Jax (Immortals of New Orleans Book 7) (16 page)

“Jax I…” she panted, her body alive with energy. The strength of his magick filtered through her veins. As she felt the pad of his thumb circle her puckered flesh, she tensed.

“You need to trust me,” she heard him tell her. The pressure built as he slid over her skin, igniting a dark arousal she’d never experienced. “No challenging.”

“I promise. Yes, ah, yes, oh…please, please,” she repeated as he slid it into her back hole.

Full with pleasure, she embraced his erotic touch. Katrina screamed Jax’s name as her climax crashed down on her. She splintered into a thousand pieces. Quivering in ecstasy, her toes dug into the carpet. His fingers moved to her hips, and she heard him grunt, giving a final thrust.

“Kat,” Jax cried, pressing his lips to her neck.

Katrina went limp, floating within the relaxation of her submission. His kiss, his touch, it was all she’d ever needed. Surrendering to the Alpha, she prayed she wouldn’t destroy him.

Within seconds, her hands were freed and he lifted her, cradling her against his chest. As they fell onto an adjoining sofa and she rested within his arms, Katrina grazed her lips to his chest.

“My Alpha,” she whispered. With her heart and soul, she swore she’d fight to keep him, not just for a night, but forever.

My Alpha.
Jax closed his eyes, his mind whirling with emotion. He’d never understood how a mate could take a man’s world, shatter everything he thought he knew and then end up molding it all together in a spectacular masterpiece.

When Katrina walked in on him and London, Jax had known she’d lose control. No matter the control she’d exercised, until she’d marked Jax, her wolf wouldn’t accept another woman touching him. The instinct to own her mate would far exceed any rational thoughts. Although they’d explored her submission and she’d said the words out loud, her fears about losing him drove her to resist mating.

He hadn’t planned on cuffing her to the table. Although he’d used the restraints on occasion, the act had been more than simple bedroom play. She could have shifted, broken free at any point. He knew it. She knew it. But she’d chosen to stay within his confines, accepting the situation on his terms. It was a lesson she’d need to learn out of the bedroom as well.

Jax buried his nose into her hair, pleased with his scent on her skin. He weaved his fingers through hers, and brought her palm to his lips. His heart squeezed in his chest and in that moment he realized how vulnerable he’d become. Upon Nick’s death, his emotional reserve had been depleted. Without knowing that day who he had rescued, Jax had found Katrina. She’d begun to heal the cavern in his heart that had been left in the wake of Nick’s passing.

Katrina curled against his body, bringing his hands into the warmth of her breasts. Adrift within a peaceful haze, she moaned, and it reminded him that she hadn’t fallen asleep.

“Jax,” she whispered.

“Hmm…are you okay?”

“Very okay.” She laughed. “More than okay.”

“Me too,” he agreed with a kiss to her head.

“My wolf knows. She knows you are her mate,” she admitted quietly.

“And you?” He forced himself to breathe calmly as he waited on her answer. After everything they’d just experienced, he hoped the lesson had taken hold.

“I’m sorry for challenging you. The vampire…I didn’t know you knew him. I know that’s not reason enough, but you must know I’m desperate. If he’d killed Jake? I couldn’t live with myself. He’s protective of me. But it’s more than that. I just feel so out of control.”

Jax stroked her hair gently and inhaled.

“When I’m with you, your magick…I can feel it. You make me feel whole again. They’ve changed me, though. Remember in the woods?”

“Yes.”

“My magick, they siphon it, poison it with whatever evil they manage to get from this thing they worship. I don’t think they just want my magick, though. I think they want me. They want me to be like them.”

Katrina shivered against his chest. Although he suspected it was the topic causing her to shudder, not the temperature, he reached for a throw blanket and spread it over her.

“Whatever this is, the only way we can fight it is together. I know you’re tough, Katrina, and I’m glad you are.” He gave a small laugh. “Well, of course, I’d have a mate to match me. It’s not like I don’t understand why you’ve done some of the things you’ve done. I get you want control because control’s been taken from you. But you need to let me help.”

