FUR FOR ALL, Book 5 in FIXED (19 page)

“Calm down.” He said this while he had her hands pinned to the floor beside her head and his erect cock was nudging against the flimsy material of her yoga pants. “Don’t get so upset. I was just surprised. I really thought you were pregnant.”

“Everybody seems to think I’m pregnant. Bad luck for all of you.” She tried bucking him off, but realized that was a very bad idea when all it did was slide his erection against her already damp pussy. She went very still and contented herself with glaring at him. “But I’m not apologizing for taking care of things when you were so hot to trot you didn’t even mention the word latex.” He reared and those amber Feline eyes glared down at her. “What do you mean you, ‘took care of things’?”

“I mean I took care of things,” she snapped, not liking the way his eyes narrowed at her words. “Just because you’re irresponsible with sex doesn’t mean I intend to be. For Gods sake, if I hadn’t called Missy in a panic at two in the morning, I’d still be worrying about STDs. You never even bothered to tell me that shifters don’t get them.”

“You thought I might have infected you?” He was a picture of wounded dignity, but Tess saw his gaze soften. “I would never take a chance with your health, sweet Tess. Don’t you realize that?”

“But you did. You took a chance on getting me pregnant, which I had to take care of, and then you act like I’m some kind of villain when I tell you I did the responsible thing.”

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Oh, shit. His eyes went all narrow and glaring again. “So you did do something to cancel my seed, then. Tess—”

“No! And what the hell kind of phrasing is that? Cancel your seed! It’s not like I had an abortion! For God’s sake, we had sex for the first time less than ten days ago.” She tried to reason with him, still holding onto the naïve hope that he was in the mood to be reasonable. “All I did was make sure that if one of your marauding little sperm happened to breach my defenses, that he’d quickly be shown the door. That’s it. It’s the responsible thing to do when two adults who should have known better didn’t talk about protection before they got down and dirty.”

“We will discuss responsibility later,” he said, looming over her like a personal black cloud. “Right now I wish to discuss what you used to ‘show my marauders the door.’ Explain.”

She sighed and glared right back at him. “Wild carrot seed. I took a tincture every morning after we…had sex.” She found herself looking away, and realized she’d wanted to say “after we made love,” but she didn’t think one person could make love. “It makes the lining of the uterus too slippery for an egg to attach. So no pregnancy.”

He hissed in displeasure. “And you did not think to discuss this with me?

You did not think I had a right to be a party to this decision?” She uttered a strangled scream. “What decision?! Rafe, there was no decision.

All that happened was me realizing I’d done the stupidest thing in my life and had unprotected sex with a man I’d just met! I realized that, and I took steps to make sure I wouldn’t end up paying for it for the next eighteen years. That is not something you needed to be involved in. If you wanted the right to voice an opinion, you should have voiced one before you decided it was okay to come inside me.”

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He growled, sputtered and growled again. “That’s all well and good for the first time, but what about after that? It never occurred to you to discuss it with me?”

“Yeah, about as much as it occurred to
you
to discuss it with
me
. Don’t try to lay this on my shoulders, Simba. You’ve got just as much obligation to think these things through as I have.”

“I have obligations you haven’t even considered,” he snarled. “I have an obligation not to let my race die out. And that brings me neatly back to the topic at hand. If you’re not pregnant, would you care to tell me why the seven women who just paid me a visit are?”

She set her jaw and met his glower with one of her own. It was either glower at him or let him see how much it hurt that he never considered the idea that she might be his mate. “Not my area of expertise, buddy. It’s your species and your curse. Figure it out for your damned self.”

“That is not an acceptable answer, sweet Tess.” His eyes did that glinty thing and took on the distinct glow of mischief. “You have clearly become involved in my curse, or we wouldn’t be having this conversation. There haven’t been seven Feline pregnancies in one month in Manhattan since before I was born, yet now I see that many in one week. And the only explanation I can think of centers around you. I find that to be very interesting.”

