Mated By Fate by Christa Wick

Chapter Ten

Near dusk,Seth threw his van in park, the bumper almost on the front steps of the witch's porch. He bounded from the vehicle, his throat clamping down on a growl. The lights in the house were on, the front door open, the screen shut to keep the insects out. He heard the witch's voice, but knew something was wrong.

He couldn't feel Lana. It had taken a quarter mile of distance last night before he'd lost the sense of her nearness. If someone had taken her or she left after Denver's little show that morning, he'd break every bone in his second's body—after Seth had Lana safely back with him.

He ripped the door open, the latch on the other side breaking like a cheap piece of plastic. He shouted her name.

"I'm right here."

Seth spun to his left to find Lana wide-eyed and a little breathless at his entrance. He quickly assessed her appearance, finding no signs of injury. Looking right, he saw the witch on the other side of the kitchen island, her expression a little nervous and her hand wrapped around a silver sugar bowl. Not caring that Esme had been his friend since childhood and was as much his family as any shifter in his pack, he growled at the woman.

The soft hairs along her bare arm stood up and she took a step closer to the island's center.

"What have you done to her?" Seth snarled.

"Only what I asked her to do." Lana pressed her palm against the back of his shoulder.

The heat of her touch penetrated, calming him—until her words sank in. She'd asked for this, whatever this was. Some sort of cloaking charm, he guessed. He turned slowly and said nothing as he studied her face.

It struck him again how beautiful she was. Dark, finely arched brows framed eyes he could stare into forever. When she blinked, he physically felt the sweep of her thick lashes against his skin. Her lips parted, the sight of their soft contours birthing a low growl of need inside him.

Without asking if he could, he reached out, wrapped a hand around her hip and pulled her closer. Unlike the female shifters he'd known his entire life, with their hard, athletic frames, she was a cushion of softness. He squeezed, not enough to hurt her, just hard enough to feel her flesh yield. More softness was to be had. The plump thighs would mold around his cock when he finally sank into her as would that sweet round ass when he took her from behind.

Her gaze grew larger and he realized he hadn't quite stopped growling. He turned his head, his gaze still mostly on Lana but wanting the witch to know she was the target of his command. "Leave."

No sound of movement. His mouth hardened until Lana gave a faint nod, her attention focused beyond his shoulder. A few seconds later, the screen door lightly slapped shut and he heard Esme's footsteps disappear off the porch.

Lana swallowed, her gaze bouncing everywhere but in his direction. "She said you wouldn't like this."

"I don't." He curled his free hand around her other hip and pushed his wolf at her.

Seeing the hot flush that rose to her cheeks and the tremble that ran through her head to toe, he knew that whatever the cloaking charm was, it was a one-way street. She would feel everything he pushed at her.

Lana wet her bottom lip, Seth's gaze drawn to its quiver.

"She said you would take it as my rejecting you."

"You're not?" A small flame of hope sputtered inside his chest. Denver's little show had cost him, but Lana was still here. That had to count for something.

"I just want you to see what you're reacting to." She gestured loosely at her lush frame before taking hold of his wrists, her hands too small to circle them.

Seth knew she wanted him to release her. Still holding onto her hips, he opened a little more distance between them. His gaze traveled down her body. His cock straightened inside his pants, the tip crawling up toward his belt line as his flesh stiffened.

"You are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen," he rasped.

More than that, he thought. She was the most desirable, the most fuckable. He needed to be inside her, had already spent a restless night imagining it over and over.

He licked his lips, inhaled deeply. The charm had buried her unique aroma as a latent, but the warm, musky feminine scents rolling off her were enough to drive him crazy.

Looking back up, he saw her gaze unfocused. The mix of surprise and languor in her face and the inviting part of her lips made his cock ache.

"I hope she warned you that you can't escape feeling me. That I can push—"

She gasped as his wolf focused its energy on her sex, pushed between her legs, licked and burrowed against her sweet, slick folds.

She nodded. Her full breasts rose and fell as she breathed deeply, each intake coming a little quicker than the last.

He could push her to climax with just his energy, but it would be so much better buried inside her or his lips, tongue and teeth wringing one exhausted release after another from her lush body.

"I'm already deep inside you, baby," he growled. "Twisting…pumping…"

A violent tremble ripped through Lana. Smelling a fresh burst of her cream, he groaned. His thumb caressed her hip as he leaned closer. Her breasts moved against his chest, the hard little nipples dragging up and down.

He pressed until he felt the soft swell of her stomach against his erection. Dropping his mouth close to her ear, he whispered his reassurances.

"We're not them--Denver and Esme. It's different. You're blood, even if you can't shift. We’re meant for one another."

She tried to shake her head but he stopped her, his fingers threading through the thick dark strands to clasp the back of her skull. He'd never gotten that kiss last night. If he had, Denver's performance never would have happened. There would be no question of Lana wanting to hide from him.

