Hunger's Mate Page 20

  “Because you didn’t belong to him,” was Ezra’s immediate and just a bit harsh response.

  She stilled, waiting until his tongue had traced a long, hot line along her neck, and he came face-to-face with her once more. “I don’t belong to anyone,” she told him with undeniable defiance.

  A part of him wanted to reply that she belonged to him, but he held that thought, knew that it was not the time or the place for her to accept that small fact. Instead, he would show her.

  “I need you, Jewel,” he readily admitted. “I need every part of you.”

  She blinked at his reply, her hands tightening at his neck once again, her body pressing even closer to his. Ezra didn’t hesitate but pushed his hand beneath the hem of her shirt until he could unsnap the hook of her bra. When it was loose, he pushed her shirt up, leaning back only to give her space to lift her arms so he could pull it up over her head. The bra went with it, tossed on the floor alongside the forgotten—for the moment—diamonds.

  In seconds her breasts, heavy, full, lush, were filling his palms. His mouth watered and before he could think of anything else, he was dipping his head to take one thick nipple into his mouth. He did growl then. The feel of the turgid pebble rubbing along his tongue as he suckled, the weight of her mound as his hand kept a firm hold, sent ripples of pleasure throughout his body. His dick was so hard, the need to be inside her so desperate, the zipper of his jeans was about to rip. He palmed the other breast, bringing it closer to its mate and tilted his head so that each delectable mound was touching his face. His tongue slipped from one nipple to the next while she pressed further into his embrace, her breathing hitching each time he licked over her skin.

  His mind was a haze, the heavy smoke of desire filling every nuance of him until Ezra was sure he’d been kidnapped and dropped off at some foreign destination that was just shy of bliss. Inhaling and exhaling her scent, no, it was his, or was it … could it be … theirs? Whichever, the aroma filled the room like millions of fragrant candles had been lit. And with each breath his hunger grew, pushing Ezra to the breaking point as he finally pulled his lips away from her breasts, the loud suction sound echoing throughout the room. Coming to his feet he lifted her up off the floor with him, jerking at the button of her pants and pushing them and her underwear roughly down her legs.

  She gasped but didn’t make any verbal protest as he glared down at her now naked body. The tips of her puckered nipples at attention, the close-shaved triangle of her juncture resting between the cushion of her lush thighs made his mouth water, his dick harden to the point of pain.

  “Undress me,” he told her, swallowing hard to keep his voice from sounding too rough, too harsh in the otherwise silence of the room.

  When she hesitated for a second, he reached for her hand, pulling it so that her fingers now hovered over the buckle of his pants. He could have taken them off himself, could have ripped them off his body and let them fall to the floor in shreds like the ones he’d worn before, but he didn’t. He needed more. Her touch, her urgency, her burning desire, he needed to see that, to feel that she was right there with him, that she was as frantic and desperate for this as he was.

  And for one heart-stopping moment, he didn’t think she would do it.

  Then she yanked her hand away from his and pulled at the snap of his jeans. When he waited with bated breath for her to push them roughly down his legs as he’d done hers, she did something totally unexpected. Jewel thrust her hand down his pants, beneath the boxer briefs he wore to cup his rigid length. Ezra sucked in a breath, almost biting his tongue in the process.

  Her fingers wrapped around his length as she looked straight into his eyes, holding his gaze while her thumb rubbed over the sensitive tip. The growl was quick and loud and only seemed to push her further, because in the next instant she was trying to push his pants and boxers down. He helped her, stepping out of them as her hand remained fixed on his aching dick. With a heated gaze she tore her attention from his face, looking down to what she held so comfortably in her hand. Her complexion was lighter than his so there was a startling contrast as her hand moved slowly upward, the tips of her fingers rubbing along the now moistened slit.

  Ezra did everything in his power to remain absolutely still, to allow her all the leeway she needed, to let her take what she wanted in the time she needed to take it. And she was definitely taking it. As she lowered slowly to her knees he swallowed hard, willing his hands to stay still and not grip the sides of her face to guide her sweet mouth to him.