“I find it to be a pain in the ass. That seems to be all anyone can talk to me about. Apparently, that’s why all your Other friends like me—not because of my charming smile and gift for witty repartee, but because if you knock me up, your cousins can all do the same with the women they’re boinking.” He raised an eyebrow, amusement ghosting across his features. “Boinking?” Tess felt herself blush. “You know what I mean. It’s hardly flattering to know the rest of the world sees me as your saving womb, or something. Especially since that’s not even one of the terms of your damned curse.” 156

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“And you know the terms, do you? Would you care to refresh my memory?”

“Shouldn’t you know it by heart? Isn’t that sort of your job?” He leaned down until his lips brushed hers as he spoke. “Humor me.”

“Fine.” The self-control she exerted to stop herself from licking his lips should have qualified her for some sort of medal. A Purple Clit, or something.

“From what Missy told me, since you never bothered to, one of your tomcatting ancestors made the dumb move of trifling with the heart of a witch and needed to be taught a lesson.”

“Tess…”

His warning rumble probably had something to do with her editorial comments, but she didn’t particularly care. “Since the witch was suffering from loving a man who didn’t love her enough to stay faithful to her, kittens or no kittens, she cursed him. She said that from then on, no Feline would have an easy time getting the kittens her lover wanted so desperately. Until a Felix found a witch mate and stayed faithful for a year and a day, there would be fewer and fewer children born to the Feline people. That’s what Missy told me, and it looks like that’s just the problem you have now, isn’t it?” He purred, his mouth curving into a smirk. “Not any more.” Tess rolled her eyes. “You don’t honestly still believe that I have anything to do with those women getting pregnant, do you?” She knew she was in trouble the moment she said that. Because by this point, it sounded normal to her. “Let’s think about this logically for just a moment, shall we? The curse states that in order for the curse to be lifted, a Felix—which could conceivably be you—would have to mate with a witch—and I will concede that I qualify—
and
remain faithful to her for at least a year and a day. Well, I can tell you right now, Pete Puma, that two out of three does not cut it when it comes to lifting curses!” His smirk shifted into a grin, wide and pleased and toothy. “You don’t get it, do you?”

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“Get what?”

That’s when he laughed. Laughed! As if he didn’t have her pinned to the floor, and she wasn’t mad enough at him to chew through his hide. “For a witch, you certainly seem to lack a basic understanding of magic.”

“What do you mean by that? Do you think you’re some sort of expert?”

“Not at all, but I believe I see what has happened, and I’m surprised that you do not.”

“Do you work at pissing me off, or is this a God-given talent?” He shifted her wrists to one hand and used the other to sneak beneath the hem of her sweatshirt again. When she bucked against him and tried to wriggle out of his grasp, he had the nerve to purr with pleasure and angle his hips to hers so that every time she moved, she stroked herself along the ridge of his erection.

“What do you consider to be the basis of all magic?” he asked.

She gargled in frustration. “Don’t even tell me you’re going to lecture me on spellcraft now?! Listen, Sylvester, I’ve heard all this from my grandfather and
he
went insane. I don’t need to hear the Magic 101 speech from you, too!” He leaned down and nibbled at her neck, his hand gliding up to close, rough and warm, around her breast. “Just answer the question, sweet Tess.”

“Will!” She bit it out from between her clenched teeth. What she wouldn’t have given just then for the will to keep her nipple from beading eagerly at the first brush of his fingers.

“Very good.” He shifted to her throat and licked the hollow there. “And what is it called when you exercise will in order to cause a desired outcome?” She felt his fingers close around her nipple and pinch and she couldn’t keep her hips from rolling invitingly against his. She felt her folds parting beneath the soft cloth of her yoga pants and his cock bumped against her clit, making her moan. “In—intent.”

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“Very good, Tess.” He purred it against her throat while he pressed his pelvis into hers, grinding against her and making them both shudder. “Having discussed the topic of magic more than once with my Fae friends, I had been laboring under the impression that the key to spells, and therefore, one assumes to curses, is to have a clear intent.”

Suddenly impatient, Rafe lifted his torso from hers and stripped off her sweatshirt, leaving it tangled around the wrists he still gripped in one hand.

