CHAPTER 20 #2
The two boys looked at each other and then at the sentinels. “We can deal with it from here.”
“You no longer have the right to my trust,” Dorian responded, tone flat.
Vaughn saw the effect it had on Kit—the kid worshipped the blond sentinel, looking up to him like an older brother. But to his credit, he only nodded. “We’ll get him to Tammy’s, I swear.”
“I want every single one of you in the Pack Circle tomorrow. The women can decide your punishment,” Vaughn ordered, and it was no kindness.
Leopard females were merciless about breaches of Pack law, because they knew that without Law, their children would start to die one by one at each other’s hands.
Pack was One.
That was the ultimate rule.
Cleaning up the mess the juveniles had made, including tracking down and notifying Jase’s roaming parents as well as the maternal females in charge of discipline, swallowed up several hours.
It was almost five by the time he reached Faith’s compound and he was feeling so violently possessive that he probably shouldn’t have gone to her.
But no way in hell was he waiting any longer.
He was about to scale a tree from which he intended to jump the outer fence when he smelled his prey on the perimeter of the compound.
Surprised, he flattened down into a cautious stance.
Her scent came nearer, until he could hear the flutter of her heartbeat, the sound of her breath.
She stopped inches from him and when he appeared out of the tree shadows, she nodded. “I’m ready.”
Her unexpected surrender calmed the beast, but only a fraction.
He led her farther into the woods and toward one of his caches before moving out of her sight to shift into human form and pull on a pair of jeans—this was not a time to push Faith any more than she’d already pushed herself.
Yet when he returned to her, her face went immediately wary.
“Your eyes are more cat than man.”
“I know.”
She walked to him. “I’m coming home with you.”
“For how long?” He was keeping her. That was nonnegotiable. He just wanted to know how much persuasion it would take.
Her hand rose to lie over his heartbeat. A tentative touch that made the cat snarl for more. “For always.”
It was the one answer he hadn’t expected, but instinct told him what to do. Closing his fingers over her hand, he raised it to his mouth and kissed her fingertips. Her pulse shuddered, but she didn’t pull away. The cat was pleased. Dropping that slender hand, he turned his back to her. “Jump on.”
A beat of hesitation and then her hands were on his shoulders. He slid his palms up the back of her thighs and felt her fear, her confusion, her need. But when he pushed upward, she wrapped her legs around his waist and held on.
Exhilaration lacing his bloodstream, Vaughn ran through a forest slowly fading from day brightness—night fell quicker under the canopy.
Faith’s weight, even given her small pack and the long distance, was nothing.
The jaguar gloried in having her in his territory, in his world, though he knew they still had to extract her safely from the Net.
But that could be done anytime she was ready.
First, he needed to claim her on a much more primal level.
He took her deep into DarkRiver territory and then even deeper into his own, not stopping until she was in the bedroom of his lair, the only woman he’d ever brought there. Lowering her to her feet, he let her stretch and explore, able to wait now that she was in his home.
Her face tried to maintain that cool Psy look, but wonder broke through in sporadic patches. “Your home is amazing. Like we’re part of the forest.”
He let out a jagged breath. “Do you want me to shower?”
She froze, eyes flicking to the waterfall behind him. “What?”
“The run made me sweaty.” The falling night had been cold, the wind crisp, but a fine layer of perspiration covered his skin.
“Oh.” The answer was soft, breathy. “No, that’s okay.”
He watched her mouth as she spoke, surprised to realize he’d closed the distance between them without being aware of it. Raising his hand, he rubbed a finger over her lips. “I want to eat you up.”
Even as her eyes widened, the beast began to haze his brain with unforgiving sexual need.
He wanted. And he was through with waiting.
Faith was his mate. It was his right to take her.
He’d angled his head to claim a savage kiss when out of nowhere, something else kicked in—the protective instincts that would never allow him to harm her.
And if he took her now, he might even break her.
