Venice Heat (10 page)

He sighed. “You will come with me to Japan.”

“Excuse me?” She wriggled in his arms, and after a bit of struggle, he let her go. She stumbled, and he guided her to the chair he’d occupied while he stood up. She panted like she’d just run a marathon. When would it end?

Eiji stood in front of her, arms folded over a powerful chest, legs apart and firm. “You will become my mate and come with me to Japan to live there from now on.”

Shae took her time looking him over from foot to head and down again. She let a slow grin spread over her face, and the bigger it became, the tighter his eyebrows gathered over his dark eyes. His full lips had thinned into a straight line, and his nostrils couldn’t flare any more than they had. Still, the sex appeal rolled off him in tidal waves. Rather than let the anger at his words make the top of her head explode, she laughed. The humor felt good after days of pain and terror.

“Boyfriend, you have bumped your everlasting head,” she said when the mirth died away. “I know a little about your culture, so I get some of how you think, but let me tell you here and now, I am not the one. When I’m all well, I’m getting out of here. I don’t know if I’ll go back home, but wherever I decide to go,
I
, and nobody else, will be the one making the call. So, no, I’m not going to be your mate, as you call it. Not now, not ever.”

She pushed past him and stormed into the house, or as much as she could in her condition. Having made it all the way to the kitchen, she paused at the refrigerator and tried opening the door. Her stomach stirred, and all the various scents of food behind the barrier called to be eaten. “Damn it, this door’s stuck. That idiot probably spilled something and didn’t clean it up.”

Eiji’s arm came around her waist. She’d heard him seconds before he touched her, the bastard. He reached past her with his other arm and easily opened the refrigerator door. Everything inside, from the milk to bottles of juice to several bowls of cut-up vegetables and fruit, was neatly arranged. She should have known better.

“Sit down.” He pushed her into a chair, and helpless to resist, she did as he asked. Eiji pulled out a few bowls, and she rubbed her stomach, her eyes widening as she watched him prepare a meal. Precise hand movements, expert slicing techniques, and ease of creating a colorful cuisine took her breath away. He glanced up from adding a mound of sticky rice to a bowl in front of her and smiled. The tension he’d displayed outside disappeared, and he almost looked like a boy. “You’re hungry more often.”

She moaned. “Yeah, I can’t stop eating. If I gain weight, I’m taping my mouth shut.”

“Don’t worry. Your metabolism is changing and your body structure along with it. That requires a lot of energy. You must feed your body as much as it needs. I will prepare it.”

She offered her grudging thanks. “You really shouldn’t be here.”

He glanced at her.

“What’s that look for?” She grabbed the bowl from his hand, and a tingle of pleasure zipped through her being when their fingers touched. She ignored it and scooped up a huge bite of rice without adding the soup he’d made earlier. If she didn’t get a least a little in her tummy, she might pass out.

“The only reason
he
is not here is because he knows I am here,” Eiji announced.

She chuckled. “Why, because you’re that badass?”

He frowned as if he didn’t understand the meaning of the word. “He does not care about you.”

“That’s obvious. Not that I give a damn.” She ate all of her plain rice and then held out her bowl. Eiji scooped up more, and this time she added soup to the top. All of his various choices of food were in different small bowls, and he ate using chopsticks. Knowing she would have snapped them in half in a rage, Shae had chosen a soupspoon for everything. “I get the feeling you’re going somewhere with this conversation.”

He set his chopsticks together and laid them to the side of one of his bowls. “Darryl”—the name was spoken with such derision, she was surprised he didn’t spit on the floor after speaking it—“would be here or have one of his men here with you to be sure you don’t die during the turning, but he knows I am here to care for you. Why waste one of his people’s time, or worse, get into a fight that might leave you dead? Instead, he allows me to do it. When you are fully turned, he will come back. When that happens, he will mark you and force you to be his true mate. No other man will be allowed to touch you.”

Shae blinked. “His true mate. Wait, I think he said something like that. Well he can forget it. Nobody’s forcing me to do anything. I told you I’m not going with you, and it’s for damn sure I’m not going with him. Now that I know what he is, he won’t get the drop on me. You think I’m joking, but I’m dead serious. His ass is mine in the worst way.”

Eiji retrieved his chopsticks. “You cannot be a rogue wolf, Shae. You must be marked and mated.”

