Jodi_ByTheLight (31 page)

“Do you have any idea what those assholes were thinking when you came out on that stage? Do you?”

No answer.

“I’ll tell you, sweetheart. They were all thinking how many ways they could fuck you!” Damon pounded on the door again. “Do you know what I was thinking? Do you even care?”

Damon snorted. “I was thinking how many men I was going to have to kill for even looking at you, let alone touching you.” His chest heaved as he fought to suck in air.

Glaring at the door, Damon hit it again.

Fuck it. Turning, he strode toward the motel door. He needed some air, some space.

The bathroom door opened. He turned back and she struck him in his chest, knocking him to the ground, with her paws pinning him there. He sucked in a deep breath.

Magnificent and beautiful with fur black as midnight, the wolf stared back at him with emerald green eyes.

Ava.

She’d finally shifted.

She whimpered, but her silken tail thumped against his thigh as she scented his chest, and then she licked his face. She cocked her head to the side before sitting back on her hind legs, still sitting on top of his stomach. She whimpered again, almost howling and then her eyes rolled back in her head. Her bones creaked, changing and stretching and accommodating, until she was back in her human form.

Still straddling him, Ava pinned his chest down with hands instead of paws.

“Are you okay?” Damon caressed her cheek. “God, Ava. I should have been here.” The pain she endured must have been horrific. He swallowed hard. “Were you in pain?”

“Yes.”

He was fucking pathetic. He had let his anger overwhelm him and the result was he hadn’t been there for Ava when she needed him the most. “I’m so sorry, sweetheart.” Damon swallowed the lump in his throat as images of Ava writhing in pain settled in his brain.

“How are you feeling?” Damon searched her eyes for any hints of lingering pain, wanting to make things better for her.

She said nothing as she leaned into his caress, rubbing her cheek against his palm, and her eyelids shuttered.

“Ava, is there anything you need?”

She stilled, her eyes opening. A slow, seductive smile spread across her face.

“Yes. I need to fuck.”

***

The memory of her first shift from human to wolf would be forever etched in Ava’s brain.

As soon as she realized what was happening to her, that she was actually shifting into a wolf, she had been terrified.

Writhing on the floor had been one of the most frightening experiences of her life. Pain shot through every vein in her body like unrelenting jolts of electricity.

Crawling to the bathroom, she grabbed the counter and pulled herself up to see her reflection in the mirror. Her hair was stuck to her sweaty face, her feverish eyes were red-rimmed and glossy.

White-hot pain struck her gut like a knife, and she cried out as she crumbled to the floor, and writhed. Every muscle in her body screamed as her bones lengthened and bent, tendons straining beyond their normal form. Her screams blended into growls until the angry pain that ravished her body had finally stilled.

Opening her eyes, she glanced down at her body, half afraid of how repulsive she might appear. What she saw was fur, thick and soft and shiny like expensive mink. Holding up her right hand, uh paw, Ava examined her new body. She didn’t think she looked repulsive at all. Instead, she looked lean and strong and predatory.

The second that Damon had walked into the motel room, his distinct scent wafted over her like a five-course meal to a homeless beggar.

She rolled, jumping to her feet in a swift, easy motion. She grinned, liking the power racing through her body. Lifting her head, she sniffed the air. Damon’s scent mingled with the anger he couldn’t throttle.

Bang, bang, bang!

Narrowing her wolf eyes at the door, she heard him yelling, demanding she come out.

He obviously wanted to argue.

She wanted something else.

Ava heard a
thump, thump, thump
, behind her. She cocked her head. Her tail patted rhythmically against the linoleum.

Damon took a step away from the bathroom. Was he going to leave? She needed to stop him but wasn’t quite sure how she was going to open the door with paws.

She stood on her hind legs, clamped her teeth down, hard, on the doorknob and turned her head. The door opened an inch. Nosing the door open all the way, she ran through it, just in time to see Damon reaching for the front door.

The look on Damon’s face was priceless.

Not sure how she managed to shift back into human form, she straddled him and rubbed against the denim of his jeans and cotton T-shirt.

Grinding her crotch against his, she stroked her wetness against his jeans and judging from the scent of his arousal, he wanted her just as much as she wanted him.

Leaning down, she nipped at his ear as she licked his neck.

“I said I need to fuck.” Nuzzling his neck, she pressed her bare breasts into his chest, her nipples hardening against his muscle. Reaching her hand between their bodies she stroked his cock before nimbly unzipping his jeans and pulling him out.

He groaned, wrapping his hands around her waist and pulling her closer. She smiled. Good. Now they were on the same page.

He pulled her mouth down to his, kissing her with blistering heat. She was afraid she was going to come before he was inside her.

Pulling away, Ava grabbed his jeans, stripping them away from his body while he ripped his T-shirt off.

Climbing up his body, she straddled him. He twisted his body, flipping her over on her back. “Not on the floor. You deserve better than to be taken on shag carpet.”

“I don’t care about the carpet, I just want you inside me.” She strained toward him, but he held her away. He lifted her in his arms and carried her to the bed. Gently, he laid her down, apparently not in a hurry. She pulled him down, needing his mouth on hers, his skin against hers. He gazed at her with such intensity it burned her soul.

He covered her body with his, touching and stroking with his fingers until her body cried out for release. His mouth found her breast and he tugged her nipple into his hot mouth. She gasped, holding his head to her breast as he sucked. Pleasure arched through her body, making her grow even wetter.

“I want you in me, now,” she panted, digging her nails into his back.

