Night Runner, page 12
“Yes, yes, I do.” This was the hardest part of being a fated mate.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
maury
“So, I shouldn’t have let him go without me,” I muttered again. “I shouldn’t have, and now all the kids are gone, and I don’t have anything to do.”
Laura shot me a look. “You could visit with Rose. She wants to know about you.”
“No, I can’t. It’s high stakes with her.”
“What do you mean?”
“She wants a big sister, and I don’t know how to be that yet. Not with Anthony out there in the bayou. It’s too distracting.” I sighed. “I can’t help it. What else am I supposed to do?”
“We could work on training,” she said.
“What would we do here?”
“It’s a gym and safe room. There’s a storage room inside the headquarters.”
“I guess that’s as good of a plan as any,” I said.
She led me to the headquarters where Kobie and Anthony had been working earlier, but she didn’t stop at the desk. Instead, she led me to a camouflaged door at the left rear of the room. One I hadn’t noticed before. When she pulled it open, she propped it with the door stand, and she pulled a mat out from inside. Then she let the door fall closed.
“What’s that other door?” I gestured toward the door on the other side of the room as we were on our way out.
“Alpha bedroom.”
“Alpha bedroom?” I echoed, my mind working. “You mean Anthony’s room? So that’s a thing?”
“Yeah, but I’ve never seen him use it.”
“How often is the building under lockdown?”
“Not often, but a handful of times since he’s been the alpha.”
She dragged the mat out of the headquarters room, and I followed. I helped her lay the mat out on the floor of the gym.
I scanned the safe room, divided into family cubicles—much like the Winter’s—by temporary partitions. Several families were bedding down for the night.
“Is it a good idea to do this right now?”
Laura shrugged. “Better than endless laps. You ready?” She settled into a crouch with her arms wide. “Attack me.”
I ran at her, but she brought her leg around and caught my ankle, sending me to the ground almost immediately. When I hopped up, I ran at her again, but she put me down as quickly as she had the first time.
She leaned over my face. “You’re too emotional.”
“No shit,” I spat. “My mate’s out in the bayou where I was attacked by a fricking rogue monster shifter.”
“But as the alpha’s mate, you have to learn to put your feelings aside.”
“Impossible.”
She offered her hand and yanked me up off my back. “Maybe it’s impossible for the ex-foster girl hiding in the bayou, but it’s not impossible for the mate of the alpha. Which one are you?”
“What? I’m both.”
She shook her head. “No, you have to decide which one you’re going to be from now on, Maury. Who do you want to be?”
“The alpha mate.” It was true. I wanted to be Anthony’s mate, and I wanted to be worthy of that position in the pride.
“Say it again,” Laura commanded. “Mean it this time.”
“I want to be the alpha’s mate, and I want to help him lead this pride.”
“Then act like it, Maury.” She settled back into a crouch. “Come at me.”
This time, I observed Laura for a long moment before rushing at her. Rather impacting her side, I jumped at the last moment, avoiding her arms as she tried to grab me. Instead, I came down on her back and caught my arm around her neck, sinking a choke hold within a few seconds.
Laura tugged at my arm, but I’d sunk the hold between her chin and her collarbone. Then she spun around, trying to dislodge me from her back. I placed my hand on the back of her head to increase the pressure against my forearm. Without panic, Laura struggled for about thirty seconds and then she double-tapped my elbow.
“You give up?” I grunted at her.
She nodded.
When I released her, I slipped off her back and dropped, flat-footed to the mat beside her. “Got you that time.”
“Because you decided who you wanted to be. It made it easier to make choices about how to be that person,” she said. “Want to go again?”
I shook my head. “No, I think I’m ready for bed.”
“Want to sleep in Anthony’s bed?”
“If he hasn’t slept in it, is it his?”
Her mouth twisted. “You have a point. So, I guess if you sleep in it, it’s yours.”
