He pulled in and shut the engine off.
The hem of her dress had slid up, exposing the top of her thigh and the flash of bare skin above the hose she wore.
“I’m sorry for that fucked-up scene tonight.”
She made her little pfft noise at him. “There’s a new sheriff in town and they don’t like it. Lucky for me, I don’t give a rat’s ass what Beth or Carlos think. I’m not going back to any such events, you need to know that. I told your mother as well.”
“Baby, that’s not going to happen. If anyone gets uninvited to jamboree events for behavior issues, it’s not you.”
She climbed into his seat, straddling his lap.
“Max, I’m a big girl. I can handle myself.” She ground her pussy over his cock. There was no room to move the seat back; he had it back all the way. And he needed inside her body right then.
“Fuck me, Max. It’s been about six hours and I need you so badly my hands are shaking. My cat is quite slutty apparently.”
He laughed, as shaky as she was. “Slutty works for me.” He touched every part of her he could reach. But it wasn’t enough. “Out. We need out.”
She growled, but let him open the door and stumbled out. That’s when he pivoted her to face the car. “Hands on the hood. For now. Feet wide.”
He pulled her dress hem up, humming at how sexy the stockings looked, loving the rich blue of her barely there panties, which he quickly got rid of.
Leaning in, he took a deep breath, all of her entering his consciousness and driving him wild.
“Hurry,” she whispered.
One-handed, he got his pants unzipped and freed his cock. A bit more adjusting and a quick slide of his fingers through her pussy to be sure she was ready and he’d positioned himself at her gate and began pushing inside.
Her heels were high, high enough that she was at the perfect height. She pushed back against him, meeting him thrust for thrust. Her hair fell from the pretty updo she had it in, making her look disheveled and ridiculously sexy.
His mouth watered just looking at her, looking at their reflection in the windshield. Unable not to, he ripped the back of the bodice open, baring the pale skin of her back. She arched on a ragged cry of his name. When he leaned down, he meant to lick and kiss but when his teeth found her skin so warm and pliant, there was nothing else to do but bite.
She gasped as her inner muscles gripped his cock. The taste of her skin was unlike anything else. Magnificent. Salt and spice, uniquely hers and in turn, uniquely his. He let it lie on his tongue like fine wine.
She was close, he felt the change in her body. She slickened, heated to the point where he had to clench his jaw to hold back.
He pulled out, ignoring her growl of frustration as he sat her ass on his hood, went to his knees and, spreading her thighs open, dove in, licking her pussy, delighting in her squeal of pleasure.
Her nails dug into his shoulders, urging him closer.
He found her clit, sucking it into his mouth, pushing her over the edge. He growled his pleasure, always unable to get enough of her, needing more and more, even as he had her.
When he found his way back inside her pussy, she opened her eyes, her hair a sexy mess around her beautiful face. He leaned down, fucking into her body so hard she bounced until she wrapped her legs around him for purchase.
His lips found hers and she opened to him on a sigh, her arms twining around his neck.
Her taste mixed with his until it was all just them.
She broke the kiss as he continued to fuck her, brushing her lips down his neck until he shouted, coming harder than he could ever remember coming when her teeth sank into the skin exposed at the collar of his sweater.
She struggled for breath, the hard, cold hood against her back, a feverishly hot jaguar shifter at her front, his weight against her, his cock still inside her pussy.
“Wow.” She licked her lips, hoping the feeling would come back. “I’m going to have to keep you around just for that part.”
Wordless, he kissed her chest, over her heart and picked her up. He always held her with such gentleness and care that it brought something out she’d known she was missing but had been unable to quantify.
He cherished her.
“Thank you,” she murmured as she stayed wrapped around him like a monkey.
“I just fucked you in the garage on the hood of my car and ripped your dress.” Amused, he snorted. “What are you thanking me for?”
“For loving me.”
He put her down carefully, kissing her soundly. “Like I could do anything else.”
She headed to the bedroom, her dress falling down around her waist. The place he’d bitten stung a little bit, but in the right sort of way. It felt like a secret.
“Good thing I brought clothes over here, huh?”
“Not that you need them for bed.” He leered at her and she held her hands out, warding him off.
“Dude, even you can’t possibly want to have sex again yet.”
“There’s no ‘yet.’ It’s always.”
She tossed the ruined dress on the counter and bent to turn the shower on. “I think I should invest in some of those tear-away dancing clothes with you around. You’re murder on my budget.”
He kissed her back, where he’d marked her, sending delicious tingles through her body. “I’ll make it an item in our household budget. Clothes for Kendra. That way I can rip all I want. That’s part of the fun.”
Chuckling, he strolled from the room like the hot shit he was.
She laughed, but it snarled in her throat.
Her knees buckled as the first magickal hit slammed into her. On the way down, her head smacked the side of the tub, making her see stars as she scrambled to stand.
The world slowed as Max’s cat bounded into the room. He roared so loud it reverberated off the tile, deafening her for long moments.
