Night Runner, page 5
My cheeks heated, but I was getting used to the teasing of good-natured friends rather than passive-aggressive, reluctant caretakers.
“I hope so,” I said, already wondering what the second time with a certain alpha named Anthony might be like, and once more, it seemed I was running break-neck toward something incredible.
When I stepped out of the stairwell and entered Anthony’s living space, he paced in front of his couch, muttering about the rogue who had dared put his pride at risk. Thankfully, Kobie and Ty were both gone. The floor creaked beneath my feet.
He spun around to face me, his arms wide, his nostrils flared. The moment he realized it was me, his size diminished, and his pupils dilated. “Maury. You’re here.”
“You said please.” I tried to give him a sexy look, but I doubt I pulled it off. “And Laura said I shouldn’t let it go by without rewarding you since you’re an alpha and you won’t say please often, and things are different in a pride and—” I clamped down on the rush of words. I babbled when my nerves flared. No, I babbled whenever he was around.
Slowly, he stalked toward me. My skin tingled, and gooseflesh raised over my whole body. The space between us snapped with tension. When my throat dried, I swallowed convulsively to wet it. Simultaneously, I wanted to flee and be caught.
Anthony licked his lips, and I wanted to know what else he could do with his tongue. Images from the couch exploded in my brain, and my nipples hardened in anticipation as moisture collected between my thighs.
He reached my side and drew his hand down my bare arm. “You’re here,” he whispered again. “I have so much to tell you.”
My knees trembled. “I’m here because you wanted me,” I whispered. Maybe it made me seem weak, but I didn’t care if I was weak with Anthony. “Here I am.”
He hooked his arm around my waist and pulled me close. “I will always want you,” he growled as he nuzzled my cheek. He bent down and hooked an arm behind my knees.
I laid my head against his chest and allowed him to lift me into his arms then he pulled me closer to him. His heart thump-thump-thumped beneath my ear. I pushed my hand into his hair. Never in my life had I felt so safe. It excited me, but it frightened me, too. Before, I hadn’t known this sort of safety existed. Now it would kill me to lose it… to lose him.
He carried me into his bedroom. “It’s time to show you what sex can be… What you missed last time we made love.” He made a face. “On the couch. I’m not sure how I feel about that.” He placed me on the edge of his huge bed where my feet dangled off the edge. “I should have done better.”
I winced at his words, at his implied dissatisfaction with our first time together.
“What’s wrong, kitten?”
I shrugged. How could I tell him his words shrouded me in stupid insecurities and made me want to hide. “Oh, it’s… nothing.”
He knelt in front of me. “Please do not imagine I mean I was dissatisfied with you, Maury.” He spoke my name softly, in an almost growl. “I am only disappointed in myself for not demanding something better for your first time.”
I trembled. “But what if it was what I wanted. It happened on its own. I would have been more hurt than anything if you’d turned me down. You could have turned me down, thrown me out, made excuses, anything. But you didn’t. You took what I offered, and you made me feel cherished. How could any of that be bad?” I clamped my mouth closed and studied the carpet in the center of the room. “I’m babbling again.”
He laid his hands on my knees, and his thumbs made circles on my skin. “You do seem to hide behind words, kitten.”
“I don’t like to hide behind the words.”
“Then what is it?”
“Maybe I’m running from the silence.” Your silence, Anthony. That part nearly slipped out, but I wasn’t ready for him to know how much his silence toward me actually frightened me now. He could cut me off, send me away, and I would never hear from him again. The greatest pain in my life had come out of silence… the silence made by the absence of my mother and my father. Tears welled in my eyes, and my vision swam.
“What is it, Maury?”
Shaking my head, I leaned forward. “Nothing. It’s nothing.”
Instead of more words, I pressed my mouth to his, suddenly infuriated by the clothes between us. My tongue danced along his lower lip, and he opened for me. I tasted him, circling his tongue in the same manner his thumb drew circles on my knee, willing every ounce of my desire into him. His five o’clock shadow grated against my chin. I wrapped my hands around his face and caressed his cheeks. We kissed for so long, I finally scooted as far forward on the bed as I could, wishing desperately to have him fill me again.
