Dark Instincts

  Marcus swirled it around before sinking his tongue into her over and over. Her thighs were shaking and she was writhing restlessly. Knowing she needed to come, he briefly suckled on her clit before thrusting his tongue back inside her pussy. At that, she arched her back and came. He lapped up every drop, growling in objection when she moved away. “Get back here.”

  “I was going to reward you.” Straddling one of his thighs, she clamped her hand around his cock, and pumped him once before sweeping her thumb over the head. “Don’t you want a reward?”

  Helplessly, he arched into her fist. “Again.” She pumped him hard and fast, doing some twisting motion that almost made him lose his fucking mind. “That’s it. Harder.” Christ, he was so close . . . almost there—

  The little vixen stopped. He bucked against the restraints. “Let me up!”

  She folded her arms over her chest. “Now I don’t really think you’re in a position to order me around, do you?”

  He growled. She was so close yet so far, and it was driving him insane. What’s more, she knew it. “When I get free, I’m going to fuck you so hard—and I won’t give a shit if you like it!”

  She laughed. “Fascinating.”

  Fascinating? “Either let me up or put me inside you.”

  Cocking her head, she pursed her lips. “Nah.”

  Nah? Oh, he was going to kill her. Really, once he got his hands on her . . . after he’d fucked her . . . he was going to kill her.

  “We’ll get to the fucking, but not yet.” She leaned over and licked his cock from base to tip. “I need you nice and wet . . . so I can ride you.”

  He groaned as she curled her soft hand around the base of his cock and took him inside her mouth. She sucked him hard, taking him deeper with each pass and stroking the underside of his cock with the flat of her tongue. “Fuck, yeah. You have the best mouth.” And with her soft hair trailing over his thighs and her moaning around his cock, he was in absolute heaven. Pausing, she danced her tongue around him before lightly grazing the head with her teeth. “That’s it. Make me come.” Instead, she stopped and bit down hard on his inner thigh, marking him. “Untie one hand. One hand.” He wanted to touch her so badly, it was an ache in his gut. He didn’t think he’d been this desperate for anything in his life. Only Roni could do this to him.

  Straddling his cock, she shook her head. “No. I’m going to ride you while you’re all tied up. And there’s nothing you can do about it.” She slammed down on him, impaling herself fully.

  Her muscles clasped him tight. “Fuck, Roni.” Slowly she raised herself until only the head was inside her, and then she slowly impaled herself again. A few more times she did that before he rumbled, “Faster.”

  Paraphrasing something he’d once said, she replied, “No, because when I have this cock inside me, it’s mine. And right now, I want to ride it nice and slow.”

  He snarled. “You don’t like ‘nice and slow.’ This is killing you as much as it’s killing me. Let me up, sweetheart, and I swear I’ll take care of you.” She swiveled her hips. “Do that again.” She did, and he groaned. “Roni, I need it harder. You need it. Come on, give us both what we need.”

  “You need it?”

  “Yes,” he gritted out.

  “Bad?”

  “Yes. Fucking do it, Roni!” Nails digging into his waist, she rode him hard. He arched into each of her downward thrusts, needing to be as deep as he could possibly go. He wanted to grab a fistful of her hair, wanted to yank her close and bite down on her neck. Bound, all he could do was watch as she fucked herself on his cock, slamming up and down. It was a sight that would be burned into his memory. “Untie me so I can touch you.”

  “Not a chance. You’ll get what I give you.” She paused to rotate her hips. “Understand?”

  Marcus was ready to tell her he’d never submitted in his life, and he wouldn’t start now. But this wasn’t “anyone.” It was his mate. In that sense, it didn’t really matter who was in control right then, because she owned him anyway. It didn’t mean it wouldn’t gall him to verbally agree to submit, though—or that she wouldn’t pay for torturing him. “Fine. I’ll take what you give.”

  “Yes, you will.” Again, she began impaling herself over and over, grinding her clit into his pelvis. The friction kept building, the sensations kept drowning her, and the tension kept intensifying until finally a climax swept over her. It seemed to ripple up her spine, bowing her body, and Roni threw her head back and screamed.

