He sat across the table from her and glared at her. “Are you ever going to forgive me for suggesting Eric be with us in the bedroom?” She sipped her soda. “You said a threesome. There’s a world of difference between a threesome and voyeurism. You were going to let that prick f**k me. No, I’m not going to forgive you.”
“I never pegged you for a prude.”
She looked up at him then. “I never pegged you for a complete ass**le with the intelligence of a turnip since you’re too dense to get why I’m so damn upset and angry with you.”
“Then explain it to me slowly since I’m so damn stupid,” he growled.
“I thought I already had.”
“I don’t get it.”
“Is there a woman in your life, any woman at all that you feel protective of? Maybe a sister or a mother figure?”
He blinked. “Yes. One of the families that raised me had four daughters. They are like sisters to me.”
She nodded. “Good. Now imagine one of them ending up with a creep who wanted his pal to f**k her too. Think long and hard about it. Is that a happy thought for you? Is that what you want for your sister?”
She saw his eyes darken. “That’s totally different.”
“Really? How?”
“I’d kill any ass**le who touched one of them if he wasn’t mated to her. No mate would ever let another male touch his woman.” He frowned. “We’re not mated.” She sighed. “You’re never going to get it. I’m done trying to explain it to you.” She continued eating, sensing he was watching her but she didn’t look up. When she finished lunch she threw away her trash and turned to leave the kitchen.
“I miss seeing you smile and hearing you laugh,” he said softly. “I miss how it was.”
So did she. She paused in the archway to the living room. Grady knew how to get to her. She took a deep breath and turned to meet his gaze. “What do you want me to say? You hurt me, Grady. Am I supposed to forget that? Am I supposed to just get over it?”
“I wish to hell you would. I want to sleep in your bed again and I don’t want to have to feel as though I’m forcing you to want me every damn time I touch you.”
“How long is mating season still in effect?”
“About a week more but it’s hard to tell since it’s not an exact science. It’s more to do with it being summer and…hell, I can’t explain it. We have about a week left.” She wanted it to be the way it had been between them before he brought Eric home with him but this time she wasn’t going to let herself get hopeful he’d fall for her. She slowly turned around and walked toward him.
“If you ever suggest another man to me, I don’t care if you go crazy and they have to put you down. I’ll run, Grady. I will run so far and fast, do whatever it takes to get away from you, and I’ll stay away from you. Are we clear?”
“Perfectly.”
She stopped in front of him and held out her hand to him. He reached for her hand and stood up. She led him to her bedroom and released his hand. She licked her lips and looked up at him as she kicked off her shoes.
“We have a week left. Let’s make the most of it. Just don’t ever try that shit again, all right? I’m not some bitch you can pass off to one of your friends.”
“It wasn’t like that.” He looked furious. “I am afraid I’ll hurt you, damn it.”
“So f**king another guy is going to keep me safe?”
“Yes,” he growled. “It will remind me that you’re not mine to keep so I don’t mate you. The urge is so strong that you’re in danger and Eric could protect you, so yeah, I’d let him f**k you if it meant you were safe from me. I’d do anything to keep you safe.” That shocked her. She wanted to ask him if the idea of mating her was really all that bad for him, but she held her tongue. She knew he had emotional scars from being punished for being half human by his father’s wife Eve. She realized, from what had happened to her own parents, that a human and werewolf mating wasn’t easy on any couple in a pack. She knew that Grady wanted and needed to be accepted by them.
Grady stared down at her. “I want you to want me without fighting me on it. I need you to really want me, babe.”
She stripped out of her clothes. “Wanting you isn’t the problem. Needing you is.” He cocked his head. “Why? I need you.”
“You need me until next week. Then you won’t need me anymore. I’m afraid I’m still going to need you, damn it. I’m…” she sighed. “I’m getting attached, Grady.” An emotion flickered over his face but then it was gone. “I can’t ever mate you, babe.”
“So you’ve told me.”
He stripped naked. Mika was always affected by his muscular, sexy body. He was perfect, he was Grady, and she loved him even though she hated doing it. She couldn’t stop caring for him even if he’d never feel the same way about her. She moved backward and then climbed on the bed. She stretched out na**d on her back and held her arms out to him.
