Loving Lucius (Werescape) Read online

  His hand returned mine to my lap and the heat of his grasp slid away.

  No. Don't let go.

  He rose up on the free palm to pluck the cup from my grasp and twisted at his sinewy waist, placing my coffee out of sight on the floor.

  Why?

  He turned back to me, every muscle in his abdomen adjusting with his movement, so he could stare into my eyes while returning to his propped up position. "Can I kiss you?"

  Yes. Oh. Please. I think I whispered yes. But it didn't matter. His mouth was there, against mine, soft and attentive. Hungry. Satisfying. Marching across my face down to my neck. Setting off an ache so deep in my belly that it had to rest under me. All I wanted to do was hold him close. Touch him. Make him feel as amazing as he made me feel. I snaked my hands around his steely neck and returned the kiss.

  His chest was suddenly on top of mine.

  Pinning me against the soft bedding. Kneading sucking kisses along my clavicle. Back and forth. Then he massaged the length of my throbbing neck with equal enthusiasm.

  My heart raced.

  I gasped for air, rubbing the curve at the base of his head.

  One of those huge hands of his rubbed the bend of my hip. The other's fingers were tucked into the base of my braid. To move would have been madness. He might stop. End this assault of my senses.

  His doting mouth moistened a path to my earlobe.

  Tickling. I closed my eyes, reveling in the way his supple skin moved against mine, thinking of nothing but how long I could keep him here making my heart surge, and clutched at his shoulders.

  "Do you like this kind of touching?" he whispered hot breath against the curve of my ear then drew back a few inches.

  We stared at each other.

  His blond eyebrows arched with speculation. "Well?"

  "Yes."

  "If I touch you like this all day and night, will you forgive me for what happened between us before, when I frightened you?"

  We already discussed that. But he seemed to be playing a game where I allowed him unrestricted access to my body for this touching. And how when my body felt like it would explode after just a few minutes of his lips against my skin, I'd be foolish to say no. "Yes, Lucius."

  His speculative mask graded into seriousness and he covered my mouth with his.

  Need. Hot demanding need filled my reality. We were feeding off each other. Tongues dipping into each other's hot wet mouths. Hands digging and clawing for more. Just another morsel. Anything to keep our pounding hearts fueled.

  I ached so badly way down deep inside with a strange wild demand that begged for him to do something. If only he'd wrap his body around mine. Fill me with something. Whatever he had to have to make my body stop begging for more.

  His hot damp mouth drew back again to hover a few inches overhead.

  Hovering where I could look into his glowing yellow eyes. At his Wolf.

  "Tell me to stop now, Elise. Or I won't be able to."

  I'd die if he didn't cure the ache he started inside me. "I need you."

  He gurgled an almost inaudible growl.

  My arms crawled with gooseflesh. But he didn't return to my mouth. No. His sweet lips fell on my chest. Right above the scoop neckline of my tank top.

  He sucked at my skin.

  Oh to have that feeling lower. At my breast. Drawing the life out of me.

  His golden Shifter eyes watched me.

  I needed him to move. To make me whole. Complete. Part of him.

  He rose, a smidge.

  Only to lock his glistening teeth on the edge of my shirt.

  He tugged at the seam and snarled.

  Every cell in my body quaked with anticipation.

  What next?

  He dropped my shirt. "Take it off."

  Chapter Eight

  I shoved off her sweet curves, permitting her to rise with her delectable parted lips and drugged stare. If she didn't hurry, I'd have to rip her shirt off.

  She pushed up from the bedding with her palms at her side and struggled to sit.

  Lost in the euphoria of mating. So, touch was her Achilles heel. I'd use it against her. Keep her in bed during the endless days of Mating Fever that lay ahead. Then, once she carried my seed, I'd touch her just to see the proof of her willingness to be my mate.

  She pulled the hem of her tank top out from where the edge had tucked inside her pants, watching me.

  As if she changed her mind. Would she suddenly balk at undressing? Not now. I'd die. Every millimeter of her skin smelled like mine. Tasted like mine. Would soon be completely mine the way she had clutched my shoulders to her rattling heart. As if she begged for touching. Needed touching to survive. And Wolf wouldn't allow death. Not of the mate he chose. The mate who gave herself to him. She had to give herself to me. All of herself.

  She blinked and tugged the cloth over her head.

  Revealing the sweetest pale pink lacy bra bulging with mine.

  Play, Wolf whined.

  Oh, yes, we'll play. Burrowed deep in the bedding. Two souls melding in the warm water of the Well of Immortality. But her legs weren't on the bed. I snatched her up, those wide silver disks of her eyes questioning me, until I spread her out on the bed.

