Chocolate Temptation (9 page)

Alexia pulled heavy branches over the opening to the shelter.

“Once he has improved we will need to vacate, as more of them will come looking for us.” Cathen closed his eyes not to see her undress and pressed against the other male. Every minute movement put him further over the edge without a safety line.

Alexia reached over Varor’s neck and cupped Cathen’s face. “I’m grateful, thank you.”

“For what?” Cathen wasn’t sure of her meaning.

“Your courage and strength. The restraint you demonstrate.” Her thumb traced his lips.

Heat ignited in his chest. Flames flickered at the point of contact. Even that ability faded with each passing moment. Cathen reached over Varor and touched her soft skin. Static rippled through him at the feel of her. He trailed his fingers to her neck. She lifted her head, skimming his thumb along her lips as he cupped her face.

She moaned. “Cathen.”

“Yes,
coquette
.” He tucked closer to Varor and rested his face against his.

Alexia’s lips met his, setting his body ablaze. Need like none other shot through him. In this state, madness could take him over. She opened her mouth, accepting his tongue. He slid his hand around the back of her head into her curls, pressing her to him. Her hand met with his abdomen and moved downward.

She wrapped her fingers around his length. “I want to help alleviate your discomfort.”

He groaned. “Thank you.” Some of her own need too, perhaps.

Up and down, she moved her hand along his shaft. “Do you remember how you warmed me?”

The body between them had yet to improve.

She covered Cathen’s hand and guided it to Varor’s torso. “I can’t, but you can save him for me, please…” Her teary eyes pleaded with him. She directed his hand over Varor’s cool abdomen, and lower.

The flesh was like ice beneath Cathen’s fingers. She descended his touch downward.

Her tongue entered Cathen’s mouth as she wrapped his fingers around Varor’s shaft.

“For me, please…” She took Cathen’s length in her hand. “Like I do for you.”

Cathen pumped into her touch, wanting for her to end his suffering. With his teeth, he grazed the line of her jaw. “Please, don’t stop.”

She worked his shaft faster, drawing his seed to the tip. Though his mind wasn’t joined with hers, the scent of her arousal engulfed his every breath. He mirrored her stimulation. Varor’s length grew. He pumped, emulating her skilled caress. Varor’s flesh warmed under his stimulus.

“Cathen.” She gasped his name.

“That’s it,
coquette
.” He worked the cock in his hand as she did him.

Varor stirred between them.

“Please…” She jerked his cock off faster.

Cathen reached over, picked her up and set her on top of him.

Breathless, she stared into his eyes. “Thank you.” She lowered her mouth to his chest, kissing a path, descending lower. Warmth licked and nipped his flesh. Not being connected to her mind during physical exchanges made it difficult for him to know what she needed.

She drew the head of his cock in her mouth. Satin heat coated his shaft in the feel of her. She twirled the length of him with her tongue.

Cathen pumped up and down Varor’s rod. Knowing his mate wanted him to see this through…

Varor grunted.

In and out of her mouth, she drew Cathen to the brink of heaven or hell. She wrapped her hand around the base and worked in tandem with the movement of her mouth.

“
Coquette
, I’m going to come.” He stared at her.

She lifted her gaze to his, moaned and lowered her lips, taking him to the depths of her throat. Her soft tongue suckled the length of him. He stroked her cheek, spilling his seed in her mouth. She swallowed his offering.

Varor drew air between clenched teeth. Hot fluid gushed on Cathen’s hand.

A tear slid from her eye and slowly descended her cheek. She relaxed her lips, resting her face against his abdomen.

He tucked her in his arms and kissed her temple. “
Merci, coquette
.” For a moment, he’d believed the act had been one of her own desire for him. But once again, it was clear the bond they shared wasn’t one she wanted. He rubbed her back. Please, let him make it through this without breaking her in a way that would kill everything about her spirit that he loved.

There was a special type of hell for men like him, those who wanted the mate of another, and he was deep in the clutches of it.

Chapter 13

Alexia stood on the balcony of the hotel room, wet hair tossing in the wind. Below the city was lit by the first morning light. Ocean in the background set the stage for the reunion with the pack. Last night Varor had taken part in her and Cathen’s exchange. She knew Cathen had done as she’d asked, for her. Varor had witnessed her and Cathen’s strange arrangement. Interestingly, Varor’s lack of action during the interlude put Cathen at ease with trusting him. So much so, Cathen provided Varor the location of the pack and his emblem. If they were separated, the pack would know he was to be welcome among them.

Armored patrols monitored the way into the city and the three of them didn’t have the coverage of the night. They would enter the water and make their way around the city through the submerged streets on a water taxi. Though the temperature was cool, it was warm compared to being up in the mountains. The first order of business had been to get Cathen and Varor clothing, as Shunus in the open would attract the attention of the Italian military.

“They say Venezia, Italy is the city of romance.” Varor’s voice came from behind her.

Lost in thought, she hadn’t sensed him. She faced him and nodded. So she’d heard. She and VanWolf had spoken of their trip there, the quaint little places they’d share, but now the city lacked luster.

“You’ve been quiet since last night.” He crossed his arms. “Are you regretting your decision to turn from your destiny?”

She shook her head. What did anyone know of her destiny? Three years ago, she was a preacher’s daughter. She sang in church. When she lost her father and brother, the home that had always been filled with joy grew hollow. Dancing and singing for men half naked was as far a cry from home as she could come. Then talk of war was whispered and reported about. None of those she knew living in Paris had wanted to believe it. Had she always been meant to be some strange type of creature? Not Shunu, not werewolf, not human. Would she have become whatever she was even if she hadn’t met the pack? Questions she’d never get answers to now.

