Chapter 19 #2
“Unfortunately not, ma’am. Since they were allowed to roam free, which I’m totally against, we’ve had several horrible crimes committed. Heinous discoveries that would give you nightmares.”
He still had the flashlight pointed toward us and I could smell the hatred on him.
He’d even unfastened the snap on his holster.
Nope. I wasn’t going to take the bait, although I was in what my coach would call a bitchy mood.
So I smiled, just like I’d seen my dinner companion do.
“Well, I guess it’s a good thing that I’m a black belt in karate.
Huh?” I lifted my arms, showing him my empty hands.
“These are lethal weapons, so you don’t need to worry, Officer, but thank you for letting us know. We’ll get out of your hair now.”
He glanced in, smiling at me in a way of letting me know I owed him for keeping my identity a secret. “You young folks have a great night and tell your father I said hello. Officer Frank Matheson.”
“Thank you so much, Officer,” she said, the same sweet smile trumping his.
When he backed away, starting to laugh, I took a deep breath.
This was going to be a fucking long ass night.
* * *
Mate.
My mate.
There were many aspects about the reality that were too complex to spend much time on at this point.
Whereas I’d felt a strong pull to her before, my beast floating precariously close to the surface every time she was near, after fucking her in the car in the woods, while other shifters had lingered in the shadows, there was no longer any possibility of denying the truth.
We’d already comingled DNA. Well, my sperm was currently riding waves in her system, happy as could be.
While there was no formality to the process of mating, certainly not as depicted in books and in animal documentaries, there was that moment, that very moment when fucking ceased to become all about pleasure and more about creating life.
That’s what mating was supposed to be about in any culture and species.
Procreation.
Humans could deny the definition and meaning, preferring to use sex as nothing but pleasure, but the truth could eventually hit them in the ass.
There was one other thing that usually occurred that I’d yet to do with anyone.
Knotting.
Only wolves performed the sexual act and I’d felt the urge only moments before. Shit, this was getting serious.
Let’s face it. I didn’t want a mate. Why did I need one? I was Steven, the Beast, Masters, a man of power and sensuality, hungered for by all women.
Well, some anyway.
Mostly puck bunnies.
But it was the truth. Women were easy to come by.
On any given night, I could have one or more.
That just wasn’t my style. Maybe that’s why the only time I’d taken one of the puck bunnies up on their salacious offers was when I’d been introduced into the team in Philadelphia.
I’d had fun. My father would call it sowing my wild oats.
My mother had called it working through my inner child.
Saint? He’d laughed in my face, patting my shoulder and winking.
And my teammate had told me it was a rite of passage I’d grow bored with.
He was right.
Damn the man.
The craziest thing of all was not just that Christine was human, and mating with one was unheard of no matter what my father had told me, but that I’d smelled her desire.
Not a typical desire, but something that had shocked her, an uncontrollable urge to feed the hunger in a way she couldn’t understand.
Her skin itched.
Her face was blotchy and red.
Her breathing was labored even now.
And she was hot to the touch, baby.
I’d felt the very same thing. Still did. Now, the two of us were forced to pretend as if nothing was wrong. As if we weren’t two animals about to lose our shit.
Case in point.
She was standing too close, so much so I couldn’t breathe. She’d yet to walk inside her parents’ house or even ring the bell, still fiddling with her dress. In the garish light of the massive estate, her skin appeared to be glowing.
Another telltale sign that the mating process had begun.
Now she was gasping for air, tossing me looks that were driving me crazy.
“Do I look presentable?” she asked in a much gruffer voice.
“You look fabulous, baby.” Wow. I could barely recognize my voice.
She shifted from foot to foot, raking her hand through her hair. Light perspiration created a luminous sheen on her face and her lips were swollen from me sucking on them. Goddamn, she was perhaps the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen.
Especially since she appeared a little off kilter, her eyes open wide.
“You kept my thong.”
“I did. Do you want it back?” I dared pull the sexy lace from my pocket, pulling the material to my mouth and nose.
Her laugh was subtle at first then turned wilder with every passing second.
When she rolled her fingers down her chest while turning and offering a salacious look, I could tell she was losing control.
In all the women I’d been with over the years, none had gone from zero to one thousand with her level of desire.
The fabulous girl was drunk on pheromones. And every whiff I took of her scent pushed me closer to losing control of my own faculties.
Somehow, I doubted I’d endear myself to her parents if I shifted in the middle of the dinner table. But it would be an experience to see their faces.
“No,” she whispered as she curled her fingers, rolling them past the slit on her dress. I watched in awe as her eyelids half closed while she stroked her wet pussy.
I knew it was wet because her scent continually filtered into my nostrils driving me fucking nuts. My mouth was on fire, my tongue swollen and eager to quench my thirst and my cock was aching to the point that now I was the one shifting from foot to foot. This was insane.
Every moan was audacious and every time her eyelashes skimmed across her cheeks, I thought for certain I was going to lose control. I did my best to remain a gentleman while she gyrated on her hand. Why wasn’t I the one pleasuring her?
“Mmm…” When she was finished driving me crazy, she lifted her hand into the light, showing me her glistening fingers. Even wiggling them to torment me. Then she made the mistake of shoving them into her mouth making lewd noises.
Now I was the one sweating like some fucking pig.
I watched in awe and horror as she continued licking her fingers clean and just when I thought I couldn’t take it any longer, she sprang toward me, jumping into my arms.
