Shifters Forever The Boxed Set Books 1 - 6 (12 page)

A
stra looked
into Kane’s obsidian eyes. Their depths were seductive and pulling her in like a whirlpool. More like a tornado, sucking her in completely. A surge of emotion flowed throughout her being, a confusing, tumultuous upwelling of feelings that she couldn’t identify, but at the same time couldn’t deny.

She turned from him, staring at the flickering flames, leaning against his chest, taking solace from his solid heartbeat against her back. Leaning closer to him, she denied the steel shaft of his cock pressing into her back. She could pretend to ignore that, but she couldn’t ignore the response to it that pooled between her legs.

She didn’t know if what she was feeling was adrenaline settling in from almost running into the fallen tree or if it was the emotions she felt for the man. How could she feel anything? She barely knew him. This wasn’t how it worked. And she’d heard that shifters had special chemistry between them, but she wasn’t a shifter, dammit. This shit didn’t happen to her.

No. It was too confusing. She should get out of here, right now. But even if she could, she didn’t want to. And her motive for staying wasn’t about making him leave. Not totally, because half of her wanted to go with him, to know more about him, to figure out this bond that she felt drawing her to him.

She should ask Doc. Doc! Oh, shit. Doc would be worried about her. Grant probably already was. And Mae, too. She jerked away from Kane and turned to face him. “Oh, no!”

“That’s not a response that does a man’s ego much good.” His eyebrow quirked in mock concern, belying the glint of amusement in his eyes.

“No, that’s not it. It’s Grant and Mae. They must be worried sick about me.” She rushed to the sofa and opened her purse, nearly dumping the contents. She found the phone and pressed on Grant’s name.

“Hey. I’m at the cabin. Yeah, I’ll keep you posted. Tell Mae, okay?” With a quick goodbye she hung up.

“So, where were we?” Kane was next to her, so close she could feel the warmth of his body.

She cleared her throat, trying to dispel the effect he had on her.
Yeah, like that’ll work.
And not surprisingly, it didn’t. She bit on her lower lip, worrying it, catching it between her teeth and releasing it.

“Quit that.” He touched a finger to her lip, tracing it with his fingertip. “That’s my job.” His head swooped down, almost touching her lips. “You’re mine tonight.” His breath was hot on her cheek, causing a shudder to flow through her body.

Astra opened her mouth to protest.

He put a finger across her lips. “You said you couldn’t deny it.”

“You have to leave,” she whispered in a tormented hiss. She didn’t want to imagine never seeing this man again.

“I will.” His voice was steely, resolute.

A sadness coursed throughout her, deeper than a second ago. He planned to go. And a part of her had wanted him to say that he wouldn’t leave—couldn’t leave—her.
Foolishness
, she chastised herself.
Foolishness to think that way.

“You will be mine, though. I won’t be without you.”

A one-night stand. That’s what he was proposing. Like she was just a garage that would house his cock for a brief spell. Anger surged through Astra, replacing sadness with a fury that burned deep, scorching her feelings.

She shoved on his chest. He didn’t move. “I’m not disposable. I can’t be cast out.”

She shoved again, harder. The man didn’t budge.

He took by the shoulders and pulled her close, his eyes piercing hers with their blackness. “Who said you would be cast out?” His tone resonated with her, a soft growl behind it that rumbled in the pit of her stomach, and in places south of there.

He leaned close, his lips taking hers, bruising them and claiming them. His fingers cupped her cheek, then moved lower to her jaw line. His tongue parted her lips, pressing resistance away, owning her tongue, twining with it, not brooking resistance that she wasn’t even in a position to offer. His lips seared hers the same way his soul reached out to hers, the kiss delivering a message that her ears would never perceive.

Her chest hurt, burning with a need to breathe, reminding her that she was holding her breath.

Her hands rose, tangling in his hair, pulling his head lower, dying to be lost in him, yearning to feel alive in a way she never had before.

Years of not living, years of not accepting life, came pouring out into that one kiss.

K
ane took
everything that kiss had to offer him, relishing her surrender, reveling in her strength, loving her submission, completely encompassed by her need to live—as if she’d never lived. His eyes were open, studying the passion that washed over her features, imagining what it would be like when he entered her body, pushing his cock deep into her, watching her eyes widen with that penetration of her pussy and her soul, branding her as his.

A roar deep in his brain reminded him that imagining it would be nothing like feeling it and that he should be feeling it. He didn’t want to scare this woman with his intensity. She’d been through so much in her life; that was clear in her soul, and it shone in her eyes when she forgot to guard against it. The bear in him pulled at him to give them both what they wanted so much. What they needed. Craved. Yearned for. He wanted to be so deep in her wet channel that she’d pulse against his cock when she came. Each orgasm would create a contraction that coerced and coaxed him to a climax of his own.

