Scorch: A Paranormal Shape Shifter Romance (The Tribe Series) (9 page)

T
he run had helped
until I saw Drew again. Being close to him reminded me what his body did to me. How it charged every cell. How it brought every nerve ending to exquisite pleasure. But I fought the impulse to touch him. I fought the draw to him. I pushed past the burst of lightning our energy created.

I was a stronger panther than he could even imagine.

I showered and got dressed. My first exam was at eight. I could make it to campus a few minutes early.

I grabbed my backpack and marched past my mate.

“Where are you going now?” He jumped to his feet.

“Exams.” I slammed the front door behind him, not giving him a chance to ask another question.

I clutched the wheel as I drove to campus. If I wasn’t careful, I might rip it from the dash. I’d never felt this kind of fury or betrayal.

But I had no one to blame but myself. Who marries a man they meet in forty-eight hours? A man who admitted he was sent to bond with me. I groaned. I gave in to the sexy eyes and biceps. I gave in to his lies and kisses. It was my fault.

Drew was right. He was only doing what he had been trained his entire life to do. I was the one who did the opposite. I knew better than to trust. My entire life I had been trained that trust only ended in pain. I went against my instincts and got burned.

“Hey, how’s newlywed life?” Alexa greeted me with a chipper smile at the top of the stairs.

“Don’t ask,” I warned.

“Uh, the wedding was beautiful. The groom hot as hell, and his friends were basically walking GQ models. He is totally smitten with you. Don’t tell me you got cold feet. I don’t even think you qualify for an annulment.”

“I don’t want to talk about it. We have an exam. A three-hour exam,” I reminded her.

The idea of being stuck in this building was a relief. For three hours, Drew couldn’t bother me with shifter lies. There would be cool air around me. Air that didn’t burn with his warmth.

“Well, I’m here if you need me,” she offered. “Really, anything you want to talk about. I’m here, Francesca.”

“Thanks.” I tried a smile. It felt weird given the circumstances.

We took our seats in the classroom and waited for the questions to appear on the whiteboard. For three hours, I’d block out all thoughts of Drew. All our conversations. Our vows. Our bonding. A future that was never going to happen.

* * *

I
walked
through the door and slung my backpack on the floor. I practiced what I was going to say to him on the drive home. There was only one solution to this mess. He had to leave. We could get a shifter divorce or whatever magical unbinding was needed to untangle ourselves from each other. The other she-panthers on the list would be expecting him. They would know their responsibilities. I tried to repress my jealousy, realizing they were probably waiting for their prince to ride up and take them.

“How was the exam?”

“Why are you still here, Drew?”

“I told you. I’m not leaving.”

“Even if I want you to?” I walked past him and pulled one of the last beers from the fridge.

“Even if you want me to.” He eyed me. “Nothing could make me leave you. Nothing.”

I huffed. “Not even wife number two?”

“Stop saying things like that.” His voice was firm.

“I don’t even have the energy to fight with you. My brain is fried.”

“Then don’t. Stop fighting. Believe me. Give me a chance to earn your trust again.”

There they were. The lines he was so good at saying. The words I wanted to hear.

“I can’t do this again. I should have never stopped on the side of the road. It was the worst mistake of my life.”

“But you did.” He leaned down in front of me. And the air sparked. I could almost see it. I held my breath, hoping it would go away. I tried to push it out from the space between us, but it was there, pulling me toward him. It was like wisps of heat lightning flashing between us.

“You did stop, Francesca. And you said yes. Over and over again. Every time I asked, you said yes.”

I closed my eyes. I knew what he was talking about. I asked to be claimed. I asked to be his mate. I wanted to marry him.

“Because I didn’t know there was a lineup. You have an entire bench of wives. I said yes to a life based on a lie.”

“Listen to me. I tore up the list.”

I laughed. “You tore it up, so it isn’t so?”

“It’s a start. I don’t have their names. And they don’t know who I am. No one is going to come looking for me. You did something to me. You turned this entire journey on its head. You turned me inside out. You’re all I want. This is it. You and me. No list. No more wives. You’re all the she-panther I can handle, darlin’.”

“Damn it. Why do you say those things?”

“Because I mean them. Because I want you to believe me.”

“I want to believe you. But that would require trust. And trust is not something I’m giving out right now. You broke it just when I started trying it again.”

Drew looked frustrated. “Then don’t. Don’t trust me. I can take that. I deserve it.”

“What?”

“Pretend I’m that guy on the side of the road. The one you know nothing about. The one you don’t know if you should let in your car, but something in your gut says you should. Pretend it’s the second night I’m here and you can’t keep your hands off me. Pretend that we need each other like we need air. You don’t have to trust me, to want me. I can trust enough for both of us.”

