Half in Love [Willie Krenshaw] (Siren Publishing Classic) (17 page)

The Council male answered her again as she watched pain and regret move across Nick’s face. “You will be expected to live with or near your mentor. You will share blood today in front of the Council to seal his claim to you and your agreement to be his get. Beyond that, we have no rules, but your mentor might.”

She gasped when understanding hit. She would belong to Alex if he claimed her. She would be living with him or at least would have to move closer to him. Nick’s response made more sense. She turned to Alex and swallowed her fear. “If I bite you, the possibility is there that I could claim you as my mate. The hormones are already being produced in my body and being released in my saliva. My body might not be able to control the process, especially with Nick so close. You understand what that will mean, right? I can’t be without my mate. My cougar will go insane and so will I if you leave.”

“No.” The growl didn’t sound human. She turned to find Nick’s fists clenched and rage burning bright in his eyes. His body shook with a slight tremble. Raw emotions rolled off him in waves. “You will not claim him. You’re mine.”

Alex chuckled. “Then perhaps you should become her mentor?”

Nick turned to the Council. Willie could see the struggle he waged to get his emotions under control before addressing the panel. “I would enter myself as a mentor for Willie. I have enough standing in the community to be a mentor. I understand fully my responsibilities to her.”

“Well, it would seem the female may choose, then, between you.” The Council member chuckled and turned to Willie. “You are a lucky female to have two such as these offering to take you under their wings. You will chose one now and claim him so we can conclude our business.”

“I choose Nick, then, as my mentor.” There was no contest between them. She knew who she would claim. It had been written in the stars and pushing against her every cell from the moment she first met him. Her cougar was already pacing, purring and yowling like a cat in heat. She understood that she would have a mate in a few moments and was pushing as hard as she could against Willie’s mind. Panic surfaced as she contemplated claiming him in front of these vampires. Without sex, she was uncertain to her reaction to being claimed. She knew from stories that a shifter could lose their human form if the claiming wasn’t intimate enough. With a sigh, she turned to the two men.

“Alex, you know you are a manipulative bastard.” She grinned, but the smile slid quickly from her lips. “When I bite Nick, my kitty could come out to play. I’ve waited too long to claim him, and without sex, my shift might be triggered.”

“Then we shall protect you and your cougar.” He smiled knowingly. “There are rooms here where you may stay for the day if that is your wish.”

She shook her head at him and turned to Nick. She smiled and reached out for his hand. She stepped into his arms and looked up into his eyes. They glowed green, shining with an emotion so close to love it terrified her. She tilted her head to the side giving him access to her neck in invitation and acceptance. She wasn’t going to fight fate. She was a bitch but knew what she was doing. Willie was going to be Nick’s in the eyes of his species, and he would be hers in the eyes of all of her sides.

Her eyes slid closed when Nick’s head bent toward hers. Strong arms wrapped around her waist, pulling her against his body. His breath skated across her skin and raised goose bumps down her arms. Heat gathered in her belly and a rush of wetness drenched her panties. Her embarrassment was fleeting. All thought fled her head when his lips touched her throat. His whispered words flowed across her skin. “I love you, Willie. You will be mine for all eternity, and I will be yours.”

Before she could respond, a sharp, quick pain shot through her system. It was chased immediately by the most sensual heat she had ever felt. Liquid lust flowed through her body, pooling in the apex of her thighs. Her pussy clenched and heated. With the first draw of blood from the puncture wound at her neck, she felt a climax build. With the second slow suckling against her skin, her orgasm exploded. A moan escaped her lips as she melted against his body. She shivered when his tongue swiped over the punctures, sealing them.

Her eyes opened slowly to find Nick smiling a wicked grin. He winked at her and tilted his head offering his neck to her. Hunger raced through her, drawing her canines from her gums. She wanted to taste him on her tongue. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him to her lips.

“You will be mine, and I will be yours,” she whispered against his skin. Not as eloquent as his statement, but she meant every word. She gave him a quick press of her lips before opening her mouth and placing her teeth against his skin. She bit slowly, savoring the feel of his skin giving way to her, allowing her to penetrate him.

