She had no intention of releasing him. The taste of male lust and strength filled her mouth now, and she found she was a hungry woman. She might very well have found her favorite treat.
Treat nothing, this was a smorgasbord. A banquet of male flesh rising stiff and hot for her pleasure alone. Heavily veined, throbbing with desire, the thick crest dark and spilling precious drops of pre-cum, it filled her mouth, her senses and her desperate heart.
He was hers. She had waited ten years. Ten years to feel his touch and know his passion, and she would be damned if she would let him go now.
“Dawn, we need to talk.” Seth’s breathing was hard, sawing from his lungs as he groaned the words.
But he didn’t move his hands. He didn’t let go of her hair and he didn’t stop thrusting against her lips. They didn’t need to talk. They needed to touch. They needed to still this fire raging between them and burning through her defenses.
As she felt his cock head throb against her tongue, she tucked under the sensitive flesh beneath it and rolled her tongue against it before drawing back. Slowly, so slowly, staring up at him, seeing the glitter in his eyes, and knowing, feeling the certainty that he belonged to her.
He would never again lose the hormone that filled his blood now. He would never again walk away from her into the arms of another woman. He would never want to, even if he could. He was hers. It was there in his eyes, in his expression, in the muttered groans of pleasure and the hard hands in her hair.
He was her mate.
Seth couldn’t believe what he was seeing, what he was feeling. Dawn’s mouth wrapped around the crest of his dick, sucking it into the hot cavern of her mouth, stroking it with her tongue.
The inexperienced caresses were hotter than anything he had ever known. Her pleasure in it, seeing it in her eyes, hearing it in her mewling little moans, was almost too much to bear. Because those moans were vibrating on his too-sensitive flesh, stabbing into his balls and nearly destroying his self-control.
There he stood in his fucking sitting room, his pants and underwear around his thighs, and her absorbed, passionate expression filling his gaze. Dark gold eyes gleamed in the dim light of the room; her face was flushed, her lips becoming swollen as he slowly fucked the hard flesh past her lips.
“I won’t last.” It was all he could do to breathe.
Heat was curling up his spine, building at the base of his neck. He could feel the warning tremors of his nearing release clenching his testicles. If he didn’t come soon, he wondered if he would die.
She moaned for him again. Half purr, half feminine hum of satisfaction and pleasure.
She was still dressed, for God’s sake, as was he. He wanted her naked. He wanted to watch her naked breasts rising and falling, see her nipples stiff and flushed. And he wanted to see her pussy. Wanted to see it slick and hot with her need, ready to take him as he worked every inch of his cock inside her.
“God, your mouth is hot,” he panted, unable to hold the words back as that heat, the sucking of her mouth and her sweet lips drove him insane with lust. “So sweet and hot, Dawn.”
He clenched his hands in her hair again, kneaded her scalp, felt the sweat dampen his back. She’d always done that to him, even before the mating heat began. Just being close to her, smelling the sweat scent of her, and he would sweat. Ache. She made him crazy for her then and she made him even crazier for her now.
There was nothing he wouldn’t do to touch her. No one he wouldn’t kill just to ensure that he held her in his life forever.
“Dawn.” He groaned her name, clenching his teeth as she licked and sucked and made him crazy with the need to come. “Let me have you.”
Her answering moan was definitely a denial.
“Sweetheart, I’m going to come.” Any second now. And instead of trying to pull away from her, what the hell was he doing? Holding her still, fucking her mouth, feeling the come building in his balls and threatening to explode.
“Dawn, for pity’s sake.” He clenched his teeth and fought to hold back.
The pleasure was incredible. It lashed at his senses, burned through his system, and before he could find a chance to catch his breath, it exploded out of control.
His body tightened to near breaking point, his head fell back, and before he knew it he was pumping hot, furious streams of his semen into her mouth.
Where she consumed him. She moaned and licked and drew every drop from his body for her consumption.
He had held back for so long. He had fought the rising force of lust, need, love and hunger for so many years that he found himself unable to fight it any longer.
Somehow, Seth managed to pull free of her sucking mouth, his cock still furiously hard, raging, desperate for more. He lifted her to her feet and tore at her pants, so violently aroused he didn’t bother with her boots. He pushed her pants to her ankles, turned her, and there, with her pretty butt lifted for his viewing pleasure, he slid his hand between her thighs.
“You’re wet, Dawn,” he bit out, finding the sweet, heated syrup that ran from her body.
“Go figure.” She panted, pushing into his hand, moaning as his fingers slid over her clit.
She needed this. Dawn had never needed anything as desperately as she needed Seth to fill her right now. She was burning, on fire from the taste of his lust and her own needs. They singed her flesh, stroked her nerve endings and clenched her womb in hard blows.