He nudged her thighs apart and entered her in one swift motion, burying himself deep. He groaned as he bit down on her neck, sending shivers racing through her quivering limbs.

“God, that feels so good,” she moaned. He filled her, stretching her until she thought she would explode in pleasure.

“You’re so fucking tight.” He pulled back looking down at her with his intense gaze, muscles straining not to move.

“No. Don’t stop.” She hooked her ankles around his legs and ground down on his dick.

He growled as he withdrew and then thrust deep inside her body, his breathing becoming more ragged, his breath hot on her cheek. Ava arched off the bed, clutching him as his thrusts grew faster.

He claimed her mouth as his tongue tangled with hers, marking and claiming his territory. Their skin heated and slid against each other as sweat pooled between their bodies from their frantic lovemaking.

She quivered as pleasure streaked inside her body.

“Come for me,” he commanded, his gaze fixed on her.

Throwing her head back, her orgasm swamped her, making her cry out as blinding white lights filled the edges of her vision.

His fingers dug into her hips, as he thrust faster, groaning loudly as his own orgasm spilled into hers.

He collapsed on her, a load of sweaty hot muscle. Wrapping her heavy arms around his back, Ava stroked his skin, loving the salty taste of him on her tongue, his scent on her body, his breath on her neck.

He shifted and rolled until she was lying on top of him. His calloused fingertips stroked her back, soothing her, as her eyelids grew heavy.

Neither spoke. They didn’t need to. They’d spoken volumes more in the last hour than they had the last few days. Within minutes, his cock stirred to life against her thigh. She smiled, straddled his waist and slid down on his length, sighing as she began to rock against him.

“Ava,” he whispered her name like a prayer as he gripped her hips and set the pace.

This moment, this one moment, would be all she had with Damon. He’d told her just having sex alone would not be enough to mate. She wanted this night seared into her memory so it would last her a lifetime.

She closed her eyes against the burning tears and buried her face against his neck.

This time when she came in a heated rush, she cried out his name as tears streaked down her face.

***

Racing down the highway toward Little Rock, Damon’s chest tightened. The closer he got to their compound, the more he couldn’t breathe.

When he woke that morning, he had jumped in the shower, careful not to wake Ava. They had shared an amazing night together, a sweat filled night of touches, caresses and endless lovemaking. He’d stayed away most of the night trying to fight the impending daylight. But morning had come all too quickly and with it the truth.

All that morning, Ava had tried to touch him, kiss him, but he’d brushed her off and pushed her away with excuses of phone calls he had to make. She tried to kiss him as she climbed on behind him. But Damon had ducked his head, acting like he hadn’t noticed.

He’d noticed. He tried to distance himself since he woke up, knowing it was for the best. Ava was to be Barrett’s mate. Barrett had the bloodlines, the breeding, the prestige.

Not him.

He was an orphan, no bloodlines, or status.

He’d seen the hurt in her beautiful green eyes. Damon swallowed down the pain that crept into the back of his throat every time she’d looked at him. It destroyed a little bit of his soul, that he’d caused her so much pain.

His misery increased as they crossed into Little Rock, nearing their destination.

He’d crossed the line. He’d had sex, no—made love—with Ava, knowing she was intended to be Barrett’s mate.

The penalty for that crime was death. Damon knew without a doubt that Barrett would rip his throat out for his transgression against his Pack Master.

He slowed his speed as he drove into town. He glanced at the Council building that had been bombed, assessing the damage. A huge black hole, where the bomb had exploded, marred the otherwise pristine front of the building.

Damon continued until he came to the Guardians bunker-style living quarters. He turned into the parking lot.

Killing the engine, Damon waited for Ava to dismount first.

“Are you never going to talk to me again?” The tone in her voice echoed the hurt she must have felt in her heart.

He gritted his teeth, forcing himself not to say a word. If he did, he was going to end up begging her to run off, find an Alpha that would to mate them together, and have a life.

Instead, he got off the bike and entered the building.

***

“Fuck.” Ava slid off the bike and curled her fingers into fists as she followed Damon into the building, ready to scream at him for not fighting for them.

“Ava, thank God, you’re all right.” The General stepped out of a room and scooped her up in a tight hug. She smiled and met his worried gaze.

“I’m fine. Thanks to Damon.” She looked at Damon under her lashes, who stood quietly.

“Then I owe you my eternal gratitude for keeping her safe.” The General shook Damon’s hand.

“You owe me nothing. Ava’s safety was always my priority.”

The General narrowed his eyes and looked between them. Ava could feel the tension in the room.

“I’ve talked to Barrett.” The General pinched the bridge of his nose and looked back at Ava. “He told me what you found out in Louisiana, about who you really are.”

“I think it’s more than that, General.” Damon took a step forward.

The General narrowed his eyes and straightened. “I don’t think this concerns you, Guardian.”

“His name is Damon and he risked his life for me. So in my book this concerns him as well.” Ava’s anger boiled in her veins, now aimed at a different target. “Why didn’t you tell me who I was?”

The General gave her a weary smile. “I was trying to protect you.”Damon stepped up beside her. “She had every right to know.”

The General’s head snapped up. He gritted his teeth and let out a snarl.

“He’s right,” Ava said.

The General let out a long sigh. “Ava, your father was my best friend. After your mother died, he was devastated. He lost his mate and he was worried that he might lose you, too, if someone found out your royal bloodlines. Back then, the Pack’s weren’t as organized or as large as they are now. We couldn’t risk losing you.”

The General ran his hand over his tired eyes. Ava noticed he’d added a few bags under his eyes since she’d last seen him.