Using him as balance to stand, she got her legs back and began to focus on whatever it was. In the background she heard other roars, grunts and growls. The guards outside, she wagered.
Pushing all that back, leaning into the giant cat who’d placed himself between her and the outside, she opened her othersight and found more than she’d imagined. Sharper, more brilliant and far-reaching. Her magick had amped up considerably as she looked for the source of the magickal punch.
It pressed against her, this other magick, unhealthy, not organic so it was more magic than magickal, like a chemical instead of a sunset. But it was powerful and dripping with menace.
“Not my family. Not my house, motherfucker,” she mumbled as her hands took flight, fending off, warding and at the very end, as it faded back, tagging it with a little magick of her own.
She slumped, holding her head, her nose now bleeding. Or maybe it had been all along, she couldn’t be sure at that point.
Max shifted back, his face hard and angry. The scent of his cat still in the air. “What the fuck was that? Why do you bleed so damned much? I need to kill him for making you bleed.”
She ignored his anger, knew it wasn’t at her. “I don’t know what it was. An attack of some kind. The wards here held him back, but he got through enough to physically slap at me. The nosebleed happens when I use a lot of magickal energy really fast, without giving myself the time to spool it up correctly. I also might have hit it when I smacked my head on the tub.”
“You’ll feel better in a minute. Your system will heal very quickly now.” He crouched at her feet. “You scared the shit out of me. I felt it so intensely that my cat came without my bidding. That’s not happened in a very long time.”
Pounding feet ran up the stairs as the guards shouted his name.
“Hold!” He slammed the bathroom door shut. “Do you need to go to the hospital?”
She
stood, still shaky but her vision was clear again and her nose had stopped bleeding. “No. I need a shower and then I need to go outside, nearer the edge of the wards so I can see if there’s anything else out there.”
He blinked at her, opening and closing his mouth like a guppy.
“Go on. The guards are worried.”
“You’re not going anywhere, Kendra. Wait for me. I’ll be back and you can shower while I’m here to be sure you’re not going to fall.”
She waited for him to leave and turned on the shower.
“Kendra, damn it!” he shouted from the other side of the door. She snorted a laugh as she stepped under the spray.
Within moments he was back in the bathroom. “Didn’t I tell you to wait for me?”
“You did. I needed to shower. I can do that without an escort. I make a lot of allowances for you and this alpha thing. I’ll take my own showers, thank you very much.”
“You’re just being contrary for the hell of it.”
“That so? Don’t know why I bother thinking at all since you’re so happy to do it for me. Like I’m dumb.”
“Now you’re twisting it.”
“Yep, that’s me. Twisting my own damned feelings because God knows when the great Max de La Vega speaks he knows everyone’s heart and mind better than they do. Don’t know why I even bother breathing when you should do it for me.”
He stepped into the shower stall with her, groaning when the spray hit his body. “You’re bitchy when you’re pissed off and scared.”
“Keep that in mind, then.” She smirked as she turned to watch him, water sluicing down all that muscle.
“I think my father tried to warn me about this,” he muttered, a smile on his lips as he tipped his head back.
She got out and began to towel off.
“Don’t even think about going outside. Guards are on the door.”
“You know what, Max? Fuck you. I told you how I feel about being held someplace I don’t want to be. Also, not to sound fourteen or anything, but it seems to have escaped your notice that you are not the boss of me.” She stormed out of the room, searching through her things to find a pair of underpants and a bra.
Shit. He’d fucked that one up badly. He got out, toweling off quickly and heading out into the bedroom where she stood, strong and feminine, everything he ever imagined needing and more.
Tough. Bitchy. Protective. Compassionate. Intelligent and strong. She had no plans, clearly, to take any guff from him.
She’d been balancing on one foot to get her panties on when he barreled into her, taking her to the bed so she ended up on top.
“I’m sorry about that last part.” He looked into her face, genuinely concerned about pushing any buttons her in-laws and ex had put inside her.
“I know you are. Butthead.” She leaned down and nipped his lip.
His neck tingled where she’d bitten him. He’d nearly forgotten that part. Smiling, he brushed his fingertips over it. “Never had one of these before. I like it.”
“You’re just trying to flatter your way out of trouble. I’m still going outside.” She kissed him and tried to get up. He held her tighter but she pinched his side and he yelped and she made her escape. “Next time, it’ll be your cock if you try to confine me.” Pausing, she sent him a raised brow. “Well, outside sex anyway.”
He groaned as she pulled jeans on and a sweater over her head.
“You’re going to kill me.”
“Get over yourself. I’m perfectly capable of going outside and looking around. We have to, Max, it’s imperative.”
She walked out and the guards—he planned to kill them all later—got out of her way at the sight of the look on her face.
“Gibson, let’s talk about the plan to go visit my father and his wife when I come back inside, okay?”
Gibson looked back at Max, who heaved a put-upon sigh and threw his hands up. “Wait. At least let me come out there with you. I need pants or the neighbors will complain.”
The corner of her mouth lifted. “Don’t be too sure. If I lived next door I wouldn’t complain at all.”
