Claiming His Chance (7 page)

I
spent
the morning punching heavy bags and trying to work off a little post-dry-hump energy. Not that physical exertion seemed to be working to quiet my mind. Ever since Trinity had slipped out of my room to head back to the one she shared with Piers, my thoughts had been solely focused on her. Was she safe? Was she missing me? Was she as obsessed with me as I was with her? Did she wake up in the middle of the night with an ache inside to come together again?

I had, my hard cock practically weeping with want. Having a room to myself, I’d simply taken things in hand and rubbed one out each time, though I missed the feel of her against me. The smell of her around me, the taste of her on my lips. My own hand was a sad imitation, but it was the best I could do. Poor Trinity shared a space with her cousin, so taking care of her needs alone wasn’t really a possibility. At least, I didn’t think it was. Of course, the picture of her with her hand between her legs, biting her lip to stay quiet so Piers wouldn’t hear her.

Yeah, that’d do nicely for later.

I shifted on my feet, trying to keep from getting hard at the thought of my mate pleasuring herself. I couldn’t deal with that now, here, in the middle of the training facility surrounded by other fighters. They’d wonder, and I didn’t want to bring any attention to Trinity and me. For whatever reason, she didn’t feel safe here without Piers, something that rankled hard. Still, at least she was watched by him. Piers. Her cousin…not a lover or competition for me. A blood relation.

Thank fuck for that.

As I switched from hitting with my right arm to my left, my handler came up with his ever-present clipboard.

“Appalachia, you ready to fight again tonight?”

I nodded, still hitting the bag, still thinking about Trinity.

“This opponent will be harder than last night. You’re moving into the big time now, kid.”

I grunted, mixing things up, hitting the bag harder to hide my excitement. A fight tonight, then just one left. I’d be free of my pack debt soon, and then I could take Trinity and run. Though we’d have to wait for Piers. Maybe I could delay the next one, or add on a fourth for good measure. Or maybe—

I grabbed the bag, holding it still as I finally gave the handler my full attention. “What happens if someone doesn’t want to fight?”

“You backing out, kid?”

“No, just curious, I guess.”

He grunted. “Not all guys come here with debts, but for the ones who do, each fight is currency to pay it off. Debt is debt, no matter who pays.”

I perked up. “Debt is debt. So let’s say I finish the fights to pay off my debt but feel bad for someone who has a longer time here. Could I fight for their debt?”

The handler shrugged. “It’s not unheard of, but the money draw of each fighter would need to be similar. We wanted Killian for one fight to pay off your pack’s debt, but you came in his place. For you, the cost is three fights. Anyone weaker, the cost would be higher. So the balance still has to be kept. If you decided to fight for someone weaker, there would be fewer fights needed to pay off the debt. Which also means, if they’re stronger—”

“There’d be more.” I nodded, not wanting to ask about Piers in particular but wondering if there was some way to help get him out of his contract sooner so Trinity and I could leave. So we could all get the hell out of here and back to my mountain.

The trainer looked me over, one eye squinting a bit. “Anything you need to tell me?”

“Nope. I’m all set.” I shook my head, pushing the bag away from me. My thoughts wandered with every punch, a future I dared not hope for playing behind my eyes. Trinity and I could leave together. Maybe I could take on another fight for someone. Maybe there was a way to delay so Piers could leave at the same time.

“Hey, Appalachia.”

Speak of the devil…
I turned to see Piers leaning over the ropes of a ring. The man seemed arrogant, grinning in such a cocky way even my wolf took notice of what looked an awful lot like a challenge. “Come on over here and give me some target practice.”

I chuffed low but tossed my towel over my shoulder and headed his way. Trinity’s cousin and I needed to have a few words anyway. “Sure thing, kid. So long as you don’t mind missing every shot.”

Piers laughed, his eyes darker and warier than his bright smile let on. I climbed into the ring slowly, keeping him in my sights. I didn’t think he’d pull any tricks on me, but one never knew. Better to stay safe than be sorry later.

Piers approached slowly once I was standing on the bouncy base, offering his fists in a sign of respect for the start of a fight.

“Don’t ever drop your guard,” Piers said, voice quiet, eyes hard. I nodded, understanding his words were for more than our current bout. I rocked back and forth, arms up, ducking my head as he did the same.

