Shadow Soldier (22 page)

It surprised Deke that Roux hadn’t confided in her friends, but he appreciated her discretion. The time for secrets, however, was long past. So, as quickly but as thoroughly as he could, he recounted the conversation he’d once had with Roux. He explained about the Purge, the feral wolves, and the role of the Revenant. He told them about the underground quarters beneath the basement of the Bastille and the haven in the mountains of the Olympic Peninsula.

When he’d finished, he’d expected some sort of argument from Cade, or maybe even angry disbelief. He’d anticipated a hundred questions from Brody, because the man never made a decision without first having all the details. As the silence stretched on, and both men continued to stare at him, Deke didn’t know what to think, and it made him twitchy as fuck.

“Do you see why we can’t go?” Roux insisted. “We can help these people. We can be part of something bigger than ourselves. Cade, don’t you want to make a difference?”

Deke loved her courage and persistence, but he wouldn’t allow her to risk her life when the odds were stacked against them.

“We’ll talk tonight,” Cade said after another long stretch of silence. “I need to think.”

Both men left without further comment, leaving Deke alone with his mate. “Kitten, you can’t stay.”

“And you can’t make me go.”

“I can,” he argued, “and I will. It’s too dangerous. Please understand this.”

“I know exactly how dangerous it is, and that’s why you need me. I can fight, Deke. I’m smart and I’m fast. People are scared. They want help, but they don’t know who to trust.” She jabbed a thumb at her own chest. “They’ll trust me.”

“I’ve known these people a lot longer than you have. What makes you think they don’t trust me?”

The smile she gave him bordered on sad as she shook her head. “Some might, because they don’t know anything but this.” She held her hands out to the sides in an all-encompassing gesture. “At the end of the day, though, you’re still a shifter, and the world beyond the city limits is filled with monsters that look just like you.”

He’d seen the cities, especially those in werewolf-controlled territories. Wolves who hadn’t succumbed to their feral state had grouped together, forming large packs across much of the Midwest in a dangerous stretch of territory referred to as Demon Alley. True monsters stalked the night there, and the few humans who managed to survive were chained, starved, and tortured until nothing of them remained.

Deke wouldn’t wish that kind of existence on his worst enemy, but he also didn’t have the resources needed to fight such an enormous battle. The small pack of shifters in Washington would fight with him, but it wouldn’t be enough. Even if he could gain the support of the larger packs that had claimed the forests that stretched from Oregon to northern California, the wolves still outnumbered them two-to-one.

“I believe you,” he said after a pause, “but it doesn’t change anything. You can’t stay.”

“Then I guess we’ve reached an impasse, because I’m not going anywhere.” She crossed her arms in defiance and held his gaze. “I’m not leaving without you, Deke.”

His control snapped, and he launched up from the sofa. “Why do you have to be so fucking stubborn?” he bellowed.

Roux didn’t back down, didn’t even flinch. “Because I fucking love you!” she shouted right back at him.

Deke opened his mouth to yell again, to make her see reason, but stopped when her words finally registered. Their relationship hadn’t always been easy, and at times, he’d thought he’d never hear those words from her. His beautiful, defiant mate with her fiery temper and giving heart—he’d loved her from the first moment he’d laid eyes on her.

She gave him purpose, a new strength he hadn’t known he possessed. Roux challenged him every day, and in turn, she’d taught him patience. Through her eyes, the world looked a little brighter, a little more forgiving, and from this, he’d learned compassion. She pushed him to be better a person, a braver soldier, and every day, he strived to be the kind of man she deserved.

“Say that again.”

Her eyes softened, and the corners of her lips twitched. “I know I’m not the easiest person to live with, but I’m working on it.” Bending her arms, she placed her hands over his where they rested laxly on her shoulders. “You saved me, Deke. Physically, yes, but more than that, too. When we met, I was untrusting, and I didn’t have any idea how to love somebody.”

When she took a breath to continue, Deke interrupted by sliding his fingers into her hair and tilting her head up to deliver a scorching kiss. His heart felt full to bursting, and his head spun a little when she moaned into his mouth. Their tongues twined, sliding together in an intimate duel that left him breathless.