  Such beauty. The dark brown hair. Coffee colored. Only made her eyes shine as brightly as the moon. The pale pink bra merely accentuated her coloring. So beautiful. I wanted it all, between her legs, right now.

  Wolf's pulse raced.

  Quiet. You'll scare her. She's been through hell. I lifted a hand to touch one swell of breast.

  Her gaze followed my fingers.

  Down to her uppermost silky rib where I curled my palm around the arc of the bulge stretching the pink lace.

  Her head shot back, and her mouth gaped for air.

  Life-giving. Air. She'd need every gulp she could keep down soon enough. I'd make certain of that. I bent down to the unnerving scent of mine and trailed the tip of my tongue along her velveteen flesh at the bumpy edge of her bra's cup.

  Her palms shot to my shoulders, sliding over to my back and slipping up my neck.

  Gods-damn, those hands felt amazing on my skin. Petting me. Idolizing me. That's how it should be between mates. Never-ending moments of raw adoration from divine touch. Oh to peel away the lace. Rip it off with one jerk of my fangs. To sip from The Well.

  Her body arched. "Lucius," she whined. "Oh, this touching is going to kill me."

  Something told me Wolf would be more patient. Dragging out her pleasure wasn't going to be easy. My little mate is far too willing. Eager to sense all the things forbidden to her before we met. I'd just have to taste all the mine I could before she died. I gulped down a chuckle.

  One of her hands slithered down between us to the clasp between her breasts and fumbled with the mechanism.

  "No." Mine to open. I swiped her hand away.

  Her gaze found mine.

  Unhappy by her scowl. "Lie back. Let me show you how the touching works." At least, enough to drive her insane with need. She isn't quite there yet.

  Her head dropped backward with a groan.

  Too sweet. Mine. Mine. I went to work, leaning, lathing the soft tissue around the edge of her bra. Nibbling the edge. Brushing my thumb over the hard pebble topping the mound. Battling the urge to pull back the lace.

  She tossed her head from side to side.

  Gods, what would happen when I got her clit between my teeth?

  My mouth watered.

  Play, Wolf whimpered.

  Oh, we'd play after I unknotted her nipples. My little kitten was so tied up from her childhood that she needed liberation.

  ****

  He sat up. Why? I want that mouth back on me. Driving me senseless.

  He reached down and yanked off one of my hiking boots.

  Good. We can't finish mating with my pants on.

  My other boot thumped on the floor. Two more thuds sounded when he dropped his boots. Like thunder warning of an approaching storm.


  A drum roll. The room needed to vibrate with pounding hail.

  He thrust a knee between my thighs and wedged my legs open.

  Oh. Yes. Down there. To feel his weight between my legs.

  My hips rocked mindlessly.

  His amber gaze locked on mine, and he rumbled with a possessive growl.

  Making my hips rock more.

  Against the intoxicating weight of him that fed their motion. Made them plead for him to pay them his full attention.

  He thrust a finger beneath my bra clasp and popped it open with the help of a thumb.

  Thank the stars. I should have closed my eyes in anticipation for the next level of touching. But his mouth mesmerized me to the point I could only watch. In awe. While those adoring lips lowered, his fingers peeling away the lace cloaking my breasts. Then his amazing mouth sucked me witless at the tip of one.

  Teeth nibbling, Tongue tickling. He dragged the sharp edges of his bite to the wicked bitter end of the rope I teetered upon. Deep inside me.

  An unmanageable jolt of need shafted from where his lips sucked my nipple down to my groin.

  To warn I was still alone. Until he tended to the need he'd nurtured.

  He shoved my other breast into the one where he nursed and hopped to the other nub effortlessly.

  Driving me witless with those teeth. Touching me. Life without touching was a far worse form of agony. But my soul would drain from my body where he stoked my need if he didn't hurry. "Please, Lucius." I shoved the firm mass of his immobile shoulders.

  His weight shifted, his mouth sucking tickling kisses downward, lower, along my midline toward the aching need he'd bullied into a demanding beast.

  Riddling me with chills. But he kept moving. Thank goodness. Or I'd run out of breath.

  He trailed the warm tip of his tongue around the rim of my navel.

  Over and over. I couldn't lie still. Had to. Or he might stop. Bad. That would be very bad.

  Pressure built inside my jerking belly.

  Beneath his reverent tongue. I needed to move. My hips.

  They struggled against his unyielding shoulders.

  To make the need stop. I'd burst into a thousand shards any moment. "Lucius," I whined, "I need to move fast. Please."

  He moved so fast I couldn't tell what he did.

  The bed creaked and rose.

  Maybe he shape shifted. Into his Wolf. Would that be safe when I gasped for breath so hard that it was impossible to do anything other than lie in the tousled blankets? His prey.

  The bed bounced again.