“Anything else you want to tell me?”

He swung left, practically flying across the floor. “She likes hanging out in the woods behind this place.”

It was my turn to grin. “Already knew that one.”

“Breaking the rules already, huh? Not smart.”

His first hit came as a surprise. I barely stepped out of the way in time, his glove brushing my chin as I leaned back. A glancing blow, but still…contact. I snarled in response and brought my hands higher.

That cocky grin of his grew. “Told you not to drop your guard.”

We sparred for a few minutes, both of us dancing around the other, neither landing any good punches. Not that I thought that was the goal of the exercise. Hopefully the rest of the guys in the gym didn’t see anything unusual.

“She hates it here,” Piers whispered as we circled closer. “She hates the violence.”

I nodded once, jabbing with my right. “I’m not a fan of it myself.”

“Really? That’s surprising. You seem to know your way around a fight.”

“Knowing how to fight is a requirement in this life. Doesn’t mean I have the heart to beat other shifters to a pulp for no reason.”

He threw a solid punch, catching my forearm as I blocked. “Money’s a reason. Fame.”

“I’d rather have peace. I’ve seen enough violence for this life. Besides, it’s too fucking loud here. My wolf can’t settle in this place.”

He stopped, feet planted and arms dropped as he huffed a laugh. “Your fates don’t fuck around when they pair people up, do they?”

Before I could ask what he meant, another fighter stepped to the edge of the ring. “Yo, Piers. Where’s your eye candy?”

My growl was low and quiet but enough of a warning for the guy’s eyes to widen. Piers spun in the direction of the interrupter. His shoulders tensed, fists clenched and ready to fight, but then he fell back a step. Eyes hard but that damned cocky grin back on his face.

“Sorry, man,” he said, shaking out his arms. “She’s back in our room recovering from last night.”

“Get her ass up next time. We need our morning dose of tits and ass.” The man laughed before walking off to join a group of shifters at the other end of the room. Piers’ grin had fallen, a sickly smile left in its place as he glared after the shifter.

“Fucking place makes everyone a ball of testosterone,” Piers grumbled, ducking low again.

I kept my eyes on Piers, biting back the instinct to defend my mate. Knowing now was not the time. But still…

“That’s just an excuse, asshole.” I edged closer, eyesight sharp and animalistic. Piers zeroed in on me, responding to the anger in my voice. Smart boy… I was about to teach him a lesson, and he knew it.

He dropped to a crouch, ready to go again. I stayed loose and watchful. I needed one spot, one moment of…and then, there it was. An opening. Piers took a single step back, dropping his eyes to my right shoulder. I swung hard and wide with my left, knocking him in the side of the head. The bones in my hand crunched in a sickly way, but it didn’t matter. Piers fell like a brick to the floor of the ring.

I leaned over his prone body, offering a hand, pretending to help him up. When I had him in a sitting position, I yanked him forward to speak directly into his ear so the others wouldn’t hear me.

“You ever let these fuckers talk about her like a piece of meat again, and I’ll rip your fucking arms off.”

Piers stared, eyes wide. I glared right back, letting him know how serious my threat was. I didn’t like the way other men were allowed to leer at her, to undress her with their eyes, or to talk about her. It made Trinity into an object, which wasn’t acceptable. I especially didn’t like Piers laughing off their sexist remarks.

After a moment to catch his breath, Piers smiled and shook his head, taking my hand and letting me pull him up. “Yeah, those fates don’t fuck around with you wolves. You two really are a perfect match.”

I didn’t reply, too wound up after what that other guy had said to deal with this shit. I needed my mate, wanted to be sure she was safe. Sparring was over, and luckily, Piers knew it.

“She’s out in the woods by the river,” he whispered, heading for his water bottle in the corner of the ring. “I’ll back you up if anyone comes looking for you, but they won’t buy my bullshit for long. You’ve got about an hour before you’ll be missed. Go.”

Without a backward glance, I took off for the door. My mate was outside, and I wanted to be close to her. To guard her…and maybe find a little time to be alone together. I stripped as soon as I hit the tree line and took off in wolf form through the woods. Screw their rules. My wolf needed to run, and I was going to make sure he got a chance to. The air was cleaner out here, no longer filled with scents that drove a man wild. The rocks bit into my paws in a way that was familiar, a slight ache that made me homesick for my own mountain. Trees and sun and a cool breeze that blew through the treetops with a soft rustle, those were all things natural. That building against the mountainside, those men pumped up on hormones, was pure wrong. I wanted to be done with wrong. I wanted the one thing in my life I knew was decidedly, perfectly right.

