FavoriteObsession (19 page)

The instinctual need to move, to feel the wet slide of his
cock through soft, silken muscles grew with every stroke. The craving built,
amplifying his natural urges. He gave in and pounded into her. Flesh slapped.
The hot fist molding him quivered. Her orgasm built. The tightening of her
core, her rapid intakes of breath and the desperate way she met his thrusts
told him what he needed to know. He listened to her unspoken directions and
heard the slight change in her pants. He shortened his strokes. Over and over,
he stimulated the spot inside her sheath he knew would send her over.

With his cock halfway inside her sheath, she came, gasping
his name. Rippling muscles danced over his shaft, dragging him deeper. She
writhed around the length piercing her while he bit his lower lip to hold his release
back. Blood dripped from the corner of his mouth. He licked it away and slammed
home. Their bodies locked together, he held her with his fingers dug into her
hips and rode out her climax.

The rhythmic grip and release of her core turned into pleasured
agony. Her orgasm lasted forever but not long enough. The waves eased. She
collapsed, only his grasp holding her up. The spread of her hair across the
sheets was a damn fine sight. With her cheek pressed to the mattress, he got a
great view of her face, sated and relaxed. Her eyelashes fluttered, a smile
gracing her plump mouth. She looked beautiful. Seeing her pleased expression
filled him with pride, but no way would he let her pass out on him, not now. He
wasn’t done with her.

He pulled back and thrust roughly, again and again, until
her eyes widened.

“Josh.”

His name spoken in a wondered gasp fucking did it for him.
He lifted her higher so he could watch his cock pierce her. The glistening length
stretched her swollen lips. His pants quickened along with his thrusts. In and
out he moved while her body accepted him, conformed to him and only him. The
thought seemed odd. He pushed it away and worked her body until whimpers fell
from her mouth.

She scrambled up, lifted her torso on bent elbows and moved
with him. He pounded into her, her inner muscles squeezing him every time he
drew out, spreading as he entered.

“So fucking tight. Damn, kitten. You’re strangling me.”

“Not claimed yet,” she panted.

He couldn’t make sense of the words. There was something
important about them. The significance skittered across his mind. He couldn’t
grasp the meaning, not when he felt as if he’d die if didn’t get to come soon.
He gave up on trying to think and focused on the wonderful view of Mira’s
gently sloped spine and rounded bottom cushioning his pistoning hips. He ran a
hand over her ass cheeks and squeezed the soft flesh. He loved that she was
lush and curvy, like a woman should be.

Needing those curves against him, he leaned over her body. She
arched against him so every inch of his chest pressed into her back. Fucking
perfect. She gave him exactly what he needed, but he wanted more. And he’d take
it. She would give him everything today.

He caressed the swell of her belly, swept his fingers upward
to capture a swaying breast. With his prize cupped in the palm of his hand, he
brushed his thumb over her pebbled nipple. Her sheath clamped down on his cock.
Each flick of his finger sent ripples along the shaft.

“Yeah, baby. That’s good.”

He toyed with the tip until her whimpers filled the room. When
he abandoned her breast, she groaned. A roll of his hips tore a sigh from her
lips. It was nice to hear but the breathy moans were better. He needed more of
those uninhibited cries. He roughly gripped her other breast and earned a
shocked gasp. Pleased with the sound, he massaged the heavy flesh. She sobbed
his name.

Fuck, yeah.

More, he needed more. He circled her nipple with the edge of
his fingernail and slowed his thrusts.

“Faster, Josh. Please, faster.”

He grinned and slowed the movement of his hips even more. She
shuddered with his withdrawal. A deliberate, controlled push parted the
muscles, sliding his dick into a sweet, warm haven that belonged to him alone.

Mine.

Flashes of images skipped across his mind. Him and Mira,
twined together in positions he’d never attempted with a woman, a look of
rapture stamped on her face. Mira pressed into a tree, him with claws embedded
into the trunk over her head while he pounded into her. Another with her on her
knees, his fangs hovering over the bite on her shoulder.

