Surrounded by Secrets (6 page)

And it felt right.

His teeth scraped against the scruff of her neck and bit. He was too powerful to resist. Somewhere deep inside she knew it was her place to submit to him, and when she felt his erection against her tail, she couldn’t help the needy sound that slipped out or the head that bowed and rested on the ground. She didn’t want this. She. Did. Not. Want. This. But need . . . now
that
was clawing at her.

“Shift.”

It was a command she couldn’t ignore. Her traitorous body was aching for him, for whatever he wanted. She didn’t know if this was tied to the bonding thing or the fact that she just needed to feel him inside her. She shifted, and in that same moment, she sensed him shifting, too.

His palms cupped her hips and lifted her until she was on her hands and knees. Then he wrapped one arm around her belly and used the other hand to grab his cock. He rubbed it against her soaked slit, and she leaned her head against his shoulder and moaned.

“So wet, Lilly. You want me to fuck you just as bad as I want to take you, don’t you?”

She moaned. God, he was right, but she wasn’t going to tell him that.

He growled behind her at her refusal to admit the truth and plunged into her with one hard thrust.

She screamed and bucked against him, her sensitive tissues flaring to life. He bit her neck as he pounded into her.

“You’ll fucking say it,”
he demanded.

“No,” she breathed. She couldn’t. She wouldn’t.

He pushed her shoulders down to the ground, forcing her ass up in the air, and fucked her harder. She panted, her orgasm building so fast she was already lost. Her pussy convulsed. Her spine tingled.

She was so close she knew she was about to go over, and she didn’t care. She wanted it. She needed it. She needed Jack to give it to her.

He stopped and pulled out, still holding her down. She was empty, lonely, aching. She felt wetness hit her back and realized he was sweating with the effort to either hold her in place or hold back his own release.

“Say it, Lilly.”

Oh God, he wasn’t going to let her come. He was going to torture them both until he got what he wanted.

“You’re the devil! Just fuck me.”

“Say it.”

She groaned and tried rubbing her ass against his erection to entice him back into the warmth of her velvet heat.

“I will masturbate and use my seed to mark your back if you don’t tell me the truth right now, damn you!”

“Yes! Yes, I want you to fuck me. I want you to take me. To own me. To—”

He knifed into her, and she screamed.

“God, I want you so bad, Lilly.”

She wanted him too, and she knew she was going to hate herself for it. She was at her body’s mercy. Maybe it was the lack of sex or how strong and sexy Jack was, but right now, she just needed this.

And so she gave herself over to it. She grabbed handfuls of grass and arched her back as much as she could, allowing him to take her as deeply as he could. Each time he pushed into her, he hit her cervix and she whimpered, “So good.”

She came on a sobbing scream, and seconds later, Jack roared behind her, his cock jerking inside her with each spurt of his release. Never had she let a man take her bare before Jack, yet the thought of him allowing a condom between them felt unacceptable to her now.

That sobered her. No! She was not some whiny little tart. She stiffened, and she heard and felt Jack’s sigh against her shoulder.

He eased out and away from her, and Lillian scrambled to her feet. She looked at him and growled.

“Stay the hell away from me.”

She shifted back into the abomination that was her new alter ego and ran.

* * * *

Jack couldn’t explain what had come over him when he’d been in the woods with Lillian. He’d been determined to teach her about hunting and expose her to the new aspect of her life, but the moment she’d come out as a mountain lion, all he could think was
mate
. It was hard to argue with her at times, but while in his feral form, he just wanted to dominate her.

So he’d kept his mouth shut and just focused on the tasks. He’d run them all over the place in hopes that the need to take her would ease. He wasn’t that lucky. It was always there, taunting him. He’d barely held it at bay up until she’d charged him. His lion had taken control at that point, and he’d been helpless to stop it. He’d just been thankful he’d mustered enough willpower to shift back into his manly form. Taking her as a lion would’ve been too personal. That was reserved for mates, mates who wanted to conceive.

After they’d had sex, Lillian had run. He couldn’t blame her. He felt the same need to flee. But the need to stay and make her understand was slowly taking over that desire to stay away from her. So he’d forced himself not to follow her. She’d headed back toward the direction of the cabins and not her father’s house, so there wasn’t an immediate concern she’d escape the estate. No reason to make her understand he was just as tormented as she was. All the reasons weren’t the same, but the struggles were there.

