Chapter 7
Vaughn
I’m a bad man.
More beast than human.
I’m clinging to Lily’s hand, fast-walking us back home. I’m fighting the urge to lift her up and carry her. Sprint at full pelt.
All those principles I’ve been cooking up:
I’m gonna take it slow.
Make sure it’s perfect for her.
But now she’s practically begging for my cock.
What am I supposed to do?
Claim her, of course.
Mine, my wolf roars.
My beast is half-mad with need.
Every nerve, every bone in my body knows it.
And she wants this. She’s clinging tight to my hand, and the sweet scent of her desire is thick in my nostrils.
But it’s too soon.
I’ve got to hold back, somehow.
However ripe and ready she is.
When we get to the house, I open up the gate and snatch Lily up off her feet, cupping her ripe ass in both hands. She wraps her legs around my waist and loops her arms around my neck, like we’ve done this a hundred times before.
I hurry her up the driveway and through the front door, kick it closed behind me. Then I back her up against the wall of the hallway, perch her ass on a set of antique drawers, and lose myself in her soft mouth.
Jesus, the feeling of that velvety little tongue seeking out my own. Those soft little sighs when I push my tongue deep into her mouth.
I’ll just taste her sweet peach again. Nothing wrong with that.
She reaches for my shirt and yanks it up to my pecs.
If she wants me to take it off, I’m not complaining.
While I’m busy tugging it over my head, she unfastens her own shirt.
I snatch at the fastening of her bra, and there she is, her lovely, full tits bared to me.
Soft, creamy skin, and tight little nipples.
I dip my head and take one of those rose-pink buds into my mouth while she grabs for my cock.
I hiss out a groan. It’s so hard it hurts. When she tries to free it from my jeans, I catch at her hand. All I can think about is how much I need to bury it inside her virgin pussy.
But I’ve got to hold back.
I tug at her jeans and panties, shucking them down her hips and thighs, and in a moment, she’s naked. Her voluptuous young body stands out against the dark hallway. She lifts her chin and looks me in the eye. It’s a shy look, but full of desire.
My breath shudders in my throat. There’s no way we’re going to make it upstairs.
“You know what you’re doing to me, Lily?” I growl
“I need you inside me,” she says breathily. “My pussy aches so bad for you, it’s been killing me all afternoon.”
Fuck.
“It does, huh?” I grit out. “Show me where?” Her small hand slides down. “A little bit here.” She presses a fingertip to her clit. And sighs. Fuck. What a woman she is. Even her own touch turns her on.
“Where else?” I say, fighting back my urge to plunge my cock into her while she plays with her little bud.
“Mostly here.” She slides a finger to her entrance. I stop breathing as her own fingertip disappears inside her. Then her forehead furrows. “Is it normal for it to hurt like this?”
I can’t keep the grin from spreading across my face. “Very normal. Just means you need my cock.”
Her frown deepens. “But every time I think about your cock, it aches more.”
Fuck. She’s been thinking about my cock. Getting aroused by it.
“It’ll feel better when I’m inside you,” I growl.
She bites her lip. “So, show me,” she says.
Maybe I can just slide it up and down her slit a little, I think, as I tug my cock out of my pants.
It’s huge, fit to burst. I swear it’s never been so hard before.
I take it in my hand and touch it against her pussy. She gives a little cry. Sheesh. I imagine how it’ll feel when she’s coming all over it.
When I press my cock to her slit, she lets out a groan.
“Fuck, Vaughn,” she mutters, and I love the way my name sounds in her mouth.
Keeping a tight hold of myself—of my beast—I trace the head around her tiny entrance, and she starts to move her hips toward me. Like she’s chasing it.
“You want it inside you?” I grind out, through clenched teeth.
“More than anything,” she murmurs. Her eyelids are heavy, her lips red.
Before I can stop myself, I press into her, a half inch, an inch. She’s so tight. These little muscles that’ve never been stretched before squeeze my cock in a vise grip.
