“I want to do this the old way,” he said, his voice rough and sexy.
Kat knew little about the mating rituals of the ancients outside the fact that they were experienced lovers.
“Is that different?” she asked, writhing beneath his rhythmic strokes. Heat flushed her skin, contrasting with the cool earth against her side.
“The old way among my tribe involved little foreplay. Just pleasure. Screams of pleasure.”
“Sounds like my kind of party,” she said, then found herself trembling with anticipation when he didn’t smile back.
Kat wasn’t used to giving up her dominance in the bedroom, and it excited her. This was a man who killed his adversaries without remorse, an alpha with enough power to create a kingdom if he so desired. She could feel the intensity of his energy rolling off him like ripples of water against the shore.
Prince pulled his hand away. “Take me inside your mouth.” He hesitated, perhaps wondering if his bold statement might offend her.
Kat wasn’t easily offended. She nuzzled into his neck and whispered, “Yummy,” inciting a groan from deep within his chest.
She scooted down, leaving a pit in the dirt where her body once lay. When she reached his hips, she circled her tongue around the tip of his erection.
Prince tightened his fingers in her hair, and she felt him shaking with anticipation. “No, not like that. All the way. Deep. I want you to get it wet.”
Kat licked her lips, looking up at him. His breathing grew heavy and his eyes blazed with primal heat. She opened her mouth and took him in as far as she could, then pulled back slowly, wetting the length of him.
In a motion too fast to track, Prince flipped her onto her stomach and slid deep into her core. He held her hands and rocked into her—nothing like she’d ever experienced. His moves were sudden and animalistic.
Prince had found a striking point within her that intensified so quickly, she realized it was leading her to orgasm far sooner than she wanted.
“Do you feel that?” he asked. “Right
there
.”
A lick of pleasure rippled through her, just a taste of what was to come. Kat was breathing so fast that dirt blew in front of her face. Her fingers clawed into the earth, and instinct told her to widen her legs instead of rising up on her knees. A coil of need tightened between her legs, and nothing he did was enough to sate that desire.
“
Yes,
” he hissed, quickening his thrusts.
“Not yet! Charming…” She was embarrassed at how determined he was to make her come and how easy the task seemed to be.
He pounded harder. “Release your inhibitions and give in to your instincts. Your wolf knows she’s with a pureblood. The heat will take you first.”
This was like nothing she’d ever experienced.
What kind of ancient was he?
Liquid heat surged through her body, and she trembled at its power. Her wolf was on the cusp of coming out—but not. The Shifter magic within them swirled and spiraled into a heavenly oblivion.
The provocative sounds he made were a mixture of growls and ancient words she didn’t understand. The man who cared about appearances and rules now had his elbows in the dirt, cursing as she moaned beneath him.
“Oh God, what’s happening?” She gasped, feeling an unexpected pressure.
He kissed her neck, a current of possession resonating in his tone as he slowed. “I’m not just an ancient, Kat. I’m from a powerful line of purebloods. I’m going to get bigger, so I need you to relax and trust me. You feel so
tight
…”
Specks of light flashed before her eyes and her muscles tensed. Prince’s shaft felt twice the size around as it had been when they started, and my God, she’d never felt anything so hot in all her life.
“I need more!” she demanded, lifting her hips, commanding him to go deep.
Prince roared, sitting up and grabbing onto her hips until their flesh was slapping together. And then it happened, like a Mage blasting her with energy, only ecstasy instead of pain.
Kat’s body relaxed before she came. The wave took over her entire being, deep within her core and radiating down her limbs. Prince kept going and would periodically stop, then thrust deep once again. He was having multiple orgasms, and this went on for what seemed like an eternity while she continued having light flutters of her own.
They collapsed against each other, spent and wrapped together in a knot of arms and legs.
“And tell me again how it is you’re not mated?” she asked with a laugh of disbelief. “Exactly what
was
that?”
He rolled onto his back and pulled her against him. “Few women have ever experienced that with me. And by few I mean only three. I always hold back.”
“Why?”
He averted his eyes. “It frightens them because I’m not like other Shifters; they don’t understand it. The last one tensed during the act and became so frightened it… it regretfully caused her pain. I immediately stopped, but she wasn’t receptive of my explanation, and I never saw her again.”
“It’s not something you can help.”
“The ritual is reserved for mates who trust each other. If the trust isn’t there, then it can be uncomfortable. I vowed to never again let myself feel that kind of unrestrained desire for a woman, not if it meant them experiencing even a moment of discomfort. But with you—with you I feel I can be myself completely. Had you been in heat, it would have given us children.”
“Well, that would have happened whether you had a superpenis or not.”
A laugh burst out of his mouth, and he threw his arm over his eyes. She pulled it away, realizing Prince was uncomfortable with spontaneous laughter, as if it revealed a weakness. Perhaps he felt it wasn’t permissible for a man of his authority to display an emotional reaction that could result in someone not taking him seriously as a leader. She’d seen it happen before, and maybe that was why her heart melted a little whenever she managed to draw him out of his shell.
“Pregnancy most often occurs with repeated intercourse,” he said. “Most mated couples will engage throughout her cycle, increasing her odds to conceive. The temptation can hardly be helped. With someone like me, it would only take one time.”
