Chapter 16 #2
She stopped trying to get up and let her body settle on top of his again, only she was now a few inches further up his body, her face hovering near his. She looked down into his face, her eyes stumbling over his lips.
He lifted his head and kissed her — just a quick, little chaste kiss on the lips.
Her heart started thundering, her eyes widened and she lifted a hand to press her fingertips against her lips as she looked at him.
“Was that wrong? Should I not have kissed you? It was just a good morning kiss.”
She continued staring into his eyes, her fingers pressed to her lips as she swallowed slowly. “It was my first kiss,” she confessed.
His entire expression changed. “No,” he said softly, shaking his head a little.
“Yes,” she said.
“Oh, hon, no. We can’t have that being your first kiss.
That’s not even really a kiss, it’s just a touch of the lips.
” He placed a hand on the side of her face, caressing her cheek as he guided her lips to his and he lifted his head.
“May I?” he asked, holding himself in check a matter of centimeters from her lips.
“Yes,” she whispered.
Feral pressed his lips slowly to hers, once, twice, then three times.
On the third time her lips parted and she took a deep breath.
Feral seized that moment to lightly run the tip of his tongue across just the middle part of her lower lip.
Her breath caught, and he pressed his lips to hers, open-mouthed, his tongue gently teasing the tip of hers.
Alison moaned softly into his mouth, letting him know she was enjoying what they were doing. But she lay there, frozen, afraid to move any muscle other than her lips.
“Can I roll you over?” he asked.
She shifted her weight to the side, giving him the room to move on top of her.
It took only a second and she was now lying beneath him, their legs entwined, his body covering most of hers, though he supported himself on his elbows to keep from putting all his weight on her.
Alison looked up at him expectantly, waiting to see what he’d do next.
Feral lowered his head, kissing her again, and this time she opened for him immediately. He kissed her slowly, patiently, showing her all the ways one could move to enjoy and change the sensations of a kiss.
She shifted under him, causing him to release a little growl and press his hips down against her.
He tried to lift himself off of her, knowing it was too much too fast — she was completely inexperienced in all things with a male, much less the one that would eventually claim her as his mate.
But Alison was having none of it. Her eyes were closed and she was completely lost in their kiss.
Her arms went up and around his neck as her head lifted of its own volition, following his lips when he pulled back.
Feral pressed his hips against hers again. “Do you have any idea what you do to me?” he asked on a whisper.
She looked up at him, her eyes glazed, her face blushed, her lips swollen and red. “No,” she answered.
“You have all the power over me, Alison. All of it,” he said.
“I do?” she asked, surprised at his confession.
“You do. I’d…”
“Oh, hell no!” somebody yelled from outside the window. Footsteps sounded on the porch as someone rushed toward the door and began beating on it.
“The hell?! Are you sure you’re not seeing anybody?”
“I’m not!” she exclaimed, startled by someone shouting then attacking her front door.
“Maaaaeeeeevvvvvvvve! Maeve! Open this fucking door right now! You motherfucker! Stop touching her! Get the fuck off my female right now you horny fucker!” Niko yelled. “I’m’a kick your ass in about two fucking seconds if you don’t get off my woman!”
“I think that’s Niko,” Alison said.
“You stay here. I’ll take care of it.”
She nodded, but got up and walked over to the edge of the entrance of the living room and waited for him to open the door.
Feral unlocked the door, then quickly pulled it open, stepping to the side to allow Niko to rush through the door without warning the next time he rushed it.
Niko charged through the door, using all his strength to propel himself forward and landing in a crashing heap from the fourth step down on the large, wide wooden staircase in the foyer.
Feral looked down at Niko, who was trying to regroup and jump to his feet.
“The fuck do you think you’re doing?! She isn’t yours to fucking touch!” Niko bellowed.
Alison calmly walked out of the living room to stand beside Feral, and slipped her arm around his waist as they stood together looking at him as he sputtered when he realized he’d made a mistake.
“Oh, that was… and you were under… and I… ohhhhhh. I thought you were somebody else,” he finally said as he brushed his clothes off and looked around himself, searching for any trace of Maeve.
“What are you doing here, Niko?” Alison asked. “Do you know what time it is?”
“I do, and I’m very sorry. Please, continue,” he said, gesturing toward the living room on his right as he stood with his back to the staircase. “I did not mean to interrupt your interlude.”
“Is everything okay?” Maeve asked from the top of the stairs, looking down on everyone as she grasped the edges of her robe to hold it together.
Alison looked up at her. “Everything is fine. Niko just tried to break my door down to get Feral off of me because he thought Feral was with you.”
“Really?” Niko asked Alison, without turning around to even look at Maeve.