“Anthony,” I groaned.
Panting, he pulled away from me. He blinked several times as though trying to remember where he was.
“What are you doing?”
“You believed I would forget.” He tipped his head to the side. “Why do you run from silence, kitten?”
I froze for a moment before I shrugged then smoothed my hand over the incredibly soft cover on his bed. “What size is this?”
“Special-made,” he said, evaluating me without pushing me for an answer about the silence. “Bigger than a king.”
“That’s a big bed.”
Truthfully, I didn’t think I could have answered Anthony’s question if I’d wanted to. Not without dissolving into a mushy mess of weeping, and I wasn’t here to cry on Anthony’s shoulder. Not tonight. Though silence really hadn’t bothered me so much until I’d joined the pride, and I didn’t want to think any more about why.
“You’ll love the sheets,” he said, climbing to his feet. He offered his arm, and when I took it, he escorted me toward the pillows at the head of the bed. With a flourish, he pulled back the comforter and gestured to the silky black iridescent sheets. They reminded me of the shine on the black-green feathers on one of Laura’s dressier boas.
“They’re beautiful.”
He winked. “Special-made.”
“Planning something memorable?”
“You.” He turned to look at me. “As many times as you’ll have me, Maury.”
My lips parted, and in one quick move, he scooped me into his arms and deposited me on the smoothest, softest sheets I’d ever felt in my whole life. The fabric cradled my back and my bottom. A shuddering sigh left me as I relaxed into the mattress.
He hooked his fingers in the waistband of my shorts. “May I?”
“Yes,” I hissed, barely able to think of anything else. He was the alpha, and he could demand, but he was so tender with me. This big alpha cat of a man treated me as though he couldn’t break me in two without trying.
He raised an eyebrow and drew my thin shorts slowly down over my hips. His gaze raked over my middle and down to the wetness between my legs. “Maury,” he murmured. “I want to taste you.”
“What?” Panic sent me diving under the flat sheet, clutching it to my chest. “I’m not sure you’d like that. Uhm. I…”
“I am.” Gently, he tugged the sheet away from me. “I’ll be sure enough for both of us. Please, Maury?” His request broke through any insecurities I had.
And I let him uncover me once more. He didn’t try to remove my top, probably concerned I might bolt. Instead, he climbed onto the bed next to me. He positioned himself between my legs, and his dick throbbed its approval.
I reached for him, then, trying to distract him from his intent, but he shook his head, his mouth stretched in a rakish grin.
“No, Maury. I want to taste you.”
CHAPTER SIX
maury
I chewed my bottom lip to keep a thousand nervous words from pouring out.
He kissed the top of my feet and each of my ankles, inside and out, spending an achingly long time on every inch of me as he worked his way up my leg. When I whimpered his name, half-frustrated and half-driven mad by the amount of time he was spending at the wrong end of my legs, he grasped my ankles, bent my knees, and placed my feet closer to my bottom.
Then he placed lines of kisses up and down my legs, over and over, striping my appendages with heat. Finally, he placed his hands on my knees and spread them, studying the most secret part of me.
“You don’t have to wait on anything.” I couldn’t help the anxious words as they slipped out.
He chuckled, but still, he didn’t move. God. He was taking so long, too long, and the ache of missing him inside me had grown to a blaze between my legs.
Begging now would be too soon; I took a breath and held it, gritting my teeth. My words came out angry. “What are you doing?”
“Enjoying the view.” He drew his finger along my seam, slipping easily from my ass to the sensitive nub at my front. Then he raised his finger over me as if to show off the way he’d excited me.
My cheeks heated at the sheen of wetness there, and I blushed hot again when he licked my juices from his skin. I pretended to close my eyes, but I watched him from beneath my lowered eyelids like a cat tracking her prey.
When it had all gone, he lowered his hand. “Look at me, Maury.”