“It feels like I’ve loved you forever, Roux Jennings. I told you once before that you were mine, and I meant it. This is it. Last chance, and after that, there’s no turning back.”

In answer, Roux rose up on her toes to slant their mouths together again. “Of course I love you,” she breathed. “How could I not?”

He’d grown accustomed to the subtle glow of her skin that proclaimed her to be is, the pale blue luminescence that only he could see. Mostly, he didn’t even notice it anymore, but right then,
she dazzled him.

His mate. His to love, to cherish, to protect. His entire world, everything he’d ever wanted, right there in his hands, and all he had to do was take it.

Instinct warred with common sense, and before he could stop it, a single word burst through his trembling lips.

“
Mine.
”

The heat of her gaze enveloped him as he jerked her into his arms, lifting her up and encouraging her legs around his waist. Gripping the back of his neck, she held tight, nipping at his mouth and kissing a trail of liquid fire down the column of his neck.

Growling, he tangled his fingers in her silky hair and ravished her lips, pushing his tongue between her teeth to sweep around the inside of her mouth. Blindly, he carried his mate from the living room, bumped off the walls in the narrow hallway, and finally stumbled into their bedroom.

His eyes shifted, throwing the world into shades of black and gray with hints of yellow. From Roux’s expression, he knew his irises glowed with his need for her, with a passion that was almost feral. It took every ounce of self-control to ease her gently onto the bed and remove her clothes without shredding them into scraps.

When he finished, he stepped back to undress himself, divesting his simple T-shirt and favorite shorts in a matter of seconds. Turning his sights on the female sprawled across the mattress, Deke groaned as he raked his gaze over her supple body, admiring every feminine curve, every shallow dip and flexing muscle.

His heart jackhammered into his throat when she parted her knees, opening her legs to reveal her hairless pussy. His cock hardened painfully when her fingers skimmed over her flat stomach and up her ribcage to cup her full breasts. With her hair spread across the silver pillowcase and the sun spilling over her fair skin, she reminded him of some mythical sea goddess, wild, passionate, and seductive.

Crawling onto the mattress, he settled between her splayed thighs, pushing her legs even wider until her folds parted. The sight of her drenched pussy coupled with her intoxicating scent threw him into a spiral of lust, and his canines burst through his gums to extend below his upper lip.

Thankfully, he had enough presence of mind to prevent his hands from shifting as well, and he traced his forefinger down her center. “Gorgeous,” he murmured. “Absolutely gorgeous.”

Roux squirmed and quivered, rocking her hips toward him in invitation. Too far gone to deny either of them, Deke dipped his head, closing his lips around her swollen clit. He sucked and laved, flicking his tongue across the bundle of nerves in quick, short movements that drove his mate crazy.

Her cries echoed around the room, spurring him on, not that he needed any encouragement. He could taste his mate for hours, days, and never grow tired of it. Her pleasure was his pleasure, and he loved watching her fall apart.

“More,” Roux panted, threading her fingers through his hair to pull him closer as she arched up against his mouth. “Please, Deke.”

Goddess help him, her quiet pleas sent a jolt of electricity straight to his cock. Many women had come and gone from his life over the years, but since he’d met Roux, he couldn’t remember a single one of them. Not their names, their faces, not the sound of their voices. She consumed his entire world, and to know how much she desired him, craved him, made him crazy with need.

Parting her slick folds, he eased one finger into her clenching opening, pumping into her in slow, languid movements. With her legs thrown over his shoulders, he pressed closer, bending her knees back toward her chest to change the angle as he inserted a second finger.

Roux went wild, thrashing beneath him, her head whipping back and forth of the pillow. One hand held a tight grip on his hair while the other raked over his shoulder.

“Deke!” she cried. “Deke, please.”

Lifting his head, he looked into her glazed eyes and purred. “Tell me what you want, kitten.”

“You.”

Deke shook his head and bent once more, closing his lips around her clit. Using his mouth, his hands, his teeth, he pushed her higher, harder, not stopping until she cried out his name again and released a fresh wave of cream into his hand.

