He’d asked himself the same question on a regular basis.
He scrubbed his hand over his face, unable to believe he was having this conversation with someone who was as alive as he was dead. “Ending it would mean I cared enough to do it.”
“So you care for nothing.” She peered up at him through long golden lashes, her gaze a bold, hard challenge. “Nothing at all fires your blood?”
His cock stirred, as if it, too, was implying that he was a liar. “Oh, there’s one thing that fires it.”
Lena’s expression was one of subtle triumph. “And what’s that?”
“You.” He raked his gaze over her, his blood racing faster with every second he lingered on her feminine curves. “For some reason, you engage my prey drive.”
“So you see me as prey?”
“Touch me,” he said in a low voice, “and find out.”
Chapter 6
Lena had never been so tempted to obey a command. As a nurse with an innate instinct to nurture and heal, she itched to treat Nate’s wounds. As an adult female whose libido was going berserk, she longed to run her hands over every inch of his hard body.
As a shifter with a clock counting down the days to her death and who had always been “different,” she just wanted to be normal for a little while. She wanted to know what being with a male was like. Oh, she couldn’t go all the way—shifters were incapable of having sex before their first shift. Males couldn’t get erections, and a female’s hymen broke during her shift, but was impenetrable before that. Eidolon had offered to attempt to surgically remove hers, but she’d turned him down, because seriously . . . how embarrassing.
Now she was regretting that decision. She didn’t have long to live, and she was going to die a virgin.
And really, could she be more of a drama queen?
Nate’s blue eyes blazed down at her. “So you aren’t going to take me up on that challenge, I see.”
Challenge? The very word made something rise up in her . . . something besides lust, anyway. It was a call to action, a desire to run him into the ground the way a wolf chased a deer. For the first time in her life, her animal instincts, which she’d begun to doubt she possessed, came alive, and it was one hell of a rush.
So yes, she was going to die a virgin, but she wasn’t going to die untouched.
Boldly, she stepped into him, enjoying the tiny flare of surprise that flashed across his face. He hadn’t expected her to act, had he? The knowledge that she’d surprised him filled her with even more power.
She palmed his chest, felt the ripple of firm muscle beneath her hand. “Challenge accepted.”
A growl rattled through his chest, the masculine, needy sound spiking her temperature. “Do you know what you’re accepting?”
There was the slightest tremor in her hand as she took his and pressed it to her breast. “Show me.”
No hesitation. In one massive surge, he was on her. Taking her mouth with his, he pushed her back against the wall. His tongue pushed deep, tangling with hers, penetrating and retreating in a carnal rhythm that coaxed a moan of acquiescence from her.
“You’re so beautiful,” he murmured against her lips. “Sweet. So . . . pure.”
Pure. Yeah, okay, but not by choice. She’d wanted this for so long. She should probably feel guilty, given that she still hadn’t ascertained the extent, if any, of his involvement in Vaughn’s death, but if she was wrong and Nate wasn’t involved, she couldn’t pass this up. Besides, the closer she got to him, the more information she could get from him, right?
The justification for what she was doing was lame, and she knew it. But she also knew what her body was feeling. She’d been aroused before, had been attracted to males, but never like this. It was as if her body had been a dormant volcano, and now it was awakening after countless years of only minor quakes.
Her blood flowed like lava in her veins, liquid heat erupted between her thighs, and inside her chest, an aggressive growl shook her all the way to her bones. Closing her eyes and shutting off her mind, she let her body react. Nate’s hands came up to cup her face, his fingers splayed to hold her for his kiss. His thumbs stroked her jaw as his tongue caressed her lips.
Desire swirled and coiled tight, fueled by Nate’s sensual energy, and she found herself arching against him, rolling her hips to rub on the hard ridge of his erection. He made an erotic noise of approval and intensified the kiss, sweeping his tongue over her teeth, the roof of her mouth, and nipping at her lips.
Shivering despite the steamy heat building between them, she clung to his biceps, pulling him as close as possible, loving the way his size made her feel so feminine. She wished they were at her apartment, or at a hotel . . . anywhere but here. She wished . . . what? She couldn’t remember where her thoughts had been headed, because Nate’s hands slid down her throat and shoulders, then lower. One arm slipped behind her back while his hand drifted over her breast, and her knees nearly buckled.
He seemed to know, and pushed one thick thigh between her legs to brace her against the wall. The move also put the most delicious pressure against her core, and she gasped with pleasure.
“That’s it.” His voice was a husky, ragged drawl as he kissed a sizzling path along her jaw. “Let me hear you.”
“No doubt,” she said in a raspy, turned-on voice she didn’t recognize as hers, “your ego likes that.”
She felt him smile against her skin. “My ego doesn’t need boosting, but yes, it likes it.” One hand slid down the back of her pants while the other tugged at the drawstrings at the front. Her pulse thudded obnoxiously loud in her ears as he cupped her butt beneath her panties.
Was she really going to do this? He hissed, and she realized she’d dropped her own hands to his rear and was squeezing the firm globes through his slacks. She’d also lifted one leg to put her mound in contact with the bulge behind his fly, and her question about whether or not she was really going to do this was answered.
She wanted this. Desperately. So desperately that when he started to push her scrub pants down, she helped, hooking her thumbs under both her panties and the pants and shoving them to mid-thigh. Nate didn’t waste time taking them off. His hand slipped between her legs, and when his fingers found her wetness, they both groaned.
Her head lolled back against the wall, and if there had been any nervousness before, it was gone, replaced by a mindless, primal desire to get this male on top of her, inside her, all over her. She nearly wept at the realization that he couldn’t be inside her, but then sparks shot through her at the sweep of his thumb at the top of her cleft, and all that mattered was reaching that ultimate peak.
Panting, aching, she unzipped his slacks and released his massive erection. When she wrapped her hand around his shaft, his mouth fell open and before her eyes, his fangs lengthened and his lips blushed red. Oh, oh . . . my. Her head involuntarily tilted to the left, exposing her throat. The fact that she’d so easily offered herself should have bothered her . . .
“Please,” she whispered.
Instantly, his head came down, the tips of his fangs striking her throat . . . but not penetrating. For a long, breathless moment, he did nothing, though his fingers continued to play in lingering, smooth strokes back and forth through her slit. A heartbeat passed. Two. Three. And then, with a sound similar to a purr, Nate closed his mouth over her throat but didn’t bite.
“No,” he said roughly, giving her the gentlest nip over her jugular. “No marks.”
Before Lena could protest, because right now she’d willingly take his mark, he dipped one finger inside her entrance, using his fingertip to circle the ultra-sensitive tissue. His thumb brushed lightly over her clit, tiny, teasing flicks that became firmer as she rolled her hips into his hand, desperate to land his touch where she needed it. At
