Eternally Bound: Paranormal Romance Boxed Set (29 page)

Damned woman.

‘Mah, where the hell is she?’ Rahn growled silently.

*
I do not know
, hoksila. 
There has yet to be an established bond between you and Chrysalyn, so I cannot yet touch her mind
.*

‘Well, what about Adonei?’ he snapped. ‘Can’t you just ask him?’ He tore his hands away from the curtains, only to run them roughly through his own hair. The insistent need gnawing at his belly for this woman bordered on insane. If it was this bad now, how would it be after they established a relationship? She was five minutes late and he was practically out of his mind. Not something he was familiar with where a female was concerned. With the exception of Mahpiya’s occasional absence from his head, Rahn had never been so impatiently alone.

He almost thrust his fingers down to his scalp again, but stopped himself, knowing what Chrys would see when she arrived—a wild-haired, crazed crackpot from the worst B movie he could imagine.

‘Damn it, this is ridiculous, Mah. Why do I feel so out of control?’

*
It is the mating instinct. The need to claim your mate. Trust me, this is natural
.*

‘How the hell would you know what’s natural? First off, I’m a human, and second, I’m a male.’

*
Yes, which only makes you more irrational, cub. I suggest you calm yourself before your mate arrives
.*

Cub? Had she called him a cub? Rahn rolled his eyes. The lioness would choose this moment to remind him that he was no more than a child in her eyes. Her endless years and, of course, endless knowledge of dealing with humans gave her just a bit more of an edge in this situation.

He took a deep breath, closed his eyes and reached out for his guide, silently calling her onto this plane. Her big muscular body materialized, stretched out on the living room floor between the glass coffee table and the overstuffed couch. Rahn walked over and sat down on the floor next to her.

“I’m sorry, Mah,” he said softly, reaching out a hand to rub her thick muscled shoulder. “I didn’t mean to disrespect you. Forgive me?”

*
Of course
, hoksila. 
As I said, you are less than rational. It is the mating heat and will ease once you claim your female. She is quite the prize. A strong hunter, though Adonei does not approve of her choice of casual companions
.*

“Her choice of what?”

But there was no answer. Without warning, Mahpiya’s pelt shimmered and shifted. Her body faded until nothing but a faint dusting of her essence floated on the still air before disappearing all together.

“Mah?” All was quiet. Even the small, constantly occupied place in the corner of his mind was silent. It had only happened once before—this morning in the hot tub. He knew exactly what Mahpiya’s sudden absence meant.

His cock twitched in anticipation as he sat there cross-legged on the floor, waiting for Chrys to turn the knob on the front door to their apartment.

* * * * *

Why did she feel like she was sneaking into her own place? Couldn’t possibly have anything to do with the fact she was practically tiptoeing into her own foyer with her shoes in one hand and easing open the door with the other.

Rahn sat on the floor in the dark with a strange light in his eyes. Drapes pulled back, the wide glass panes allowed the evening light to flood into the room. The angle with which the beams reflected off his light amber orbs made him look like a cat caught by a flash of light.

He rose slowly, all sinewy grace and barely leashed power. Damned sexy.

Even the movement of his long legs and wide muscular torso reminded her of one of the big cats out hunting on the Serengeti. So entranced was she by the easy sway of his lean hips, the slight flex of biceps and pecs as he moved, Chrys didn’t realize he was practically on top of her until they were toe to toe.

Then he had to go and open his fat mouth and ruin the moment.

“You’re late. Where the hell have you been? And why didn’t you check in with me earlier like I asked you to?”

Well, somebody wasn’t happy
, she mused sarcastically. At that exact moment, Adonei’s presence diminished in her mind until he was barely a speck on the radar. Obviously backing off to leave her to deal with the miffed male towering over her.

‘Traitor,’ she hissed along the link. Good thing she didn’t expect a response because she received none.

“Chrys, I asked you a question, woman.”

She snapped her neck to the side, knowing her eyes were wide with incredulity. Talk about a pissy attitude, the man was almost unbearable. The way he snarled down at her, she half expected him to start thumping his chest before tossing her over his shoulder while doing the Tarzan yodel.

Was this Rahn? The same Rahn she’d worked with for years? Cool, level-headed agent, laid-back, easy-going? Puh. Obviously not.