I helped Laura drag the mat back into the storage room. Afterward, I gestured toward the secondary door. “Is it unlocked?”
“Yeah, I unlocked it before I tried to talk you into giving up on your pacing.”
I chuckled. “Thought it would work, huh?”
“Did work. It just took a minute.” She jerked her head toward the door. “Good night. Let me know if you need anything.”
“I need a cell phone still,” I said. “It would make it easier to send you texts without getting up out of my bed.”
She rolled her eyes. “Fine. I’ll see what I can do. Maybe I’ll get it sorted out this time.” She made her way out of the headquarters, and I faced the door that led to Anthony’s lockdown bedroom.
Wrapping my hand around the handle, I opened the door, and I couldn’t stop my gasp. A gauzy canopy bed had been wrapped in tiny little twinkling lights. It reminded me of a princess bed with fairy lights, or maybe a bed dressed in stars.
When I pulled the soft cover back, I was surprised by the thickness of the mattress. I smoothed my hand over the sheets, relishing the sheet quality, and carefully climbed into the bed. Though I didn’t bother getting undressed, it was like being wrapped in a cloud.
I waited for sleep to claim me, but it didn’t come. Anthony was gone, but she should have been there in the bed with me. What if he never came back? What would I do?
Wringing my hands didn’t help ease the tumult inside me. Not at all. My stomach churned as I sorted through the feelings pouring through me.
Anger. Fury. Seething rage. My whole body buzzed. Why? Somehow, I knew Anthony was feeling these things, and I was feeling them, too. Because of the ways we were connected. I didn’t understand it all, but I knew the minute I saw him again, I’d beg to complete the mating. I knew where the bed was, and I’d drag him to it.
Hours dragged on, and I rolled over yet again. Not sleeping was as frustrating as pacing and being in the bed made it more obvious that Anthony wasn’t. Laura was going to have to be okay with me pacing. I threw my legs out of the bed and slipped out of the room.
I didn’t care what all the feelings meant or what it took, we were connected, and I didn’t want to be floating without an anchor anymore. Our connection was tenuous, and I wanted it cemented, strengthened and unbroken.
And I wanted Anthony to be my mate for as many years as the universe would give us. Just like that, I decided to demand the mating ritual or whatever we had to do to complete our bond.
But first, I made another lap around the safe room, almost daring Laura to appear and try to stop me. Walking was preferable to not sleeping while in a bed trying to sleep, and Laura could get used to it.
By the fifth lap, I decided Laura had to be somewhere getting her kitty-freak on with Kobie. Though I wasn’t sure where they would have gone since we were all supposed to be in the safe room, and Anthony had the only official “bedroom” in the whole of the basement. Well, that I knew about anyway. I had missed the two doors completely until Laura had pointed them out.
Lap Six…
Lap Seven…
Lap Eight was a jogging one. Maybe it would be the one to make me tired.
Finally, a commotion brought me back around to the entrance of the safe room, and I hurried toward the collection of shifters at the door. The hum of excited voices would have probably been enough to resurrect me from actual sleep, if I’d been abed.
That’s when I saw him, and my feet rooted to the gym floor.
Anthony. The flash of his eyes drew me in, and the moment he saw me, something burst to light in his expression. His mouth tightened and then opened slightly until he dragged his tongue over his lips, and my knees practically buckled right there. The people parted, and he stalked toward me.
This was what I’d been waiting for. This. Him.
Not sleep, not rest, but Anthony.
And the burn in his eyes told me what was on his mind, too.
The air practically snapped. I didn’t move. Shit. Maybe I should make him chase me, but there was no reason, no rhyme to perpetuating a lie like that. I wanted him to catch me and drag me to bed. I craved every inch of his naked body, and I wouldn’t be denied.
“Maury,” he growled, the rumble sending vibrations through my legs, as he reached my side. “What have you been doing?”
“Pacing.”
He shook his head and lowered his voice even more. “No, that’s not all.”