He stilled with the head of his cock kissing the mouth of
her womb, chilled by the images. They weren’t right.

Mate her. Claim her. Keep her.
The conviction echoed
in his head. Not words, the deep instinct he felt belonged to him yet it wasn’t
his. He felt fragmented, as if his soul wasn’t his own.

What the hell was wrong with him?

“Don’t stop, Josh. Need you.”

The stark desire in her voice pushed the unsettling thoughts
away. Mira. She was the only one who mattered and she needed
him
.

He dragged her against him so she sat on his cock, her legs
wide and knees on the outside of his thighs. The position allowed him to hold
her close while he loved her. He swept her hair off her shoulder, exposing the
bite he’d hated to look at when he first met her. It wasn’t ugly today. No,
with Mira’s body locked to his, it looked sexy, inviting, exactly as it had in
the images that had flashed across his mind.

He swept his tongue across his teeth. Flat. No fangs. Disappointment
rushed up. He shoved it away. Only a fool would let a little frustration
destroy his time with the woman he wanted above all others. And he wasn’t a
fool. He grabbed life as it came and enjoyed every damn minute of it.

“Still want me, kitten?”

She tilted her head to the side to peek at him from under
her lashes. “Always, Josh. Always.”

He heard her unspoken goodbye. She’d always want him, but
this was it, just as she’d said. She’d leave him after today and take another
man to her bed, love his body the way she did Josh’s.

No, fuck no. She was his.

“Forever, Mira. Always and forever.”

Instincts guided him. He allowed his new alter ego to rule.
Its wants became his. Drawn to the old scar, he clamped his mouth over it,
biting with his blunt teeth. He hit her cervix at the same time and she came,
screaming his name. He squeezed his eyes shut, biting harder until blood filled
his mouth. The pressure of her muscles strangling his cock was too much. His
orgasm seized him. He couldn’t stop it.

He released her shoulder and wrapped his arms around her
chest as his cock jerked and spilled his seed into her. Her sheath clamped down
around him once more. He groaned, the squeezing so painful his heart stopped.
The world blacked out. Only her heartbeat resonated in his head. It called to
him and his picked up the same rhythm. The agony eased and ripples caressed the
length of his dick, dragging every drop free.

Sweat slickened their bodies. Their breaths and scent of sex
surrounded him. Peace filled him. He was right where he should be—inside Mira,
the woman he loved.

He tipped her head back and kissed her, slowly twining their
tongues, showing her with his body what he felt. She twisted her torso and
linked her hands behind his neck to draw him closer. He complied with her
silent demands, supporting her arched back with his hands and loving her mouth
the way he had her body. Finally separating them, he lay on the bed and drew
her close to his chest. He held her, head pillowed on his arm and a palm to her
belly.

She sighed and succumbed to sleep. He was glad. He didn’t
want to talk. The words on the tip of his tongue were ones he’d never uttered
to a lover before. They were real, true and a reflection of his devotion. Yet,
he wasn’t convinced telling them to Mira was wise. Silence was best, but the
feeling which dragged those words up filled the ache in his chest. No longer
did he feel fragmented. For the first time in his life, he felt whole.

Mira glanced at her reflected image and didn’t know if she
wanted to smile or cry. Happiness and despair warred equally within her. She
let both settle in her heart and accepted the truth.

She’d made her choice and taken a mate.

With a shaky hand, she rubbed her swollen belly. A thump met
her palm. She grinned. A little farther down, the impression of a knee or elbow
pushed against her distended stomach. A kick from deep inside resonated in her
back. She blew out a rough breath, unused to the odd feeling of having
something
alive
inside her that wasn’t one of her cats.

A quick peek at her surroundings confirmed her suspicion.
She was dreaming. She had to be. The big four-poster bed with its dark-blue
sheets would never be in her bedroom nor would the male sprawled on top of it.
Josh slept on his stomach, one arm hanging off the side and the other hooked
around his pillow. A sheet covered one leg, half of his firm ass and a small
section of his back.

