Caught in Heat [Half-breed Shifter Series Book 1] (7 page)

Pausing, he bent his head to take a whiff from his armpit. After wrenching back with a wince, he revised his decision. He’d shower as soon as she was done, then he’d fuck her again before she was completely through her fever, and then…
then
he’d never shower again.

His stomach gurgled, reminding him he’d been put on lunch duty. Blinking, he focused on the food inside. The contents were extremely bare. Living out here in the middle of BFE, he didn’t stock up on the essentials except once every other month. And the essentials were running pathetically low.

Shrugging, he reached for a jar of grape jelly and peanut butter, hoping she didn’t mind a good old PB&J. If she turned out allergic to peanuts or something, he could always—

Shaw jerked upright, stopping in mid-thought.

What the hell was he thinking?

She was a fucking animal. She probably didn’t eat sandwiches.

His gut burned, remembering her earlier words.
You can see about hunting us up some grub.

Hunting.

Dear God. If she expected him to slaughter a rabbit or some such rodent so she could have fresh, warm blood, she was sadly mistaken.

Unless she meant to have
him
for her meal.

He slammed the refrigerator shut and cursed the room.

It had been easy to forget she was a wolf. He’d yet to see her shift. Naked and in pain, she’d only been a helpless female, a damsel in distress. But at the reminder that she was one of
them
, he stiffened.

He’d fucked an animal.

Shame coursed through him. Didn’t matter if he’d only seen her as a beautiful human woman. That bitch who’d killed Hailey had been a female, too; she might’ve been just as lovely in her naked human form as Riley was.

He shuddered. Oh, God. How many people had Riley killed? How many children? Little girls like Hailey.

He felt sick. She was a bloodthirsty, merciless murderess and he’d stuck his cock in her over and over again. He still wanted to.

The bathroom door opened and he whirled around.

Wrapped in a towel with the ends tucked between her breasts, she stepped into the bedroom. Her wet hair dripped onto her shoulders.

She was so beautiful, he just wanted to take her again; his dick pulsed and grew painfully hard. But he stayed his ground, remaining on the opposite side of the room.

She smiled at him, her face lighting up in a way that made his guts knot and his penis flex. But a split second later, her lips fell and she slowed to a stop. “What’s wrong?”

Self-disgust seized him. Love and hate warred through his chest. He wanted to hate everything about her; he
did
hate everything about her kind. But the past day and a half had been magical. God damn it, he’d never felt so relaxed and free before, like his vow to gain vengeance no longer mattered. He could just be himself, no ties tethering him to his aching need for revenge. He’d felt like he could move past that night from so long ago and become the man he should’ve been in the first place.

Staring at the woman who’d brought him to that glorious revelation, he shook his head. “What makes you think anything’s wrong?”

Riley frowned. “Because I can smell the tension oozing off you.” Squinting her eyes, she drew in a deep breath. “It’s like anger, with some fear too, and…and…” The words died as she stared at him, realization dawning in her brown eyes. “Regret,” she whispered. Hurt entered her features. “You regret what we’ve done.”

* * * * *

Riley wanted to throw something, a lot of somethings—an entire closet full of shoes would be nice. She wasn’t ready for this to be over. She needed him again. Her cunt was pulsating and swelling with need. Granted, it had taken longer for the fever to rise this time, almost ten minutes, but she still needed him to appease her needs.

And besides, his rejection hurt more than any aching pussy could.

As he turned his back, her pain morphed into anger. “Admit it,” she demanded, storming toward him. “Just face me and admit it. You regret fucking a shifter.”

He whirled toward her. “Damn it, stop!”

Her eyes searched his. “Stop what?”

His breathing escalated. “Stop…stop messing with my dick. Stop making it grow.”

Confused, she glanced down at the bulge expanding behind his fly. “I’m not.”

Digging his fingers into her arms, he pulled her close and clenched his teeth. “Yes, you are.” He pressed his fly against her hip to prove his point. “It’s only been ten minutes. I shouldn’t be this hard.”

