Cross Breed (Breeds 23)

“I couldn’t risk you, halfling,” he whispered. “Ryder had his own son murdered, the woman his son pleaded for him to accept so she’d be safe, so their child would be safe. He hunted them down like animals and the only thing that saved me was his uncertainty at the time that I existed.” He could never understand the evil that blackened men’s souls. “I hid for three days in a burrow with a coyote mother and her pups, huddled against those tiny creatures for warmth, and I swore I’d never allow anyone else to suffer at his hands …”

“You betrayed me.” Ragged, torn with pain, but still the most beautiful voice he’d ever heard in his life. “You let him touch me. Disavowed me. You left me.”

She tried to jerk away from him again, nearly managing it before he caught her hair again and jerked her around.

He should have kept her back to him. The creature that had risen inside her was once again dormant. But the sight of that creature spilling into her eyes was better than this. Gem bright, overflowing with tears, and filled with pain.

“Look at me, Cassie,” he whispered, framing her face with his hands, knowing he couldn’t hide from her now; all she had to do was look. “Do you hurt alone? Did you suffer alone? Would I have ever done any of those things for any reason other than to save you?”

Fury erupted in her eyes. A woman’s fury. A mate’s rage.

“I’m your mate,” she cried, her finger stabbing at his chest as the scent of her reached him then, sweet, pure, on fire. “It’s my place to face whatever you face. You can’t save me from your actions, you moron,” she all but screamed. “You took all of me and left me with nothing.”

“Look at me!” he yelled, gripping a handful of sodden hair and forcing her head back. “Look at me, Cassie. Do you believe you don’t have all of me? For even a second?”

She owned him.

“I will skin your ass out, hang your hide on my wall, and I swear to you, I’ll find such a bad-ass Breed to mate that you’ll cringe every second in hell if you pull this shit on me again.” She was shaking, but with anger rather than that feral, primal rage that had filled her before.

“One mate,” he snarled, unable to believe she’d make such a threat. No, as he stared down at her, he seriously feared that was more than a promise. “Get rid of me, halfling, and there is no other.”

A snarl curled her lips, a feminine growl of power vibrating in her throat. “Fucking bet me.”

By God, she meant it. She’d actually try.

She wouldn’t succeed, but she’d try. The very thought of it was terrifying.

And he was a sick bastard, because his cock was harder than hell, fully engorged and throbbing with something so far beyond lust that he had no name for it.

“Fucking test me.” He jerked her to him, lifting her from her feet until her face was level with his. Her knees gripped his hips, the lush, heated folds of her pussy teasing the head of his dick. “Even consider attempting another mate for any reason, I’ll show you exactly how I’ll deal with it.”

She bared her teeth at him, eyes narrowing. “I dare you.”

• CHAPTER 21 •

She dared him.

Dog couldn’t help but chuckle as he tightened his fingers in her hair and dragged her head back. He took the kiss he wanted. The glands beneath his tongue were swollen, throbbing, the mating hormone so potent now it was like a rush, an incredible high as it hit his system.

Turning, he pushed her back against the wall, one hand going to her rear, filling his hand with one side of the rounded flesh and lifting her where he needed her.

Dare him?

He prayed to God she didn’t expect nice and easy. The sound of those words slipping past her lips was like throwing gasoline on fire. The flames whipped through his senses, seared his brain cells and released a torrent of lust.

Slanting his lips over hers and pumping his tongue between her lips, he forced her to take the taste of him. When he pulled back and her tongue followed, he took hers, trapping it between his lips and drawing on it, licking at it. The spicy sweetness sending the flames in a rush of white-hot intensity tore the last of the restraint from him.

There was no holding back with her now. There was no closing even a small portion of his soul to her now. The mating bond was like a live wire connecting them, merging them together. Heart to heart. Soul to soul.

Tearing his lips from hers, his kisses rained down her neck as he groaned, feeling hers against his neck. Her teeth raked against the line of his throat, stealing his breath. Her tongue licked over it before her lips closed on his flesh and drew on it, marking him. But he was always marking hers. His teeth nipping enough to abrade the skin, before licking over the wound, just over the heavy vein that ran there.

Her arms wrapped around his shoulders, and her hips rocked, caressing the head of his cock with the slick, hot folds of her pussy. The heated moisture spilling from her coated the engorged cap of his erection, heated it, sensitized it. As the broad head pressed against the entrance, a hard ejaculation of the hormone-filled pre-cum pulsed inside her.

Bending his head further he captured the hard bud of a nipple, sucking it into the heat of his mouth, tonguing it as a groan tore from his chest. The taste of her, the feel of her … It wasn’t even logical what she did to him, what she made him feel. Just the scent of her close to him was enough to soothe his soul, a soul he’d been certain he didn’t possess before he saw her in the lens of his gunsights.

Pulling back from her breast, his fingers tightening on her ass, he held her in place and another pulse of pre-cum spilled inside her as she nipped at his shoulder. The heat of her pussy covered the head of his cock, the entrance clenching on it, sucking at his flesh.

Tensing, he thrust inside her, feeling the ultratight, slick heat of her pussy clamping down on his dick, tightening, caressing every inch, forging inside her. Her teeth clamped down on his shoulder, a strangled cry tearing from her throat as he felt those sharp little teeth break the tough skin and the searing spill of that hormone infusing it.