Masked By Danger by Christa Wick

Chapter Twenty-Two

Iris meltedinto Cade’s embrace as he pulled her in close, his big hands soothing and stroking her back. “I didn’t think you’d want me there.”

A silent, slightly hysterical laugh rang inside her head. She hadn't felt relief over her decision made because so much could still go wrong.

For starters, she could hear what he was asking even though he was holding back—he wanted to know why she wanted him there. A simple enough question…which would lead to more questions.

One step at a time.

More than one answer to his question came to mind. She felt afraid. Scared shitless, really. And vulnerable. Wholly unable to protect herself during the process.

Cade could keep her safe. And if she shifted again, just as she had done while trapped in Oscar's memories, somebody had to be there to protect Esme and Lana.

"I don't want to repeat what I remember," she answered flatly.

Cade made a little noise at the back of his throat, as if he wanted to call her on the bullshit she'd just spread out in front of him. Instead, he pressed his lips against her hair, nuzzling her for a second before he asked, "Is that all?"

No, but she didn't think she could admit it, not with him sitting so close, his arm already around her, his lips a centimeter from her face.

Letting go of the hand he still held, Cade smoothed his palm across Iris's stomach so that he had her fully encircled in his arms. The kiss he had pressed to her hair moved down to her cheek, his lips whispering over her skin in a feathering of kisses inexorably aimed at her mouth.

She wanted to turn into him, to offer up her submission, to tell him that she wanted him there because she loved him, always had, and was terrified to go in alone.

But she knew where that would lead.

Hell, she was sitting where that would lead!

Pushing lightly at his chest, she cleared a little distance between them. "We can't be intimate...before..."

She wasn't sure about after, either, and Cade knew it. He lifted his dark brows at her, his mouth lightly upturned in a mischievous smile.

"Is that a magic rule, baby?"

"No." She rolled her eyes at him before turning serious. "You might regret it after you hear what I—"

"Never," he interrupted and pulled her close again, his arms tensing as if to ensure she stayed within his embrace. "You're just looking for another excuse to hide, baby. You don't ever need to hide from me again."

His teeth captured the lobe of her ear as one hand slid up the swell of her stomach. Reaching her breast, he paused, the heat of his open palm penetrating her blouse and bra as he gently chewed along the curve of her jaw.

Iris turned her face toward Cade's. His mouth captured hers as his palm slid further up to cup her swollen flesh. His thumb and index finger found the jut of her excited nipple. He gave a slow tug.

"Cade..." She repeated his name in a half-concealed moan, the jaws of her wolf locked around any protest Iris might offer.

He eased off the bed, his tongue and lips unceasing in their sweet torment as his hands gripped her knees and teased her legs apart.

The clothes she had dressed in after shifting were Esme's. Given the fact that she normally wore pants for work, the long, flowing black skirt made her feel partly naked. It didn’t help that Esme was so much shorter than Iris.

The hem that usually swished around the witch's ankles fell mid-calf on Iris.

Which meant Cade was able to push the fabric up to her thighs all that much quicker, his touch hotter than lava as his fingertips and palms flowed over her skin.

With one hand against the center of Iris's chest, Cade coaxed her onto her back, her plump bottom perched at the edge of the mattress and her legs spread as wide as they would go.

Knowing he was seconds from tasting her, Iris felt the first stab of panic and reached for the mass of dark curls slowly descending toward her sex.

Cade let Iris knot her fingers in his hair, but didn't alter his trajectory. When she lightly tried to pull him away, he shook his head. His lips played over her inside thigh, the kisses hotter than his hands had been seconds before.

"Baby, you don't understand what a well-behaved wolf I've been," he cautioned. "You're still in heat."

Kissing her other thigh, Cade let the words sink in. Both relief and regret flooded her. Their one time together hadn't resulted in a pregnancy.

He shushed her as she tensed up. Then he gave a small nip, just hard enough to flush her pale skin without breaking its surface.

"Baby, we haven't had enough time together to change your pheromones," he pressed. "You're still a walking land mine."

Her grip slowly relaxed as she realized his point before he said it.

Cade nipped her again, a little harder and through the thin material of her underwear. "Because of this."

This—her heat, her soaking wet pussy, the thin layer of perspiration clinging to her body, rich with the scent of a female alpha wolf.