“I already told you, I can’t stimulate an arousal unless you’re inside me. And even then, it’s not consciously done.”

“Then why do I have to have you so bad?”

She began to shake her head, clueless, but he picked her up by her arms and carried her five steps to the bed where he dropped her onto the mattress. His pheromones clogged the air until all she could breathe in was his dark, delicious intent. He’d never wanted her like this before. The need was the same as before, but his odor was lined with maliciousness. He wanted to lash out and hurt as he fucked.

Her nipples tweaked and her cunt watered, already lusting for a rough ride. Hard and feral, like a wild animal.

She stared up at him, afraid but too turned on to resist whatever he had in mind. He clutched her arm and she sucked in a breath. Gripping her hard, he rolled her onto her stomach and wrapped his arm around her waist to hike up her ass. The towel remained wrapped around her body, but it was too short to cover her cunt as he propped her into position. She shivered, anticipating, as a chilly breeze caressed her nether lips.

Spreading her legs wide with her knees planted in the mattress and her butt hovering a foot above it, Shaw leaned down and licked her from her clit to her anus. She jerked in surprise. He did it again and she groaned, arching up for more. When he plunged his tongue into her vagina, she bucked and strained, crying out and begging. As he thrust with his mouth, two fingers massaged her pussy, none too gently. But she didn’t want gentle.

The orgasm built and reached its peak. Sucking in a breath, she tensed for the flood. But he must’ve known she was about to come, the lights from her eyes giving her away. He pulled his tongue out, making her moan in denial.

Pinning her in place with a strong grip on her hip as she squirmed under him, Shaw stretched across Riley to snatch a bottle of KY off his nightstand. A snick of a cap later, cool jelly coated her ass, dripping down the crack until his hot fingers smoothed a warm, slick course straight to her cleft.

After stroking himself with more lube, he nudged the head of his cock between her swollen, pulsing folds. “Do you want me here?” he demanded, his voice hard and unforgiving.

She nodded. “Yes, please, oh yes. I want you there. Right now.”

He grunted. “Too bad.” Pulling free of her cunt, he shoved himself into her asshole. She came on impact, screaming from the pleasure and the pain. He kept rutting, squeezing himself into her tight hole. She came again. He didn’t join her, just kept slamming his hips against her ass, his balls bouncing into her clit as he pounded a third orgasm out of her.

The fourth time she came, he finally groaned out his release, pulling all the way out to soak her back with semen. Her knees went weak and shaky; she collapsed stomach-first onto the mattress. He remained behind her, kneeling for what felt like forever. His tension was palpable. She smelled even more regret oozing off him.

“Christ, Riley,” he finally whispered. “Did I hurt you?”

Tears clogged her eyes as tenderness filled her soul. He wanted to hate her, yet he couldn’t. She could sense how much their being together tore at him, conflicting needs fighting a constant inner battle where a part of him wanted to kill her, and another part needed to fuck, and yet a third part sought a deeper connection. She could feel the last need in him trying to break out every time he came, in the way he buried his face in her hair and inhaled, as if he was trying to breathe in her very essence, as if he needed her scent in his nostrils to survive.

She loved him for it. She loved this moody, strong, tormented man.

“I’m sorry,” he croaked. She jumped when he lightly ran the towel along her skin to soak up his spent juices. “I’m so damned sorry.”

She sniffed. “You didn’t hurt me. I…I loved it rough.”

“Then why are you crying?”

“I…” She shook her head, unwilling to admit her feelings.

Gently, he rolled her over. “I shouldn’t have taken you in anger. I shouldn’t have… Damn it.” He closed his eyes and shoved his hand through his hair.

“You didn’t do anything wrong,” she assured him, sitting up to wrap her arms around his chest.

He pulled taut, but seconds later, he eased and sank against her. He was warm and tender. She felt safe in his embrace. Even at the height of anger and self-loathing, he’d been nothing but passionate.