“So why isn’t everyone, um… built like you?”
He put his arm behind his head, and she imagined what he must have looked like as a man living in the fourteen hundreds. “Each pureblood family had unique traits that were lost over time as they mated outside their animal or with someone who came from a Shifter family with mixed heritage anywhere in their ancestry. I suppose Mother Nature phases out things she finds unnecessary.”
Kat kissed his chest and gave him an indulgent smile. “Chickens having wings is unnecessary. But that? That was
really
necessary. How about we do it my way next time?”
“I’m afraid to ask what that might involve.”
Kat eased up on her elbow and brushed the dirt from her chest, but it was pointless since she looked like someone who had crawled from the bowels of the earth. “I thought you liked the unexpected?”
He placed a reverent kiss on her lips, which she felt in her soul, and it mended all the jagged rips and tears from her past. “You
are
my unexpected.”
She gazed into his eyes, wondering if there was anything special about her, being that she was also a pureblood. She definitely didn’t shoot bullets with her nipples, although that might have made things interesting. Perhaps her bloodline simply wasn’t as pure as his.
He tapped her nose. “What are you thinking about?”
“Does it snow in Austin?” she asked, playing with the idea of settling down.
“Not often.”
She traced her finger down his jaw. “Do you think your friend can get me started as a PI? Nobody around here knows me; it would be like starting over.”
Prince smiled with closed lips, and she pushed the corners of his mouth a little higher. “I trust Reno will be able to help you build clientele.”
“So… is this a thing?”
He flipped her onto her back and ran his tongue along her neck and up to her ear. “This is most definitely a thing, alpha female.”
Kat threw her weight forward until she sat astride him, pinning his wrists to the ground. “We’ll see how this plays out, but right now, I need a shower.”
She stood up and strolled to the waterfall, dirt flaking off her body. There were drains in the floor to keep the room from flooding. “Your water bill must be high,” she said with a snort.
“It recycles. They change it a few times a week since it’s rarely used.”
Kat rinsed the dirt from her skin while Prince found a patch of grass and watched her, his impressive body glistening with sweat, pieces of dirt stuck to his sides and forearms.
“This is some setup you have down here.” Kat found her holster and strapped it on before getting dressed. “I don’t know anybody who puts dirt in their basement unless they’re a serial killer.”
“I would hardly call this dirt,” he said, waving an arm at his exceptional design.
Vines grew along the columns and walls, special lights were placed to accent the grass and plants, and it was more spacious than it appeared. The main room they were in walled off an adjoining room that had an obstacle course for their wolves to leap on and around.
Except for alphas, most Shifters blacked out shortly after their animal took over the shift, and thank God for that. Her wolf was a separate spirit connected to her own, so sharing consciousness at the same time would be maddening. The only thing she didn’t like was the unexpected surprises of where she wound up after a shift. Kat once woke up in a McDonald’s playground.
Naked.
So having an indoor facility for the wolves was pretty ingenious.
Those thoughts faded as she put on her clothes and wondered if Nadia was okay. What the hell did Vlad want with her sister?
“Kat?”
“What?” She looked up and Prince was standing before her.
“You weren’t answering.”
“What does he have against my father?”
“He resents Alex for having bought his own freedom. It might have been decades in the making, but Alex outwitted Vlad in the end.” After stepping beneath the water and rinsing himself clean, Prince shook out his T-shirt and pulled it over his head.
She tapped her chin. “I think my father stole something valuable of his. Vlad is behaving like a dog that’s searching for his favorite toy. Men who want revenge just do it; they don’t play mind games or they risk getting caught. When my father went missing, his cabin was ransacked. Vlad was looking for something.”
“If Alex has it, then surely he would have given it to him by now.”
“Maybe not. You said my father outwitted him after decades of patient waiting. Giving a man like Vlad what he wants wouldn’t guarantee my father’s freedom but only secure his death.”
Prince pulled up his briefs and jeans, his wet hair clinging to his neck. “He has two daughters to worry about. Why would he put your lives at risk, knowing that time would only reveal your existence?”
She covered her eyes, pacing in a circle. “Oh God, Charming. I don’t know what to do.” Kat lowered her hands and looked at him guiltily. “What if he called? I’m down here rolling around in the dirt and—”
“Taken care of,” he assured her. “My phone is in my pocket, and I can guarantee if anyone had contacted the house, my men would be down here faster than you could catch your breath.”
“I can’t just sit here. It’s not in my nature.”
The sound of water trickling from the ceiling above and splashing on the stony floor muted out small noises.
Kat wiped a rogue tear away before Prince saw it. She knew she needed to rest or she’d be useless, but during the quiet moments, her mind wouldn’t stop thinking about Nadia. Patience was necessary in her line of work and had always been something that came naturally to her. But this was personal, something that made time her enemy. Her eyes were heavy-lidded and her body weak.
The room spun when Prince lifted her off her feet and carried her toward the stairs. His strength was unmatched, and she felt silly for feeling so protected in his embrace when she needed no protection.
“What are you doing?” she mumbled, resting her head on his shoulder.
He headed up the stairs, breathing a little heavier. “You try so hard to be strong, but sometimes you need to be weak.”