Arik
It was the deepest part of the night, that time when everything holds its breath in fear of absolute darkness, when we made our way home. I hustled Kat through the hushed streets to where I’d left the car, trying to ignore her silence. Every time I reached for her, every time I spoke, I encountered that damn brick wall. No, not brick—steel, like the doors that kept my lair safe. And every time, the fierce and utterly contradictory urge to crush that steel and force my way inside seized me. I’d known the arrangements I’d made, had known in my head we had an end date, but I hadn’t thought past it. Until Sun had threatened to take it away, I hadn’t realized how desperate I would be for one more night inside Kat’s heat, inside the warm emotion she cocooned me with.
No such warmth existed now. And nothing I said or did would make it come back. Still I craved her, the need crawling in my gut, twisting my soul, driving me toward the brink of madness.
Even my eagle eyes were unable to read Kat’s expression. Once inside the lair, one look at her face told me nothing would have helped—there was no expression to read. Kat’s face had become a blank canvas, totally erased, closed down, boarded up so tight nothing leaked through. She removed her coat and gloves and shoes, all with seeming unconcern. And with every movement, the hunger spiking inside me surged infinitely higher. All it took was her turning away from me without a glance to set fire to the match.
I caught Kat’s arm as I headed for the hall, towing her behind me. Kat didn’t fight, didn’t protest. After the lashing tongue she’d gladly flayed me with the past couple of days, the meekness stirred anger, not satisfaction. Where was my mate, the female who felt every emotion with a depth I couldn’t plumb no matter how hard I tried? I knew that Kat. This silent female stood, a cover-up, in the real Kat’s place, but not for long—I would find my Kitty Kat if it was the last thing I did.
It took about thirty seconds. The real Kat made an appearance as soon as we reached the door to my bedroom. Slamming it open, I ignored the thunk of door cracking against wall and marched inside. Kat’s halt at the threshold yanked me back to her.
Kat stared me down across the stiff length of our outstretched arms. “What are you doing?”
Wasn’t that obvious? “We’re going to bed.”
“No, we’re not.”
If I’d been a dragon shifter, smoke would be bellowing from my nose. “Yes, we are.”
“I’m angry, Arik. I’m not having sex with you.”
If she was angry, she hid it well behind that damn shield she’d built. But if angry sex was all I could get, I’d take it. Only in bed could I unlock the female I knew, the female I loved.
I loved her. It was killing me to know we only had one night left together, but if one night was all I could give myself, then by God, I would make it a night worthy of all the ones I’d spend alone in the future.
“Come on, mate,” I said, dragging her inexorably toward the bed.
“Mate?”
The heat in that single word singed my skin. Finally, something. My relief only fed the angry need growing inside me. “That’s right. Mate.”
A low growl erupted behind me, the sound like a dam breaking. I turned, impatient words on my lips, only to have a fierce bloom of pain erupt in my cheekbone.
She’d punched me.
By the time the truth had registered, Kat was almost at the door. With inhuman speed I launched myself after her, wrapped implacable arms around her waist, and lifted her against me. Ignoring Kat’s yelp and her kicking legs, I carried her back to the bed.
“Really, Kat? You punched me?”
“Really, you asshole!”
I threw her onto the mattress. Kat bounced up immediately, scrambling to her knees as she shook out her fist. Those hazel eyes blazed with all the emotion I’d wanted to see. “I’m not your mate, remember?” she snapped. “You gave your mate away.”
“I’m protecting you!”
“From who, you?” Eyes centered on me, she scrambled backward across the bed. “Think about that for a minute before you try to get me naked, Arik.”
I had her wrist and was pulling her back before she could finish saying my name. “Not from me.” That wasn’t totally true, but I was not a danger to her, not physically. She might not believe that with the way I hooked her leg toward me at the same time that I forced her upper body back. Kat ended up splayed on the bed before me, spitting mad and so beautiful she sent every drop of blood in my body from my brain to my cock.
