The Mating Project (8 page)

Instead
she held still and waited for his move, held captive by the intensity of his
gaze and when he
smiled,
her beast rolled over in
submission and purred.

"So,
by my calculations, that means I've won," he said, and Maria's heart beat
kicked up a notch. "Tell me, little cat, why are you allowed to run around
unmated?"

Chapter Six

Just
like before, Maria's brilliant blue eyes dimmed, and she didn't meet his gaze.
He didn’t need to be a shifter to sense her emotions right now. In his mind,
Silas cursed himself for a fool. Maria had been sending out fuck-me-now-signals
ever since she'd stepped into his office, so why the hell did he not just take
her up on this? Why did he feel the need to get to know her first?

"I
won the race, and the deal was you'd tell me, so 'fess up. And look at me when
I'm talking to you."

Maria's
eyes cut to his, and the intense misery he read in their azure depths made his
chest feel tight. He released his hold on her slightly and pulled her in for a
hug. Her inner cat purred at the action, and he smiled at the absurdity of the
situation. The gentle vibrations skimmed across his skin, and he stepped away
from her to give himself some breathing space.

Maria
sighed, and when she spoke her voice was a mere shadow of her usually so
confident cadence.

"Okay,
you win, but there's really not much to tell."

"Nice
try, Maria, but why don't you let me be the judge of that?" He crossed his
arms over his chest and gave her his best
you better be paying attention to
what I'm saying
look, and she rolled her eyes and pouted.

"Okay,
okay, save that for your unruly students. I'll tell you. How much do you know
about the Mating Project already?"

"Apart
from the fact that it goes against free will and all the things that make
shifters unique?
Not much." He couldn't quite keep the bitterness out of his voice, and
Maria blinked in surprise. "I do know that young women of pure blood are
mated off, so to speak, on their eighteenth birthday, willing or not, so again,
I ask, why you haven't
been?
At least I assume you
haven't been. I know enough about male shifters to know that no shifter in
their right mind would let you walk about dressed like that without an escort.
Fuck, I'm not sure I like the thought that other men can see
what's
mi
—"

He
clamped his jaws shut just in time and shook his head. Shit, what was wrong
with him? He almost blurted out his feelings, and he acted like some male
chauvinistic bastard.

"Forget
I said that. You can dress any way you like, of course. I have no right to
comment on that—at all."

"Too
damn right, you don't," Maria said, but there was no real strength behind
that, and a small smile played around her lips. "I get enough of that shit
off my father, and yes, you're right. He did present me with a council approved
mate on my eighteenth birthday." She smirked, and her cat flashed behind
her expressive eyes again.

"Go
on," he said. "I take it you refused?"

"Of
course I did. I told him where he could stick his council appointed, old enough
to be my father, and make my skin scrawl with one look, mate." She sighed
and shook her head. "Well, in my head I did, anyway. Dad sits on the
council and is used to getting his own way, and as Mum pointed out it was my
duty, and it had worked out all right for Dad and her. Anyway, I pouted, I
screamed, I pleaded, and then I went for a run. I was a spoiled brat really,
and I guess, I hoped that Mum would convince Dad that I wasn't ready."

She
shook herself and wiped a tear off her face in an angry gesture that made that
elephant sitting on Silas's chest, heavier.

"Did
she?" he asked.

"Eventually,
yes I guess, she did, but not before I was captured and carted off to one of
the less official mating project cells."

"You
were
what
?"

Silas
locked his jaw and started pacing, anything to get his emotions back under
control. The thought of his Maria, and she was his, dammit, in one of those
torture cells made him want to scream and punch something. He did neither and
instead murmured an apology when Maria flinched and pointed to her ears.

"No
need to shout. Supersensitive hearing, remember, and don't worry, I managed to
get away before they could do anything too nasty. I was rescued in fact by my
true mate."

That
got Silas's attention all right, and he stopped pacing. He knew he was scowling
at her, but dammit, that didn’t sit right with him either. He was no stranger
to sharing women, but he had no intention of sharing her with anyone.

She
nodded at him. "Yeah, I know, it was and is fucked up. Anyway, he got me
out of there and then disappeared. The council declared him dead, and my dad
decreed that I could find my own mate. Though, lately my father has been making
noises again, especially since my brothers found Anastasia, and that mate he
found me back then is once again sniffing round me like a cougar on heat, and
yes, he still makes my skin crawl. There is no way in fucking hell I want De
Souza anywhere near me. However, I'm pure blood, and it's my duty to protect
the precious bloodlines, and clearly fate likes to screw me over,
because…" She ran out of steam and simply looked at him in such a defeated
way that all of Silas's protective instincts rose kicking and screaming, not
least at the mention of De Souza's name. That cougar shifter was bad news, and
the reason his best friend was once again out of the country, trying to amass
evidence on De Souza's less than official mating practices. So far he'd covered
his tracks well, but he was bound to slip up sooner or later.

Dammit,
he could do with his friend's solid advice right now. One thing was certain,
mere human or not, there was no way he'd let that shifter get his claws into
his girl. He took a deep breath to not let his agitation show and addressed
Maria.

"Because
of what is happening between you and me?"

Maria
nodded and this time didn’t bother to swipe her tears away.

"Yes,
and we can never be, regardless of what my cougar is screaming at me. I fucking
hate this." She sniffed and took the tissue he passed her with a watery
smile.

"Some
femme fatale I've turned out to be. Instead of seducing you, I've spilled my
guts, told you things I haven't told another living soul, and completely failed
to get you on board."

"I
wouldn't say that exactly, Maria."