  Hands worked the closure of my blue jeans.

  Lucius. Thank goodness. Busying himself undressing me. Tugging my pants down my hips, thighs, and over my feet.

  He eased a knee between my thighs.

  The most perfect place he could be. Where his weight made me ache with desire. I spread my legs invitingly.

  A slow growl rolled around the room.

  Energy surged through me.

  Giving me what I needed to shove up.

  My mate's Wolf eyes watched me as he kneeled on his hands and knees then walked hand-over-hand along the length of me.

  Nude. His thighs and ass bare. Covered in crisp male hairs I'd always seen on men's arms. Touched a few times when brushing past a guard. But this time, the hairs rubbed against my bare thighs. Sensual. Stimulating. Definitely arousing.

  My hips rocked against his hardness.

  Not again. The need is so damned horrible. Just to move fast. Now.

  His glowing Wolf eyes eased into view directly overhead. "Let's go slow," he said.

  Slow?

  "We have to," he managed without growling. "It's your first time."

  My hips didn't care. "I'll try." Anything to get him right where I'm throbbing and aching.

  He slid his steely arm between our bodies and raked something soft and warm against my sex.

  Absolutely divine. Perfect. But made my need's ache fluctuate like a pulse.

  "Breathe," he said, locking that something into my sex's notch.

  Oh, I'd try. But this was so mind-boggling. I just needed to move fast.

  "Ready?" He lowered to press his damp forehead against mine, staring me in the eye.

  Yes. Yes. I nodded.

  "Give me your hands."

  If doing so would let my hips move. I held out my palms.

  He took one in his, threading our fingers together, and pinned the back of it to the bed. Then the other.

  Being held down felt amazing. My hips moved so much better.

  "Lie still, Elise," he growled. "I don't want to hurt you."

  Hurt? Everything felt so perfect. Even the bloody need. So ideal for rocking hips in this position. I could just…

  "Elise, be careful. It will hurt a little in the beginning."

  Rumors taught a girl about sex. About virgins having sex. But being here with Lucius is nothing like those rumors. Lucius made the stories sound like lies. Lucius loves me. I can tell. In his selfless actions. In the way he looks at me with those bright blue eyes. And the touching…Rumors have no place here. Only Lucius.

  "Ready?" he asked, bearing his weight down upon my palms.

  Would he not hurry? "Yes." I tried not to groan.

  "I'm going to push a little. Lie still."

  Would he give orders every second of every day? If he didn't hurry, I'd be the one giving orders.

  His something forced inside the achy spot he'd created.

  But stopped. Damn him. Oh, to end this hollow need. "Lucius!" I couldn't wriggle my hips the way he pinned me down.

  "Still," he hissed more than snarled, staring into my eyes.

  The whole world would burn into nothingness from those large burning eyes of his. If he'd just move. Just let me move. Release my hands. "Please. I need to touch you." I squeezed his knuckles just to make certain he understood.

  He thrust his hips.

  Something gave inside me. And stung.

  Into a little burn. I sucked down a breath and tried to hold it. To make it blow out the fire.

  His forehead slid along my temple until he pressed his cheek to mine. "Forgive me," he said with a breathy quasi-growl.

  The pain faded with his words.

  And my need to move. But so much of his wonderful skin remained. And the touching. "Please, Lucius, let me touch you."

  He growled a soft sound of possession and kissed his mouth's way back across my cheek to my lips, pulling back after planting a warm smooch on my mouth, locking that fiery gaze on mine. "Mine," he snarled and thrust his hips again.

  The long thick something wedged deeper and deeper. With each of his enthusiastic plunges. So blessedly deep. Until he'd pressed his groin all the way against my sex and paused to suck down a breath. I think. Maybe he felt the need. Because the way his body touched me down there made my hips rock with a mind of their own.

  He gurgled another one of those possessive growls and began rocking me with his groin.

  The wave of need billowing through me drove me to moan and squeeze his broad hands.

  For strength. For patience. The two things he reminded me of when I first met him. Because I had to move my hips. Fast. Very fast.

  Trapped. He had me trapped. His steely length speared inside me. Mating had to be the death of a woman. Had to keep her wanting more. Begging. Beneath a man who threw his head back, taking his enjoyment. Why? Isn't there supposed to be enjoyment for a woman?

  He turned his face back to me, opening those luminous eyes, shoving my hips so far forward my ass tilted off the bed.

  Ache. Need. Deep inside me, my body moved, squeezed down upon his firm rod until his lance flinched inside me.

  God. The most perfect touching I'd ever experienced. "More. Please more." I groaned and tried to move my hips.

  Still futile efforts.

  He watched me, the female imprisoned by his weight.

  So unfair. Give me more. "Move, Lucius," I whined.