expression was open, vulnerable, and dazed. He was hard again in a second. This time he entered her slowly, face- to-face and horizontal.
Neither of them spoke, but he could see the questions in her eyes. He wasn't ready to answer them and was pretty sure she wasn't ready to hear his answers. Watching her closely, he removed the first nipple clamp. Pain flashed across her face and she gasped. He took the sore point into his mouth, rolled his tongue over it until her breathing evened. Then he did the same with the other one.
By the time he was done, her eyes were dazed again, questions no longer easy to read in them. He rocked in her. Harder. Faster. Bringing them both back to the peak. She moved with him, wrapping her legs around him, digging her heels into his lower back to urge him when he slowed. He grinned. “Greedy.”
“Hell yes.” She ended on a gasp when he hit her G-spot. “Again.” It was so easy to give in to his mate when she had that look on her face, so he did. Over and over again until she was keening, until she was milking him. He followed her over that ledge, his face buried against her neck, taking in her scent now mingled with his, as his semen jetted into her.
When he could finally move again, she murmured a sleepy protest. He soothed her with a kiss. “Rest.”
He waited until she drifted to sleep before rising and dressing. He pulled her keys and phone out of her pockets before he joined Zach in the kitchen and tossed the keys to him.
“Let's go get her car.”
They went in Caleb's truck. The ride was short and silent. Zach paused with his hand on the door. “I'll pick up some food. I didn't get the impression Liza's eaten much in the last couple of days.”
He was right, and Caleb was glad to be reminded. It hadn't even occurred to him. Newly mated and already falling down on the job.
“I'll do it. You go back. I don't want her to wake up alone, and I have someone to call,” he said darkly. And he was going to make it damned clear to the alpha and beta of Redhawke that she wasn't theirs anymore. Zach nodded, but Caleb could easily read his approval and stepped out without a word.
Caleb pulled out, drove into town, stopped first at the new sushi place, and then went on to the fast-food joint. He pulled out her cell phone while he waited in the drive-through line, scrolling through until he found his father's number. It was answered on the first ring, but not by his father.
“Liza, why the hell haven't you checked in?” Her father sounded more exasperated than upset.
“Hey, Henry. Where's my dad?” He was too pissed to bother with pleasantries.
There was a long pause while the phone changed hands and probably went on speaker.
“Caleb?”
“Yeah.”
“Where's Liza?” Henry again, sounding suspicious. Caleb rolled his eyes.
“She's fine. Sleeping. What I want to know is why the fuck y'all sent her here? An unknown witch in lupine territory? That's suicide.”
The idea of what could have happened if someone had discovered her made his blood run cold. Damn it. Had they thought of her safety at all?
Henry snorted. “Liza can take care of herself.”
“Something you'd know if you bothered to keep in touch,” his father grumbled.
With a nod, he accepted bags from a clerk at the window and pulled into a parking spot.
“I'm in touch now. What's wrong?”
“She didn't say anything?”
He growled. It took a couple minutes of struggling to regain control before he was calm enough to answer. They simply waited him out.
“She didn't say anything.”
There was another longer pause and he heard his father's sigh. “I'm ready to retire. It's time for you to come home.”
He snorted. Yeah right. He wasn't buying that for a minute. “Fine. Keep your reasons to yourself. But
“Good luck with that, son.” His father's amusement was clear, like he knew something Caleb didn't. Like he didn't think Caleb could keep her. He ground his teeth together.
“I don't need luck,” he said through clenched teeth. “She's mine. She always has been.”
“Hell, I know that boy. 'Bout damned time you figured it out.” He stared at the phone a moment before flipping it closed, refusing to answer when they called back. Shit. What the fuck was he supposed to do now? He didn't want to take her back there, but he'd heard something in his dad's voice. Fatigue maybe. He should have kept in better touch. Should know what was going on in his pack.
He'd left, sure, but he'd always intended to go back and take his place. He'd hoped to have worked Liza out of his system first. That definitely wasn't going to happen. The decision was mostly made, but first he needed information and she, as paladin, was the most logical source to obtain it from.
He grinned as he drove up the cabin's drive and parked. She was his mate and he would soon be her alpha. She wouldn't be able to deny him anything. Her body, her strength, her knowledge. Her heart and soul. They were far from that level of acceptance, but he sure as hell looked forward to the hunt.
Chapter Six
Zach was back at the cabin in record time. He didn't want Liza to wake alone. Not that he expected her to be happy finding him there instead of Caleb. And not that it mattered. He and Caleb would discuss it later after he recovered from the shock of this situation.