He groaned against her mouth.

“Tell me that I can have you. Tell me that you want me. I have to know you want me. I won’t take anything from you that you don’t give me willingly. Wholeheartedly.”

“Yes.” Her hissed reply pulled at him. His cock strained in its confines. His bear rushed forward.

A
stra’s hissed
“yes” came from deep within. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to give him the “yes” so much as that she couldn’t imagine ever not being connected to him. How the hell that had happened was beyond her. She wanted to have answers, but was afraid that she couldn’t even ask anyone. How could she explain this to Doc? He was like her father. He’d seen her as a little girl. He’d never accept this rash, rapidly reacting woman who was falling for Kane with the speed of a force of nature.

Astra wasn’t ready for Kane to take her into his arms, to pull her close to his hard body. “What’s happening to me?”

“Your soul is reacting to mine.” Kane’s lips moved against her neck.

He picked her up and carried her to the sturdy, thick-legged table, where he shoved everything aside and set her down. “If all you want from me is tonight, then that’s all I’ll give you. But I want more.” His words were almost a snarl. “Much, much more.” He lowered his head and groaned into their melded lips.

“Kane.” His name slid off her lips with ease, with the same sense of belonging that her own name did.

His teeth nipped at her jaw line, traveling downward, and his tongue trailed hotness down her neck to the neckline of her blouse.

“I don’t want to rush you,” he snarled as his fingers played with the button.

Her breath escaped her quickly with each movement of his fingers on the button. Each motion his fingers made, teasing and torturing her because he wouldn’t unbutton it.

Frustrated, Astra reached for the button and released it from the fabric, letting him know he wasn’t pushing her into anything that she wasn’t willing to do. She was more than willing. She craved him. It was an exaggerated yearning for Kane that she didn’t understand and couldn’t imagine not succumbing to.

His lips landed on hers in a kiss that had an edge to it, as if he wanted to know she was for real. That she didn’t intend to back down, or vanish.

And then, just as quickly, his fingers moved through her buttons, releasing them and parting the fabric of her top. He leaned back, studying the creamy tops of her breasts, ivory swells rising above her balconette bra, one of her few indulgences.

“Beautiful.” His fingertips traced the bra’s line, drifting off the hot pink fabric to flirt with her skin, teasing her in the most delicious of ways that culminated in a buzzing that ran the length of her body.

His fingertips tiptoed their way down the middle of her bra, over her abdomen. She resisted the urge to suck her tummy in. If he wanted her, he wanted her as she was, pooch and all.

“I need you,” he rumbled, touching the button on her pants, flicking it open.

The sound of the zipper going down was lost in the cracking of the fire and the panting coming from her lips.

“I want you.” Had those words just come out of her mouth? They had. And she admitted to herself that she did want him. She wanted everything he was, from his strength, to his easy smile, to the intensity behind his black eyes, to his eagerness to be with her, to the eternal promises his eyes made.

She couldn’t stop her hands from drifting to his shoulders, feeling the muscles flexing beneath her fingers. They crept up the back of his thick, strong neck, and were lost in his hair. She combed through his hair, her hands rising to the top of his head, wanting to pull him up to a kiss, but at the same time yearning for what he she hoped he was going to do.

His tongue followed the path his fingers had forged, leaving a hot, wet trail from the top of her bra to the center of her stomach, drifting down to her panties, which provided a barrier waiting for him to breech it.

His slick wet tongue ran the course of her panties, pulling her pants lower, tracing the panty line from hip to hip.

“Up,” he groaned, pushing at her curvy hips and well-rounded thighs.

Astra pushed her ass off the table, using her hips and legs. He pulled the pants off, then set her back down as he spread her legs.

His breath was hot, warming her stomach, a harbinger of the heat he would deliver between her legs, causing her moisture to drop, waiting at the entrance for him to spread her legs so it could flow.

Her groan pushed him further. He continued to travel downward, every breath warming her body. He pushed her panties aside, licking his way lower as his tongue pushed her panties downward. Her clit throbbed. He nipped at the tender skin. She closed her eyes, expecting him to lick her slowly.

Astra jumped when his entire face dove into her with a ferocity that revealed his hunger for her. Her body ached with desire for him. Her breath rushed in and out of her chest, lungs burning with a need for oxygen. His lips sucked her folds in, completely taking them into his mouth, then releasing them with a popping sound that fueled her desire. He devoured her nether lips repeatedly, mercilessly, until finally he thrust his tongue into her, going in, then out, fucking her with his tongue.

Her hands grabbed the edge of the table, gripping tightly. She bit down on her lip to keep from begging.

The moan that came out made his tongue move faster. “Please,” she whispered, her yearning evident. Electric charges fired in her blood. Her toes curled. Would he give her release? She couldn't wait anymore. “Kane.”

