He tsked, smiling. “Now that wasn’t very nice.”

“So? Are you suddenly sensitive?”

Chuckling, Nick drove one finger inside her. She gasped and arched. “No, baby, but your body clearly is right now.” Her low growl made him chuckle again. As her walls began to flutter around his finger, he withdrew it. “Fight it.”

“You total ba—” She broke off as she was suddenly flipped onto her stomach and a hand twice came down sharply on her ass. She jerked and gasped as the burn turned to the most delicious pain, making heat explode in her stomach and bloom lower. Glancing over her shoulder, she scowled.

“I’ll do it again if I have to,” Nick warned her, blowing on the red mark left by his hand—a brand. “What you haven’t quite accepted yet, baby, is that this body is mine. All mine. You’ll only come when I’m finished playing with it. Of course, if you really want to come that badly, one little word will be enough to get you what you want.” When he flipped her back over, he collared her throat and gently but firmly pressed her down onto the mattress. Keeping a tight grip on her throat, he used his free hand to thrust a finger inside her. “For someone who doesn’t like waiting or being spanked, you’re pretty damn wet.”

Shaya growled at the combination of amusement, appreciation, and smugness in his voice. “I won’t beg. And I don’t like being spanked for having my own mind.”

“Really? Look how wet you are.” He brought his finger to her face, showing her how coated it was in her own juices.

Two can play the sexual torment game. Hoping to drive him to the edge, Shaya flicked out her tongue and licked his finger.

His grip on her throat flexed. “Sly little bitch.”

She did it again, this time closing her mouth over his finger and sucking.

“Fuck.” He forcefully thrust his tongue into her mouth in a mimic of what he intended to do to her body. He pinched her nipple hard the way she liked it, again wrenching that amazing f**king sound from her throat. Then he was sucking the taut bud into his mouth, loving the taste and texture of her. “If you want to come, all you have to do is say please.”

“Keep dreaming, Beavis.” She wanted to slap herself for how breathy she sounded. Oh, she was pathetic.

Nick shrugged carelessly. “If that’s the way you want it.” Then he drew her nipple into his mouth and suckled.

For what could have been hours—Shaya had absolutely no idea—he tortured her. Tortured her until her entire body was trembling and covered in a fine sheen of sweat. He’d worked her into a sensual frenzy until she was so sensitive that the slightest contact had her arching from the bed. She hadn’t thought it was possible to feel so empty. She had never been more aware of that part of her body. But no matter how much she whined or cursed him, he wouldn’t let her come.

“All you have to do is say please, baby,” he reminded her before biting the curve of her breast and sucking to leave a mark. “One word…and you can have what you want.”

Shaya tried to ignore his seductive voice. Tried to ignore his mouth on her breast and his teeth plucking at her ni**les. Tried to ignore it when he thrust against her and pinched her clit. Tried, but wasn’t successful. Maybe she should just say please this once. She wouldn’t really be begging, she would just be repeating what he asked her to say, right? That wasn’t the same thing at all.

Watching her squirm and writhe and hearing her seductive moans, Nick knew he wouldn’t be able to hold out much longer. Looming over her, he fisted his other hand in her hair and wrenched back her head, forcing her to look at him. His eyes pinned hers. “Say it, Shay.”

“Please.”

He smiled at how begrudgingly it was said. “I don’t think that was very sincere. You know what I want from you.”

She did. It wasn’t about the begging, it was about what the begging signified—he wanted her to submit, to accept that she was his.

Nick kissed and bit his way down her body and settled between her legs again. Her sweet scent lured him like nothing else could. “Don’t make me leave you hanging and come all over you instead. Don’t think I won’t do that.”

Oh, she believed him. The promise to do that was right there in his expression.

He flicked her cl*t with the tip of his tongue. “Say it. Now.”

She quivered at the dominance coating that demand. After a long pause, she submissively went lax. “Please.” Suddenly his mouth latched onto her cl*t at the same time as one finger plunged into her. Her entire body seemed to convulse as her long-awaited orgasm hit. She cried out and clenched her fists hard around the bars of the headboard as it tore through her. Once the aftershocks eased, she sagged into the bed, feeling drained.