“Could you be holding Cathen responsible for the decisions your previous mate made?” Varor stepped onto the balcony.

“You don’t know me.” These days she hardly knew herself anymore.

“Perhaps not. Though from my vantage point your behavior indicated guilt for enjoying what you share with Cathen. He has a good heart. Of course I have no idea what it would be like to grow up as a human and be faced with practices that make no sense in 1940. What I do know is the restraint he demonstrates shows love on a level most of us could only hope to be touched by.” Varor placed his forearms on the metal rail of the balcony.

Tears slid from her eyes. “You don’t know anything about us. Cathen’s interest in me has only ever been physical.”

At the chateau in France when that man had attacked her and he’d rescued her, Cathen had been stalking her. The time he’d found her and Gabby peeking into the mated pack members’ communal loving room, his eyes had glowed golden with hunger. As they had the first night they’d met.

“How so?” Varor frowned.

“Every time we were near one another his eyes shone like gold, filled with lust.” Those eyes of his made her weak in the knees.

“Did he attempt to mount you?” The sun shone off his gold locks.

She shook her head. “God, no.” Put so plainly, it sounded so crude–like when the were had attacked her. Cathen’s touch never felt invasive, always tender and loving.

“Sounds to me like his wolf-spirit had set eyes upon his chosen mate.” He shrugged.

“What does that mean? His wolf-spirit had chosen his mate?” She’d never heard of this before. The one area VanWolf had neglected in their time together was to explain to her about Shunu ways. It seemed to come up time and time again, just how unversed in their practices she was.

“Did your mate not explain to you how a wolf-spirit knows our mate on sight?”

“He did not.” She wrapped her arms around her torso.

“As a spiritual being our wolf connects with the soul of our mate and instantly knows they are the one we are to pair with. Once that occurs it cannot be undone. That Shunu is linked to their mate until parted by death. Even if their mate chooses someone else, they cannot change their spirit’s heart. When your previous mate gazed upon you, close enough he could reach for you, did his eyes not glow yellow or gold?”

They had in the alley. She assumed it was a lustful reaction.

Gabby had spoken of her pairing to Jean. Despite the fact Jean had picked another mate, she could not stop how she felt about him.

“The only time a Shunu’s wolf can be seen while we are in human form is when we are gazing upon our mate. Our eyes glow yellow or gold.”

Cathen’s eyes had done that the night they’d met and so had VanWolf’s, but she’d assumed it was sexual. She hadn’t been around the other males to notice a difference. “You must be mistaken.” If that were true, why hadn’t he claimed her?

“A Shunu must seek the blessing of his Alpha before he is permitted to mark his mate. In very few cases will the Alpha refuse such a request. For instance, if the Alpha’s wolf-spirit has chosen the same mate, or the Shunu in question had harmed females.”

VanWolf hadn’t been there to give Cathen consent, but if this were even possible, why would he have sent her to Paris? “Cathen has always enjoyed the chase.”

“You know him better than I. If you say he has had a parade of females in and out of his bed since your arrival among the pack, you’d know best.” Veror turned his palms up.

There hadn’t been a female to Cathen’s bed since she’d joined the pack. Not to the best of her knowledge, but that didn’t mean he hadn’t gone to females. She hadn’t picked up the scent of a female on him, either. “Cathen’s primary concern is the pack.”

“So why hasn’t he claimed you? With your mark on him and the bond unsealed, it only makes him dangerous and increases the tension in the pack.”

Of course and she was to blame for this. “He has an old world sense of honor. He won’t do it unless I consent. He promised to set me free once we rejoin the others and see to their escape.” The feelings inside her were all jumbled up, and the only way she would figure them out was to be on her own.

“There is only one way for that to be possible. I don’t see how he could dishonor himself and his charges this way. In the short time I’ve known him, I wouldn’t think him capable of such a thing unless absolutely necessary.” He stroked his chin.

Oh God, what had she asked of Cathen by forcing him to free her? “And what would that be?”

“Through his death.”

What? Why hadn’t he told her? He must have assumed VanWolf had explained the finer details to her. Wasn’t it evident he hadn’t? Worse, did he think she was okay with him ending his life to set her free? How horrible. Maybe he believed his life meant that little to her. He was wrong. There had to be another way. But if there weren’t, it would make sense, since he’d asked her to tolerate and relieve him until after the pack was gone. If he had a different way of letting her go, wouldn’t he have done so by now?

“He would need to die without leaving the pack a clearly chosen new Alpha, or the new one would become your mate.”

Why would he have agreed to her request if his death was the only way out? She turned away. The sun shimmered off the water, blinding her. She covered her eyes. Her stomach quivered.

Cathen step behind her. “Are you ready?”

How could she be when everything was so terribly wrong? Once they reached the pack, she would question him. Get to the bottom of this.

They were going to put her in a travel trunk to keep her hidden from anyone who might be searching for her. Cathen and Varor could blend into the crowds, but she never could.

“Yes.” The closer they drew to the pack, the deeper she felt their sorrow, which drove hers to further depths of sadness. She pivoted toward him.

He smiled, his eyes shining like gold leaf in the sunlight. There was no denying he was a beautiful male. Strong and gallant. But he could have lied to her so that she would do what he wanted.

Cathen led her inside, picked her up and set her into the trunk, then kissed her forehead.

“
Goodnight, coquette
.”

The lid shut overhead. Sleep swallowed her into darkness.

Chapter 14

Cathen lifted the front end as Varor picked up the back of the trunk with Alexia inside. They climbed onto the stairwell of the old stone building. He knew she’d be mad at him for putting her to sleep. The added stress he would have endured if she suffered would have caught the attention of the authorities.