She meant to only taste him, but once her lips sealed around his neck and the first drops of his blood touched her tongue, she was lost. The taste of him was exotic, rich, and exhilarating. Her cougar roared forward, pushing hard against her thoughts. The mental struggle elongated her canines further, embedding them further in his neck. Nick took a gasping breath and clutched her closer to his body. She took a tentative pull against his neck, suckling lightly at the puncture marks, and purred deeply. The first swallow filled something in her soul that had been empty and destitute for her entire life. A place deep inside her psyche filled and became whole, twining itself around her soul. She felt the beginnings of the mating connect between their minds, a tickling inside her thoughts. The second swallow calmed her cougar. The third aroused her to explosive levels again.

“You need to unwrap yourself from him before you do something you will regret.” Alex’s softly spoken words pulled her from the sexual haze. She pulled her teeth away from Nick’s neck and sealed the wound with a slow lick. She hummed in appreciation and licked her lips, catching every last drop of his essence. She realized that she had her legs wrapped around his waist and her hips were moving against his sizable cock in a universally known grind. She opened her eyes and found everyone with a knowing smirk on their lips.
Oops. Stupid mating instincts.

Nick chuckled. All signs of anger and concern were gone. In their place was need and raw, unadulterated passion. She buried her face in his neck and grimaced with embarrassment. She felt him wrap his hands around her ass, and he carried her from the room. Laughter and snickering chased them down the hall. His whisper blew across her ear, “We can stay here for a while. I have the need to be fully marked by you, and we can’t do that in front of the Council.”

Nick carried her down a hallway, following a silent-footed servant. They climbed a set of stairs and were directed into one of the first doors. The servant smiled, nodded, and closed the door behind Nick as he stood looking over the furnishings. A very Victorian bedroom was in front of him. A large bed, dressers, dressing table, and bedside tables were covered in gold and looked very fragile. The warm body still wrapped around him wiggled a little, and he released her so she could stand. His body was still humming with the near climax he had in the Council chambers. Having her teeth embedded in his skin, drinking of his blood, had catapulted him to near ecstasy. It had taken every ounce of willpower to keep from stripping her right there and taking her in front of the Council.

“Well, now what?” Willie’s voice was breathy and slightly shaky. She looked around the room and put a few steps between them. Nervousness radiated off of her in waves.

He wanted to pull her into his arms again to feel her against him. He wanted to have her at his neck, sipping from him. He needed to be buried balls-deep inside her. He could feel some sort of connection between them. It was elusive when he concentrated on it, but it was there still.

“Now, we finish what we started.” He stalked toward her and stopped in his tracks when she turned amber eyes to him. She was partially shifted, or at least enough to change her eyes to a gorgeous cat eye. Her pupils were oval now instead of round. “Mmm, I see your kitty is happy to see me. Your eyes are gorgeous when she is peeking out.”

* * * *

Willie covered her face and turned to hide the change. Shit. She didn’t even know she was close enough to shifting that her eyes had changed. Her cougar was actually quiet, waiting to finish the claiming. A firm hand wrapped around her arm, turning her. She glanced up into Nick’s eyes and relaxed. He wasn’t disgusted. He was grinning at her.

“Please don’t hide from me. You’re beautiful like this.” He pulled her into his chest, and she went willingly. She loved the solid feel of his arms around her. He bent down and captured her lips, slowly delving into her mouth for a soul-scorching kiss. One of his hands slid down her back and cupped her ass, pulling her closer to his body. She loved the feel of his hard cock against her belly. She ached to have him inside her.

He moved them toward the bed, stopping in the middle of the floor to deepen their kiss. When her breathing became ragged, he released her mouth and kissed down her neck. He groaned as he leaned back far enough to get his hands on the hem of her shirt. “I’m not going to stop this time, Willie. I’m going to be inside you, moving and coming. I so need to feel you around me.”

