Marked (6 page)

“Russell…” His name tumbled from her lips before she could stop it, an unspoken plea.

“Yes?” he hummed, fingers fiddling with the zipper pull.

“Please…” She gasped.  The background noise seemed to swell around her, soft moans and whimpers of ecstasy.

“Please what, little one?”

She rocked her hips forward against his hand, begging.

“Please…”

“I want to hear you say it.”

Her breath hitched along with her heart.  Words?  She had no words, no speech process.  He had, in the space of a few hours, laid waste to her common sense, destroyed her judgment, and turned her into a helpless wanton, but Tabitha did not care.  She just wanted to keep feeling.

“Say it,” he repeated, and she felt his will against her consciousness.  Her own power responded to the command—
what kind of hold did he have over her to make her do such things?
—by forming her lips and shaping her tongue around the words that skittered through her brain.

“I want you to…” She gasped again.  His fingers stilled on her hips.  Her stomach tilted into a rolling, begging shiver.

“To what?” His voice was a hard growl against her ear.  Sharp teeth grazed the lobe.

“To…to…” she stuttered, and received a sharp nip against the soft skin of her throat.  “…to take me.”  The last part came out scarcely above a whisper.
Damn traitorous magic!

His slow, sultry chuckle curled her insides.  “Gladly,” he said on the end of a breath.  His lips left a cool, wet trail down her spine as he knelt behind her, sliding his hands down her legs and towing her pants and underwear with them.  The rational response was to struggle, but her magic was closing around her again, holding her in place while bending her to his will.

She stood on the dais, bared completely to the eyes of his pack.  Still she kept her own eyes squeezed shut against the sight of curious and questing gazes.  Russell’s fingers traced the slow path back of her legs, swirling around her knees and tickling across the tops of her thighs.  Tabitha moaned, her head rolling forward.  He suckled at the curve of her hip, grazing his teeth over the rounded swell of her ass.

Tabitha swayed in his grasp, her knees threatening to give way as her focus was drawn more and more to his hands moving toward her sex and his tongue slicking over the small of her back.  She thought she would pass out from the ecstasy of his touch, and when she was certain she would fall down, his strong arm banded around her waist and lifted her from the floor.

With his free hand he swept the centerpiece from the table in front of the podium, sending the expensive arrangement clattering to the floor in a rain of shattered glass and broken flowers. Her back came into contact with the cold acrylic surface. Tabitha sucked a hissing breath and arched away from it.

Above her he laughed, and used the position to capture one aching nipple between his teeth.  Her fingers found the nape of his neck and held him there, worrying the sensitive flesh into a tight knot.  Little ripples of sensation tumbled through her blood with each suckling draw.  He laid her back against the table, one hand pressed to her abdomen to keep her down.  This time the cold against her back scarcely registered.  Her leg rose to hook over his hip and draw him closer, and she was awarded with another of those deep, throaty chuckles that were like fire through her veins. 

The table creaked under their combined weight.  He released her nipple with an audible pop, and the sudden rush of cold air around it made her shiver.  Tracing a wet path between her breasts, up her throat, and over her cheek, Russell located her mouth and nearly drew the breath from her lungs as he knelt on the table over her and drew her up into a sitting position.

***

She was simply stunning as she reached forward and grasped the base of his cock with both hands.  He could feel her pulse beating in her fingers, feel his own blood rushing through his veins.  He didn’t have to tell her what he wanted; she was already there.  That was the beauty of the little witch’s magic…it was quite in tune with his desires.

All the more reason why she was perfect as his mate.

Her wide, emerald eyes cast up at him, she leaned forward and drew the head of his dick between her lips.  Russell’s eyes rolled back in their sockets and his right hand came around to cradle her head, drawing her forward.  She gave a slight gag as he touched the back of her throat, and then the pressure increased around him.  Everything ceased to exist except her, and the glorious drag of her lips and tongue around his shaft.  One hand stayed around him, moving in tandem with her mouth while the other moved to cradle his balls.  Tightening his hand in her hair, Russell pulled her forward, pumping his hips in time with her movements.  He fucked her mouth, hard and fast, barely registering the acrid tingle of magic in the air as her throat relaxed to accommodate him.