He put his jeans on, not bothering with shoes as he grabbed a sweatshirt off the banister and followed her down to the front hall.
“Are you sure this is safe? Why not wait a little while?”
“The longer he’s gone, the colder his trail goes. You should understand that very well.” And with that, she threw the door open and walked out.
Gibson growled, annoyed, leaping in front of her. “Listen here, pretty britches, I’m the guard, I go first. You wait for my signal to go ahead.”
She smiled, lowering her gaze in apology. “Of course. I’m sorry, Gib.”
“Show me by not using Gib as a nickname.” Gibson snorted and her laughter lifted Max’s heart.
“What I need to do is walk the perimeter. I won’t leave the protection of the wards. I promise,” she added to Max over her shoulder. “Give me space, all this testosterone and cat energy is like white noise.”
Gibson sent her a dark look, but backed off. Max recognized the hand signals his brother sent to the other guards, placing them around the yard strategically. Max also knew there were others on the roof with sniper rifles if claw and fang didn’t do the job.
And yet, the fear clawed at his insides. Fear for her. It was an emotion he’d not experienced much, especially as an adult. He wasn’t worried about himself, but she was his to protect. Having her out there under threat brought a cold sweat to his spine.
He was not used to being questioned. He knew it and she called him on it. Still didn’t mean he had to like it.
“I can feel your cranky mood through our bond,” she said quietly as she walked past.
Gibson made no outward appearance of having heard that comment but for a slight tic of his left eye.
“All for you, querida.”
She flipped him off before stopping near the high hedges on the southern side of the yard. Going still. Quiet. Her eyes, her cat’s eyes lived in her then, and a wave of admiration and love washed over him at the sight. His woman, strong and brave. Damn it, she was something else. Agitating, yes, but he didn’t want anyone else. She was the works and he’d take the good and the scary, because it was all her.
He moved closer, but still gave her space. She cocked her head, breathing in deep, her gaze slowly raking over whatever the hell she saw when she used her othersight.
Just as suddenly as she stopped, she turned and headed back into the house.
“That fucking bastard,” she grumbled as she rifled through Max’s front-entry table to find paper and a pen.
“Is that my new nickname then?” Max paused, taking her hand and kissing it.
She snorted. “Only in my head. Don’t you have paper and writing implements somewhere?”
He pulled another drawer open to expose a neat stack of paper and several pens.
“Thank you.” She began to write all her impressions down as the men waited patiently. Or they may not have been patient, but outwardly, they held a calm menace.
“You want to fill me in on what you found out there?” Max asked her after several minutes.
“It’s the same person. The same one who attacked that night.” She paused and smiled up at him. “The night you took me to dinner.”
His eyes warmed for a moment. “The beginning of this.” He brushed his lips against hers and her agitation settled slightly.
“So it’s the same person, or group. And to be honest with you, I think that weak attempt tonight was a feint. Yes, yes, I was wrong to want to check it out at first. You’re right.”
He grinned and she rolled her eyes. “I’m always right. If you’d accept that, you’d be so much happier.”
“If you’re finished gloating?
Do you remember when we went over to my father and Susan’s place? After they ran off?”
Gibson had organized that and he nodded slowly.
“The signature, energy, whatever I felt tonight is similar to what I felt there. He’s involved somehow. Or she is. They both are. Whatever. He’s part of it, and we need to find him and deal.”
“I sent out an advance team right before the party at my parents’ house. Big fun, huh? Bet you can’t wait for more of that.” Gibson’s smooth, calm delivery only made Kendra laugh harder.
Max wore a sour expression. “Stop it. You’re going to make her more hesitant to go back.”
Kendra and Gibson ignored Max and went back to their conversation. Gibson indicated the coordinates she’d given earlier. “I had to send out some sweepers first. To keep watch and stake out the area before I could send in a team. They’re not that far from here. Just off 93. Somewhere outside Wilmington.”
“Why didn’t you say? Let’s go!” Kendra made to grab her bag.
Gibson said nothing, but kept his arms crossed over his chest. He took a deep breath before speaking again. “Kendra, I would not send you out in a first wave. My people know how to run an operation and that’s what we’ll do. They’ll get all the information and reconnaissance to me and Jack, and I will make a plan of attack. We don’t involve you until we have a lot more information. And that’s not now.”
“I hate to break it to you and all, but I’m more prepared for them than you and your people are. They aren’t a physical threat. They’re a magickal one. You can’t fight that. I can. Also, what if they move?”
“That would indeed be unfortunate. And yet, it doesn’t change the fact that I make those choices when it comes to the safety of the leadership of this jamboree.”
She looked heavenward, seeking patience. “Fine. Do let me know when I’m allowed to act, then.” Before she said anything else, she spun and headed upstairs.
Back in their room, she dug through her bag until she found her phone and called Rosemary.
“All this could be over if we just shot that fucker in the head once and for all. And his bitch of a wife.” Gibson leaned against the door and gave his brother a look.