Slate's Mistake (13 page)

She looked over her shoulder at the gargoyle. Now that
she wasn’t afraid, she could appreciate how positively interesting he looked.
“That would be nice of you, thank you, Dultyn.” She made sure to give him a
grateful smile before returning to her task.

“Seriously, what are you doing out of bed?” she asked,
returning her focus her to her injured mate.

She could tell by his breathing that he was out of
breath and in pain. “I woke up to an empty bed. I was almost all the way down
the stairs when you screamed.”

Well, that would explain why he got there so soon. She
was hoping it wasn’t a long stretch of time because she didn’t want to think
she was that far gone into her panicked state. “Well, don’t do it again without
someone to spot you until I say your injuries are healed enough.”

Slate stopped their progress up the stairs to lean
over and kiss her. It was placed on her temple, but the feeling it elicited had
her cheeks pinking. After all, they weren’t alone.

After she helped him into bed, she grabbed the plates
from Dultyn. “Thank you, and again, I am truly sorry for my outburst. There is
no excuse for my actions.”

Dultyn simply nodded then turned and left. She closed
the door behind him and returned to her mate. Cuddling up next to him with her
sandwich she inquired, “So, gargoyles huh? Are there any other paranormals that
I need to know about?”

Slate already had a mouthful. She took a bite while
waiting for him to respond. Swallowing, he answered, “None here, yet, but Alphy
wants the pack open to all paranormals. There are many without protection of a
pack, herd, clutch, coven, or whatever. He himself had no place to go for a
long time until he recently came here. This is the first place he ever felt
settled and at home, and he wants that for others.”

“Are there really that many bad alphas out there?”

Slate shrugged. “Paranormals live a lot longer than
humans, so they tend to change slower because they were raised when everything
was different. Many don’t believe in mixed
matings
,
especially to humans, and others, like the gargoyles, just don’t have the
bigger numbers.”

“How many other kinds of paranormals are there?”

Slate gave another shrug and gave a non-descriptive,
“Some.”

They finished in silence, and after they were done,
Katie put the plates on a dresser. She turned back around to see Slate trying
to get up again. “What are you doing?”

“I need to use the bathroom.” At seeing her, his grin
turned feral, and the heated look in his eyes had her blood quickening and her
belly fluttering.

They didn’t have a bathroom in their room, so she
grabbed clean cloths and some medical waterproof tape to put over his bandages,
and followed behind her mate. When she entered the large room she saw the
toilet was behind a little nook in the corner. While Slate made his way to it,
she set the cloths on the earth-toned small tiled counter, next to the raised
sink bowls. Looking around at the giant tile shower and the huge tub that could
easily fit more than one person, she had to ask, “Do you want a bath or
shower?”

“As much as I want a shower, I’m afraid I have to
settle for the tub.”

“Well, you just never had a proper bath before. Don’t
worry, I’ll give you an experience that is sure to make the next time too
difficult for you have to choose,” she promised.

“Oh really?”

She had adjusted the nozzles for the right temperature
and was just standing up when his arm snaked around her waist. His breath
puffed against the nape of her neck. Goosebumps prickled down her spine and
along her arms. She shivered with the sensation.

Pushing back and rubbing against the steel hard rod
poking her butt, she nodded. “Mm, oh yes, you’ll enjoy baths so much, you’ll
want to take them more than once a day. I am going to give you a proper feline
bath, and if you’re good, I’ll let you give me one.”

She felt his lips graze over the skin on her shoulder
and the vibration of his hum of approval. “Oh fuck, you’re going to kill me,
mate, but what a way to go.”

His feral growl
quaked
her
core, and her muscles in her channel fluttered in a pleasure filled spasm. One
of his hands flattened against her belly and slowly slid down until it reached
her pubic line. He threaded his fingers in her tight curls and lightly tugged.

Never one to be quiet, she let out a pleasure filled
yelp. His fingers slid lower, and his hips continued to grind his heavy length
against her backside. Her heart flipped as his fingers pushed into the crease
of her slit.

His finger rubbed tiny circles around her nub while
the warm, moist softness of his tongue slid over the skin of her shoulder and
worked its way up to behind her ear. His tongue rimmed her ear, and he placed
sensually sucking kisses against the small patch of skin right behind her
earlobe.

“S-s-
nnggah
, stop,” she
panted. “I need to turn the water off.” Slate whimpered as if it hurt to stop.
She quickly turned off the water and turned to watch him undress. All that
glorious hairless skin caused her mouth to pool with drool. After she applied
clear medical waterproof tape over his bandages, she urged her mate into the
tub. He looked as if he
were
in a great deal of pain,
and Katie couldn’t help but worry that much of it was actually from his
injuries. He hissed as he stepped in and the water lapped at his honey toned
skin.

Shedding her own garments, she looked around for
towels and washcloths. Returning to the tub, she knelt, grabbed a bar of soap
and lathered it into the washcloth.

“What happened to what we were doing?” Slate leaned
forward. Placing an elbow on the side, he leaned on it and tried to give her a
kiss, but she knew if that happened, she wouldn’t get anything done.

“I’m first going to lather you up, make sure you’re
clean and slick. Then I’m going to make good on my promise.”

She made sure she rubbed in slow circles, even massaging
his neck and lower back. He did enjoy the rub-down, but she could see he had
gone soft. After the torso was done, she bypassed his middle parts, finally
climbing into the tub, to work on his feet,
then
slowly worked her way up. She rolled her fingers over his veins and muscles,
creeping closer to her final goal.

Slate was leaned all the way back, with his head back,
sighing deeply as he was relaxing. Once she was close enough, she grabbed more
soap and slicked her hands, then slid her fingers up his inner thigh, to the
perineum. Her mate jerked in surprise just slightly, but a smile crept onto his
face and his shaft began to fill. He spread his legs further apart for her.

