Judge: Mating Fever: Shifters Forever Worlds (Barely After Dark Book 3) (8 page)

A
week later
…

J
udge tangled
his fingers in Lani’s hair, pulling her head back, studying her expression. She was sending carnal signals, lighting a fire that the bear in Judge couldn’t help but respond to.

These were the most treasured moments. Just as dawn came on, bathing their cabin bedroom in soft orange hues, making her flesh glow in the light.

“I need you.” Lani’s voice was colored with longing.

He could tell from her scent that she wanted him. He caressed her cheek, running the backs of his fingers along her smooth skin, filling his chest with her aroma.

He wanted to spend his days learning her curves, worshiping the body he’d barely had a chance to explore, and reassuring her the past would stay there. He was over her walking out that morning.

He feasted on the curve of her cheeks, the way her lips turned upward when she was thinking pleasant thoughts. Judge wrapped his hands around her waist, pressing against her. He inhaled the scent of vanilla in her hair. It merged with the scent of her desire, spurring him to an ache.

Lani arched her back, pushing her full ass into the manifestation of his desire, coaching him with the promise of the sleekness she offered.

Pressing hard against her ass, his insistent cock swelled. Judge took her by the hips and pulled her closer, grinding his hardness into her body.

“Think Lars will give us a few moments of privacy this morning?” he whispered in her ear.

The baby was sleeping in his cradle across the hallway.

And hopefully will be for a while longer.

“Mmmm. I hope.” She kissed his neck, her breath tickling.

Judge pulled her T-shirt off, marveling at her full curves, ready to take her.

Lani tugged on his briefs, undressing him in record time. “Ready?” Excitement glittered in her eyes, gleaming her exhilaration.

He nodded.

Judge ran his thumbs over her luscious hard nipples, taking each one between his thumb and fingers, rolling, pulling, and pinching them.

Lani moaned, arching her breasts forward, her body begging for more.

He took a nipple into his mouth and lavished it with attention from his tongue, flicking it, sucking it in deep, then scraping his teeth over it while his hand tugged and pulled on her other nipple.

“Fuck.” The scent of her sex was too much. There was no way he could resist it. He slipped a finger between the wet folds of her nether lips, caressing her swollen clit, making deliberate, firm circles. Lani’s hips angled upward.

Her nails dug into his shoulders as he picked up the tempo. He shoved two fingers in, sucked in by her moisture.

Lani moaned, spreading her legs more.

He thumbed her clit while his other hand pulled and pinched on her nipple.

She let out a long moan, and her muscles tightened around his fingers, making him move faster and faster.

“Judge.” Half-moan, half-whimper.

That made him want to take her, to make her his forever, bonded and marked by his love with the bite of the couplebond. He wanted her to be sure, and he wasn’t willing to rush her into anything she didn’t tell him she wanted.

Her pants grew louder.

Christ. Her moans weren’t helping his self-control. His cock throbbed to be in her, the pulse beating a primitive cadence in his body.

His thrusting finger plunged into her. He added another digit, stretching her around his fingers, her moisture gliding down his hand.

She threw her head back, her mouth wide in a primitive yell, dug her fingers into his shoulder, as she climaxed fiercely, crying out, arching into it, tightening around his fingers.

“I love you.” Lani’s words were such a low whisper.

Even with his supernatural shifter hearing, he wondered if he heard her correctly.

He kissed her lips tenderly, swallowing her gasps as she climaxed.

L
ani trembled from her orgasm
. She tried to control her breathing while her muscles were still clenching Judge’s fingers buried deeply within her.

Did he hear me say I love him? He didn’t say anything.

Doubt—the same doubt that always crept in, threatening to destroy her.

He leaned forward, kissing, his lips remaining on hers.

She looked away from the intensity in his gaze.

Judge put his finger under her chin, tilting her face toward him, then he pulled back. “Look at me.” His tone was low, as low as her words had been.

She raised her gaze to his.

His pupils swirled with his bear’s gold flecks. “I love you, too. Always have. Always will.”

“I want this. Us.” Her voice was husky, enjoying the look that passed over his face. She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulled his head down, taking his lips captive, her tongue boldly claiming them.

Judge’s hands wound around her, his fingers pressing his erection against her body.

“I need you.” The words burst from her mind and her mouth.

“Fuck.” Judge’s voice was low and hoarse.

Lani lowered her hand, her fingers skimming over his wide chest, the abs that rippled as she traveled across his skin.

She was almost there, almost at her objective, his springy curls touching her fingertips. She bit her lip. Boldly, she took his length in her hands, grasping him tightly, her fingers coursing up the hardness until she reached the thick mushroom head.

Running her thumb over the drop gathered there, she spread it around the head of his cock, then under the rim of it, making slow, leisurely circles. She traced a fingernail gently along the underside.

His sharp intake of breath made another pool flourish between her legs. She lowered herself and put the tip of her tongue on his slit, tasting him, then put her lips around the tip, sealing his head in her mouth, her lips wrapped around the ring of it.

Judge released out a loud hiss. “You’re killing me.”

Lani looked up at him. His face lit with desire, his jaws tightened with lust.

“Lani.” He sucked air in, his chest filling, the muscles expanding. “Now.”

Judge pushed her forward, bending her over, spreading her legs with his knees and a rocking of his hips.

His hardness pressed against her entrance and his hand pressed on her back, pushing her downward, making her ass rear up. He entered her swiftly and mercilessly.

