Taken: True Mates Book 2 (BBW Wolf Shifter Romance) (A Craggstone Paranormal Romance) (10 page)

“Lisa…you’re
killing
me…” he groaned, his eyes fixed on my chest.

“Tell me what you want,” I countered, my voice husky with need.

His eyes flicked to mine, smoldering in their intensity. Liquid gold licked at the edges, emphasizing the flames of desire I saw banked within. He tugged my hand, dragging me to him, flush against an incredibly hard body that I could now feel was rigid with control.

I didn’t want him to be in control. I liked the out of control Sean, the one who saw what he wanted, and took without hesitation. The one who spoke from his heart, not frightened of the consequences.

He leaned down, his body curling around mine, hand coming up to commandeer the curl I had been playing with. Our lips were inches apart, our breath swirling and mixing in the crisp evening air. Not breaking eye contact he rubbed the curl between his fingers, tugging it ever so slightly, encouraging me to lean even closer.

The forest around us had grown still, aware that two predators were engaging in a battle, a dance of sorts. The only sounds were those of our ragged breaths, the thumping of our hearts.

Push him. Break his control…
my jaguar purred inside my head. She was preening, rolling around in bliss at the attention from her true mate.

I pressed closer, just a fraction, our bodies meshing and fitting, soft curves yielding to hard planes of muscle. He rested, fully aroused, against my soft stomach, his height and my lack of it not allowing me to feel him where I really wanted — where I
needed
to feel him. A whimper escaped from my throat, drawn from a primal place deep inside, as I felt him throb against me.

I could see him fighting for control, trying to push his wolf back, to make him submit. I could feel the tinge of his fear and frustration seeping through the bond.

“Don’t…” I whispered, a wrenching sorrow overwhelming me. What must it be like to always fight your beast? For the human to
have
to always to be in control? “You won’t hurt me.
He
won’t hurt me.”

The gold flames roared, nearly eclipsing the brown, as he shuddered against me, still fighting it. “I know that now, I just…I can’t…”

“You
can
. You’re not the man you think—”

My words were swallowed as he swooped in, claiming my mouth in a punishing kiss, his lips molding like steel against mine, furiously moving and probing, tasting every part of me.

This
was what I wanted, what I needed. A man who wanted me above all others. A man who
needed
me — and only me. Like I needed him.

I tugged at his t-shirt, as he backed me up to rest against a conveniently placed tree. The rough bark bit into my skin, snagging my hair, but I didn’t care. I was lost to the world. Every sensation, every thought, focused on my dark wolf, the man who was kissing me like he wanted to possess me. Own me. Like he was trying to crawl inside of me.

I struggled with the t-shirt, desperate to feel him naked against me.

His hands took over, followed by the glorious sound of fabric ripping, then his warm skin met mine, muscles bunching as he picked me up, grinding me back against the tree.

Wrapping my legs around him, I opened myself up, his length rubbing over the seam of my jeans, a delicious friction building.

I ripped my mouth away, panting like I had run a marathon. His lips sought mine again, his control shattered, stripped and thrown away.

“Sean,” I gasped, as his lips swerved, instead kissing my neck, licking and nibbling along my collarbone.

“Sean,” I tried again, my eyes rolling back in my head as he pressed harder against me, his body cocooning me with his warmth, his mouth watering scent invading me. “What
do
you want?” The words flew out of my mouth on a gasp, as having secured me against the tree, his hands were moving up, over the top of my exposed breasts, fingers darting into the fabric, seeking, searching…

I needed to hear him say it. Needed to know this wasn’t a one-time thing, that he could accept this between us.

His fingers slipped inside my bra, the lace catching on his work roughened skin. With barely controlled restraint, he gently rolled my hardened peak between finger and thumb, tugging and exploring as he kissed and nuzzled his way down.

Grabbing his chin, I wrenched his face up to look at me. His eyes were almost completely golden now, the brown bleeding into pinpricks of black.

I met his growl of frustration with a stern stare. “You listen to me, Mr-Hot-Wolf-Bad-Boy-Beta. You need to tell me what is going on in that lunk-head of yours. I’m not a mind reader! And, while I’m…um…enjoying how things are going, I need to know—”

“You,” he growled, nipping my plump skin between even, white teeth.

At the slight sting, my bones liquefied, my blood thrumming through me, heading straight to my groin.

“I want
you
. All of you. Always,” he ground out, hips rocking against me, punctuating his words.

“Uhuh…” I mumbled, all hope of coherency gone. Jeez, the man was going to be an animal in bed. And, on the floor. And, up against a wall.

“The control issue?” I forced out.

“Gone. Not needed. Not with you.”

That was all I needed to know. “Good. Clothes off. Now,” I mumbled, pulling his mouth back to mine.

“Sorry if I’m interrupting. Actually, no I’m not. Beautiful looking girl, you got there. Oh, sorry —
feline
— whore, then,” a deep voice drawled lazily from behind us.

Sean froze, every inch of him tensing up until it felt like I was snuggled up against a steel drum.

“Who?” I whispered, my words muffled against his chest.

Sean slowly and carefully let me down to the floor, maneuvering me behind him as he turned to face the stranger. His face was drawn tight, ice in his eyes.

“No, not a whore,” he said, his voice controlled, “my
true
mate.”

I gasped as the stranger slunk out of the trees, revealing himself. He was the image of Sean, only twenty or so years older.

“Hello, Dad,” Sean bit out. “Now, what do you want?”

CHAPTER TEN

Sean

“Hello, son,” said the man I thought I’d never see again. After so many years, I had believed him dead — and good riddance.

“I’m not your son, not anymore.”