“You didn’t ask me a question, Rahn, you asked me two,” she snapped back, refusing to be treated like a damned child. Then again, she didn’t recognize such behavior from this man, so she wasn’t sure what he saw her as. Well, sizzling kisses and hot tub action aside, of course.

“Yeah, and you haven’t answered either one of them.”

The urge to submit to him while he’d held her up by her backside in a dark alcove just a little while ago faded as completely as Adonei had from her head. Challenge was the new word of the day.

“You’re the one working here, Rahn. I’m on vacation. I’m playing.”

“If you play with anyone, it sure as hell better be me!”

“What?” She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “Who the hell do you think you are? I am not accountable to you and owe you no explanations. I’ll do what the hell I want, when I want. You’re not my man, Rahn. Not anymore, if you ever were in the first place.”

She was as hot as a Hawaiian volcano, and not with lust. Anger kindled so fast and high she expected his eyebrows to singe away any second now.

She dropped her shoes on the tiles next to his in the foyer, stepped around him with a humph and headed for her bedroom.

Who the hell did he think he was, anyway? She didn’t have to take this macho crap from anyone, damn it.
Even if you need a strong man to handle your stubborn female self
? She couldn’t even scold Adonei for the comment because he hadn’t made it. Damned conscience. It would choose this moment to show up.

Rahn was so close on her heels she’d swear she felt him breathing rough and hard down the back of her neck. Her arm froze in mid-reach for her doorknob when a firm, but gentle, hand teased her shoulder.

“Make no mistake about it, Chrys. I am your man.”

The words were softly spoken, seductive with a hint of a growl. The deep rough timbre sent a thrill through her body. The enticing thrum began at her ankles, eased up the back of her calves and drilled into her thighs just below her butt. The flesh covering the sensitive spot between her ass and her pussy tingled and itched in anticipation of what would follow such a fierce declaration. A declaration he’d never made to her in all the long years they’d known each other.

She found herself spun around and eased back against her bedroom door. Mouths joined in a burning conflagration of lust, but she needed more than her lips on fire. She needed to completely go up in flames.

Chrys reached up to twine her arms around Rahn’s neck, pressed closer and relished his shiver when iron-hard pecs made contact with puckering nipples. His chest muscles jumped and flinched. The involuntary movement made her peaks harden faster, stiffer.

Her own soft moans sounded eager and oh-so erotic in her own ears.

Rahn’s arms tightened, totally engulfing her with his big beautiful body.

“Mmm, Chrys, baby,” he moaned into her mouth, deepening the kiss, tasting, savoring. Overwhelming. “God, you taste so good.”

Chrys broke away and rested her forehead against his chest, trying to get her catapulting emotions, not to mention her breathing, under control. But that didn’t stop him from exploring her body with a knowledge that should be forbidden to any man on earth. It was just too devastatingly delicious.

He lowered his head and licked her overheated skin from her jawbone down to her collarbone. It felt so good, she could think of nothing to compare it to. When his hands cupped her ass, she didn’t protest. As he teased and nibbled along her ear, her dress was hiked up past her hips to settle in silken rolls around her waist. Rahn’s strong fingers continued to knead the flesh of her sensitive round cheeks. She gasped when a single finger eased into the cleft of her ass, then lower to the slick folds of her cunt.

It dipped and played until it was completely coated with the juices making their way down the inside of her thighs. Her hips made a perfect figure eight as she sought more of the intense pleasure.

When he removed his hand, Chrys caught the scent of her own dewy arousal. Damn, what a turn-on.

Rahn ground his thick erection against her hip as two fingers slipped up into her juicy pussy. With a subtle curve, the tips hit an overly sensitive bundle of nerves deep inside she hadn’t known was there. He stroked once. Twice. Three times.

“Oh my god!” she screeched as that special little spot sent a crackling zing exploding through her womb. Every cell in her body screamed. Thigh muscles quivered while her ass clenched wildly and her fingers dug into Rahn’s chest through his shirt. Head thrown back, it hit the door with a thump as she came on the spot.