“Smart-ass.” He leaned over her and bit her ear, and Dawn nearly came in his hand.
She ground herself into his hold, panting for breath as her head tipped back against his chest and a cry fell from her lips as he pulled his fingers from her.
A second later, the thick, pulsing head of his cock parted the sensitive lips and tucked against the clenching opening of her sex.
“What are you waiting on?” she cried out, pushing her legs farther apart as she felt his knees bend behind her. “Next year?”
“Smart-ass,” he groaned again.
“So spank me. Later.” She rolled her hips and growled. A heavy, feline sound of need that almost had the power to shock her.
“Spank you now.” His hand landed at the side of her rear as his hips pushed forward and she once again felt the heavy, heated stretching of her vagina.
Her breath caught in her throat, then she gasped as his hand fell again. Firm little pats, not really a spanking, a burning caress that tore through her senses and had her vagina clutching and milking him just inside her.
She needed him deep inside her. Needed him to fill her. Now.
“Dawn, baby.” His voice was hoarse, almost broken with his hunger.
“Do it,” she snarled. “Damn you, fill me.”
He filled her. Slowly. Too slowly.
“Is this what you want, baby?” He worked another inch in as she cried out with the burning pleasure-pain of the impalement.
“Is this what you want, Dawn?” He penetrated further. “I have more, darling. Do you need more?”
“More.” She tried to scream the demand, but it was taking every breath to stay conscious as the pleasure whipped through her senses like a demented tornado.
“How much more? A little more?”
He was teasing her, destroying her. But with each word from his lips she heard him sinking further into the inferno as well. Burning with her as control began to dissolve.
The next thrust had him filling her. A ragged feline scream tore from her as she slammed back against him, ground against his pelvis as her hands bit into the leather of the bar stool in front of her.
“Seth, I need you.” She pressed her forehead into the padded edge of the bar and moaned in desperation. “Please, Seth, like I’ve never needed you.”
His hands clenched on her hips, his fingers holding her tight before he groaned behind her, and began to move.
He didn’t take her easy this time. Not as he had that morning where every touch was a seduction. This wasn’t seduction, this was a claiming and Dawn kne
w it. The woman understood it, and deep within her the animal that was as much a part of her as her scent, her flesh, stretched and snarled in agonizing pleasure.
Seth’s flesh slapped against hers as he fucked her. The sound of damp skin meeting damp skin, of lust and hunger, meeting lust and hunger, filled the room. Her growling moans and his deep male grunts.
Each thrust caressed hidden nerve endings, sent flares of torturous rapture whipping through her. Her womb clenched and her pussy flexed against the thrusting shaft. She was crying out, the crescendo rising inside her, flames shooting outward, inward, burning her, until in a single, fiery blaze, she exploded beneath him.
She felt the muscles of her vagina clamp down, ripple in hard, desperate pulses, and a second later Seth slammed deep, tightened further, and the fierce, heated pulse of his semen releasing inside her sent her spiraling higher, into another orgasm that almost ripped away consciousness.
She jerked in his arms, bucked against him, milked his seed from his body and, when they were both drained, collapsed against the bar stool and the bar that faced it.
Behind her, Seth was fighting for breath, and she wished him luck, because she didn’t think she would ever find her own.
“You make me crazy.” He nipped her ear before groaning and forcing himself back.
Dawn whimpered as his cock slid free of her, stroking her again, making her wonder if she could possibly stand more.
“Come on, little wildcat.” He wrapped his arm around her and forced her to straighten up. “Shower. Bed.”
“Bed, shower,” she mumbled, leaning against him for strength.
“In your dreams,” he chuckled as he led her to the bathroom despite her weak protests. There was just no way she could put any strength into anything yet.
“You’re mean to me,” she said with a pout as they stepped into the opulent bathroom and he sat her on the padded stool beside the shower stall.
“You won’t think that when you smell the soap I bought for you in Paris. The city of love, sweetheart. Let’s see what we have here.”
Her interest perked. She did so love the soaps Seth had been collecting for her.
She peeked up at him through the fan of her lashes as he opened the drawer beneath the sink and pulled a small bar free. Already the scent of it had her sighing at the thought of the pleasure to come.
“You’re going to bathe me?” She watched as he unwrapped the bar.
A wicked, erotic, totally male smile shaped his lips. “In ways you could never imagine, Dawn. You just can’t imagine.”
She hadn’t imagined. But it wasn’t long before she was coming for him again, her nails biting into his shoulders, the water spraying around them and the smell of love filling the air.
CHAPTER 15
The next morning Seth had no choice but to attend the meetings that had been scheduled for the the two-week-long house party. Too much had happened, and the other board members were growing distressed and angry now.
The subtle rumblings of dissent against the Breed presence were growing louder, and many of the board members felt that Breyer had been killed because of that presence.