“Thinking about you,” I whispered. “I can’t get you out of my head, Anthony.”
“It’s time we had a talk.”
I peered up at him, basking in the wildfire in his eyes. “No, I think the time for talking is through.”
He blinked as he considered me. “Are you sure?”
“Anthony.” His name seeped from my lips, and I sounded strangled. I caught his hand and laced my fingers between his. “I don’t think I could be more certain of anything.”
“Boss?” Kobie called. “I need you.”
Anthony’s expression darkened.
Before Anthony could react, I whirled toward Kobie, aware of the snarl on my face. Where the hell had he come from? “Not now, Kobie. Go find Laura. Make her happy.”
Anthony snort-laughed. “Oh, she’s got you pegged.”
Kobie’s eyes went wide as I’d ever seen them, and his jaw slacked. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Sure. I believe that.”
Kobie’s gaze darted from Anthony to me and back again. He bit back anything else he meant to say and scurried away, probably to tell Laura the jig was up.
I pulled on Anthony’s arm. “Take me home,” I commanded. “Now. We have to go home.”
“Home? We’re under lockdown.”
I tipped up on my toes and put my mouth to his ear. “Then take me to the alpha bedroom you never use.”
His whole body went rigid. “You know about that?”
“Laura wouldn’t shut up about it. She thought I needed rest.” I paused. “I don’t need rest, Anthony.”
He chuckled, but it sounded more like a strangled rasp. “What happened to you while I was gone?”
“You moved into my brain and wouldn’t leave me alone.”
He caught my shoulders in his hands. “Is that new?”
“New-ish,” I said. “It’s never been as strong as tonight.” But I couldn’t explain how it was growing more and more feral, and I needed Anthony, in my bed, hell, in me. I required my mate, and it felt like the whole universe needed us to be together. What had come over me? I didn’t know, but I knew Anthony could remedy it.
He squeezed my hand and then led me toward the headquarters room. Two shifters were inside, working on something with maps.
“Get out,” Anthony commanded.
They tripped over themselves trying to get out, and I grinned at them like the cat with a whole flock of canaries.
Anthony slammed the door to the headquarters behind us, and he yanked open the spartan bedroom door. The covers were as rumpled as I left them.
“What now?” he asked, pointing to me.
My pulse pounded in my ears. Fuck. Him. Fuck. Him. The words turned the drive into a frenzy, and my chest heaved.
We moved around the single room, two cats on the prowl, measuring each other. The shimmer of sweat slicked Anthony’s skin, and he seemed to be waiting. For what, I didn’t know, but it was enough. Too much time had gone by.
I rushed him with my arms opened wide and slammed into him, knocking him to the bed behind him.
“Maury,” he growled. “So fucking sexy.”
“Too many clothes,” I whispered, tugging the two sides of his shirt hard, it ripped in two. I pulled until the material broke and fell off him, and I tossed the parts aside. My shorts went next. Then my bra so my tits bounced against his bare chest, free in the space between us.
He dragged his hands over my face, down my neck, and over my breasts. I arched and pressed against him, relishing the pressure of his body against mine.
He chuckle-groaned then his breath caught as I dragged my fingernails over his skin.
“Yes,” I hissed, placing as many kisses over his skin as I could.
“Maury. What is this?” he rasped, groping until he caught my breasts in his hands.
“It’s time. It’s time. I want to be yours forever.”
“I’m here,” he whispered and wrapped his arms around me, holding me tight against him.
I writhed against him a moment and then pulled him to his feet.
“Please,” I encouraged, using both of his hands to caress my breasts. “Please, Anthony.” I dropped to my knees in front of him, yanking on his belt until he gasped as it cut into his hips, tighter until I could pull it out of his belt loops and throw it aside.
His pants slipped over his hips and legs without any difficulty, and I clawed his ass, shoving his dick against me so I could press kisses to his hip bones and in circles around the nest of curls cradling his throbbing manhood. Fifty kisses all around his dick, and his hand slipped into my hair, pulling my scalp as his hand fisted.