A whoosh of air escaped Lani’s lips at the fullness.

“God, I need you,” he muttered, groaning with every stroke as he plunged in and out. Seizing her hips, he pounded into her, punishing and pleasing at the same time.

“I want to be yours. Forever.” The words came from her, unbidden, surprising, and yet so very truthful.

There was nothing she wanted more than this man. This Enforcer. The father of her son. The mate she’d always wanted.

He stopped thrusting, leaned close to her ear. “Be sure, Lani.”

“Yes!” Lani screeched, pushing back against him, taking him deeper.

The sudden burst of pain from Judge’s bite on her shoulder was swept away by the pleasure of his tongue licking at it, making her his.

Forever.

Behind her, Judge’s body shuddered as he held her close. His heat filled her body, throbbing inside her.

“I love you.” He kissed the spot where he’d bitten her.

A
few moments later
, she nuzzled his neck, resting her head against that wide chest, the sweat of their joining drying, when a thought occurred to her.

“I like Griz. Can we visit him?”

“Sure as soon as he tells us where he settles.” Judge caressed her shoulders, his fingers skimming over the spot where he’d bonded her. He began to knead her muscles.

“You’re spoiling me.”

“Get used to it. I have a lot of time to make up for.”

Guilt washed over her—she had abandoned him.

He caught the remorse in her eyes. “Hey, now.”

He leaned in, placed his lips on her forehead with a feather light kiss. His breath was a warm cinnamon woodsy scent. She felt his emotions, strong, vital, full of love, and closed her eyes to savor the impressions washing over her Intuitive senses.

“Don’t feel that way. It’s all in the past. We have so much to look forward to.”

As if to punctuate that statement from across the hallway, a baby’s wail of hunger interrupted Judge.

“So demanding,” Lani murmured.

“Nothing wrong with a man who knows what he wants.” Judge leapt from the bed. “I’ll get him.”

Moments later, Judge walked in, a cooing Lars in his arms.

Lani stared at her man—her mate’s—wide chest, broad shoulders, a strikingly handsome face in a wide grin as he looked down at their son.

More than I ever thought I’d have. More than I deserve.

“Someone’s hungry,” Judge beamed, handing her the baby. “I’ll get breakfast. Hope you’ll still be here when I get back.”

“Always.” Lani placed her lips against Lars’s downy head, inhaling his baby scent. “Always.”

“I’m counting on that.” Judge stepped into the hallway.

You can count on it.

Forever.

S
HIFTERS FOREVER SERIES

Are you ready for it?

I
have
a whole world full of shifters to share with you. I’m listing them here, in the suggested reading order, though I’ve tried to make it so that you can pick up anywhere in the series as we all have probably done that at one point or another.

W
here’s
the best place to start? Well, probably with
Shifters Forever
.

Shifters Forever
starts the series off with grizzly bear shifters and their mates that steam up the pages in these swoon-worthy paranormal romances. From trespassers with hidden agendas to curvaceous women who are ready to take a chance, the stories in this collection will capture your heart. 

•
Protection

• Seduction

• Persuasion

• Invitation

• Temptation

• Attraction

A
lways After Dark
is a spinoff with the white tiger from Shifters Forever: Vax, born Vittorio Tiero. He’s the one that helped Kane out during a shifter battle.

Follow the Tiero family, a group of white tiger shifters, as they head to America to find love... and heart-stopping danger. Full of romance, suspense, and gritty drama, this red-hot collection is sure to entertain!

• Controversy

• Territory

• Adversary

• Sanctuary

N
ever After Dark
is another spinoff that takes place in Europe. Here we visit cities along the Mediterranean and meet the old school Tiero white tiger shifters who are resistant to change.

Enter a world of sex, secrets, and forbidden love. Shifters who can turn into tigers, leopards, and panthers must decide who they can trust — and who they can’t live without.

• Forbidden

• Forsaken

• Forgotten

• Foreplay

O
nly After Dark
takes place in New Orleans. The Arceneaux shifters, led by Lézare, Vax’s white tiger cousin—on his mother’s side. The Arceneaux are the black sheep of the family. Lézare doesn’t cave to public opinion. He dictates policy in the area he rules and he shuns old school European rules and regimes.

• Desirable

• Insatiable

• Combustible

• Undeniable

• Inevitable

S
hifters
Forever After
follows a group of polar bears in New York. Russian and rumored to be mobbed up, they are a powerhouse of shifters, determining the fate of many on the East Coast. Mikhail Romanoff, Layla’s father, runs this outfit with an iron fist. Layla’s sexy cousin Malachi features prominently in this series.

• Complication

• Fascination

• Motivation

u
nbound
features Mae Forester’s nephew Dane Forester
, a freewheeling, sexy, successful, movie star who uses every role and every woman to escape and forget the heartbreak he left in Woodland Creek.

• Unbound

b
arely after dark
More of Mae Forester’s nephews! Grizzly bear shifters steam up the pages in these swoon-worthy paranormal romances. From trespassers with hidden agendas to curvaceous women who are ready to take a chance, the stories in this collection will capture your heart.

• Cross

• Lance

• Judge

I
do hope
you’ll be able to join me on this wonderful journey with our Shifters Forever Shifters and their mates!

Hugs, Elle!

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o receive
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M
y personal guarantee
:

This will only be used to announce new releases and specials. And to give my wonderful special readers a little gift.