The Pursued (The Breeding Prophecy) (3 page)

“I cannot,” he said in a low, gruff tone. She risked a glance at him and gasped when she saw the lust had not cleared his gaze. Just knowing that he grew hard as his stare roamed her body was enough to slick her channel with readiness. She hated that she was primed for his cock at a second’s notice and yet, she eagerly anticipated the moment when he
would push
himself deep inside her.
“I need you,” he admitted in a tone she’d never heard him use with her. God, she hoped he wasn’t speaking to Serra and using her as a poor substitute.

“Me?” she dared, almost hating herself for needing to know.

“Yes, Cassandra,” he groaned, ripping his shirt from his body and shedding his jeans. He palmed the long, thick length that seemed to pulse as it grew before her eyes
and she quickly divested herself of her own clothing
. She knew by heart the feel of his hard, hot shaft as it passed between her nether lips, knew his particular scent as if it’d been branded on her
soul and she didn’t believe she’d ever tire of the feeling or the smell.

His stare centered on her rounding belly and he dropped to his knees before her. He pulled her closer and rested his head on the soft skin of her stomach. Nuzzling the flesh, he whispered something in a language she didn’t recognize but it caused a flood of emotion to ripple through her and steal her breath. But as quickly as the sweet moment had come, it passed and soon, Tieran had pushed her down to her back and hooked her legs over his shoulders. She shuddered with delicious delight at the first strong swipe of his tongue across the sensitive, swollen nub of her clitoris. She arched and groaned, losing herself to the skill her Alpha wielded with his tongue as he swirled and plundered her most private place until she was gasping and
groaning loud enough to alert the entire house to their activities.

“Tieran!” she cried as every muscle clenched in wonderful unison, creating a tidal wave of pleasure that washed over her in pink and amber waves of delight. She was still reeling from her orgasm when he pushed himself inside her, going deep enough to pop a satisfied groan from his lips as he seated himself to the hilt with her legs still thrown over his s
houlders. He met her gaze and th
rust against her, his hips flexing with
masculine
strength against her feminine core.
She cried out as another wave of pleasure rocked her body, sensation crashing down around her, ramping up the crescendo that never failed to sweep her away.
Tieran’s body swelled, growing larger and fiercer as he rode the razor’s edge of passion. A growl rumbled in his chest that thrilled her beyond measure and intensified her pleasure. An answering growl sounded in her chest and she squeezed her eyes shut, losing herself to the blinding carnal sweetness of their joining.
The mattress soundlessly absorbed every savage thrust but the frame shuddered as it knocked the wall, creating a tell-tale rhythm that told the entire compound what they were doing to each other. On the heels of that dark, sinful knowledge, Cassandra tumbled over the ledge and hurtled into muscle-clenching pleasure as her orgasm rattled through her body, erasing all rational thought and sending her drifting through a pleasure-induced haze.

Tieran shouted his release seconds later and flooded her channel with his thick cream, bathing her womb with the essence that further bonded them with each spurt.
Rolling from her body with a groan, Tieran collapsed beside her, his breathing as harsh as her own as rivulets of sweat dripped from his temple. He smelled of man and sex —
 
a heady combination. She could smell their joining in the air and the scent was sweeter than the most sought-after essential oil. She wanted to bury her nose in his groin and inhale the scent that was quickly becoming the scent that she craved as much as she craved a steak, dripping red with blood.

Tieran…her Alpha. She felt the invisible bond between them tighten and she gave into the realization that she was helpless to stop what was happening between them. And a small part of her that was growing larger by each day, didn’t care.
If only Tieran felt the same.

As the haze lifted and their sexual hunger abated, Cassandra expected Tieran to split as quickly as possible but he surprised her by staying, although he seemed agitated, as if he didn’t know why he wasn’t leaving. “I was wrong to blame you for what has happened,” he admitted, breaking the silence.
He climbed to his feet and pulled his jeans on. His dark hair was beautifully mussed and his abdomen muscles stood out in hard relief against the landscape of his bronze skin.
To look at him was to think of, and desperately
want
sex and the fact that Cassandra had laid claim to him was a secret thrill even if she wasn’t ready to admit that fact.

“Which part?” she asked.

“All of it,” he said. “I realize you didn’t ask for any of this either. But you’re right about us needing to work together to be good parents.
The future of the world rests in your belly. We have a responsibility to work together as a team.
”

Her hopes fell and she couldn’t
help the bitterness that followed. Work together as a team?
Okay, coach
.
Did he talk to his beloved Serra like
that
? Or did he wrap his arms around her tenderly when he made love to her? Thus far, Tieran had simply fucked her like a maddened beast (which she loved) but she could tell he was reserving
the sweetest
part of himself for someone else and it killed
her
.

“That’s not enough,” Cassandra said bluntly, surprised that the words popped from her mouth.

“What do you mean?”

Cassandra sent him a hard look but beneath the anger bled a weeping wound of hurt and rejection. “I want more from you. If I’m being asked to sacrifice everything I’ve ever known for a new world that I don’t understand in the least, you’re going to have to stop fighting what you feel for me. I can sense it. You’re holding back, refusing to give into the feelings that are binding us together.”

“What I feel isn’t of my own choice. I am biologically primed to want you because you are my mate now that we’re bonded but my heart belonged to another before you came.”

