Mate Set

  Grady crouched down next to Mika’s chair. “He’s gone. I won’t bring him back to your house. Let’s go.”

  She sat there. “I don’t want to be anywhere near you right now.”

  Cursing, Grady grabbed her out of the chair and lifted her into his arms as he straightened. He headed for the door. “We’re leaving.”

  “Put me down.” Mika didn’t fight but she said the words.

  He paused at the door and shifted her in his arms to open the door. His Jeep was in the driveway. “We’ll talk about this at home.”

  “There’s nothing to talk about. I’m stuck here with you. Minnie explained what would happen if I leave. I don’t like you anymore, Grady. I don’t even want you touching me or talking to me.”

  Grady looked a little pale to her as he shifted her again and opened the Jeep door. He deposited her gently into the passenger seat, put on her belt, and slammed the door. She watched him round the Jeep and climb inside. He drove silently back to her house.

  Eric’s Mustang was gone. Grady pulled into the driveway and then lifted her out of the car. She noticed he’d attached her key ring to his keys as he unlocked her front door. He must have taken them from her purse. He carried her to her room and set her on the bed. She watched him. She heard the front door slam. In seconds he was back in her room. He stared at her from the doorway.

  “Don’t ever pull another stunt like that again. I can’t believe you sneaked out the bathroom window.”

  “Don’t tell me what to do.”

  “Damn it, babe. I’m sorry, all right? If I knew you’d freak out this way, I never would have suggested bringing Eric here to protect you.”

  “Get out of my room.”

  “I want you.” He paused. “I need you. It’s been hours.”

  “Go fuck Eric.” She climbed off her bed and stumbled as she staggered to her bathroom. “I am really taking a shower this time.”

  “I don’t fuck other men,” he growled behind her.

  She froze and turned her head to glare at him. “Neither do I.”

  She staggered into the bathroom and tried to slam the door. That’s when she realized it was broken. The lock and handle were dangling and the doorframe was broken. She saw a crack on the door next to the handle. Grady obviously had kicked in the door. The water wasn’t running in the shower anymore.

  She stripped and turned on the water. It helped sober her up but not by much. She really didn’t drink often. She took her time. She was almost afraid Grady would follow her into the bathroom but he didn’t. She hadn’t brought clean clothes. She wrapped a towel around her body and walked into her room.

  Grady sat on her bed, watching her silently. His eye color had gone totally black. She saw the look on his face as he slowly took in every inch of her from toes to head. She knew he wanted her. She hesitated and then walked to her nightstand drawer. She opened it and threw a condom at him. She walked to her dresser and grabbed the hand lotion she used on her legs. She shot him a glare and then dropped her towel.

  She threw the lotion at him, hitting him in the chest. “Go ahead and fuck me, Grady. It’s all you want from me.” She walked over to her chair in the corner and bent over, gripping the arms of it to support her balance. She looked over her shoulder at him. “Put the condom on, lube up, and use me. Don’t sugarcoat it anymore. Just do it this way so I know exactly where I stand. Or should I say bend.”

  Grady snarled. He put on the condom and grabbed the lotion. He dumped it in his hand and coated his hard, condom-covered cock. He stood up and moved toward her.

  Mika turned her head away from him and squeezed her eyes closed. She tensed and then forced herself to relax as she took deep breaths. She hoped he wouldn’t hurt her, knowing he could if he wanted to, by taking her too roughly. She could sense him standing inches from her.

  “Babe,” he growled.

  “Just do it and get it over with.”

  “I’m not taking you like this. You don’t want me and you aren’t ready.”

  Mika swallowed hard and fought tears, refusing to look at him. “Do it, Grady. You need to fuck me so get on with it. You don’t have a clue what I want, obviously. I’m here, I’m bent over, and I’m telling you to take me. Just do it so I can get away from you again for a few hours.”

  Grady snarled and his hands gripped her hips roughly. Mika tensed but Grady didn’t enter her the way she thought he would. Instead he yanked her away from the chair and she screamed as he threw her. She hit the bed but it didn’t hurt. She stared at Grady in shock as he got on the bed with her.