When he’d gotten back to his cabin, he was pleased to smell her scent was strong there. She was home. She’d run from him, but she’d run back to his cabin. She could’ve sought refuge at the main house or with one of the other ladies, but she hadn’t. Jack had tried not to feel the pride swell up at her choice, but the feelings had bubbled up anyway. When he’d gone inside, he’d found her asleep on the bed. She’d put on one of his T-shirts and was huddled in the corner, but she’d been there.

He’d showered, slipped on some boxers, and slid into bed beside her, trying not to touch her. His body was so large that there wasn’t much space between them, but he didn’t want to disturb her while he slept.

But sleep had eluded him most of the night. He’d have tossed and turned more if he hadn’t been worried about waking her. He did sleep in fits, but by dawn, he’d accepted it as a lost cause.

He gently sat up and pulled open his nightstand drawer to retrieve the photo of his mother. Just a few days ago, this had been the dominating factor of his mind. Now it was just a nagging thought on the sidelines. Granted, his life had changed drastically, but his family history shouldn’t be ignored.

He needed to talk to Josh about what he’d discovered and the theories it raised. If he was right, his father wasn’t the reason for their existence, as they’d all been led to believe. It had been his mother all along.

“What’s that?” Lillian asked, her voice roughened with sleep.

Jack tossed the photo back into the drawer and shut it. He couldn’t share this with her. Not now. Not yet. “Nothing.”

He looked over his shoulder and stopped breathing. She was truly beautiful, her blonde hair mussed, her big blue eyes soft. She held the blanket against her chest and yawned. So innocent-looking.

“I’m surprised you came back here last night. I figured you’d run to one of the women.”

She huffed. “Why would I run to one of the Stepford wives? Sorry, but no, ‘I don’t
want
to squeeze the goddamn Charmin,’” she said in a singsong voice.

“What the hell does that mean?”

“It’s from the movie.
Stepford Wives
? I don’t want to squeeze—” She sighed. “Never mind. Point is, they seem a little too accepting of this way of life, and I have no intentions of being brainwashed into a mindless zombie homemaker of the cat people.”

He’d really thought her innocent? Maybe in looks, but her spirit was full of spunk. “They are not mindless women. There are here because they want to be.”

“So they got a choice, but I didn’t. How’s that fair, Felix?”

He chuckled. “You’ll run out of cat names eventually.” Then he shook his head. “It’s not fair. I never said it was. We got drunk and mated. I’m going through this just as blindly as you are.”

She pushed the blanket off and shuffled to her feet. “Not true. I didn’t turn you into a freak of nature.”

Jack stood, too, his hands fisting at his sides. “I’m getting really sick and tired of you fighting with me at every possibility. I didn’t mean for this to happen. Hell, I didn’t even want to get drinks with you that night anyway. You were the stubborn one who wouldn’t take no for a fucking answer!”

She recoiled as if he’d physically slapped her, and the sudden pang of sadness he felt at causing her any kind of harm almost knocked the breath out of him. “God, I’m sorry.” He moved toward her, but she shook her head, looking away from him, her defenses down. Seeing the wounded look in her eyes was killing him. “Lilly.”

She jerked, fire blazing in her eyes again. “How many times do I have to say it’s Lilli
an
?”

He hadn’t intended to rouse her by using the pet name he had for her. But, yes. He’d rather have her fighting mad than unhappy. Maybe he could keep her distracted with this train of thought, but he’d be lying if he didn’t acknowledge that her resistance to her nickname had raised suspicions that he would like cleared up.

“Why are you so determined to keep me from calling you Lilly?”

“Because that’s not my name,” she gritted out.

He smirked. “Well, my name isn’t Felix or Simba or Garfield or any of the other names you’ve used to call me the last couple of days.”

She smiled. “True, but I like calling you those names.”

“And I like calling you Lilly, Lilly.”

Lillian narrowed her eyes. Her hands poised at her hips. “Fine, you win. Call me whatever you want. It doesn’t matter to me anyway, Heathcliff.”

His cock jerked. God, that feistiness was going to be the death of him. Jack couldn’t seem to ignore it, or his body, as well as he had yesterday.

