Instinct (6 page)

“This is all a mistake. I thank you for freeing me from Dirk, but I can’t do this. I told you not to mark me. I cannot be the mate you want.”

“You may be human, but we cannot deny the connection. We will find a way. We don’t have a choice,” Xavier returned.

“I have never had a choice, since the day I was born. I will now,” she promised. She repeatedly pressed the button to call the elevator as Xavier stalked toward her, displeasure marring his features.

“Do not mistake my kindness for weakness. You are my mate, and you are not going anywhere,” he growled.

Chapter Twelve

“Xavier,” Josephine said as she moved past him, “leave us.”

Xavier froze in front of Siren, so close she could smell his musk. A pity the scent brought moisture between her thighs. She shifted when his nostrils flared, and she knew that he could smell her arousal.

“It’s the heat,” she said to him, denying him.

“Whatever it is, it makes you mine. Never forget that.”

The elevator dinged behind her, and Xavier brushed past her. Once the doors closed, Josephine walked back to the couch and beckoned Siren to follow her.

“I think I’m fine where I am.”

“When I became an Oracle, I never would have dreamed the future I would have. The Fates scoured the lands for the most perfect of maidens to be their conduits to man. In that time, the gods walked the earth, and humans were so very different. I was frightened, but not as terrified as the day I was told that I would be immortal and from my body the seeds of the Fates would grow.” Josephine sat back on her vacated couch and motioned for Siren to sit. Intrigued, Siren did as she was asked.

“I would never see my family again, never know death, and would be, for lack of a better phrase, a brood mare. Then I saw my first babe, and the world shifted. I knew the irresistible love a mother has for her child, and I could not imagine being without them. I have watched, over so many centuries, as my children have grown, had children of their own, and passed away. I have seen history of things I had seen as future, and never once have I regretted it. I have loved more than you could ever imagine.”

“I don’t have that time,” Siren said then.

“But you could. Do you want to live the rest of your life as nothing more than a puppet, or do you want the power to change your destiny?”

“What are you asking me?”

“I am asking you if you want to be more than what you are now.”

Siren sat for a moment, pondering. She had never been given the choice. For once in her life, the chance to walk her own path was being given to her. She didn’t know why she trusted the woman before her. She didn’t have a reason to trust anyone, and yet, looking into Josephine’s eyes, she could not doubt she was tempted.

“And what of Xavier?”

“You both will find your way,” Josephine said, standing. She glided to Siren, one hand reaching for her. “Your answer?”

“Power. I want power.”

* * * *

Something was different. She didn’t know what it was, but Siren could feel it in her bones. Her body was on fire like it had never been. She felt like her insides were turning inside out. Siren could feel herself screaming, but she couldn’t hear a thing as she tossed and turned on soft material under her. Each twist brought more pain as she fought the darkness to find the light. She was lost, alone, and so terribly afraid. She clawed at the cover under her, hearing it shred between her fingers.

“I’m here,” a voice said in the darkness, and she could almost feel her tears slide down her face as she reached for that voice. Her very soul reached out, but she couldn’t find her way.

Help me
, she thought, but it felt like the sound was reverberated back to her.

“Help her, Xavier. She can’t find her way without you.”

“Josephine, what did you do?”

“I opened her soul. The two of you would have fought until her dying day if I had not. I could see you share the same stubbornness.”

“Her soul?”

“I knew when I saw her that she was a latent, the child of a descendant of an Oracle mother who died at her conception. She should have been a Senser, but her soul was sealed. Bring her back. Hold your mate to you. Let go of your anger and save her. That is the only way.”

Siren couldn’t understand what was going on around her, but she recognized Xavier’s voice. Try as she might, she could not deny that knowing he was near soothed her. She reached blindly for him again and felt coolness, blessed coolness, when a large hand grasped hers.

“I’m here,” Xavier whispered, and he pulled her into his arms. She sagged with relief as he pushed away the fire inside her.

