Beauty and the Brute [Werescape III] (18 page)

Whatever kept him busy with those hands on me.

"Beauty?” He chuckled.

"What's that you complain about? Me being all talk and no action?"

"Ask nicely,” he warned.

I grabbed the button. “Oh, you big tease, please!"

He swatted my hands away. “Mine."

Mine. Mine. Mine. “Then you'd better get busy and do something to make certain it gets offered to you again."

He moved fast as the wind.

My pants were off.

His chest pressed against my ribs.

Those golden Shifter eyes challenging me to blink.

"I'm going to bathe in your Well, little mate. And when I finish, I intend to rub our scents all over you. Make certain you're as clean as you'll ever need to be.” His tickling fingers trailed to my pulsing clit, circling it once. “And if you're really good, I'll pop this little gem with my teeth.” The fingertip dipped down to the flinching slick hole of my sex.

Would he not get on with this before I orgasm just from the mere thought of his promises?

"You're so wet for me.” He kept studying me.

Rather, my reaction. All I could do is whimper, my hips bucking against his attentive hand.

"What do you want, Beauty?"

My scent on his face. His amazing hardness filling me. Pumping wildly. Coming inside me. The world exploding with us together.

"Can I feast on you, sweetness?"

Yes. “Yes.” I nodded.

"That's it. Raise those legs. All the way.” He growled low and steady, repositioning between my bent knees, placing that big hand over my nether lips.

Now.

Touch me now.

My hips arched.

Reaching up as high as I could to try to make skin-to-skin contact. Just for a moment. One blessed fraction of a second. To snuff the need.

Then he was there. Fingers. Swirling tongue. Oh. God. The sharp teeth. I tried to lie still. To give him unobstructed access the way he preferred. Demanded. But he'd just growl and keep devouring me if I shifted positions. I threw my leg over his shoulder.

He snarled, licking, nibbling.

Making me jitter. Too engrossed with his Wolf to do anything though. I tossed the other leg over his other shoulder and rocked against his teeth's blunt hardness.

Another snarl ripped from him.

He tried to move.

Not yet. I shoved up and held his shaved head against my sex. “Don't stop."

And all the mind-numbing body-quaking his mouth set off in me reduced me to a woman riding her man's mouth just to burst her little gem of a clit against his teeth. Yes. Any second. I would scream. His mouth would keep eating me. Until I'd come so many times I

couldn't hold myself up. Crying. Fidgeting. Oozing with silken moisture to assist his oversized

Wolf cock's penetration. And he'd say all those little naughty things that would make me come again with his full rigid Wolf thickness inside me.

I couldn't breathe.

Couldn't rock my hips fast enough.

The delightful wave of ecstasy rose, towered, slammed against my soul, washed over me, rippled through me. Left me shuddering with a stiff arched body wrapped around my mate's head as the flood waters slowly seeped away.

My body hummed.

For him. For the ribbed Wolf cock I knew he would wedge inside me.

So damned amazing. Not a freak of nature. No. Mine. All mine.

He shoved my legs off his shoulders and began crawling his gurgling hulking mass up my length.

I knew better than to move. Not until he thrust himself inside me. Then I could ease his passage. Shake. Help him find the little bundle of nerves nested deep within my womb that he loved to toy with until spasms along my inner channel drove him insane. So out of control that my big brute spilled his seed inside me. So unable to move if I wanted to after he'd stolen away my ability to escape.

His hot mouth slammed down over mine as I propped myself up with my arms behind me, him between my legs, looming over my body like a half-starved wolf.

Begging for sustenance.

Filling my senses with the salty smell and taste of my sex.

His muscled chest shoved my still-numb body backward with an arm wrapped around my waist.

Carefully. So very gently. His way with me.

He rammed his inflexible rod inside me.

Almost to the iron balls of its incredible root. God, being impaled on his erection only made my body unfurl more billowing heat. Yes. More liquid fire to help him glide deeper. So bloody deeper.

His hips kept trying to shove him farther.

Impossible. But such an incredible pressure against my sex while his tongue swept through my mouth. Pillaging. Always reclaiming.

Only a fool wouldn't crave reclamation.