The swollen head of my dick is almost in, when she cries out and her thighs clamp around me.
“Too much,” she cries out, her voice taut.
Shit. She’s right. I pull back.
It’s too soon. I can’t do this.
I’m a fucking animal.
We only met yesterday, for christsakes.
What if I’m wrong? What if she’s not really my mate? What if my wolf got confused by my feelings for Elizabeth?
Riiinnngg!
“What the fuck?” Our heads jerk toward the front door in unison. Worst goddamn timing in the world.
I tune in my ears and nose. There’s someone standing right on the fucking doorstep.
I slide out of Lily, ease her down from the drawers.
“Go upstairs. Lock yourself in the bedroom,” I tell her.
I don’t need to tell her twice. She hares along the passageway and up the stairs, her lovely full ass jiggling as she goes.
I haul my jeans back on, stuffing my semi-hard cock into them. Then, with my animal bursting to get out, I tear open the front door.
There’s a young dude standing there, hands in pockets, hair flopping over his face. A coyote shifter. He scans me carelessly. Then he lifts his nose, inhales deeply. And a grin spreads across his face.
Fucking prick.
With a roar, I grab him by the shoulders and slam him against the exterior wall of the house.
His grin drops and he turns pale.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” I roar, banging his shoulders against the clapboard.
His eyes fill with terror and he lets out a wail.
“Answer me, or I’ll tear your throat out right now!” My wolf’s snout has emerged and fur is bristling all over me. I don’t care.
“I-I’m a gardener,” he chokes out at last.
I quit slamming him against the wall. “So?”
“Looking for gardening work—” He coughs and retches.
I realize I’ve gotten my hand around his throat. I release it. “Who sent you?”
He takes several choking breaths. “No one. It’s my own gig. Got my own business,” he gasps out.
I frown. “How the fuck did you get in here?”
He looks confused. “The gate was open.”
“Like fuck it was—” I break off. Did I remember to lock the gate after we came back home? Or was I too consumed with the thought of taking Lily’s virginity?
“There’s a padlock, hanging off the chain—”
My growl silences him.
I stare into his face. He’s young, scared shitless. If this was some trick, it was an epically dumb one. But that’s not the only reason I’m about to tear him apart.
“And what the fuck were you doing, scenting my mate just now?”
“I-I’m sorry. It was dumb.” His expression turns wistful. “She just smells so sweet. Untouched—”
Red mist comes down over my eyes and the next few seconds are a blank.
When my vision clears again, he’s lying flat out on the ground, and my fist is pummeling him again and again.
Fuck, his nose is bleeding.
Jesus. My devotion to Lily is turning me into a lunatic. But I don’t care. She’s all that matters.
“I’m sorry!” he’s whimpering, tears leaking from his eyes. “I didn’t realize she was yours.”
I let off a feral snarl.
He didn’t realize because I haven’t claimed her yet. And that’s on me.
I get up off the ground, stare down at him in disgust. “Get your ass up,” I tell him. “And don’t ever come around here again.”
He scrambles up and bolts for the exit, half-running, half-crawling. I go right after him, and lock up the gate—which I did leave hanging open.
Idiot. Keeping Lily safe is my priority. I shouldn’t have let my dick get in the way of that.
And I sure shouldn’t have let thinking cloud my judgment, my instincts.
She’s mine.
I know it with every fiber of my being.
My true mate. The one fate ordained for me.
What the hell am I waiting for?
I’m going to mate her. Claim her virginity.
Then every damned horny shifter in the world will know she belongs to me.
I dash back into the house, double lock the door behind me, and bound up the stairs, my cock jutting out like a heat-seeking missile.
“Lily, you can come out now,” I holler along the dark hallway. “It’s safe.”
The door of the master bedroom swings open. Lily is standing behind it, wrapped in a sheet.
And her face is serious enough to take the edge off my boner.