Would this be her eternity? Dreaming of the male she loved
while she carried another’s babes? Gods, she couldn’t do it. She squeezed her
eyes shut and willed herself to wake. She didn’t. The muscled body of her mate,
if only in her heart, filled her vision.

She sighed and walked toward the bed. Well, waddled. She
couldn’t manage more than an awkward shuffle. A hand pressed to her lower back,
she let her gaze roam over him. Scars she’d never known he had bisected his tan
skin. Her favorite tattoo, his snarling tiger, peeked at her from his shoulder
but her attention focused on another, one she’d only glimpsed while they’d had
sex. She braced her top-heavy body with a hand on the bed next to his chest and
leaned over him to get a better look. An Irish cross inked on his upper arm
sent a whipping pain through her heart.

Woven into the design was the inscription,
John Conway
.
She stared at the child’s memorial and choked back a cry. He’d died the day he
was born.

Questions pinged in her head. How had he died? Why hadn’t
Josh mentioned the child when he’d talked about his family? The little boy had
to have been important to him to have earned a permanent memorial on his body.
She pressed a hand to her mouth as the thought morphed into another—could the
little boy have been Josh’s son?

She blinked backed her tears. It didn’t matter if he had.
She loved him no matter who he’d been with before but it didn’t stop the wave
of sadness knowing she’d never give him another son. A human female would have
that right, never her. More tears welled and she choked on a sob.

A strong, warm hand covered her bare bottom. She jerked
back, nearly toppling backward. Josh stopped her tumble with his confident,
familiar embrace.

“Sorry, kitten. Didn’t mean to startle you.”

She looked into sleepy blue eyes and didn’t know what to
say. Dreams weren’t supposed to be interactive or feel so real. A rough knock
on the door saved her.

“Let’s go, Mira. Kade is waiting for you.”

Aron’s booming voice twisted the knife and ripped her heart
open.

Josh tugged her closer. “You can’t have her yet. She’s mine
for another hour.”

No. Gods, no.

The dream shattered and she found herself in a small church.
Alone. Candles flickered, casting a soft glow over the walls. A cross hung
above the altar. Images of saints and biblical scenes decorated the walls. She
took it all in and shuffled her clothed and still-pregnant body to the back
pew.

She sat, pressed her hands to her eyes and cried.

“Take it back. Please, take it back.”

Her words echoed, mocking her. She’d been a pawn from the
moment she took her first breath. Begging didn’t change anything. It only
delayed the inevitable.

* * * * *

Josh stood in the middle of nowhere. Literally. Blackness
surrounded him. The endless nothingness stretched out in all directions. He
turned slowly and looked around. His heart knocked against his rib cage.

“Hello?”

Only his echo answered him.

He cursed inwardly. Another dream, this one worse than any
other. He took a deep breath and started walking. Time stretched and he strode
forward. After a few minutes, he picked up the pace. His jog turned into a run.
He panted, feet pounding against a floor of dark haze. Light shown in the
distance. He moved toward it. Golden and piercing, the brightness emanated from
the woman waiting for him.

Blonde hair, gilded skin that shimmered with a yellow
glitter, glowing gold eyes and slender talon-tipped hands made up her image.

The golden goddess.

He knew who she was with the same certainty he knew his
name. But why was he here? She only appeared to pride leaders and he’d never be
one.

She chuckled with a small shake of her head as if she’d
heard his thought. With a single crooked finger, she motioned him forward.
Come
to me, child. Accept me and hear what I have to say.

Her words resonated in his head in a lulling melody tempting
him to give her what she wanted. He went to her because really…who argued with
a goddess? She might not be his but that didn’t mean she couldn’t snuff his
life out with her bent pinkie.