  Her muscles tightened and contracted around him, milking his cock. “Son of a bitch.” Marcus thrust up one last time and exploded inside her—it went on, and on, and on. Then she collapsed on top of him, panting. Since his mate had a way of scrambling his brain, it was a good few minutes before he could speak. “You okay, gorgeous?”

  “Hmmm.”

  “I really am sorry for last night.”

  She snickered. “You’d better be.”

  “It was shitty of me, and you didn’t deserve it.” A brief pause. “You going to untie me now?”

  “Well . . .”

  “Roni.”

  “It’s just that you made quite a few threats.” And her mate always made good on his threats.

  “It was driving me insane that I couldn’t touch you, that’s all,” he assured her. “Come on, untie me. My arms are starting to hurt.”

  She hadn’t thought of that. Sitting up, she shuffled forward and leaned over to free one wrist. That done, she freed the other before reaching back and releasing his ankles. She was just about to massage his arms when she was abruptly flipped onto her back. Electric-blue eyes filled with resolve and hunger stared down at her. “Now, Marcus . . .”

  He nipped her bottom lip hard. “You denied me what’s mine.”

  “Not exactly.”

  “Yes, you did.” He swirled his tongue in the hollow of her throat. “See, this body belongs to me. I wanted to touch it”—he smoothed a hand down her side—“lick it”—he delivered a long, sensual lick to her neck—“bite it”—he sank his teeth into her throat—“and fuck it.” He ground his reviving cock against her clit.

  “It’s not like I left you high and dry.”

  “That’s not the point now, is it?” He breezed the pad of his thumb over her bottom lip. “It’s one thing to ask me to submit, but you wouldn’t even give me your mouth. That was cruel.”

  “You can have it now.”

  “Yes, I can. And I will.” He slammed his mouth on hers, sweeping his tongue inside, dominating the kiss. He lashed her tongue with his, demanding a response. She gave it, twining her tongue with his. Like always, his mate gave as good as she got. But she didn’t try to make the kiss her own, didn’t try to dominate it. Placating him, he knew.

  Marcus wasn’t in the mood to be placated. Hard again, he quickly flipped her onto her hands and knees and teased her entrance with the tip of his cock. “You stopped me from taking what was mine. So I’m going to take it now.” He rammed into her. Her muscles clasped him tight as her back arched. He pulled out of her in one long, drawn-out slide, making her feel every inch. Then he plunged back inside. He kept his strokes sluggish, gentle. When she tried pushing back to meet him, he slapped one ass cheek. “No. We’re doing it nice and slow.”

  Understanding that he was torturing her for using those exact words on him, Roni glared at him over her shoulder. “What, you can’t spank me harder than that?”

  Oh, the little witch. He brought his hand down hard on one ass cheek, and then the other. “Does that answer your question?” Placing his hand between her shoulder blades, he pushed down hard. Before she could lash out at him for the extremely dominant move, he gripped both of her shoulders and started lunging in and out of her.

  Trapped beneath him, she growled. “Let me up!”

  “Why? You didn’t let me up when I asked.” He knew Roni could get up using one of her fancy moves if she really wanted. No, being pinned down wasn’t the source of her frustration. His little mate liked
a struggle. What she didn’t like was that he wasn’t fucking her as hard as she wanted. “You need it harder, sweetheart, don’t you?”

  “Yes,” she ground out.

  “Tough.”

  “What?”

  “I warned you I wouldn’t give a shit if you liked it.” Oh, that seemed to piss her off. Growling, she unsheathed her claws and reached back to slash at him. Fortunately for him, the angle was too awkward for her to do any damage. That just pissed her off even more. She writhed and struggled, cursing him. “That’s it, fight me.” She did. But the fighting stopped when he started slamming into her, giving it to her as hard and fast as she liked it.

  Startling Roni, he suddenly withdrew his cock. “What the—” She gasped as two long fingers pushed inside her. “What’re you doing?” Then one of those fingers slid to the puckered hole at the back, circling it teasingly.

  “Has anyone taken you here?”