“Jax…that night we met at the party.” Katrina blinked, her lashes tickling his chest. “I knew. I saw you across the room. When you touched me…it’s so stupid. I didn’t think it would be like that. I just knew you were my mate.”

“I remember that night. I won’t ever forget it.”

“I’ve never felt that way. Just this immediate connection with you. I can’t explain it.” She shook her head and reflected. “You know, I’m not a young wolf. I was born in the early 1800s. I’ve lived through many bad times. These things, yeah, they hurt me, but it’s not the first time I’ve been tortured.”

“I didn’t realize…” Jax attempted to conceal his shock at her confession.

“No, it’s okay. It was a long time ago. There was this woman, Simone. She, uh, got off on killing women. Was into some kind of black magick. Tristan had to go to Kade Issacson and Luca Macquarie for help.” Katrina’s voice grew serious, her eyes focused on their intertwined fingers. “They both found me.”

“I’m so sorry, Kat.” Jax reasoned that if her brother had been forced to seek assistance from the New Orleans vampires, it had to have been a dire situation.

“The things I saw Simone do? I just…it’s not right.” Katrina closed her eyes and sighed.

“Jesus, I wish I’d been able to protect you. Things will be different. I promise you.”

“It wasn’t until recently…these things came for me. Of course, when they told me I’d meet an Alpha, my true mate…I didn’t believe them at first. I mean, when so many years pass, you just stop believing that it will happen. You take lovers, try not to get too involved because you know if you meet your mate, you will hurt the other person. But that night, everything changed.”

“I know what you mean. I’ve been around for quite a while too.” Like Katrina, Jax had lived a long time, experienced the loneliness. He’d casually dated. Sex was easy. Relationships, however, were entirely too complicated. Unable to mate with humans or witches, he’d kept his interactions to one night stands. Within the confines of wolves, he’d grown close to few females. They understood the inevitability that would come for all wolves. If another met his or her mate, they’d better accept the situation when they were forced to separate. “Something about your eyes. Your smile.”

“My smile?”

“Yes, do you remember what we talked about?” he asked, wrapping a single strand of her soft hair around his finger.

“Ice skating. You were trying to talk me into going to Rockefeller Center.”

Jax laughed. “You told me you were an Olympic champion.”

“Give me a few more years and I might be.”

“What happened to your hair?” Jax regretted asking the question as soon as it left his lips. He suspected it had to do with her abductions. The impulsivity of his comment was evidence that he’d lost the ability to restrain himself around his mate. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to ask.”

“No, it’s okay. This last time…I wasn’t there that long. You saw me. It’s not just about beating me, forcing me to submit. It’s about their chanting…like spells or whatever. It feels like…” Katrina brought his hand to her chest. Her voice trembled. “My hair isn’t the same. What they are doing is changing me from the inside out.”

“You don’t have to talk about it.”

“I want to tell you, but it’s hard to explain. It’s like a drill in my chest…the noise of their words. I want to cover my ears but I can’t. It gets louder and louder and it feels like my blood is draining out. But it’s not my blood. It’s my magick…it pours out of me. I can’t control it. And now…”

“What?”

“When we were in your office, your power overwhelmed me. It was almost like when an Alpha gets angry. You know how it works. You can push out your emotions, your power. Force wolves to submit.”

“I can control the flow of my magick. As my mate, you may have some of the same influence I have. You know that, right? Your energy…the pack will sense you. Us together, how we are feeling affects everyone.”

“I think it’s what Quint said. Maybe somehow because I’d lost my magick, and now, because you’re my mate, I take yours. All these years I’ve waited.” Katrina stifled the tears which filled her eyes. “And when I think back to when I first met you. How you made me feel? To know it could be real, that I had this mate? I was overwhelmed.”

“Happy?” he asked with a kiss to the top of her head.

