Under the Alpha's Protection (4 page)

Raoul joined her at the bar and slid a plate of food across to her, mindful not to touch her. He was sure his wolf would lose it completely if he did. Already it was far too close to the surface, and he kept his eyes downcast in case his animal showed. He didn't want to scare her away. Nikita needed to stay close to him, to keep her safe.

The sound of her appreciative moans made his head shoot up. Eyes closed she licked her fork with such a look of bliss on her face, you'd have thought he'd served her some delicacy instead of a simple omelet.  Raoul groaned under his breath
, and her eyes fluttered open and connected with his. Neither one of them said anything for the space of several anxious heartbeats, and then she smiled. A shy, utterly adorable smile that pulled him in and under her spell. If he hadn't already been in love with her, right now would have been the moment he'd have tumbled headlong into oblivion.

He had to clear his throat several times before he could get his voice to work
, and her eyes widened a fraction. Her pupils dilated, and she put the fork back down on her now half empty plate with a far too loud clang.

"You do wonders for a man's ego, you know," he finally said and inwardly rolled his eyes at the inane comment.

A giggle escaped her, and the little minx did roll her eyes.

"I hardly think your ego needs any more stroking."

Raoul raised an eyebrow at that, and rocked back on the legs of his chair.

"What is that supposed to mean, squirt?"

"Well, you know." She dropped her gaze and pushed the leftover food around her plate, until he dropped the chair back down, and put his hand on her fingers, stilling the frantic movement. A surge of heat and electricity shot up his arm, and Nikita inhaled sharply and tried to pull her hand away. When he wouldn't let her, she bit her lip, and his wolf snarled.

"Don't do that. The only marks I want to see on your body are the ones I put there."

Now, why the fuck had he said that? Instead of continuing to pull away, his little human smiled, and finally looked at him again.

"Don’t say things like that unless you mean them. I'm not one of your Barbie doll girlfriends, you know. You've never shown the slightest bit of interest in me. So don't think that I'm an easy lay, just because I've fallen in your lap, so to speak."

"When exactly did I give the impression that you would be an easy lay, squirt?" His annoyance at her assumption made his voice gruffer than he intended it to be, and she flinched.

"You didn't. I'm sorry." Her answer was barely above a whisper and tugged at his heart strings.

"Come here."

He let go off her hand and opened his arms wide, in the age old offer of comfort, and like a frightened foal she complied. She burrowed into him as though her life depended on it, and he pulled her close and simply held her, his wolf for once content at having his mate in his arms.

"What's this all about, squirt?"

Chapter Four

Surrounded by Raoul, his thundering heart beat under her ear, the world narrowed to just this moment in his arms, and her worries flew away. He stroked lazy circles over her back, careful to not to touch the areas marked by the claws, and she tensed.

"Will I have scars?"

He stilled his movement, and his deep sigh reverberated through her. Wordlessly he picked her up and carried her back into the bedroom, and she blinked when he deposited her in front of the full length mirror he had set up in one corner. From this angle she had a clear view of the bed behind them, and heat rose in her cheeks when it dawned on her why he had that mirror there. He wasn't a vain man, so she'd wondered why it was there. He cupped her chin and raised her head up until her gaze connected with his in the mirror.

"What do you see when you look into the mirror,
girl?"

The way he said girl sent moisture seeping past her pussy lips
, and his nostrils flared, as though he could smell how wet she was.

His fingers dug into her skin with just enough force to focus her on him.

"Well, answer me. I want to know why you have such a goddamn low opinion of yourself. What. Do. You. See?"

"I-I…" Nikita flinched when his grip grew painful
, and he slid his hand down to her throat, and squeezed. She pulled back in a desperate attempt to draw air into her lungs, panic clouding her brain for that terrifying second until she realized that she could indeed breathe, as long as she stayed pinned to him.

He raised an eyebrow and cocked his head waiting for her answer, and he released his hold on her slightly when she swallowed hard.

"I see me. Just little old me. I'm nothing special."

Raoul waited and simply continued to look at her, holding her captive with his eyes alone, until every nerve ending tingled, and she squeezed her thighs together to relieve the insistent throbbing in her clit.

"Don't even think about it,
girl.
Trust me, my fingers are itching to put you over my knee, and to spank that perfect ass until it's red raw."

Heaven help her, those words should not turn her on so much that her juices were now trickling down her inner thigh. He was bound to notice
, and she screwed her eyes shut so she wouldn’t have to witness it in the mirror. Instantly he moved. One hand wrapped in her hair he pulled her head up with an almost feral growl, and kicked her legs apart with his foot.