“I know you want to hate me,” she murmured, stroking his warm, muscled back. “I can feel the fight raging inside you. A part of you can’t stand being with me because I’m a—”

“Don’t say it,” he commanded, his voice hoarse with raw pleading.

She sighed. “Why do you despise us so much?”

For a time, he didn’t answer, just held her close and buried his face into her neck, soaking up all the comfort she could give. When he finally lifted his face, long-ago horrors swirled in his eyes.

“When I was fifteen, a pack of wolves—shapeshifters—broke into my house. They murdered my seven-year old sister and my parents. And left me with this.” He pointed to his scar.

“Oh, Shaw.” Heart breaking for the innocence ripped from him, Riley reached for his face to caress the old wound as if her touch could heal him.

He moved his head aside, avoiding her fingers. Eyes averted, he continued his story. “My dad had just gotten home late. He’d been screwing around on my mom. He could never keep his dick in his pants, would fuck any willing woman to cross his path. It broke my mother’s heart. She turned into a drunk and threatened to leave him a couple times a day. But she was just as addicted to him as he was to her. They had a sick fascination with each other, and Hailey and I often got caught in the crossfire.

“That night, they started fighting as soon as he walked in the door. Woke me up, so I knew it had to have woken Hailey, too. She cried every time they yelled.”

Pausing to clutch Riley closer, Shaw was consumed by a tremor that shuddered through his entire frame. Steeped in the memory, he didn’t seem to notice that she started to rub his back, otherwise he probably would’ve pulled away from that offer of comfort, too.

“I went to check on her and found her shivering in bed. So, I read her a story, hoping she’d fall asleep again. But…” He pressed closer to Riley, inhaling her clean, shower-fresh scent. “Halfway through the story, this…this
man
walked into our room. He had a wolf with him. He called it his mate and told me I should get out of the animal’s way because all it wanted was Hailey. But no way in hell was I going to let that monster anywhere near my sister. I tried to shield her, but I was just a pathetic kid. The wolf bit my arm and flung me to the side.”

Unconsciously, Shaw rubbed his right arm, and Riley caught sight of long-healed bite marks. She laced her fingers through his and rubbed the scars with him.

“After that, everything got hazy. I went cold and all my fear evaporated. The only thing left was rage, this all-consuming rage. I charged the bitch wolf and…and I killed it.”

Riley pulled back, her eyebrows shooting up. “You
killed
the wolf?”

No way could he have taken on a full-grown mated female and lived to tell about it, especially with her bonded male standing right there.

But he nodded, his eyes glassing over as he was still stuck in the past. “I jumped onto her back and broke her neck. Pissed her boyfriend off. He shifted into his wolf and leapt at me.”

Gasping, Riley demanded, “How’d you get away from him?”

Shaking his head, he murmured, “I don’t know. I just ran. Abandoned Hailey and ran.” A single shudder seized him, like a silent sob of regret. “I knew she was already dead, but I couldn’t believe I dropped her body so I could escape.”

“Shaw, you needed to save yourself. If she was already gone, then there was no reason to—”

“I don’t care,” he exclaimed. “Only a coward runs.”

Grasping his shirt and forcing him to look at her, Riley snorted. “You are hardly a coward, Shaw Griffin. Any human that lives out in the forest, ready to take on shapeshifters by himself, isn’t any kind of coward I’ve ever met.”

He lifted his gaze. “And now you know why I do it. That bastard jacked off as his mate ate my sister’s heart. Ever since then, I swore to myself I’d find him, the one who cut me and had my family butchered. I’ll find him and kill him. I’ll kill them all.”

“Genocide.” She whispered the word on a shiver.

He shrugged. “Whatever it takes.”

Crossing her arms over her chest and rubbing at her prickling skin, Riley whispered, “So, are you going to kill me, too, then?”

Sorrow filled his blue eyes.