Forbidden Bond (26 page)

“I could never hate you.” He shook his head. “But, believe me, nothing has ever been clearer. As long as I have you, I have everything I need.”

She smiled. “Then make love to me, my mate.” Liv pulled him down for another soul searing kiss, and his wolf howled.

Rearing up, Eion pulled his shirt over his head with one hand. Liv came forward, going straight for his brand, kissing the center, then lavishing the outline with her tongue. He tossed his head back and groaned under her attention. She pulled away after licking the image from end to end, and he lowered his chin.

“No matter what the meaning,” she grinned and tapped his brand, “this is damn sexy on you.”

“I am so damn glad you approve,” he stated, his voice turning to gravel.

She lifted her hair in invitation, and he slipped his hands around her neck before tugging the ties to her dress free. The material fell forward, and Eion captured her full breasts in his hands, the size nearly overfilling his palms. Liv leaned back on her elbows, and he couldn’t resist the succulent offering. He leaned down and drew one plump rosy nipple into his mouth. Liv moaned her approval. His erection pulsed behind its confines at the sound. God, he loved how she responded to his touch.

Using the flat part of his tongue, Eion licked around and then over the sensitive bud before returning to a gentle suck. Liv whimpered. He switched to her other breast, giving it the same attention. She splayed the fingers of one hand into his hair, pressing him down.

“Oh, my God.” She moaned. “I-I need you.” Her legs sawed next to him.

Without letting go, Eion slid one hand lower to her thigh. Despite their recent chilly dip, her flesh was warm to the touch. His palm roamed higher, taking the hem of her dress with it. He released her nipple with a gentle pop, and Liv grumbled at the loss.

“Shh… Open for me,” he said. Eion pressed against the inside of her thigh, and she did as instructed, spreading her legs. He found the elastic band of her panties. “Lift your hips.” She complied, and he yanked them free. Eion moved up once more for another sweet taste of her mouth as he eased his fingers between her folds and found her swollen bundle of nerves. She moaned against his lips and arched into his hand. “So damn sexy,” he whispered. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” she said, her voice hoarse with desire.

Eion leaned back, regretting having to let her go for a second, to shove his underwear down and off his feet. “I’m sorry. I can’t wait to be inside you.” Resting on his knees, his erection rock hard, straining for release, he tugged Liv up from the blanket with his hand. “Straddle my thighs.” Liv positioned herself over him. “I’m too worked up to go easy, baby. This will work better for you at first.”

Eion gripped the base of his shaft, holding it at the right angle until the heated opening to her core engulfed the head. Slowly, she lowered over him. Pleasure arrowed up his spine and slammed into his brain.

“Oh, fuck!” Inch by burning-hot inch, she eased down. “You’re burning me alive, baby.” He gasped. Eion released his cock and wrapped his arms around her. Her bottom bumped his legs, and she trembled in his hold. “I’ve got you,” he growled.

“Eion…so good.”

“God, don’t I know it.” He gritted his teeth. She lifted, pulling up until the only part that remained inside was the crown before sliding back down. “That’s it,” he groaned. Eion braced his hands at her hips, surging up as she reversed her direction. Over and over they worked in sync, barreling him to the edge of control. But no way in hell was he going over before her. Sweat trickled between her breasts, and he lapped it up before seizing a nipple between his lips and sucking hard.

Liv cried out. “Eion!” Her body erupted in his arms, her core contracting along his shaft. Eion clamped down on his jaw, keeping a choke hold on his own orgasm. His gums throbbed from the pressure of his lengthening canines. Liv’s tremors slowed, and her body relaxed in his arms.

“Turn around, baby,” he whispered at her ear.

Liv lifted her head and blinked. “Okay.” She lifted her hips, allowing his shaft to slip free while Eion seized the blanket beneath him, the torture exquisite along his nerve endings. She rotated on her knees. He quickly rose, putting himself behind her, and kneeled. Placing his palm between her shoulders, he pressed her forward onto all fours. His heart pounded. Eion rubbed his hands over her buttocks, hypnotized by the sight of her submission, the scent of their combined arousal.

“So beautiful. God, you’re so damn beautiful.” He rose and fisted his shaft. “I don’t want to hurt you. Tell me if I’m hurting you.” Eion ran his hand up her spine.

“You’re not going to hurt me.” She shook her head and glanced back. “Do it.”

