FavoriteObsession, page 19
The rhythmic grip and release of her core turned into pleasured agony. Her orgasm lasted forever but not long enough. The waves eased. She collapsed, only his grasp holding her up. The spread of her hair across the sheets was a damn fine sight. With her cheek pressed to the mattress, he got a great view of her face, sated and relaxed. Her eyelashes fluttered, a smile gracing her plump mouth. She looked beautiful. Seeing her pleased expression filled him with pride, but no way would he let her pass out on him, not now. He wasn’t done with her.
He pulled back and thrust roughly, again and again, until her eyes widened.
“Josh.”
His name spoken in a wondered gasp fucking did it for him. He lifted her higher so he could watch his cock pierce her. The glistening length stretched her swollen lips. His pants quickened along with his thrusts. In and out he moved while her body accepted him, conformed to him and only him. The thought seemed odd. He pushed it away and worked her body until whimpers fell from her mouth.
She scrambled up, lifted her torso on bent elbows and moved with him. He pounded into her, her inner muscles squeezing him every time he drew out, spreading as he entered.
“So fucking tight. Damn, kitten. You’re strangling me.”
“Not claimed yet,” she panted.
He couldn’t make sense of the words. There was something important about them. The significance skittered across his mind. He couldn’t grasp the meaning, not when he felt as if he’d die if didn’t get to come soon. He gave up on trying to think and focused on the wonderful view of Mira’s gently sloped spine and rounded bottom cushioning his pistoning hips. He ran a hand over her ass cheeks and squeezed the soft flesh. He loved that she was lush and curvy, like a woman should be.
Needing those curves against him, he leaned over her body. She arched against him so every inch of his chest pressed into her back. Fucking perfect. She gave him exactly what he needed, but he wanted more. And he’d take it. She would give him everything today.
He caressed the swell of her belly, swept his fingers upward to capture a swaying breast. With his prize cupped in the palm of his hand, he brushed his thumb over her pebbled nipple. Her sheath clamped down on his cock. Each flick of his finger sent ripples along the shaft.
“Yeah, baby. That’s good.”
He toyed with the tip until her whimpers filled the room. When he abandoned her breast, she groaned. A roll of his hips tore a sigh from her lips. It was nice to hear but the breathy moans were better. He needed more of those uninhibited cries. He roughly gripped her other breast and earned a shocked gasp. Pleased with the sound, he massaged the heavy flesh. She sobbed his name.
Fuck, yeah.
More, he needed more. He circled her nipple with the edge of his fingernail and slowed his thrusts.
“Faster, Josh. Please, faster.”
He grinned and slowed the movement of his hips even more. She shuddered with his withdrawal. A deliberate, controlled push parted the muscles, sliding his dick into a sweet, warm haven that belonged to him alone.
Mine.
Flashes of images skipped across his mind. Him and Mira, twined together in positions he’d never attempted with a woman, a look of rapture stamped on her face. Mira pressed into a tree, him with claws embedded into the trunk over her head while he pounded into her. Another with her on her knees, his fangs hovering over the bite on her shoulder.
He stilled with the head of his cock kissing the mouth of her womb, chilled by the images. They weren’t right.
Mate her. Claim her. Keep her. The conviction echoed in his head. Not words, the deep instinct he felt belonged to him yet it wasn’t his. He felt fragmented, as if his soul wasn’t his own.
What the hell was wrong with him?
“Don’t stop, Josh. Need you.”
The stark desire in her voice pushed the unsettling thoughts away. Mira. She was the only one who mattered and she needed him.
He dragged her against him so she sat on his cock, her legs wide and knees on the outside of his thighs. The position allowed him to hold her close while he loved her. He swept her hair off her shoulder, exposing the bite he’d hated to look at when he first met her. It wasn’t ugly today. No, with Mira’s body locked to his, it looked sexy, inviting, exactly as it had in the images that had flashed across his mind.