“Xavier,” she moaned. He wrapped his arms around her, his face buried in her neck, and she felt the lash of his tongue over his mark. The move sparked something in her, and her eyes snapped open. The world looked different, tasted and smelled different. The colors around her seemed truer and blended in front of her. She could hear pounding in her ears, rhythmic enough to draw her attention until she realized she could hear her heartbeat.

“Focus on me, just on me.” His head descended and kissed her neck. He let his tongue dampen her flesh and left it sizzling. His mark on her neck throbbed under his tongue. Her arms rested on his back to pull him closer. She couldn’t fight the need inside her even if she wanted to. With each kiss, his hands went up and down her frame.

When he looked at her, his eyes were halfway concealed by his lids. He brought her mouth to his. It was an open, moist kiss. His tongue challenged hers, and she moaned softly. She brought her hands to his chest to pull at his shirt and was surprised to see it part under her nails. It slid to the floor, forgotten, and Siren was closer to his warmth.

He slowly pulled her shirt over her head. She winced because the only way to get it off was to stop kissing her as he pulled. He picked her up slightly and laid her down on the bed under him. She was trembling with want as she wrapped her arms around him. He held her tight. He unclasped her bra, but still held it up to conceal her breasts, seemingly pleased with their demi-covered roundness.

“This time I get to undress you,” he murmured.

Siren pushed back and slid her arms out of the bra, eager to feel his hands on her flesh. He came back to her, and her hardened nipples grazed his chest. He bent his head and took one engorged peak into his mouth. He sucked gently, and Siren’s nails sank into his shoulders.

“Oh.”

“You like that?” he asked before taking the other nipple in his mouth.

“Yes. I do,” she gasped. But he was being too nice. Her body was filled with desire, and she needed him. She wanted him to take her rough and hard, to ease the ache inside of her pussy as he had done inside of the club. She needed her mate to drown out the world, no matter the consequences when she woke up. She just wanted to feel him, to know the earth was still firmly beneath her feet.

“Do you ache, Siren? Do you need me so deep you can’t remember how you felt before I was inside of you?”

“Yes, I need you.”

He rose above her and peeled away her pants. He stroked her flesh as he pulled the rest of her clothing from her sweating limbs.

“Inside. I need you inside,” she begged, lost to desire and need.

He crawled over her with a snarl, and the sound made her pussy wetter. She opened her thighs, cradling him between, his hardness grazing over the nub of her clit. She hissed, feeling her gums curiously tingle over her canines. She cried out when she felt something in her mouth shift. She lifted a careful hand to stroke over pointed fangs.

“What the—”

“Just focus on me,” he said again and lowered his head to hers. He kissed her with a passion that was savage. He robbed her of her breath. Her passion flared under him.

She reached for his taut manhood, and her fingers glided over the length of it, memorizing it, knowing its strength. He was so thick, so heavy in her palm. She wanted to feel him inside her again. Something important was happening, she knew it, but she couldn’t catch her breath long enough to grasp the meaning. His mouth conquered hers as surely as Attila the Hun. She couldn’t reconcile how they got here from the impasse they had been at earlier, but she didn’t care. She just wanted him. She gripped his cock tighter.

“Enough, Siren,” he choked out. “I’m here to love you.” He rose up slightly and slowly slid a finger into her. She sat still to get used to the feeling. As he stroked her fire within, he watched her. She began to throb inside, her body clenching around him. Each glide of the thick digit had her lifting her ass off the bed to meet his thrusts.

“More,” she demanded.

“Greedy little temptress. My brave little mate. I’ll give you everything you need.”

Something about his words triggered her mind. Mate. She was his mate. She struggled against him, twisting her body to get away.

“No!”

“Stay with me, Siren. Forget everything but me. I’m here. Don’t fight this between us. Neither one of us could ever hope to win.”

“You don’t want me. I don’t want to be trapped.”

“Does this feel like not wanting you?” he rasped as he ground his cock against her.

Her eyes slid closed, her resolve slipping as he moved.

“I’m right here, Siren.” He pushed back the heavy fall of her hair with one hand. “I may have not been happy about who fate gave me, but forgive me for the blunder. Humans have done much to our kind.”