Eion placed the head at her opening and slid home. Fire lit up every nerve ending along his shaft. Nothing between them. He couldn’t hold back. Eion growled, releasing his hold on the primal beast inside.
Claim
.
Mark
.

Mine
.

The words roared inside his skull.

His vision sharpened. Sounds revved to full volume.

Small explosions detonated at the base of his spine, his release imminent.

Liv.
She wanted him. No more denial. No more waiting.

He’d taken flight—soaring on the cusp of rapture.

His pulse machine-gunned in his ears.

Eion wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her back against his chest, pumping inside her.

Her head tilted, and she brushed her hair aside, displaying the long column of her throat and smooth slope of her shoulder. His mouth watered, and he leaned in, breathing in the sweet and tangy scent that was uniquely his mate. He opened wide, scoring the dip where her shoulder and neck met with the sharp edge of his teeth. His body screamed for release. Screamed to make her his.
Now!

“Liv?” Her name rumbled off his vocal chords, a blend of human mixed with the beast clawing for her beneath the surface.

“I want this,” she said sighing. “I want you. Love you.”

Love you
.

His canines sank into her flesh, ripping the orgasm from his shaft.

Chapter Twenty

Olivia slipped back inside her house through the back door. The sun had set, and she’d been gone the entire day since riding out that morning on Jack. Eion had asked her to come home with him, and she couldn’t refuse. How could she? She was his mate now, and the man was totally addictive.

On bare feet, she padded through the kitchen, clutching one of Eion’s oversized sweaters around her shoulders to combat the cool night air and to cover the evidence of his bite. If Kris was already in bed she didn’t want to wake him.

“I was about to come looking for you.”

She froze halfway across the wood floor. Nope. He wasn’t asleep.

Olivia followed the sound of his voice and found him sitting in the living room, the lights off. “What are you doing in here in the dark?” She reached over and clicked on a lamp, flooding the small space with a soft glow.

“It helps me think.” He shrugged.

“You do this often?” She plopped beside him on the couch.

“On occasion. The dark is quiet, peaceful. It’s good for my head.”

“I can relate to that.” She cocked a glance in his direction. “I like to ride out by the stream on the back section of the property sometimes. It helps me think.”

“Is that where you were today?”

“Yeah. It was nice.” She smiled.

“I tried to call you but you’d left your cell in the kitchen. You never do that. I was worried.” She watched as Kris did a quick scan of her clothes. “You didn’t go in to work at all today?”

She shook her head and told her brother about her decision to give Taylor some space, and that she’d contacted a large animal vet from a neighboring town to cover her duties for a while.

“So where’s my sister been all day?” Before she could react, Kris reached over and yanked on her borrowed and oversized black cardigan, pulling it off one shoulder. “And to whom might this belong?” He chuckled, teasing, a second before his eyes darkened, and he twisted in his seat for a better angle. “Damn! Livvy…what happened to you? That looks like…like something bit you?” His head snapped up, facing her.

Her stomach did a three-sixty. “No, it doesn’t!” she scoffed and tugged the sweater back in place.
Oh, God
. A groan stuck in her throat. She was such an awful liar. Especially when it came to her brother. She swung her gaze toward the kitchen. “Man, I’m starving.” Olivia shoved to her feet, buying time for her to think of something and targeted the refrigerator. “I fell this morning and took a hard hit to my shoulder,” she called out, making her escape. Olivia clamped onto her bottom lip with her teeth and opened the fridge, the cool air dousing her heated cheeks.

“Uh-huh.” The clink of metal and a weighted thump told her Kris was up and coming her way. She looked over her shoulder, sensing his presence in the room. He moved a little quicker and easier now on one crutch since the doctor had given him the go-ahead at his last appointment to bear some weight on his leg.

“You’re looking good there, Bro.” She smiled and closed the door, a bowl of watermelon chunks in hand.

“Thanks,” he said, then jerked his spine a little straighter. “And don’t try to change the subject.”

“I wasn’t changing the subject.” She chuckled. “You’re getting paranoid in your old age.”

“Yeah.” He shrugged again. “Maybe a little. But that has nothing to do with knowing when my sister is dodging a question.”

Olivia sat the large bowl on the counter, grabbed a fork from the drawer, and plucked a few pieces into a smaller container. “There’s no dodging going on. I fell,” she stated in her best Ms. Confident voice and faced her brother.