Slowly, hesitantly, I opened my eyes wider. He wasn’t teasing. None of it was a joke to him. What would it feel like to have the flat of his tongue… there? Would it feel rough or smooth?
“I’m going to devour you until you orgasm against my tongue. Then I will drive my dick into you again and again until you scream my name.”
“Good thing you don’t have neighbors,” I murmured.
He threw his head back, and he laughed so hard his abs flexed and relaxed with each burst. Shit. He was so hot. So perfect. And he was mine. The spicy scent of him was more home than any home had ever been.
“Oh, sweet kitten.” He lowered himself over me, balancing over me in a plank position. His dick was so close to my pussy, and I wanted to throw my legs around him and drive him deep into me. His gaze narrowed. “I see what’s in your mind,” he said. “But we’re not doing that yet. My control already walks the cat’s edge, Maury.”
“Why?” I rasped. “It’s what I want.”
Could I get my legs around him and my pussy around him all in one move? I wanted to drive him as mad as he was driving me. When I tensed my legs, he shook his head and slowly pushed them back apart until I couldn’t.
“No, my love. This time is going to be different. This time, you’ll feel what I feel and I’ll feel what you feel like distant echoes.”
Sweat slicked my upper lip. It sounded like he wanted to do some sort of mystical cat shifter sex, and all I wanted was… sex. From him. Now. His dick was so close, and I barely had sense enough to process what he was saying.
“What are you talking about?” I dragged my pussy along his dick, and he convulsed as though I’d punched him in the middle.
He took a shuddering breath and fell over me, landing on his palms. “When we’re finished, Maury,” he whispered against my cheek, “I’m going to tell you why it’s so good between us and will be… forever.”
When he raised his head, I drew my hand over his cheek and frowned over the moisture in his eyes. “What’s wrong, Anthony?”
“Nothing is wrong, Maury-love. It’s more right than you know.” Then he pressed his hips to mine, and I arched against him. His dick stroked where his finger had been.
He moaned and a tremble shot through him. Then he moved down my body, nipping and licking between my breasts, down my belly, over my mound, and then sensation exploded in my head as his tongue dipped to my clit. He raised my legs and hooked them over his shoulders.
“Oh, Anthony.” Shit. Shit. Shit. The sensations exploded all around me, the spicy scent of him, who he was, and the roar of wild cats chorused around us. My imagination had run as feral as my desire, and I pushed my mound toward his mouth, willing him to feast.
He growled, and the vibration spread through my abdomen, swirling and dragging a flood of blood toward my clit. He lapped at the nub, and I arched against him. He grabbed my ass cheeks and pushed me against his lips even harder. My fingers twisted in his hair, and he rocked against me. I dragged my claws over his skin, and he roared my name against my slit.
My muscles tensed, pulled tight, and he made a low chuffing noise like a big cat purr. My orgasm rocketed toward me, fast and furious, and I reached toward it, higher and higher, until it exploded as I screamed his name. He held me as I trembled in the aftershocks, blowing cool air over the wetness in my skin.
“Anthony,” I sighed. “That was… incredible.” I didn’t know how else to describe it.
“Maury,” he whispered. “You’re magnificent. I love it when you come.”
“What about you?”
“Oh, there’s time enough for me. You’re lucky I didn’t come all over the bed while I was devouring you.” He lifted my legs off his shoulders and placed them on the bed. “Come on. I want to see your cat.”
“You saw my pussy. Like, it was on your face.”
He guffawed. “I supposed I walked into that one. But that’s not what I meant. I want to see you as your cat self.”
“What?”
“You’ll see,” he murmured. Then he climbed from the bed and a burst of wind filtered in. In a moment, a large black panther shifter sat in the place where he stood, shiny midnight fur begging to be stroked. This was the alpha of our pride, and he was the alpha of my heart and my life.
And then I wanted to show off my cheetah. I slipped from the bed to the floor, peeled off the rest of my clothes, and tossed them aside. Seated on the floor with my legs tucked beneath me, I became her, the she-cat inside me. Fur replaced my skin, and the receding wind caressed my ears. My skin prickled beneath the thousands of new sensations of my fur, and I could smell Anthony. His spicy scent tickled my nostrils, and my whiskers twitched in response.