“Take me.”
Grady growled at her, his eyes going black, as he climbed on the bed. Mika spread her thighs wide open for him. She wanted him to touch her. She wanted his hands and mouth on every part of her. She wanted to touch him and she did as he climbed over her. Her hands brushed his chest and she ran her palms run up to his shoulders. Their eyes locked and she lifted her head.
“Kiss me. Make me forget everything but you and me, right now.” Grady lowered his mouth and took possession of hers. She loved the way he kissed her. No one ever kissed her the way he did as he fully possessed and dominated her mouth. His tongue moved against hers the same way he moved inside her when he was buried deep in her sex. She moaned and clawed at him. She knew he was holding back.
She could feel it. She broke the kiss.
“Give me what you have, Grady. You aren’t going to break me. I promise.” He snarled a curse and then rolled them so she was sprawled on top of him. She sat up, straddling him, and lowered her head. She went for one of his ni**les with her mouth. He groaned as she sucked on him and used her teeth to nip his pebbled nipple between her teeth. He jerked under her.
“Don’t,” he warned. “I’m holding onto my control by a thread. No biting.”
She kept hold of his nipple and raised her eyes to meet his black ones. She nipped him a little harder. He snarled, showing sharp teeth, and then rolled them again. In a heartbeat, she found herself pinned as Grady entered her hard and fast.
She cried out in pleasure as he buried himself deep in one sure drive of his cock.
She had released his nipple when she cried out. Their gazes locked.
“I’m going to f**k you, babe. Hard. I’ve missed you so damn much. I’ve wanted you to look at me like that again so damn bad, you have no idea what it does to me.”
“Please.”
That was all it took. Grady’s c**k plowed in and out of her, powered by his frantically driven hips. Mika threw her head back and moaned loudly. She wrapped her legs high around his waist to give him plenty of room for easier access. Her fingernails dug into his muscular arms while she clawed at him.
Grady shifted his position and drove in at an angle that had her feeling a new level of pleasure. The faster he moved the better it felt. When Grady arched his back and lowered his head to capture one of her br**sts, she lost it as he sucked hard on her nipple. She came, screaming his name.
Grady’s release exploded inside her. She felt hot heat shooting deep inside her as Grady snarled. With every spurt of his release he sucked hard on her nipple, causing her own cl**ax to drag out. With one last spasm, when she felt pain from how hard he sucked on her nipple, she went limp under him. Grady released her breast and collapsed on top of her. He adjusted his arms to brace his upper weight so she could breathe. It was the only movement she had with his bigger body pinning her under him.
The sweat tickled between their bodies and they were both breathing hard. Mika couldn’t help but smile. She rubbed his back and paused at the hair she felt there. “You okay?”
Grady’s entire body turned rigid. The afterglow of great sex was suddenly destroyed as Grady growled and started to viciously curse.
“Fuck. Damn it. Goddamn it. Fuck!”
He rolled away from her in the same instant that he jerked his still-hard c**k from her body. He was off the bed in a shot and he went crazy as Mika watched. She lifted her head, stunned and horrified as Grady actually attacked one of her walls. He punched and kicked the wall so hard that plaster cracked and broke. She saw the insides of her walls as he continued to go crazy.
She sat up, staring at the man who’d obviously lost his mind. “Grady?” He turned, pure rage burning in his black eyes. She drew back in real terror. His face was partially changed. The teeth she saw were sharp and dangerous looking.
Grady threw back his head and literally roared out in rage.
Mika fled. Terrified, she leapt from her bed and ran from her room to the guestroom. She slammed and locked the bedroom door. She didn’t know what was wrong with Grady but he was scaring the shit out of her. The look in his eyes when he’d roared at her had been ice cold and filled with fury.
It sounded as though he were tearing her bedroom apart. She heard wood snap and things being thrown. She hugged herself hard, shaking, and wondered what the hell had happened.
Something wet tickled her arm under her breast. She looked down and saw red on her arm and on her breast. She stared in shock as she realized what she was seeing.