"I said, look at yourself in the mirror and tell me what you see."

Her scalp stung, and the sharp pain brought tears to her eyes.

"Please, Raoul…"

The slap to her outer thigh hurt, and she flinched. He rubbed the sting away and ran his stubble roughened jaw across the sensitive skin of her neck. Her knees would have buckled, had he not wrapped an arm around her waist to hold her up, and pushed his knee between her legs to support her.

"Trust me, squirt, you don't want to get me angry. I asked you something. I expect an answer." His voice was firm
, but his features had gentled, and she lost herself in the tender feelings she saw in his eyes. He really had the most beautiful eyes. As though he read her thoughts, he smiled and dropped a kiss on the spot on her neck where her heart seemed intent to be beating itself out of her body.

"Shall I tell you what I see?" he asked.

Nikita swallowed nervously and nodded.

"Use your words, baby."

She blinked at the unexpected endearment, and he focused her attention back on the mirror with a gentle tug to her hair.

"Ye-es, please, Sir." She bit her lip, when he grew tense at the salutation offered to him. Had she gotten this wrong
, too? Did he not want the title? According to her books that's what a Dom ought to be called. It was a sign of respect, and she had no doubt in her mind that right now Raoul was in full Dom mode.

She breathed a sigh of relief when he relaxed slightly.

"Do not call me that, unless you mean it and you're ready for the consequences, squirt." His deep baritone was the lowest she had ever heard it, and gooseflesh broke out over her body.

"And if I do mean it?"

****

Raoul's wolf howled his joy, and he shut his eyes, and took a deep breath to help him rein in his beast. Nonetheless he knew his beast was showing in his eyes when he looked at her. Nikita's breath hitched
, and she blinked rapidly as though to clear her vision, but he didn’t sense any fear from her. Just full blown feminine arousal and need that matched his own.

Fuck it.

One kiss. There could be no harm in just one kiss. Before he could change his mind, he claimed her mouth, and he knew instantly that one kiss would never be enough. He ran his tongue along the seam of her mouth, coaxing her to open for him, and when she did so on a little whimper of need he tasted heaven. She tasted of strawberries and chocolate and the coffee she'd drunk earlier, and that indefinable something that was all Nikita. Without breaking the kiss he turned her around in his arms and lifted her up against the mirror. She gasped into his mouth and then wrapped her legs around his waist. All that hot wetness next to his over-eager cock sent his wolf over the edge, and she winced when his claws ran out and pricked her skin.

He deepened the kiss further, grinding his erection into her sodden pussy, until she flexed against him of her own accord. He ought to stop her, but this felt way too good, and he could tell by her increased scent and her choppy breaths how close she was to her release. Faster and faster he thrust against her, the movement sweet agony on his dick, and he fucked her mouth with his tongue in tandem to the thrusts of his hips.

Her breaths grew choppier still, and he wrenched his lips off hers to be able to see her fall apart. When she did, it almost sent him over the edge, too. Head thrown back, her mouth open in a silent “O” her whole body tensed and flushed. Beads of perspiration dotted her adorable little nose, and then she came apart with the cutest little mewls of completion.

He continued thrusting against her until he'd rung every last tremor from her, and her eyes fluttered open again.

Her passion clouded gaze sought his, and he released his hold on her slowly. The descent down his body was pure torture, and she gasped when he turned her around again, and took a step back so she could see herself in the mirror again.

"I see a beautiful woman with curves I want to fuck every inch of. A woman whose scent drives me crazy. I love how wet you are for me, how you ride my crotch in your pursuit of passion. The little sounds you make as you fall apart, the way my jeans are soaked through with your need for me. I love every inch of your curves
, and I don’t give a flying fuck if your back will carry scars. I'll lick every inch of them and then eat out your pussy until you scream my name, until you know I own you, body, soul, and mind."

He paused to see what effect his words were having on her, mindful of the fact that he was half shifted. Never in his life had he had such trouble keeping his wolf under control. His eyes had bled to yellow, his claws had run out, and his fangs pricked the side of his lips, yet she hadn't seemed to notice. Or if she had, it didn't send her cowering away from him. Quite the opposite, in fact. She pushed her ass into his groin, and she brought her arms up, and grabbed hold of his hair, pulling his head down to her level. The tentative kiss she dropped on his jaw had him clench every muscle in his body with the effort it took not to howl in joy.

"Do you really mean it? You want me?"