Time to remedy that mistake.

Pulling his wolf back, Seth claimed Lana's mouth in slow, measured steps. It started with a brush of his lips against hers. A more insistent press followed as his bottom lip swept up from below her mouth then pressed back down to part her lips. His tongue explored the narrow opening, licking and curling until her jaw relaxed.

His arm slid around her waist, cinching her tight against his body. Fingers ensnared in her hair, Seth forced Lana to tilt her head back, the gentle strain opening her even further. His tongue pushed all the way in, moving along her top palate before retreating entirely. He sucked her bottom lip, gnawed softly at it before his tongue invaded again.

His palm flat against the small of her back, he tugged, relaxed, slowly and repeatedly bumped his hard cock against her lower stomach as he demanded more of her mouth. Breaking the kiss, he waited just long enough for her to suck in a mouthful of air before he took her again.

When she finally trembled in his embrace, Seth quickly bent down. His arm landed against the back of her knees to collapse them. Scooping her up, he carried her down the hall. Inside the guest bedroom, he pushed the door shut with his foot then placed Lana in the center of the bed. When he put one knee on the mattress, her gaze refocused, alarm registering in those green pools of mystery.

She brought her hands up, shielding herself as he reached for her. "We can’t—"

"We are." Capturing one of her hands, he kissed the ends of her fingers, sucked one rounded tip into his mouth as his other hand worked the button of her slacks open.

Catching his intent, she gasped and tried to stop him. He grabbed both of her wrists, brought her hands up over her head and draped his body across hers. Her wrists were delicate, easy for him to hold with one hand.

Kissing her, Seth undid the buttons on her blouse. Her whispered protests deepened to soft moans. Her clenched muscles relaxed, her hips ardently rolling beneath him.

He pushed the edges of her blouse apart.

Hoping for a front release on her bra, his gaze landed between her lush breasts. A silver pin held a small sprig of white petals in place on the piece of clothing. Seeing the familiar flowers, he growled and reached for the pin. "Witch's lace."

Lana clutched at the sprig, her grip crushing some of the petals. She shook her head. "You have to go—"

He'd deal with the charm later, when her will and sweet flesh were melting beneath his tongue. Cocking his hips, he slid lower down her body, still caging the energy of his wolf. He would make her surrender as a man, then lavish her with every drop of the magic he possessed.

Lana's eyes fluttered shut, her mound cresting as the thick, hard line of his erection pushed once along its seam before moving on. Halfway down the mattress, Seth tugged her slacks and shoes off. Using his broad shoulders as a wedge, he muscled her thighs apart. She tried to push at him, her touch only inflaming his desire. The panties came off in two pieces, the air stirred by rending them ripe with her juices.

Instinct drove his mouth straight to their source, his tongue savoring her honey. His hands gripped her full hips, holding her down as he started to suckle her clit.

She stopped fighting, stopped arguing. The only sounds coming from her were the soft coos gurgling in her throat and the tense draw of her nails against the bed's linen as she arched her hips and sought a tighter seal against his mouth.

His hands free, he undid his jeans and kicked off his boots, his mouth never breaking contact with her flesh. He surfed up her body, shedding the bottom half of his clothes.

His T-shirt came off the same way her panties had—in pieces. With his cock nestled against her clit, he tugged the blouse down her arms. He watched the fabric move over her body, saw the silver thread that had been quickly worked into the side stitching, the ends freshly cut.

Seth needed her completely naked, stripped of the charms the witch had dressed her in. He tossed the blouse on the floor, pushed his hands between her body and the bed to unhook the bra. She was too far gone to protest any more, her body wiggling beneath him, her pale throat convulsing with moans.

When the bra left her body, Lana's scent hit him like a brick in the face.

His mate, his woman.

Grabbing her head with both hands, he buried his face against her neck, his teeth pressed against the sensitive flesh. He wanted to spear into her and ease the ache that had settled into his swollen balls. She was wet, ready, her need dripping onto the linen beneath her.

With a rough growl, he tore himself away from the pulsing temptation of her throat and slid down her body to continue feasting on her sex. Her moans escalated, turned guttural and fierce as her hips slammed left, down, crested up, her clit swollen and throbbing beneath his tongue.

She sank her fingers into his hair, the nails scratching his scalp as her mound pressed harder against his mouth. Her surrender was near, her release closer still. He fastened his lips to her, his tongue working the small pearl guarded by the tender hood with featherlight strokes.

Bringing his hand between her legs, he slowly buried two fingers inside her. Her channel gripped him, flexing rhythmically as her uterus contracted. Her clit bobbed against his tongue, the start of her climax already upon her. Her legs tensed, her pussy tightening as her hips jerked up.

She cried out—his name, a string of unintelligible words, desperate whispers, promises—and then she unleashed her sweet nectar, drowning him, wetting his questing tongue over and over until the waves rolling through her finally subsided.