But she was, ashamed, and that was the real problem. Evangeline would never be able to live n the real human world simply because she had denied her Wendiga and her nature entirely. She would never be able to live anywhere but in isolation, never be close to anybody but the old fool who she clung to like a lifeline. Her beast was too vicious to let loose anywhere other than in the wilderness. Yet Clan life was not for her. The males would go crazy for her and they would never give her a moments rest.
More than that I would likely lose my life if Cartwright hadn’t yet claimed my head, because hell would freeze over before I let other males lay hands on her … speaking of which….
“That man … the one who beats you and calls himself family–” My jaw clenched involuntarily and I had to force it open. “He is not your biological father.”
She stared at me before her pale face flushed bright red. “No,” she mumbled and tried lurched forward suddenly trying to launch herself off the bed.
I grabbed her ankle and dragged her back. “Biologically it isn’t possible,” I continued, ignoring her struggles. “The Wendigo gene travels down the male bloodline, not the female. Are you hearing me, sweetheart? That drunk, mean old man is not blood.”
Stilling, she absorbed this information calmly now. I felt pride at her ability to understand and accept this. Her trembling stopped and there was a glazed look in her eyes. As much as I hated it I carried on, needing her to hear me. I shifted so my bare feet hit the hard wood floor and leaned forward to rest my forearms on my knees. I scrubbed my hands through my hair. She had to know the truth and accept the danger. It killed me to have to say it, but I wouldn’t have her in the dark.
“I wish I could stay here and comfort you and show you all the amazing thing we could… Argh! It doesn’t matter. What does matter is that Cartwright will not stop hunting me,” I admitted forcefully. “No matter how many of his men we throw from cliff faces or disembowel. More will come. I took his daughter from him.”
That was it for me. Running, hiding, and waiting for a man driven by revenge and anger to finally catch and kill me. But Evangeline had a chance to live her life away from the backwards thinking of the Clan, and away from her abusive father. If I was free to I would dedicate my life to showing her this, but my fate was already decided. I couldn’t ask her to leave this place with me for an uncertain and dangerous future.
A small, cool hand rested on my shoulder. Sighing I flexed under her touch then hissed when she pressed her body into mine from behind. Her legs and arms came around me and she kissed the nape of my neck. Her breasts pushed against my back as she snuggled closer. I stoked a hand up her calf, sent her a questioning look over my shoulder.
Her gray eyes were intense and her face troubled. “No matter what you have done, Luke, you will not die by Cartwright’s hand. I will not allow it. My whole life I’ve known so few people and lost–”
“You don’t understand,” I said frustrated, struggling to make her see how much she meant to me. “You asked me if I felt fear and I told you I feared nothing. I lied. The thought of you in any form of pain … sweetheart, I wouldn’t survive it if you were torn from me. I’d lose my fucking mind.” My jaw clenched with my fists at the thought of her in harm.
Her breathing hitched and her body pressed harder on mine, silky white hair slinking over her shoulders to brush across my back. She clasped my chin in her hand to turn my head but I resisted. Clasping a hank of my hair in her fist she yanked my head round and shook it. Her expression was fierce. “Let him come.”
Chapter 10
Evangeline
Exhausted from the barrage of truths, I let myself curl up on Luke’s lap. My eyes drooped but slammed open wide when his hand slipped between my legs. I jerked and tried to shift out the way, but before I could blink Luke was standing and yanking me back until my legs slid off the bed and my bare feet hit the floor.
Okay, maybe pulling his hair had taken it a step too far. Still half asleep I merely grunted and took a wobbly step back.
He kicked both my feet part and pushed down on my lower back so I leaned over the bed. Gritting my teeth even as I continued to wake, I tried to straighten out, but he held me down. One of those big hands of his went between my legs again and skimmed across my lips, which were already swelling with need. I breathed in deeply and decided the best way to play this was to ignore him. A finger slipped over my folds stroking firmly. I swallowed hard but stayed still. Don’t react … males could smell fear. Was I scared of him? No. But I was terrified of how much I didn’t want him to stop. If he figured out I desperately wanted him to mess around with me it would spur him on then we’d be in real trouble, because my control had a habit of slipping away when it came to Luke.
