Chapter 15
When he finally let her out of bed, it was late afternoon. He’d taken a shower after their last romp but seemed disinclined to allow her to do the same. Someone had brought them food and Zenya had hidden under the sheets, wanting to die of embarrassment. She knew all too well that the clan was well aware of what had been going on, so hiding was silly, but still, at least she didn’t have to look them in the eye.
“Zenya, would you prefer that I have food brought to you, sweetheart? I feel I need to go down and have dinner with the clan, but I can make your excuses. I also need to go over some business with Zaiden.”
She growled at the sound of her brother’s name. “You aren’t planning on our having the bonding ceremony tonight, are you?”
“That I will leave up to you,” he said as he leaned over and kissed the top of her head. “I know Zaiden wants it to be a ‘done deal,’ but I think you and I have worked things out, and I know these things are far more important to tigresses than they are to tigers. Feel free to draft anyone you need to do what you want to do. Do you think Friday or Saturday?”
“I’d like to do it Saturday so I can spend a little time at the clinic.”
He nodded as he buttoned his jeans and pulled on a different sweater. “If you’ll get your list to Zaiden or me, we”ll get the supplies picked up.”
Again, Zenya growled at the mention of her brother.
“Zenya, that is enough. I understand you are angry with him, but did it ever dawn on you that he made the decisions he made based on believing he was doing what was best for you?”
“Did it ever occur to either of you that I and I alone may be the best and only arbiter of what is best for me? I can answer that: no, you did not. I may, in time, be able to forgive you…”
Lucian chuckled, fisting her hair, tilting her head back and kissing her hungrily. “Every time you call my name when you come for me, I am reassured that you have forgiven me and know that you are my fated mate.” He reached down with one hand to cup her breast and thumb her nipple, leaning further down to take it in his mouth for a moment and make her squirm. “There’s my good mate. I won’t be too long. I think my cock may burst from wanting you.”
I couldn’t get that lucky.
She spent the rest of the week down at her clinic with Lucky patrolling the inside and enjoying the outside area, which was completed rather quickly. Zaiden was doing his best to make amends, but she ignored him. As she said to Lucian, it was the best she could do.
She split her time doing actual work for her clinic, getting Lucian the list of what she wanted two days later than she would have liked, but she wanted to be conscientious. The wedding planning was easy, as the housekeeper and the cook had apparently been planning her and Lucian’s nuptials for years.
“I wasn’t so sure about how we were going to make a key lime wedding cake,” said the cook, “but then we realized we could use an old coconut cake recipe we had and use key lime curd to fill it. The Alpha thought it might be nice if the groom’s cake was that hummingbird one you liked so well.”
“He’s waited a long time to take you to mate,” added the housekeeper. “I don’t know many tigers who would have waited this long.”
“Did it ever occur to anybody that this is not what I want? That he marked me without my consent?” They looked at Zenya in shocked silence. “No. I didn’t think so. If you’ll excuse me, I have some work to do in my lab.”
She started out of her office, leaving them with their mouths open.
“But Milady, what about your dress? The store in Seattle had several dresses that could be sent overnight.”
She stopped and waved her hand. “Pick whatever you like. This thing is for Lucian and the clan. Considering I wouldn’t be doing any of this—I’d be back on the Outer Banks—I don’t really give a damn.”
The mild nausea and dizziness she used to get anytime Lucian was around had morphed into something far more tangible, and for the most part pleasant. She didn’t get dizzy, but if Lucian was looking to get laid, she did go weak in the knees. She’d never really thought of herself as a sexual person, but from the first time Lucian had taken her, she’d craved him in the same way he did her. She knew the clan watched them with hooded eyes, but Lucian assured her that it was because they were all glad to see them together.
She felt the moment he walked into the clinic. He stopped for a moment and allowed the tether that seemed to grow stronger every day to find her—not in her office where she should be but in her lab. As he walked in, he closed the door, but did not lock it behind him and she could feel the lust rolling off of him in waves and being met by her own.
He fisted her hair, giving it a little jerk as he pulled her to him. Much to her surprise, she found that she enjoyed the little nips of pain here and there from Lucian tugging her hair, pinching a nipple, or nipping an earlobe. Lucian knew how to give her just the smallest bite of pain to refocus her or sharpen the experience.
“On your knees, mate,” he growled the command, the sound deep and sexy.
Zenya sank gracefully to her knees, knowing what he wanted with her heart pounding in her chest. She hadn’t really liked the idea of performing oral sex before, but with Lucian it felt right. She doubted anyone would come into her lab, especially if they had any idea Lucian was in with her, but there was just a little bit of the exhibitionist in Zenya so the idea that someone could walk in on them ramped up her excitement.
Lucian stood before her, his cock straining against his fly. Zenya reached out to touch him before unbuttoning the opening and giving freedom to his throbbing cock. He placed his hands on her head, guiding it down. She took him into her mouth, savoring the sweet, salty taste of him combined with the musky, masculine smell he gave off. As she sucked the head in, she could feel him grow harder in her mouth. His hips bucked, pushing his cock deeper into her throat. Zenya found she couldn’t repress the moan that arose from the depths of her soul and vibrated along his shaft.