There were sharp teeth marks and three puncture wounds on her breast. She gripped her breast. It hurt. She examined the underside of her nipple where she found more bloody punctures.
Her knees collapsed under her. She sat there, stunned. She yanked her hand away from her breast as if she were on fire. She heard something smash in her bedroom as wood splintered. She closed her eyes.
It all made sense now. “Oh God,” she whispered.
Grady had bitten her breast, drawn blood, and she knew what it meant when a werewolf bit a woman during sex. She’d been told enough times. He hadn’t used a condom either. He’d lost control just the way he’d feared he would. She’d felt hair on his back and he’d had sharp teeth so he’d been partially changed during sex. He was freaking out and in a rage in her bedroom because he’d done the one thing he swore he’d never do.
He’d mated himself to a human. He’d bitten and mated himself to Mika. Her breast was still bleeding. She felt a drop of blood splatter on her. She stared at her na**d thigh and another drop marred her white skin. She heard Grady roar in rage down the hall and glass broke.
Mika pushed to her feet and ran for the bedroom door. Grady was still down the hall in her room. She wasn’t sure if there was anything left to break in there but it sounded as though he were still trying from the loud noises she still heard.
She ran into the hall bathroom and stared at the bite marks on her breast. She turned on the water as she kicked the bathroom door shut. Grady was going to hate her.
He was going to resent her and every day he was going to look at her the way he’d looked at her when he’d leapt from the bed.
She squeezed her breast and pushed out more blood, forcing the wounds to bleed.
She washed her breast, splashing water. Maybe he hadn’t bitten her hard enough.
Maybe the blood had pushed out whatever saliva had gotten in. She scrubbed the wounds with soap, ignoring the pain. Maybe the mating hadn’t taken.
She couldn’t do any more. She knew that. She shut off the water. Down the hall, her bedroom door was shut and the house was ominously silent. She wrapped a towel tightly around her and ran for the kitchen. She yanked a bottle of vodka off the top of the fridge and uncapped it as she went to the sink. She opened the towel and poured the clear booze over her injured breast. It was the strongest alcohol proof she had in the house. She shut her eyes and hissed through gritted teeth as the alcohol burned her injured skin.
“I never pegged you for a prude.”
She looked up at him then. “I never pegged you for a complete ass**le with the intelligence of a turnip since you’re too dense to get why I’m so damn upset and angry with you.”
“Then explain it to me slowly since I’m so damn stupid,” he growled.
“I thought I already had.”
“I don’t get it.”
“Is there a woman in your life, any woman at all that you feel protective of? Maybe a sister or a mother figure?”
He blinked. “Yes. One of the families that raised me had four daughters. They are like sisters to me.”
She nodded. “Good. Now imagine one of them ending up with a creep who wanted his pal to f**k her too. Think long and hard about it. Is that a happy thought for you? Is that what you want for your sister?”
She saw his eyes darken. “That’s totally different.”
“Really? How?”
“I’d kill any ass**le who touched one of them if he wasn’t mated to her. No mate would ever let another male touch his woman.” He frowned. “We’re not mated.” She sighed. “You’re never going to get it. I’m done trying to explain it to you.” She continued eating, sensing he was watching her but she didn’t look up. When she finished lunch she threw away her trash and turned to leave the kitchen.
“I miss seeing you smile and hearing you laugh,” he said softly. “I miss how it was.”
So did she. She paused in the archway to the living room. Grady knew how to get to her. She took a deep breath and turned to meet his gaze. “What do you want me to say? You hurt me, Grady. Am I supposed to forget that? Am I supposed to just get over it?”
“I wish to hell you would. I want to sleep in your bed again and I don’t want to have to feel as though I’m forcing you to want me every damn time I touch you.”
“How long is mating season still in effect?”
“About a week more but it’s hard to tell since it’s not an exact science. It’s more to do with it being summer and…hell, I can’t explain it. We have about a week left.” She wanted it to be the way it had been between them before he brought Eric home with him but this time she wasn’t going to let herself get hopeful he’d fall for her. She slowly turned around and walked toward him.
