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Authors: Crystal Jordan

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BOOK: Unleashed
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More and more, it looked like the only way to do that was to take Stefan out of her sister's life permanently, and that might mean taking herself out of Sophie's life, too. Tam had an exit plan for Sophie, had set it in place years ago. In a worst-case scenario, there were people who'd agreed to take her sister, raise her, and keep her far, far away from people like Tam and Stefan.
She'd just hoped she'd never have to use it; but unless Stefan was dead and gone, there didn't seem to be another option. She could not—
would not
—allow Sophie to be used as a pawn again.
Tears burned the backs of her eyes, and she desperately wished this would all go away, but there were no easy answers, no simple solutions. Dragging in a deep breath, she caught Breck's scent, and that sent a whole new wave of emotions washing through her. She wished things were simpler, that she had the chance to figure out if anything might develop between them. She wished she were someone else, someone who was worthy of a man like him. But she wasn't and she never would be. She forced herself to straighten and keep going. That was the only thing she could do. Put one foot in front of the other. Smoothing her hands down her skirt and flipping her hair back over her shoulder, she curved her mouth into a smile that was bright enough to fool anyone.
Breck stepped out from behind one of the many pillars that graced the lobby, and that tsunami wave hit her again. He was so handsome, like some prince in an ancient fairy tale. His gaze sharpened with concern and she knew there was at least one person her smile hadn't fooled. A part of her loved how well he could read her, anticipate her, and another part hated it, feared it.
His hand came up to stroke down her cheek. “Have you finished up?”
Leaning into his touch, she closed her eyes. There were too many thoughts and feelings ricocheting around inside of her. She just needed his strength and stillness for a moment, long enough to make the world stop spinning. His lips brushed over her forehead, his arm circling her waist.
She opened her eyes when he propelled her forward, but steered her away from the bank of lifts. “Where are we going? Stefan surely knows we're back by now. I have to go upstairs and check on my sister.”
“I know,” he replied. “There's a private lift for each of the penthouse suites. For when the über-rich don't care to socialize with the merely well-off.”
“How convenient.”
“Yes.” He slanted her a look. “We can stop on your floor, but I thought you could use a little more . . . distraction . . . before you had to deal with daddy dearest again.”
She could definitely use some distracting, that was certain. And as long as they were going in the right direction, there was no reason not to multitask. He was so very good at
distracting
her. Warmth spread through her at the thought. The man could make her wet with a single glance. She probably shouldn't enjoy it quite so much, but she did. “You want to shag in the lift, don't you?”
She said it out loud because it made it so much more real, more solid and right in front of her than her situation with Sophie.
His expression was wicked, giving her what she needed. A reason to think about something else. Just for a few minutes.
“I never have before. It might be fun to try. Take the edge off before you have to deal with Stefan.”
Her throat closed. Dread curdled inside of her. She wanted to see Sophie, not just on her palmtop as she had the last two days, but in person. But seeing Sophie meant seeing Stefan. She quelled the familiar rush of rage and terror.
“Sounds like fun,” she whispered, pressing her cheek to Breck's shoulder as they stopped in front of an ornate door of etched mercurite.
“Yes, everything with Stefan is so much—”
He cut himself off, his movements rough as he swiped his ident card over the tiny vidpad that would call the lift. Looked like she wasn't the only one who could use something else to think about. She didn't want to consider why Breck was so tense about Stefan. Factoring in Breck's feelings for her made things even more complicated. She tried not to think about that either.
The door swished open, silent except for a rush of displaced air. If the normal lift was lovely with polyglass panes that overlooked the lobby, this screamed luxury. The wood paneling looked pre-war era, smooth and polished to a high gleam. As blasé as she'd learned to act when faced with this kind of elegance, it never failed to impress her and make her remember the crumbling hovel she'd grown up in. Breck urged her inside the lift and used the vidpad to key in the floors they wanted to stop on. The door closed and they began to slide upward.
“You realize the Royale staff is probably gathered around a vidscreen watching this. An establishment like this has to have vidmonitors in their lifts.” She glanced around the lift but didn't see an obvious vidmonitor. That didn't mean it wasn't there, just well hidden.
He shrugged. “Being watched never bothered either of us before. Remember the Peep Show at Tail?”
A shiver went through her remembering that night. “Oh, yes.”
“We should do it again some time.” He gave her a sinful little grin.