“Really,” Alison said, one eyebrow raised as she glared at Niko.
“Niko?” Maeve asked.
He pasted on a wide smile and turned to look up the stairs at her. “’Morning, Maeve!” he said exuberantly.
“What is wrong with you?!” Maeve demanded, clearly having no patience with him and not at all impressed.
He pressed his lips tightly together and shook his head just a half shake or two, trying to figure out what to say. “How much time do you have?” he finally asked.
“Niko?” Griffin asked as he walked up beside his mother, rubbing his eyes from having just awakened.
“Griffin! There you are! I had to come make sure you’re alright! You know I got home this morning and you and your mom weren’t there. And I was like, ‘Whhhhaaaaaaaaatt?!’ So, I had to come find you.”
Griffin grinned and ran around his mother to the banister he’d mastered the day before. “Watch this!” he cried.
“Griffin!” Maeve warned.
“It’s okay. I’m good at this,” he said, as he climbed up onto the banister and quickly slid down to the bottom of the staircase.
“Woah! That’s pretty awesome!” Niko said.
“Yeah. I’m awesome like that,” Griffin answered. “Are we eating breakfast yet? I’m kinda hungry.”
“You know what, I’ll make something,” Alison said, ever the one to take care of everybody else.
“No, please let me,” Maeve said. “You’ve opened your home to us and the least I can do is cook.”
“Oh, I don’t mind. It’s what I do. Take care of whoever needs it,” Alison said.
“Please,” Maeve said.
Alison nodded. “Okay, if you really want to. But you don’t have to.”
“I want to. Let me change real quick and I’ll be right down. Griffin, come up here and wash your face and comb your hair.”
“Oh, Mom.”
“Now!” Maeve said firmly.
“Do what your mom says,” Niko encouraged.
“Alright,” he grumbled as he stomped back up the stairs.
Maeve watched as her son came back up toward her, but shot a warning glare at Niko the entire time.
The last thing she needed was a night-clubbing, barroom loving, commitment phobic male fixated on her.
Having a mate was one thing, having a mate she’d have to baby sit and corral like she did her son, after she had to convince him to mate her, was another thing entirely.
And if necessary, she had no problem at all telling him exactly that.
“I’ll put the coffee on,” Alison said.
“Sounds good,” Niko said brightly, following her toward the kitchen.
He paused beside Feral as they hung back a bit near the entrance to the kitchen, and looked at him critically.
“Couple of things… first, she’s not like most girls.
Don’t take advantage of her or I’ll be tracking your ass down at Alliance.
Second, you didn’t have to yank that door open and let me bust my ass on the stairs. It wasn’t the respectful thing to do.”
“But beating on Alison’s door while everybody was asleep was the respectful thing to do,” Feral said.
“I was in the middle of a crisis. I wasn’t thinking straight,” Niko snapped.
“Here’s something to think about when you’re straight-minded again.
Alison is my mate. I will claim her when she’s ready.
But I don’t have to wait until it’s official to kick your fucking ass enough to make you think twice about making her or anybody else in this house uncomfortable. You understand?”
Niko’s lips curved into a slow smile as he took a step closer to Feral.
“Hey! That’s enough. You do not behave that way in my house. Go outside until the two of you are finished trying to intimidate each other,” Alison said.
“Just making my place known, hon,” Feral said without looking toward the sound of her voice where she was busy scooping coffee into her coffee maker. “Nobody’s going to make you uncomfortable in your own home.”
“Thank you, Feral,” Alison said. “I appreciate that. But as of yet, you don’t really have a place here. We just met.”
“Hah!” Niko shouted, walking away from him and into the kitchen.
“I was just making sure some fancy-schmancy male from the Variant didn’t come in here and make you feel all swept off your feet then drive off into the sunset leaving you to your own devices,” Niko said.
He stopped and thought about his words. “Not that you have devices. I mean, you might, I don’t particularly know, but those weren’t the devices I meant. ”
“Can you please stop, Niko?” Alison asked.
“Yeah. That’s probably a good idea,” Niko said.
“Alison, I told you what I feel,” Feral reminded her.
Alison smiled at him, but looked away, unsure that he’d still want her like he said he did now that the sun was rising.
Niko looked over at Feral who’d walked further into the kitchen and stopped near him while speaking with Alison. “So, you’re claiming her, just like that. No palpitations, no oh fuck, what the hell am I thinking, or anything like that?” Niko asked.
“None of that. Just, yeah. This is right. This is good. Home.”
“See? I just don’t understand that. I get all nervous and shit. I am not cut out for it.”
“Because you don’t want to be,” Feral said.
“You think that’s it? I don’t think that’s it. No, that can’t be it,” Niko said.