  “No. And neither will you.”

  He chuckled. “Oh, yes I will.” He gently pushed his finger inside, and she bucked, hissing. “Don’t pretend you don’t want it. You’ve thought about it, imagined it.” His pretty little wolf was too inquisitive to not wonder about it. He pulled his finger out of her ass and slowly thrust it back inside.

  Okay, she could concede that she was curious. And she could concede that, surprisingly, the sensation was . . . nice. It hurt, but there was a bite of pleasure to it. After a few more thrusts, she started to relax around his finger. But then a second finger probed, and she tensed.

  “Ssh, it’s okay. You can’t take my cock there just yet. We need to stretch you first.”

  “You’re too big.” How lucky was she to be able to say those words and mean them?

  “You’re my mate. You were made to take me—anywhere and everywhere.” He repeatedly thrust two fingers in and out of her ass while licking over his claiming mark. She was soon moaning and squirming, so he added a third finger. He’d expected her to tense again, but she didn’t. “That’s it, sweetheart.” He gently slid three fingers in and out, until she began pushing back to meet them. “I think you’re ready for me.”

  As Roni felt the thick, round head of his cock press against her ass, she did her best not to tense. Instead, she pushed out as he began to very slowly sink inside her. It felt like . . . she couldn’t describe it. It was a combination of pleasure, pain, and pressure as he fed her inch after inch of his cock, stretching and filling her. “It hurts,” she rasped, though she wasn’t complaining.

  Marcus paused and kissed her shoulder. “Shh, you’re doing so well.” Again, he pushed forward. Fuck, the feel of her, the sight of his cock disappearing into her ass, those frustrated moans she made . . . it was a shock that he hadn’t come already. Once he was finally fully sheathed, Marcus groaned. “Fuck, you’re tight.” Blanketing her back, he spoke into her ear. “You okay?” Through their link, he could feel that she was fine, but he wanted the words.

  She nodded once, panting. “I’m okay.”

  Cupping her ass, Marcus slowly withdrew until just the head was inside her. Then he smoothly drove back in, seating himself to the balls. “You know I love your ass. It’s the tightest, sweetest ass. And it’s all mine.” Again and again, he slowly thrust in and out. “Feel good? More?” At her moan of assent, he upped his pace a little and hardened his thrusts. She reared back to counter each one. “That’s it, take it.”

  “Harder.”

  Growling, Marcus locked his teeth on her nape and began punching his cock in and out of her, giving her exactly what she wanted. Every whimper and moan spurred him on, drove him further and further to the edge of his control until he was slamming into her. She groaned his name—it was a sound of total frustration, and he knew she was close.

  Sliding one hand underneath her, he pumped two fingers into her pussy. “Give it to me, Roni. Come.” He sank his teeth into her nape deep enough to draw blood and growled as her ass tightened around him. He drove himself inside one last time and held still, pulsing deep inside his mate—claiming her all over again.

  Feeling the force of both her climax and his, Roni screamed. Tremors shook her entire body as pure and utter bliss whipped through her. It was so good, it almost hurt. When her climax finally eased off, she slumped onto the mattress, and a big, solid body folded over hers. Minutes or hours later, he disappeared from the bed and came back with a wet cloth. Without moving her, he cleaned her up and then blanketed her body once again, pressing kisses to her spine.

  It was then, while she was still happily floating on that post-climax cloud, that her wolf snapped her teeth at her. Not in anger. The wolf wanted her attention. She was . . . gloating, and she was annoyed with Roni for missing what she had so easily sensed. “Our scents have mixed.”

  “I know.” He’d noticed it the second his brain had switched back on . . . which had been somewhere between rising from the bed and cleaning himself up in the bathroom. Like his wolf, he was reveling in the whole thing. It meant that their mating bond was advancing, which was amazing in and of itself. It also meant that shifters would know Roni was mated the very second they scented her. It massively appealed to the possessive streak in him.

  “What caused it?” From what she knew, it took certain steps to make the bond advance.

  “Do you see any sense whatsoever in mating ceremonies?”

  “None at all.”

