Feral Craving (34 page)

Anger and lust swirled together, a potent
combination causing Bari’s control to snap. He moved to follow her, to pull her
back down until her sweet heat was all he knew before he felt the tug of the
bonds around his wrists. Shocked confusion hit as he realized he had forgotten
about them and had only known Mackenzie for a few minutes. She had taken his
control and possessed him until he didn’t realize what was happening. The
confusion was soon replaced by a fury so hot it scalded him. It wasn’t just the
man, but the beast inside that needed to take this female, that needed to mark
her as his and bond their lives together. Memories threatened to resurface. His
head strained toward her as his upper body leaned up.

“What the fuck, Angel? Is this my
payback?”

“Of course not, Bari.” Mackenzie met his
eyes.

 
“Dollface, don’t fight me. I need you.”

He was pissed and horny as hell,
frustrated with a need he had never known. He wanted to possess her, but more
than anything, he wanted Mackenzie with a passion that had nothing on anything
the demon offered. It simply existed, but was anything but simple. His muscles
rippled as he strained, a slight creak of the wood beneath threatening to
splinter.

“Release. Me.” The voice that came out of
his mouth wasn’t the man. “Now.”

“No.” And she turned her back on him.

Mackenzie’s snap of an answer caused
something to snap inside of him. A wash of power so strong rose to the surface,
sending sparks of it flying off his skin. If a fly had been on the wall looking
at him, it would have seen the colors, brilliant and sparking, surrounding him.
His hands yanked and the bonds broke, wood splintering. Bari didn’t even pause
to remove the bindings from his wrists and instead jumped off the bed before he
realized he’d moved.

In a whirl of movement, he crossed the
room and stalked Mackenzie, the demon held at his skin with precious, demanding
control. As if they had both decided on an unspoken agreement, they took
control at the same time, refusing anything but ultimate, complete possession.
They both watched through the eyes of a needing man as she whirled on him. His
breath heaved from his lungs, the sound harsh and diluted in the small room. He
blinked once, and that was all, before he pounced.

His body flew through the air so fast it
would have shocked him if he hadn’t been overcome with lust, so taken,
surrounded by such a need. He pulled her back to the edge of the bed, her soft
sigh a sweet surrender to his ears. Directing her to her stomach, he stood
behind her, reached down and grasped her hips, pulling them up.

There was tension in her eyes this
morning, something that worried him, but he hoped to get whatever was going on
in that pretty little head of hers gone. As much as she had struggled, as much
as she created turmoil in her own head with what they were going through, she
couldn’t deny her arousal. She was fresh and wet, swollen, dripping.

Tracing a hand down between the cleft of
her ass cheeks, he circled her core before plunging his finger inside. Her
sheath gripped his finger, tried to hold him inside. Bari let out a small oath
as his body hardened, demanded one thing only Mackenzie gave.

“I’ve got something for you, Angel…”

Her hips searched, pushing back on his
hand as she took her own pleasure. She slid back and forth, sliding along his
digit, and he waited, allowed her this moment and basked in the beauty of Mackenzie
lost in passion.

“Every kiss, Angel. It’s mine.” He
stilled her hips with one hand as his fingers slowed. She was hot, soft like
buttery velvet.

“Every intimate touch. It’s mine.” He
withdrew his fingers and ran them lower, circling her nub with slick fingers,
denying her his touch where she most likely needed it.

“Every sigh, every passion-filled
whisper. It’s mine.” His fingers moved then, slowly running over the nub,
drinking up every inch of her body’s shudders.

“Your body. Your heart. You. You’re
mine.” Bari removed his fingers and spread her arousal along the cleft of her
ass before palming the sweet globe. His hands went to her waist, lifting as if
she weighed nothing as he stepped forward. Her legs barely touched his hips
before he sunk his long, thick, rigid cock deep inside of her. Distantly he
heard her cry out. Deep inside, a moment’s fleeting panic took hold. Was he
being too rough, not giving her enough time?