  “Spread your thighs,” he snarled.

  She saw his intent. He wanted to go down on her to get her turned on. She rolled away from him and lifted to her hands and knees. “I don’t want your face between my thighs again. Just fuck me, Grady. I totally have learned my place in your life. You made certain of that.”

  “What in the hell are you talking about?”

  She turned her head and glared at him. “If you aren’t going to fuck me then get out of my room.”

  Grady snarled and moved to his knees behind her. One hand gripped his cock and his other hand gripped her hip. “Do you really want me like this, babe? No foreplay?”

  She turned her head away and shut her eyes. No. She didn’t. She wanted him to love her. She wanted him to care enough about her that the idea of someone else touching her made him furious. She wanted him to never…

  He entered her slowly. All thought left her head. Mika bit her lip hard. She should hate the feeling as Grady pushed into her from behind but she didn’t. She fought the urge to moan. He was working his cock into her slowly and he buried himself in her balls-deep, where he held still. One hand wrapped around her waist and the other slid between her legs to her clit. It was the hand he’d slathered with lotion.

  He stayed still inside her while he rubbed her clit. “I can make you want me,” he growled at her.

  “I hate you,” she whispered.

  His hand stilled then his fingers moved faster and firmer until Mika couldn’t fight the sensations anymore. She moaned and wiggled on his hand. Grady groaned behind her and started to slowly thrust in and out of her. With the sensation of him inside her and his fingers rubbing her clit she only lasted a few minutes before she came hard. She cried out but she refused to say his name.

  Grady released her clit and gripped her hips. He pounded into her from behind, hard and deep, as her muscles inside still clenched and fluttered from her climax. He didn’t last long. He shook and groaned loudly as he emptied his seed into the condom.

  Mika tried to crawl away from him but Grady refused to release her hips. “I’m sorry I upset you.”

  “Let me go, Grady. Get out of my room and don’t come back in here until you need me again.”

  “You like sleeping with me.” He withdrew from her body and released her hips.

  Mika crawled to the edge of the bed and stumbled to the bathroom. “That was before I knew how you really felt about me. I’m going to go wash. I feel dirty.”

  She’d barely turned on the water when she heard a howl of rage come from her bedroom. Something heavy smashed into something else. She experienced a little fear as she inched toward the bathroom door and eased it open.

  Her nightstand was across the room in pieces and the wall it had hit was damaged. Grady wasn’t in her bedroom. She turned, easing the broken door closed again, and moved to the shower as hot tears fell down her face. She didn’t even bother to wipe them away. Maybe her words had hurt him as much as his words had hurt her.

  Chapter Eleven

  “We need to talk.”

  Mika ignored Grady. She glanced at her watch instead. “We had sex an hour ago. We have nothing to talk about for at least another hour.” She moved around his large body and walked into the kitchen.

  For two days she’d refused to talk to him except for unavoidable, clipped exchanges. She’d stopped fighting to keep things cold in the bedroom. Grady was stronger and bigge
r. He’d easily pinned her down and done things to her to turn her on. He loved to bury his face between her thighs. She just wouldn’t talk to him and right after sex she’d shower every time and refuse to stay in a room with him.

  “Damn it, Mika. We can’t go on like this.”

  She shrugged and opened the fridge. “I’ve already told you I don’t want to talk to you.”

  “You’re being childish, damn it.”

  She clenched her teeth and then removed a premade chicken Caesar salad from the fridge. She ignored his insulting remark, not wanting to fight with him. She walked to the table and sat down with her lunch. She got up, went back to the fridge and grabbed a soda, got a fork and then sat down and started to eat.

  “Mika, damn it, we can’t live this way.”

  She swallowed her bite. “Is mating season over?”

  “Not yet.”

  “Then this is how it is since it’s been clearly explained to me that we’re stuck together.”

  He sat across the table from her and glared at her. “Are you ever going to forgive me for suggesting Eric be with us in the bedroom?”