Should I… I’d never…
Sticking out my tongue, I took hold of his member with two hands and twisted opposite directions. Then I circled the sensitive end with the tip of my tongue, slicking him with moisture from my mouth. As I worked the wet down over him, he bent over me, overcome.
“Shit, Maury. Shit.”
I stroked him up and down, contemplating how much of his largeness I could safely consume. Then I abandoned my insecurity and carefully drew him into my mouth.
He flinched as though I’d struck him. “Oh, god, Maury, it’s going to be over before it’s started.”
I released him and leaned back from my work. “You want me to stop?”
He pushed my head toward his dick. “Fuck, no, but maybe you should.” He groaned. “You’ve never been like this before.”
Instead, I shot him a smirky grin and brought my mouth down around him, taking him as deep as I could, so deep he grazed the back of my throat. Again and again.
He panted, thrusting against my mouth, and his hand caught my hair, pulling and guiding while he gritted his teeth and tried to keep from finishing too soon.
I basked in the way I could take him to the edge of control.
Anthony was my mate. Forever.
And I knew what I wanted…
Exactly what I wanted next.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
anthony
Maury lifted her mouth from my dick, and her sticky breath feathered over me, and I shuddered. “Bite me, Anthony.”
My brain was too far gone to understand her words at first, and I stared at her, willing her to put her mouth back on my dick where it belonged.
“Bite me, Anthony,” she said again and reached for my hand in her hair. Slowly, she untwined my fingers from her hair and stepped back. “Now.”
I raked my gaze over her, and she caught her lower lip between her teeth, and her nipples had hardened to rosy-hued nubs. Her lips were bright red from kissing my dick, and her pulse throbbed in the base of her throat.
“I want you to bite me, please,” she whispered.
When I took a breath, my dick jumped. Her pheromones scented the air in the room. Keeping my mind on what she said was nearly impossible. “Maury? Do you know what you’re asking?”
“I think so?” Her mouth lifted into a grin, and she twisted her body in what seemed a bashful move. How could she be embarrassed to stand in front of me like that? I loved every inch of her and had since our first night together.
“You want me to bite you.”
She nodded.
“Where?”
She frowned and confusion danced in her eyes. “I don’t know. I just know I need you to bite me. Wherever you feel like. It’s important?”
My heart twisted in my chest, and my thoughts soared to all that our future inherently promised. “Do you know what this means?”
“You look happy,” she commented. “So, it must be some cat shifter thing.”
“It’s a part of the mating ritual.”
She frowned and took a step back. “I don’t know how to do that.”
I closed the distance between us, but I didn’t take her into my arms. If I did, I wouldn’t be able to stop what came next. “Nobody does, Maury. They don’t record it on purpose. We know there’s biting, but instincts take over. But that’s all any of us knows. Only those who are fated mates know what it takes to seal the mating bond.”
“Then how do you know when it’s completed?”
“We’ll know.”
“So, you think the biting I want is a part of that?”
I beamed at her because I knew. “I’m sure of it. It explains your frenzy, too.”
Her expression turned bewildered, as her mind tripped over what I was saying. “My frenzy?”
It was all so new to her. Her innocence about sex and mating and shifting made me want to embrace her and hold her close, so I could keep her safe forever. “Yes, that drive is instinctual, and it’s a part of what led to this.” I stretched my arms wide and gestured to the small room. “When two shifters are fated mates, they automatically know what to do. That’s what’s happening to you. You want to seal the bond between us.”
“But it didn’t hit you like that?” Her pulse pounded in her neck, and I could almost make out her rapid heartbeat in my own ears.
I shuddered, barely holding on to my own sanity. “Not until it hit you. But when it hit you and filtered through to me…” I willed her to understand the drive. “Maury, I don’t think I’ll be able to stop it once we start. If we do this, there’s nothing but completion for me.”
