MILITARY ROMANCE: The War Within Himself (Alpha Bad Boy Marine Army Seal) (Contemporary Military Suspense & Thriller Romance) (13 page)

"Please," Lily breathed. "More."

For once, he didn't tease. He picked up a rhythm that went hard and deep and slow, and Lily was quickly beyond words, rocking to meet him as much as she could move with her wrists and ankles still tied. He, of course, was not out of breath, didn't breath, but Lily heard the small sounds he made, low and rough, and they sent little sparks of pleasure through her veins. She had always liked to know that her lovers were pleased, were enjoying her. She wasn't going to last long, not after his teasing, his mouth. When his fingers pulled out of her hair and slid down instead so that he could rub her clit with his thumb, she gasped, spine pulling into an arch, legs trying to close, trying to open wider. Her thighs trembled.

He stopped touching her. Slowed until she sobbed with frustration.

"Please," she managed, dredging up the word from someone. "Fuck. Please. Don't tease me anymore, Sir."

"Tell me what you want."

"Let me come," Lily answered. "Please. I can't—" There were more words but she didn't remember them. "Please, Sir. Please." The last word was a sob.

His thumb pressed down against her clit, and he thrust in hard, and then again, and she was coming, falling over the edge of ecstasy with her body shaking beneath him. He didn't stop though, even when she was panting and shuddering with the aftershock. His thumb kept rubbing, and he was still fucking her, still moving the way she had begged him too. Lily bucked under him, pulling at the ties that held her, but there was no way to slip away, and the over-sharp pleasure was pushing her onward again, too much too soon, but so good. And so she sank against the mattress, moaning, and let him have his way, let him take her through another orgasm. Colored lights bloomed behind her eyelids. The pleasure was sharp as his bite. Through it, she felt him follow her, felt him still and shudder, his forehead against the curve of her shoulder. She drifted in the content haze that followed, distant and a little dizzy with it all. For a long moment they both lay like that, still and silent in each other's arms. Lily's breathing slowed. Her heart beat a little quieter in her chest.

Chapter Five

When Damien moved, it was to untie her. He pulled out carefully, kissing her when she hissed softly at the sensation. His hands were surprisingly gentle as they unfastened the knots that had held her in place, checked over her wrists and ankles. He stretched out alongside her then, and Lily opened her eyes to look up at him. Everything was still soft around the edges. Still warm and bright and good.

Damien smiled down at her, reaching up to run his fingers through her tousled hair.

"You pleased me very much, Lily."

She dropped her gaze, but looked up again through her eyelashes, suddenly shy. What they had done was outside her realm of experience. And it had been good. It had been amazing. But her footing felt suddenly uncertain. Damien's fingers were still sliding through her hair, and she tilted into the touch with a sigh. She felt a little better, then. A little less like she had done something really monumentally stupid.

"How are you feeling?" he asked, as though he knew.

"Good," she said, a little unsteady, trying to find the words. "I mean. It was the hottest thing I've ever done, I think. I just... It was kind of crazy, doing it the way we did it, don't you think?"

"No. It was what we wanted. And what's wrong with that?" His fingers in her hair tugged gently, coaxing her to look up at him. "I wanted you in my bed, and you wanted to be there. And so it happened. And I, personally, would very much like to do it again."

Lily stared at him for a long moment, and then laughter bubbled up in her throat, and she was smiling. "Yeah," she admitted softly. "I'd like to do it again too, actually. Even if it is crazy."

"Then it wasn't crazy."

"Technically, it was super crazy," Lily said. "I mean, you're a vampire. I broke into your house, and then I had sex with you, and there was a riding crop involved."

His lips twitched like he was trying not to smile. He failed. "When you put it that way…"

"Oh my god. My uncle. And Fred. I completely forgot about them."

Damien briefly looked as though he didn't know who she was talking about. "Oh," he said then. "The men who came with you." He waved a dismissive hand. "I'm sure they're fine."