“Look at me, Shay.” The second she met his gaze, he slammed into her, groaning as her muscles tightened around him. “Fuck.” Jaw clenched, he f**ked her hard and deep, pounding her into the mattress. After only three harsh strokes she came, but he didn’t let up. He continued pumping his h*ps at a frantic pace that had Shaya crying out and clinging to him, just like he wanted. “Your pu**y is squeezing me so tight. Like it never wants to let go.”

That’s probably because it doesn’t, thought Shaya. The feeling of finally having him inside her was incredible. He was heat. He was strength. He was intensity. She shaped his back with her hands, liking how his sleek muscles bunched under her touch as he pumped in and out of her. The ravenous hunger that had been haunting and riding them for so long was now finally being quenched and slaked…and it felt a hundred times better than she could ever have imagined.

“Only I can make you feel this way, Shay. Only me, only your mate.”

She heard what he didn’t say; that it wouldn’t matter if she refused to accept his claim and lived her life with someone else—never would anyone fit her or satisfy her the way he did. She knew that was true. It had never felt like this before. Not once. This was what it was to be truly taken. As much as she feared the power it gave him, he did own her on some level, and she would always belong to him whether he was in her life or not. “That works both ways, Beavis.”

Nick bit her lip. “Yes, it does.” He groaned as she clawed at the skin of his back. “That’s it, Shay, mark me.” He groaned again as she dragged her claws across his upper back, deep enough to leave permanent brands there. Satisfaction filled both him and his wolf—she might not intend to officially claim him yet, but she cared enough to leave her brands on him.

He wanted to leave his own on her, wanted the knowledge that even if she walked away at some point, her body would still be marked by Nick—she could never forget him, could never forget their time together, and anyone who touched her afterward would always remember that she belonged to Nick first and always.

“Nick,” she rasped, clinging to him and arching against him, wanting more of him until she was stretched to the point of pain and filled beyond capacity.

Nick slipped an arm beneath her and curled it around her ass, tipping her. Then he was plowing into her that much deeper and she was almost sobbing. “Shall I make you come now?” She nodded, whimpering and digging her claws into his back. “You want me to come inside you? You want me to mark your throat again where everyone will see it?”

“Yes,” she hissed. “Please, Nick, I need to come.”

“Then come for me,” he commanded.

As his order rang through her and his teeth sank into her throat, pleasure whipped through Shaya, locking her spine and wrenching a scream from her throat. She felt it as her inner muscles clamped down on him, triggering his own release.

Nick slammed into her one final time, pulsing deep inside her. “Fuck yeah,” he growled. “Take all of it, Shay.” He rocked against her, wanting every bit of his come inside her, wanting to mark her in as many ways as he could. He might not be able to claim her, but she could bet her hot little ass that he’d be marking her often and thoroughly. To his surprise, he felt a set of teeth suddenly clamp down possessively on his shoulder before a tongue licked over the small brand there. He arched a brow at his mate, amused by her self-satisfied expression.

Shaya shrugged. “Tit for tat.”

Cupping her face and staring into her glazed eyes, he kissed her deeply—it was a kiss of triumph, satisfaction, possessiveness, relief, and total adoration. This female had the power to break him like nothing else ever had or ever could. He just hoped she didn’t.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Shaya woke to the feel of a hot mouth kissing her nape and a large hand sliding up and down her bare thigh. Images of last night flashed in front of her eyes, feeding the need that was building in her system. A moan slipped out of her when Nick’s hand dipped between her legs and his finger slid between her folds. But when she shifted to try to take that finger inside her, he withdrew his hand—a message that he was leading here. Cheeky shit had done stuff like that all night.

When an impish idea whispered into her mind, she smiled. “God, that feels so good, Kade,” she rasped. Instantly she was flipped onto her back and there was an extremely pissed male draped over her.

As she laughed uncontrollably beneath him, realization dawned on Nick. He narrowed his eyes. “That was sneaky. And who the f**k is Kade?”