He swept his tongue across his teeth. Flat. No fangs. Disappointment rushed up. He shoved it away. Only a fool would let a little frustration destroy his time with the woman he wanted above all others. And he wasn’t a fool. He grabbed life as it came and enjoyed every damn minute of it.
“Still want me, kitten?”
She tilted her head to the side to peek at him from under her lashes. “Always, Josh. Always.”
He heard her unspoken goodbye. She’d always want him, but this was it, just as she’d said. She’d leave him after today and take another man to her bed, love his body the way she did Josh’s.
No, fuck no. She was his.
“Forever, Mira. Always and forever.”
Instincts guided him. He allowed his new alter ego to rule. Its wants became his. Drawn to the old scar, he clamped his mouth over it, biting with his blunt teeth. He hit her cervix at the same time and she came, screaming his name. He squeezed his eyes shut, biting harder until blood filled his mouth. The pressure of her muscles strangling his cock was too much. His orgasm seized him. He couldn’t stop it.
He released her shoulder and wrapped his arms around her chest as his cock jerked and spilled his seed into her. Her sheath clamped down around him once more. He groaned, the squeezing so painful his heart stopped. The world blacked out. Only her heartbeat resonated in his head. It called to him and his picked up the same rhythm. The agony eased and ripples caressed the length of his dick, dragging every drop free.
Sweat slickened their bodies. Their breaths and scent of sex surrounded him. Peace filled him. He was right where he should be—inside Mira, the woman he loved.
He tipped her head back and kissed her, slowly twining their tongues, showing her with his body what he felt. She twisted her torso and linked her hands behind his neck to draw him closer. He complied with her silent demands, supporting her arched back with his hands and loving her mouth the way he had her body. Finally separating them, he lay on the bed and drew her close to his chest. He held her, head pillowed on his arm and a palm to her belly.
She sighed and succumbed to sleep. He was glad. He didn’t want to talk. The words on the tip of his tongue were ones he’d never uttered to a lover before. They were real, true and a reflection of his devotion. Yet, he wasn’t convinced telling them to Mira was wise. Silence was best, but the feeling which dragged those words up filled the ache in his chest. No longer did he feel fragmented. For the first time in his life, he felt whole.
Chapter Nineteen
Mira glanced at her reflected image and didn’t know if she wanted to smile or cry. Happiness and despair warred equally within her. She let both settle in her heart and accepted the truth.
She’d made her choice and taken a mate.
With a shaky hand, she rubbed her swollen belly. A thump met her palm. She grinned. A little farther down, the impression of a knee or elbow pushed against her distended stomach. A kick from deep inside resonated in her back. She blew out a rough breath, unused to the odd feeling of having something alive inside her that wasn’t one of her cats.
A quick peek at her surroundings confirmed her suspicion. She was dreaming. She had to be. The big four-poster bed with its dark-blue sheets would never be in her bedroom nor would the male sprawled on top of it. Josh slept on his stomach, one arm hanging off the side and the other hooked around his pillow. A sheet covered one leg, half of his firm ass and a small section of his back.
Would this be her eternity? Dreaming of the male she loved while she carried another’s babes? Gods, she couldn’t do it. She squeezed her eyes shut and willed herself to wake. She didn’t. The muscled body of her mate, if only in her heart, filled her vision.
She sighed and walked toward the bed. Well, waddled. She couldn’t manage more than an awkward shuffle. A hand pressed to her lower back, she let her gaze roam over him. Scars she’d never known he had bisected his tan skin. Her favorite tattoo, his snarling tiger, peeked at her from his shoulder but her attention focused on another, one she’d only glimpsed while they’d had sex. She braced her top-heavy body with a hand on the bed next to his chest and leaned over him to get a better look. An Irish cross inked on his upper arm sent a whipping pain through her heart.
Woven into the design was the inscription, John Conway. She stared at the child’s memorial and choked back a cry. He’d died the day he was born.
Questions pinged in her head. How had he died? Why hadn’t Josh mentioned the child when he’d talked about his family? The little boy had to have been important to him to have earned a permanent memorial on his body. She pressed a hand to her mouth as the thought morphed into another—could the little boy have been Josh’s son?