It was time to track my mate.

T
he sun blazed
bright in the sky, bringing with it a blanket of heat. The air was humid, almost sultry in its thickness, causing sweat to trickle down the back of my neck where my hair hung heavy. The river rolled by not far away, sparkling and bringing a soft, sensual sound to my ears. A quiet, peaceful background noise to the brushing of the leaves above me. I sat in the shade under a tree, enjoying the tickle of the breeze against my skin. Finding peace in my solitude with Mother Nature and the sounds of nothing but the wind and the river.

This was the time of day when the men were training, bashing each other’s heads in and calling it practice for the real fights later. I hated the sounds of fists on flesh, hated the grunts and the smells and the cursing. The unnaturalness of it all. So I stayed outside by the river where I could be alone. Where it was quiet and peaceful.

Or at least relatively so.

Because for only the second time since I’d been coming out here, I heard footsteps approach. Soft, with a four-part pattern telling me they were wolf and not man. Definitely not Piers. Someone approaching who’d already broken the rules. I sat as still as stone, staring into the woods, my heart racing. Unsure whether to be excited or terrified…or maybe even a little of both.

But then he appeared, a large, dark gray wolf, almost black along his topline. He crept through the shadows, his head lowered in a way that said he wasn’t going to attack, his eyes on mine. Deep, bright eyes in the most unusual color of light brown. Nearly amber. I’d know those eyes anywhere, had been dreaming about them, actually.

“I heard you coming,” I called, waiting for him to show his human self. The wolf rose to his back legs, the body morphing from fur to skin in one smooth movement. So much skin.

“I didn’t want to scare you, so I circled around and gave you a warning.” Cahill moved out of the shadows and into the sun, his skin so much darker than mine. A deep golden hue that seemed much more at home in the wild than my own. And while he kept a hand in front of his groin in a rare display of modesty, I still saw. Still knew. He was half-hard just being this close to me, and that fact started a low fire inside of me.

“You’re very naked,” I breathed, the words barely more than a whisper.

“I left my clothes by the gym. I know it’s not allowed, but my wolf needed to track you. He felt…compelled.”

“My wolf feels much the same.” I looked him over again, dragging my eyes over all that gorgeous tanned skin before meeting his. “My human side does, too.”

His lips turned up in a sly grin. “Aren’t you supposed to avert your eyes or something? Some pack rule about not seeing each other naked until the Alpha has given his blessing to the mating.”

I snorted a very inelegant laugh. “I’m no longer in a pack, so I don’t need to follow anyone’s rules. Besides, I don’t know a single mated couple who followed that rule.”

“Yeah.” He moved behind me, dropping down to sit with his legs on either side of me. “I don’t think anyone in our pack followed it either. Though we hadn’t been blessed with a mating for a good twenty-year stretch. Only recently has anyone found their fated match.”

“That’s so sad.” I surrendered to my need for more—more skin, more warmth, more contact—and leaned against his chest, letting his scent surround me. “Lucky you then for finding me.”

He kissed my neck and squeezed me closer. “Very, very lucky me.”

We sat that way for several long minutes, watching the world go by as we took comfort in one another. It was lovely, silent and calm in a way my world tended not to be. Most men, Piers included, would have tried to fill the quiet, blathering on about something and making my head spin. Not Cahill—he sat behind me calm and sure, confident enough to give nature its chance to shine while he watched. But time passed and my mind began to spin off into what was coming. Even the peaceful river I loved couldn’t drown my worry.

“You have a fight tonight,” I whispered.

Cahill squeezed me tighter, burying his face in my neck as he sighed. “Yeah, I do.”

I rose to my knees, swinging around him so we reversed positions. So I could be the one supporting him. His worried eyes met mine as I moved, but I simply shook my head. This was what I craved, a chance to give him my strength. To support him here while we were alone…since I couldn’t support him once we were back inside the gym.