  “But you went through with ours. Why?” He already knew the answer.

  A small shrug. “Because I thought it was important to you.”

  “It was very important to me. For you, parties and being the center of attention is a nightmare. But you did it for me.” If she understood why, he wasn’t sure. Marcus kissed the back of her shoulder. “I’ve never submitted to anything or anyone in my life. But I did it for you.” He hadn’t done it quietly or easily, but he’d done it. Because it was Roni. There wasn’t anything—big or small—that he wouldn’t do for her.

  “I love you, Roni. I know you’ll find it hard to believe, because you have this stupid idea that there isn’t anything about you worth loving, that you’re nothing but annoying and awkward. You don’t see what you mean to the people who really know you. You don’t see what you mean to me. So I’m telling you. Because to hold the words in . . . it’s just stupid and unfair.”

  He pressed a long kiss between her shoulder blades before continuing. “I don’t think I’ll ever be someone who’s upfront about what I’m really feeling. But I don’t want to be that way with you. I don’t want you to ever wonder how much you matter to me. That place where you wonder if someone who you love loves you back . . . it’s not a nice place to be. It would be selfish and gutless to let the feelings that run up and down the mating link do all the talking for me.” He rested his forehead on her back. “Aren’t you going to say anything?”

  There was a pause before she spoke. “Did you know that—”

  “Roni.”

  “Okay, okay. It’s just . . . I’m not good with feelings.” Maybe it was because she overthought things. Or maybe it was because she was more practical than emotional. “But I do know that I love you. No other reason would have made me go through with that nightmare.” His chuckle made her smile. “Sorry if you were hoping for some soppy words. I’m not expressive. At least not with words, anyway.” Fists, claws, teeth, and shears—that was how Roni got her emotions across.

  Gently turning her onto her back, Marcus kissed her hard. “Thank you for telling me.”

  “You were right. It’s senseless and unfair to hold back. Just . . . don’t be offended if I don’t say it a lot.”

  “I’m not expecting you to change. I’d just like you to give me the words from time to time.”

  “I can do that.” What she couldn’t do was work out what it would take for the mating bond to fully form. Considering Marcus’s twisted experiences with loving relationships and Roni’s difficulty in recognizing loving emotions, she would have thought coming to the realization of how they felt for
each other—particularly since they had openly admitted it—would be enough. But no. And she didn’t understand why.

  Marcus kissed her again, taking his time exploring her mouth. She squirmed and then winced. “Sore?”

  “A little.” She frowned at him. “You’re more smug than concerned.”

  “I kind of like the idea that every time you move today, you’ll remember how it felt when I took your ass.” She just sniffed. Noticing a piece of rope still hanging from the headboard, he gave her a faint smile. “I have a question. Why didn’t you just yell at me?”

  She shrugged one shoulder. “Arguing is a waste of time and energy.”

  “We’ll never really have super big arguments, will we,” he then understood. Neither of them liked rowing or drama, and they both preferred action to words. Besides, Roni rarely allowed herself to get angry enough to engage in conflict. But when she was angry, she would never let him get away with any stunt he pulled. She would never take his shit. No. His vengeful little wolf would always dish it back, but in her own special way. Like tying him up and sexually torturing him, for instance.

  “I doubt it.” Hearing his stomach grumble, she rolled her eyes.

  “Hey, I’m a growing boy.”

  “Fine. Let’s go eat. I’d like to see my brothers anyway.”

  “What are you going to do?” He couldn’t help smirking. Roni’s brand of vengeance was always entertaining.

  “Oh, I’ve already had my revenge, silly.” She’d taken care of that while Marcus had been in dreamland. “I just want to see the damage for myself.”

  “What did you do?”

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Oh, his mate was cold.

  Marcus smiled at the human sitting beside Shaya on the porch swing. “Hey, Stone.” Though Shaya’s father was tall and burly, he reminded Marcus a lot of Jack Nicholson—a slow-dawning Cheshire Cat smile, a gravelly drawl, and an easy, confident posture. A person only had to take one look at Stone Critchley’s neat, smart appearance to know that he valued precision and control.