She blinked backed her tears. It didn’t matter if he had. She loved him no matter who he’d been with before but it didn’t stop the wave of sadness knowing she’d never give him another son. A human female would have that right, never her. More tears welled and she choked on a sob.
A strong, warm hand covered her bare bottom. She jerked back, nearly toppling backward. Josh stopped her tumble with his confident, familiar embrace.
“Sorry, kitten. Didn’t mean to startle you.”
She looked into sleepy blue eyes and didn’t know what to say. Dreams weren’t supposed to be interactive or feel so real. A rough knock on the door saved her.
“Let’s go, Mira. Kade is waiting for you.”
Aron’s booming voice twisted the knife and ripped her heart open.
Josh tugged her closer. “You can’t have her yet. She’s mine for another hour.”
No. Gods, no.
The dream shattered and she found herself in a small church. Alone. Candles flickered, casting a soft glow over the walls. A cross hung above the altar. Images of saints and biblical scenes decorated the walls. She took it all in and shuffled her clothed and still-pregnant body to the back pew.
She sat, pressed her hands to her eyes and cried.
“Take it back. Please, take it back.”
Her words echoed, mocking her. She’d been a pawn from the moment she took her first breath. Begging didn’t change anything. It only delayed the inevitable.
* * * * *
Josh stood in the middle of nowhere. Literally. Blackness surrounded him. The endless nothingness stretched out in all directions. He turned slowly and looked around. His heart knocked against his rib cage.
“Hello?”
Only his echo answered him.
He cursed inwardly. Another dream, this one worse than any other. He took a deep breath and started walking. Time stretched and he strode forward. After a few minutes, he picked up the pace. His jog turned into a run. He panted, feet pounding against a floor of dark haze. Light shown in the distance. He moved toward it. Golden and piercing, the brightness emanated from the woman waiting for him.
Blonde hair, gilded skin that shimmered with a yellow glitter, glowing gold eyes and slender talon-tipped hands made up her image.
The golden goddess.
He knew who she was with the same certainty he knew his name. But why was he here? She only appeared to pride leaders and he’d never be one.
She chuckled with a small shake of her head as if she’d heard his thought. With a single crooked finger, she motioned him forward. Come to me, child. Accept me and hear what I have to say.
Her words resonated in his head in a lulling melody tempting him to give her what she wanted. He went to her because really…who argued with a goddess? She might not be his but that didn’t mean she couldn’t snuff his life out with her bent pinkie.
He knelt and she rested a hand on his head. Images flashed across his eyes, the pictures rolling by so fast he couldn’t focus on them. He heard the screams and the gut-wrenching cries. Mira’s sobs. Rage rose within him. He wanted to snarl, lash out at whoever dared touch her. He couldn’t. The goddess’s touch seized his body while she fed him information he couldn’t grasp.
She released him and pain exploded behind his eyes. He couldn’t breathe, couldn’t see. The darkness took everything away and left him in misery. Alone. He couldn’t stay here alone. Mira needed him, only he couldn’t remember why. He was too weak.
And stubborn, child. Too damn stubborn to save yourself.
* * * * *
Mira woke to Josh’s scent in her lungs and his strong arms banded around her, holding her close. The steady beat of his heart under her ear and the slow rhythmic breaths that pressed his chest to hers confirmed he slept. She held her body still, not wanting to wake him. She needed a few moments to work through her emotions. The thick cock pressed into her belly promised her talking wouldn’t be high on his list of things to do when he opened his eyes.
The dream she’d had left her more saddened than any other. Gods, she couldn’t live like that—torn between a male who’d never be more than a breeding partner and the one she loved. Except…what they’d just shared might’ve changed everything. It shouldn’t have. Josh couldn’t mate her. Female shifters had been taking mortal lovers for millennia. Nothing ever came from it, yet the encounter she’d shared with Josh had been different.
