She shrugged, her nipples scraping along his skin. Jordan bit his lip to keep from snarling. Interest lit her eyes before she lowered her gaze to his mouth. “I’ve been busy fighting werewolves.”
There was more to it than that. The truth, he wasn’t sure he wanted to hear the words any more than she wanted to say them. Not with this being their only night together—not with his moving on soon. But they both knew—she’d waited for him. His heart filled until his entire body flamed. “I love you, Kate.”
Her gaze flew up, her nails retracting. Emotions raced across her face. Finally, sliding on a saucy smile, she lifted both knees and clasped her ankles at his back. “Then you should do something about that.” She scooted her butt down a fraction, allowing him to go even deeper.
His grip on reality snapped. He reached around and clasped the back of her shoulder, tethering her to him, his other hand sure to leave bruises as he began to pound. Hard, fast, and out of control.
Blood dropped onto his tongue from his canines shooting down. The flesh of her shoulder beckoned him, right where he’d bitten her the other night. Against his will, his head lowered to scrape along that so fragile skin.
She gasped, arching against him, turning her head and exposing the spot.
Still, he pounded.
Fighting the animal within, he scraped up her neck to the soft spot behind her ear. “Come now, Kate.” Low, dominant, his voice gave no quarter.
She cried out, back bowing, the orgasm whipping through her so powerfully her internal muscles clamped down on him. The instant reaction appeased the beast. The fangs retracted without leaving a scratch. His spine tingled, his balls drew tight. Pleasure burst through him so hard he saw stars as he went over the edge with her.
Chapter 15
Janie turned off the massive television screen, sliding off the plush couch, her gaze on the panther shifter replacing pool sticks in the wall rack. “Thanks for helping me clean up.”
Charlie nodded, stifling a yawn. “Sure. It was cool of the king to let us stay up all night watching movies.”
“Yeah.” The quiet of the early morning surrounded them since the rest of the kids had headed off to bed. Janie slid around the sofa and ran her hand along the wide counter holding bowls now emptied of chips. Skirting the air hockey table, she began rolling billiards into the pockets of the pool table. “Uncle Dage feels bad when we have to go underground, so he tries to find some fun for us.”
“Being underground is, ah, uncomfortable for shifters.” Charlie shoved a hand through his dark brown hair. He’d grown it out to his shoulders when he’d turned sixteen a few months ago, and he looked older, more dangerous, just like Uncle Conn. But he laughed a lot more than Conn, which was one of the reasons Janie liked him.
“Yeah, I noticed you guys seemed irritated during training yesterday morning.” Shifter and vampire trainees had worked out on the mats in the underground gym, throwing each other across the room. Many of the males had discarded their shirts, showcasing new and rather impressive muscles. Janie had watched for fun.
While she’d wanted to join in, considering she’d been training since kindergarten, the shifters couldn’t go all-out with her. Sometimes it sucked to be human. “I thought you and your cousin were going to kill each other. I mean, being underground isn’t all bad.”
Charlie grinned. “I’m part panther, not gopher, Jane. Being underground makes my skin itch.” He shook his head. “All of us are off having to hold in so much energy. Did you see Todd and Suzy going at it over in the love seat?”
Everyone had seen the two shifters kissing off and on through the movies. They’d been dating for almost a month, and Suzy thought she knew all about guys suddenly. Janie grinned. “They were just kissing. Don’t tell me kissing makes you uncomfortable, too.”
“No. But when I kiss a girl, we’re alone. As far as I’m concerned, kissing isn’t a group sport.” He grabbed a couple of darts from the floor to put in the cups lined along the wall.
A warming filtered through Janie’s cheeks. “Who have you kissed?”
He shrugged, his concentration on the darts. “Nobody special. Yet.”
Was there a hint there? Or maybe she was reading too much into the words. Why couldn’t her psychic visions lead to important stuff like first kisses? Janie fought a yawn. Even the idea of kissing Charlie wasn’t going to keep her awake after an all-night popcorn party. “I’m sorry we didn’t make it to the new movie like we’d planned.”
“Well ... we kind of had a date.” Charlie turned toward her, deep brown eyes twinkling.
Good humor lifted Janie’s spirit. “Yeah. If you call watching old horror flicks with a bunch of wolf shifters a date.”
“We could end it like a date.”
Her face heated. She swallowed. “Um, yeah. We could.”
He reached out to cup her chin. His warm palm seemed strong all of a sudden. She had to tilt her head back since he’d sprouted up so much last year. Then he started to lower his face.
Oh God. It was really going to happen. She fluttered her eyes closed. His lips met hers, increasing in pressure until she opened her mouth. He swept his tongue inside.
Tingles wandered through her, along with the thought of how weird it was to have someone else’s tongue in her mouth. He tasted like chocolate and popcorn. Charlie gave a low hiss and turned to press her into the wall. She kissed him back, tentatively at first, following his lead. Man, she hoped she was good at this.
The idea of Zane zinged through her head, and she raised her hands to push Charlie away.
But she didn’t get the chance.
Charlie was ripped away. She opened her eyes in time to see Charlie fly over the pool table, thrown by Garrett.
“Garrett!” Janie grabbed her brother. “What the heck?”
Charlie landed and rolled, shooting to his feet. Fury lined his face. The air shimmered.
Garrett’s eyes went wide. “Don’t shift!” He grabbed Janie by the shoulders, tucking around her and dropping down against the wall.
An explosion of air shattered the room.
Janie waited two heartbeats and then shoved Garrett away. He landed on his butt. She stood and surveyed the playroom. The light above the pool table swung drunkenly back and forth. The plasma television hung from one nail, the screen shattered. Shards of colored plastic decorated the carpet from the chip bowls exploding.
And a fully grown, snarling, pissed-off panther crouched ready to attack on the other side of the table. Sable brown fur stood up along his back. His eyes had morphed to a catlike hazel. Fangs dropped low from his mouth.
Garrett jumped up. Green ripped through the gray of his eyes. He growled and leaped for the animal. Janie screamed, grabbing the back of his jeans and trying to yank him down.
He slammed onto the pool table, muscles bunching in his arms. “Lets me go.” He stilled, twisting out of her grasp and standing. “Ows.”
Janie gasped. Blood dripped from his lips. “Oh my God. You’re bleeding.”
His eyes widened, returning to metallic gray. Gingerly, he reached up and touched his teeth. “I gots my fangs.” His delighted smile flashed sharp, bloody teeth.
The air shimmered, and Charlie shifted back to human, smoothly stretching from four legs to two. Janie averted her eyes from the naked teenager. Mostly.
Conn ran into the room. “I heard a scream.” He took in the scene with one hard glance. “What the hell?”
Garrett pivoted. “Uncles Conn, I gots my fangs.” He blanched. “Ows.”
Conn frowned. “That’s early. Good for you. Now shove them back up before you rip off a lip.” He yanked off his T-shirt, quickly tugging the material over Charlie’s head to cover him to the thighs. “Someone explain.”