He could feel the awakening of his animal senses as he hadn’t before; the stillness of it since he’d arrived at the house with Chelsea the day before was over. There were no great revelations, merely an awareness that when those instincts awakened he was fully merged with them. His senses were stronger with that awakening, more intuitive; answers came to him faster, sight, scent, taste and touch revealing far more than they had before.
Turning, he stalked toward the bedroom; the knowledge that Chelsea was holding back from him was startlingly clear. He’d felt it during each confrontation they’d had, just as he’d felt it before dawn when she took him with such need. The need was physical, hollow, lacking the emotion he knew was there. And the instincts riding him weren’t going to allow it to go on.
If he didn’t secure her heart, he’d lose her anyway. If he didn’t find a way to push past whatever barrier he could feel between them, then neither of them would find any peace in their life together.
He was dominant enough, secure enough in his own sense of self that he knew he’d never be satisfied with this half a mating they seemed to have. Cullen did nothing halfway, and he damned sure wasn’t going to start with his mate.
CHAPTER 15
From Graeme’s Journal
Recessed Primal Genetics and Mating Heat
A mate forced to wait is a mate whose retribution can sear with the hottest flames and show the Breed the dangers of ignoring the nature of his beast—
Chelsea was just out of the shower, a towel still wrapped around her damp body, when Cullen stepped into the bedroom, his gaze hooded as he closed the door and watched her silently. She hadn’t expected him to be pleased with her determination to participate in his planned visit to the Cerves compound, but this distant silence wasn’t expected either.
Nor was it wanted.
He let himself believe she didn’t know how he felt about protecting her, but she did. She knew the type of man who held her heart. His sense of honor, his need for justice. He was a loner, too intense at times, arrogant and far too self-confident, but that was his nature. That confidence came from experience, training and the sense of honor that filled him.
“I don’t want to argue with you, Cullen.” She didn’t want to have to feel as though she was a disappointment to him any longer.
“Don’t you?” he asked her, the rasp of his voice warning her that a growl was on the horizon.
Breeds and those growls. They seemed to think that was all they had to do to get their way.
She shook her head at the question. “I’ve never wanted to argue with you.” She held her hands out to him for a moment before gripping the front of the towel once again. “We’re not going to agree on this.” She’d realized that while she was in the shower. A bitter smile tipped her lips. “And do you know what? I can’t even figure out why this mating thing even happened with us.”
They were so incompatible . . .
Her eyes widened, lips parting nervously as the growling sounds rumbled with such feral warning she couldn’t help but take notice this time.
As he stared at her, the simmering arousal that didn’t seem to ever completely ease away began to build in her body. The reaction didn’t really seem unnatural, it was just a little stronger than it had been over the years anyway.
Gripping the towel tighter, Chelsea stared back at him, watching as his gaze began to burn with lust. Swallowing past the nervousness building in her throat, she licked her suddenly dry lips and tried to control her escalating breathing. It wasn’t easy to do, especially when he sat down in the chair next to the door and removed his boots and socks.
Standing once again, he stripped his shirt off, tossed it to the floor and then with swift, economical movements loosened his jeans and shed them as well.
Chelsea completely lost her breath then. She hadn’t taken the time to really look at the body that gave her such pleasure, until now.
His chest was broad, his abs flat and muscular. Long, powerful legs were tense, the muscles at his thighs rippling. Between those thighs his erection stood out, thick and heavy. The dark head pulsed with the lust surging through the erect shaft, the heavy veins throbbing in tandem with it.
As her eyes widened, Cullen stepped to her and hauled her into his arms, his lips covering hers in an explosion of pure hunger.
Cinnamon exploded against her taste buds as his tongue surged between her lips. Invading, licking, stroking over hers as flaming need rushed through her senses. Just as quickly he pulled back, ignoring her cry of protest. Instead, his lips brushed over her jaw and moved to her neck, scraping over sensitive nerve endings before moving to the mark he’d left at her shoulder.
There, he actually bit her. Not enough to pierce her skin, just enough to send flashing arcs of pleasure racing through her senses. Before she could process the sensual attack it was gone and she found herself pushed back on the mattress.
He groaned, pushing her legs apart before sliding between them. “I dreamed about eating this sweet little pussy for years, do you know that?”
He had? Chelsea stared down at him dazed, because he’d never given her so much as a look to indicate it.
The thought scattered as his head lowered, his greedy lips and tongue tasting her sex with hungry demand.
A rumbled growl vibrated against her clit and sent a pulse of ecstasy to attack her vagina. Chelsea tangled her hands in his hair, the sudden blistering pleasure difficult to process as his tongue circled the sensitive bud. Licking over it, around it, he toyed with it before drawing it between his lips and sucking firmly.
Her orgasm surged through her with a suddenness that was breathtaking. The detonation rippled to her pussy and convulsed her womb. Her juices spilled from her and just as quickly, he was there.