“I hate the fights,” I said once I settled behind him on the grass. I wrapped my arms around his chest and buried my head against his shoulder, squeezing him. One of his large hands covered mine, pressing into his muscles. Capturing me even though I was trying to capture him.

“I’m almost done with my contract.”

I slid my free hand down his chest, touching, feeling, learning every dip and ridge. Every scar. Discovering what made him relax, what made him sigh. What made him shiver in my arms. Lower, along the curves of his abs, spreading my fingers over his stomach as if I could protect him somehow.

“I do worry about you,” I whispered, my voice shaking. “A lot.”

“I know.”

“I can’t show it, though. Not in front of the others.”

“I know that, too.”

Breathing deeply, taking in the smell of him, the warmth of his body against mine, I surrendered again. He was my mate, and he would be in a ring tonight battling some other shifter. I would have to watch silently, hiding my fear and my attraction. I would have to lie with my entire body and play the role of someone else’s mate. Something I’d been doing for so long but that seemed nearly impossible since I met Cahill. A feat that had gone from a stroll through the hills to climbing a mountain with a single glance.

But at that moment, as we cuddled under the tree with no one else around, I could be
his
. All his. And I wanted to.

“We’re all alone out here.”

He groaned as my fingers raked over his hip bones, leaning into me, giving me more room to touch and feel. “I noticed that.”

I nipped his neck, dragging wet kisses down to his shoulder, tasting him. Taking him into my body in any way I could.

He made a noise like a whine, a needful, desperate sound that fueled my own fire. I slid my hand from under his, letting it join the first, both trailing fingertips up and down his thighs. “Whatever should we do to pass the time?”

Hard muscle clenched and relaxed as I teased higher, closer to where we both wanted me to go.

“Pretty sure you have a plan.”

And I did. I had a plan to make him relax, to claim him in the only way I could, to extinguish the fire I knew had to be burning him alive.

“I always have a plan.”

I slid both hands to the apex of his thighs, one reaching between his legs to cup his balls, the other grasping his heavy dick and running up the length of him. He groaned again, head against my shoulder, surrendering to my touch. He let me take the lead, spreading his legs and sliding down my body, giving me the perfect view over his shoulder. Hot, hard, and thick, he filled my hand. I practically moaned at the feel of him, at the sight of my pale fingers wrapping around him. At the deep color of the head sliding in my grip. So pretty…so sensual.

My strokes started slow but with a solid grasp. I knew men didn’t need gentle, but I still wanted to ramp him up. Wanted to make him gasp and shiver and beg. So I tugged and pulled, twisting my hand, teasing the head of him with my thumb on every other pass. Meanwhile, my other hand kept the same rhythm with his balls, massaging and gently working them. Cahill sagged against me, his hands on the ground beside my hips to hold himself up. Laid out before me like some kind of sensual treat just for my eyes.

He groaned and shuddered, hips jerking up now and again as he searched for more. As he chased his pleasure. “Trinity, I should—”

“Shhh.” I moved faster, knowing he was close, certain he was just as turned on as I was. “Let me do this for you. Let me make you mine.”

He growled low, his legs shaking in earnest. “Yours. Always.”

Smiling, I leaned down and bit his earlobe, sucking gently before letting go. “Good. Now I want to see you come.”

“Shit,” he hissed. His hips jerked harder, thrusting into my hands. I followed his cues, watching him, knowing he was close. Feeling it in the tension of his body. I kept my eyes trained down his body, noticing the muscles tense and release as he breathed, as he jerked, as he took everything I could give him and lost control at my hands.

As he stoked the fire of my arousal simply by letting me be the one in control of his own.

“Raindrop,” he gasped, his body locking down, his voice little more than a whisper. He came with a groan, spurting over my hand in long streams of heat and wet. Such a sight to see—his muscles flexed, ridges running across his abdomen, legs locked. Sexy, solid, and totally mine.

I didn’t release him right away, instead softening my touch to tease the orgasm into lasting longer. To corral every bit of pleasure for him. He still moved with my touch, still rocked his hips. Hell, he nearly whimpered as I tickled under the head, shivering in the heat of the two of us wrapped up in each other under the sun.

“Feel better?” I asked as he relaxed against me in what seemed like an exhausted heap. He sighed his assent, lying quiet and still for a few minutes.

He rolled over so fast, I almost didn’t see him move.