She turned, and he grabbed her arm and hauled her against him. “What if I call you mine?” he growled in her ear.

She gasped, and he could feel the tremble coursing through her. “I am not going let you seduce me whenever you please, Jack.” But she didn’t sound convincing, and from her stance, he knew she hadn’t believed those words either.

“Tell me to stop.” Part of him hoped she would. Not because he didn’t want her, but because if she resisted, he could blame his growing need for her on his feral side. The lion wouldn’t take her resistance lying down. It’d roar to the surface and show her how much she wanted him.

But if she stayed pliable, he wouldn’t have anyone, anything to blame but himself if he took her.

“I—Jack,” she breathed as she melted against him. “Why is it so hard to push you away when you’re this close?” She’d said it so softly, he couldn’t be sure she was actually talking to him or to herself.

“Our lions recognize the mate in the other,” he rasped as he took her lobe into his mouth and nibbled.

“So you’re not—” she started, but hesitated, and Jack didn’t give her an opportunity to finish. He pushed her up against the nearest wall and pulled down her panties as he squatted behind her.

He spread her cheeks apart, burrowed his face between her legs, and inhaled. “I love the way you smell,” he groaned. Then his tongue peeked out and licked the backside of her pussy.

Lillian gasped, lifted up on her toes, and arched her back to provide better access.

He tried savoring her taste, sweet with a unique flavor all her own, but he was starving for her. He nibbled her labia before shoving his tongue inside her. Lillian moaned and rocked against him, so he gripped her tighter to keep her still. He was going to feast on her and make her come so hard that he feared he’d spill inside his boxers.

He groaned when her pussy started contracting around his invasion, her honey leaking onto his tongue. So fucking sweet. He could get drunk off her. When he pulled his tongue out, she whimpered. Oh, he wasn’t stopping. It’d take an act of God for him to quit, and even then, he’d still resist. His tongue circled her clit, and he drew it into his mouth at the same time he pushed two fingers into her.

Lillian screamed, her pussy fisting around his fingers so tightly that his dick ached even more to be inside her. He pushed his boxers down as he stood up and pulled his fingers out. Within seconds, he had the throbbing head of his cock rubbing against her entrance. He pushed in on a groan, her body milking him, needing him, as she screeched and lifted higher on her toes.

“You’re not going anywhere, Lilly,” he panted as he took her with punishing thrusts. “You’re mine, and I’ll have you whenever and however I want.”

“You’re a pig.” But she rotated her hips to meet his taking.

“I’m a predator.” And he knew in that moment, he would never be able to let her go. He’d hunt her down if she ever tried to leave. That thought didn’t make him happy. At all. He groaned as he shoved into her harder, punishing himself for wanting her as much as he was punishing her for not stopping him.

She screamed, and her juices flooded him as she came. The feel of her coming loose around him threw him over the edge too. He roared as he slammed into her so hard he pushed her completely up against the wall. His hips kept pumping, taking, as if he could do nothing but lose himself to the feel of being inside her, owning her. His mate.

With the final jerk of his cock, Jack slumped against her as he tried taking in a deep breath. The sweat between them chilled his skin, so he gently stood up and eased out of her. He walked to the bathroom without looking at her, worried he’d still see hurt or anger in her eyes. He barely knew how to handle her when she was her normal, feisty self. He wasn’t ready to face any more backlashes for what he’d done to her. Jack washed off at the sink and wetted a cloth so he could now tend to her, a reaction that felt completely natural to him. When he stepped out, however, she was waiting at the door with her arms crossed.

“Took you long enough.” She pushed past him and slammed the door shut.

Jack just stared down at the washcloth and gritted his teeth. His mate really knew how to push his buttons, and Jack wondered if this was Karma’s way of getting back at him for his general attitude toward taking a mate up until he’d found her.

If so, Karma was a bitch.

Chapter Six

Lillian walked to the main house after ditching Jack in the woods yet again. This had been her morning ritual for almost a week now. Ever since he’d taken her against the wall, she knew she wouldn’t be able to deny whatever he wanted. That morning, her defenses had been down. She’d been vocal about wondering why she was drawn to him and he’d been so callous as to say it was because his lion recognized his mate.