“I’m going to make love to you now, Carmen,” he murmured against her lips and when she didn’t object, he tasted her, slowly kissing her, amazed at the willpower her nerves gave him, the tenderness that filled him. The way his need to please her, held his absolute need to claim her, in check. And she wasn’t human, and there would be no pain with her first time, but he wanted this to be memorable.
Shi began to kiss his way down her neck, and she slid a hand to his face. “Shi.”
He leaned back to look at her. “What baby?”
“I hate I’m the reason you had to leave.”
“You’re also the reason I’m back.” The only reason he’d had to live beyond dedication to protecting his race in longer than he could remember. He slanted his mouth over hers, and this time the kiss consumed them, the passion blossoming into something raw and real, like nothing he’d ever felt.
He traced the lace of her bra with his finger then his tongue, unhooking the front snap and freeing her breast. She gasped as he filled his palms, lapping at one of her rosy nipples. She was delicate and sweet, still untouched by the hell of wars their race battled despite the loss of her family, and he wanted to protect her, to please her.
Her fingers slid to his hair and he inched lower, kissing his way down her stomach to the top of her leather pants. She lifted to her elbows immediately, panic in her eyes. “Easy,” he murmured, his hand flattening on her stomach, silently urging her to lay down. “Relax.”
“I’m trying. I am. I’m just-”
He pressed his mouth to the V of her body and she moaned and fell back onto the mattress. Shi let the heat of his mouth caress her, unzipping her pants as he did and then not giving her time for more objections. He reached for her leather pants and skimmed them down over her hips, tugging them from her legs. She tried to sit up, but he quickly pulled her legs to his hips and slid his fingers into the slick, wet heat of her body, his gaze raking over her pebbled nipples. She was hot for him, ripe and ready, and he intended to take everything she’d give him.
“Do you know how badly I’ve wanted to taste you?” he asked, holding her stare. “How many times I’ve thought about how sweet you’ll be?”
“Shi,” she whispered and she didn’t have to say more. He could smell her nerves, her arousal, her need.
He leaned in and licked her, and she quivered beneath his tongue. Shi’s cock thickened at her response, the promise of finally being inside her so close, his body ached with the promise. But not yet. Not quite yet. Now he wanted her pleasure, her orgasm, her walls to come down, and for her to give him her satisfaction, her release.
Shi flattened a hand on her flat stomach, suckling her sensitive nub into his mouth, licking and teasing her, until she was wet and swollen and ready for more. Then, and only then, did he gently eased one finger inside her, stretching her. Preparing her for him. She moaned with the sensation of him filling her, lifting her hips upward, and he answered the silent plea for more by slipping a second finger inside her. She dug her fingers into the bed, stiffening, and then he felt her muscles contract around him, her body shaking with the intensity of her release. He licked her to completion, slowly bringing her down, even as his own body grew hotter and harder.
When she buried her face in her hands, embarrassed from her pleasure, Shi was on top of her in an instant, kissing her, the taste of her on their lips like fuel on a fire. Suddenly, they were burning wild, touching each other, kissing each other. Moving together. Somehow his pants were gone, and he was spreading her legs, settling his cock into the slick heat of the V of her body.
He leaned back to stare down at her. “It won’t hurt,” he promised, sliding his shaft up and down the velvety dampness of her body.
“I know,” she breathed, arching against him. “So what are you waiting for?”
Shi didn’t need to be told twice. He parted her, pressing inside the tight recesses of her body and then slowly slid inside, inch by inch, careful not to hurt her. She moaned, her lashes lowering, her arms wrapping around his neck.
“More,” she whispered. “More of you.”
He pulled back and slid into her, this time hard and fast and she gasped, but not with pain. She arched upward, meeting him halfway, the wolf in her taking control. She was all instinct and passion now, and she took him with her. The wildness erupted again, his hands all over her. Hers all over him. He rolled her over and she sat up on top of him, straddling him. The nerves and shyness of minutes before were gone.
