Chasing His Bunny (6 page)

After all three of her
brothers had given her back-cracking hugs, accompanied by all sorts
of well-meaning advice that she completely ignored (since most of
it was common sense anyway and she knew they were just feeling
helpless and uncomfortable about leaving her and Bailey), she
practically shoved them into the car that was going to take them to
the airfield.  Kasim was driving them, his white teeth
flashing brightly in his dark face as he gave her a salute before
pulling out.  Damn but he was a handsome man, all ebony skin
and muscles, with those really cool long dreads. Unfortunately, he
tended to act all big brotherly to her too. Waving at the car,
Bethany couldn’t even see if anyone was waving back, but she didn’t
stop until it was out of sight.

"They'll be fine."  A heavy arm
slung around her shoulders as she sniffed away the last couple of
tears that were threatening to fall.  

"I know," she said, not
looking up at the big, sexy man standing beside her.  Now that
he was so close, her beast uncurled inside of her a little, as if
putting up her head and sniffing the air.  Bethany ignored
it.  Yeah, she got that he smelled good, but seriously, there
were other men that smelled good too.  Maybe not
as
 good but she
still wasn't buying this whole 'mate' thing.  Once he'd popped
her cherry, she was looking forward to seeing what else was on the
menu.  "It's just weird... but it's not like we're used to
normal."

His hand caressed her upper bicep,
making her feel warmly comforted.  Bethany mentally gave him
points for not just blurting out some kind of lame platitude. 
She'd heard a lot of those since they'd been rescued, all
well-meaning but not exactly helpful.

"It'll take time.  We'll take
good care of you while we're gone."

"Yeah?" she asked, looking up at him
and giving him a brilliant smile.  The shock in his face at
her flirtatious expression nearly made her laugh out loud.
 "You can start with dinner.  Tonight.  Just let me
know when and where."

Quickly, she pulled away
and trotted back towards the infirmary so that she could visit
Bailey and let her little sister know how the send-off had
gone.  She chuckled as Mr.
I-Don't-Know-It-But-We're-Getting-It-On-Tonight called after
her. 

"My place!  Six
o'clock!"

Chapter 3

Steele hadn't felt this nervous about
going on a date with a girl since... well, ever.  Then again,
he'd never been on a date with his mate either.  His wolf was
bounding around inside his head, giddy enough to nearly make his
head ache, jumping for joy at how today had turned out.

He'd been planning on taking things
slowly once her brothers left, once it had been made clear that he
wasn't going to get anywhere while they were around.  It
didn't seem like they had a personal objection to him, more just
that they felt the need to hover and make him work for it. 
Like they would for any man that was interested in her.  The
fact that they didn't try to run him off, that they were taking the
time to get to know him and make sure that Bethany did the same,
was encouraging, but it had been driving his wolf crazy.  Not
to mention his body.

The stories he'd heard about the
biological imperative of the "mating call" hadn't been
kidding.  The first day hadn't been so bad, the second day
he'd only had a hard-on when in her vicinity, but today he was
starting to feel the need to always be in her vicinity.  And
if he'd taken some kind of male enhancer, he would have had to call
his doctor over an hour ago because the damn thing didn't know when
to quit.  He'd been hard ever since Bethany had invited
herself over for dinner.

It didn't hurt that the more he got to
know her, the more he liked her.  

She was funny, incredibly loyal,
smart, caring, and not even a little bit afraid of going toe-to-toe
with him.  That last part might be what he liked best about
her. 

Which didn't help the situation with
his dick.

Bethany didn't care that he was
Alpha.  She ignored his orders half the time - most of which
had to do with telling her to stop flirting with the other men in
the pack.  Not that any of them were flirting back, which was
the only reason his wolf hadn't torn any throats out.  Last
night he'd had to go for a good long run in the forest to get rid
of the pent-up sexual frustration and possessive fury that had
built up since her arrival into his life.  

