Claws (7 page)

He dipped his head and dropped minute kisses along the swell of her heavy mounds. Her thin cotton top and bra no match for his razor-sharp claws, with a flick of his wrist he cut the material open in one swipe. The weight of her tits pushed the torn fabric apart. He moved farther down, trailing his tongue along the valley between her breasts. His fingertips dug into the soft skin of her rib cage as she arched up.

Sasha kicked out her legs and the material snapped. Covering her heavy orbs with his palms, he pinched her tight nipples with the sides of his fingers as he massaged them. Her eyes drifted shut and she tugged at her arms. The headboard groaned with every yank and the nylon rope frayed where she slashed it. She sucked in her stomach when his breath skittered across her navel and goose bumps rose on her skin as he moved his hands farther down. Sasha lifted her head to look down her body. Black hair sprinkled with white was the only thing she could see.

The snap of the buttons on her jeans was loud to her own ears. He slipped his big hands beneath the denim material, peeling her pants and panties down to her ankles. Now her legs were not only bound by rope but by clothing, she couldn’t spread her limbs but so far. He returned to his position at her hips. His callused palms abraded the sensitive skin on her inner thighs as he moved them around and cupped her ass.

Etienne lifted his head. “I plan to take you here.” He scraped a blunt fingertip over her sphincter.

For the first time in her life she was at a loss for words. Her gator was nothing like the human lovers she’d taken over the years. Etienne told her what he wanted and like a trained house cat she gave in to his desire. She banged her head against the pillow. Her pussy pulsed. Her cream coated her folds as soon as he’d held her down to tie her wrists to the headboard. It was all she could do to swallow the purrs she had the urge to voice.

He chuckled. “Cat got your tongue?” Etienne dipped his head and wrapped his lips around her clit.

The bed rattled as she fought to free herself. Sensations swirled in her belly and her limbs trembled, refusing to obey her commands as if they had a will of their own. In an uncoordinated heap, she thrashed as Etienne sucked on the tiny bundle of tissue. One knot gave way and she pulled her arm free to slide her digits through his silky locks. Locking his hair in a tight fist, she bucked, grinding her pussy on his mouth. Coils of ecstasy weaved their way through her limbs, making her shudder from the pleasure.

He pinned her hips to the bed and she bowed her back, yanking her other hand free with the material still tied to her wrist. The length of nylon snapped through the slats and whipped across her torso adding a bit of sting to her pleasure. Etienne angled his head while he lifted her hips and ran his tongue along the length of her labia. She released his hair and tangled her fingers in the sheets. Snarls escaped past her lips as her animal demanded to be allowed to play. Her incisors cut through her gums and she could feel her claws erupting from the pads of her fingers. Sasha’s beast was pushing through. She swallowed, tightening the internal tether she had on her cat.

The animal in her wanted the man, demanded to be claimed, but damn if she was going to make it easy for him.

Etienne responded to her panther. He released his hold on her and the sound of tearing fabric rent the room. Suddenly her foot was free. Cool air swirled around her nether regions as he lifted his head. She swung her leg out and he grabbed her by the ankle, flipping her onto her stomach. The covers billowed out around her as she hit the mattress. He hauled her back and locked an arm around her waist. She twisted in his embrace and met his gaze.

Sasha wasn’t the only one having a hard time controlling her animal. Yellow reptilian eyes stared back at her. Razor-sharp teeth curved over his lips. He wound her braid around his hand and tugged her head to the side to expose her neck.

“Are you going to let your gator get the best of you?” Her words came out in a whisper around the fangs filling her mouth.

He grunted before shoving her forward. “What can I say? You bring the out the beast in me.” His voice was guttural.

She rocked on all four of her limbs and wiggled her buttocks to taunt him. His hand came down hard on her cheeks and the sting sent tendrils of electricity shooting through her body. Her nails cut through the bedding. She scrambled forward and the footboard shrieked.
Crap
, one leg was still bound. He fell on top of her and she stopped crawling.

The pressure of his weight eased when he rose. “It’s not smart to try and run, kitty, its sets off my instincts to chase you.” There was amusement in his voice.