She opened her mouth to agree, then snapped it shut again. There was no way she could realistically make a promise like that, and she'd told him she'd never lie to him again. Instead of answering, she tapped the vidpad to stop the lift mid-glide and pressed herself against his muscular form.
His pupils dilated and he drew in a sharp breath. “Tam.”
“Hm?” She rubbed her breasts back and forth across his chest, loving the feel of her nipples tightening. The microsilk of her dress abraded her sensitive flesh. Lovely. The heat in his eyes was even lovelier.
Rising on her toes to torment them both a little more, she brushed her lips over his. He backed her up against the wall, sliding his tongue into her mouth. She purred, the feline in her reveling in the layers of sensation stroking over every heightened sense. His hands clamped on her hips, holding her in place while he kissed her. He gathered her skirt in his hands, and she shuddered as the microsilk slid against her flesh. Cool air circulated around her thighs, and gooseflesh rose on her skin. She panted into his mouth, her tongue mated with his, her fangs scraped his lips, and she grew wetter, more excited.
She couldn't wait to have him inside of her. She writhed against his hard length; her hands streaked over him, caressing his muscles through his clothes. Heat bellowed through her, spreading to every centimeter of her body, and tingles followed in its wake.
A low whimper spilled out of her when he abandoned her lips and dropped to his knees before her. Excitement screamed through her when he lifted her leg and hooked it over his shoulder, opening her to his gaze, his mouth. Her claws curled into the fabric of her skirt, pulling it even higher for him. Yes. She wanted this, him. Pleasure. Any way he wanted to give it to her.
The heat of his breath rushed over her bare flesh. He chuckled. “No underwear.”
“No.” She rolled her head against the wooden panel, arching her hips in offering.
“You're ready for me,” he growled.
“Yes.” She could feel his gaze on her, knew he saw how wet she was for him. His fingers stroked the insides of her thighs, and her need built to a fever pitch that made the impatient cheetah within her want to scream with frustration. Deus, it was delicious. She grinned, felt her lips pull against her fangs.
His mouth closed over her clit and she did scream. “Breck!”
He chuckled and the sound vibrated against her sensitive flesh. She shuddered, her sex contracting once. The tips of his fingers skimmed up her thighs to stroke across her slit. He parted the lips of her pussy, pressing two big fingers into her channel. Yes. Sweet heat billowed through her, making her shake with desire. Her pulse sped, hot blood racing through her veins.
His tongue batted at her clit while his fingers drove her crazy. Her hips moved to the rhythm his hand and mouth set. Only her feline reflexes and balance kept her from toppling, with one leg draped over his broad shoulder. Sweat gathered in beads at her temples, slipping down her skin. She shivered at the sensation.
Moving his hand, he drew his fingers back to swirl her own wetness around the pucker of her anus. Her muscles jerked and her breath stopped in her lungs. Circling his hand back and forth from her pussy and her anus, he eased his digits into her ass, stretching her rear channel. She heard her claws shred holes through her skirt as he worked three long fingers into her.
His tongue curled around her clit, his mouth working her as relentlessly as his hand did. Panting, she felt climax building within her. It was all she could do to stay on her feet. He finger-fucked her ass, harder and faster, and her hips bucked to meet his thrusts. So close. She was so close.
“Breck! I'm going to . . . I'm going to . . .”
Orgasm crashed through her, and the scream that ripped from her was more cheetah than woman. Her inner muscles fisted around his thrusting digits while he sucked and bit at her clit. He continued to stroke into her ass, driving deep, stretching her wider with each pass. Heat sparked back to life within her, made her hips undulate with renewed need, and she moved with those talented fingers that pushed into her anus.
“I'm going to fuck you here. Now.” His voice was guttural, barely human. The beast and man struggled for control and she loved that she could push him so far.
“Deus, yes.” Her breath sobbed out, and she could barely suck in enough oxygen.
He dragged her down to the floor so she was on her hands and knees in front of him. The position was so feral, it called to the animal in her, and she purred with rough anticipation. Arching her back, she offered herself for penetration.
A groan wrenched from him. His talons scraped over her flesh as he held her in place. The head of his cock probed her anus and she panted, shivers running through her muscles. Deus,
Deus.
He pressed in, stretching her as he eased one micrometer in at a time. Moans spilled from her throat, and her claws dug into the expensive carpeting on the floor of the lift. The feel of him inside her was so good, just as it had been from the first time he'd touched her. She feared nothing would ever be as good again with anyone else. Who else had ever turned her inside out this way?