  She sipped her soda. “You said a threesome. There’s a world of difference between a threesome and voyeurism. You were going to let that prick fuck me. No, I’m not going to forgive you.”

  “I never pegged you for a prude.”

  She looked up at him then. “I never pegged you for a complete asshole with the intelligence of a turnip since you’re too dense to get why I’m so damn upset and angry with you.”

  “Then explain it to me slowly since I’m so damn stupid,” he growled.

  “I thought I already had.”

  “I don’t get it.”

  “Is there a woman in your life, any woman at all that you feel protective of? Maybe a sister or a mother figure?”

  He blinked. “Yes. One of the families that raised me had four daughters. They are like sisters to me.”

  She nodded. “Good. Now imagine one of them ending up with a creep who wanted his pal to fuck her too. Think long and hard about it. Is that a happy thought for you? Is that what you want for your sister?”

  She saw his eyes darken. “That’s totally different.”

  “Really? How?”

  “I’d kill any asshole who touched one of them if he wasn’t mated to her. No mate would ever let another male touch his woman.” He frowned. “We’re not mated.”

  She sighed. “You’re never going to get it. I’m done trying to explain it to you.”

  She continued eating, sensing he was watching her but she didn’t look up. When she finished lunch she threw away her trash and turned to leave the kitchen.

  “I miss seeing you smile and hearing you laugh,” he said softly. “I miss how it was.”

  So did she. She paused in the archway to the living room. Grady knew how to get to her. She took a deep breath and turned to meet his gaze. “What do you want me to say? You hurt me, Grady. Am I supposed to forget that? Am I supposed to just get over it?”

  “I wish to hell you would. I want to sleep in your bed again and I don’t want to have to feel as though I’m forcing you to want me every damn time I touch you.”

  “How long is mating season still in effect?”

  “About a week more but it’s hard to tell since it’s not an exact science. It’s more to do with it being summer and…hell, I can’t explain it. We have about a week left.”

  She wanted it to be the way it had been between them before he brought Eric home with him but this time she wasn’t going to let herself get hopeful he’d fall for her. She slowly turned around and walked toward him.

  “If you ever suggest another man to me, I don’t care if you go crazy and they have to put you down. I’ll run, Grady. I will run so far and fast, do whatever it takes to get away from you, and I’ll stay away from you. Are we clear?”

  “Perfectly.”

  She stopped in front of him and held out her hand to him. He reached for her hand and stood up. She led him to her bedroom and released his hand. She licked her lips and looked up at him as she kicked off her shoes.

  “We have a week left. Let’s make the most of it. Just don’t ever try that shit again, all right? I’m not some bitch you can pass off to one of your friends.”

  “It wasn’t like that.” He looked furious. “I am afraid I’ll hurt you, damn it.”

  “So fucking another guy is going to keep me safe?”

  “Yes,” he growled. “It will remind me that you’re not mine to keep so I don’t mate you. The urge is so strong that you’re in danger and Eric could protect you, so yeah, I’d let him fuck you if it meant you were safe from me. I’d do anything to keep you safe.”

  That shocked her. She wanted to ask him if the idea of mating her was really all that bad for him, but she held her tongue. She knew he had emotional scars from being punished for being half human by his father’s wife Eve. She realized, from what had happened to her own parents, that a human and werewolf mating wasn’t easy on any couple in a pack. She knew that Grady wanted and needed to be accepted by them.

  Grady stared down at her. “I want you to want me without fighting me on it. I need you to really want me, babe.”

  She stripped out of her clothes. “Wanting you isn’t the problem. Needing you is.”

  He cocked his head. “Why? I need you.”

  “You need me until next week. Then you won’t need me anymore. I’m afraid I’m still going to need you, damn it. I’m…” she sighed. “I’m getting attached, Grady.”

  An emotion flickered over his face but then it was gone. “I can’t ever mate you, babe.”

  “So you’ve told me.”