Shaken into civilized thought by that unforgiving truth, he forced himself to do the hardest thing he’d ever done. He took a step back. “I might hurt you if we do this.” He was too much on edge, too hungry, too damn strong to chance a loss of control while in the grip of passion.
He watched her swallow and the cat wanted to lick at her neck, to hold her pulse in its mouth and feel the power of her heartbeat.
It was about sex, not pain. The thought of abusing her was abhorrent to him, but he was afraid of caving in to the violent need of the beast and losing his capacity for rational thought.
And when he rose from the animal hunger, he might find that his claws had permanently marred Faith’s skin, that he’d bitten and cut.
The possibility terrified him as nothing else had ever terrified him.
“Vaughn,” she said, “it’s okay. I know you won’t hurt me. It’s my conditioning and the impact it might have that we have to worry about.”
“I could rip you to pieces if the cat takes over. I won’t think I’m hurting you, but I will be.
” His voice held the thickness of a growl—his beast might have saved his life as a child, but the payment it demanded was being a greater part of his consciousness.
“I want you too much, so much that I might damage you without meaning to.”
Faith didn’t move any closer. Instead, she stood watching him, studying him with those night-sky eyes that seemed to shimmer in the dim light of this cavern he called home, which seemed to soothe her.
It had surprised him when he’d picked up the signs of relaxation, but now he was glad.
At least she could feel safe in this place.
His place. He’d never steal that feeling from her by using it as a trap to maul her.
“The longer we wait,” she said, her voice that of the most practical Psy, but her eyes holding the first flicker of lightning, “the worse it’s going to get. It’s become clear to me that you need touch and I haven’t been giving it to you.”
He knew that. “If I’m not tied down, I can’t trust myself.” It was an offhand comment that hid his very real frustration. To be close enough to touch, but be barred from doing so, caused excruciating pain.
“Then let’s tie you down.”
Cat and man both went absolutely motionless. “What?”
Her cheeks held the faintest hints of pink. “Maybe it would help me, too, if I knew I could walk away at any time. The backlash from the conditioning might not be as bad.”
“Tie me down?” he asked again.
“It was only a suggestion. I’m sorry if I offended you.”
He scowled. “I’m not offended. But I don’t want to be powerless to defend you if something happens.”
“Your reflexes are much faster than those of any other creature I’ve ever seen. I’ll put a knife or knives within reach. You could grab them and cut the bindings free if necessary.”
“I tell you I’m dangerous and you want to put knives near me?”
“Vaughn, you’re scared you’ll hurt me because you want me so much.” Psy logic combined with enticing hints of feminine temper. “Unless you’ve been hiding something, using knives on me is hardly likely to arouse you.”
She was right. He wasn’t afraid of harming her on purpose, but doing so in the midst of claiming her, tasting her, sliding into the tight sheath of her body.
“Stop that,” she whispered, “if you’re not going to . . . play.”
He caught the use of the changeling word, caught the rich musk of female desire.
And remembered that he wouldn’t be helpless to seduce her even if he was tied down.
Moving to the side of the room, he pulled out an old shirt from a trunk and used his claws to slice the material into strips.
“I’m in your hands, Red.” Claws retracted, he passed her the strips.
She blushed, eyes tracking him as he placed several weapons in easily reachable positions around the bed. “Tie my legs down, too,” he ordered, blindingly aware of the ways he could harm her with the strong muscles that made him one of the predators.
Eyes wide, she nodded. “Vaughn?”
“Yeah?”
“If I can’t finish this, will it hurt you?”
“Hell, yeah. But my balls turning blue won’t kill me.
So don’t worry about it. When you can’t handle it, get up and get the hell out.
If I look like I’ve gone cat, lock the door behind you and take the car.
Hyperspeed.” He showed her the keys. “Car’s in the left cavern as you enter.
Do you remember the way out? You have to follow it without deviation or you’ll set off the defenses. ”
Oddly, there was no fear in her scent. “My memory’s highly trained. Don’t worry about me being caught in a trap.”