She winced, hating his bald statement for its stark honesty. She supposed she ought to be appreciative of the fact that he wasn’t going to lie to her just to save her feelings. Cassandra had always preferred brutal honesty to gentle falsehoods.
Well, she had until that moment. Now, she was rethinking that philosophy because
the slap of that
fucking statement
had
stung like a bitch.
Tieran quieted, regret in his gaze for hurting her. “Cassandra…I do not wish to hurt you. I will always protect, respect, and care for you but do not hope that I will ever love you. That part of myself left the day Serra was forced from her home to make room for the woman I was supposedly destined for —
 
you.”

Tears sprung to Cassandra’s eyes and she didn’t try to hide them. Well, wasn’t that a bowl of rotten cherries? He may as well as said,
Hey, I like you enough to bang boots but you’re not good enough to meet the fam
.
Sorry, babe. That’s just the way it is.
How was she supposed to take that kind of admission? Was she supposed to thank him for being so honest? Or maybe start sobbing like a pinched baby because she’d inadvertently been
given
the First Place Loser award for being second best? Screw. That. Cassandra jumped from the bed and stalked past him, going to the door.

His gaze narrowed at her action. “What are you doing? You’re naked. You can’t go out like that.”

“Says who?” she demanded, her hand on the doorknob. “I release you from your commitment, Tieran. I told you I wanted more. Being second best has never been my style. I will find someone else who will be over-the-moon-happy that I am their Number One girl. I am no one’s consolation prize. Got it?”

“If you take one step outside that door—”

“Don’t threaten me,” she
cut in with a mean growl.

He advanced, his scowl deepening. “
Cassandra
.”

“
Don’t tell me what to do. You’re not the boss of me. No one is. I’m the Prophesied One, not you. I choose my
mate, not the other way around. Got it?”

“That’s absurd.”

“Yeah?” Cassandra raised one brow, taunting. “Watch me.
I’m tired of everyone telling me what I can and can’t do. So far as I can tell…the
Mother Goddess
broke the mold when she made me.
”
Cassandra flung the door open and started to cross the threshold but Tieran’s grip was on her arm before she could take another step. His eyes flashed dangerously but a vicious growl ripped from Cassandra’s throat that startled him. Her skin prickled with scratchy heat and her heartrate kicked up as her body prepared to change. She recognized the signs this time and she welcomed the split of bone and skin as she transformed into the white, blue-eyed werewolf.
With a howl, she bounded past the shocked people in the house and ran full-tilt out the door.

Her padded feet ate up the ground, putting distance between her heartache and pain and she wasn’t surprised when she heard Tieran’s enraged howl but she didn’t care. He could beg Serra to come back to him for all Cassandra cared. The exhilarating rush of freedom soothed her ragged heart and she ran for miles. Her pregnant belly didn’t slow her down and she much preferred this form at the moment than her human body. When she was a beast, she reveled in the freedom to simply act naturally without overthinking. It seemed when she was in her human form, all she did was fret and worry about everything. Being the Prophesied One was a heavy gig. One she hadn’t asked for, by the way, but the time for crying in her beer was over. She had two pups growing inside her and they were going to need her to protect them.

If Tieran was too much of an ass to realize she was the real deal, then, screw him.
She broke into a clearing and her senses picked up the scent of something gamey and delicious. She swung around and spied a deer picking its way delicately through the dense overgrowth. Cassandra’s muscles coiled beneath her fur and she launched herself straight at the deer’s throat. Within seconds warm arterial blood gushed in her mouth as the deer flailed in one last ditch effort to live and then went limp. In her human form she would’ve been sad at the loss of life; in her beastly form, she simply accepted the fact that she was at the top of the food chain in the forest.
She sated herself with the deer, leaving behind precious little for the scavengers and then plunged herself into the icy waters of the deep, fast-moving creek winding itself along the thick forest floor.
She emerged from the water, invigorated by the bitter cold and her full meal.
For the first time in weeks, she felt sated.

However, her senses went on full alert as her ears pricked at a foreign sound.
Another beast emerged from the shadows. She didn’t need to wonder or guess.

She growled, her upper lip curling in warning. She was still pissed…and hurt.

Tieran circled, giving her a wide berth, his gaze never leaving hers. She’d known he would follow but she wasn’t ready to go back. Certainly not after he basically told her that she was spinning her wheels in the love department when it came to him.
Her tail quivered and she caught the subtle scent of pheromone on the air. He lifted his big, black snout and caught the scent she was giving off without realizing it. His growl plucked at her biological strings, causing her to whine and shy away though her channel was already slicking with ready moisture.

No! She forced herself to focus and snarled. She didn’t care what form she was in, he’d had his last taste of what she had to offer. She didn’t care if she had to run away and chain herself to a wall —
 
she was not being with Tieran again. Ever.

He advanced and she sent him a mental jab that said,
back off!
and he faltered, shaking his head.
Yeah, that’s right, I’m still pissed at you.

Although she desperately wanted to, aside from the mental warning, she kept out of his thoughts. It seemed easier to slide into his head in this form than in her human form but the thoughts were jumbled and didn’t follow a linear line. Perhaps with time she could perfect the skill —
 
currently, she was still clumsy in her attempts —
 
most of her success had been by complete accident and usually
prompted
by traumatic or emotional events. Sort of like a psychic tripwire.
But since she’d conceived, everything seemed accelerated, including her learning curve. Perhaps the Mother Goddess had known she’d need some super skills in order to survive whatever was coming. Who knew? Cassandra didn’t
much care anymore about the whys and hows of everything.
Tieran’s form shuddered and with the snapping and knitting of bone and sinew he appeared in his human form, naked and glorious —
 
the beautiful bastard.

“You risk your safety with your foolishness,” he said sharply. “You will come back to the compound at once.”