“What kind of double standard bullshit is that?”

He didn’t say a word, but Shae vowed to show both him and Darryl. They could kiss her ass if they thought she would limit herself to one man or the other. She’d been calling the shots in her life for years, and just because this mess happened didn’t mean it would change. Besides, sometimes during the day she felt fine and thought it had all been some kind of big joke. After all, there were people in the world who were psycho and thought they were shifters but weren’t. Shae and her family had come across those kinds too. Either way, Darryl was getting his, and while she owed Eiji a lot for looking after her, that’s where it ended. In a little while, she would be fine, and then it was on and poppin’.

Chapter Seven

Shae sat curled up on the side of the bed, watching Eiji sleep. For the first time in days, normal levels of strength coursed through her body, but now she had a new issue. Eiji had worn only pajama bottoms to bed. His chest bare, he stretched out on his back, and she hadn’t been able to take her eyes off the sexy contours of his flesh for the last hour. Leaning close, she’d breathed in his scent, manly and somehow wild. She’d stuck out her tongue to have a taste, and he’d stirred. With supreme effort, she had forced herself to move away, to look but not touch.

Her sexual desires had always run high, even as a human. While she liked to conclude the coming change was a mistake, a figment of Darryl’s and Eiji’s imaginations, the fact was, today, her lust went beyond all reason. Even the way Eiji’s chest rose and fell at a slow and steady pace tantalized her. His scent filled her nostrils, and when she had tasted his skin, her pussy had gushed with wetness. She glanced down and wasn’t surprised to see her nipples rigid behind the thin material of her nightgown. They ached with a need to feel Eiji’s fingers or lips on them. She had a feeling if she pulled her gown up and touched her clit, she’d scream with a great orgasm. This was not natural. That she knew.

“Eiji,” she whispered, and he stirred once again, but he didn’t open his eyes.

She curled her fingers into her palms to keep from ripping at his pants to get a look at his cock. Remembering how rough he’d been when they had sex made her mouth water and her breath raspy as it left her body. What if he said no? She skimmed fingertips over his flat nipples and groaned low in her throat. Surely, he wouldn’t do that to her.

“Damn it, Eiji, it’s eating me alive.”

She grabbed the waistband of his pajama bottoms and dragged it lower. His beautiful cock came into view, semihard. While she stared, control ebbing from her being, it grew tighter, longer, thicker. She darted her gaze to his face. He looked back at her with those black eyes full of desire. She climbed on top of him and whimpered.

“I’m going insane.”

He brought up an arm and stroked her back. “Part of the process. It hurts?”

“Yes! I can’t stand it.”

He didn’t ask any further questions but hitched his hips and pulled her nightie up. His cock sank into her pussy, and she howled his name.

“Hard.” She tried thrusting to get him deeper, but he held her still with one hand on her ass. With gentle movements, he glided to the hilt of his shaft and retreated. He pushed in again and let himself ease away. “No, not like that!”

“Shh, it’s okay. Feel me,” he soothed.

Shae punched his shoulder, almost sobbing. “You don’t understand. I can’t take it. I’m on fire. If you don’t do it rough, I’m going to snap. I have to have it. I think I’m going to lose my mind.”

He let her ramble on and on, but still he kept to his unhurried pace, making love to her rather than fucking the way she begged him to do. Why now did he find the control to be gentle when she needed his body like she needed air to breathe? He wouldn’t let her move on her own or allow her to sit up so she could ride him like a show pony. He kept her sealed to his chest, using one arm as if she didn’t warrant all his strength. She fought him and smacked his face. He rolled them on the bed until he was above her. He raised one of her thighs higher and sank deep into her pussy. She pleaded.

“Eiji, you’re torturing me. I’m coming!”

An orgasm rocked her. Muscles in her core spasmed over and over again, and the thrill took her ability to speak. Eiji kept pumping, which was a good thing because the thirst hadn’t died out. If anything, it grew worse. Her clit buzzed, sensitive and swollen. Her juices flowing didn’t affect the tightness of her pussy. The walls clenched around his dick, milking it in a silent plea to be used and abused.

Eiji sat up and raised her legs. He clenched them at the backs of her thighs and pushed so her knees touched her shoulders and her ass came up off the bed. “Don’t worry. I’m not going to stop.”