"Except they're probably out marshalling the entire police force to come find me." She scrambled for her jeans, found her phone in the pocket with ten missed calls and three missed messages. "Fuck."

"For such a pretty woman," Damien said behind her, his tone teasing, "You have an exceedingly dirty mouth. I think next time we will do something about that."

He was wrapped around her then, taking the phone from her unresisting fingers and dropping it back on top of the pile of her clothes.

"I'm not concerned about the police. I'm sure you can come up with something to tell your uncle when you leave." He gathered her up in his arms and lifted her back onto the bed. "For the moment, however, you are staying here with me."

Lily looked up into his blue, blue eyes, and smiled. "Is that an order, Sir?" Her tone was teasing, but when he growled low in his throat and rolled them so that she lay beneath him once more, looking up at him with her hair spilled out around her, a shudder ran down her spine.

"Yes," he said. "It is."

His fingers traced the bruising marks on her thighs where he had held her while he'd gone down on her, waking a faint ache in their path, and when he looked up at her, his smile had a wicked edge. His hands closed around her wrists, lifted them over her head. Lily looked up at him, breathless with new anticipation. His smile only widened.

"Now be still," he said. "I have plans for you before the dawn comes."

THE END

A Lion Shifter Romance

The Alpha Lion that Loves me

Chapter One

Northern California

Cassie

              “Did you hear the news?” Jessica asked, her eyes bright in the dark laboratory, much like the bioluminescent cells Cassie was studying. “They’ve brought in a white lion.”

              Normally, Cassie Judd paid little attention to what Jessica considered news – usually unpleasant gossip from around the zoo where they both worked as research scientists – but this time, Jessica earned her full attention. In shock, Cassie stepped away from the lab table.

              “What do you mean they’ve brought in a white lion? You can’t just bring in a creature like that out of nowhere. There’s paperwork and preparations that have to be made–”

              “I don’t know,” Jessica said, cutting her off. “The deal was done last night. It’s a surprise to everyone. They’re loading him into his den now.”

              Intrigued, Cassie hurried out of the lab, giving Jessica her freedom to continue spreading the word. As she rounded the familiar paths, bypassing the aquarium and the gorilla enclosure, she removed her lab coat from her curvy frame and pulled loose her pony tail, allowing her glossy mahogany hair to pour down her voluptuous back. She wanted to appear more casual. If she called attention to herself as a scientist, she’d be inundated with questions about the animals at the zoo. Right now, her only focus was the white lion. She had read about the rare genetic mutation that made a small number of African lions so pale, and the superstitions surrounding them, but she had never seen a white lion up close.

          That changed as soon as she turned into the lion’s den, a sheltered area behind the public enclosure. Behind the gate was a magnificent creature with strong, bulky muscles, a mane thicker than most male lions, and alarming grey-green eyes that stood out against his snowy coat. His eyes captivated her, much more than the novelty of his color. As he paced in his cage, those eyes spoke of a sadness. Cassie believed animals capable of emotion, but the depth of his sadness unnerved her. It was unnatural. And heartbreaking.

              Briefly, the lion stopped pacing and looked at her. Something within her, something primal, told her it was not out of curiosity, but with intent, as if he were trying to communicate something to her.

              “Where did he come from?” she asked the zookeeper handling the lion’s arrival – an older man who had worked at the zoo for most his life. At twenty-four and only starting her career, she had a lot of respect for the man.

              “Don’t know,” the man answered, rubbing the sweat from his forehead. In the dead heat of the summer, the lion’s den was sweltering. “Got a call from the director this morning to say a new lion was on its way. Something about an emergency transfer. I was to move the other lions outside and prepare the den for this one. Never imagined he’d be a white lion. He seems like a pretty tamed fella, but there’s something about him that seems... odd.”

              Cassie nodded her head. She couldn’t agree more. Tenderly, she put her hands against the metal gate that separated her from the beast. “What have they done to you?” she asked.