She was good…so good…

He flew back from the table with a roar.  To lose himself to her touch would be heaven, but he wasn’t done with her yet.  There was still much of the night left, and to come so soon would only show weakness to his eagerly watching pack.  Some of the women had even taken Tabitha’s lead and sought out their own partners.

“My children,” he called, his voice harsh and thick with want, even to his own ears, “see how willing she is to please!”  Lusting cheers interspersed with heady moans filled the space between the gasps of pleasure.  Stepping behind her, Russell turned Tabitha by her heaving shoulders to face the crowd.  “She has been marked.”

The writhing masses fell absolutely still.  Silence cleared the air, and he could hear her sharp intake of breath as she waited for his next statement.  A hundred pairs of curious eyes cast up to her shoulder, and the perfect formation of his human teeth in her skin.  Small gasps of surprise filtered up from the floor. 

“She is mine,” he continued, his heart accelerating, though whether from the admission or the impending change he didn’t know.  The beast still lurked beneath his skin, but when he looked at her it demanded not the change, but her body.  This woman was his mate.  He knew it just as certainly as he knew his own name.

Placing one hand in the center of her back, he lowered her to her hands and pulled at her hips so that she stood on her knees, her breasts swinging freely for everyone to see.

***

Tabitha’s world turned inside out.  He thrust forward, burying his cock balls-deep inside her, claiming her as his own in the eyes of his pack.  His hips pressed against her ass, the full length of him deep inside her, pulsing with barely contained power.  Her back arched against the sensation and his hands smoothed down her spine to cup the globes of her ass.  As before, without pretense he began to fuck her.

With each brutal thrust of his hips against her she moaned, her breasts swinging heavily back and forth, threatening to steal her balance.  Using his motions, she gripped the edge of the table and angled her hips down to push back against him, taking him deeper, faster.  Her breathing turned to a series of shallow pants and she screwed her eyes shut against her audience.

With each push, each slide of his cock inside her, pressure collected in her womb, coiling tighter and tighter until she could stand no more.  Just the feel of him moving inside her, filling her so perfectly, tender even in his feral brutality, tipped her over the edge.  With a high, keening wail she succumbed to the pleasure, her body fisting around him, sucking him deeper with each throb of her orgasm.  Behind her his pace increased, pushing her weak and aching body closer and closer to the lip of the table.

She was going to fall.  But his arm was there, around her waist, and he dragged her back, battering her body yet keeping her fluid until he seated his hips flush against her and came with a howl.  The sound echoed around them a dozen times at least, but the noise was a distant thing as he gathered her weak form into his arms and lifted her from the table.

“You are mine,” he whispered in her ear, sounding as spent as she felt.

“Yes,” she agreed, voice weak, and snuggled down against his sweaty, feverish chest.

***

The fire simmering in his veins subsided as he held her.  Without the formality of a good-bye, his guests gathered their belongings and filed out of the ballroom.  Russell left them to their own devices, not caring if they stayed or left.  He was drained, left tired and empty, yet strangely energized with the sexy little witch tucked into his arms.  Her slender fingers pressed against his chest over his heart, and a thin, satisfied smile played at the corners of her lips. 

He hadn’t expected to find a mate tonight, but she’d been so tempting, so ready and eager for his attention.  And to dull the rage of a blue moon…he’d known the moment he touched her that she could tame him.

Only, she was still as wild as he.  As passionate and hungry.  And—goddess help him—he wanted her again already.  Even as he carried her up the stairs toward his bedroom he could feel the tingle slithering along his spine, feel himself harden in anticipation of being buried inside her tight, wet heat again.  He would have her at least once more before he slept.

And with any luck, every time he wanted her for the rest of their lives.

Chapter Four: Captive

“Tabby! Oh, thank God!” Cera gasped into the phone. No
hello
, no
how are you
.  Only relief.  “What the hell happened?  Do I need to come get you?”

Tabitha laughed. “I’m fine, I promise.  I just wanted to let you off the panic-hook.”

Her friend paused before breathing a deep sigh into the receiver.  Cera swore loudly.  Tabitha tried hard not to laugh and failed.  “Bitch!” Cera shrieked, “You could have called before three o’clock in the afternoon!”

