“No. Not like this.” His hand covered hers, though his h*ps thrust fiercely against the mound of her pu**y. “Not like this, Roni. Get your ass in that garage and think about this. Think about it hard and deep, baby, because I promise you, once I get inside you, that’s how I’ll f**k you. Hard and deep and without mercy. And I’ll be damned if I’ll let you ever walk away from me once I do it. So you better be real f**king sure it’s what you want.”
He jerked away from her, groaning at the effort she could tell it cost him. He wanted her. The thought rushed through her brain as pleasure heated her body. Roni stared up at him, amazed, a little frightened, but more than willing to give him whatever he needed from her.
“I have to get the hell out of here before I rape you.” He settled back into his seat, watching her carefully as she sat back up. “Open the garage up for me. I’ll be back later. And do as I said, Roni. Be sure. Because once I take you, there will be no escape. Remember that. This is your last chance, baby. I won’t have the control to give you another.”
“I don’t want to escape.” She promised herself she wouldn’t beg, but God knew she was within seconds of it.
He was breathing hard, heavy. His face flushed, his eyes glittered with stark, unabashed lust. “I’ll be back this evening. If this happens, I want it to happen right, baby. I want you to be sure.”
She turned to open the door, to stumble her way from the cab of the truck. Before she could do more than turn to leave he caught her around the waist, his mouth pressing against her neck.
“Taber.” Her entire body weakened, her eyes closing at the feel of him against her back, his arms going around her, his tongue stroking over her skin.
“I need to taste you.” She could hear the war being waged within him in his voice. His tongue was rough, rasping, almost like a cat’s, causing her to shudder with the sensual pleasure streaking through her body. It licked over her lower neck at the point where it met her shoulder. Then his teeth raked, tearing a strangled moan from her throat as he bit her a little roughly, the pleasure/pain overwhelming her, destroying her.
His hands flattened beneath her br**sts, pulling her tighter against his chest as he suckled gently at her skin, then licked over it with a rough growl of pleasure.
“God, how good you taste,” he whispered at her ear. “Will you be this good, Roni, when I lick your soft pu**y? Will your sweetness drive me insane for you?”
“Oh God.” Her head fell back against his shoulder as his lips and tongue continued to torment the sensitized skin.
“You’d better rest today,” he whispered as he slowly released her. “Rest well, Roni, because if you’re still here when I come back, it may be days before you sleep again.”
Roni fought for breath. Fought to find the strength to leave the truck. She didn’t want to let him go, didn’t want to take the chance that he would change his mind and leave her aching like this forever.
“I don’t have to think about it.” She didn’t look at him, terrified if she did, she would beg him to take her. “I want you now, Taber.”
“Then it won’t change in a few hours.” His voice was strangled, rough. “Go. Before I lose all control.”
She moved slowly from the truck before turning back to look at him.
“You’ll be back? For sure?”
“Oh, I’ll be back,” he said softly. “We may both regret it later, Roni, but I’ll be back.”
She closed the door, stepping back so he could leave, so she could think about and anticipate the coming night.
The night came, but Taber didn’t. The next morning, his brother Dayan was there, and in his hands he held the destruction of all her dreams. The letter Taber had sent her had shattered everything inside her. You’re still just a child, Roni. I’m a man. Mature and needing more of a woman to fulfill the needs I have. Someone old enough to understand those needs, not a ripe little virgin. Go home. You’re just a little girl playing with something you and I both know you can’t handle. Upon reflection, I’ve decided it’s best that our friendship terminate. I’m sick of rescuing you. Sick of the burden you’ve placed on me to protect you.Learn to protect yourself, and how to grow up. I have no idea how to raise a child, and I don’t want to start with you. Taber.
She returned to her home, the silence, the fears, and a hunger for Taber that had grown to nearly painful proportions. And fury. Sweet, hot fury coursed through her, both at Taber and at herself. Little girl. The words haunted her. He may not have f**ked her, but he had made certain she had grown up quickly. One day, she swore, he would pay for that alone.
Chapter One
Fifteen Months Later
“If you’ll notice the small mark on her shoulder, you’ll see it appears to be a love bite.” The reporter pointed to a bruise-like shadow on the picture of Merinus Lyon’s shoulder, at the point where it met her neck. “We have no confirmations, but rumors are suggesting it’s a ‘mating’ mark. That there is an instinctive mating recognition between the Feline Breed, Callan Lyons, and his wife. It includes the mark, as well as a se**n and saliva-based hormone that essentially acts as an aphrodisiac on the female. The Feline Breeds are denying this, but the reports that were slipped from the labs where the tests are being conducted are proving the supposition…”
Roni was in shock. She stood beneath her father’s regard, watching the report, feeling the blood drain from her face as her eyes centered on the mark revealed by the photo. It would be easy to claim it was no more than a love bite, but several photos in the course of three months showed it never changed, never healed. The reports smuggled to them said it never would. Roni’s hand rose to her shoulder, covering the mark she knew marred her own flesh, just as it did Callan’s wife.
“What the hell possessed you to f**k that freak?” her father sneered as he paced the room, his breathing harsh, fury outlining every inch of his body.
Reginald Andrews was a big man, not as muscular and tall as Taber, but strong enough that his anger caused Roni to flinch at the thought of remembered whippings. She was an adult now. She wouldn’t tolerate a whipping from him anymore, but she had never gotten over her fear of him. Her fear, or her hatred.
“Go back to wherever you came from,” she told him harshly as she continued to stare at the television screen. “They’re wrong.”
She had survived just fine without Taber, even after the way he marked her skin, destroyed her dreams. She had survived the endless threats and attempted attacks her father’s creditors had staged, and she had survived it alone. She could and she would get through this.
“You think you can lie to me?” he spat out as he came up beside her. He jerked her around until he could stare down at her, his washed-out brown eyes darkening in fury. “Do you look in the mirror often enough to see that disgusting place on your neck, Roni? Or does it sicken you too much to remember you spread your thighs for an animal?”