****

Instead of answering her, the world tilted and all the air left her lungs in a big
whoosh,
when Raoul threw her over his shoulder. In a few long legged strides he'd crossed the distance to his bed, and before she could blink she was lying face down over his lap with his shirt pulled up and falling over her head. Thus robbed off her vision she could only feel, and a shiver of anticipation went through her, when he massaged the globes of her ass with his hands. He grabbed full handfuls and squeezed. By rights she should have been mortified that he could do that so easily, but his appreciative murmurs, and the way he ran his fingers through her soaking wet slit robbed her off any ability to think. All she could do was feel.

"I want you to count these spanks, squirt. I'll only use my hands
this time
."  He chuckled at the shiver that went through her body. "Ah, I see, my little naughty girl likes that idea. You'll take as many of these as you can. If it gets too much, your safe word is red. Are we clear?"

"Yes."

He yanked her hair, and she flinched.

"Yes, Sir," she hastily added.

"Good girl, now count."

The first slap took her breath away with the sheer intensity behind it. This wasn't a playful swat on the backside. No, this was a no holds barred smack that echoed around the room and left her ass on fire.

"One." She panted the word, and another smack followed on the other cheek this time.

"Two."

Slap.

"Three."

Slap
.

"Four."

Tears streamed down her face, as the blows continued to fall. Raoul hit a different spot every time until her butt and upper thighs were a hot stinging mess of pain that morphed into arousal so intense Nikita could barely stand it. Higher and higher she climbed until with one last exhale she counted twenty-five, and he stopped.

Curiously bereft, her empty pussy clenched in desperate need, but Raoul sat her up, and pulled her into a hug. With an audible rip his shirt fell off her body
, and he wrapped a soft blanket around her shoulders. Her hair was tucked behind her ears, and cool liquid touched her parched lips.

"Drink, squirt."

Nikita didn't even think to argue, so enthralling was his deep voice, and she drank the cool liquid eagerly, until he took the water bottle away and his hot, firm lips touched hers. Her barely banked down arousal flared into an inferno again, and she moaned when he broke the kiss and licked along her jaw. His curiously rough tongue reminded her of her cat at home, and created exquisite friction along her sweat slicked skin.

"Get on the bed for me and lie down on your front." The whispered words into her ear galvanized her into action, and he murmured his approval.

"Good girl. I'm going to restrain you now, my sweet girl. Just your arms to start with, and then I'm going to fuck you."

She couldn’t stop her moan at those words, and he laughed, the sound so low and sexy, Nikita was sure she could come from listening to his voice alone. He ran a hand down her spine until he reached her butt, and then he scraped his nails along the tender flesh. The burn was pain and bliss all wrapped into one, and she jumped when he parted her ass cheeks.

He dropped a kiss on her anus and slipped a finger into her pussy causing her to pant, and her internal muscles pulled tight, and tried to draw the digit inside. Raoul laughed softly and slipped another finger into her desperately clenching cunt at the same time as his tongue pushed through the tight ring of her muscle that had never been breached before. Warmth spread through her as that tongue probed in tune with his fingers in her pussy. He took her right to the edge and then withdrew.

"Nooooo." The high-pitched wail leaving her mouth didn't sound like her voice at all. Raoul paid no heed to her whimpering. Instead he grasped one of her arms and pulled it upwards, and then there was the sound of Velcro and something soft and thick wrapped around her wrist.

He ran his finger underneath the restraint, and then his face appeared in her blurry vision. Unlike earlier when her mind had played tricks on her, this time round all she saw was Raoul in all his ruggedly handsome glory. Her mouth went dry at the sight of his bare chest. He must have somehow got undressed when she wasn't paying attention, too caught up in the myriad of sensations he'd already coaxed from her body.

If this was what kinky sex did, then Nikita couldn't understand why more people didn't embrace this lifestyle. Never in her life had she been this turned on. Raoul repeated the process to her other arm until she was tied and couldn't move.

"What's your safe word, squirt?"

"Red, but I don't need it. Please don't stop."

"Good girl."

The approval in his voice washed over her senses, and Nikita was close to tears, so overwhelmed was she by the intensity of the moment.

With her breasts squashed into the bed, her nipples chafed against the cover, and she bucked when he slid his hands under her and pinched each nipple in turn. With his naked chest pressed against her back, exerting pressure on the left-over soreness there, Nikita felt owned, and used, and she reveled in that feeling, as he rolled each hard nub between his fingertips and pulled. Darts of arousal shot through her body to her clit, and she couldn't help her breathless moan.

"Oh, that feels so good."

He kissed her shoulder and withdrew again. Tiny stings to her back made her gasp. Each sting was soothed by soft lips.

"Turn your head and look at us in the mirror. I want you to see me fuck you. I want you to see my cock plundering your sweet cunt, so that you'll know who owns you."