Raven’s Instinct (A Day Care for Shifters #6)

30. Alan

30

ALAN

A lan hated that Amy’s father had betrayed Kendra and made her unknowingly the other woman, but her story wasn’t as bad as he’d actually feared it could be. If Amy’s father had physically harmed Kendra, or threatened her, or hurt Amy, or any of another thousand things that Alan could easily imagine, he was not sure he would have been a big enough man not to hunt him down and make him regret it.

He wanted to think that he’d left his own violent past behind him, but there were some things that could make him pick up those weapons and use them. Some visceral side of him still remembered how it felt to cause justified pain, and the sickening satisfaction of having the power to take life.

His raven was never any help in holding his temper, and he often wanted to cause mischief just for the sake of chaos, but Alan easily held him back now. That man had no power over Kendra and Amy now; Kendra’s guilt was the only lingering strand between them. As far as Alan was concerned, Charlie had failed to appreciate Kendra and claim his child, and he was nothing but a stain of regret that could be left behind forever.

Kendra was staring at him now, her lips slightly parted, her brow drawn together in confusion or disbelief. “What are you saying? Marriage?”

“I’ll make any vow you’d like,” Alan said. “If you want to make it legal, I will drive you to the courthouse tomorrow morning when they open. If you want to take it slow and have a church wedding, I will find whatever band and cupcake spread and balloon arch you request. If you want to live in sin and get matching tattoos, I will book the artist. You don’t have to decide now or in a day or in a month. All I care about is that I am a part of your life and you let me love and adore you both.”

Her blue eyes were shining bright, glossy with tears. “Tell me more about the sin option,” she suggested in a low voice.

“Can I show you, instead?” Alan countered.

Kendra’s slow smile and the tilt of her head were all the invitation that Alan needed, and he leaned forward to capture her mouth again as he pulled her close.

Alan might have been satisfied with clothes-on making out for a little longer, but Kendra pulled herself into his lap and yanked his shirt off over his head. He wasn’t about to resist returning the favor and when he slipped her bra off, he remembered that she didn’t like having her nipples pulled, so he only circled them with his thumbs as he kissed between her petite breasts.

She definitely liked that, arching into his hands and lifting herself off of him. She was so strong, and her skin was so soft. Alan could have touched her and kissed her forever, the little noises and gasps that she gave were clear signals about what she enjoyed.

“You had a bedroom, I believe?” she said, when Alan realized they’d have to stand up to get their pants off.

“Let me give you the tour,” Alan said, lifting her up in his arms as he stood.

“You’re stronger than you look,” Kendra said, clutching him. “You don’t have to carry me all the way there.”

Alan gave her an experimental bounce and she squeaked in alarm. “You don’t weigh more than six of those Tiny Paws kids put together, and I’m constantly carrying around that many.”

“Is weighing me in kids like measuring lengths in bananas?” Kendra laughed. “ Any system but the metric system?”

“I’d love to show you my banana measuring stick,” Alan said merrily. “That’s the bathroom, as you already know. That’s the second guest bedroom. Shh, the baby’s asleep. This is the master suite.” The door was cracked open and Alan pushed it open with a hip and carried Kendra through, careful not to clip her on the doorframe.

He’d made his bed with tidy military corners, and he unceremoniously tossed her onto it and then crawled after her with a growl.

She was already shimmying her pants off her hips by the time he got to her, and then it was a flurry of removing what remained of their clothing. Alan had planned to spend some time testing favorite kisses, but by this point, he was at a fever pitch and absolutely desperate to be buried inside of her. “Condom?” he suggested, his brain not entirely abandoning him. “I have one. Dresser thing beside bed. Table. Bedside table.” Maybe his brain wasn’t getting all the blood right now.

“I got an implant after Amy,” Kendra said. “I wasn’t going to make the same mistakes, and if you’re not dangerously promiscuous…”

“There’s been no one for me for a really long time. A really, really long time,” Alan assured her.

She spread her legs and Alan teased her with his cock for only a moment before he had to pull away or utterly embarrass himself. “Hang on,” he said. He hadn’t been exaggerating how long it had been, and he didn’t want to spoil her fun by finishing too soon. He slid one finger into her, then a second, and she whimpered and begged.

“More…! Faster! More! Please! Alan…”

A third finger joined the party and he teased her and planned to bring her only to the brink, but she gave a low cry of release and he could feel her clenching desperately. Her whole body went taut, all the muscles hard, her soft breasts moving with her as Alan slipped his fingers out of her and guided his cock in.

It didn’t take much adjustment to find just the angle she liked, her legs up, and just the rhythm to make her come again, and even a third time before Alan lost what control he had been clinging to.

The noises he made were as desperate as hers, and he pounded into her at the end and felt her meeting every stroke as he felt as if he was flowing into her altogether.

They lay together for a long time, hearts pounding, sweat cooling on their skin, until he was too soft to stay inside, and she was shivering. “You could have a bath of your own,” Alan said, reaching to find a towel to clean up with. He’d been a single man long enough to have a sensible nearby stash.

“A bath,” Kendra moaned. “A real bath!” But she shook her head. “I’ll take you up on a shower, if you don’t mind, but a bath should wait. It’s getting late, and we both have jobs to go to in the morning.”

Alan kissed her. “There will be a lifetime of baths ahead,” he promised. “As many as you want. I’ll even buy you bath toys.”

“We’ll have to talk about the future, still,” Kendra said thoughtfully. “But a bath is definitely a grave temptation.”

His whole body hummed with satisfaction, and he could feel his raven’s contentment like his own. It wasn’t just release, it was connection . It was having and adoring this woman who completed him. She rose and padded without modesty to the bathroom. Alan admired the curve of her hips and her sweet ass and her strong legs.

He met her at the shower door with a towel when he heard the water turn off, and took his own quick rinse. When he got out, she had found one of his T-shirts and was snuggled down in his bed. “I hope I’m not assuming too much,” she said shyly. “I didn’t poke far.”

“Oh good, you probably didn’t find the cache of guns and fake passports,” Alan joked.

He wondered at once if it was a joke in poor taste and too close to the truth, but Kendra smiled. Alan found a pair of boxers and climbed under the blankets with her. “There is something you shouldn’t be assuming,” he warned her as he turned off the light.

“What’s that?”

“That you will be getting any sleep tonight at all.”