrong with the world, as long as she had her coffee, things were
A-okay
.

“You hungry?” Gage suddenly asked.

“Nope.” She answered, refusing to
look at him. Besides, why should she? Her coffee cup was so much more
interesting!

“Okay, you’ve brushed your teeth,
emptied your bladder and now had some coffee to drink. Any other pressing
morning needs you need to take care of?”

What was he up to here? She finally
looked over at him out of the corner of her eye. Hesitantly, she replied. “No,
why?”

In the blink of an eye her coffee
cup was removed from her hand and she found herself pinned against the kitchen
counter. Gage fisted his left hand in her hair and pulled backwards until she
had no choice but to look up at his face. When she saw the desire and
determination burning in his eyes, making them literally glow a little in an
eerie green-gold radiance, she stopped breathing completely.

His voice came out a rough grumble.
“You’ve been avoiding kissing me like it’s a death sentence, which leads me to
believe one thing.”

“What’s that?” Elena whispered.

“You’re scared.”

She instantly denied him. “I’m not
scared of you Gage.”

Nodding, he agreed. “I know you’re
not scared of me. You’re scared of you.” Taking their handcuffed hands, he
placed them both over her heart, with his covering hers completely. “You’re
afraid of this. Which makes me think that all of your denials about how you
don’t love me anymore, or don’t care about me anymore, are bullshit. Because if
you weren’t scared, then you wouldn’t be afraid of my kiss. Perhaps you’re
afraid that if we get too intimate, I might melt away some of your resistance
away and you’ll give in and admit that you still love me. And a kiss is
intimate, isn’t it love?”

Elena tried to shake her head no,
but his fist held her still. “If it’s not true, and I’ve got it all wrong, then
kiss me Amazon.” When she hesitated, he whispered, “I dare you. Kiss me.”

Much to her horror, Elena felt tiny
pinpricks in the corners of her eyes as they started to water up. “Why are you
doing this Gage? What do you want from me?”

He studied her a moment, watching
her so intently that she felt naked from the inside out. “You.”

“Me?” She squeaked back.

“You.” He answered again with an
unwavering look.

Trying to bolster her courage back
up, Elena snapped. “I’m not an item you pick up the store or a whore to be
bought off the street. You can’t just go dragging me around where you want me,
snarling ‘mine’ whenever you feel like! I’m a human being Gage, you can’t own
me!”

She expected the ornery tiger to
get mad and snarl at her, instead he did something much worse. One side of his
lips curled up in smug satisfaction, and the bastard smirked at her. “I may no
longer live in a time period where one person can actually own another person,
but make no mistake love, I do own you. Every little inch. Every breathy moan
you give me when I’m playing with your pretty pussy. Every hungry kiss you give
me when I’m buried deep inside you. Every beat of that stubborn heart that you
swear doesn’t still love me, and every inch of that fierce soul of yours all
belong to one person. Me.”

It took everything Elena had to
ignore the sweet words about owning her heart and soul. That statement was both
a balm and a painful, scarring salt to her emotional wounds. So she chose to
concentrate on the blunt words he’d used about a certain part of her anatomy
instead.

“You are not allowed to talk about
my
va
-jay-jay like that! And you definitely do NOT
own it! Last time I was checked, I was the one who washed it, keep it from
looking like an uncontrollable bush and makes it feel good these days.
Therefore, it belongs to ME.”

Elena would have crossed her arms
in a self-righteous fashion, but since she couldn’t she settled for a big giant
victory smile instead. And she kept standing there with the smile until she
watched as Gage’s eyes wily look, and he slowly moved his eyes down her body
until they settled on the very body part they had been speaking of.

She watched as she licked his lips
as if he were munching on something delicious and then he groaned. “Don’t worry
mate, I’ll assume all of those responsibilities from now on. No need to make
you wash my pretty pussy… or satisfy it anymore. In fact, let’s go wash it now.
Would you like a tongue bath?”

It was sick of her, but the words
‘tongue bath’ made her soak her panties in about five seconds flat. Which only
served to piss her off as much as it made her horny. Punching him in the chest
she yelled, “BAD KITTY!”

Gage looked back up to her face and
playfully pouted. “So does that mean that there’s no pussy, for the pussy?”

It was then she grew frustrated
beyond belief. He was never going to stop! Which meant she was either going to
kill him in anger, or sexual frustration.

“You don’t have to be sexually
frustrated babe. Say the word and I’ll bend you over the counter and fuck you
like our lives depend on it.”

Elena gasped in horror and started
rambling frantically. “Did you just read my mind? Is that part of this mating
bullshit you insist on? And stop laughing at me jackass! What the fuck are you
laughing at?”

Gage had let go of her body with
his hands, and now had them supported on the kitchen countertop behind her,
with his face buried in her shoulder as he cackled like a loon. When he didn’t
stop laughing to answer her question, she tried to punch him in the gut with
her right hand. The punch was weak because their bodies were so close together
she couldn’t get enough power behind her, but it must have gotten her point across
because he stopped laughing for a whole two seconds.

“Y-you thought I-I was r-reading…”
Gage started laughing harder.

Rolling her eyes up to the ceiling
she waited for the idiot to stop. When he didn’t she snapped out angrily. “Well
you did read my mind didn’t you?”

“No b-babe. You’re so f-frazzled
you said that shit out l-loud.”

The big twit just kept laughing.
Which only caused to make her feel somewhere between mortified and mad as hell.
She’d really blurted that out? Crap, he was right. He had her so frazzled it
wasn’t funny. Which just pissed her off that much more. He thought it was this
funny to get her so wound up that she started blurting shit out like some
inexperienced teenage girl? All so that he could prove some point that no
matter how much she protested, she still loved him? WHO CARES IF SHE STILL
LOVED HIM! She’d show his ass what it was like to be some damn emotionally
twisted that you didn’t know which way was up!

Elena grabbed Gage’s face with both
hands, turning him to face her and then crashed her lips down on his. Thrusting
her tongue into his mouth as she did it. Doing her best to batter his senses
the way he always seemed to batter her heart. He growled seductively into her
mouth as her tongue curled around his own, threatening to overwhelm her senses
with the vibration and sound of his raw carnal need. Their mouths ate at each
other in a desperation they’d never had in the past. Each stroke of the tongue
electric, each nip and suck of their lips wanton, and each devastating second stealing
her sanity away.

His left hand dropped down to
clutch her ass in his strong one handed grip, and then he lifted her to the
countertop and settled himself into the
vee
of her
thighs. Never stopping the sensual assault on each other. Elena was quickly
losing herself into him. Mindless with all the pleasure that she’d been denied
for the last two years, but so lost in his touch that she didn’t bother
remembering the why’s of her denials.

Gage pressed into her harder with
his hips. Using his hand to push her into him so that they were grinding
against each other in their erotic delirium. Her anger was melting away under
his drugging kisses. Her worries were fading away with each rock of his hips.
In their place was a mounting need to just be with him again. Feel him inside
of her in every way that it mattered. Because maybe, just maybe, the little
hopeful voice in the back of her head whispered, this time he would stay. This
time, she would get to keep the man that she loved with an aching intensity that
had devastated her before. Maybe, she should give up her anger and tell Gage
tha
-

“Damn, I need popcorn to snack on
while I watch this.”

Screaming like a startled drama
queen, Elena jumped backwards bodily at the voice that came from the kitchen’s
entrance, and hit the back of her head on the kitchen cabinets behind her. Then
she screamed again in surprise when she was suddenly jerked off the counter by
a furious Gage who was now running at an inhuman speed after his brother Alec,
who was consequently running for his life out the front door.