He threw back his head, kneeling low to the ground, chest shoved up at arm's length.

So damned gorgeous, lost in his own self-gratification.

The blessed pumping began.

Almost all the way, he dragged his cock along my aching channel, out to the very tip, then rammed that torture stick back inside me. My soul shuddered from the rod's ridges, the texture noting his Wolfen hairs were about to sprout all over his body. But what can a simple

Normal woman do when a Wolf mates her? Lie still and let him have his way with her. As many times as he wants. Especially when Wolf rose to steal her breath away.

Brutus took my hips in hand, rising up onto his knees, guiding my hips where he wanted them to maneuver for his easy access.

I didn't care. Didn't do more than prop my hips up with my feet beneath my bent knees.

Wanting more. Gasping for air while he pounded into my quaking flesh.

Hot. Everything was so fiery hot.

I shook. I whined. I trembled in his broad hands.

More.

He snarled at the blue sky.

Stabbing me inch by glorious inch. Until nothing but the burst of immeasurable pleasure griped every cell in my body and squeezed.

My body arched with a jolt of bliss.

Like a thousand mosquitoes bit me all at once. Zapping from every direction. Even my nipples beaded as if I wanted him to start all over.

His body froze, bending over me where he'd thrust the incredible cock to the absolute bottom of the Well he spoke of so often.

Time stood still. I think.

His steel lance jerked inside me.

He gasped for air as if he were in pain and snapped back to life, plunging, planting one astonishing burst of life at a time with each lunge and thrust.

Filling the Well. Thank God. The way my back arched, the way he clutched my hips to his grinding groin, I didn't care if life took hold or was stolen completely from me. I just wanted to match his body's desperate movements. Make him feel as perfect as he made me feel.

Our dance of joining slowly died though.

Whether we wanted it to or not. His jerking motion and my exhaustion were the telltale signs of the death of our enthusiasm. Life and death used hand in hand. Two sides of the same coin. A coin I never wanted to spend.

Trade Brutus, never. Was this love?

Perhaps.

As gorgeous as the man was, this was definitely lust.

He groaned, leaning over until his forehead rested on my breast. “Gods-damn, Beauty.” He sighed, nothing more than a mass of bulging muscles. “What did I do before Wolf found you?"

Interesting question. The answer even more intriguing. “Do you think he had been looking?"

He lifted his head until his brown gaze met mine. “Oh, yes. He had a wicked case of wanderlust. And now that I've got you, he's happy as hell.” He lowered my hips to the hard ground and walked his hands along my length until he stretched out on his side beside my body.

A little smile tugged at one corner of his mouth.

"What are you thinking?” I asked.

"How we don't have time for a bath."

Oh. The man was evil. I dug my elbows into the earth and shoved his solid chest with a palm.

"That isn't funny."

The dolt burst out laughing. “I think it is."

"You would.” I shoved myself to my feet and turned to find the soap.

"Now, where are you going, Little Sassy?"

"Don't call me names when you're the liar.” I threw a flap open on a saddlebag and thrust my fingers into the odds and ends to feel for a round lump of soap.

Hands snatched my waist from behind.

The world shifted.

Whirling. I flew. Landing over the big brute's shoulder. “Put me down, Brutus."

He chuckled. “When I'm good and ready."

I could only see his perky ass and Trance's hooves.

Blood started running to my inverted head. He always did this to me. Just hauled me around like a deer carcass. “Please?"

He stepped the opposite direction. “That's more like it. Manners suit you."

The upside-down world rocked like we rode Trance.

I'd squeeze his ass if it would get me what I wanted. Revenge. But touching that iron mass of muscle only landed my back on the ground again. And I'm taking my bath! “Brutus,” I

scolded.

"Just a minute."

"Where are we going?"

"I'm going to bathe you. Then we're heading out. We've got to reach The Divide before nightfall. If the Shifters are heading out today, it'll be after dark."

He descended beside the shimmering water, settling my butt on his meaty thigh.

Good thing. The broad river was beyond intimidating. I couldn't make a thing out on the other side.

"I won't let anything happen to you,” he casually noted.