“So happy,” she agreed. “And you were funny. I wasn’t expecting that. You weren’t this arrogant man that they write about in the headlines.”

“They say that? No, I’ve never heard that before,” he joked, trying to lighten her mood.

“I know, hard to believe, right?” She gave a small laugh. “Seriously, going home…asking Tristan to help keep us apart? I’m telling you, it broke my heart. But I couldn’t risk hurting you.”

“We’re compatible.” He changed the subject. “You seemed to enjoy your little lesson tonight.”

“I’ve never done that before,” she admitted.

“Hmm…in two hundred years you never had a little spanking?”

“Truth?” Katrina pushed up onto his chest, meeting his gaze.

“Yeah.” Jax brushed a hair behind her ear, surprised she didn’t immediately agree.

“I’ve been with other guys, but not many. And I haven’t ever let anyone tie me up. Oh, no. To let someone do that? First of all, even though I could have easily gotten out of the restraints, it takes a lot of trust to let someone do that. And second, well, as you’ve already noticed, I’m not necessarily submissive. But when I’m with you? It’s like I want to do all kinds of things I’ve never done. You make me feel free. You should know, though, Jax, I have been bitten before, and not just by Quintus.”

Jax held his tongue, attempting to remain calm. It had been bad enough that Quintus had tasted of his mate. The act of drawing blood, allowing someone to drink from her was extraordinarily intimate.

“Luca…he…it’s never been serious. He’s just a friend.” Katrina hesitated. “But back to your original question, no I’ve never been spanked. Nor have I ever let anyone tie me up. Not until you.”

“I’ll push you further,” Jax responded. Katrina may not have been with many others but he suspected his little wolf enjoyed experimenting as much as he did.

“Seeing you with that other woman tonight…I’m hanging on by a thread. We need to find answers, because, Jax,” her eyes fell, sorrow washing across her face, “I almost lost control tonight and bit you.”

“It’s natural. She wants to claim her Alpha. I know it took a little lesson to get you there, but…” His cock hardened as he recalled how she’d screamed his name as he slammed into her pussy.

“No, Jax. Not just mark you. My wolf…she wants your blood…to complete the bond.”

Jax smiled, his chest tightening with emotion at her statement. Their connection grew stronger, weaving itself together. The way she’d protested bonding, he hadn’t considered how strongly the instinct to mate would affect her. She’d restrained her beast for too long, denying it the craving it sought.

“I keep going back to this, Kat. And I know it’s hard for you to just blindly trust me, but you have to learn, or at least try.” Katrina flashed her eyes at him, her cheeks still flushed from lovemaking. Jax cupped her chin, tracing his thumb under her swollen lower lip. “I wasn’t fooling around when I told you about instincts. It’s one of the benefits of being an Alpha. The chemistry involved in mating is strong, and I’d be naïve to think it isn’t influencing my desire to keep you in my life. I know what these things told you, but I don’t want you to be afraid of mating, completing the bond. I’m telling you, when I’m around you, I’ve never felt stronger in my life. Whatever power or energy you’re getting from me, I don’t know…maybe it’s just that we somehow are working together. But the longer you hold off on marking me, the harder it will be for you. It’s natural that your wolf is not just going to want to mark me, but bond with me. But no matter how I feel about this, I’m not going to force you. Your wolf, on the other hand, she may have the last word.”

“I want to believe you. To have a chance at a life with you? To be mated? You don’t know how many times I had to stop myself from dreaming about it. It just hurts too much.”

“It’s okay to dream, baby.” Jax leaned toward Katrina. His eyes went to her lips and then met her gaze. Every second he spent with her, he grew more determined that he needed her in his life. “We’re going to find answers in New Orleans. If I have to search every inch of this earth to find that damn witch, I will.”

She gave him a small smile, and it was enough to tell him that a seed of hope had been planted. Trust would come in time and so would her submission to their mating. If he could keep them both alive and destroy the evil that came for them, they’d have a future together.