Hunter, page 17
part #1 of Hunted Shifters Legacy Series
Chapter 22
“Well, the good news is your friend isn’t going to die.”
The way Levi said it made it sound like it wasn’t good news, which had Celine waiting in anticipation.
“And…?”
Levi leveled her with a look. “The bad news is if he keeps trying to jump off the bed, he’s bound to either hurt himself or the boss’s furniture. And I’d really hate for those stitches to snap open, Celine.”
He also probably didn’t want Edmund throwing a tantrum if it came down to a broken antique in the mansion. She sighed.
“Alright, I’ll talk to him. Thank you, Levi.”
“Anytime.”
He stayed outside the door while she stepped in the bedroom, and the first thing she saw was Jack’s form trying to stand up from the bed. The pain on his face told her that was a very bad idea.
“Jack, are you really going to be stubborn about this, too? It’s bad enough that you go on duty with gun shot injuries.”
“These aren’t bullet injuries,” was his defensive response as he grimaced, gave up, and returned to sitting down. Bandages were running in a cross over his chest, and some green goo was all over his arms.
“No, they’re not,” she agreed easily, crossing the distance and sitting on the chair beside the bed. She looked him in the eye. “They’re worse, and I’m worried and baffled over why you’re not healing as fast as most shifters do.”
The way his gaze immediately shifted in avoidance told her she was right. She waited it out, crossing her legs and keeping her stare on him. He fidgeted, seemingly in a dilemma.
Finally, Jack sighed.
“I’m not like most shifters.”
“Because you have no clan?”
He returned her gaze. “Because I’m only half animal.”
“Oh.” She sat up straighter, having never heard that before. But then again, it wasn’t like she was an expert in this particular subject matter. “Do you know your parents?”
“Nope. Never met them. What you knew about me still stands, Celine.”
That had her smiling. “So you still hate sweets, huh?”
He didn’t smile. Instead, Jack took her hand, tugging it insistently. Urgently.
“Come with me. I’ll find you and Sidney a safe place to live, and you can be out of here.”
“You haven’t even met her,” she said lightly.
“I know, but I care about you, and I care about her.”
The raw honesty made her heart squeeze. “Jack, I’m safe here.”
He sat up straighter. Winced, but he kept the posture. “Clans are dangerous, Celine, and this is no exception. You’re better off away.”
Perhaps she was, and there was no denying that. “You’re right.”
He leaned forward, placing his palm on her cheek. It was warm. “Is that a yes? You’re coming with me when they toss me out of here?”
There was a long bout of silence and no response from her end.
* * *
An hour later, her heart felt heavy and relieved at the same time as she tried to make sense of her decision. Celine walked the mansion halls, aimlessly at first before her footsteps took her to one particular door. Nerves accosted her when she knocked, wondering what she was going to say or do when she couldn’t even sort through her feelings yet.
No one answered from the other side of the door, forcing her to keep walking.
A few minutes later, she met a sight she wasn’t particularly looking forward to seeing.
“So.”
Celine’s shoulders automatically straightened, and her chin went up. “I’m sorry, but we had to take him in and stop the bleeding, otherwise we’d be in more trouble…”
“I never said it wasn’t a good idea,” Leila cut in, raising a brow. She was wearing a glittering maroon dress that signified she’d been out, and every strand of her hair was coiffed elegantly and in place. When she smiled at Celine, it wasn’t as cutting and charming as the woman often was. “I’ve changed my mind about you, so you can quit watching your back now.”
Their eyes met. Contemplated. Celine wondered if the whole back field incident had as much impact on Leila as it had on her, but it was obvious the woman wasn’t going to engage in a heart to heart.
So she settled for a different tactic.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about. I’ve always been comfortable here.”
Surprise flared in the other’s eyes, followed by speculation. Celine hadn't been bracing herself, but the light, amused smirk from Leila made her relax just a little bit.
“Alright. See you around.”
Just like that.
She hurried off, not about to linger. Realizing she’d been walking the halls too long, she opened her bedroom door and peeked in, worried that Max babysitting Sidney for too long would result in cabin fever. The boy needed some fun, too.
“You’re a heartbreaker, aren’t you? Looking at everyone with those baby greens and being adorable to boot. I’m on to you, sweetheart, and let me tell you, I’m not going to fall for your charms.”
The baby peered up at Hunter, earnestly listening to his every word and trying to grab hold of the finger he pointed at her. He let her, calm as a lake as he returned the stare. When she made a noise that sounded like a ga, he raised a brow.
“Oh, no, I’m not going to fall for that, either. You may be the cutest baby in the world who has everyone wrapped around your finger, but your mother is far deadlier than you. Those green eyes of hers? I’m a goner.”
Something in her chest pinged, then tightened, at the words—then, as he lifted Sidney in the air and lowered her to kiss her cheek. He sat on the bed with Celine’s daughter on his lap, looking so comfortable as he whispered things that made Sidney gurgle and laugh. The intimacy of it was light, and the sight of it…
It was something Celine hadn’t realized she needed to see.
As they kept interacting, she stepped back, careful not to fully close the door and announce her presence. She placed her hand over her stomach, which was a flutter of nerves and intense feelings—feelings she was now starting to understand.
