Body to Barter (Half-breed Shifter Series) Read online

  She nodded as well, licking her lips as she glanced at his growing shaft. “Okay, then. Go ahead and lick me. Right here.” When she touched herself, he went a little crazy.

  In order to reach her pussy, he’d have to get her out of this cage. But he still wasn’t sure how to work the lock. So he just gripped two of the bars and gritted his teeth as he bent them apart.

  His mate’s blue eyes widened as the gap between bars grew. “Holy shit,” she breathed, as she huddled against the opposite rungs. “Oh, holy...shit.”

  It seemed as if it would take too long to coax her out to him, so Gannon merely turned his shoulders to the side and wedged himself into the cage with her.

  She whimpered, looking scared out of her mind. But instead of shying away, she opened her legs in invitation. “God damn, you’re strong.”

  He smiled. “Yes, I am.” As one who’d never been good at talking, he merely showed her he wouldn’t hurt her by crouching on his hands and knees and crawling toward her. Her eyes widened more, but she stopped shaking so fearfully as she watched him. Moisture gleamed from the dark curls between her legs and her thighs spread wider, welcoming him.

  When she parted her lips in a silent gasp, he remembered what it had felt like for those lips to wrap around him. His cock pulsed, hardening, ready for a second round.

  Since she was his mate, he knew it was okay to show her a sign of submission, but it felt abnormal to lower himself to this level. And yet strangely enough, with her, he liked it. He liked sharing this moment, liked sharing the power, liked the fact that his tongue would soon be between her legs.

  When he eased in close enough for her to reach out and set her hand on his head, he closed his eyes and groaned while her fingers threaded through his hair, petting him. Damn, there was nothing better than being stroked. To show her his appreciation, he cracked his lids enough to see where he was going, though he could’ve smelled his way to her arousal with his eyes closed.

  He nudged her pussy with his nose, scenting her out and breathing the intoxicating aroma deep into his lungs. Her fingers tightened in his hair, and she urged him closer. He rubbed his cheek along the inside of her thigh, and then licked her with a long, wet stroke.

  “Oh God,” she cried out, her thighs going rigid, her scent nearly flooding his senses. Drugged by her reaction, he licked her again. Her fingers latched around his hair and he moaned from the pleasure.

  “Oh, God. Oh, God. Oh, God,” she chanted, and jerked against his tongue. “Put your fingers in me.”

  Intrigued by the notion, he obeyed and when her slick wetness sheathed two of his fingers, his body responded. His cock jerked, jealous of the all the attention his hand was getting.

  “Yes,” she sobbed, gyrating on his face. “Harder. Faster.”

  He liked her instruction. Liked knowing what pleased her. She gave commands well, like an alpha she-wolf.

  Obeying her, Gannon picked up the speed of his thrusting and bit down lightly on her clit as he stabbed deeper. She threw back her head and screamed, her body tightening around his digits and pulsing from an orgasm.

  Tasting the change in her pheromones and feeling the vibrations of her release on his tongue was more than he could take. Before she was completely finished coming, he reared up, pulling free of her body.

  “Wha—” she started, surprise evident in her wide blue eyes as she gaped up at him while he sat up on his knees, jerking her upright right along with him.

  He didn’t pause to explain, his tongue probably couldn’t form the words if he tried. Gannon was more of a show than tell guy, anyway. So he showed her what he needed by bracing her back against the cage and plunging into her.

  After a short gasp, she groaned and wrapped her legs around him, holding him tight to her body. “Oh...God. Yes. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes! Fuck me. Hard, so hard.”

  He’d never taken a female face to face before. He liked this. It was intimate, bonding. He liked being able to look up into her eyes and see her shock and pleasure. Meeting his gaze, she bit her bottom lip and offered him a shy smile. “You feel so good,” she panted.

  The urge to do that mouth thing again—kissing—filled him. He smashed his lips to hers with no finesse whatsoever. But she didn’t seem to mind his lack of skill. She kissed him back hotly, opening up to let him in. When her tongue tangled with his, he decided kissing was the absolute bomb.