A harsh, possessive growl vibrated against her thigh, followed by the shriek of fabric as he tore the panties away. Knowing that his gaze was focused on her jumping, squeezing sex, Iris tensed.

"Love, I don't care how many times these have been through the wash, they still have his scent buried in them."

His...

Esme's skirt, Esme's bra and blouse, Esme's panties carrying traces of Denver's presence while Iris was in heat. Too much for an alpha wolf like Cade to bear, especially with a runaway mate.

She lifted her mound toward his waiting mouth and found a little more stretch to widen her quivering thighs.

She heard him sigh as he lowered his head to taste her, his pace kept slow and sweet the first few seconds. His tongue slid against her clit. His thumbs lightly massaged the perimeter of her pussy.

Their mutual arousal cranked up to full-blown lust, draping over them like an all-consuming blanket.

Gentle licks turned to a rough gnawing of his lips against her flesh, his thick thumbs penetrating her sex as she rocked against his mouth, groaning her need for him to explore deeper.

Her wolf curled low in Iris's gut, reaching out to lick at her mate. Deep growls emanated from Cade's throat, his lips throttling Iris's clit as he pushed three fingers inside her. His palm crowded the exterior of her gate and then he flexed.

Weaving her fingers in his hair, Iris urged Cade closer, wanting his cock in her as she swayed haphazardly at the edge of release. Fire flared through her limbs. Only the dominance of her wolf over her magic kept witch light from erupting around her.

Hips slamming upward, she cried out Cade's name. Looping his free arm beneath her bottom and placing his hand across Iris's mound to hold her down, he dropped his head a few inches.

Tongue replaced fingers. He licked slowly inside her core. Splaying the fingers of the hand over Iris's mound, he found her clit once more with his thick thumb.

Stroking above while licking deep into the center, he began to dominate Iris further below. The jealous star of her ass yielded slowly to one finger, then two.

She howled, her body in a fever pitch, bucking against his face, wetting him with a flood of her juices as she came. She released her stranglehold on his head and wrapped her fingers around the edge of the mattress.

Her nails stabbed at the bedding, witch light dancing at their tips and threatening to ignite the material as she climaxed again.

With a final roll and pitch, she came to a stop, gently squirming against his touch, mewling like a cat instead of the she-wolf she was.

"Don't worry, love," he said, breaking contact with her. "I'm not even close to done with this sweet pussy."

She had less than a second to process Cade's wicked grin before he flipped her onto her stomach and pushed the skirt up over her ass.

A firm spank startled her.

The muscles of her sex tightened as Cade simultaneously pushed in. Another pulsing second and then he ballooned inside her.

Iris screamed into the mattress as pleasure overloaded her senses. She felt the weight of his chest against her back, his hands knotting in her hair and then twisting so that she turned toward his face.

He thrust his tongue into her mouth, the cream she had released for him coating her taste buds.

Cade kissed like he fucked, rough and demanding one minute, gently circling the next so that she rode a roller coaster of too much and not enough.

"You're never getting away from me again," he warned, his wolf holding her down as he took what was his—what had always been his. "I'm yours for as long as I live and then I'm coming back to haunt you, baby."

Iris moaned, wondering during the interval between heartbeats how Cade had maintained the capacity for speech when she had utterly lost hers. She lifted against him, pussy and thighs squeezing to magnify the already overwhelming size of his cock and the wolf knot at its base.

Cade growled and she knew he wrestled with the need to release.

"No, love." He straightened, finding a hidden reserve of control she didn't possess. "Not until I hear you howl my name again."

His hands took ownership of her ass, the palms and fingers on the outside, roughly manipulating the full flesh, as both thumbs gently teased the other hole open.

"Howling my name," he repeated, stretching her pussy and ass, rolling and diving until he had her panting for just enough air to remain conscious. "Admitting once and for all that you are my mate."

"Yes." Her high-pitched whine begged him to take her over the edge a second time and finish claiming her with his own climax. "Your mate..."

"You're only halfway there, baby." Cade chuckled, his motions slowing.

Wrong, wrong, wrong.

She was all the way there, her tongue frozen as she jerked beneath him, both holes jerking and sucking, drawing him deeper, savoring that final burst of inflation before his cock unleashed inside her.

"Cade..." His name erupted from her, starting as a trembling howl that morphed into a breathless moan as pleasure expanded and simply shattered into a kaleidoscope of bliss.