Then she turned, intending to look for Max and Levi and deal with this.
* * *
“Celine? What’s wrong?”
The worry in Hunter’s eyes was instantaneous, something that bored on her as he stepped in the room she’d been waiting for him in: his bedroom. It had taken a while to find Max, but the boy had been willing enough to spend time with Sidney and ask Hunter to come there, which was what Celine had wanted.
Except now that he was here, she absolutely didn’t know what to say.
“Nothing’s wrong,” she started, then stopped when he strode in the room and crossed the distance between them. The movement was sheer force, and so was he...and God, her stomach was fluttering again. She very nearly jumped when he touched her arm, then when he leaned in closer.
“You wouldn’t have called for me if everything was fine,” he said.
She sighed deeply.
“Jack asked me to leave with him and to stay with him. He said he’d find me a good home to live. Me and Sidney.”
There was a very specific stilling, even while Hunter’s expression didn’t change. His thumb rubbed against her arm, a soothing touch.
“I don’t agree with that, but if you think that’s best for you…”
“I told him I was staying here.”
Honey eyes darkened. “You did?”
“I did.” She nodded. “I told him I felt safe here, and he didn’t need to worry about anything. I told him…I told him there's someone here I didn’t want to leave, because…because I want him. And I—oh.”
There was no finishing her sentence, because that someone was already on her—mouth fused to hers, body pressed tight. It was the most glorious thing she’d ever experienced today, and the tingles that slithered in after were no joke as they consumed her whole. The kiss started out relieved and hungry, but soon it turned desperate, a tidal wave of desire sweeping her knees until they were weak.
She remedied that by pulling him to the bed, where she willingly lay down. That action had Hunter freezing as he almost fell on her but managed to support his weight with his elbows. His intense gaze met hers, anticipation and tension radiating off his voice as his palm rested on her hip.
That tingled, too.
“Celine?”
“Yes.”
It was the only signal he needed before he attacked—with his mouth, with his hands, with his whole powerful body as he sank on her. The weight was delicious, and so was he, and she was drowning in a wave of desire as he hurriedly removed her shirt and kneaded her breasts. Then his mouth was there, lapping at a nipple with his tongue, alternating between the two until she was a writhing mess of yes, Hunter, and more.
He growled at that last word, then flipping them over until she was straddling him. He was breathing hard, and there was no mistaking the lust brimming in those molten honey eyes. It was also in the hardness pulsing against her thigh, making her mouth water. But Hunter did nothing, his hands careful on the mattress until she got it.
He wanted her to make the first move. Wanted her to take control and to make sure she wanted this.
The sentiment was too much, and it had her heart squeezing. She leaned down, licking his lip and smiling when he gave out a rumble. She kissed him hard, then playfully, feeling him hardening further and his tongue seeking her out. They clashed, making her whole body tighten until it was a mass of anticipation that she could no longer deny.
She lowered her skirt, then shimmied her panties down, shy at first until she realized the hunger in his eyes had increased. She started unzipping his pants and was rewarded with the blur of Hunter’s movements, shimmying the pants off his legs and kicking it to the side. His boxer briefs were next until his cock was jutting in the air, and the sight nearly mesmerized her before she decided she wanted more.
Celine took that more by straddling him again, then lowering herself over the tip. He tensed…grumbled low in his throat when she kept sinking her weight down on him. She braced herself as he slid in inch by delicious inch, then gasped when he was fully in, the tip buried deep.
It was too much, but it was also everything. She leaned down, resting her head beside his and trying to get her bearings. Gently, he turned her head with his hand and took her in another kiss, soft and erotic as his tongue played with her. She moaned.
She looked him in the eye, deliciously glazed and lust-filled.
“Do you want me to move? Or do you…?”
He bit back the question, a groan escaping his lips as she began to move—gentle hip motions, rotating from side to side experimentally. Straightening up, Celine writhed before she pushed off him, then lowered herself back down in a firm, slow stroke. The curse from him made her smile.
“You don’t like it?” she teased.
“I fucking love it,” he nearly roared, holding on to her hips. The way he looked at her made her feel all hot and bothered. “Ride me, Celine. Keep riding me.”
It was the only encouragement she needed.
Celine rode him, and she rode him to her heart’s delight. Slow at first, then picking up speed when slow became too unbearable. His cock was unbelievable, swelling even further the more she moved and filling her up with it. The pleasure grew, spreading across her body and taking control of her until she was blind, blind to everything but this: the seeking of more, the want to get to the end and find that beautiful release.
Fast became faster, and this time, Hunter was no longer a silent partner. His hands moved, running all over her body and touching in a way that only ignited the fire. Fingers played with her breasts, then their nipples, grazing and plucking until her nerve endings were on fire, too. She moved without thought, without care, blind to everything but this, him…
With a low, bitten-off groan, Hunter’s body snapped up in a seating position, lifting her body and abruptly dropping it down on his. At this angle, he was deeper inside her, and now his tip was hitting the spot that had been seeking this from the very beginning. Every thrust in sent electrical surges up her brain, up her breasts, and now he was the one riding her, even if she was on top.