Only Dash, Seth, Callan and Dawn knew better. Because they had the note Breyer had carried with him. Tell Seth now!
But tell Seth what? Dawn and Dash had gone through the Breyers’ suite; they had questioned the family and searched every article of clothing and every drawer, looking for an indication of the information Breyer had possessed. There was nothing to be found.
There was an investigator to deal with though. As Seth continued the meetings, Dawn and Dash waited next to the heli-pad for the investigator’s heli-jet to land.
Detective Bryan Ison, as Dawn remembered.
“Give me your impression of Ison,” Dash ordered as they waited for the landing.
“Council.” She shrugged.
It was easy to tell those in law enforcement who erred on the side of the Genetics Council and their lackeys, the pure blood and supreme race groups they funded.
Dash grunted, and as Dawn glanced at him, she saw the scowl that marked his face.
“He’s going to attempt to blame the murder on Breed presence rather than an attempt against Seth. Should we apprehend a suspect, he’ll demand custody and somehow they’ll slip away, as they always do in these situations.”
“The detective called ahead,” he told her.
Dawn glanced back at him curiously. “I wouldn’t have expected that.”
“He wants to question our enforcers.”
Dawn stilled. “He wants to lay the blame on one of our enforcers. Did he mention which one?”
He crossed his arms over his chest and his scowl deepened. “He mentioned Merc.”
Dawn’s eyes widened in surprise, then narrowed as sudden understanding hit her. Mercury Warrant was an anomaly among the Breeds. The man could frighten little children on the street if they weren’t so damned curious about his almost lionlike features. The thinner lips, the broader nose, incredibly high cheekbones and tilted eyes. His leonine mane fell to his shoulders, and his canines were stronger and more pronounced than most Breeds’. He looked dangerous; he was dangerous, if pushed far enough. Mercury was also known to be one of the most contrary, stubborn and determined Breeds Dawn knew.
Mercury only killed when there was no other choice. He defended. He would wound, concuss, roar at in fury and terrify the enemy, but he was the Breed that could have been voted least likely to kill.
The world was unaware of that. This investigator had no idea what he was facing if he went up against Mercury. Mercury liked head games. He enjoyed terrifying the enemy and he enjoyed confounding them.
“Just what we need, a pansy-assed Council ass-kisser trying to pin this on Mercury.”
“He’s petitioned the Bureau to question him,” Dash informed her.
“And Jonas is here, which means he’s not in his office taking stupid memos.”
“And the investigator knows that both Jonas and Callan are present. He’s trying to go over my head.”
“Callan won’t allow it.” She shook her head quickly.
The laughing snort that came from Dash’s mouth had her lips twitching.
“Hell, I wish he would,” he muttered. “Maybe I could dance one dance with my wife while I was here instead of playing referee between Jonas and Sanctuary’s enforcers. They don’t always get along well.”
“Does anyone get along with Jonas?” Dawn frowned at the thought. She couldn’t think of anyone.
“His flavor of the night?” Dash had the same questioning look on his face.
“Last I heard, his flavors had run out.” She snickered. “That lawyer he appeared so enamored of walked out of his office and shot him the finger on her way.”
Dash laughed at that one, then shook his head. “Callan and Jonas should have appraised Merc of what’s going on by now. Hopefully, we can stall Ison, or distract him.”
The heli-jet eased overhead and hovered for a long second before settling down on the landing pad. The bronze tone of the vehicle reflected the afternoon sun, and as the door swung open, the investigator and his sleek, blond-haired assistant stepped from the craft.
“Great,” Dash muttered. “Two for one. Can we get any luckier? Head on back to the meeting rooms,” he told her. “Seth will be out soon, and I don’t want to risk a repeat of the other night. Keep him in the house, if possible.”
Dawn nodded quickly before turning and heading back inside the mansion. Keeping Seth in the house wouldn’t be the problem. Keeping him out of Investigator Ison’s face would be the problem. Once he learned the law enforcement agents had arrived, he would be right there, in the thick of things.
Backing down wasn’t in Seth’s nature, nor was giving up. Yet he had done both, when he thought being with her would harm her. Though it pissed her off, it also sent a warm surge of emotion rushing through her.
That emotion was tinged with a hint of worry though. Seth, for all his romance an
d seductive gentleness, had yet to tell her he loved her. He had yet to even hint at understanding the permanency of the mating heat or to discuss a future with her. It was as though all intentions and thoughts of that future didn’t exist within the relationship they were building in his bedroom.
Breeds had been taught that relationships and marriage weren’t for them. But Dawn had to admit to a kernel of hope that it wasn’t true. Why she did so, she couldn’t explain to herself. They had been taught that God wasn’t for them either, and hadn’t He turned his back on her just as the scientists knew He would?