  She glanced up at him again, tiny flecks of hazel visible in her eyes. He’d never seen a sexier look on another female. He didn’t speak but licked his lips and she nodded. With one hand she wrapped her fingers around the base of his cock, the other going to cup his heavy sac. His length bobbed only inches from her mouth and Ezra saw her tongue slip past her lips, licking them before disappearing once more. At his sides his fingers clenched and unclenched, his chest heaving with the deep breaths he was forced to take to remain this still, this compliant.

  This was difficult for him because he was used to being the dominant, to taking what he wanted always, giving only what he needed to in return. But this was different, this female, this moment, it was totally unlike any experience he’d ever had. He wanted her, there was absolutely no doubt of that, but he wanted her to be in the best place possible for that joining to take place. If that meant he’d stand here like he was glued to this spot and let her have her way with him, then that’s exactly what he planned to do, no matter the incessant pressure at his temples or the painful throbbing of his dick. He would not let that other take control, he would not let it soil this moment.

  The flat of her tongue touched the bottom of his dick as she licked him down from the tip to the base and back again. That same devilish tongue circled around the crest of his dick, wiping away the drop of pre-cum that had bubbled there. She took the bulbous tip into her mouth and suckled as if it were her favorite candy. Then she opened her mouth wider, moving her head so that his length slid between her lips, deeper and deeper until he was touching the base of her throat. She swallowed and Ezra almost choked. Instead he closed his eyes and clenched his fists, only momentarily because he wanted to see her, wanted to watch how pretty she looked taking him in so deep, then letting him slide slowly from her mouth. His dick glistened with moisture before disappearing once more into her deliciously hot mouth.

  In and out she repeated the motions until Ezra thought he was seeing double, or just plain losing his mind. The sensations rippling up his spine, the heat spreading through his sac and down his legs, had him ready to purr with delight and to find his release right there inside her pretty little mouth. He wasn’t sure if that’s what she wanted but the way she was sucking him said she definitely wanted something more. A couple more of those deep hollowed cheek suctions and the choice was no longer going to be hers.

  Breathing heavily when she pulled him out of her mouth for the umpteenth time, she sat back on her heels and looked up at him again. This time he was sure she was silently asking permission. She wanted so much more, the desire like sparks of fire in her eyes, her swollen and wet lips barely able to stay away from his jutting cock.

  “Whatever you want, Jewel. You can have whatever you want,” he told her, his voice gruff and edgy from the need scraping so hot and raw against his every nerve.

  Taking her bottom lip between her teeth, she removed her hand from his dick as she stood. He could see the rapid pulse beating at the base of her neck, watched as her unbound breasts heaved up and down with her nervousness. When she took his hand, Ezra’s fingers eagerly clasped with hers, his feet following her as she led them to the bed. She turned then, moving so quick he almost thought she would try to escape. He wasn’t going to react to that very well.

  Jewel wasn’t trying to escape. She was moving so that she could push him down onto the bed first. And when he was lying on his back, his legs partially spread, feet still touching the floor, she
climbed on top of him. Again. Flashbacks of their first sexual tryst entered his mind and he realized once more what she needed, how she wanted things to be, and he obliged.

  With a hand between them she guided his thick length to her waiting core, settling over him and lowering herself slowly at first, then with one quick motion until she had him completely sucked in.

  She looked like a goddess as she rose above him and felt absolutely heavenly as her tight walls latched onto his throbbing cock, her warm essence sliding down its length to drip onto his swollen sac. Slowly so as not to make her believe he was taking over, Ezra’s hands went to her hips, his fingers rubbing over her skin lightly before taking hold.

  She let her head fall to the side, her back arching, breasts lifting and began rotating her hips, lifting slightly, lowering softly, driving him instantly insane. It was his turn to suck in a breath, to close his eyes in wonder as she rode him into the abyss. There was nothing left, no tug-of-war, no argument, as the three inside were all getting exactly what they’d wanted. The cat had its mate firmly in its clutches. The dark had the light of her wrapped securely and deliciously around it. And Ezra, he had Jewel. Right here in this moment he had her and that was most important. It was all he needed, all he wanted. It was everything.

