Dark Wolf Unbound (Heart of the Shifter #2)(21)

She swallowed, suddenly nervous, but before she could think about it, he  took her mouth in a devastating kiss of unilateral possession. She  wanted to turn around in his arms and kiss him, but his forearm across  her breasts kept her still, pinned against him, so all she could do was  turn her head. His kiss was hot and demanding, no longer holding back,  shattering all her defenses. She kissed him back, desperate for what he  could give her, but as soon as she kissed him, he slipped his fingers  between her damp folds.

Again, he swallowed her gasp with his kiss, his fingers moving with  skilled finesse, stirring up responses she hadn't thought she was  capable of anymore. Her body was slick beneath his fingers, responding  to him, but he didn't abate with his kisses, and his forearm pressed  more tightly against her nipples.

Every part of her body was on fire, an inferno setting her body ablaze.  It had been so long, so unbearably long since she'd been with a man,  since she'd trusted one enough to allow him to be close to her. She  barely knew Jace, but at the same time, she knew so much about him. She  understood his intense loyalty, his unflagging moral code, and the guilt  that weighed him down every step he took. She knew that somehow he was  standing there, holding her, when his injuries should have dragged him  down. He was the courage she sought in her own life, the loyalty she  tried to have to those who mattered to her, the strength she needed so  badly.

He deepened the kiss, turning it from passion into something deeper.  Something more. A claiming. As he kissed her, his fingers slipped inside  her, making her entire body clench with desire. He was merciless and  unrelenting as he touched her, his kisses unending, his fingers moving  with constant, delicate perfection. She shifted against him, her hips  moving on their own. A small cry slipped from her lips, but he absorbed  the sound with his kiss, moving his fingers across her most sensitive  bud, harder and faster until-

The orgasm hit her with shocking force. Her body shook, and her legs  almost gave out as it rocked through her, seizing her with ruthless,  searing fire. Jace held her up, never breaking the kiss, as she twisted  against him, fighting to stay upright, trying to find a way to somehow  hold in the screams tearing at her throat. He pressed the heel of his  hand to her folds, prolonging the climax, and somehow giving her the  strength to hold it inside her when all she wanted to do was succumb.                       
       
           



       

It felt like forever until it finally eased, releasing her into his arms  in an exhausted, depleted state. Abby rested her head against him,  trying to catch her breath as Jace withdrew his hand from her pants,  setting it back upon her stomach. Once again, he spread his fingers  across her scars, as if he were trying to pour his own strength into her  battered body.

She closed her eyes, heat filling her cheeks as she listened to the  sound of wolves searching Kiernan's cabin. Had she really just done  that? Let Jace give her an orgasm while standing on a dark stairway. On  the other side of the door was a pack hunting them, and somewhere below  them were a trio of shifters. It was so not her, but at the same time,  there was something incredibly liberating about it.

She'd broken every sensible rule, and she'd allowed Jace to touch her in  a way she hadn't let anyone in a long, long time. She'd trusted him  enough to stop paying attention to the wolves, and to turn herself over  to him completely. She'd trusted him enough to let him see what she was  really like, to give him the chance to reject her...and he hadn't.

Jace pressed a kiss to the side of her neck again, eliciting a small  smile from her. This moment was their secret, an intimacy in the silent  darkness. Somehow, it felt less real in the dark, in the silence,  without a word spoken. Maybe it should have felt more impersonal, but it  had been the opposite. Intensely erotic, deeply powerful, a connection  that hadn't needed sight or sound to ignite it.

She reached behind her and slid her hand through his silky soft hair. As  she did, he turned his head into her arm and kissed the inside of her  forearm, a tender, intimate kiss that made her heart turn over. Who  kissed the inside of a woman's forearm? It was so personal, so intimate,  so...tender.

"I think they're gone." Jace's whisper in her ear made her jump.  Belatedly, she realized that the sounds from the cabin had ceased.  "Let's head down."