He knelt and she rested a hand on his head. Images flashed
across his eyes, the pictures rolling by so fast he couldn’t focus on them. He
heard the screams and the gut-wrenching cries. Mira’s sobs. Rage rose within
him. He wanted to snarl, lash out at whoever dared touch her. He couldn’t. The
goddess’s touch seized his body while she fed him information he couldn’t
grasp.

She released him and pain exploded behind his eyes. He
couldn’t breathe, couldn’t see. The darkness took everything away and left him
in misery. Alone. He couldn’t stay here alone. Mira needed him, only he couldn’t
remember why. He was too weak.

And stubborn, child. Too damn stubborn to save yourself.

* * * * *

Mira woke to Josh’s scent in her lungs and his strong arms
banded around her, holding her close. The steady beat of his heart under her
ear and the slow rhythmic breaths that pressed his chest to hers confirmed he
slept. She held her body still, not wanting to wake him. She needed a few
moments to work through her emotions. The thick cock pressed into her belly
promised her talking wouldn’t be high on his list of things to do when he
opened his eyes.

The dream she’d had left her more saddened than any other.
Gods, she couldn’t live like that—torn between a male who’d never be more than
a breeding partner and the one she loved. Except…what they’d just shared
might’ve changed everything. It shouldn’t have. Josh couldn’t mate her. Female
shifters had been taking mortal lovers for millennia. Nothing ever came from
it, yet the encounter she’d shared with Josh had been different.

She closed her eyes and focused on her body. Her core
clenched with thoughts of Josh and the arousal slickening her sex guaranteed
she’d be ready for his possession when he woke, but it was the bite on her
shoulder that fed her theory. It thumped, echoing her heartbeat. Only mated
females experienced the signal of their bond. When it stopped, it meant her
mate had died and she could choose another.

Impossible, yet undeniable. It hadn’t resonated her
heartbeats this morning. She turned her psyche inward and reached for her
animal spirits. Her cats blinked sleepy, contented eyes at her. She mentally
prodded their emotions, needing their instincts to guide her. Her blue tiger
bared its fangs at her along with a flash of annoyance but slammed an image
into her mind.

Josh sleeping naked next to her very pregnant body with his
hand resting over belly.

Mira pulled away from them more confused than ever. What
they showed defied all the rules yet their insistence spurred her hope.
According to them, Josh had claimed her. And that meant…

Josh was her mate. Her mortal and fragile mate.

Her breaths quickened and pulse raced, making the thump in
her bite uncomfortable. If Kade’s vision wasn’t altered, she was going to kill
her mate…again.

Sickness churned her stomach as thoughts of that long-ago
night came back. The rage, pain and shame threatened to choke her. No, dammit.
She refused to allow Edmund to ruin her time with Josh.

Edmund was dead and gone. He’d had no right to take what
she’d refused to give. The goddess’s words set the rule concerning her mating.
Everyone else simply ignored it. It was her choice, always had been, and she’d
made it in Jazz’s front yard when the sexiest male she’d ever seen grinned at
her.

Josh was her
one
, beloved above all others, and she’d
do anything to make sure Kade’s vision didn’t come to pass. But how was she
supposed to do that now? The mate bond would draw them together. She’d need his
comforting touch to soothe the fire that would burn for him alone. Those
concepts formed the basis of the primal bond. Whether she loved her male or
not. And she did love Josh. The depth of devotion she held for him would ensure
she’d follow him to the ends of the world. Or until death claimed him and left
her shattered in more ways than one.

Their love would create an unbreakable bond and override the
natural drive to seek out another breeding partner. No other would do. They’d
become mates in this world and the next, two halves of a whole. Forever, just as
he’d vowed. But they couldn’t have forever. His heaven wasn’t hers. Once his
mortal body died, she’d never see him again.

She needed to put some space between them, think everything
through without his distracting body close.

Loosening her tight grip, she eased back. Josh locked his
arms around her, denying her the distance she sought.

He nuzzled the top of her head. “Mmmm, you smell good, kitten.”