She stared down at him, her red hair wild around her shoulders, her breasts high, her nipples pebbled, and she began to rock against him. She was beautiful and sexy and his, and he intended to spend all night making sure she knew that. And when she buried her face in his neck, grinding her hips to his, as if she couldn’t get enough of him, he knew he was lost to this woman, and he didn’t want to be found.
Shi held her, molding her close, pressing deeper and taking them both to the edge. She shattered around him, milking his cock, with tight pulls that ripped his release from him. Time became a blur of pleasure, of her moans, of his, until they collapsed together and lay there for several minutes.
Shi brushed a hand down her hair. “Still nervous?”
She laughed and leaned up to look at him. “Nervous? Who was nervous?”
His lips curved. “Not you, of course.” His cell phone rang.
“Sounds like my call for the bathroom,” she said, and kissed him, her voice softening. “I still can’t believe you’re really here.” And then she slipped away from him, proving she was no longer feeling shy by walking towards the bathroom in all her naked perfection. She smiled over her shoulder at him, all sweet, teasing seduction, and then shut the door. Shi ignored his phone and swung his legs off the bed, about to pursue his woman, when when the ringing stopped and immediately started again.
He sighed and snatched his phone from his jeans where they rested on the floor, and noting Nico’s number hit the ‘answer’ button. “Get the fuck out of there now,” Nico ordered into the phone. “It’s a setup. Alexander has an arrest warrant for you and some proof you’re a traitor, selling secrets to the rebels.”
“What?” Shi demanded, shoving the phone between his shoulder and ear, already grabbing his pants and shoving them on. “What the fuck are you talking about?”
“Damn it, Shi, Carmen has to be wearing a tracking device, because you have about three minutes before him and his personal bodyguards are going to be there. Get the fuck out of there before you don’t walk out of there alive. I’m on my way.” He hung up.
Shi eyed the bathroom door and everything inside him turned to ice with the implications of Carmen’s betrayal. He didn’t want to believe it but why shouldn’t he? Everyone he’d ever been supposed to trust, with the exception of Nico and Kole, had betrayed him. Shi wasn’t willing to bet his life that this time was different. He was dressed in sixty-seconds and heading for the door, and he was pretty sure his heart had been carved out and left on the mattress behind him. He’d just become a fugitive and Carmen, be it willingly or unwillingly, was the kiss of death for him, at least for now, until he could figure out how to save them both. If she wants you to be saved at all, a voice in his head reminded him. He had to face the truth. He’d been setup. Maybe passion was all that had ever been real to them Carmen. And passion alone was empty. And so was he.
Present Day....
Chapter Three
Shi was hunting a woman, one of the many contracted jobs he and his team of misfit mercenaries had taken in the past five years, and nothing, including the fancy shopping mall and abundance of people nearby, were going to stop him from claiming his prey. Leaning against a wall, he watched her slip behind a dressing room curtain, and he waited. Waited until he knew she’d be undressed, unprepared for a surprise. Seconds ticked by, and he tried to ignore the thrum of anticipation pulsing through his veins. Tried to tell himself the heat had everything to do with the rush of his ‘for hire’ contract, and nothing to d
o with the soft scent of female and wolf, insinuating into his nostrils. She wasn’t going to get to him. This was business, and nothing more. He was the best wolf for this job, not the best wolf for her. He’d taken the job for that reason, because he was the one who could get results the fastest and everyone involved knew that, him included.
Irritated at the hum of his body, Shi shoved off of the wall and headed towards his prey–refusing to see her as anything but that considering the circumstances he had no control over. She couldn't be more or his assignment would be compromised. His pace was deceptively lazy, his awareness of everything around him acute, as he made a b-line for his target. There was no hesitation in him when he shoved back the dressing room’s curtain and stepped inside the room.