A part of her wanted to refuse to move. She wanted to stay in the  darkness with him, in a fantasy world where real life was replaced by  intimacy and security, by a sense of connection that wasn't distorted by  the wounds of the past, or the uncertainty of the future.

But when he took her hand to guide her down the steps, she didn't  resist. As much as she wanted to hide, she couldn't. Real life actually  existed, and Seth was out there somewhere, with less than forty hours  left of his humanity, unless they found him first.





Chapter 12





Jace tightened his fingers around Abby's hand as they reached the bottom  of the stairs, drawing her slightly behind him. Drake had reassured him  telepathically that they were safe, but he wasn't taking any chances.

He was well aware of the trust that Abby had offered him in the  stairwell when she'd allowed him to touch her scars. His heart had ached  for her fear, and it had taken all his self-control not to open the  sliding door and tear out into the room after Lucius.

If he had, he would have exposed Abby to the vicious bastard who'd  attacked her, and there was no fucking chance he was going to do that.  So, he'd stayed still, focusing on Abby to distract himself from the  fury raging through him that the bastard was roaming free.

He'd kissed Abby's neck to take away her fear, and to distract himself,  but the minute he'd tasted her, every cell in his body had responded  with need so intense that he'd almost lost control completely. He'd  never craved a woman the way he wanted Abby. He wanted her, and his wolf  burned for her.

When she'd come apart in his arms, all he'd wanted to do was sink  himself inside her and claim her as his, to declare to the world that  she was his to protect and cherish.

But he knew that was not a choice he could afford to make. He was still  on the edge, a deadly weapon at the mercy of one song, a song she knew  intimately. His body was a battlefield, barely able to stay vertical,  and he was a murderer who'd stolen her own sister.

He had no business touching her the way he had, but that was too damn  bad. She was the light to his darkness, somehow trusting him with her  body despite all he was. She fucking knew what he'd done, and yet she'd  still welcomed his touch, accepting intimacy he was pretty sure she'd  hid from since the attack by Lucius.

He didn't know why she'd chosen him. He had no fucking idea why, and as  much as he believed he should stay away from her, he couldn't, not as  long as she was in danger and her nephew needed his help.

They reached the bottom of the stairs, and she opened the door. As she  opened it, light filtered through the opening, blinding him momentarily.

"Kiernan!" Abby slipped past him, racing into the room. Jace propped  himself against the door, using the wall to hold himself up as he  watched Drake, the female shifter, and a man he didn't know cluster  around the injured shifter, who was on a cot much like the one he'd been  on upstairs.                       
       
           



       

Drake. Jace wanted to stop Abby from getting close to the other males,  but his body wouldn't respond. His good leg was shaking, and his injured  one was useless.

Drake looked up, and immediately stepped in Abby's path, smoothly  deflecting her as she reached for the unfamiliar male. "He's healing.  Let him be."

Abby immediately stopped, her hand on Drake's arm. Jace fixated on her  hand, his wolf suddenly tense as he watched the way her fingers wrapped  around Drake.

Drake glanced sharply at Jace, and then his eyes widened. He carefully  removed Abby's hand from his arm, and stepped back. She's all yours,  mate. Tell your wolf to stand down.

Jace swore. He was broadcasting? He should have better discipline than  that. He dragged the door closed behind him as he quickly took in the  situation. The room was simple and barren, but clean. Doors and a long  hallway suggested that it was a sizeable space, extending deep  underground.

He reached out with his senses, checking for other inhabitants, but he  didn't find any. We alone? He knew Drake would have searched out the  entire lair the moment he arrived.

Yep. We're good. Drake was still standing between Abby and the others, but he was watching Jace. You look like hell.

I'm better than the poor bastard Kiernan's working on. But as he said  it, Jace found himself sliding down the doorjamb to the floor. He sat  hard, unable to contain his grunt of pain as he landed. Now that the  adrenaline was fading, the pain was setting in, and it was coming hard.