“No idea. I was just paying you back for teasing me—again.”

He spoke against her lips. “You like it when I tease you.” There was a twinge in his chest as he thought of how much time they’d missed together, how he could have had her with him, laughing and bantering with him like she was now, if he’d only claimed her when he first saw her.

Seeing the light in his eyes dim, Shaya was about to comment when his cell phone rang.

Having retrieved his cell from the pocket of his jacket, Nick saw it was Derren. “What?”

“You have visitors.” Derren sounded slightly amused.

“Well then tell them to go away.” He had a mate to explore, taste, bite, and f**k all over again.

“I think you might want to speak to them.”

“Is it a matter of life and death?” Nick gritted out.

“Possibly.” The smile in Derren’s voice had him and his wolf intrigued.

“I’ll be down in a minute.”

As Nick ended the call and began pulling on his clothes, Shaya decided to do the same. She’d heard his phone call, and she wasn’t reassured by Derren’s apparent amusement—she’d come to learn that he had an offbeat sense of humor. If it was Logan, she wanted to be with Nick to ensure he didn’t let the human provoke him.

Dressed, Nick landed a kiss on her lips. “Stay here for me, baby.”

“Oh no. If someone’s here, I want to know who it is.” Seeing that he was about to object, she added, “This is my home. If shit comes to my doorstep, it’s my right to be part of dealing with it.”

Fair point, thought Nick with a sigh. Neither he nor his wolf was worried about her coming along because both he and his wolf knew that if there was any true danger, Derren would have warned Nick about it. “Fine. But if, for any reason, I need you to go inside, don’t ignore that.” Only when she nodded did he take her hand in his and lead her out of the room and down the stairs.

Keeping Shaya slightly behind him, Nick opened the front door…and almost gaped. Derren and the rebels were standing on the doorstep. But the rebels weren’t the visitors. No, the rebels appeared to be joining Derren against the visitors. Visitors who had his wolf on alert, growling and ready to pounce.

At the sight of Taryn, Trey, Tao, and Dominic all scowling at Nick, Shaya gawked. “What are you guys doing here?” Oh shit.

“No, what’s he doing here?” demanded Taryn, though she didn’t look surprised to see Nick, simply pissed—Shaya could only assume Taryn had also seen the news footage that featured Nick and Shaya together in the background. Great. The members of the Phoenix Pack all briefly moved their gaze to Shaya, shot her a teeny smile, and went back to scowling at her mate. Shaya’s wolf didn’t like that. Oh God, oh God, this could get really, really bad.

“If you’re here to take her,” began Nick, his voice a deadly growl, “you’ve had a wasted journey.” His wolf growled, backing Nick up on that. No one was taking Shaya anywhere.

“I already explained that.” Derren sounded a mixture of bored and amused.

Taryn snarled at Nick, clenching her fists. “I told you to stay away from her.”

“You knew I wouldn’t,” said Nick, his voice deceptively patient. “She’s my mate. Nothing’s going to keep me away from her.”

Tao snorted. “Really? Strange. Because you stayed away from her for months of your own accord.”

“Leaving us to care for her and comfort her,” added Dominic, which made Nick growl—he really would like to kill that wolf. “Call us odd, but we don’t want you around her when there’s every chance you’ll upset her again.”

“And you will upset her again,” maintained Taryn, glaring hard at Nick. “Because you’re a cruel, insensitive shithead—something you’ve proven by even thinking of coming here! You lost the right to see her when you ignored her instead of claiming her! Don’t you think it’s a little late to come knocking now?”

Nick raised a brow. “Don’t you think that’s up to Shaya to decide, who I’m sure isn’t liking that everyone’s speaking on her behalf?”

Her mate knew her well. As his arm lifted in invitation, Shaya let him tug her to his side. He wasn’t forcing her to remain behind him—he was treating her like an equal. She hadn’t expected that. Sensing that Taryn’s anger was increasing, which in turn was increasing the anger of the Phoenix wolves—of course, all of that was feeding Nick’s anger and putting his wolf on edge—Shaya decided it was past time to defuse the situation.