***

In the aquarium, Cassie tried to focus on the bioluminescent jellyfish, which looked like an infestation of tiny parachutes floating in the giant floor-to-ceiling tank, but her mind kept wandering back to the new lion.

Out of fear he wouldn’t interact well with the other lions, he’d been given his own enclosure. The public was delighted, fawning over him like bees to honey. The gift shop sold out of white lion plush toys his first day out of his den. He was the star of the zoo. But to Cassie, his newfound celebrity made his situation all the sadder.

              “Another late night?” Doug, the security guard, asked as he passed through the aquarium.

              “Night time is the best time for a researcher,” Cassie replied with a smile. “I’ll check in with you before I leave.”

              “So sunset, then?” he surmised, familiar with her routine. “I’ll have the coffee waiting.”

              “Thanks,” she called as he left, leaving her alone to observe the behavior of the hundreds of glowing turritopsisdohrnii.

              “Another time,” she said to the jellyfish and went to see the lion.

              With the zoo closed, he was back in his den behind the enclosure, lying in a corner with his head tucked in his paws, defeated, but as soon as she drew near, he stood and moved closer to her.

              This was not the first time she’d visited him. It was one of many nightly visits. She felt drawn to the lion, as if he had some meaning to her life. It was her hope that if she spoke with him nightly, if they became friends, the sadness in him would recede. But it didn’t. If anything, he seemed to be getting worse.

              “You’re not happy here, are you?” she asked, sitting on the ground with her side against the gate. He edged closer to her, the bulk of his body twice the size of a human’s, but he didn’t come too close. She got the sense he didn’t want to scare her off.

              “You know, white lions have a place in mythology,” she told him, strumming her fingers along the gate. “They are believed to be children of the Sun God. You’re a gift to Earth. I’ve done a lot of reading since you’ve arrived. A lot. You’ve been a distraction,” she teased. Then she sighed. “But no books can tell me why you look so haunted. None of the scientific ones, anyway.”

              Suddenly feeling tired, she closed her eyes and began drifting into sleep, staying awake long enough to feel his fur stick between the gate as he laid beside her.

***

The following night, after the zoo closed and a majority of the staff went home, Cassie ignored her research on the jellyfish completely and went straight to the lion’s den. She’d spent the day reading a book – a very strange mythological book – that may have had the answers she was looking for regarding the beautiful oddity that was the white lion, but to know for sure, she had to see him.

              Except that he wasn’t in his den. Nor was he in his enclosure.

              Panicked, Cassie stared at the empty enclosure, her breath heavy beneath the warm moonlight, and thought hard on where the lion might be. Perhaps the zoo director had loaned him out. Or perhaps he was sick and being looked after at the in-house veterinary clinic.

              The vet. That seemed the most plausible. And the most worrisome.

              She moved towards the direction of the clinic, but a loud clanging noise, like metal hitting the ground, caught her attention, forcing her back. It came from the loading dock where heavy equipment was transported in and out of the zoo. Trusting her instincts, she went to the dock.

              And she found the white lion.

              Mesmerized, she watched from behind a forklift as he paced nervously while two humans – a stunning blonde woman, not much older than her, and a dark-haired man – unlocked the back of a black utility van.

              Oh my God, they’re stealing him! Cassie grasped.

              She couldn’t let it happen. He had enough sadness in him as it was. Who knew what the couple’s intentions were. They could be urban poachers after the white lion for his hide.

              “Don’t!” she screamed, revealing herself. “We have you on camera–” She stopped, realizing with a quick glance that the security camera overlooking the dock had been destroyed. Where was security? She prayed Doug was making his rounds and would soon find her. “Please, leave,” she insisted.

              “That’s what we intend to do,” the dark-haired man sniped, his voice a low, dangerous growl.

              Before Cassie had a chance to respond, the man flew into the air, his clothes ripping off him as his body writhed in impossible but flawless contortions.

              When he landed, only inches from her, he was no longer human.

              He was a lion.

              And he was ready to strike.

***