  Chapter 18

  She wasn’t running.

  Not this time.

  Jewel repeated those words over and over as she slipped out of the bathroom window into the dark, night air. She had her backpack and she had the diamonds. The flash drives, she’d left for Ezra. At this point, he needed them more than she did. Since Larry knew who she was with, he would assume she’d told them everything she knew.

  He would be right in that regard, the bastard. She had told Ezra and she’d given him all the proof there was. He and the other Shadow Shifters would figure things out from there. They would come up with a way to protect their secret and destroy Larry’s creations. That’s what they were good at, self-preservation.

  She was good at that too. She’d had to be. Now, she moved around to the front of the motel, to the quiet of the parking lot where there were only three vehicles. One, the SUV, was Ezra’s. Taking that would be foolish. Another was an old beat-up Cadillac. Easy. The other was what looked like some type of department-issue sedan, it was so plain and so obvious at the same time. She decided to take that one, banking on the fact that it would be more reliable than the old Cadillac.

  Stealing cars had been one of the many things she’d learned that last year she was in high school. It was then too that she’d learned how to smoke marijuana and how to perform private dances for horny old men for money. At first it had been for fun, she got an adrenaline rush at feeling sexy and wanted, needed. Then, later, after her college plans had been abruptly interrupted by her mother’s fast-spreading cancer and eventual death, those skills had come in handy.

  Now, secure in the sedan and heading down the dirt road that would take her out of Sedona, Jewel tried not to think of all that Larry had done for her, but instead of all that he’d taken from her and the fact that the heartless bastard now had her father with him.

  She’d brought the diamonds with her but she knew that wasn’t what Larry really wanted. He wanted her and that was all. How many times had he told her that she belonged to him, that she continued to breathe because he allowed it, that her father was still on this earth because of the check he wrote month after month? Too many to count.

  They’d been trapped, she and her father and she’d done the only thing she could think of to break free. Now, sadly, she was on her way back to Larry’s house where she knew he would be waiting for her to return. The phone call letting her hear her father’s voice was all the invitation required and Larry knew it. She would do anything to protect and take care of her father, had done any and everything for that cause. If anybody in the world knew that, Larry did. And he would exploit that very determination to get exactly what his cold heart wanted.

  Hate did not seem like a strong enough word to describe how she felt about him.

  * * *

  Ezra was dreaming. He knew because Acacia was there and so was Dagar. They both watched as he’d found his release buried deep inside Jewel’s wet pussy. When he’d finally pulled out, he saw them standing at the head of the bed, both of them looking mighty pleased with themselves, as if maybe they’d somehow found their release as well. He hadn’t known they were there, hadn’t given any thought to being watched, not since he’d left the Sierra Leone. He hadn’t liked it then and he hated it now.

  So with every muscle in his body rigid, his cat’s eyes on instant alert, Ezra stood straight, glaring at them just before releasing a growl.

  “You can’t outrun me,” Acacia said, her voice light, melodic, just as he’d remembered it. “I will always be a part of you.”

  “No,” Ezra part yelled, part roared.

  “It will not protect you forever. Once awakened, only one other can save you from your dark past,” Dagar said, draped in the mud-brown wool robe he always wore, white slashes painted across his ashen face.

  Sharp teeth elongated, cutting into Ezra’s lower lip. His claws detracted, ripping right through the skin of his knuckles. The cat would fight, a full-grown jaguar would break through his skin and fight with everything it had to keep that darkness at bay. There was a question as to which part of him would win.

  “She does not want to protect him,” Acacia added with a smirk. “She is not like us, she does not believe in all that we are. I was best for you.”

  “You were a fuckin’ nutcase!” Ezra roared. “You never wanted us! You only wanted revenge!”

  Acacia shook her head. “I wanted to love you.”