And yes, maybe I was a bastard, but the way she snarled and kicked and punched just made me hotter. Kat wasn’t going down without a fight, even already on her back. Unfortunately for her, a fight was exactly what I was in the mood for. We couldn’t solve this with words. Explanations didn’t mean shit in the face of what we were both feeling. There was only one way to get through this night—for both of us.
I gripped Kat’s hips and dragged her toward the edge of the bed. Toward me. She flipped her body, trying to twist away, but my hold kept her from success. One slender leg lifted to deliver a hard kick to the side of my knee, but I managed to sidestep and slide close between her jean-clad thighs.
Kat growled. “Get off me.”
With a swift grab and stretch, I had both arms pinned beside her head, wrists held to the mattress by my weight on my hands. “You don’t want me off.”
She lifted her head and, right through my shirt, bit savagely into my chest. Fangs and all.
“Damn, Kat!” She let go, lying back as she licked along the sharp points peeking out beneath her lips. Looking satisfied—until she caught the look on my face. If it reflected half the feral surge of lust I was riding right now, she’d better be wary.
The spark of alarm that darkened her pretty eyes said it did.
“Don’t be getting wild on me now, Kitty Kat,” I warned. A smirk sneaked onto my mouth as I savored the rebellious bucking of her body, the tangle of flaming curls around her head, and the throb of her bite right next to my nipple. Just a couple of inches to the left… “I might start to think you want this.”
Not that there was any doubt. Kat reared and strained, trying to free herself—and I let her—but for all her protests, a quick glance down her body showed nipples peaked like hard erasers through both bra and shirt. The scent of her arousal was strong in the room, and a fine sheen of sweat coated her skin. My erection throbbed behind my zipper in time to her heaving breaths, begging in its own way for me to take what I needed. What we needed. Kat’s body proclaimed it as loudly as mine did.
Allowing my fangs to descend, I used one razor-sharp tip to cut through the threads holding the buttons on her shirt. One by one they popped free. Her shirt gaped wider and wider until the last button dropped off and I nudged the material to the side. The fabric at the front of her bra yielded just as quickly, and I dragged my nose along the skin of each creamy, quivering breast, wallowing in her scent and baring her to my sight. The rough brush of my cheeks marked her with my animal’s scent, drawing a pretty flush to the surface. Taut, bright pink nipples stood straight, the skin surrounding them crinkling in the cool rush of air, but other than a short lick of welcome, I didn’t touch them.
The feel of my tongue on her body had Kat moaning, arching her back. Her pelvis cradled mine, her knees at my hips tugging me closer even as she thrashed against me, refusing to give up the fight. Wanting no distractions from my journey down her body, I settled heavily against her mound, using my weight at palms and pelvis to force her to stillness.
In return for her bite, I gifted her with tiny nibbles down the valley between her breasts. The scrape of my fangs against her skin drew a breathy gasp. I rewarded her with a gentle kiss, then a sharp bite along the vulnerable undercurve of one quivering mound. I licked, bit, suckled, sliding my way down from breasts to belly. At her navel I dipped my tongue inside, and Kat jolted against me. When I nuzzled the tantalizing strip of skin just below, she purred her pleasure like the Kat I’d named her.
Damn, I wished I could bury myself inside her forever.
A quick buck of Kat’s hips almost took out my nose.
Using my teeth, I tore through the material surrounding the button of her jeans, opening them. “Be careful, Kitty Kat. We wouldn’t want bites in too-sensitive places, now would we?”
“I’ll show you bites in sensitive places. Bring your ass up here.”
There was my smart-ass mate. I chuckled against the fine trail of peach fuzz leading from belly button to mound, tracing it downward as my chin lowered the zipper of her jeans. “Oh no. I’d rather bite your ass, sweet thing.” I slid my hands under her hips to give said ass a rough squeeze. Realizing her hands were free, Kat lunged to escape me. I grasped the waistband of her pants and pulled in the opposite direction. I had her ankle in hand before she could blink.
“Christ, Kat.” She was stretched full-length on her stomach, facing away from me. Satisfaction curled in my chest at the sight of her bare lower body. The fact that she didn’t move, didn’t continue across the bed, didn’t attempt to hide herself from me brought out a purr.