“That’s it,” he said, his voice ragged with desire. “Take it all.”
He reached down, taking her head between his hands, holding her steady and fucking her mouth and throat—first at a leisurely pace and then with more speed. Zenya swirled her tongue all around him, but then focused her attention on the sensitive underside.
“Fuck, Zenya. How did I live without you?” he groaned as he pushed deep and sent a torrent of cum down her throat.
He reached down the front of her sweater, giving her nipple a hard tweak through her lace bra. He drew her up, thrusting his tongue into her mouth as she rubbed against him, indicating she’d like more. But she had learned quickly—all matters of a sexual nature belonged to Lucian and Lucian alone. She could ask for what she wanted, but she didn’t always get it.
“Not right now my beautiful tigress, but later. I think we’ll eat with the clan, but your alpha is having you for dessert.”
Zenya could feel heat and color rising up her cheeks. He kissed her again, running his hand down the curve of her ass.
“On our wedding night, I will introduce you to the most wonderful sensation.”
“Are you going to release your barbs?” she asked, not sure what she wanted the answer to be.
“Yes, my sweet, and you will yowl for me as they score your pussy, preparing it for my seed. Behave yourself.”
She nodded. Two nights ago, she’d picked a fight with him and had stormed out of dinner. He had followed her up to their room, bound her to the headboard and edged her for several hours. By the time he finally released her, she was frantic for him and had climaxed as he’d shoved himself in. The man not only had an enormous, gorgeous cock, he knew how to use it and how to control his own need to give her what he believed she needed.
And therein lay the problem. She struggled with her feelings for Lucian. On the one hand he was high handed, arrogant, and far too dominant for her liking—an alpha through and through. Zenya saw herself as far too independent for him. There were times that she felt as if he was going to swallow her up—and not just when he was eating her pussy, which he could do for hours. On the other hand—just as he said—she missed him when they weren’t together. The longer they were apart—as in not in the same room—the worse the feeling was and could usually only be remedied by coupling.
The only thing she did know was that she needed to get away, and it needed to be soon. Zenya would not allow herself to be railroaded by Lucian and her brother. As much as she liked having sex with Lucian, this was not the life she wanted for herself. She wanted the life she had been building in the Outer Banks, but that had been taken away.
At long last, most of the clan said, and far too quickly for her, their wedding day arrived. Lucian had seen himself as following a long-standing tradition and left their room before midnight the day before. The fact that he’d taken her to bed at noon and made love to her almost continuously until he left her sated, sore and exhausted didn’t seem to offend his old-fashioned sensibilities.
That evening at sunset, the bridal arch was set on a raised platform so their people could see the ceremony. Zenya walked down the aisle in a gown made of symmetrical champagne lace over a nude lining. The gown included dramatic lace bell sleeves, an open back, and a dropped waist in an A-line silhouette.
Zenya wore her strawberry blonde hair, which had mellowed to more of a honeyed-wheat, loose and with a swept back side held in place by a pearl and diamond comb that had been her mother’s and made her trip down the aisle and up the steps of the platform, ignoring her brother. With the vows read, and the bonds sealed, they partied well into the night.
The champagne flowed, the food was marvelous, and Zenya thanked their housekeeper and cook many times over, laying the success of the celebration at their doorstep. When she had danced until she thought her feet would fall off, her brother requested a dance with her.
“Zenya, you have to dance with me. I’m your brother and beta to the clan,” Zaiden entreated.
“And I am first lady of the clan and keep your alpha warm and happy at night. Want to guess which one of us wins that fight?”
She turned away and found Lucian. She sidled up to him and smiled seductively. He brushed his lips across hers. “You look so beautiful.”
“I hope you didn’t eat too much cake. I think you said something about dessert…” She let her words and fingers trail along his chest.
“Not to worry, sweetheart, I’m ravenous.”
She laughed gently. “Let me have just a few minutes to get ready. I’d like to give you something special.”
“Every time is special with you,” he murmured, taking her hand and kissing her fingers.
She left Lucian, Zaiden, and the rest of their clan enjoying themselves as she entered their room, and she walked to Lucky’s cage, opening it to the outside world. The bobcat walked to the open gate and looked out into the darkness.
He rubbed against her legs. “You’re all healed up. Go out there and make something of yourself. But if you like it here, everyone seems to love you, so I think your life is whatever you want to make of it. I plan to do the same.”
She walked to the French doors that led out onto the balcony, opening them before returning to her room, entering the closet to retrieve the tapestry carpet bag she’d brought with her from North Carolina. She called for her tigress, who’d been prowling in the corners of her mind for hours. An icy mist swirled all around her with crystalized blue shards, rumbling thunder, and surges of lightning.
Her tigress stretched before picking up the bag in her mouth, trotted toward the balcony, picking up speed and leaping down to the darkness below.
She was free.