Her
eyes grew huge when he approached her, and he could see the rapid beat of her
pulse at the base of her neck.

"And
I sure as fuck don't agree that we can never be. I'll be the first to admit
that I haven't got a fucking clue how we're going to make this work, but I do
know, that I can’t just simply let you walk out of here. Maybe it's that fucked
up mating bond, maybe it's just pure lust, but I know you feel the pull as much
as I do, and if I don't fuck you soon, I'll have a permanently bent third leg,
and you know, that's just not a good look for a lecturer."

He
winked at her, and Maria burst out laughing. God, she was beautiful when she
laughed, and Silas swore to himself right there and then that he would make her
laugh often.

****

"So,
are you going to help a guy out here?"

Through
Maria's laughter, Silas's question registered, and she sobered as he crowded
her against the wall. This close to him his natural scent lodged in her
nostrils and made it difficult to breathe, as her cat clawed to be let loose.

A
whimper lodged in the back of her throat when Silas bent down and inhaled
against her neck. His hot breath raised the fine hair of her skin, and she
bunched her hands into fists to stop herself from touching him. Her animal was
too close to the surface. Never before had Maria had such problems controlling
her cougar, not even with Malachi.

A
vision of him, as he was then, slammed into her mind, and she bit her lips to
not say his name. He was her past, and had no say in this … whatever this was
that was happening between her and Silas right now. It had to be the fact that
she found Silas that made her
think
so often of
Malachi lately.

All
thoughts of the wolf flew out of her brain when Silas grumbled into her neck.

"You
smell so fucking good. Tell me you're mine."

He
ground his erection into her belly, grabbed her still fisted hands and pulled
them up high above her head, whilst he kicked her legs apart, and rubbed his
thigh against her crotch. Another whimper escaped Maria at the torturously slow
friction he created against her clit. She was so wet that she must be leaving a
tell-tale stain on his jeans.

"You're
so hot and wet for me, aren't you? Tell me, baby. What do you want me to do? Do
you want me to fuck you? Do you want my cock to slide deep inside your body
until there is no doubt that you're mine?" He licked along her rapidly
beating pulse point and sucked on the sensitive spot under her ear until
Maria's breath came in short pants and moans.

He
stepped up his assault on her clit, and Maria rocked her hips to increase that
delicious friction. Still, it was not enough, not by a long shot. She wanted no
barriers between them. She wanted to be skin to skin, to wrap herself all over
him, until they were one and the same, and there was no doubt in anyone's mind
that they were together.

"I
can't hear you, baby. What's that? Shall I just stop?"

Maria
groaned her distress when Silas pulled back and smiled down at her. He left his
thigh between hers, and transferred both her wrists into one of his hands,
whilst running his free hand slowly down her arm until he reached her shoulder.
Using just one finger he trailed along her collarbone and hooked that digit
under her blouse. It skimmed the tops of her breasts, and Maria inhaled sharply
when he let that finger trail lower until it whispered across one of her
painfully erect nipples.

"My,
what have we here, my cat? I wonder what you'll do if I do this."

He
bent his head and sucked that nipple into his mouth. Through the fabric of her
shirt and the lace of her bra, he
laved
the hard
nubbin, and when he bit down hard, it was as though an invisible string tugged
at her clit. More of her juices gushed out of her and spilled past the elastic
of her soaked thong until the air around them was heavy with her feminine musk.

Silas
groaned against her breast and switched to the other side, giving it the same
attention. The damp fabric of her blouse clung to her nipples, and shivers of
need raced across her skin.

"Please,
please, Silas…" Maria pleaded with him, and his passion filled gaze
connected with hers.

He
hooked his finger under the top button of her blouse and pulled hard. The
delicate fabric ripped and the button pinged off, and Maria let her head fall
back against the wall as the rest of the buttons found the same fate. Cool air
skittered across her heated flesh, and she bit back her moan of surrender when
Silas shoved the remains of her blouse up her arms and then used it to tie her
hands together.

With
sure and swift movements he looped the free ends over the loop in the brass
wall fitting and tugged. Maria looked up and pulled, but it was useless. She
could wriggle her fingers, but she couldn't get free, and goose bumps raced
along her arms at the thought of being at his mercy.

"What's
that for?" She whispered the words and sought Silas's gaze. The naughty
twinkle in his eyes soothed the little niggle of worry, which always raised its
ugly head when her movements were restricted. Ever since she'd woken up
shackled in that cell ten years ago, Maria liked to be the one in charge,
needed it even, but with Silas those worries drifted away, as he once again
nuzzled into her neck. His evening stubble created just the right amount of
friction, and Maria instinctively tilted her head to give him better access.

"Just
making sure my little cat can't get away from me this time. I have plans for
you."

He
licked along her jaw until he reached her lips and claimed them in an
intoxicating kiss that seemed to go on forever. It was only when he pulled away
and took both of her breasts in his hands that she noticed he'd removed her
bra. He ran his thumbs over her nipples repeatedly, and they tightened to the
point of pain as Maria panted her need.

"One
day soon, I'll fuck these." Silas’s murmured words of homage nudged her
arousal up another notch, and she rubbed her thighs together to relieve the
heavy ache in her pussy.

"For
now, though…" He winked at her and then pulled her skirt up until it was
bunched around her waist. He kicked her legs apart, and Maria bit her lips to
stop herself from hurrying him along. Somehow she got the impression if would
have the opposite effect. Silas seemed determined to torture them both with his
slow approach, and as gentle as he was there was a steely determination to his
actions, and her feminine side sighed in submission.
Her
cougar, too, rolled over and purred, for once in her life completely and
utterly happy.