His drowsy, sated voice brought a smile to her lips.
No. Distance.
I have to think.
She pushed at his arms. She couldn’t budge them.

Mouth pressed to the spot below her ear, he murmured, “Don’t
push me away, my Mira. I need you.”

The words slammed into her and triggered every one of her
instincts.

“Josh, I…” She didn’t know that to say because she needed
him too.

He used one arm to lock her body to his and lazily traced
the fingertips of his other over her back. Each pass both aroused and calmed
her. The tension in her muscles eased until she lay in his embrace as relaxed
as she’d been when she first woke.

He draped a leg over hers and continued to caress her spine,
soft strokes that quickened her breaths.

“Touch me, kitten.”

Unable to resist his order, she slid her hand to his ass.
The firm globes flexed under her palms. With trembling fingers, she caressed
them and teased the seam between his cheeks. It had felt good when he’d touched
her here. The slight jerk of his erection and rough intake of breath confirmed
he too enjoyed it. She toyed with his puckered opening, dragging her nails
gently over his flesh.

“More, Mira, more.”

She nuzzled against his bare chest and brushed her lips over
his nipple. A flick of her tongue and she teased the flat disc to a hardened
tip. His low groan spurred her on. She nipped the sensitive point. He moaned, a
sound that was rapidly becoming necessary.

She kissed the spot she’d bit. “And you taste good.”

A rumble of approval vibrated his chest. With her ear above
his heart, the noise was clearer. It resembled a purr. It couldn’t be. She
jerked back. Eyes wide, her shocked gaze landed on his face. She didn’t get the
chance to speak or voice her confusion. Josh rolled on top of her and slammed
home. She gasped.

“Josh.”

Cock lodged deep, he peered at her with half-lidded eyes. “Yeah,
kitten?”

Mesmerized by the heat and affection reflected in his
hypnotic blue orbs, she couldn’t remember what she was going to say. He smiled
and his dimples winked at her. Gods, he was gorgeous. She reached up and
brushed her thumb over one dip. He turned his head and nipped the tip before
sucking her finger into his mouth. He swirled his tongue around it.

“Oh Josh,” she breathed.

Love rushed up, mixed with the lust and left her in a state
of vulnerability she hadn’t known she could experience.

His elbows propped on the bed held his weight off of her. A
hungered expression replaced the pleased one. With his eyes closed, he slid his
erection in and out of her wet core. Slowly. Oh, so very slowly as if he were
savoring this joining as much as her. His girth filled her completely, a
perfect fit for her sheath, exactly how a mate should feel. Her rational mind
whispered a denial. Her heart and soul knew the truth.

Josh owned her, always and forever.

Confusion surfaced. She didn’t understand what was happening
between her and Josh. It felt so…real. It couldn’t be, though. The rules made
it impossible. Yet… Dammit, she needed time to think about it.

She pushed against his chest when all she wanted to do was
wrap her arms around him and hold him close. “Stop. We can’t do this again. I
need to think.”

He gave her a knowing look, the smile changing into a lopsided
smirk.

“That so?”

He rolled his hips, awakening her senses and stirring her
lusts. She widened her legs, an automatic invitation to possess her. He did,
sinking deeper so they fit completely, two halves of a whole. Another slow
grind and thrust tore a low throaty groan from her chest. She arched into him,
pressing her sensitive breasts to his hard body. He quickened the pace, the
pounding setting off an ache in her womb. The tightness grew, not along her
sheath but in her deepest core. Sparks danced from her cervix with each bump, a
tiny bite of pain she loved.

“You like that, my Mira?”

She nodded, no words would come. Speech escaped her.

He shortened his thrusts so he tapped over and over. Her
whole body tensed, spiraled, and reached for the peak only Josh could give her.
Groans fell from her lips. Her hands slipped from his chest, all thoughts of
denying him gone. Her eyelashes fluttered closed and she focused on the
incredible sensations he created.