Kat flipped. I braced myself for a kick, a fight, but Kat lay still, her hooded gaze on me. Even when I ran my palms up her legs, grasped those sweet thighs, and pushed them apart until she was pinned like a butterfly, all her secrets open and accessible for whatever I desired, she didn’t resist.
“That’s it, Kitty Kat. Give to me.” I bent, brought my mouth to her knee. “Please,” I whispered, voice hoarse, laying my need bare before her despite the power I held.
A deep inhale lifted Kat’s breasts, her ribs. On the exhale her hands drifted to her sides, then out, open, splaying across the bed. Her muscles relaxed. Giving in, giving me complete access. My gut clenched as I followed the mental path that connected our minds.
And it was at that moment that I realized the thing I desired most, Kat’s mind, remained closed to me. Her body dripped cream onto the comforter beneath her, but her mind was locked solid, refusing me entry.
Pain knifed through me. I needed her, in me, with me, surrounding me. That need could only be filled by the sharing of her soul, her sex, and her blood. But I’d forced enough. If she wouldn’t willingly give it all to me, then by God, I’d take whatever she did offer.
I nosed along Kat’s slender legs until I reached her sweet female center. A single swipe satisfied my taste for her arousal, and then my mouth found the artery running so tantalizingly close, right down the inside of her thigh, and I latched on. A quick stick of my fangs. A gasp and jerk from Kat. But it was the honeyed, intoxicating taste of blood and feminine need that filled my senses to the point of drowning. Her blood flowed, thick and rich, down my throat. Kat gasped with each draw, unable to resist the bite. I could feel her desire, her desperation as she lifted her hips to me, her body crying out for the fulfillment only I could provide—and yet, underneath her rising hunger was the steel wall of her will, closing herself off, keeping me from going any farther, denying me the very core of who she was. My mate. My heart. My everything.
No longer.
Placing my palm against her clit, I ground in, the circular motion of my hand matching the rhythm of my drawing mouth. Kat’s final gasp rose to a scream. Against my palm, her center pulsed, squeezed, and she fell over the edge into orgasm. It shimmered in her blood, sending a powerful surge straight to my balls, which drew up tight, desperate to explode. Still I lingered, rasping my tongue over the pinpricks I’d left behind, savoring every last drop until no more remained.
Kat’s eyes were closed, the aftershocks of her climax continuing to rock her, when I came up on my knees and placed the aching head of my shaft at her core. Without preamble, without warning, I surged deep in a single thrust.
“Arik!” Kat tried to jackknife, but my heavy chest blocked the movement, pressing her back down into the mattress. My name on her lips trailed off into another groan when I drew back, then entered her again, harder this time. She was wet and hot and tight around me, and I needed to submerge myself in her, in all of her. I couldn’t get close enough, couldn’t get deep enough, could only force my way in when all the doors between us seemed to be closing in my face.
I needed her, this, now. While I could still get it.
Curving my body above her, I brought one full, beautiful breast to my mouth, trapping the still-erect tip between my teeth and drawing hard, laving her, loving her with every pull of my lips and every thrust of my heavy cock. A surge of energy rippled through her body, tingling on my tongue, but she didn’t push me away. Instead her hands found my head, slid across the rough stubble of my hair. Her fingers clasped the back of my neck to urge me closer. I opened wide, taking in as much of her as I could manage, and feasted on the erotic swell of her breast. One hand slid under her neck, holding her close and still, and the other cupped the small of her back, forcing her up with every thrust, bringing our bodies together with a power that sparked flames along my spine and down to the full sac brushing her ass with each advance. I swelled inside her, dragging my pelvic bone against her clit. On the third desperate push, Kat went rigid beneath me, a cry escaping her lips, and with a final hard suck and equally hard plunge, we hit our high together, the roar of pleasure drowning out everything but the hunger that had brought us together.
Minutes later, when the wave finally subsided and reality settled with gentle insistence on my shoulders, my mind sought my mate’s, the bone-deep connection we had discovered in each other only a few days ago. The link that made me whole.
And hit the barrier Kat had created, strong and impenetrable. Leaving me with nothing.