Instantly, the ripe scent of hot woman jolted him almost as much as the sight of his ‘prey’ wearing nothing but a skin toned bra and matching panties that made her appear almost naked, her pale ivory skin and sexy curves bared for his hot stare. His blood heated at the sight of her wild mass of red hair falling over creamy white shoulders that matched the streaks in his own long, inky black hair he wore tied at his nape.
Hungrily, his gaze raked over her sensuous body before his green eyes met her pale blue ones in the mirror, the impact nothing less than jarring. Shi was hot and hard and ready in a way he’d only been one other time in his life, when this very woman had almost gotten him killed. For several seconds neither of them moved, neither of them spoke. They sized each other up, the past they shared expanding between them, the heat of arousal along with it.
“Shi?” she asked, her luminous blue eyes wide with recognition, with happiness, and for just a moment, she was the young girl he’d guarded, protected, and even taught to protect herself. The woman who he’d taken to bed, and wanted to make his life, but not anymore. Now, he didn’t care how heated she made his blood. He wasn’t going to trust her. Not again. Not ever. He didn’t care that he’d never proved she’d betrayed him. He cared that there were suspicions within the ranks of the Guard about her now.
Carmen’s brows dipped and he saw the moment in her eyes that she smelled his mood, and realized that this wasn’t a friendly visit. Trepidation slid across her lovely features, as well it should, considering her father had been part of the decision to destroy him, and he didn’t deny his bitterness over that fact. He was bitter, she was on edge, yet unexplainably their eyes held in that mirror, tension crackling between them, and his nostrils flared with the deepening scent of woman and wolf, the scent of their instant lust neither of them could control. Everything inside Shi went red hot and for a moment his gaze went black. The way a wolf responded when he’d found his biological mate. He clamped down on the sensation, refusing to let it, or her, control him, but immediately the sensation was back, blasting through his body with demand, everything male in him screaming ‘mine’. Fuck me. Fuck, fuck. fuck.
Apparently, Carmen agreed with his silent musings because she tried to do just that — fuck him, or rather attack him. She lunged for her purse and had a knife in her hand in an instant. In the process of her reach for the weapon, her stellar, nearly naked backside thrust into the air. Shi leaned over her, pressing it to his thickening groin, molten fire shooting through his veins. His body framed hers, his hand shackling her wrist, and with a quick pressure point squeeze, the blade tumbled to the ground.
He pulled her back against him, their eyes once again locking in the mirror. “I taught you to use that blade. Did you really think you could best me with it?”
Her eyes found his in the mirror again, searching, probing – and damn it to hell, filled with the hurt of betrayal. “I can’t believe I’m even having to try,” she whispered.
Shi ground his teeth, refusing to let the way her bottom lip trembled, the way her eyes spilled over with anguish, get to him. “Five years changes a lot of things, sweetheart.”
“Spare me the insulting endearments, Shi,” she spat at him. “You lost that right five years ago. I don’t deserve them anymore than I do your intrusion.”
“Carmen, sweetie. You need anything?”
It was a store attendant, who was also Carmen’s friend Deanna. Shi didn’t waste anytime reacting, knowing Deanna, as a wolf, could smell him. His hand slipped to Carmen’s neck, his stare hardened on hers in the mirror, warning her, telling her silently to answer and make it good.
“I’m good,” Carmen said, sounding remarkably, impressively composed, when he could feel her pulse racing in her delectable throat beneath his palm. But then, she was in the ‘loss prevention’ department for the seven casinos The Society owned, and seamlessly used to hide their existence from the human population. “I’m going to dig around the racks again in a second.”
“Do you want me to look at anything you tried on?” Deanna asked.
“Oh please no,” Carmen replied, proving just how good she was at her job of keeping secrets. “I hate it all. Don’t even think about coming in.”
The other girl’s laughter rolled through the too-thin door. “I understand, honey. Be back in a second.” There was silence for several seconds and he could almost hear her nostrils flaring, her confusion over what she smelled that defied the logic that it came from behind the curtain. But then her footsteps sounds faded.