But her thoughts scattered when he withdrew from her ass as slowly as he'd entered her. He reached beneath her and rubbed the tip of one finger over her clit. It made the glide of him inside of her even better, sent tingles skittering down her limbs. Her sex clenched on emptiness, but they both groaned as the involuntary action squeezed her inner muscles around his cock.
“Faster, Breck. Make me come.”
His free hand slapped her buttock. Hard. She squealed and jolted, her pussy burning even hotter at the stinging contact. A bead of her wetness trailed down the inside of her thigh.
“I can smell how much that turned you on, Tam.” He swatted her ass again, driving his dick into her anus at the same time.
Shock robbed her of breath, and there was no time to get it back as he began pounding inside her at a swift, demanding pace. Every few thrusts, he'd smack her backside. The rhythm was unpredictable, peppering over her buttocks and upper thighs. It only increased her pleasure, twisting it with a bite of pain.
He stretched her ass with every hard penetration, and his fingers played over her clit. It was too much. She danced on the edge of her control within moments. He dragged his talons over the swollen cheek of her ass, and she knew her punished flesh was red from his spanking. Her pussy fisted once, twice. Digging her claws into the carpet, she tried to hold out, tried to keep this from ending for a while longer. She didn't want it to end. Never, ever wanted it to end.
Sinking deep into her anus, deeper than he'd been before, he shoved her over that edge. She closed her eyes as orgasm sent her flying. Groans echoed in the small lift as they both came, shuddering, harsh cries breaking from them. His fluids filled her ass, and her pussy clenched in rhythmic waves that made stars burst behind her eyelids. He flicked his finger over her clit, working her through her climax, and those hot pulses of release kept sweeping through her body until her muscles shook. Sweat slipped down her skin, and she could hear the thundering of her heartbeat in her ears.
Long moments passed before she came down off the incredible high. Amazing. It had been rough and wild and a little desperate. Exactly suiting her mood.
He always gave her exactly what she needed.
How was she going to live without him? Deus, how was she even going to live through this? She didn't know, and tears burned the backs of her eyes. A few days before, she'd had a clear understanding of who she was, what she wanted, and what she needed to sacrifice in order to get it. All of that seemed to have jumbled up and shaken loose so quickly.
6
T
he next day, Tam was pacing in a circle around her room. Sophie was working through some educational programming in her room, so Tam couldn't use her as a distraction. Which meant she was cooling her heels, trapped in her own head, her thoughts chasing each other around. She was ready to crawl the walls. She needed to
run.
The cheetah in her all but screamed with the need. So many conflicting emotions collided inside her that she simply didn't know how to deal with any of them anymore. Sophie, Breck, Stefan, her past, her present, her future. Sophie's future. Breck's future. What she should do, what she shouldn't do.
Deus, she didn't even know who she was anymore. Spinning on a heel, she strode out into the main space, sparing Leland a mere glance on her way to the door. He didn't try to stop her, smart man. “Tell Stefan I'll be back later.”
“Going to
meet
with Breckenridge again? You're like an alley cat in heat with him.” Leland smirked. “Doesn't matter what he or you think up, you're still going to do exactly what the boss wants, or the kid gets it.”
“I know.” Weariness reflected in her voice, and she didn't bother to correct his assumption about where she was going. Let him think what he would.
Her thoughts churned as she stepped onto the lift and had it shoot her down to the lobby. Before she'd reached the ground level, she'd shifted into her animal form, her body twisting and remolding itself into a cheetah. She left her clothes in the lift. The ever-efficient staff of the Royale would have them cleaned, pressed, and sent back upstairs.
Darting out of the lift, she stretched her spotted forelegs into a dead sprint. Her muscles sang from the sudden use, but it felt good to have a few moments of freedom away from everyone so she could
think.
She had resigned herself to death or imprisonment since the moment Stefan called her and told her he had her sister. For Sophie, she'd willingly make the sacrifice. Among all the lies she'd told in her life, all the cons she'd pulled off, she'd always known that her one true thing was her family. Her mother and sister, and now just her sister. She could and would do anything, go anywhere to make sure they were happy and safe. It was a shame that her mother had been happy with Stefan, but the man had kept her safe, and that was all Tam had required of him. After that, Tam had done what was necessary to ensure security for Sophie. She was still doing that, and she always would.
But then Breck had shown back up in her life and announced they were mates.
It had shaken her far more than she'd like to admit, and having him near, having him in her arms, having him support and protect her was doing nothing to help her maintain her resolve.