“Tell me what you want,” he repeated, but with more gravel in his voice this time.

Still trembling from her release, Roux untangled her hand from his hair and held her arms open in invitation. “You. I want you. I don’t care how, just don’t stop.”

“Good answer,” he murmured, his voice muffled against her soft skin as he kissed his way up her stomach. “I can’t seem to ever get enough of you. I want more. I want everything, kitten. Your body.” He twisted his fingers inside her, eliciting a quiet moan. “Your mind.” Hovering over her, he circled one erect nipple with his tongue before nipping at the hard bud. “But mostly—” He brushed a tender kiss across her sternum in the space right between her breasts. “—I want your heart.”

Without words, Roux curled her arms around his neck, pulling him into a heated kiss that set his blood boiling and made his dick throb. Pulling his fingers from her entrance, he eased into the cradle of her hips, his aching shaft nestled between her folds. The slick heat that surrounded him pulled a strangled groan from deep in his chest, sending tendrils of ecstasy racing along his spine.

“Want you,” he growled, breaking the kiss to nuzzle against the sensitive skin on her throat. “Open for me, kitten.”

Sliding his mouth lower, he caught her erect nipple between his teeth and tugged. Then he swirled his tongue over the hardened tip to soothe sting. Roux bowed up from the mattress, her head back and her lips parted as her chest heaved with each gasping inhalation. Deke had never seen anything more extraordinary.

With his need growing and his patience waning, he slid an arm beneath her hips and lifted her from the bed, flipping his mate over to press her stomach into the tangled sheets. Kneeling behind her, he held her hips in a bruising grip, guiding her onto her hands and knees before tilting her pert ass into the air.

“Don’t move,” he growled.

With shaking hands, he gripped the base of his cock, guiding the head to her tight entrance. Placing one palm flat against the center of her back, he rocked into her slowly, invading her depths in measured increments. Once seated, with his hips pressed firmly against her rounded backside, he began a slow grind, rolling his hips in sensual waves. Soon, as her cries grew in volume, his pace quickened, until he pounded into her with a punishing rhythm.

Roux met him thrust for thrust, pushing back into him with each demanding plunge. Her silky walls closed around his length, squeezing him, milking him. When his canines lengthened even further, and his mouth began to water, Deke jerked his mate upright, holding her back to his chest as he continued to pump into her.

Her head fell back on his shoulder, and she moaned in a deliciously erotic way when his hands traveled down her stomach, caressing her sweat-dampened skin. Sitting back on his heels, he pulled her into his lap and reached between her spread thighs. He found her clitoris without error, drawing quick, hard circles against the swollen flesh with his middle finger as he continued to thrust up into her.

Roux’s soft cries filled his ears. Her burning skin scorched him, and her fragrance filled him with the scent of only her. Sweet and creamy, her taste still lingered on his tongue. The female enveloped him, overwhelmed his senses, until the only thing that existed was her.

The fire raged out of control, consuming the last shred of his control, and Deke thrust hard and fast, driving into his mate’s drenched core with fast, wild strokes. Their breaths mingled, her moans echoing his growls, and soon, Deke found himself at the precipice of an earth-shattering orgasm.

Gripping a handful of Roux’s hair, he pulled her head back, exposing the slope of her throat. Roux sighed, holding one hand on his hip as she tilted her head further to the side in silent permission. The submissive gesture sent him careening over the edge, and lights exploded behind his closed lids when he pierced her supple skin with his canines.

Roux called out his name, her pussy convulsing around his throbbing dick as she trembled in his arms. Holding her tight to his chest, Deke shuddered through his own orgasm, releasing a volley of seed within her clenching depths. Once he could think straight again, he carefully extracted his fangs from her neck and lapped at the twin marks.

Maneuvering around until he sat with his back against the headboard, he positioned his female in his lap and cradled her close as he drew circles across her damp skin with his fingertips. Already, he could feel their bond growing stronger, cementing into something permanent and unshakeable. Every part of his heart, his soul, filled with love for his mate. He’d do anything for her, be anything she wanted him to be. No matter what it took, he’d never disappoint her, never betray her. He’d never let her down.