“What?” His voice was more of a growl.

“I need you.” She forgot all about her grip on the counter. Her restless fingers traveled to his hair, pushing his face closer to her desire, taking his tongue deeper.

She flinched in surprise and pleasure when he slipped a finger in and moved his mouth to her clit, and began sucking while his finger fucked her.

A low moan began and rose to a crescendo, quickly becoming a scream as her channel flexed and contracted. With a brutality she hadn’t expected she climaxed, clamping her thighs around his head.

Astra’s body trembled. An occasional aftershock ripped through her, making her flinch and jerk in his arms.

K
ane wrapped
his arms around her, holding her while she had an occasional orgasm-fueled aftershock convulsion. Staring into the fire, he marveled at the way her body had responded to him, the way her curves fit in his arms.

After the fourth or fifth aftershock, he glanced down. Silent tears were drifting down her cheeks. Her eyes were open, the red and orange flames enhancing her crystal green depths, giving her an otherworldly look.

“Why are you crying?” He ran his thumb’s pad over one tear, trailing it down her face, rubbing it away, wishing he could rub away whatever was causing her pain in the same way.

Astra shook her head.

“You don’t want to tell me?” He wouldn’t lie. A part of him was crushed that she didn’t want to share. At the same time, how could he blame her? They’d just met.

“No. I’ll tell you. I’m just not sure. Not really. Not exactly.”

Women.
He’d never understand them. And he suspected that Astra would be harder to understand than most.

She sucked a deep, ragged breath in, then released it. “Is this why you wanted me to come in?”

This and so much more, for many years. For forever,
a part of him wanted to tell her. That would freak her out, though. How could he explain the feelings he’d developed for her? They were too sudden, though he felt like she was the missing piece of a puzzle that he’d spent eternity looking for.

“Is that what you think? That I brought you in here to get some pussy?”

She gasped at the severity of his tone.

He hadn’t meant to come across that harshly, but dammit, couldn’t she see this was so much more than that? He’d vowed to himself he would not take her, he would not make her his until she asked him for it.

“I’m sorry.” He picked her up, carried her to the sofa, laid her on it, then covered her with the blanket.

“I’m not that kind of girl, to do this with strangers...” she began.

Was she worried he’d judge her? Was that what this was about?

“I know.” He was thankful the sofa was extra-large and long. He planted his body alongside hers, but above the blanket, to keep temptation at bay.

“Why did you want me to come inside?” She bit down on her perfect, generous lower lip, as if the answer worried her.

Outside the wind was raging, while the inside of the cabin remained a warm refuge in more ways than one. His bear growled, deep within Kane’s mind, urgently issuing a warning.

Of what?

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.” Kane put a hand on her hair, twirled it around his fingertip. “How did you know I was a shifter?”

Tear-filled eyes rose to his. “I saw it, felt it. It’s hard to describe.”

“What do you mean?”

“You had the same thing that Grant and Doc have. That energy thing that I feel, that glow that comes from you.”

With a finger on her chin, he tipped her head back. “That’s not what people do. Normal people.”

Anger flashed in her eyes. “What the hell does that mean? Are you saying I’m not normal?”

“No. I’m saying that you’re—”

A deep rumbling shook the cabin, a deafening, cracking sound, almost like lighting. Then a rollercoaster feeling surged through Kane’s body.

His bear roared its warning again.

Astra’s eyes widened, her mouth forming a perfect O.

Outside, a loud crashing sound came from the driveway, or the mountainside, or both.

“Damn,” he uttered.

“Avalanche,” she whispered.

“
I
’ll be back
. Let me go check.” In a swift motion, Kane rose from the sofa and slipped out the door before Astra could tell him to get a coat.

She rose, wrapped the blanket around her and went to the shuttered window facing the driveway. Opening the shutter, she watched him shift into a massive, beautiful grizzly, loping toward the road.

She shook her head in disbelief. She’d slept with a shifter.

She, who hated shifters, had slept with a shifter. And what’s more, there was something about him that had drawn her to him. An undeniable force, as if they’d known each other a long time, had drawn her to him.
It’s not just sex,
she told herself.
There’s no way. I’ve had just sex before, and this isn’t it. This was so much more than sex.

What was he about to tell her? She watched the snow whirling, worried about him as the minutes passed. Then she heard another loud crash. The cabin floor trembled beneath her bare feet. Still no sign of Kane. That did it. She was going to find him. She ran to her clothing, throwing the blanket aside. She shoved her feet into her pants and threw her coat on over her bra without bothering with her top. She pulled one boot on and was just starting on the second when the door flew open.

Red-cheeked and breathing deeply, Kane had a definitely worried look on his face.