She loved him as much as she ever had. More. This time, there was no hiding the real Felicia Tamryn from him. This time, she couldn't lie and tell herself that he only wanted the woman she was pretending to be. Everything was laid bare for him to see, to judge. To condemn, if he wanted. It had been horrifying enough to realize the first time that she'd fallen for one of her marks, but this time, it could lead to sheer devastation. This time, there was so much more on the line. Her life.
Sophie's
life.
She might be able to lie to anyone else, but she'd always been brutally honest with herself. Wasn't her love for Breck every bit as strong as the love for her family? Wasn't that just as true and pure and real? If she let it, wouldn't it be just as much a guiding force in her life? She could have it. Breck was there, tempting her, offering her everything she could dream of—safety and a home for Sophie, a permanent escape from the poverty that had shaped Tam's childhood, and love. A mate. A person fashioned just for her, who would never abandon her or turn on her.
Deus, it was such a fantasy come to life. The prince come to take her away to his castle. But she wasn't a heroine in some story; she was the villain. Because the reality was, she was as likely to get him killed as she was to have any part of that fairy tale come true.
No!
The thought of Breck dying, of living with that guilt, spurred her onward, made her want to outrun herself and her own life, no matter how impossible that might be. Because she hated who and what she was, and there was no making herself someone she wasn't. She was a bad person who'd done bad things. That was the life she'd led. Stefan had forced her into it as a child, but she'd certainly excelled at it, hadn't she? Oh, yes. She was very, very good at being bad. Her breathing hitched in a sob, and she ran faster.
The world went by in a blur as her strides ate up the distance. It felt good to cut loose and run, racing the wind. Pedestrians leaped out of her way as she ran, weaving in and out of traffic. She didn't even care where she went, just as long as she could keep moving.
When she looked up, she was in the middle of a crumbling wasteland. The London docks—a disgusting cesspool that was an assault on the senses. People screamed, haggled over spoiled food, children shrieked and ran wild in packs. And there, in the middle of it, Tam saw that her mad flight had taken her to the last place she'd ever had even a scrap of innocence to her name. This kind of place didn't leave a lot of room for naiveté, but here she'd had a father and a mother, a place where someone looked out for her best interests.
Before Stefan had come into her life and shattered it. The first time, anyway. The man had a knack for setting biobombs under her life and letting them detonate, leaving nothing but a ragged mutating mess in his wake. Nothing had ever been the same again.
And it all started right here.
 
Breck had been standing on his balcony when he saw Tam streak out of the Royale's lobby. The cheetah had almost been a blur, she'd moved so fast, but he'd know her anywhere, in any form. He'd debated flying after her for a split second, but decided against it. She didn't look as if she were running toward something, but just . . . running for the sake of running. He'd seen her do it before, when they were together in New Chicago. It was her way of escaping for a while to think. When she ran out of steam, she was going to need a ride home, and he couldn't carry a cheetah in his eagle form.
How he could read her mood from so far away, he wasn't sure. The eagle knew what it knew about its mate. He didn't stop to analyze it. There was no time, not with her pelting down the street at top speed.
Shooting into the penthouse, he ran for his private lift, his palmtop already out as he keyed in the number for the driver he'd hired while he was in town. The man's face appeared almost immediately, and Breck asked, “Did you see the cheetah go past just now? Do you think you can keep up with her?”
“Yes, sir. Ms. Tamryn is headed west at the moment. Even if we lose her, I can track her.” He touched the side of his nose. “Iberian wolf-shifter.”
The lift slid straight to the lobby in moments. “Excellent. I'll join you. Now.”
Fifteen minutes later, he watched the driver lean his head out of the transport's open window and drag in a deep breath. He made a few switchback turns in traffic, and Breck tried not to grow impatient. Perhaps he should have flown when he had the chance. Too late to change his mind now.
He scanned the windows, hoping for a glimpse of Tam again. They passed the reconstructed business neighborhoods and from there the buildings grew older and closer together, degrading in repair from shabby to shanty. But he caught sight of a spotted coat, and his heart leapt. Tam. “There.
Stop
.”
He saw her through a stack of pallets that blocked off an alley. She just sat in the middle of a road on the far side, staring at something. Or someone. From this angle, he couldn't see what. The transport rocked to a halt, and Breck's hand was already on the door, pushing it open.
The driver craned his head around. “I'll need to go around the block to get through to her, sir.”
“Do that.” Breck stepped out. “I'll walk from here.”