His thick and long finger slipped inside my outer lips to slide around in the wetness it found. Oh yeah, me creaming myself might be a dead giveaway to just how lusty I found this situation. A tremble wracked my frame when the finger slid up and flicked against my clit. My knees buckled and had I not been sprawled over the bed I would have hit the floor. As it was my face buried in the blankets.
Luke leaned over me and his breath tickled my ear. “You liked that didn’t you?” There was a mischievous triumph in his voice buoyed by a fierce male pride.
My head hung at my pitiful failure to hide my reaction. Still trying to retain the upper hand I kept my muscles locked into place. He would not get to me. I controlled the sex in this relationship. Me. I was Alpha. Luke kept his hand on my back and I could almost hear the cogs in his brain turning, wondering why I was not all over him yet. I smirked. He shifted behind me, but before I could tell him a blowjob was off the cards my attention was drawn to the window. I frowned and squinted. I thought I saw….
Luke’s thighs pressed against the back of mine. I glowered, about to tell him to let me up so I could investigate what had looked like a figure bolting into the tree line, when one of his hands grabbed my hips. He slammed his cock into me and my heels lifted off the floor. For a long delicious second I chocked on nothing but air before I stuttered a curse. His other hand left my back to tangle in my hair and pull my head back, arching my back, refusing to pull out from inside me.
“I think the last few days may have given you the wrong impression about me.” He moved his hips against my ass and I gasped, my body failing to move until his teeth dragged across my bottom lip and he said, “Rock back, sweetheart.”
I did as he ordered and the hand in my hair unclenched to move down my neck and stroke my collarbone. Clever fingers played over the curve of my breast. His fingers teased my hardened nipple before impatiently gripping the tightened bud between his forefinger and thumb, tugging on it cheekily.
“As I was saying, I think by letting you set the pace these last few days that I may have given you the wrong impression about exactly the kind of man I am.” He nuzzled my ear and his tongue swirled over the curve. My eyelids fluttered. “See I appreciate that you’re a strong, independent female, and hey, I dig it, Eva. I really do. Watching you put the hurt on someone turns me on.” His hips rocked again and I bucked, rubbed my ass against his groin. “But let me be clear when I say I don’t appreciate you thinking you can walk all over me.” His hand palmed my breast even as I arced forward I pushed my hips back, silently begging him to start moving his lower body. “You need to remember who is really in control.” His hand on my hip reached between us to grab my ass. “This ass is mine.” The hand moved forward to slide between my legs and press down on my heat. “This pussy is mine.” I whimpered some form of agreement and moved on him, wanting nothing more than to scream at him to take me. He bit my neck then licked it. “You’re mine, sweetheart, and each time you talk down to me, or wiggle those pretty hips at me with that dirty little smirk thinking you got your way at my expense you need to remember one crucial detail. I’m in control here. I just like to let you think you are because I get a kick out of it. Are we clear?”
My fingers curled into claws and raked at the b
ed sheet in front of me, wringing together and imagining it was his thick-stupid-cunt-teasing-Wendigo neck. Oh, I was one word away from turning around and… .
His cock slipped out of me only to slam home again, filling me, stretching me until I was sure I would come if he moved forward another millimeter.
“Are. We. Clear?” His hips pumped hard on each word pushing me higher with every thrust.
The air thickened with something untouchable and settled over me like a second skin. I focused on Luke’s hard flesh inside me. He was big, hard, throbbing. Clenching my pussy around him I reveled in how good he felt, how right he felt. I tried to move but he held firm. Okay, the whole dominance/subservience thing was beginning to lose its novelty. Snarling slightly I tried again, but he readjusted his hold on me, and both his hands gripped my hips as he thrust himself into me over and over again. All thought of moving fled as I gripped the sheets for dear life as he fucked me like he was trying to drill a hole to the other side.
“Say it,’ he rasped. “Say it, Eva.”
I shook my head and panted, no longer afraid of him hearing how hot I was for him. He drove me crazy, but I wouldn’t give in and admit how much in words. I would not say a stupid four letter word that tried to convey so much and yet meant so little to so many. How many people declared love without really feeling it? Love was about showing commitment, dealing with pain, and having bone deep respect for your other half. It was about dancing the line between wanting to wrap yourself around someone and wanting to smash their face in. It was about giving a body everything – your soul. No. Relinquishing control to Luke was not an option I could afford. If I gave into him I would never be able to tear myself away. I would belong to him wholly, and I’d already had lost half myself to my beast.
