Masked By Danger by Christa Wick

Chapter Thirty

"Are you saying Merlin, Merlin?"Cade asked as he and Iris finished putting away their clothes in their new living quarters. "I thought Merlin was a he."

Shaking her head, she gave him a light jab in the ribs with her elbow, then moved the suitcase off the bed.

"The events recorded in the human world were polluted by male historians, of course." Pausing, she playfully stuck out her tongue. "The sorcerer was a she. Her name was Meralyn, not Merlin. And she was one of the All-Mothers who lived during the Dark Ages."

"You know this from the artifact?" he asked, sneaking his hands onto her hips and attempting to steer her toward the bed.

"I know it from Esme," Iris corrected. "She gave me the artifact to try to read, laid hands on me when I couldn't pull anything out of it, then tried a Vulcan mind meld—"

Cade's rough laugh was wet enough to fleck a little spit on Iris's cheek.

"Gross," she laughed back, pushing him away to wipe her face on her sleeve. "Anyway, I couldn't unlock so much as a fart from the artifact. The story is interesting, though. I looked up the wiki on Merlin and it says one of his powers was shape-shifting. And, in some of the legends, Merlin was suspended in a crystal cave. So was All-Mother Meralyn after a sickness came over her and she lost her mind—but not her magic."

A shiver passed through Cade at the thought of an All-Mother's immense power being wielded by a damaged psyche. He shook off the sensation, then pulled Iris back into his arms.

"So, is the head of the Witches' Council done trying to crown you as The Nakari?" he asked, his quick fingers undoing the top button on her blouse before she realized his intent.

"I don't think so," she sighed as the next button surrendered to his touch. "She just got tuckered out and Denver made her take a nap. Hopefully a female cub with a caul will be born soon and I can just be, well, whatever the hell I am."

"Devastatingly sexy," Cade offered, his gaze hot as he maneuvered Iris to the edge of the bed.

She sat down, lifted her arms as he peeled off the blouse.

"Deliciously hot," he added, sinking to his knees to loosen the belt around her pants.

"Hold on there," Iris said, the nail of her index finger pushing lightly against the flesh at the top of his breastbone. "What did you and Denver discuss before he sent us packing for the night?"

He rolled his eyes.

"That ginger pain in the ass wants me to be his second."

Iris considered the proposal for a minute.

"If you wanted, you could be the clan leader back in West Virginia—or Tennessee."

His head bobbed in agreement.

"But…" she prodded.

"But we're taking the fight to the Hunters now," he answered. "And the battles will be led from this clan. Not to mention that, whatever deliciously hot, devastatingly sexy thing you turn out to be, you still need to learn from the witches. Need to teach them more than a few things, too."

Smiling, Iris retracted her hand, then braced both arms against the mattress as she lifted her hips. Cade dipped his head, then he offered a hungry growl as he stripped off her pants.

Cade looked up, his gaze glowing hot with the power of his wolf.

"I'm hungry, baby."

Studying him, the angle of his hips, the glowing eyes, and the way the wintergreen and pine of his scent had mellowed to fresh, wet grass, Iris bit at her bottom lip. She inhaled more deeply, her nipples hardening as he rose up and planted a hand on each side of her shoulders.

His gaze retreated even as he continued to hover above her.

"I'm sorry, love. If you're not ready..."

Iris snagged two of his belt loops with her fingers. She held him fast, her purple gaze looking up at him as a smile eased across her face.

"I will always be ready for you," she promised as she tugged his shirt from his jeans then slowly teased her wolf by unthreading Cade's belt from the loops.

He stopped her. Hands cupping her face, Cade coaxed Iris into meeting his gaze. "I love you."

Eyes drifting shut, she rolled her lips then nodded. Swallowing, she looked up at him. "I love you, too."

She sucked her bottom lip in, hesitating. He shushed her before she could signal any kind of retreat. With a slow burning caution, he straddled her then softly kissed each cheek. Each fall of his lips voiced a promise for their future.

"Together, we'll unwind the damage Hunters created," he said.

She offered a small nod, but couldn't control the increasing pace of her breathing. It wasn't the sexy kind of panting, either. It was a panic attack in the making.

His mouth slid to hover just above hers. Then his lips softly brushed hers as his hips settled between her thighs. She felt the bulge of him, the hardness. His tongue slipped into her mouth, the gesture tender.

"You won't lose your independence, baby," he whispered against her ear.

The need to hyperventilate eased. Her chest expanded slowly, her nipples brushing against his chest to draw a needy groan from her she-wolf.

"Equals?" Iris managed to ask, holding a tight rein on the need to squirm against Cade.

Unsurprisingly, he had anticipated the fear tugging at her before she could name it herself. It wasn't the recently refreshed memory of Hank or all the violence she had witnessed in the last few days, beginning with the death of her closest human friend for the better half of the last decade.

It was twelve years of knowing, every single day, she couldn't count on anyone or anything other than her own strength to survive and now, quite suddenly, knowing she had to give up some of that absolute control to remain with the clan and, most importantly, with her mate.

"Everywhere but in here," Cade rasped, answering her question before biting lightly at the curve of her throat. He slipped his hand under the waistband of her panties to cup and squeeze her mound. "Not with this."