“Are you sure? The docks ain't the nicest area of town.”
“No, it's not.” He glanced back before he shut the door. “And she's out there alone.”
“Yes, sir.” The driver's voice was muffled, but clear, and the transport sped away.
Breck braced himself against the alley wall while he hopped up onto the pallets, praying the wood wasn't so rotted through that it would give under his weight. He leaped down as quickly as possible and sped through the narrow passage to the street beyond. She sat there, her gaze glued to a building. The place was all but collapsing in on itself; the brick had crumbled so badly in some areas that he could see the people moving around inside their flats. The surrounding buildings were no better. This was a slum, the stink of it singeing his nose.
What the driver had said clicked in his mind with what he knew of Tam's upbringing. The London docks. “This is where you grew up, isn't it? In this flathouse?”
She slanted a glance up at him, her chin dipping in a sharp nod. Something close to shame shone in the cheetah's eyes.
He sighed. Again, she was so quick to assume that he'd judge her. “And you believe I'll think worse of you because I know this?”
Her shoulder rolled in a shrug as if it made no difference to her, but she dropped her gaze to the ground.
“I don't think you're a terrible person, Tam.” How could he say this to her and not make it sound condescending or foolish? “Yes, you lie. You cheat. You steal. How many people haven't done those things before? I certainly have when it would get me ahead in a negotiation. The right bluff, played at the right time, can be priceless. Snatching a deal out from someone else's nose is a rush, especially if you know they want it badly, and you're better, smarter, more devious and clever. It's the nature of the beast.” He sighed. Perhaps he was justifying things too much, but Deus knew he'd had plenty of long, miserable hours without her to think about this.
She bumped his leg with her shoulder, and he reached down, stroking his hand through her soft spotted fur.
“Living an honest life would have kept you here, slaving all your days in abject poverty, freezing to death in winter because the roof has holes in it.” He nodded toward the building. “I don't blame you for doing
whatever
it took to get away from here. I would have done the same.”
A low purr rumbled from her, so quiet he wouldn't have noticed it if he hadn't had his hand on her back.
“Even then, it wasn't that simple, was it? You didn't
choose
the life you've led, did you? Stefan got you into it, didn't he? And then you were too deep in to ever get out. That's what you said, right?”
She tensed under his palm, her purr dying as if it had never been.
Dropping to his haunches beside her, he rubbed his fingers over her silken ear. “I know I'm right, Tam. Maybe you enjoyed the perks that came from this life, but what choice did you have? You couldn't get out. So, the only thing you could do was protect your sister and keep her away from crime or poverty. The only lifestyles you've ever known.”
A small choking sound came from her, and she buried her muzzle in his shoulder. Her whiskers tickled his throat. He rested his chin on the top of her head and ran a hand down her back. She hadn't been able to say anything in her animal form, and somehow it felt like one of the most honest exchanges they'd ever had.
No room for lies, for word games, when only one of them could speak.
His private transport pulled up beside them, the door opening with a soft displacement of air. He gestured for Tam to get in, and she stepped onto one of the plush kleather seats. She shifted as he climbed in and shut the door behind him. The driver handed a folded blanket over the seat to her and she wrapped it around herself, easing away from Breck as she tucked it around her tight.
He quirked an eyebrow. “I've seen everything you have to offer, Tam. It's too late to hide from me.”
Reaching out to engage the privacy screen between them and the driver, she sighed. “I'm not hiding.”
“Then come here.” He opened his arms and she scooted over to sit beside him, letting him fold her into his embrace. A breath slipped out of his lungs, and some of the tightness eased around his chest. He swallowed hard. “I worried about you when I saw you go running out of the hotel.”
“I'm sorry.” Her head nestled against his shoulder, her hair smelling of something sweet and feminine. “I just needed some privacy to think. I like to run when I do that.”
“I know.” He kissed her forehead, savoring the contact. He loved having her in his arms. He just wished he knew how to keep her there.
“I wasn't really thinking about anyone else, or anyone bothering to follow me.” She shifted against him restlessly, as if the thought of anyone caring enough to worry and come after her made her uncomfortable. Perhaps it did. “I didn't mean to worry you. I apologize.”
“Thank you.” He shook his head. After everything that had happened, he'd have hoped that she understood how much he cared, how far he was willing to go for her, but she didn't seem to see it. Hell, at this point, he didn't know what more he could do to prove it to her.
BOOK: Unleashed
7.6Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
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