I was a Wendiga and I belonged to nobody.
“Say it,” he gasped and pumped harder, faster. “Tell me you’re mine.”
I tightened my hold on the blankets and groaned, taking each pound and wishing he could reach even deeper.
Luke released me and his cock disappeared.
Furious, I spun round only to be crushed by boulders masquerading as arms. He lifted me up; quarter turned, and slammed me into the wall. The cabin groaned and dust drifted down from the ceiling. He reached down to take himself in hand, relying on me to hold myself up. I was dimly aware of my sense of self fleeing, disappearing under the promise of pleasure greater than I had ever known or would ever know again.
Luke buried his head in my breasts and his mouth found a nipple. He sucked hard, drawing half my breast into his mouth. My hands found their way into that glorious mane of dark hair. I treasured his locks – wild, thick and soft. The way it felt against my skin was indescribable. When he moved the scent of evergreen trees mixed with the smell of spicy male. He guided himself to my entrance and everything became urgent. With a sigh of relief I snaked a leg round to rub it against the back of his thigh, opening myself to him. I felt heavy in his arms and weighty from need. He stopped. His swollen head nudged my entrance but went no further than teasing the sensitive flesh. I shoved my hips forward to complete the circuit, but he held himself taut and me against the wall.
His lips unclamped from its delicious torture on my nipple, and he raised his head to look in my eye. “Say it,” he growled.
I curled my lip at him and jerked my hips. He didn’t budge. Instead he eased back a fraction to rub the head of his penis against my clit.
“Damn, you’re sexy when you snarl. You make being mean a lifestyle choice.” He looked me up and down and his eyes closed briefly, rocked his pelvis into mine. “God, you make me hard.”
I whimpered and bashed my head back against the wall. “Why are you still talking?”
“You want me, sweetheart? You’re soaking wet, for me, and it’s the sexiest damn thing I’ve ever seen and I’ll probably kill somebody if I don’t get to sink into you.” He sucked in a bracing breath, quivered, turned on by his own words. “But you’re going to have to say it.”
My head thrashed from side to side – in denial. “I can’t,” I sobbed.
He was torturing me and this kind of blackmail was illegal. Wasn’t it? It bloody well should be. Was this yet another warning I should not be this undone by a man? Honorable men didn’t get a woman all riled up and addicted to their cock and pining for it like a junkie then just leave her hanging. Good God, when would the waiting end?
“I’ll make you come,” he murmured and dipped the tip of his length into my hole and rubbed gently.
My legs trembled and my heart tripped at the sensation. My entire focus zeroed in on that point and I willed with every fiber of my being that he would tip over his own two feet and slide home.
It was like sleep deprivation only worse. You know that feeling when you’re just exhausted, on the edge of sleep, and something wakes you up just as your mind slips into oblivion, and you feel physically sick? Like the whole world is melting? Right. My cunt felt like that times ten. Except you could replace the exhaustion with anticipation, and the sleep with popped-my-joints-out-their-sockets-because-that-orgasm-rocked-my-world-so-hard pleasure.
Luke flicked the tip of his tongue across the seam of my lips. “I’ll have you screaming my name if you tell me you’re mine.”
I tightened my hold on his hair oh so ready to rip a hunk out with the desperate intention to get him to move. What did he want from me? A deceleration signed in blood. If bloodletting meant I would get this man inside me then break out the blades.
His fingers dug into my skin and he trembled with the effort of holding back. “Please, let me fuck you. I’ve decided I can’t unless you say it.” His head swung from side to side once. “I need this from you. I need you tell me. I can’t be the only one that’s fallen so hard here. I know you feel the same about me, that you’re mine. Sweetheart. Evangeline. Tell me….” He was becoming incoherent and sweating bullets. “Why can’t you fucking say it!”
There’s only so much a woman with an orgasm in her periphery vision can take.