And she loved every bit of it.
He didn’t just ride. Hunter touched, then kissed, using his mouth to further bring her pleasure: sucking her nipples, sucking her neck, pressing on every crevice and erogenous zone until she was meeting each thrust. He rumbled something against her throat, and it took her a while to realize they weren’t sweet nothings.
“You’re so tight, Celine…so fucking tight, and you’re squeezing me so hard. I love it when you fuck me like this.”
It was madness, and it was wonderful. Something took over her body as she tugged at him, and it was the only signal he needed to flip them over until she was flat on her back and he was out of her—but not for long, as he drove his shaft in and started fucking her hard.
Every thrust hit her spot now, and every thrust shook her until she had to grab on to the railing above his bed. That pushed her breasts up, and that had him leaning down to suck hungrily as he continued plunging inside her. A ball of heat formed in her abdomen, tighter and tighter until her every nerve ending was braced for it.
“I’m coming, Hunter…I’m gonna…”
“Come for me,” was the response, raspy and low and drowning in intimacy for her. “Celine, let go.”
Celine moaned and called out his name.
Then she pulled him in for a kiss as she came fast and hard and gloriously.
Chapter 23
This isn’t just lust, was the first thing that blared in his mind as he watched Celine below him—specifically, as he watched her reach her climax, then felt her body shudder with the intensity of it. A very male type of satisfaction eased inside him at the sight, smug that he was able to make her lose control like this.
All smugness left him when she clenched tight, hard, until his cock was an iron rod that needed its own release. But he gritted his teeth and clenched his fists, waiting her out until the blur disappeared from her eyes, and she finally looked at him again.
When she did, awareness flickered in her gaze, along with a combination of satisfaction and wonder.
“You haven’t…?”
“I’m about to,” he promised.
Hunter started moving again: slow, easy strokes, reveling in the wetness and tightness that met him. She shifted her position until she was directly under him, a welcoming that staggered and stunned. But Celine didn’t stop there as she pulled him down further, raining kisses all over his face, all over his mouth…all over his jaw, a teasing as much as a wanting.
She wanted this. She wanted him, and it stunned him just how much.
It also made him excited, and that excitement was a key factor in slithering through the control he was trying to hold on to. That control snapped, and soon he was driving his hips forward with sheer force and no finesse.
Her response? Quiet encouraging moans, turning into loud, aroused ones soon enough.
It was everything, and it blinded him to everything but Celine. Her scent, her feel, her tightness all wrapped around his senses, taking over as hunger built and built, a heightening sensation that did him in. He gripped her hips, pulling her down. He pounded inside her with brute desire, the rawness of it making her tremble until she was calling his name and asking him to make her come again.
He pistoned, angling her hips until he was hitting her pleasure point repeatedly. He felt her release again, felt her body tightening deliciously. He pistoned, he drove, he held on—
And he exploded, so brightly and so high that it was like flying in a sky of pleasure.
They cleaned up after, then crashed into bed and into sleep, which they hadn’t gotten much of the past few nights. When Hunter woke up, he wasn’t surprised to find the space beside him empty, though the warmth of the sheets indicated it hadn’t been long since she left. What surprised him was his reaction to that: a lightening of his mood, and a hope that this wouldn’t be a one-time thing.
Because he wanted her again. He wanted her again and again and again until they were both steeped in each other.
Obviously, his cock agreed.
Forcing himself to get out of bed, he stumbled in the shower and took a longer one, draining the sweat and sleepiness out of his system. When he was feeling marginally intact, he stumbled out and thought about this morning, which only served to make him aroused all over again.
When the knock came, his erection nearly jumped, eager for someone in a way it had never been before. Rolling his eyes, Hunter strode over and opened it, relieved he was fully clothed—and half-hidden behind the door—when he saw that it was Jessa.
“What?”
“Good evening to you too, sleepyhead. Are you gonna do it, or am I gonna do it?”
“Do what?”
Jessa wrinkled her nose. “Escort the half-human out of here. He’s been healing nicely, so we all think it’s time…well, Leila thought so. Edmund is still missing in action.”
The latter didn’t worry him, considering that meant their boss was hip-deep in research and action somewhere.
“Wasn’t Ovie supposed to escort him out?”
“Well, yeah, but he’s very busy with Jameson right now.” She shrugged. “You know how he gets when he’s deep into his interrogation thing.”
That didn’t worry him, either, because that just meant Ovie was getting through to the vampire boy. Hopefully.
“Hmm.”
“So it’s all me,” she said brightly. “Well, me and Celine, since she insisted on coming.”
And that sealed the deal for him.
“Stay here, Jess. I’ll do it.”
* * *
The escort out was a pretty simple task: using the fireplace entrance again, then guiding both the blindfolded Jack and Celine out of the abandoned building he’d first taken her in. The new van was ready for them, a rented thing Kit had prepared, and it wasn’t long before Hunter was driving off.
Celine looked back, fascination in her expression as she studied the building they’d come from. No doubt questions were on her mind, ones she kept in for now. Thirty minutes later, she removed the blindfold from Jack, both of them sitting in the back.