She stared mesmerized as his cock disappeared between her nether lips and drew out, long and fat, before driving in again. His member glistened with her come, and the sight brought on a small aftershock of an orgasm. Still, her body refused to acknowledge satisfaction.

Eiji pulled out until just the tip of his dick pierced her. He paused, and she screamed. He drove forward at a snail’s pace, but when he buried the extent of himself inside, he thumped tight against her opening. She keened and scratched at the sheets.

“Again,” she pleaded.

He gave her what she wanted. For an hour he took her that way, in that position, never once breaking his rhythm. How? Was this the ability of just the wolf shifter or all of them? Eiji turned her to her side and closed her legs together. The move made him a snugger fit, and she moaned, giving in to the pleasure but needing more.

“W-Why?” She covered his hand with hers at her hip. He drove deep into her and took away her ability to resist. She lay open to him, exposed, his to do with what he chose. He leaned forward and let her feel some of his weight, heavy and hard. He curved above her length, sealing them together and grinding on her ass. Quakes went off in her belly and extended to her arms and legs. She came, but the orgasm was to such a degree that it knocked out reasonable thought. All she knew was him, the way he moved and the soft words he spoke as he pleasured her. Even when he lapsed into Japanese, he held her captive.

Somehow Shae knelt on her knees, ass in the air, head on the pillow. Packaging tore open, and a condom snapped into place. He hadn’t used one all this time. “There’s no danger,” he said as if in answer to her mental question.

He curved over her length, and fingers found her wet pussy. She shuddered in ecstasy when he pushed them between her folds, coating his digits with her thick cream. He pulled out and wove into her anus. She clenched her teeth together and arched into his touch. Over and over he worked her back entrance, until her muscles loosened. Then he pulled his fingers free and threaded the tip of his cock into the narrow opening. She grabbed his wrist, and he paused. Her eyes shut, she felt his gaze on her, and then his lips touched hers. They kissed for long moments, their tongues curling together. He strummed her nipple with the pad of a thumb and whispered encouragement in her ear.

Holding her close as if she were a treasured gift, he eased deeper inside her, one slow inch at a time. Shae trembled. Her desire shot up a few degrees even as she didn’t think it could get any hotter. This virus would kill her in the end but still leave her unsatisfied, feverish for more and more sex.

When Eiji seated himself to the hilt, he turned them both to their sides, and he snuggled behind her. Relaxed and tender, he made love to her from behind. She clung to his arms enfolding her middle and matched him thrust for thrust. Her ass pushed out, a thrill raced over her being each time he thumped her full to capacity.

“I think I can’t…I can’t get enough,” she panted. “It won’t stop. I want to come and come. Eiji—”

“Shh, I will satisfy you, Shae.
Yakusoku
. I promise.”

* * * *

At seven in the evening, Shae left the bed and stood in the shower. Water hot as she could stand it ran over her skin. Her nipples pebbled, and her pussy clenched. Eiji had taken her until she’d fainted from exhaustion. He had lasted longer than her, and they’d gone on for hours. Still, right now the thirst burned. She faced the wall and flattened her hands on the surface before resting her forehead between them and shut her eyes. Not until the heat of his body warmed hers did she realize Eiji was there. His thigh brushed her ass. He touched her hips on both sides and nuzzled her neck.

Shae found his mouth and kissed him hungrily. After some time, they broke apart, both panting and staring into each other’s eyes.

“Does he know about this too?”

“He does.”

She turned to face him and traced droplets of water over his chest, down his belly, and into his crotch. His skin, so taut and warm beneath her touch, drew her lips to taste him. She dropped to her knees and kissed his thigh. The muscle twitched, and she licked the spot again. When she went after his cock, he drew her away and made her stand.

“Why won’t you let me suck you?” she complained.

“Not now.”

“Why?”

He lowered to his knees and drew her close. The next instant her legs were wrapped around his head, and he buried his mouth between them, eating her flowing juices. She rode his face, tangling her fingers in his hair with one hand and holding on to the wall with the other. Eiji brought her to multiple orgasms, and only when she threatened to faint again did he let her down. She stood in front of him, unmoving, while he washed her length, rinsed the suds away, and then lathered her skin again. When she smelled of a sweet but subtle fragrance, he cleaned himself and turned the water off. She left the shower cocooned in a thick white towel, held in his arms.