I didn’t know what to say. “Drew…”

His lips brushed over mine tenderly at first, but his hands fisted through my hair and he pulled me into his arms, picking me up.

“I didn’t say…”

“Don’t say,” he whispered. “Pretend.”

His mouth devoured me as if I had stirred an unleashed hunger in him. He walked down the hall to my room, kicking the door open with the heel of his boot. He dropped me on the bed, discarding his clothes as he pounced on top of me.

He began unbuttoning my shirt, quickly shoving it off my shoulders. The air was filled with lust. The primal need of my panther was awakened as Drew took control.

“Pretend, Francesca.” He kissed my collarbone, dropping kisses behind my ear and along my throat. His fingers threaded through mine as he dipped to kiss the tops of my breasts.

I clutched at his hands. “I don’t have to pretend.” I stared in his eyes.

Something in that moment broke free between us. We clung to each other, kissing and licking. Biting and sucking, as our bodies slid with electric friction. His tongue ran between my breasts, down between my legs. I bucked as I felt him settle there. He lashed out, flicking against my bud. I felt the vibration of his growl against my thighs.

“Fuck,” he moaned. He knew I was peaking quicker than before. The need for him was unbearable. I rocked wildly, desperate for more of him.

“You, I want you.” I locked on to his eyes as they glowed and glimmered for me.

I felt the sweet relief as he slid inside me, filling me completely. “Oh, God.” I clawed at his back while he pumped in and out of me.

“I’ll never leave,” he whispered in my ear.

The orgasm crashed down around us both. My teeth nipped at his shoulder as the howl burst from his throat. He pushed deep inside me, and I raised my hips to meet his powerful thrust. This was heaven. Our union. Our bond.

He collapsed on top of me, kissing the side of my neck. “I swear, Francesca.”

“Shh.” I pressed my lips to his mouth. “Kiss me. Love me again.”

“I can’t say no.”

“Do you want to?” I laughed. All the anger and betrayal had melted the instant he swept me into this bed.

“Just as long as you know who the alpha is around here.” He poked me in the side between my ribs.

My eyebrows rose. “Is that how this marriage works?”

“You tell me.” He kissed my stomach and then my cheek.

“I’m scared to blindly follow you,” I whispered.

“I’m scared to let you out of my arms.”

“Then don’t.” I wrapped my legs around his waist dragging him toward me. He groaned instantly.

“You know what you do to me?”

I smiled wickedly. “Everything.”

He smiled. “This is everything.”

I looked into my mate’s eyes. I believed him. He may have driven into town with a reason to find me and move on, but I had given him a reason to stay. We would face whatever challenges came from Drew’s defiance. It couldn’t be that easy to disobey generations of jaguar law. But we would figure it out together.

“Where are we going on our honeymoon?” I asked. I was ready to get out of town and start our new chapter together.

“Doesn’t someone have a birthday tomorrow?” He began kissing me again, and my skin tingled with new fire. I didn’t think I’d ever get tired of the heat between us.

“I might.” I rolled my eyes toward the ceiling.

“Then I think the birthday bride gets to decide. Tropical? Europe? Somewhere cooler?”

“No, no snow.” Hopefully the other night was my last encounter with ice for the year.

His fingers circled my navel. “Islands?”

“I could do islands. Do you think we’ll be too hot?” I laughed. We were instantly hot the second we touched each other.

“I don’t plan on shifting on a tropical island, so I think we’ll be all right.” He winked. “We keep the fur out of the trip.”

“Right.” His hand was dipping lower and I was having a hard time concentrating on honeymoon destinations. “When do we leave?”

“On your birthday, of course.”

“Oh God.” I arched my back as he curled a finger inside me. His head lowered to my breast.

“And this is all we’re going to do.” He took a breath to kiss my lips.

“All?” I raised my eyebrows.

“Well, we have a few things we haven’t tried.” He sounded rather serious.

“Ohh,” I moaned as he flipped me on my stomach.

I felt the warmth of his kisses on my back. He squeezed my ass roughly as he nudged my legs apart. I clasped the sheets around me.

“Mine, Francesca. Always mine.”

I nodded. “Only yours. And the only one,” I added.

His teeth clamped on my shoulder. “The only one.”

That night, Drew and I united in a way we didn’t even realize. Our vow to each other bonded us for life, but also against the laws of the Maddox line. We rebelled against the council. We gave each other our souls, not knowing there might be a cost to pay.

As I loved my husband and my mate, I didn’t care if anyone tried to come after us. I knew we were stronger together and we could handle danger. We could handle anything life threw at us. I held Drew in my arms as he slept, and knew for the first time I had family. I had love. And I had something worth fighting for.

***

Want to read more about the she-panthers? Follow Case and the Tribe in Sullen’s Grove in the first Nox Book, Dare. Available Now!

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