She closed her eyes and focused on her body. Her core clenched with thoughts of Josh and the arousal slickening her sex guaranteed she’d be ready for his possession when he woke, but it was the bite on her shoulder that fed her theory. It thumped, echoing her heartbeat. Only mated females experienced the signal of their bond. When it stopped, it meant her mate had died and she could choose another.
Impossible, yet undeniable. It hadn’t resonated her heartbeats this morning. She turned her psyche inward and reached for her animal spirits. Her cats blinked sleepy, contented eyes at her. She mentally prodded their emotions, needing their instincts to guide her. Her blue tiger bared its fangs at her along with a flash of annoyance but slammed an image into her mind.
Josh sleeping naked next to her very pregnant body with his hand resting over belly.
Mira pulled away from them more confused than ever. What they showed defied all the rules yet their insistence spurred her hope. According to them, Josh had claimed her. And that meant…
Josh was her mate. Her mortal and fragile mate.
Her breaths quickened and pulse raced, making the thump in her bite uncomfortable. If Kade’s vision wasn’t altered, she was going to kill her mate…again.
Sickness churned her stomach as thoughts of that long-ago night came back. The rage, pain and shame threatened to choke her. No, dammit. She refused to allow Edmund to ruin her time with Josh.
Edmund was dead and gone. He’d had no right to take what she’d refused to give. The goddess’s words set the rule concerning her mating. Everyone else simply ignored it. It was her choice, always had been, and she’d made it in Jazz’s front yard when the sexiest male she’d ever seen grinned at her.
Josh was her one, beloved above all others, and she’d do anything to make sure Kade’s vision didn’t come to pass. But how was she supposed to do that now? The mate bond would draw them together. She’d need his comforting touch to soothe the fire that would burn for him alone. Those concepts formed the basis of the primal bond. Whether she loved her male or not. And she did love Josh. The depth of devotion she held for him would ensure she’d follow him to the ends of the world. Or until death claimed him and left her shattered in more ways than one.
Their love would create an unbreakable bond and override the natural drive to seek out another breeding partner. No other would do. They’d become mates in this world and the next, two halves of a whole. Forever, just as he’d vowed. But they couldn’t have forever. His heaven wasn’t hers. Once his mortal body died, she’d never see him again.
She needed to put some space between them, think everything through without his distracting body close.
Loosening her tight grip, she eased back. Josh locked his arms around her, denying her the distance she sought.
He nuzzled the top of her head. “Mmmm, you smell good, kitten.”
His drowsy, sated voice brought a smile to her lips. No. Distance. I have to think. She pushed at his arms. She couldn’t budge them.
Mouth pressed to the spot below her ear, he murmured, “Don’t push me away, my Mira. I need you.”
The words slammed into her and triggered every one of her instincts.
“Josh, I…” She didn’t know that to say because she needed him too.
He used one arm to lock her body to his and lazily traced the fingertips of his other over her back. Each pass both aroused and calmed her. The tension in her muscles eased until she lay in his embrace as relaxed as she’d been when she first woke.
He draped a leg over hers and continued to caress her spine, soft strokes that quickened her breaths.
“Touch me, kitten.”
Unable to resist his order, she slid her hand to his ass. The firm globes flexed under her palms. With trembling fingers, she caressed them and teased the seam between his cheeks. It had felt good when he’d touched her here. The slight jerk of his erection and rough intake of breath confirmed he too enjoyed it. She toyed with his puckered opening, dragging her nails gently over his flesh.
“More, Mira, more.”
She nuzzled against his bare chest and brushed her lips over his nipple. A flick of her tongue and she teased the flat disc to a hardened tip. His low groan spurred her on. She nipped the sensitive point. He moaned, a sound that was rapidly becoming necessary.
She kissed the spot she’d bit. “And you taste good.”
A rumble of approval vibrated his chest. With her ear above his heart, the noise was clearer. It resembled a purr. It couldn’t be. She jerked back. Eyes wide, her shocked gaze landed on his face. She didn’t get the chance to speak or voice her confusion. Josh rolled on top of her and slammed home. She gasped.