He shook his head. “That’s your story… Well, let me ask you this. Have you seen Eion today? I waited to notify Game and Fish like he’d asked since he wanted to go talk to this
guy
, but I haven’t seen or heard from him—”

The room went mute, and a wave of dizziness swamped her. Olivia grabbed the counter to keep from going face-first into the floor.

“Shit!” As if someone had plugged the speakers back in on the world, the curse came rushing into her eardrums. She blinked and found Kris at her side. “Are you okay? You looked like you were about to pass out.”

“Yeah.” She nodded. “I think so…” That’s when it hit her. Olivia clutched her chest as the sudden onslaught of what could only be described as a need for violence coursed through her body. She drew in a shuddering breath.

Eion.

It had to be him. When they’d mated, he’d said he believed she would be able to feel their connection strengthen.

That had been an understatement.

She sensed rage. Something was seriously wrong.

Hard pounding at the back door jarred them both. “You’re kind of pale. You sure you’re okay?” Kris gave her shoulder a brief reassuring rub.

“I’m good.” She nodded. “See who’s at the door.”

Kris hit her with a frustrated stare then limped over to the back door. “Yeah. I’m coming.” A moment later, he opened the door and found Max on the other side.

“You’re not going to fucking believe this, sir.” Max glanced up, meeting Olivia’s stare. “Sorry, ma’am, about the language. But they’re back.” He pulled his hat forward off his head, clutching the brim, his knuckles white. “The wolves are back.”

Oh, God. No. Not so soon.

That explained what she’d been feeling from Eion. A tremor skittered down her spine. There could be only one reason they were back so quickly after he’d seen his father. They wanted to call Eion out. Deliver their bloody message before his eyes and force him to return.

But not if she had anything to say about it.

Olivia darted to her bedroom and jerked the bottom drawer of her nightstand open. The revolver slid forward, gleaming like a lethal black pearl under the lamp light. She rubbed her damp palm against her thigh and lifted the gun from its resting place. Olivia hated the idea of shooting anyone, yet she couldn’t stay inside while her mate fought alone for their right to be together.

In two minutes flat, she’d changed into jeans and a T-shirt, and shoved her feet into a pair of boots. She yanked a jacket from her closet, slid it on, and stuffed the gun into one of the deep pockets. Olivia dashed from her room and headed through the kitchen.

“Where are you going?” Kris yelled out as she passed him.

“I’ll be fine.”

“Whoa! Whoa!” He lunged for her.

At the threshold, she dug in her heels and groaned. She didn’t want Kris to reinjure himself. Olivia glanced over her shoulder. “Eion’s out there, and I’m not letting him handle this alone.” She turned and headed out.

“You’re going to get yourself hurt or worse!” Kris yelled from the door. “You don’t know for sure he’s even out there. Dammit, Livvy! Wait! What the hell do you think you can do?”

“Protect our land and the man I love!”

Kris muttered something in return about her having lost her mind, but she didn’t care. Eion needed her, and she wasn’t going to let him down.

Spotting Max’s truck, Liv made a sprint for it. Boots thumped the ground behind her. Max was hot on her heels. No way was he or anyone going to stop her. The hum of the truck’s engine reached her ears. Jackpot. He’d left the old Ford running. She jerked the driver’s door open, hauled herself inside, and threw the vehicle into gear. Max closed in as Olivia slammed the door and hit the gas.

“I’m sorry!” she shouted through the open driver’s window, a cloud of dust kicking up from the tires. “But I have to get out there.”

With the headlights clicked onto high, Olivia barreled into the dark pasture. “Where are you, Eion?” she muttered to herself.
Calm down, Olivia. You’ll find him
.

It wasn’t long before the evidence of what had reinvaded their land found her. Olivia slowed the truck, her high beams striking what remained of another carcass. She shoved her foot onto the brake and popped the vehicle into park.

Sliding from the truck, she patted her right pocket, the reassuring hard outline of the revolver steadying her nerves. She edged over to the carcass, scanning the dark grasslands around her for any signs of movement. Spooked, her herd had scattered away from the scene of the crime. Out of the corner of her eye, Olivia spotted what looked like another fallen cow. She trotted in its direction. When she got close, the evidence was undeniable—another loss. “You bastards!” She spun, arms wide. “Why can’t you leave us alone?”