"You always say that.” Like I was his child he needed to calm. But he probably sensed my abrupt shift in emotion caused by the wide river.

"Have you ever seen a river like this?” He plopped the soap into my palm and dragged a tin coffee cup through the cloudy water next to his knee.

The question wasn't supposed to make me feel stupid or unworldly. But those questions always struck a little cord of insecurity in my soul. Because he was my guide. My Guardian.

And knowing I couldn't survive out here without him kept reestablishing how weak I was. I slid my gaze to watch him study the cool water he trickled over my shoulder. “No."

His brown gaze glided to mine.

Studying me. Or sending confusing messages. Regardless of the type of awareness dancing in those eyes, his stare only reaffirmed my insecurities. He simply thoughtfully kept his comments to himself when thinking about my reliance on him for survival.

A knowing smile stretched his red beard and moustache. “The world is full of incredible sights upriver. You'll see a few more before we reach the Black Hills."

"I hope so.” Even if only to repay him for his attempt to give me something to look forward to seeing when he could have rubbed in I knew nothing. That I needed him. But he wasn't trying to make me feel dependent upon him to stay with him any longer. He obviously understood our bond went beyond basic survival. Yet, even in his actions of bathing me, something more special than mere survival resonated. His actions proved he wanted more between us. More than fucking and a woman making things easier for him each day. And I could have hugged him to death for that kindness.

Bubbles frothed where he rubbed the beige soap between his strong hands.

His gaze had strayed across the river. “You know,” he glided his slick lathered palms over my shoulder and down my arm, “we can live anywhere you like. If a place strikes you as pleasing.” He didn't look at me, just kept covering me in froth. “Anyplace that appeals to you. Just tell me where. Out here, it's better to live somewhere you want to see when you walk out your door."

I probably should feel like a child the way he bathed me. Scold him for babying me. But he was so careful to ensure I didn't smell because of him. The big oaf. Something was up his sleeve. “Alright."

He met my gaze then. “I want you to be happy, Beauty."

"Can't you tell I am with you?"

He scooped up another cup of water and slowly poured the cool liquid across my shoulder.

Like he cleansed something else away.

"Yes,” he said.

That's all he intended to say. Toying with me undoubtedly. But I loved his wit. He made me laugh. Often. And shared so much about the world I wouldn't know unless he teased me. He had to feel more connected us than his Wolf's mating bond.

"You're quiet, sweetness.” His hands kept kneading my skin.

"Just thinking."

"Oh no. A woman in thought could start a war.” He chuckled.

I snorted a scold at him. “Not with men trying to run the world."

He grinned and rinsed more of me. “That's right. Women just get between men.” He winked.

What did that mean? Other than the obvious. “That's where I'd be right now if you hadn't taken care of me, Brutus."

His gaze stayed glued to his working hands.

Hands that slid up both sides of my neck, cupped my cheeks. Thumbs that gently rubbed my cheeks.

He finally looked into my eyes, his thumbs still rubbing small delicate circles. “That's the way things were meant to be."

Everything melded together into one cohesive thought. I knew he loved me. How could he not the way he doted on me? But he hadn't said the words. Would he ever? “You're a loner,

Brutus. And I'm what you've despised for so long. A Normal. Is it the marking that makes us so tolerant and happy with each other?"

He struggled with a budding smile, swirling the pads of his thumbs up my temples to my forehead, acting busy. “The marking merely declares to Shifters that you are mine through scent.” He winked again. “And helps Wolf find you if we're separated. The rest, it's something else."

"The rest?"

He ran a fingertip down the slope of my nose and shot me a half-cocked smile. “The way your eyes tear up when you ask me these questions. The way your heart chokes and sputters when you tighten your hold on me in the saddle. The way you sigh whenever you ask a question, and I give you the answer.” He dipped the cup back in the murky water.

Water swirled around the silver metal.

Maybe I was his cup, needing answers, wishing I could have them but finding there was only one way the answers could fill me. But he was teasing me with the clues only he could sense with his Wolf senses. Especially when I didn't have the luxury of sensing those things about him. Maybe he'd confess if I pestered him long enough? “I don't have your Shifter senses. I