“It’s my turn.” He popped to his knees, knocking me over. I landed on my back in the grass with him looming over me, a fire in his eyes that matched the one inside of me. One I knew we couldn’t put out, not yet. Not the way we both wanted. And by the gods, did I want to feel him smother those flames.

He pushed up my skirt and dragged my panties down my legs, keeping his eyes on mine the whole time. That look, that expression, was a question of sorts. I knew I could tell him no, could close my knees, and he’d stop. But I didn’t want to. I didn’t want him to stop at all.

My fingers scrabbled to find purchase on his smooth skin, wanting him closer, needing his weight on me.

“Cahill,” I finally urged when I couldn’t reach his shoulders to pull him to me.

“Shhh.” He grabbed my knees and pushed them apart, spreading me before him. Tickling the insides of my thighs with his fingertips. “I woke up six times last night to jack off to the thought of doing this.”

I nearly came from his words, gasping and turning my head to hide from the sight of him so turned on for me. But I couldn’t look away for long. I needed to see, to watch, to know what desire looked like in his eyes. To prepare myself for what he was about to do to me.

With a growl, he wedged his shoulders between my thighs and lifted my ass off the ground, bringing my most intimate parts right up to his face. There was no lead-in, no teasing or gentle increase in touch. He dove in like a man possessed, like a man starving for me. And perhaps he was, because I knew I was starving for him. Knew I craved his touch more than anything else.

His hot mouth completely surrounded my clit, his tongue flattening against it in the most obscene, delicious lick. I yelped and arched off the ground, wanting less and more all at the same time. But Cahill knew, and he gave me what I needed. He licked me from front to back, sliding his tongue inside on every trip, coming to suck on my clit as he reached it. Even in his attack, though, he was gentle. His tongue building pressure, his mouth never passing that point between pleasure and pain. Never teasing me too harshly. Giving me time. Setting me up for an intense orgasm.

I lifted my legs and pressed my feet onto his shoulders, purposely spreading myself wider for him. Begging for more with my body alone. With a groan, he moved one hand around so he could slide two fingers inside me, immediately curling them, searching out something that’d taken me years to find alone. Something deep and hidden. And find it, he did.

“Cahill,” I gasped, grabbing his hair in both hands and yanking him closer as his fingers slid over a spot that set my body on fire. He moaned and sucked on my clit some more, letting his fingers press and slide and press again, focusing on that spot. Driving me mad with every push and slide. My legs shook, my breathing was ragged, but I was close. So close. The burn in my gut told me, the way I couldn’t hold still, the deep, empty need of—

Before I could do more than moan, Cahill’s body landed on mine, pinning me beneath him. I immediately wrapped myself around him, more instinct than thought. I was too far gone to worry about consequences, too turned on to even think about stopping.

Snarling in his urgency, he crept up my body, his eyes practically glowing as they met mine.

“Need you,” he whispered as his dick nudged between my legs, his shoulders tense. A sign that he was holding back. Waiting for my permission, for my consent. “Tell me yes, Raindrop. I won’t unless you say the word.”

There was a split second of indecision on my part, a moment when my brain tried to stop my body from taking what it wanted. But Cahill held my gaze, tense and shaking, both of us needing, wanting, desiring.

“Yes,” I groaned, clawing at his hips. He thrust forward, sliding deep and hard. He gasped into my ear when he was all the way inside, a sound that made my body clench. So simple, so soft, and yet it meant so much. Meant that my desire for him was mirrored back at me, that he craved me as much as I craved him. That he was just as desperate for this.

Shivering, my entire body on edge, I took all that he gave me. I wrapped my legs around his hips and bucked up into him, needing more. Wanting hard and fast and hot and now. And good lord, he gave it to me. Thrusting harshly, moving my body along the forest floor, his hands rough as they held me to him.

He wrapped his arms around my shoulders and yanked me closer, as if I were trying to get away, as if he couldn’t get enough of me. Damn,
I
couldn’t get enough. Every inch of him was buried deep inside me, his pubic bone pressing against my clit on the forward strokes, but I wanted more. I wanted deeper. I wanted harder.

And he gave it to me, over and over and over again, pushing me far past anywhere I’d been before. Making the entire world disappear until it was just him and me and sweat and sex. Until I couldn’t resist a moment longer.