I’d been kissed by a girl before. Hell, there usually wasn’t a game where a couple of puck bunnies didn’t try to plant one or five on me, but this wasn’t just a kiss.
This was her tongue sliding down the back of my throat, her body molded with mine perfectly and every sound she made affirmed that she belonged to me.
Or maybe the other way around.
I wrapped my arms around her, keeping her pinned against me, but the girl was stronger than she looked. Certainly much stronger than when I’d first met her. She wiggled to the point I was caught off guard, my body pitched back and forth, finally slamming against the door.
Did I hear a bell somewhere?
Oh, what did it matter?
She moaned as she shifted, her knees pressed so tightly against me I could barely breathe. I could tell her feet were locked together and the way she tore at my hair was a dazzling invitation.
Sudden movement caught the corner of my eye, but it was too late for me to recover.
The door was thrown open and the two of us lost our balance since we’d been leaning against it.
Down we went.
Hard.
While the kiss was broken, it wasn’t without a tiny whine escaping my mate’s lips. She stared at me with wild eyes, her hunger completely evident and totally off the charts.
And boy, did she look like a wild animal. Absolutely adorable.
“Christine,” came the chastising female voice.
Very slowly Christine lifted her head, her expression changing one hundred and eighty degrees. “Well, hello, Mother. How are you?”
The two women glared at each other and I could barely keep from laughing. So this was how their relationship was played out. Why did I have a feeling I’d be the referee by the end of the night?
This entire situation was dangerous to my career.
Hell, being with her was dangerous to my love life. Who was I kidding?
We were already way past the courting stage.
Her mother took a giant step backwards as if the two of us had a terrible disease that was catching. “Better late than never,” her mother chided.
I managed to crawl out from under Christine, helping her to her feet.
“Mrs. Carrington,” I started, trying to be nice, but my little mate stopped me by smashing the back of her hand against my chest.
“I brought a date.”
“Yes, I can see you did. You look… untethered,” her mother said by way of greeting. Music was flowing through the house and I could hear voices, lot of voices.
Christine took a deep breath, ready to launch into her mother. I squeezed her arm, trying to remind her this was temporary.
“Yes, well, it’s because I’m so much in love, Mother.” She squeezed me back, nuzzling against me. “Sheila Carrington, this is Danny Wright, my boyfriend. In fact, we might have an announcement of our own tonight.”
When she threw me a little look, I developed a very bad feeling. What was she up to?
“Well, Danny. I’ll be so eager to learn how you met my daughter. Please come in.” Sheila’s smile faded as she opened the door wider. “And don’t usurp your father’s evening, Christine.”
“What about Delaney’s engagement?”
Her mother laughed. “Secondary to your father’s planned evening. We’ll get to that.”
I was already on edge, futzing with my tie. The house her parents lived in was huge, putting the one I’d grown up in to shame.
However, I sensed there was no life in the place given the stodgy furniture that appeared as if collected from every antique shop in the world.
“Such a pleasure to meet you, Sheila. Your daughter has told me so many things about you.”
She eyed me with in a way someone would a damaged piece of furniture.
Too bad humans couldn’t detect shifters in their presence.
I guess I could put on a little show and drop my canines just for kicks and giggles.
Maybe later. “All good, I hope. Let’s get you both a drink.
We have guests. I do hope you’ll be on your best behavior, Christine. ”
While the comment was directed toward her daughter, I was the one bristling.
Already I had an opinion about the woman and it wasn’t very nice.
She was controlling, so much so she’d managed to suffocate her daughter.
Yet she was suffering. I could feel the apprehension she had while standing in her expensive Prada dress and heels that cost more than what Christine made in a month.
There was something very provincial about her, yet she was jealous of her own daughter and her resilience and ability to escape what she likely felt was a prison. That’s why she tormented her daughter.
And why I would find fucking with her so enjoyable.
Call me a very bad boy, but I couldn’t help myself.
She led us toward where a bar had been established, directing us to help ourselves.
“I’m going to find your father. I’m certain he’s quite eager to meet your boyfriend, Christine. We all were.” She offered a tight-lipped look before moving away.
Christine’s smile fell, shifting into what could only be described as a venomous look. “Keep me from killing her.”
“I’m not certain I want to. What would you like to drink?”
She popped to the bar, not bothering to wait. “I’ll have a nice tall beer with a tequila chaser.”
Her choice of drink brought a laugh. “Make that two.”
As soon as the bartender had poured the shots, she handed me one. The look in her eyes was practically murderous.
I knew I liked this girl, but she was just giving me more and more reasons. “Here you go. A toast.”
“What are we toasting to?”
She tossed back the entire amount, slamming the glass onto the bar’s surface. “Hit me again.” When a man appeared in the doorway alongside Sheila, she snarled under her breath. “To bloody, violent murder.”
“Christine,” a gruff voice said as a puffed-up man approached, one with the appearance of having one too many glasses of scotch with his buddies.
Trailing behind him were three men about the same age, all wearing plastic smiles.
The shot of tequila arrived just in time and she tossed it back with a dramatic flair, again slamming the glass on the bar with enough force I was shocked it didn’t shatter.
“Ah.” She even wiped her mouth with the back of her arm as any cowboy would do. When she snapped her head in his direction, I could swear she had demon eyes. “Hello, Daddy. I’m home.”