  Her breast pressed against his chest, the hardened nubs of her nipples stabbing him with pleasure every time he slapped his hips against hers. His cock buried itself repeatedly. This felt so good. He didn’t want it to end. Her tight little sheath welcomed him like nothing else. No other female could compare. No other pussy had felt so good.

  As if realizing how much she impressed him, her pelvic muscles tightened around him and he howled out his pleasure as he released himself inside her.

  “More,” she demanded, as he slowed to a close and pressed his face against her shoulder to catch his breath. Demanding thighs clenched around his waist and her fingernails gouged his ass, spurring him on.

  Realizing she hadn’t come with him—he’d failed her—Gannon drove deep into her with his softening cock. She arched her neck back and cried out. Her chest thrust against his and with them pushed up like that, it was easy to dip his head and pluck a pearled nipple into his mouth. He sucked hard as she gasped and writhed. Her legs were wrapped so snug around his waist he barely had to support her ass as he whirled her away from the bars so they could change positions. Then he sank to the floor of the cage so he was sitting and she was straddling his lap.

  “Take what you need, my love. Take everything.”

  She threw her head back and rode him fast, bouncing on his shaft until he grew hard enough to come again. When she went off a second time, his fingers bit into her hips and ground her down against him, making his release even more magnetic.

  Chapter Six

  This wasn’t happening. It just couldn’t...happen.

  Brynn was so horrified with herself for what she’d just done. Okay, maybe she wasn’t quite that horrified. She felt way too satisfied to be experiencing any kind of true horror. She felt…amazing, actually. Beyond amazing. Utterly, completely, hopelessly better than amazing.

  But she knew she should be horrified, which kind of horrified her. But not really.

  Stockholm Syndrome had definitely never stuck anyone so fast before. She’d waited, what, thirty seconds before jumping his bones? Now, she was going to have to wait at least a full minute before doing it again, just to make herself feel as if she had a little restraint. But damn... Kidnapper dude sure new how to fuck.

  She gave a soft laugh against his chest in which she was currently cradled. She remained in his lap, straddling him while his cock was still wedged inside her. Neither of them seemed to be in any hurry to disconnect from the other. And yet... “I don’t even know your name,” she confessed.

  He touched her hair and tucked a couple strands that were no doubt tousled beyond repair behind her ear. “I’m called Gannon.”

  Lifting her face, she grew a little lost in his golden gaze. He looked so freaking intrigued by her.

  She was breathless by the time she answered. “H-hey there, Gannon. I’m Brynn.”

  “Brynn,” he repeated, and her stomach muscled clenched with lust at the soft way he said it. “Brynn the Beautiful.”

  Her lips parted, totally enthralled by this male who’d blown so suddenly and unexpectedly into her life. When he leaned his face down, she met his kiss eagerly. He bit her bottom lip tenderly before swiping away the sting with his tongue. And his hands...God, his large, strong, calloused hands ran over her, leaving no skin untouched.

  “You’re so soft,” he murmured, kissing and nibbling his way down her throat. “My soft, soft little human, Brynn.”

  He made it sound like an endearment, but she was still offended. “Half-breed,” she corrected. “My mother’s a jaguar shifter. Father’s a full human.”

  And she’d tr
ied to be a full human once. She’d moved from her half-breed community, Locks Hollow, where she’d grown up, found a condo in a full-human city, got a full-human job, and fell in love with a full-human man named Matt.

  There were a good six years in there that she’d never once changed into her animal form. She was fully satisfied with staying human for the rest of her life. Her animal blood was diluted enough that it should’ve gone okay.

  But then Matt had asked her to marry him and spend the rest of their lives together. She’d wanted that, too, except she’d wanted no lies between them. So, she had revealed her jaguar side to him one night.

  Poor Matt had never known shape-shifters were real, had thought they were a myth, fiction. He’d been scared of her, then revolted. He’d moved out of their apartment that very night and then set up a restraining order against her the next day.

  Crushed, heartbroken, and pissed as hell, she’d returned to Locks Hollow and moved back in with her parents for a couple months to lick her wounded pride. Finally, she’d found her own place, a new job, and a new life. Never again did she try to hide her animal side. It was a part of who she was and she couldn’t deny her true nature.