“Sorry.” She giggled.  “I’ve been a little busy.”  And she had.  She knew Cera knew.

“Humping like bunnies, I’m sure,” Cera snorted.  Tabitha grinned.  Not exactly.  More like wild canines.  On every surface in the house.  They had gone downstairs for a midnight snack, and he’d taken her from behind, her fingers digging into the granite countertops to keep from being thrown to the floor.  Russell had scarcely let her sleep, much less stop to call.  Only when she refused to let him touch her until he fed her had she been given the opportunity.

“Something like that.”

“I’ll bet.  So what happened?”

“We sort of…mated.”

“Thanks, Captain Obvious.”

“No, Cera…werewolf…” She paused to let the thought process.  “…mated.”

Cera was quiet on the other end for a long moment.  “Oh...” On the stairs something rattled…Russell was almost back.  “But what the hell does that mean?  Are you one now too?”

“I don’t think so.  Russell says the probability of that is extremely low.”

“But he bit you.” Cera’s tone was a bit accusatory, but Tabitha did not mind.  Her friend was only doing what she did best—being concerned.

“While he was human.”

“So?”

“Less chance of infection.  Plus, he says my magic will stop it.”  Tabitha shrugged, even though Cera could not see it.  “I don’t understand it, but I trust him.  I don’t think he would lie to me about something that important.”

Cera was quiet for a moment.

“So are you going to marry him?”

“I don’t know,” Tabitha admitted.  “I haven’t thought that far ahead yet.  But the sex is phenomenal.  And he’s bringing me breakfast.”

“In bed?”

“He won’t let me out.” Tabitha giggled.  Cera groaned, but she knew her friend wasn’t serious about her impatience. Not now that she knew everyone was still alive.

“Must be nice.”  She even sounded a little jealous.

“I don’t know if it’ll work, but I can definitely tell you I’m going to enjoy it while it lasts.”

Tabitha disconnected the call just as the door swept open and Russell stalked in carrying a tray loaded down with food.  Her eyes widened as she looked at the spread.

“That’s more food than I could eat in a week,” she gasped, and received one of his dashing, stomach-fluttering smiles for the effort.

“It’s not all for you,” he replied.  “And enjoy it while it lasts…because it may be a week before I let you out of this bed.”  Placing the tray on the nightstand, he leaned over, capturing her mouth in a thorough, heavy kiss, and leaned into her, pressing her back into the mattress with his weight.

“Wait…wait a minute,” she gasped under his weight and pushed at his shoulders.  The effort was futile due to his considerable size, but he paused and leaned back, looking down into her eyes.

“Is there a problem?”

“I told you that you weren’t allowed to touch me again until after you’d fed me.”  He chuckled, and the sound did wicked, sinful things to her insides.  He raised one eyebrow, and before he could comment, Tabitha smacked his arm.  “Eating
you
does not count, Sir Pervy.”  He rolled his eyes in a dramatic fashion, but her stomach grumbled loudly between them.  “Let me eat, or no more nookie for you.”

He pointed at the tray sitting at the foot of the bed, and Tabitha immediately reached for it.  “The food is right there.  Feel free to eat all you want, while I eat what I want.”  She stopped mid-movement, jerking the covers back up around her body and locking her irritated gaze with Russell’s aroused one.

“You are going to eat food, or eat nothing,” she snorted, swatting at his hand as it snaked under the covers and latched onto her ankle.  “Give me five minutes to eat something, and then you can have whatever you want.  But not until then,” she said, snatching her ankle out of his hand.  “Don’t touch me, Russell.”

“Or what?”

“Or I swear I will use every spell in my arsenal to hurt you,” she snapped, but he continued his quest, sliding his palm up her leg, over her knee.  “I mean it,” she growled, sliding to the opposite side of the bed.  “Behave or go away.”

Tabitha reached out and snatched a bagel from the tray before diving back under the covers.  Yes, she wanted him again.  Badly.  But without some sort of fuel in her system, she would surely give out before he finished the next round.  Tearing a piece of the tough bread away, she popped it into her mouth and watched Russell warily as he skimmed his fingers over the food choices he had brought up.