She needed to eradicate that hunger for more than just the mating. Wiping it out of her heart was the biggest favor she could do herself.
Or so she almost convinced herself until Seth walked out of that meeting room.
He was talking to Dane Vanderale, both men’s expressions somber and intent as they spoke. Seth had a light scowl on his face, but when his eyes met hers, the cloudy depths lighting with the barest hint of a smile as he continued to listen to Dane, Dawn knew her own heart was lost.
She felt it thump violently in her chest, felt the heat blazing through her veins as mating heat began to ratchet inside her. And she knew that just having his body was never going to be enough for her.
She needed all of him. She needed it to the point that it was a physical pain thrumming at the center of her being.
She needed his love.
“Ah, and here’s our lovely Dawn.” Dane’s eyes twinkled as a smile curved at his lips. “I must say, Seth, you’ve managed to capture the interest of the most intriguing woman currently inhabiting this island.”
Dawn didn’t blush, she barely blinked at Vanderale’s obvious flirting. Dane was a man-whore if Dawn had ever met one. A personable one, a charming and generous one, but a man-whore all the same.
“Stop flirting with Dawn, Dane,” Seth drawled as he moved across the hall to where Dawn stood against the banister that ran the length of the upper landing.
The warmth of his hard body surrounded her; the hand that clasped her hip pulled her to him as she continued to watch Dane.
There was something different about him, something she had never been able to put her finger on exactly.
“Dawn’s easy to flirt with.” Strong teeth flashed in a curiously feline smile. “She’s taken. I don’t have to worry about her.”
“She’s also getting tired of being discussed as though she weren’t here,” she informed both men.
Dane chuckled, then Dawn sensed him tensing. He didn’t change expression, his body didn’t shift or tighten. It was an animal awareness of danger that reached out to her.
Her gaze slid to his side as she watched Marion Carrington, Caroline’s father, move to face Seth.
It was obvious Caroline had gotten her looks from someone other than her sire. Marion was broad, fit for a man in his fifties. His complexion was ruddy, his watery blue eyes narrowed in anger, and it was obvious that anger was directed at Seth.
“My heli-jet will be collecting me this evening,” he snapped. “You can consider my final vote on this measure a nay. I won’t countenance wasting Lawrence resources in such a matter.” He flicked an insulting look at Dawn.
“And you know my stand on it, Marion. We can negotiate this, or I can call in the codicil on the shares. That’s your choice. My father made certain none of you could overrule me when it was important, not just to Lawrence Industries, but to the family as well.”
Marion Carrington flushed a darker hue. His body was fairly vibrating with rage. “You need two other votes to carry that codicil, Seth.”
Seth inclined his head slowly. “I do, and I have faith they’ll come through.”
“I think we all know he already has one of those votes.” Dane spoke up then. “The negotiation points are important, as Vanderale would like to share in the future profits I’m certain will come in from the ventures. Business is no place to allow personal conflicts to arise, Carrington. Your company, Carrier Resources, could pull in its own stake once Sanctuary and Haven begin pulling in their contracts. That’s rather like cutting your nose to spite your face, my friend.”
Haven was the Wolf Breed compound in Colorado. Both Haven and Sanctuary were working to establish themselves as viable corporations in their own rights. They had a talent. A talent that went for ridiculous amounts of money within the world: personal, business, electronic and military security. The future growth of their services, as well as their reputations, could make billions for not just the respective communities, but also for their backers.
Carrington wasn’t impressed.
“Mark my words, Seth.” His finger pointed imperiously toward Seth. “You’ll regret this, even more than you will otherwise. I’ll block you. Codicil or not, you won’t do this.”
Seth straightened arrogantly, staring down his aristocratic nose, his eyes narrowing dangerously.
“That codicil holds other clauses as well, Carrington. I suggest you and your lawyer go over them closely before you threaten me further. My father may have been ill-advised in his backing of the Council before we learned what it was. But we know now, and he ensured, when he sold the shares to the company and before his death, that nothing interfered with what I needed to do to protect his family and future grandchildren. Don’t underestimate my determination to do just that.” No one could underestimate the determination and the steel will behind his voice.
Children. Dawn refrained from placing her hand against her stomach. The hormonal treatments she had been receiving for years would block any pregnancy…perhaps.
She focused on Carrington instead and scented the indecision and the banked fury brewing inside him. He was greedy, but the anger he felt over the dissolution of Seth’s and his daughter’s relationship was more than apparent and it was swaying his decision to back Seth.
The frustration was evident in Carrington’s eyes, and in his face. His gaze flicked to Dawn then, and she saw hatred. Pure, malicious hatred. This man would have known what the Council was, who and what he was backing. And he despised the benefits now going to the Breeds, the creations he felt should have willingly given their blood and their dignity to the monsters that created them.