She took a deep breath before speaking. “You’re an alligator, I’m a cat. Want to guess who’s faster?”

His claws tickled her as he dragged them along her sides. She turned and he quickly pinned her down. His lips brushed the shell of her ear as he spoke. “My game, my rules.”

She felt intermittent kisses on her back. Sasha pulled her arms beneath her and pushed up to lever him off. She froze when Etienne’s tongue grazed her pucker. In her haste she hadn’t realized he’d positioned himself between her legs. She wiggled to evade the new and thrilling sensations and his hands came down on her calves holding her in place.

She tried to roll over and felt his digits squeeze her legs. The silence was deafening.

“Pull your legs under you and lift your ass.” He finally spoke.

“And if I don’t?” she replied tersely.

“I can sit here all night.” He skimmed a finger along the moist folds of her honeypot. “Can you?”

She trembled.

He circled her clitoris with the digit and rubbed the taut nubbin. “From the moment you claimed
me
, you became
mine
.” He pinched her bud.

She yowled as her body seized. Spots of light flashed in front of her eyes and saliva pooled in her mouth. She started to shudder as a climax ripped through her. Warmth seeped through her when he covered her back with his body.

He spoke against her throat. “We are nowhere near done,
Sha
. I crave your cream.”

Air blew over her back when he rose up. The bed shook as he returned to the spot he’d abandoned. The rasp of his tongue on the sensitive tissue of her mons elicited more moans from deep inside her. Taking shallow breaths, she was beginning to become light headed.

Etienne pushed her butt cheeks apart and lapped at the tight ring of muscle of her rosette. Tiny nips from his teeth stung, to be soothed by the damp touches of his tongue. She jerked and tiny fibers from the shredded sheet floated up into the air. Sasha slid her fingers between the wooden slats of the headboard and tried to edge away from his tactile ministrations. Her wails became a keening cry as he gently worked his tongue past her brown rosette. She couldn’t swallow and closed her eyes.

She shoved her face in the pillow and gave into the ecstasy he brought to her. Her screams muffled by the thick down, she yanked at the thin spindles and heard them snap. She whipped her head up and loose curls that had escaped her plait fell into her face. Sasha pulled her hand away and stared at the broken wooden pieces in her hand before tossing them aside and shoving her hair off her damp forehead.

“You know,
Sha
, I’m finding I like a strong woman.” His voice was right next to her ear.

“Finish what you started gator or I’ll…” She croaked.

“You’ll what, mate?” He interrupted.

He ran a hand along her arm and eased his fingers between hers. She felt his cockhead push at her asshole. His hand brushed her butt cheek as he guided his shaft with quick thrusts. He pulled back and drove in again slowly working his way past the relaxed ring of muscle.

Sweat coated her body. She slid their arms beneath her and gradually rocked back. Etienne tugged his hand free and latched on to her shoulder driving more of his member into her snug passage. A feeling of fullness started in her belly. The thick hair around his dick grazed her butt as he thrust the length of his shaft completely into her.

Etienne was still for a long moment before pulling back. She felt empty as he drew away and moaned her displeasure. His lips brushed her neck as he drove forward again. Sasha swayed back meeting his lunges in an erotic dance. Currents zipped along her form, jumping from nerve to nerve. He released her shoulder and shoved an arm around her hip. His fingers delved into her cunt plunging in tandem with his cock. Prickles formed along her skin as she ground her ass against his pelvis.

He touched her clit and she threw back her head and opened her mouth. No sound came out.

“Come for me.” He pushed deep, lifting her off her knees.

She found her voice and shouted out his name. The burn of his bite added to the pleasure zipping through her. Her orgasm exploded making her limbs weak. She collapsed and brought him down with her still connected in the most intimate of ways.

“
Sha
, there is never a dull moment with you.” He pushed the loose tendrils of her hair from her cheek.

“You completed the claiming.” Her voice was raw and as much as she wanted to be angry, she turned her head so he wouldn’t see the slight lift in her lips.

“Are we going to fight about this, too?”

“I’m too tired to argue. I’ll take it up with you in the morning. After a good strong cup of coffee and before we start tracking those hunters.” She snuggled into his side.

“I told you I’d take care of the poachers.”