He had a sudden thought. “Did you see this in a vision?”
“N-no!” Her Psy facade cracked. “I’ve never seen anything this pleasurable.” Night-sky eyes went to his hands as he pulled off his jeans and threw them aside. Her intense focus made his already painful erection pound in echo with his heartbeat.
“How do you know it’ll be pleasurable?” He got on the bed and lay down.
Breath a whisper, she came closer and tied one wrist to the headboard. The cat growled but didn’t try to make him wrench free.
“Because just looking at you gives me the most extreme pleasure I’ve ever felt.”
“Christ, baby, tie me up before you start talking like that.” He wasn’t joking. He knew his beast, knew its limits, knew its demands.
She went to the other side of the bed to tie up his free hand before coming to his feet.
The jaguar didn’t think this was okay anymore—claws pricked at his inner skin and a roar pushed at his throat.
Forcing the beast to back down, he spread his legs to help her.
But he knew there would come a point when he’d lose the battle with the cat.
“The doors are closed,” he told her, voice very low.
“If you have to run, don’t give me any warning and don’t stop to get dressed. Just go!”
Faith stood at the end of the bed and met his eyes. “Why do I trust you more than you trust yourself?”
“You don’t know the beast. Do what I tell you.”
“Vaughn, I can fight back.”
“Yeah, but can you kill? Because as far as I know, that’s the only way you have to incapacitate me.”
“You won’t hurt me. But”—she held up her hand when he would’ve spoken—“I promise I’ll do everything you’ve asked if you go cat on me. Promise.”
He nodded, satisfied that she’d keep her word.
Then he watched her as a cat watches prey.
Except this time, he couldn’t pounce. He wondered what she’d do, whether she’d torment him.
The thought wasn’t unpleasant—a little tormenting in bed could be very interesting.
The one thing he didn’t allow himself to think was that she’d complete the act and accept him into her body.
She crawled onto the bed to sit on her knees beside him. “May I touch you?” Such a polite question, but there was an inferno in her eyes. A Psy not sure she could fully break conditioning. And yet gutsy enough to try. Was it any wonder she was his mate?
“Anywhere.” He wished he could kiss her. Unable to gratify the wish, he indulged himself with thoughts of how the softness of her lips would feel against his. The tart sweetness of her mouth was a remembered sensation that tightened his already impossibly taut body.
Lightning-shot eyes met his. “I like your kiss, too.”
He loved being able to arouse her with his most erotic thoughts. “Then come here.”
“Vaughn, should I drop out of the Net before—What if my shields collapse?”
“You can drop out the second your shields fail. I’ll catch you.” He’d already caught her, but she wasn’t ready to accept the depth of their connection.
“Then I’ll wait until it becomes unavoidable,” she whispered, “I have things to do.”
He smiled, using sex to banish the taint of sadness. “Yes, you do. Kiss me.”
“I think that’s an excellent idea.” She braced her hands palms down beside his head and placed her mouth over his.
It was an utterly feminine kiss, gentle and exploratory, not ravaging but coaxing.
To his shock, Vaughn found he enjoyed being coaxed.
The cat settled, too, pleased. It liked being petted and this was the most intimate kind of petting.
When her tongue whispered across his lips, he opened his mouth and allowed her to taste him as he tasted her.
He could feel her knee against his side, but she remained out of reach, her breasts not pressing against his chest where he wanted them.
He imagined her kissing him naked, her body pasted along his, a sizzlingly intimate meeting of mouths that might short-circuit all of her nerves.
Gasping into the kiss, she broke it. Her eyes were filled with white lightning, her lips moist from his kiss, her skin flushed with a soft glow that signaled arousal.
He took pleasure in the markers though he didn’t need them—the scent of her acted like a drug to his senses.
Breathing deep, he fed the hunger, stoked the fire, and waited.