Shi turned Carmen to face him, his hands on her shoulders, his body and senses too aware of her, his gaze raking over her ample cleavage and lifting.
“Keep your eyes where they belong, asshole,” she warned softly, vehemently.
“I see you’re no little angel anymore.”
“And you’re no Royal Guardsman, but if you think being a mercenary, or whatever they call someone with no rules or morals, will keep my knee from your groin, think again. We both know you aren’t here to oogle me in my bra and panties, Shi. What do you want?”
No bullshit, just the way he liked things, the way he’d always liked her. “Get dressed. You’re coming with me.”
She crossed her arms in front of her chest, thrusting the delectable cleavage from the tops of her pink silk bra. “No.”
“You’re friend Deanna has at least two of my wolves tracking her every move right this moment. It’s in her best interest you come with me.”
“There’s undercover Society wolves all throughout this property. If I don’t want to leave, I won’t leave.”
“Do you really think I’m stupid enough not to arrange a distraction to keep them busy while I paid you a visit? They’ve been given problems to deal with.” Pulled off their duty by Kole, his close friend, and the new leader of the Royal Guard who’d taken over when Nico Moore had mated with a witch, and joined some magical task force. Shi might not be Royal Guard anymore, still technically an outlaw thanks to Alexander, but Nico and Kole sure enjoyed using him for the jobs that weren’t politically correct.
Her blue eyes blazed red fire. “So this is what you’ve really become? A traitor to your own kind?”
A traitor. Those words rippled through him, shredding him on the inside in a way they wouldn't if spoken by anyone but Carmen. Before he could think about the consequences of his actions, about how on edge being near this woman had him, anger curled inside Shi, and he crowded her, backing her against the mirror and pressed his fist to the glass. Her scent teased his nostrils, the heat of her body radiated into his, and he wanted nothing more than to rip away her panties and bury himself inside her. She wanted it too, she wanted him, despite her distrust, and that only angered him more. He’d been down this path, destined to mate with a woman who would have destroyed him if given a chance and it had sucked like nothing else in this lifetime ever had.
Shi ground his teeth, refusing the connection he felt to Carmen, what the heat between them said they both felt. There was magic that could create false sensations and it had to be at play. He would not be defeated by magic or another woman, not even Carmen. “Call me what you want,” he murmured, his lips near her ear, the bitter memory of her father’s many unjust accusations when he’d left the Gu
ard grounding him in reality, holding his lust and desire for Carmen in check, “but you’re still leaving with me.”
“They won’t let you get away with this,” she whispered. “I’m the daughter of an elder council member.”
He leaned back, fixing her in a hard stare. “I, of all wolves, am fully aware of who, and what, you are.” His microphone buzzed in his ear, as second before the voice of his Second, Morgan Miller said, “Rebels entering the mall.”
Fuck! How did the Rebels know the security would be cleared? Because they had to know to dare come here. There was only one answer. There was a Society insider helping them, someone his client trusted. “I’m headed out of the store through the garage. Make sure I have a ride.”
“Copy that.”
“Get dressed,” Shi ordered, tuning out the headset and focusing on Carmen.
“Not until you explain what’s going on,” she half-growled. “You don’t intimidate-”
“Don’t I?” Shi demanded, leaning forward, framing her body with his, lowering his mouth to her ear. “There are Rebels here and they came for the same thing I did. You. And if you think for a second I won’t carry you out of here over my shoulder and in your underwear, think again.” He leaned back to fix her in a stare, his gaze burning into hers, his voice a husky wolfish tone. “I have reasons to keep you alive. They don’t.”
Her eyes went wide a moment but she didn’t immediately move. She studied him, assessed him, and then abruptly whirled around and grabbed the navy blue dress she’d been wearing, and tugged it over her head. It shimmered down her curves and hugged her body the way he’d done only minutes before, the way he wanted to do now.