  He stripped naked. Mika was always affected by his muscular, sexy body. He was perfect, he was Grady, and she loved him even though she hated doing it. She couldn’t stop caring for him even if he’d never feel the same way about her. She moved backward and then climbed on the bed. She stretched out naked on her back and held her arms out to him.

  “Take me.”

  Grady growled at her, his eyes going black, as he climbed on the bed. Mika spread her thighs wide open for him. She wanted him to touch her. She wanted his hands and mouth on every part of her. She wanted to touch him and she did as he climbed over her. Her hands brushed his chest and she ran her palms run up to his shoulders. Their eyes locked and she lifted her head.

  “Kiss me. Make me forget everything but you and me, right now.”

  Grady lowered his mouth and took possession of hers. She loved the way he kissed her. No one ever kissed her the way he did as he fully possessed and dominated her mouth. His tongue moved against hers the same way he moved inside her when he was buried deep in her sex. She moaned and clawed at him. She knew he was holding back. She could feel it. She broke the kiss.

  “Give me what you have, Grady. You aren’t going to break me. I promise.”

  He snarled a curse and then rolled them so she was sprawled on top of him. She sat up, straddling him, and lowered her head. She went for one of his nipples with her mouth. He groaned as she sucked on him and used her teeth to nip his pebbled nipple between her teeth. He jerked under her.

  “Don’t,” he warned. “I’m holding onto my control by a thread. No biting.”

  She kept hold of his nipple and raised her eyes to meet his black ones. She nipped him a little harder. He snarled, showing sharp teeth, and then rolled them again. In a heartbeat, she found herself pinned as Grady entered her hard and fast.

  She cried out in pleasure as he buried himself deep in one sure drive of his cock. She had released his nipple when she cried out. Their gazes locked.

  “I’m going to fuck you, babe. Hard. I’ve missed you so damn much. I’ve wanted you to look at me like that again so damn bad, you have no idea what it does to me.”

  “Please.”

  That was all it took. Grady’s cock plowed in and out of her, powered by his frantically driven hips. Mika threw her head back and moaned loudly. She wrapp
ed her legs high around his waist to give him plenty of room for easier access. Her fingernails dug into his muscular arms while she clawed at him.

  Grady shifted his position and drove in at an angle that had her feeling a new level of pleasure. The faster he moved the better it felt. When Grady arched his back and lowered his head to capture one of her breasts, she lost it as he sucked hard on her nipple. She came, screaming his name.

  Grady’s release exploded inside her. She felt hot heat shooting deep inside her as Grady snarled. With every spurt of his release he sucked hard on her nipple, causing her own climax to drag out. With one last spasm, when she felt pain from how hard he sucked on her nipple, she went limp under him. Grady released her breast and collapsed on top of her. He adjusted his arms to brace his upper weight so she could breathe. It was the only movement she had with his bigger body pinning her under him.

  The sweat tickled between their bodies and they were both breathing hard. Mika couldn’t help but smile. She rubbed his back and paused at the hair she felt there. “You okay?”

  Grady’s entire body turned rigid. The afterglow of great sex was suddenly destroyed as Grady growled and started to viciously curse.

  “Fuck. Damn it. Goddamn it. Fuck!”

  He rolled away from her in the same instant that he jerked his still-hard cock from her body. He was off the bed in a shot and he went crazy as Mika watched. She lifted her head, stunned and horrified as Grady actually attacked one of her walls. He punched and kicked the wall so hard that plaster cracked and broke. She saw the insides of her walls as he continued to go crazy.

  She sat up, staring at the man who’d obviously lost his mind. “Grady?”

  He turned, pure rage burning in his black eyes. She drew back in real terror. His face was partially changed. The teeth she saw were sharp and dangerous looking. Grady threw back his head and literally roared out in rage.

  Mika fled. Terrified, she leapt from her bed and ran from her room to the guestroom. She slammed and locked the bedroom door. She didn’t know what was wrong with Grady but he was scaring the shit out of her. The look in his eyes when he’d roared at her had been ice cold and filled with fury.