He hadn't gotten the impression that
she was overly impressed by him.  In fact, once her brothers
were gone he'd planned a relatively slow seduction. 
Relatively because as badly as he was feeling the mating call, he
knew that she was too.  If she was a radio, he was tuned into
her station, and he knew that she was just as horny as he
was.  Steele wasn't above using that.  But he hadn't
thought she'd be the one to suggest dinner.  He hoped it meant
the call was working on her the way it was supposed to - wearing
down her resistance to the idea of mating him.  Even if it was
just her body working against her right now, he could use that as a
starting point.

Although, he kind of liked that she
was resisting, to be perfectly honest.  It just showed how
strong she was and that she didn't just want him for his position
or his looks or because she was horny.  Both he and his wolf
liked the challenge.  Besides, he'd win her in the end. 
She just needed to get to know him a little better; he had no
doubts that they would be good together and neither did his
wolf.

Again, he wondered exactly what kind
of animal Bethany was. Neither she nor her siblings had
shifted.  Which wasn't that unusual, everyone did it
differently.  Steele shifted about once or twice a week, while
Jordan usually indulged his bear every other week and Jacqueline
had to shift every couple of days to keep her honey-badger
happy.  It all depended on the individual and, sometimes, the
animal.  One of the other bears in the pack spent about half
her time in animal form and thought Jordan was crazy for his long
stints as a human.  Maybe he could convince Bethany go for a
run after dinner tonight. 

Before he could think about it too
much, the doorbell rang, and he practically tripped over himself
getting to it.  Gritting his teeth, he told his damned wolf to
calm down - he was trying to go for cool, collected, and
charming.  Not a bumbling, overeager lummox.  Panting
happily, his wolf obediently laid down.  Or whatever the
mental equivalent was.

Straightening, Steele took a deep
breath and opened the door.  Bethany was standing there,
looking absolutely gorgeous, with her blonde hair down from its
usual ponytail and wearing a blue sundress that brought out the
bright blue of her eyes.  She looked up at him, seemingly
nervous, which immediately made him feel more centered and together
for some reason.  

"Hello, sweetheart," he said, nearly
growling as her sweet scent hit him and his cock throbbed against
the front of his jeans, much more painfully than before. 
Fucking mating call.  It seemed like he was having a similar
effect on her though, as her pupils dilated and her nipples
hardened - which he could easily see through the thin fabric of her
dress. The sweet scent of her arousal wafted off her skin,
enveloping her like a cloud of perfume.  Proving that he was a
gentleman, he stepped back so that she could come through the door,
gesturing her in and ignoring the demands of his body.  "You
look gorgeous."

"Thanks," she said, plucking at the
dress' skirt as she walked past him, peering curiously into his
house rather than looking directly at him.  Maybe it should
bother him more that she was looking at his home rather than him,
but it didn't.  He'd spent half the afternoon trying to make
it look good after all.  "This is a really nice
house."

"It's basically the same as yours," he
said, since he'd put her family practically next to him. The open
floor plan that all the houses had meant that she could see pretty
much the entire first floor except for the guest room and the
bathroom, so it was clear that the layout was the same.  He'd
made sure to clean up any clutter, vacuumed and dusted.  His
momma would be proud if she could see it right now.

"Yeah, but you've made it look
homey.  Ours still feels like a guesthouse." 

"Well, yours is just
temporary anyway," Steele said apologetically.  "I'm sure
we'll have a more permanent home for you all soon."  His wolf
made a little whining sound - he wanted Bethany's permanent home to
be their home.  Steele shoved his animal's presence back
in his mind -
I'm working on
it!

"Hopefully by the time my brothers get
back," she responded with a smile.  "They managed for two
days, but I don't think any of them were happy sharing a
room."