Anthony raised his nose toward the ceiling, climbed to all fours, stalked toward me with his tail held high. His eyes glowed, and he panted with his mouth open, scenting me, I was sure of it. He stopped just out of my reach.
I climbed to all fours and brought my nose to his. We shared air, breathing together, and I leaned into Anthony. Anthony pressed his weight against me, and we rubbed our fur against each other, head to toe, and I reveled in the sensation of it all.
We were two, mated, and an urge struck me, so I batted at Anthony’s tail, as shocked by the move as Anthony was. He spun around, not angry, but playful as he batted at my poofy tail. Then we were tumbling together over the floor, playing.
He jumped up, and I did, too. The game of chase was on. We bolted around the apartment, leaping from counters to furniture onto the walls, faster and faster. Panting, rubbing, pouncing, we played as the cats we were.
Finally, Anthony stopped in the center of the bed and settled on his back haunches. His tail twitched back and forth for long moments. The moment the gust of wind hit my fur, I started my morph, too. Together, we became our human selves.
His chest still heaved. “Come here, Maury.”
I didn’t wait or put up a fight. I launched myself at my mate with my arms outstretched, knocking him back onto the bed. He grunted, but I didn’t stop. Instead, I pressed kisses all over him, sloppy and wet and haphazard, with all the openness I had in me. His hands roved my body, fanning the flames.
“I love you, Anthony,” I murmured. “Maybe it’s too soon, but I love you.”
He froze. “What?”
I cringed and immediately started to curl in on myself, protecting myself from the rejection I knew was coming.
“What did you say, Maury?” he rasped.
“Nothing,” I said, rolling away, hiding how naked, how exposed I felt now.
But he pulled me back. “No, say it again, Maury-love.”
“I can’t,” I whispered, blinking back a rush of tears.
He grasped my chin and lifted until I had to meet his eyes. “I love you, Maury. It’s not too soon. Too soon isn’t possible for what we are.”
“What we are?” I echoed.
“We’re fated mates. We’re two parts of one whole.”
Scoffing, I frowned. “No, Laura gave me a book that said fated mates don’t exist anymore. They’ve been extinct for centuries.”
His smile came soft and dreamy. “Now you know why there’s no such thing as too soon for us, Maury.”
“What?”
“It’s the reason we’re connected in a way neither of us can explain.” He moved until he sat with his back to the headboard, and his eyes shined as though he had tears in his eyes. “The dagger, the talisman you wanted, was broken and a part of it disappeared not long before the time the fated mates died out. And now Darius seeks to reunite the pieces and fated mates have returned.” He kissed my forehead. “These are not coincidences, kitten.”
Processing his words didn’t come easily as I didn’t have the context for fated mates he did, and as it was, I barely had the context for what it meant to be a shifter. “Do you think that has something to do with why he wants me?”
“Absolutely. If you’re a part of a fated mate pair, and he has the dagger, he has access to ancient magical power.”
“How do you know all that?”
“It’s our guess. We aren’t sure yet, and we probably won’t be sure until we figure out why he’s stolen both parts of the dagger and what it has to do with his obsession with you.”
I shivered at that.
Anthony pulled me close, rubbing my arms and shoulders as though trying to give me his warmth. “It’ll be okay, Maury.”
“How can you be sure? I spent eighteen years of my life not okay, and no matter how much I wished and prayed and wanted, it didn’t get better. Not even in the bayou.”
He put his mouth to my ear, and his breath stirred my hair. “Because you have us now, Maury.”
And he had me. I had the pride now. I had Anthony, and it made all the difference.
“I love you, Anthony Holder.”
“And I love you still, Maury Powell.” He scooted down on the bed and tugged on my leg. His dick already stood tall as I settled over him, smoothing down the length of him. My head fell back, and a deep rightness rolled through me.