  She was a half-breed and proud of it.

  Though she was relieved that Gannon knew what she was, he wouldn’t even have to ask because he could smell her species on her, she was still a little worried, too. He was Mahlikari, and the Mahlikari hated her kind. Unlike Matt, he wouldn’t just leave her because of his disgust and issue an insignificant little restraining order against her to keep her away. He would slaughter her...and probably make it hurt too.

  As if he sensed her unease, Gannon began to stroke her hair again. “I will never harm you,” he said, making her believe it by the sincerity in his tone. His golden gaze peered at her with honor and truth.

  “So...” Hope bloomed inside her even as disappointment filled her because this would probably be the last time she saw him. “You’re letting me go then?”

  With an amused chuckle, he kissed her forehead. “After what we just did, how could you believe I’d ever be able to let you go?”

  “What?” Panic seized her. Shoving off his lap, she lurched to her feet and glared down at him with her hands on her hips. Wishing she had some clothes right about now, because she so didn’t look intimidating buck ass naked like this, she hissed. “But you said—”

  “My beta was watching. I had to say many things I didn’t believe to keep him from knowing the truth.”

  “What’s the truth then?” Brynn glared, ready to turn jaguar on him and stomp his ass, or at least give the endeavor a good try. “You plan to keep me locked in this cage for the rest of my life?”

  He shook his head, “No. Of course not. We’ll have to flee the pack at some point, after you heal...” With a stunned pause, he shifted his gaze to her side. “How is your wound?”

  She blinked. “Wound?” What wound? The bastard had wounded her?

  He shifted up onto his knees and reached for her ribcage to brush some dried, crusty stuff off her skin. Ick. Where had that shit come from? “What the hell is that?”

  “It’s a healing poultice I put it on you to mend your wound. One of the omegas in my pack attacked you. The cut wasn’t stitching back together, so I brought you here to tend to you.”

  Everything came back to her then. The pure blood’s invasion on Ari’s half-breed community. She’d gone there to see Ari, and almost as soon as she had arrived, all hell had broken loose. Absolute pure-blooded wolves had attacked. She’d had to split up from her parents and siblings to keep from getting—

  With a gasp, she pushed his hand away from her flesh that had healed nicely, without a scar.

  “My family,” she blurted, worried. “We split up when and you guys showed up. Oh, my God. I have to see if they’re okay. I have to...I have to go.”

  “Don’t worry.” Gannon stopped her with a warm, gentle hand on her hip when she made a move toward the gaping opening of the cage. “My beta told me most of the half-breeds escaped our raid. And I didn’t come across any jaguars before I found you. I’m sure they’re safe.”

  Though that relieved her marginally, she wanted to ask about Ari and Ari’s family too. Ari was half-wolf, not a jaguar like her. What if he’d killed a wolf? Ari. Her brother’s mate.

  But a more perplexing thought struck her.

  “Why did you spare my life...heal me? Don’t you absolute pure-blooded guys kill my kind?”

  His eyes darkened as if disappointed. “You don’t sense it, do you?” He shifted closer. “Even after what we’ve shared together?”

  Brynn gulped, afraid to admit what her animal instincts were telling her she did sense. She shook her head. “Sense what?”

  He made the cage sway under them as he closed in on her. Grasping hold of a bar to keep herself upright because the moving floor wasn’t the only thing unsettling her equilibrium, Brynn pressed her hand against her forehead and closed her eyes, wishing she were somewhere else.

  But she was here—wherever here was—trapped in this cage with this overwhelming man-wolf. The warped rungs that he’d pulled apart to get inside were only a few feet away. She didn’t bother to lunge toward them to attempt an escape, though. She already knew he’d catch her.

  “You’re my mate,” he said, making her sway from the powerful punch the words jarred into her brain. “I knew it as soon as I scented you. We Mahlikari are very sensitive to smell. And your smell...” He drug in a deep whiff as he dipped to kiss her neck. “Tells me you’re mine.”