Gladly, she thought and pushed her hips upward to fill his palm more fully with her arousal. Slipping his fingers into her tight, wet pussy, a strangled groan fell past his lips.

"Damn, your body drives me so crazy, baby."

Straightening, Cade pulled the last of his belt through the end loop and let it drop to the floor. He thumbed open the button on his jeans, his hot gaze on Iris. Slowly, he pulled the zipper down to the base, and then he stopped.

Tease!

Iris squirmed, her plush bottom pushing down against the mattress then lifting as her thighs tensed. She bit at her bottom lip, denting it with the desire she felt for her mate.

"Baby, you haven't agreed with me yet," Cade coaxed as he tormented her by pushing his briefs down just enough for the head of his erection to breach the confines of the fabric, the tip bouncing forward for one pulsing second as if lasciviously winking its desire at her.

"Not here," she hastily agreed. "Here you have my total surrender…my submission."

Victory danced in the deep chocolate of his pupils. One hand planted on the mattress, with his jeans and underwear down past his hips, Cade pushed aside the gusset of her panties.

She squirmed. He lost his grip on the cloth. With a hungry growl, he ripped the fabric covering her wet pussy and tossed the material onto the floor. Cupping her bare mound, he squeezed again.

A flood of moisture released at the pressure and skin-on-skin contact. Cade kneaded her heated flesh, teasing her clit, pulling and tugging until she was panting, nearly thrashing, wild and uninhibited, beneath his touch.

Just as Iris was ready to climax, he stopped.

"Get rid of the bra, love."

She fumbled her way out of the contraption, her hips questing upward the entire time.

Cade leaned over her, pressed his muscular chest against her soft breasts. The thick head of his cock rubbed against her clit. He pushed forward, running the length of his shaft over that sensitive, swollen spine as his mouth claimed hers. Hips pivoted, the motion a relentless grinding as his tongue thrust past her lips.

His fingers skimmed along her sides to seize her nipples and pinch.

Mercy...he knew just what to do to drive her crazy.

"I'm going to leave you sore," he warned before he abandoned her mouth and scored the sensitive skin of her neck with his teeth. "But you'll heal, baby."

Hell, yes, she would.

Iris gasped from the slow, hard pull on her breasts. Her pussy clenched at the same time, muscle crowding muscle as her sex wept for him to fill it with the cock that still rubbed insistently at her trembling core.

His hands darted to her hips. Gripping them roughly, he pulled her ass to the absolute edge of the bed. He pushed her thighs farther apart, splaying her pussy open and forcing a downward tilt to her mound.

Forcing Iris to maintain the position in which he had placed her, Cade pushed his rigid, swollen cock downward. His knees dipped then straightened, the fat head of his erection thrusting into Iris.

She shuddered, groaning from how the tip of his big cock stretched her and the forward cant of her pelvis increased the inward pressure on her clit. His ass bobbed, the motion delivering tight rubs just inside her pussy. She grabbed his biceps. Her nails dug into the firm flesh as a full-body quiver ran through her. She screamed, not in pain, but at the overwhelming intensity of pleasure.

His hand twisted in the length of her hair to command full control of her head. He tilted it back, her neck hyperextending to force her lips open. He invaded her mouth again, the hard thrusts of his tongue at odds with the little rolls and shallow pumps he made below.

Despite her promise of submission, Iris wrapped her fingers around his cock and desperately urged him to penetrate her more deeply. She wanted him in her, knotted, too swollen to retreat.

She stroked his shaft, her pulse accelerating wildly when she reached the point a few inches above the base where he had already knotted. She whimpered, knowing he would slowly feed the wide diameter into her sex, stretching her more than she could imagine, the tension stacking higher and higher until he was snugly locked in place.

Leaning forward, Cade grabbed her head with both hands. He straightened, bringing her with him, and then he fell forward. His weight carried them to the center of the mattress and pinned her beneath his massive body. His arms moved in a masterful blur as he hooked the underside of her thighs. Her bottom lifted from the mattress and then he cupped the crook of each knee and spread Iris as far as she could physically spread.

His gaze glowed hot enough to burn holes in her flesh. The heat licked at her nipples, every part of her on fire as Cade sank deeper.

She felt the top of his knot reach the entrance to her pussy as her wet, pulsing pussy drew him in one broad inch at a time.

Iris jerked, everything below the middle of her spine immobile with her climax. Just her pussy moved, coiling around him, squeezing, questing, fluttering until Cade threw his head back and howled his own release.

The primal sound unfroze Iris's body. She ground upward, milking his cock as the balloon swelled and jerked, fresh load after fresh load jetting into the tight space to soak her insides. He filled her until his cum and her juices escaped the seal their bodies had made, coating his heavy balls and her quivering thighs.

Spent, thoroughly claimed, the room around Iris spinning from her euphoria, she melted into the mattress. Cade dropped his head, his gaze caressing hers before his mouth found her throat and gently sucked while her last ebbing contractions played out.

Rolling to his side next to her, Cade smoothed his hand up to the top swell of Iris's stomach. His thumb rubbed lightly along the side, his expression contemplative. She closed her eyes, smiling because she knew exactly what her mate was thinking.

Feeling the brush of his lips against her belly, followed by the tender rasp of his voice when he spoke, her smile broadened.

"Soon," Cade said. "Soon we'll have everything."