“If you ever suggest another man to me, I don’t care if you go crazy and they have to put you down. I’ll run, Grady. I will run so far and fast, do whatever it takes to get away from you, and I’ll stay away from you. Are we clear?”
“Perfectly.”
She stopped in front of him and held out her hand to him. He reached for her hand and stood up. She led him to her bedroom and released his hand. She licked her lips and looked up at him as she kicked off her shoes.
“We have a week left. Let’s make the most of it. Just don’t ever try that shit again, all right? I’m not some bitch you can pass off to one of your friends.”
“It wasn’t like that.” He looked furious. “I am afraid I’ll hurt you, damn it.”
“So f**king another guy is going to keep me safe?”
“Yes,” he growled. “It will remind me that you’re not mine to keep so I don’t mate you. The urge is so strong that you’re in danger and Eric could protect you, so yeah, I’d let him f**k you if it meant you were safe from me. I’d do anything to keep you safe.” That shocked her. She wanted to ask him if the idea of mating her was really all that bad for him, but she held her tongue. She knew he had emotional scars from being punished for being half human by his father’s wife Eve. She realized, from what had happened to her own parents, that a human and werewolf mating wasn’t easy on any couple in a pack. She knew that Grady wanted and needed to be accepted by them.
Grady stared down at her. “I want you to want me without fighting me on it. I need you to really want me, babe.”
She stripped out of her clothes. “Wanting you isn’t the problem. Needing you is.” He cocked his head. “Why? I need you.”
“You need me until next week. Then you won’t need me anymore. I’m afraid I’m still going to need you, damn it. I’m…” she sighed. “I’m getting attached, Grady.” An emotion flickered over his face but then it was gone. “I can’t ever mate you, babe.”
“So you’ve told me.”
He stripped naked. Mika was always affected by his muscular, sexy body. He was perfect, he was Grady, and she loved him even though she hated doing it. She couldn’t stop caring for him even if he’d never feel the same way about her. She moved backward and then climbed on the bed. She stretched out na**d on her back and held her arms out to him.
“Take me.”
Grady growled at her, his eyes going black, as he climbed on the bed. Mika spread her thighs wide open for him. She wanted him to touch her. She wanted his hands and mouth on every part of her. She wanted to touch him and she did as he climbed over her. Her hands brushed his chest and she ran her palms run up to his shoulders. Their eyes locked and she lifted her head.
“Kiss me. Make me forget everything but you and me, right now.” Grady lowered his mouth and took possession of hers. She loved the way he kissed her. No one ever kissed her the way he did as he fully possessed and dominated her mouth. His tongue moved against hers the same way he moved inside her when he was buried deep in her sex. She moaned and clawed at him. She knew he was holding back.
She could feel it. She broke the kiss.
“Give me what you have, Grady. You aren’t going to break me. I promise.” He snarled a curse and then rolled them so she was sprawled on top of him. She sat up, straddling him, and lowered her head. She went for one of his ni**les with her mouth. He groaned as she sucked on him and used her teeth to nip his pebbled nipple between her teeth. He jerked under her.
“Don’t,” he warned. “I’m holding onto my control by a thread. No biting.”
She kept hold of his nipple and raised her eyes to meet his black ones. She nipped him a little harder. He snarled, showing sharp teeth, and then rolled them again. In a heartbeat, she found herself pinned as Grady entered her hard and fast.
She cried out in pleasure as he buried himself deep in one sure drive of his cock.
She had released his nipple when she cried out. Their gazes locked.
“I’m going to f**k you, babe. Hard. I’ve missed you so damn much. I’ve wanted you to look at me like that again so damn bad, you have no idea what it does to me.”
“Please.”
That was all it took. Grady’s c**k plowed in and out of her, powered by his frantically driven hips. Mika threw her head back and moaned loudly. She wrapped her legs high around his waist to give him plenty of room for easier access. Her fingernails dug into his muscular arms while she clawed at him.
Grady shifted his position and drove in at an angle that had her feeling a new level of pleasure. The faster he moved the better it felt. When Grady arched his back and lowered his head to capture one of her br**sts, she lost it as he sucked hard on her nipple. She came, screaming his name.