Then he leaned close to her, pressing skin to skin and sighed at the feeling.

Well, he sighed. She moaned. Damn it.

Then he eased down, his hand slipping beneath her waistband and his teeth tugging her bra out of the way, leaving the cup bunched beneath her breast. He lapped once at her nipple and she shuddered.

“So if intent is the key to a curse, my sweet Tess…”
God, is he still talking
?

“…what do you suppose was the intent of the witch when she cast her curse?”

He punctuated his question by closing his teeth around her nipple and nibbling. She almost came right then and there.

“Stop dicking around and just tell me what you’re talking about!” She might have screamed it, but she didn’t care. Despite the fact that she was laying half naked on the carpet in the middle of the library of a couple she’d met less than two weeks ago.

He laughed and lifted his head, abandoning her breast but plunging his fingers between her legs to tease her soft folds. “You really don’t know? Tess, Tess, Tess. What am I going to do with you?”

“I don’t know,” she hissed, “but if you don’t do it in the next thirty seconds, I’m going to have to hurt you.”

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Her threat made him laugh harder. “We can’t have that.” The phrase “quick as a cat” sprang to her mind as he shifted off of her, stripped them both and tumbled her back to the carpet. He had her hands pinned again before she realized they were free, but this time when she struggled against him, her shifting hips only succeeded in helping his cock position itself at her entrance. She felt her pussy welcome him with a flood of moisture.

“Rafe.” She murmured his name and twisted her body restlessly beneath him. She needed him inside her again. After all her lectures on responsible sex, he once again had her hot enough to worry about it tomorrow. “Please.”

“Of course, my sweet Tess.” He slid home with one smooth thrust, driving to the hilt inside her, and making her body arch beneath him. “Is that better, sweetheart?”

She heard the amusement in his dark rumbles and set her jaw. “It will be better…once you…move!”

She tried to set the rhythm herself, but he held her still. He released her hands to grip her hips and hold her in place. His cock filled her, pressing high and hard inside her and he kept her from riding him the way she wanted. She cried out.

“Hush,” he soothed, fingers flexing against her skin. “You’ll get what you want in just a minute, baby.” He paused, his grin flashing. “Then we’ll see if you get a baby.”

She stilled. “A baby?” she repeated carefully.

He flexed his hips, his cock shifting inside her, making her moan. “Do you not want to have children?” He watched her warily.

“It’s not that,” she said, finding it nearly impossible to concentrate while he stayed buried inside her. “I just didn’t think…that is, you never said you wanted to have them. Especially not with me.”

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His eyes glowed as he leaned down to kiss her. “You’re the key to everything,” he told her, his raspy voice suddenly tender. “You lifted the curse.

How could I not want you, and a child with you?” She felt the joy and heat drain out of her at once. Suddenly he no longer felt like a welcome part of her finally back in place, but like an invader trying to conquer her body. “Right. The curse. I’d forgotten. It’s all about the curse, isn’t it? That’s all you care about.”

“You’re wrong.” He grabbed her hands again when she raised them to his chest to push him away. He pinned them down next to her head and forced her gaze to meet his. “I can’t believe you don’t understand this, but let me explain.” His voice was rough and hard, but his thrusts were gentle as he began rocking his hips against hers. “What you don’t seem to see, my sweet, thick-skulled Tess, is that the important part of the curse was not the words with which it was spoken, but the intent with which it was cast.” She heard him, but she also felt him, and she damned her body for betraying her by softening around him and welcoming him deep inside her. If he continued, she’d be lost again, and another little piece of her heart would break off, knowing that she loved him and he just wanted to fuck her.

He leaned down to kiss her softly, and she closed her eyes against the glow of his. If she continued to look at him, she would almost be able to convince herself that the light in his eyes was love. She didn’t want to lie to herself like that.

“The intent is everything, sweet Tess, and the witch’s intent was not to force a Felix to remain faithful for only a year and a day. She didn’t care about time limits.” He bit her lower lip, then soothed the tiny pain with the rasp of his tongue. “She cared about love.”