She let her fingers run down to his star then up and
around his scrotum, moving the sack around a little before wrapping around his
now fully hard shaft and pulling it up and down. Her thumb rubbed over his frenulum
at the base of his head on the underside. Being a nurse helped her learn a lot
about body parts.

Slate groaned and raised his hips, bringing his
genitals above the water. She could see pre-cum ooze from his slit. Humming her
delight, she leaned over and rolled her tongue around the tip, lapping up the
clear liquid.

“Oh fuck, your mouth feels so good baby.” Slate’s hand
threaded into her hair and massaged her scalp as he complimented her.

Katie flicked her mouth over the slit and kissed and
sucked the top into her mouth and let it pop out. His cock jerked, seeping more
fluid from the tip. She kept one hand around his balls, squeezing and rolling
them, and every now and then she would slide her fingers down along his
perineum and around his hole then back up again.

Her other hand kept a hold of his shaft, jacking it
slowly. She wrapped her mouth around his cockhead and sucked down until she
couldn’t go any further. Slate gave a pleasured shout of surprise and swore,
making her smile around the meat-
sicle
she swallowed down.
Leaking more, his salty flavor increased with his arousal. After popping off
and on a few times, she pulled back.

Slate growled, but didn’t say anything. His hand
stayed firm in her hair. Leaning forward, she licked, nipped and kissed her way
up to his nipples and rimmed the darkish disks. She flicked her tongue over
them,
then
lightly nipped them. Slate’s hand fisted in
her hair, and he tried desperately to grind his dick against her stomach.

Katie worked her way up to his neck and licked every
vein and other hot spot she could think of. She positioned herself over her
lover. Lining up on the spot on his neck where, if she were a shifter, she
would have bitten him, she wrapped her teeth over the flesh and bit. As she was
hoping for, Slate roared and grabbed her hips, pulling her down onto his shaft.
He thrust into her hard enough to dislodge her teeth, but instead of letting
go, she bit down harder.

Slate roared and stiffened. She could feel his
cockhead grow and warm release flooding her inner walls. Sharp pain pierced her
shoulder, immediately morphing into an orgasm that blackened out her senses. All
she could do was feel euphoria roll over her in waves so intense she couldn’t
breathe.

She didn’t know how long she took to gather her wits,
but when she did, she saw she was still biting onto his shoulder, the metallic
taste of his blood warning her she had bitten too hard. Carefully removing her
teeth, she drew back to look at the mark she made. A gasp of alarm was shocked
from her as she watched a small line of blood mix with the water droplets on
his skin. Concern pushed through her thoughts. As she looking into Slate’s
face, her alarm dissipated with the pride and love for her she could clearly,
unmistakably see.

“You were wrong, Baby-Kate.” He paused, cupping her
face in his wet hands and rubbing his thumbs along her cheeks. “There won’t be
any comparison to baths versus showers. You claimed me, making it something
special I will never forget.” He pulled her face closer to his and gave her a
kiss that made her melt into his embrace.

The water was cold when they stepped out of the tub
and onto the wet floor. She hurried to put some towels down on the mess to soak
it up. After dressing, they opened the door. Kace was leaning up against the
opposite wall with his arms crossed over his chest and a leg crossed over the
other. He looked up as they exited.

“’bout damn time.
I take it you didn’t hear me knocking.” He didn’t
give them time to answer as he started forward. “We need some more bathrooms in
this house. Nice mark, Slate, lucky bastard.” Kace strode past them and closed
the door behind him.

Slate turned to Katie with clear pride written in his
features. “No argument there, I’m a lucky bastard.”

Katie smiled back up at the man she couldn’t live
without.
“Me, too.”

Wow, that was fast.

Chapter Nine

After they returned to their room, Slate held Katie
close and tight through the rest of the night. He lay there for a while just
soaking in his good fortune.

Smiling into her hair, he relived their time in the
bathtub. He’d enjoyed everything she was doing, but her biting him, leaving her
mark on him, totally blindsided him and had left him happier than he could ever
possibly believe anyone could be. The neck had a huge significance in the
shifter world. If she had been a shifter, it would be normal to exchange marks,
but humans did not usually have it in them to want to bite that hard. They did not
want the taste of blood in their mouths, or just simply did not have the
strength in their jaw or sharp enough teeth.

His lion was calmer than it had ever been. Even after
he first claimed Katie, he wasn’t
this
calm. His heart was filled so full of love and affection for his mate, he had
to wonder if he could actually die from happiness.

When next he woke, he listened to her even breathing
and knew she wasn’t yet awake. Daybreak was lighting up the sky. Slate could
hear the birds fill the morning glow with their chirping songs. Thinking of
daybreak brought him back to the memory of Katie’s discovery of the gargoyles.
He would have to remember that she didn’t know about other races of
paranormals. He felt a bit chagrined for not telling her about them. He could
stand by the excuse that he didn’t know she only knew about shifters and
vampires, or that they had so much else going on that there hadn’t been any
time to bring it up. All of this was true, but he wouldn’t forgive himself for
allowing such a fright to be caused when it could have been so easily
prevented. He’d had plenty of time while on the flight to tell her about them
and where she would be living. Instead, he’d filled the time with his selfish
desires, telling her all about what
he
wanted. She was too precious to him to make that mistake again. Oh he’d be
happy to turn her on and pleasing her, but he will make sure that she was safe
and cared for first.

He was about to get up and find his way to the
bathroom but suddenly remembered his promise to her.
Well damn, I really need to go.
He really didn’t want to wake her,
but he had no problems letting her know he was just following orders.
Hmm, but how to wake her?