Steele coughed.  Yeah, okay, so
he'd put the Bunson family in a house two doors down from him and
lied his ass off when they'd asked if there were bigger
accommodations available anywhere else.  Everyone in the town
knew better than to rat him out.  He hadn't been able to let
Bethany go that far away from him.  Not that the brothers had
spent either night in their shared room - as far as he could tell,
they'd been busy living up to their bunny genes.  Not that any
of the ladies were complaining; apparently being cooped up in
captivity had given the Bunson brothers some serious pent-up
stamina.  Steele shuddered a little bit at the thought of
going so long without any sex during his hormonal
adolescence.

Not that he was any better off
now.  His cock was raging hard, practically throbbing in
Bethany's presence.  But he was determined to court his mate
appropriately. 

"Dinner's almost ready," he said,
closing the door and almost groaning as the enclosed space made her
scent seem twice as strong.  Maybe he should open some windows
or something... but he knew that wouldn't really help his enhanced
sensitivity when it came to her.  "I hope you don't mind, but
I kept it simple.  Steak, potatoes and salad."

Everything was ready except the
potatoes, which were still baking in the oven.  The meat was
resting, the salad was done and just needed to be dressed, he'd
already poured out glasses of water for both of them and opened a
bottle of red wine to breathe.  It was a simple meal, but he'd
tried to make it as romantic as possible by actually using a
tablecloth that had never seen the light of day before, place
settings, and candles.

But then Bethany went and ruined all
his good intentions.

"That's great," she said, giving him a
kind of lopsided smile.  "But that's not what I'm hungry
for."

And then she jumped him.

******

Pleasure zinged through Bethany's body
as she plastered herself against Mr. Tall-Strong-and-PACKING. 
She'd noticed the bulge at the front of his pants, but somehow his
jeans had managed to diminish the reality - and the bulge hadn't
looked small to begin with.  Bethany had a very fleeting
moment of worry, considering that she'd never done this before, but
she figured what the hell - vaginas stretch, right?  She might
have been a virgin when she and her brothers had been taken, but at
eighteen years old she'd had plenty of theoretical knowledge
between sex-ed, her friends, movies, and books.

She moaned against his lips as she
slid her tongue into his shocked mouth, feeling his hands
automatically grasping at her ass to keep her from sliding down his
front.  Her breasts were mashed against his chest, her pussy
was pressed against his dick through his pants, and it felt like
she'd died and gone to heaven.  With his strong hands gripping
her ass and holding her hips, she was practically rubbing herself
all over his body.

For once, she and the thing inside of
her head were in perfect agreement.  They both wanted to cover
him in their scent.  Be covered in his delicious scent. 
And, most importantly, get that cherry plucked. 

Of course, after that, their goals
differed.  Bethany considered Steele to be her first, not her
last, which made the thing inside of her whine plaintively whenever
she thought about it.  But it wasn't like she let it rule
her life.  It would just have to deal.

All rational thought fled as Steele
suddenly took over.  Bethany went from being the aggressor to
finding herself drowning in a seriously deep, hot kiss.  Mr.
Dominant-Even-When-Surprised walked her over to the couch and
pressed her down onto it.  His body was deliciously heavy on
top of hers, his scent filling her nose and somehow becoming
sweeter... the thing inside of her knew that the extra sweetness
was his arousal.  For once, it didn't bother her to have the
thing's presence in her head, giving her
information.  

If she hadn't been so turned on, she
would have giggled when Steele pulled down the top of her sundress
and found her to be braless... the big badass practically whimpered
as he tore himself away from her mouth so that he could look at her
bare breasts, leaving her lips feeling swollen from his
kisses.  Her nipples were swollen too, hard little points like
diamonds standing up and begging to be touched, pinched, and
sucked.  When he glanced downward to see that her skirt had
ridden up, showing off her naked bottom half and her freshly shaved
pussy, he actually did whimper.

It really should have been funny, but
Bethany was so overwhelmed by the need pulsing through her body
that she didn't find it funny at all.  Nope, she was just
pissed that he'd stopped!