  She was lying, Ezra knew with everything inside him that she was lying. Acacia had always loved to control them, with her words, her actions, with everything that she was. But it was too late for that. Ezra was determined that that part of his life was going to be over.

  “It is her,” Dagar continued as if he had not heard a word Acacia said. “She is the one who will cure the darkness. She is your lifeline and she will settle your soul.”

  “I can’t,” Ezra admitted, breathing heavily. “I can’t hurt her.”

  The conflict rose like bile, hot and burning in his chest and throat until he jerked upward, coughing as if trying to dislodge the foul taste.

  “Whoa! Hold on there,” a male voice said, a hand clapping his bare shoulder.

  Ezra’s eyes opened slowly, bright sunlight and two armed shifter guards greeting him.

  “Jewel,” he called to her instantly and looked around the room.

  He was in the bed, a sheet draped over his groin, alone.

  “We have orders to bring you in, Preston.”

  He knew that voice. It was Syfon, the Lead Guard of Bas’s blue team.

  “Not without Jewel,” he said, pushing the sheet away and climbing out of the bed. To hell with his nudity.

  “Bas wants you at Rendezvous. Now!” Syfon said, his hand wrapping around Bas’s bicep.

  It happened so fast Ezra didn’t even realize it until Syfon’s muscular body slammed into the dresser, cracking the mirror across the room. The other guard, also a member of the blue team, charged him, but Ezra was ready. He grabbed the shifter, wrapping an arm around his neck and squeezing.

  “I’m not leaving without her!” Ezra roared.

  His body vibrated with pulses of heat. His nostrils flared, fists clenched as he inhaled deeply, searching for her scent as he headed into the bathroom. All he could think about was her, all he could see were her eyes, the vibrant tint of her hair; he could taste her essence on his tongue, felt the wetness of her surrounding his lips.

  She’d left while he’d slept. Exhaustion had overtaken him like it never had before so that his last memory was of coming while buried deep inside of her. Then there was the dream, the visit from his worst nightmares, and now, there was only the beast. And the beast was very angry.

  He yanked at the ba
throom door, heard it crack on its hinges, and stepped through until he was facing the two shifters again. His vision grew blurry and the room tilted a bit, his breath coming faster and faster, words echoing in his mind.

  It is her. It is her.

  Ezra had heard it. The cat had sensed it. The beast wanted to control it, to control her. Jewel would not be controlled, not ever again she’d told him.

  She is your lifeline.

  “Jewel,” he whispered just before Syfon stuck a needle in his neck and he fell to the floor.

  * * *

  “I told you to come here and you deliberately disobeyed me!” Bas yelled at Ezra, who now sat at a stainless-steel table in one of the highly air-conditioned rooms at Rendezvous.

  “I had it under control,” Ezra said in a low raspy voice.

  “And that’s why she’s gone now?” the FL grumbled. “That’s why my fucking resort is in ashes and my best friend is dead!”

  “I didn’t kill him!” Ezra roared back. “And neither did Jewel so if you’re thinking of letting those words fall from your lips … don’t!”

  Ezra felt woozy from the tranquilizer they’d given him.

  Bas slammed both palms down on the table just inches from where Ezra’s hands had landed. Bas leaned in closer, his cool gray eyes like flint as they glared at Ezra.

  “I know precisely who killed Jacques. Just like you know where Jewel is. I’m just wondering when you’re going to get off your ass and do what needs to be done,” he said through clenched teeth.

  “That’s what I was doing,” was Ezra’s heated retort. “Until you sent your goons to drug me and drag me back here.”

  Bas was shaking his head. “No. That’s not what you were doing. You were letting that dark smoke the shaman blew into your mind take over.”

  Ezra grew absolutely still, his skin crawling, eyes stilling on the leader.

  “Yes, I said what everyone in here’s thinking. And before you decide to fight me, know that there will definitely be a fight. One that will waste a hell of a lot of time, which we do not have if we want to stop that bastard Crowe and save Jewel and her father.”