“Now, now. Don’t be like that — not when we haven’t seen each other in…what must it be? Nearly ten years?” He whistled through his teeth, grinning at me like we were long lost buddies. “Time flies when you’re having fun.” His expression changed, darkened. “Or, when you’re trying to drag yourself back on to your feet because your
family
has disowned you, kicked you out, and tried to kill you! I know what you did — sliding in with the alpha’s son, getting him to listen to your lies, believe
you
—”

“Don’t blame me for your failures,
Dad
,” I sneered. Though his hair was tinged with gray, he had obviously been keeping in shape, his big frame rippling with muscle. “And, it looks like you have done alright for yourself?” I let the question hang in the air. I told myself I didn’t care where he had been, so long as he went back there immediately, but a part of me yearned. The sadistic part, I kicked myself mentally.

I was not a young pup anymore, a kicking post for when my father decided he needed to vent. He had no place in my life — not anymore.

“You’re not welcome here,
Bert.
” The warning was clear, leave of his own free will, or be forced. My fists clenched at my sides.

“Well, well. The pup thinks he is all grown up. Ready to fight his own battles — and I taught you well, didn’t I? To fight, that is. I don’t think you learned the first thing about fucking a woman — not from what I’ve seen.” He leered at Lisa, adding, “Sweetheart, if you want to upgrade — feel a real man. I can show
your kind
a world of experience…”

Lisa stiffened at my back, her claws pricking into my bare waist.

“Do…not…insult…my…mate!” I roared, immediately seeing red. “She is
nothing
like those women you used to whore yourself with—”

“But she is, son. Just
look
at her.” Stalking to the side, his eyes roamed over Lisa as he licked his lips. “A wicked feline. Good for you, but remember what I taught you — they’re good for one thing only—”

His words ground to a halt as I wrapped my hand around his throat, hoisted him up and pinned him against a tree.

“I
said,
don’t talk about my mate like that,” I growled, my vocal cords shifting along with my claws. Blood trickled from small puncture wounds at his neck, running down and seeping into his dirty collar.

The man smelled foul, stale — like he hadn’t had a shower in weeks. Underneath was the familiar smell of musk and aniseed, but it smelled bitter…wrong.

“You treated my mother like a doormat, expecting her to put up with your philandering, parading all those sluts in front of her—”

He coughed, trying to talk. I loosened my grip on his neck, only slightly.

“Your mother was weak. With her holier-than-thou speeches, trying to tell me what I could and couldn’t do,” he spat out. “At least with a more agreeable type of woman—” his eyes flicked behind me, to Lisa, “—I could always do what I wanted, whenever I wanted — and they begged me for it.”

I tried to silence the words that were coming, but I had to know. “Why did you stay with her, then?”

“Because, she was my
true
mate. Can you believe it? Why the
Mother of All
would bind me with one so weak—”

Smack!

I couldn’t help it. I slammed my fist into his face, satisfaction flooding me as my knuckles connected with bone.

My father laughed, spitting blood onto the ground, revealing teeth stained and broken. “That’s my boy.”

Panic raced through me, freezing me inside. Dropping him, I backed away, memories flashing before my eyes. Fragments I had buried, tried so hard to forget. The times he had used me as a punching bag — drunk, or high on something. Sneaking out and watching him with woman after woman, dishonoring my mother. The many times he had tried to teach me to be a ‘man’, beating me so severely that I couldn’t walk for days, breaking nearly every bone in my body.

Stop being a pussy
, he’d say, disappointment on his face. Disappointment and sick excitement.
You’re a shifter, you’ll heal
. And then, he’d kick me again…and again…losing control until I blacked out from the pain.

When I hit my teens I’d started to fight back, lashing out like a crazy animal, letting my beast ride me — doing anything to survive. Then my mother had left me…explained it all in a note. I had found her body one morning, as I had been getting ready for school, my only escape from
him
at that time. She had been so cold, no matter how much I had tried to warm her. Hugging her to me, pleading with her to stay with me. Not to leave me with
him.

“Oh, Sean, to have left you as a child,” Lisa’s heartbroken voice cut into my trance, filled with sorrow and anguish. With a jolt, I realized I had been mumbling out loud, spilling my secrets to the world.

“I didn’t know,” she murmured, wrapping her arms around my chest, trying to lend me her strength.

“Touching,” my father cut in, and just like that, I was back in the present.

“You tried to make me like you, but I’m
nothing
like you!” I growled, all my repressed rage rushing back, holding me tight. The rage he had fed, viciously coaxing and training me as a child, until he had me where he wanted. All alone, and dependent on him.

But, there had been one thing he hadn’t counted on. I hadn’t been alone. I’d had James and his family, and they had taught me control, how to tame my beast. But, no matter how hard they tried, they couldn’t teach me to love him, the animal that shared my soul. I couldn’t even co-exist peacefully with him — I was beyond that. So, we had settled on pure control.

“No. You’re a disappointment. I had such high hopes for you. Plans. We would have taken over that stinkin’ pack, ruled with an iron fist. No one would have dared to cross us.”

“You’re a drunk, a mean one. And, a loon. If you thought for one second I would—”

“I persevered, even when you were acting like a pussy — kin is kin, after all. So, I pushed you harder—”

“You tried to cut my face off while I was asleep, then my heart—”

Lisa gasped behind me, her hands halting their smooth rubbing motion.

“Small details…” my father waved off the accusation, like it was nothing.

“And then, you poured salt in the wound, so I couldn’t heal.” I still remembered the fiery pain searing across my skin, sinking deep into my flesh. I had thought I was going to die. At that moment, I had wanted to.

“And yet, you still didn’t retaliate…not like a real man would.”