But she swallowed the length of him and
all else was lost to the need gripping him. He sheathed himself to the hilt,
demanding she take it all as he backed her to the wall. They slammed against it
with such a force he heard the air leave her lungs in a rush. He gave her no
time to take another breath before he was pulling out and slamming deep inside
again, demanding she take everything he gave.

Being inside of Mackenzie was his heaven
and hell. This sweet woman, this teasing minx had been his undoing. She
stripped him bare of every defense he had and until he started to … feel. He
didn’t want to think about it, and his movements faltered before he pushed it
all from his mind, focused on the sweet pleasure Mackenzie gave.

His eyes flashed, he saw the reflection
in her green depths, rolling from deep blue, to black, the color of a starless
night, and then red before returning. The power that had been licking at his
skin spread, encompassing them both. They were marking her as theirs, showering
her with their scent, as well as the mark of their power. Like lightning,
stretching and filling even as he pumped his hips into her, driving his hips so
deep he felt as though he would be swallowed whole.

He lifted her, withdrawing from her body,
and with a quick flick of his arm, turned her around. One hand surged up the
length of her spine, pushing her down as he bent her over a desk. Leaning over
her backside, he fit his hips against her rear, his thick cock sliding between
her ass cheeks. His head dipped, and Bari bit the nape of her neck. Mackenzie
cried out, pushed back against his hips. He was so lost to lust, it churning
low like a coiled snake he couldn’t stop.

He reached down and palmed her, a gush of
slick fluid coating his hand. A clock ticked louder in his skull as he spread
her arousal up, drawing his hand between the cleft of her cheeks. His voice was
strained, his entire body shaking as he released her neck and spoke next to her
ear.

“Mackenzie, tell me to stop. Please.”

He reached down and gripped his thick
cock in his hand. The other held her hip in place as he aligned the blunt tip
of his length against the puckered hole. The demon chanted, words so foreign,
yet known, clamoring with the ticking. A beautiful sound, those words,
surrounded by something that terrified him. He didn’t want to hurt her. Dear
God, why did he feel this need?

Mackenzie turned her head, spoke through
pants. “I love you, Bari.” His heart slammed against his chest as those sweet
words pierced a link inside, ties pulling together. “I won’t ever tell you to
stop.”

Without warning, even feeling her tense as
she waited, he surged forward, breaking past the initial resistance before
sheathing himself completely inside of her. White spots danced in his vision as
his balls hit the underside of her thighs, slapped against her mound.

“So—fucking—tight.”

Bari’s teeth embedded into her nape
again, and she tightened as he pulled out. Letting the head of his cock slip
out of the barrier, he surged forward again, his hips coming up flushed against
her rounded backside. His cock lengthened, thickened though he hadn’t thought
it possible. His mouth released her nape and moved to her shoulder as he lifted
her then pushed them to a wall. He kicked her legs apart and drove into her. He
was lost in her, heard her mindless mews that matched his groans. His demon
growled, claiming its mark, chanting those beautiful words. The words grew,
voices joining in, welcoming something.

His balls drew up, his cock engorged, and
setting his mouth on her neck, he sucked hard, marking her as his, branding her
with his possession. One hand held her hips in place as he drove into her with
a relentless force. His other hand ran up her body, wrapped around the front of
her throat, tilting her head back as he sucked obstinately at her neck.
Somewhere in the back of his mind he understood this was a mark of possession,
would forever brand her to him, but he couldn’t stop. He had to finish this, to
do … something.

Her body grew tighter, and his beast rose
up and claimed her at the same time his release hit. A shot of delicious
pressure shot up his spine, and his mouth clamped down, biting down, breaking
the sweet skin of her neck. Iron, rich and powerful, filled his mouth before
his seed released deep inside her bowels. Mackenzie cried out as an orgasm
clenched her, the tightness of her wrapped around his cock milking him
ruthlessly. He gave it all to her, felt the pleasure wash over him in wave
after wave and soon realized it was not one orgasm that hit him but endless
cycles of them. Something coiled and tied inside his soul until all he felt was
pleasure and bliss, Mackenzie and himself wrapped in each other, enhancing
their orgasms.