Grady’s release exploded inside her. She felt hot heat shooting deep inside her as Grady snarled. With every spurt of his release he sucked hard on her nipple, causing her own cl**ax to drag out. With one last spasm, when she felt pain from how hard he sucked on her nipple, she went limp under him. Grady released her breast and collapsed on top of her. He adjusted his arms to brace his upper weight so she could breathe. It was the only movement she had with his bigger body pinning her under him.
The sweat tickled between their bodies and they were both breathing hard. Mika couldn’t help but smile. She rubbed his back and paused at the hair she felt there. “You okay?”
Grady’s entire body turned rigid. The afterglow of great sex was suddenly destroyed as Grady growled and started to viciously curse.
“Fuck. Damn it. Goddamn it. Fuck!”
He rolled away from her in the same instant that he jerked his still-hard c**k from her body. He was off the bed in a shot and he went crazy as Mika watched. She lifted her head, stunned and horrified as Grady actually attacked one of her walls. He punched and kicked the wall so hard that plaster cracked and broke. She saw the insides of her walls as he continued to go crazy.
She sat up, staring at the man who’d obviously lost his mind. “Grady?” He turned, pure rage burning in his black eyes. She drew back in real terror. His face was partially changed. The teeth she saw were sharp and dangerous looking.
Grady threw back his head and literally roared out in rage.
Mika fled. Terrified, she leapt from her bed and ran from her room to the guestroom. She slammed and locked the bedroom door. She didn’t know what was wrong with Grady but he was scaring the shit out of her. The look in his eyes when he’d roared at her had been ice cold and filled with fury.
It sounded as though he were tearing her bedroom apart. She heard wood snap and things being thrown. She hugged herself hard, shaking, and wondered what the hell had happened.
Something wet tickled her arm under her breast. She looked down and saw red on her arm and on her breast. She stared in shock as she realized what she was seeing.
There were sharp teeth marks and three puncture wounds on her breast. She gripped her breast. It hurt. She examined the underside of her nipple where she found more bloody punctures.
Her knees collapsed under her. She sat there, stunned. She yanked her hand away from her breast as if she were on fire. She heard something smash in her bedroom as wood splintered. She closed her eyes.
It all made sense now. “Oh God,” she whispered.
Grady had bitten her breast, drawn blood, and she knew what it meant when a werewolf bit a woman during sex. She’d been told enough times. He hadn’t used a condom either. He’d lost control just the way he’d feared he would. She’d felt hair on his back and he’d had sharp teeth so he’d been partially changed during sex. He was freaking out and in a rage in her bedroom because he’d done the one thing he swore he’d never do.
He’d mated himself to a human. He’d bitten and mated himself to Mika. Her breast was still bleeding. She felt a drop of blood splatter on her. She stared at her na**d thigh and another drop marred her white skin. She heard Grady roar in rage down the hall and glass broke.
Mika pushed to her feet and ran for the bedroom door. Grady was still down the hall in her room. She wasn’t sure if there was anything left to break in there but it sounded as though he were still trying from the loud noises she still heard.
She ran into the hall bathroom and stared at the bite marks on her breast. She turned on the water as she kicked the bathroom door shut. Grady was going to hate her.
He was going to resent her and every day he was going to look at her the way he’d looked at her when he’d leapt from the bed.
She squeezed her breast and pushed out more blood, forcing the wounds to bleed.
She washed her breast, splashing water. Maybe he hadn’t bitten her hard enough.
Maybe the blood had pushed out whatever saliva had gotten in. She scrubbed the wounds with soap, ignoring the pain. Maybe the mating hadn’t taken.
She couldn’t do any more. She knew that. She shut off the water. Down the hall, her bedroom door was shut and the house was ominously silent. She wrapped a towel tightly around her and ran for the kitchen. She yanked a bottle of vodka off the top of the fridge and uncapped it as she went to the sink. She opened the towel and poured the clear booze over her injured breast. It was the strongest alcohol proof she had in the house. She shut her eyes and hissed through gritted teeth as the alcohol burned her injured skin.