His mouth claimed hers again, and she couldn’t focus. Something was just on the edge, but it slipped away as he pushed another finger inside her. His fingers curled as he retreated, only to advance and mimic the move again. Pleasure exploded through her as she rode his fingers. He pinned her wrists above her head as he kissed his way down her neck. He sucked one pebbled nipple into his mouth, rolling it with his tongue, and she keened under him. With each draw, she felt her womb clench. He licked his way to the opposite nipple and gave it equal attention before letting it go with a pop.

She panted as he kissed his way down to her navel and dipped his tongue in for a taste. He then nipped at the edge of her stomach before sliding down. The fire of her pain before was nothing compared to the fire of her desire now. With every lick and push of his fingers, she was drawn closer to the sun. She couldn’t deny how he made her feel, couldn’t fight the temptation of his touch. Any thought of getting away dissolved into blistering pleasure as she climaxed and every muscle clenched.

“Yes!” she screamed as she bucked against his mouth. He gave one last lick before he removed his finger and poised himself at his entrance.

“I need you,” he said, sliding into her.

She cried out as he pushed inside. She was so full. Her pussy shivered around his cock with each thrust. Every movement ignited tingles from her lingering climax as he moved. His cock pistoned in and out of her so fast she could barely catch her breath. She was falling.

Somehow she thought that was what terrified her most of all.

Chapter Thirteen

He could barely hold on as he stroked. He held on to her, feeling his body quake and shiver. He was building to that elusive peak that was just on the horizon. She was so very beautiful beneath him, gone with passion. Her breasts bounced with each rough movement of his hips, and it nearly hypnotized him. She watched him with heavy lidded eyes, the swirl of her hazel eyes glinting gold in the darkness. How he had ever thought that she was unworthy of him, that she was nothing but a human, he couldn’t fathom as he pushed into her harder, forcing her legs up higher until she shattered around him. Each pulse milked his cock until he felt close to bursting. He felt like his head was going to explode.

“Feel me,” he urged as he moved faster. “Feel every inch of me. Know that I am your mate. I will always be here.”

He moved faster, wanting to climb inside her. Her newly sprouted claws dug at the pillow under them, and he released her wrists, wanting to feel their bite in his shoulders. She didn’t disappoint as her nails found his flesh. He growled, his Jag pushing forward, reaching for its mate. He could feel her flesh ripple under his hands as her Jag answered. Amazed, he watched as he realized just what his Oracle mother had done. She was no longer human, but a Senser, and a shifter at that. He pulled her tighter into his arms, letting go of any care he had of hurting her as she clawed his back.

“Come for me, love. Come for me.” His words seemed a catalyst for her as she went wild beneath him. He roared his release with her, just as gone as she.

* * * *

He woke when she did, feeling her shift under the blankets. He waited patiently for her to speak, but she seemed content to lie there quietly for some time. He was attuned to her enough to know that she hadn’t fallen back asleep. Neither of them had time for her to wallow back into the need to distance herself from their union. He had caused that rift, and now he would be the one to cross it and tell her that she was no longer human. He hoped she didn’t think his change of heart was from that.

“Siren.” She stiffened next to him, but he held her tight. “I am sorry. I should not have let my prejudices ruin our coming together. One night my sister barged into our ancestral home. It had been storming outside, and I suppose that I felt that something was coming. When I saw her, I knew.”

He took a breath to steady himself.

“She brought me news of our parents’ deaths at the hands of fanatics. They had been burned in their vacation cabin, unable to escape the blaze. The humans had been smart enough to start the fire on all four sides of the home and block all of the exits. I do not know why my father or mother didn’t sense them so close, but they perished in that fire. The killers sent pieces of the charred remains to my sister. For a few moments, I thought our home was going to go up in flames. She’d been tortured by the fact that if she had been with them, she could have protected them. She’s a Fire Senser, and the flame would have gone where she directed it.”

Siren rolled over in his arms. He was sure his pain was leaking through their bond to her. She rubbed his cheek softly.