Euphoria surged through his veins. He
couldn’t move, couldn’t speak. All the energy inside of him deflated, and he
leaned back against the wall, his body sated and more than aware of what just
happened. His beast drew down, leaving the man behind on a veil of
responsibility to care for this female. He didn’t know what to say. There were
a thousand excuses on his lips, but his lips clamped shut. His hand ran over
Mackenzie’s back, down across her hip, back up again, the touch possessive. He
didn’t know what to say, could barely breathe as he braced for her anger.
Pushing Mackenzie’s long curls to the side, he leaned forward and set his lips
over his brand, kissed it and waited.

 
“I
love you.”

He froze at her words. Passion and lust
combined in the moment often had a way of pushing things out. He turned his
head and rested it between her shoulders as he closed his eyes.

“Angel…”

Mackenzie shifted and he stood, releasing
her and withdrawing as she turned around. She blinked, watching him with wide
and curious eyes. He took her in his arms and pressed a gentle kiss to her
lips.

“Mackenzie, don’t love me.”

He spoke the words against her lips,
brushing them over and over again. His mother had loved his father, adored him
and in the end, that love cost her her life. Bari kept himself far from the
emotion, refusing to give in for the fear gripped him so tight he thought he’d
suffocate.

He cared for Mackenzie more than he understood,
but he wouldn’t let her put her life at risk as his mother had. Bari pushed
Mackenzie to the bed and laid his body on top of hers. He studied her flushed
face and felt his chest split wide open. He wasn’t good enough for her. Didn’t
think he’d ever be.

“Don’t, Mackenzie. Please don’t do this.”
Brushing his lips down her jaw, he pressed his face to her neck and urged her
to take the words back. Panic for her to take the words back grew quick through
his veins.

“You can’t tell me what I feel, Bari. You
can’t. I love you. I always have. Even before I knew. I loved you then, too.
Why can’t you see that?” Tears hung heavy in her voice, and Bari swallowed
thickly with emotion.

“Damn it, Mackenzie. Don’t.”

Bari lifted his head, saw anger reflected
in her eyes.

“Why?” The crisp word sounded cold.

 
Bari took a step back and smacked a hand to
his chest, trying to break up the brick settling there. “Because I’m not that
guy, Angel. I’m not good enough for you. I’m not quite human, Mac. Do you
understand what he did? Can you imagine doing that to someone you love? Someone
who loves you? He. Is. In. Me.” He punctuated each word with a thump on his
chest. “Don’t do this, Mac. Don’t become a statistic. I care for you,
Mackenzie. I do. But I’m not capable of giving you that piece of me. It scares
me to fucking death to think I could hurt you.”

“Don’t!”

Her choked words pierced his heart, and
he lowered his head. His body, his fucking chest felt heavy as shit, and he
wanted nothing more than to go to her. His chest ached like it never did
before, painful, and the demon lurking beneath clawed at a chance to get out.
He needed to get his head on straight, get his feelings worked out and his mind
in gear on just what he wanted from Mackenzie. One moment he thought he knew
but then the second she spouted off her affection, it twisted his heart in two,
made the panic surge, and sent him running. It wasn’t as if he didn’t care for
her; hell, he didn’t understand half of what she made him feel, but he needed
to know who he was with her and what he could be
to
her.

He took a step toward her and held up a
hand in peace.

“I’m not blowing this off, Mac. I need to
get my head wrapped around this and figure out where we stand.”

Mackenzie frowned. “Is this a game to
you, Bari?”

“What?” The word came out clipped.

“You heard me. Is this some part of a
game you’re playing? The constant push and pull? The disappearing acts.” She
pushed off from the bed and grabbed for her jeans. “We’re not children anymore,
Bari.” Mackenzie shoved a leg into her pants, hopped on one foot, and ignored
his eyes. “We have a child now; it’s time to actually talk about things. About
us.” She pulled the jeans up over her hips and turned to him, brushing heavy
hair away from her face.