His hands pushed her shirt up off her arms. Deft fingers unhooked her bra and slid the straps off her arms, adding it the pile of clothing on the floor. He slid his palms down her sides and pushed her pants and panties down her hips. His eyes almost burned her with the intensity of his gaze as he watched his hands move over her body. She felt naked in both body and soul under his gaze. She’d never experienced someone looking at her with reverence. It brought a blush to her skin, flushing her a light pink. His eyes traveled back to her face and caught her gaze and held it as he slowly stripped off his own clothes, dropping them onto the floor.

She reached for him, resenting the space between them. She needed to feel his skin against hers almost more than she needed oxygen. She slid her hands around his waist and pulled their bodies together. With a few steps backward, she found the edge of the bed. She pulled him with her as she dropped back onto the mattress. A quick flip had him under her. She grinned at the look of surprise on his face.

“I’m too impatient for foreplay.” She bent forward and kissed him with every ounce of her need. She could taste her own blood still on his tongue, and it made her almost lose her grip on her cougar. She needed to finish the mating, needed his seed hot and sticky inside her body. A growl bubbled up from her chest, and she nipped him on the chin. “I hope you didn’t want slow and sweet because I just can’t handle that this time.”

Before he could answer her, she shifted her lower body and captured the tip of his cock within her folds. She watched his eyes open with surprise as she slid smoothly down his shaft. A gasp of wonder whispered over her lips as she took him to the hilt within her body. He fit her perfectly, stroking those hidden places that only a cock could reach. She savored the feel of him stretching her before she started moving. The rhythm she used would bring them both to the edge too fast, but she needed the release so badly. Nick’s hands clasped her hips and helped her move on his shaft.

“I need something. I need to bite you again,” she moaned. She moved on his cock faster, pushing down on him with each slide. She needed him further inside, buried deeply in her body and soul.

“Take what you want from me. I’m yours.” He tilted his head to the side to give her access to his throat.

The sight was too much. Nick lay out below her, giving her dominance over him even though she knew he was stronger. Her cougar roared in triumph. Canines dropped from her gums, and she leaned forward to nuzzle his neck. With more strength than she meant to use, she struck, burying her teeth in his neck. His shout was covered by her moan of pleasure. Nothing tasted like him. Nothing reached the empty places in her heart like his blood did. She sipped at his neck as they continued to move together.

The connection between them strengthened with each drop of blood she took. What started as a thread tickling her thoughts became a rope that bound them together. Her soul rejoiced at the connection. She could feel him inside her thoughts, feel his need, his desire to make this right between them. She could taste the fear he still harbored that she would resent him as her mate. His love and affection swamped her, buried her in wonderful understanding. Tears came unbidden to her eyes and flowed down her cheeks. She took another mouthful of his blood and reveled in the bond between them. She pushed her thoughts toward him, feeding her passion and love into his mind.

While her mind embraced the mating bond, her body was reacting to their intimacy. Each pull on his vein brought her that much closer to her climax. He moved a hand between their bodies and strummed her clit with a finger until her body ignited. Flashes of light fired behind her eyes, her muscles clenched and pulsed around his cock. The feel of hot cum coating the inside of her passage tipped her over the edge again. She cried out against his neck and had to release her hold on him to breathe. She rested her head against his chest while they both caught their breath.

When she could think, she looked at the wound she had caused and grimaced. She licked the puncture closed, kissing him on the marks she left. The enzymes in her saliva that entered his blood and formed the mating bond would have caused the marks to scar in a shifter. She was slightly disappointed that he wouldn’t carry her marks on his body, but that feeling slid away quickly. Exhaustion pulled her down over his body. She snuggled her head into the hollow of his neck.

She was content for the first time in more years than she could remember. She was connected to her mate even at that moment. She wouldn’t be alone ever again. His presence was a little soft touch of emotion in the corner of her mind. If she concentrated on it, she could sense his emotions, which echoed hers at the moment. She wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him with all of the emotion she couldn’t speak about.