Rahn dropped to his knees, buried his head between her legs and lapped up the fragrant evidence of her release. All the while, he hummed his approval as he wrapped his tongue around her throbbing clit, gently easing it out of its cowl and into his eager mouth. The combined vibration and suction shot up her slit and kicked off a new round of quivers stronger than the first. The earth shattered around her until she expected the ground to open up and swallow her whole.

“Rahn, please. I need you inside me.”

He didn’t stop moving his mouth over her flesh. Didn’t stop humming over her clit. Didn’t stop tormenting her with the long laps of his tongue or the fingers buried inside her.

Oh, and it was good. But damn it, she needed to be fucked. Hard, deep and long.

Reaching down, she sank her fingers into his hair, clear to the scalp and pulled. Easing him away from her soaked flesh, Chrys looked down and her eyes went wide. The man’s mouth, nose and cheeks were covered with her own essence. His light brown eyes flashed with hunger and the hard set of his mouth told her she’d interrupted something he relished. And she’d better quickly replace it with something else.

He flashed a wicked grin while he massaged the backs of her knees. “You have interrupted my meal, Chrys.”

Her mouth opened and snapped shut on a silent plea. God, he was so damned sexy she couldn’t even form the words to describe his tousle-headed, handsome self. She tried to speak again just as his touch moved from the back of her right knee up to the juncture of her thighs and pressed into her swollen lips. Her breath hitched instead. Finally able to string more than two words together, they tumbled out as a strangled plea.

“Oh, Rahn, I need it. Please. Give it to me.”

She needed this. Wanted this. Wanted him more than…hell, she couldn’t think of anything or anyone that had ever made her feel so desperate. Not even the thrill of hunting and bringing down bad guys.

He grabbed a handful of dress and yanked. The sound of rending threads and popping straps resounded through the huge living room. The little scrap of soaked cloth partially covering her sex went next. Then she was underneath him on the floor.

Only one small problem. He still wore all his clothes.

Chrys sat up and pushed Rahn back on his knees. In a flash she’d unzipped his pants and pushed them down as far as they would go. Instead of taking his dark green silk boxers down with them, she bared his skin a scant bit at a time, nipping as she went. Her tongue flicked out and licked a spot just below his pelvic bone. He jerked, almost doubling over. So she tongued him there until he moaned nonstop.

“Chrys, god, baby! That feels so good.”

But it wasn’t nearly enough.

Finally her goal, his glorious hard cock, was completely uncovered. It bobbed in front of her face, the shaft a deep mottled caramel. The flared mushroom head wept. She could almost see the fat veins twined around it throbbing in time with her own rapidly beating heart.

The moment her fingers grasped the thick rod, a primal urge rippled through her soul. The need to mark herself with his scent. To be his, and for him to be hers. Leaning forward, Chrys gently rubbed the smooth hard length of him against her cheek. Then across her forehead and down the other side of her face before turning to take him down her throat in one gulp. His scent filled her nostrils even as he filled her mouth.

He yelled. Thighs shook, hands clenched wildly at his sides. The taut tendons of his throat stood out from his neck as he hissed through gritted teeth.

“Aaaah, shit! Chrys!” he pleaded, took in a large gulp of air and begged some more. Just as she’d begged moments before. “Woman, you’re killing me.”

Humming around his cock certainly wouldn’t make it any easier on him, but she felt particularly evil just now and planned to drive him as insane as humanly possible.

He must have caught on when she didn’t stop sliding her tongue over him, didn’t stop stroking him. She knew the jig was up when he eased her away from his cock. Pants were kicked off, shirt yanked over his head and hands reached out for her. In a split second, she was settled with her creaming slit directly over his hungry cock.

And just when she thought he would plunge to the hilt, he scooped her up in one hand and flipped them both until he was dominant.

Her pussy was so swollen, it throbbed to the point of pain. If he didn’t fuck her soon, she would lose it. Her lower lips were so puffy and wet, dew dribbled and pooled into the crack of her ass, making her cheeks clench spasmodically.

Finally he pressed into her sopping entrance.

Only the head of his cock dipped into her scalding pussy, yet it almost did him in. Rahn couldn’t believe how close he was to totally losing control and coming right then and there. Gritting his teeth, he reined in the wild urge to surge to the hilt and camp out there for the rest of the night.