She yawned. “Uh-huh, but I already have their scent.”

Her muscles ached in places that hadn’t had a workout in a while, and every time she pressed her thighs together, the sweet spot in her cleft tingled, making her weak in the knees. But her belly gurgled and if she wasn’t careful, she was sure the sounds would wake the gator up. As much as she hated to admit it, she did get a tad cranky when hungry. Tiptoeing away from the bed, she froze when Etienne grunted and flipped over to expose his sculpted chest. Sasha nibbled her bottom lip, entertaining the idea of crawling back under the sheets when her stomach growled again.

She grabbed her cell from the dresser that Etienne had discarded it on. She still hadn’t spoken to Eivan. They’d been playing phone tag over the past few days. Not that he could do anything now. She was thoroughly claimed but the Volkshire clan was her family and she needed to hear the voice of the man she’d come to view as a brother in the worst way. There was also that thing she called a job. She still needed to make her report and get the estimated time of arrival for the convoy coming into town. The last thing on her mental to-do list was to take care of the poachers she’d been stalking.

She’d found the can of coffee in a cabinet. The salty tang of seafood permeated the air when she reheated a bowl of gumbo from the untouched pot. Sasha carefully padded across the deck juggling her cell, a hot mug of chicory coffee and a bowl of gumbo. The sun rose from the swamp and its rays could be seen between the tree trunks burning the mist off the water. She eased into an overstuffed seat, the cell slid from where she’d set it on top of the cup as she carefully set the items down on the patio table. Sasha snatched up the mobile and fingered the screen, pressing the phone log icon. Eivan’s number was at the top of her contact list. She stared at the screen when the faintest rap from below the house reached her ears.

The device fell to the glass surface with a
clatter
as she leaped from her seat, landing in a crouch next to the table. Her claws burrowed into the timber planks as she narrowed her eyes. Facing the stairway she searched the shadowed recesses of the steps for the source of the sound that caught her attention.

“Tone it down, kitty. My goodness but you folks from Volkshire are jumpy.” Sint appeared on the landing, her hands wrapped around a hefty mug with coils of steam rising from its interior.

“We’re known to have a few enemies,” Sasha replied drily as she straightened only to plop into her seat.

“Yeah, Tee told me.” Sint crossed the deck and sat down in the chair across from Sasha. “So you and Etienne?”

“I suppose.”

Sint chuckled. “Child, from the moans and cries echoing across the inlet last night, I’m pretty sure you passed the ‘suppose’ part very early in the evening. The way you were bawling, Percel and I were sure he might have been killing you. In a good way, of course.”

Sasha sunk down into the cushions, embarrassment warming her cheeks. “I think he put a spell on me,” she whispered.

Sint snorted. “Girl, that gator didn’t put nothin’ on you but some good loving and evidently you needed it. But that’s not why I’m here.”

“Okay. So what do you want?”

“I know you’ve been looking for those men that hurt my Darcel.” Sint narrowed her eyes and smirked, showing just a hint of fang. “If you’re going after them, I intend on being with you. I need to show those idiots a bit of Cajun justice.”

“Umm, would that be wise? I mean your mate holds an important position. I have their scent I can track them and take care of it. Your hands can remain clean.”

“Is that why you’re up so early?” Sint took a sip of her drink and stared at Sasha over the rim.

“Maybe.”

“Etienne won’t like you going off alone. You know you have a history of getting into situations when you’re by yourself, or so Etienne tells Percel.”

“I grew up in the Everglades. I think I can handle myself.” Sasha picked up her fork and took a bite of her gumbo.

Sint put the cup down and waved her hand. “Now why would you want to do that when you have people willing to watch your back? My youngest daughter, Mais, and I will accompany you. Think of us as a cover. Leave that lovesick gator a note that we’re taking you into New Orleans for the day. Then we can go hunting.”

Sasha swallowed. “That’s not a bad idea.”

“Of course not. I’ve done it for years. Anytime I need to take care of some business I don’t want Percel looking over shoulder at. Mais and I can be ready in a half an hour. We’ll take the car and leave it with Marree. That way we won’t raise any suspicion. We can track the bastards from there.”