  She knew without a doubt that once his mouth touched her, she’d be a goner. So she gave him a rough shove when he leaned toward her, separating them before she backed to the opposite side of the cage.

  “Well, I think your instincts must be out of whack today, honey, because you have got to be wrong.”

  “I’m not.” He prowled toward her, looking intent to convince her otherwise, his gait as seductive as it was lethal. But she held up a hand to stop him, and was shocked shitless when he actually plowed to a halt.

  “You are mine,” he insisted. “And I am yours. There is no doubt about it.”

  She shook her head, beginning to panic. But if he was right, then...that would change everything. Absolutely everything. There would be no way to fight it either.

  After her brother Dane had lost Ari when he was twelve, he’d gone insane without his mate. For years, he’d tried to get over her, tried to move on with his life. But he couldn’t. He’d been utterly lost until he’d found her again.

  Brynn knew life would be just as hopeless for her if she tried to deny her bond with Gannon. But, still...

  “You kidnapped me,” she accused. What kind of jerk kidnaps his own mate?

  Chapter Seven

  Gannon’s eyebrows lifted with surprise. “Kidnapped?” He repeated the word as if it were ludicrous. “You were unconscious. I couldn’t exactly wait until you woke up to ask permission to take you to my lair and heal your wounds. There was fighting all around. I had to get you to safety immediately.”

  “Oh, I’m so sorry,” Brynn gushed, her tone reeking of sarcasm. Lifting her hands, she motioned to the bars surrounding them. “As if I could tell that, what with being inside here and all. So this cage is what, a healing chamber, not a freaking prison to keep me confined and trapped?”

  He let out an exhausted sigh and set his hands on his hips to shake his head sadly before he motioned toward the gap in the cage, telling her she could climb out.

  “Yeah, Thanks so much for freeing me,” she muttered. “What a sweet, gallant mate you are.”

  “I am your mate,” he growled in her ear, as he followed her out of the cage. He was so close behind her she squeaked and whirled around. He grasped her arm and stepped even closer, making sure he was all up in her business. “And putting you in that cage was to keep you safe. If someone had walked in here—which someone did—and seen you free, we would’ve both been slaughtered. If anyone in my pack finds
out we’re mates, that’s it, we’re finished. I had to keep up the rouse that you’re a prisoner to keep you alive, God damn it.”

  As the reality of his words crashed down around her, her breath caught in her chest, and fear raced over her skin, pricking the flesh. She remembered clearly what those Mahlikari wolves had done to the mates who’d dared to interbreed their species. And now she was one of them.

  Her life was a ticking time bomb.

  Yeesh. This was so not how she’d planned on spending her day.

  Scared out of her gourd, she realized she feared for Gannon’s life as well. He was in as much danger as she was, and the thought of him in danger made her claws want to stab from her fingers so she could slash anyone who tried to touch him.

  Damn it. He really was her mate, wasn’t he?

  Shaking her head, she watched him desperately, still wanting to deny it. “Then why did you bring me here?”

  He gulped, looking momentarily regretful. “You were hurt. I didn’t know how to heal you, so I brought you to the only place I thought I could make you better.” Lowering his gaze, he reached out to touch her side. “And look. It worked.”

  She glanced down and was reminded how naked she was. Covering her breasts, she asked, “You don’t happen to have any clothes somewhere in this mess, do you?”

  A damn smug grin lit his face as he lifted an eyebrow. “But why would you want to hide this lovely form?”

  Good God, he was hopeless. “Because I’m a civilized human being—I mean, half-breed. I’m used to clothes. I need clothes.”

  With a grumbled groan, he relented. “Okay, fine. Here. Will this fur work?” He lifted a bear pelt from a pile on the floor and handed it to her.

  It took everything she had not to lose her lunch. “Is that a real fur?” she asked, though she already knew it was.

  He blinked, looking confused. “Of course.”

  Brynn covered her mouth. “Oh, God. One of my good friends growing up was a bear.”

  Immediately dropping the fur to his side, he lowered his gaze. “I apologize. I’ve done many things in my life I’m sure you’ll not approve of.”