“Alright, fine,” I yelled. He jerked back and stared at me. With a wordless scream of rage I grabbed his head in both my hands and locked eyes with him. “You know what I want? A promise, no, an oath that you will ever leave me here all alone again. I want you to swear that you’ll stay and be with me like this forever. Does it please you to know the thought of your with another has me imagining hunting you down, tearing your heart out and to dragging your useless carcass around until I’m satisfied you’d not just suffered in this life, but the next?” I thumped his chest. “You’re not allowed to leave me. Ever. You’re stuck. If any she-bitch comes sniffing around you I swear her remains won’t be found this side of the millennium. I will even let you think you make the decisions. Happy now? There I said it and then some.” My chest heaved and my eyes flashed anger. “I’m yours and it terrifies me because what happens to me when you leave?”
This was what he wanted, wasn’t it? My confession of devotion and hopeless need. He wanted me and now he had me.
His hand came up to cradle my cheek and his thumb grazed over my bottom lip in a move that started out gentle, but swiftly became possessive. Distracted, overcome with want, I sucked it into my mouth and groaned as I weighed up the pros and cons of dropping to my knees and doing the same thing to that delightful dick of his. Another long and slow suck on his thumb, using my tongue to swirl over the tip I couldn’t help but notice he’d gone completely still.
I opened my eyes then scowled, biting him in punishment for making a blush bloom in my cheeks.
His face had a look of pure adoration and his eyes shone with devotion. A smirk kicked back one side of his mouth and his chest rumbled with a chuckle. He took my breath away and had my heart doing cartwheels. Christ, the man could make me weak in the knees with a single look. He was so … stunning. I always knew he was too alluring for a male, but right now his raw masculinity was beyond my understanding. My mouth dried up as he smiled at me, flashing me that wicked
grin and those pearly teeth. I was boggled, breathless and in awe of him.
In a rush of panic and elated acceptance I realized I wanted him to dominate me. I wanted him to take control and tell me what to do. To be the looming shadow behind me when I faced off my enemies. I wanted That Look to come into his eyes when he saw me bend over accidently-on-purpose in front of him. I wanted him to love me.
As if he’d picked up on my thoughts Luke started to slow down and grind into me nice and slow, rocking his pelvis in such a way each time we came together he hit my clit just right. He’d stopped screwing my brains out and was making love to me. He stared deep into my eyes and dared me to look away, dared me to break the connection.
He leaned in to breath me in and licked my lips before grazing his teeth along my bottom lip. “Let go, Eva. Let me love you. Just let it all go. I’ve got you.” He murmured words of comfort in my ear as he drove himself into me.
My heart swelled until I thought it would burst and the rightness of the moment settled over me and had had my arms coming round him to cling to him tightly. I leaned forward, pushing my breasts into his chest and rubbed myself against him. Feeling the friction, his solid length rubbing me in the most intimate way possible had a deep pulse of pleasure forcing my hips to grind.
“Fuck me, Luke,” I said bluntly in his ear. “Fuck me until I can’t see straight then fuck me until you see stars.”
He choked on his own air and didn’t need any further encouragement. He slammed into me hard, throwing his entire weight behind it.
I could have started singing the halleluiah chorus had I not be panting. If the entire world could have heard me screaming I wouldn’t have cared, but as it was my cries of passion were for his ears alone, just like his shallow breaths were for mine alone.
Two more thrusts and he had me hovering on that golden edge. Sliding out, feeling his steely length stroke against me, he shifted his hips, adjusted position and powered forward. I shattered into a million pieces so small they became a river that flowed gleefully off that damn edge and exploded into even smaller pieces at the bottom. My body seized up, for a second my heart stopped and my lungs gave up trying to work past my jarred breathing pattern. I came hard, my entire body spasaming and had he been a lesser man I would have probably knocked him on his ass. As it was his well times thrusts turned into mindless pumping; thump, thump, thump, like a fist pounding a table until his hips bucked and he roared his orgasm. Rearing back so his lower body was pressed into mine and his hair streamed down his back, eyes scrunched shut. The sight of him completely out of control and the feel of his cock spurting his warm come inside me had a black hole appearing beneath me and sent me hurtling over that edge again. I trembled, my body shuddering under ripples of pleasure no less pleasurable than the first explosion.