Chapter 9
Jewel was feeling a little frightened and jumpy once Nick dropped her and Steven off at Night Light. She was silent as she allowed Steven to take her by the hand and lead her through the club.
They stepped through a door labeled ‘PRIVATE’ and went down a long hallway. Steven opened the door and let her go in first before stepping in and closing the door behind them. The sound made her tense up more than she was before and she took a deep breath trying to calm herself down.
Steven was so wired now. He was convinced if someone plugged one of the huge speakers downstairs into him, he could supply enough power to make it work. What had him so uptight was he now knew her father really was an ass and that he was dealing with werewolves.
He wanted to ask Jewel about it but she was so jumpy, the slightest bit of noise out of the ordinary would probably send her running. He decided to wait and let her break the ice first. He didn’t have to wait long.
“So it’s done?” Jewel asked with a sigh and sat down on the edge of the large bed. It sank invitingly under her weight and she wanted so much just to lie down and curl up in it. Seeing how tense Steven was made that impossible to even think about at the moment. She’d noticed already that he paced when he was deep in thought about something.
“Not quite,” Steven shook his head but gave her a small smile. He was hoping she wouldn’t freak out on him when he told her the next step. “We are married by the laws of the state and as far as humans go, that’s binding.” He shrugged, “Problem is… I’m not human.”
Jewel frowned at him, “But I am.”
Steven rubbed his temple, “I know you are, but with my kind there’s more to it than that. We got married to fool your family, but it won't fool mine and we’re going to need their help.”
He paced again for a moment before stopping and leaning against the wall. “At one time, shifters didn’t need to abide by human laws. Being able to transform into different animals, we had our own rituals we participated in to tell other males which woman belonged to us. It’s the same with the females of my kind… they are even more vicious than the men.”
Jewel was confused. “I don’t understand.”
Steven nodded, “I know, but I need to tell you this before we go any further. Maybe understanding will keep you from running away.”
“Why would I run away?” Jewel asked sitting up a little straighter. “Don’t underestimate me. I just got married to someone that can transform into a giant cat and kill just about anything… including me. So what kind of ritual are you trying to tell me about?”
“We mark our mates… it’s the way of all shifters,” Steven answered.
“Mark them how?” Jewel suddenly felt very small wondering if he meant taking his cougar claws and slashing her somewhere. She’d seen enough animal shows on the Discovery Channel with Anthony; whenever they would sit in the living room together. He always wanted to see the ones about wolves… which confused her to no end, especially when he’d start laughing at it.
“It’s usually done when the mating couple is at the height of their passion,” Steven murmured. “We bite our mate so it will leave a small scar… it’s called a mating mark. The mark is usually placed somewhere that other males will see it and know she’s taken. Also, when a shifter makes love… they leave their scent on their mate that other shifters can smell it and know to stay away.”
Jewel stared at him wide-eyed before scurrying backwards on the mattress with an angry look. “I didn’t agree to anything that has to do with sex.” She folded her arms over her chest and glared toward him. “We might be married but I married you for one reason only… and that was to escape sleeping with a man I don’t even know, much less like. I wouldn't have agreed to this if I’d known I was going to wind up in the same position.”
Steven closed his eyes damning himself for the pain he was about to go through for her. Snapping his eyes open, he pinned her with a hard look, “Stop jumping to conclusions and listen to me very carefully. I’ve never had to force myself on a woman and I’m not going to start now. Did I actually say we were going to have sex?”
“Then how do you suppose we do this?” Jewel asked suspiciously.
“Well, I can leave my scent on you by simply caressing your skin for a few minutes with mine.” Seeing the look on her face he asked, “We’re both adults, right? I know I can handle touching you without it getting out of control.”
He smirked inwardly knowing that was the same thing as calling her chicken and she fell for it hook, line, and sinker. When he noticed the squaring of her shoulders he wanted to laugh. “I don’t think that’s too much of a sacrifice.”
“No,” Jewel agreed as she felt warmth flame in the pit of her stomach, but she wasn’t completely satisfied yet. “But what about the mating mark?”
Steven swallowed. “I can give you the mating mark while I’m caressing your skin… no love making involved and I’ll make it as painless as possible. Any shifter that second-guesses us won't have a leg to stand on if you are wearing my mating mark. We’ll be married in the eyes of both human and shifter.”
‘And your ‘fiancé’ won’t be able to do a damn thing about it.’ Steven added silently.
Jewel felt the heat in her stomach start heading south making her clench her teeth before nodding, “Okay, so what do we have to do?”
Steven walked over to his dresser and took out a tank top and pair of boxers. “We can pick up some decent clothes for you tomorrow. For now though, I can’t touch your skin if it’s covered up.” He placed the clothes on the bed then turned toward the bathroom with his own pair of boxers.
Jewel blinked down at the clothes feeling her heartbeat slam against her ribs. “Just touching… that’s all,” she reminded herself then flinched as she added, “And he’s going to bite me.” She sighed wearily and waited until the door to the bathroom was shut and she heard the clicking of the lock.
She cringed as she started to quickly change clothes. It felt odd wearing something that belonged to someone else… especially a guy. What she couldn’t understand is why a total stranger would help her like this. They’d just met and, even without the fur, he was different. He seemed to have a chivalrous streak in him a mile wide… something almost unheard of in this day and age.
With no other place to put her dress, she folded it carefully and placed it on the chair. Looking across the room, Jewel glanced at the huge mirror that covered one wall. Her eyes widened at her reflection and she looked down at the neckline of the tank top. There was enough cleavage showing that someone could get lost in it.
Climbing on the bed, she quickly turned off the light on the night table and sighed thankfully when the room was thrown into almost total darkness.
Steven smiled as he listened to every move Jewel made through the bathroom door with his heightened hearing. When she turned off the lamp in the bedroom, he turned off the bathroom light and stepped out into the darkened room. She might think she was hidden, but he could see just fine in the dark.
His eyes lit on her and saw her sitting on the edge of the bed holding on to one of the canopy poles as if to keep herself from fleeing. He was glad she couldn’t see in the dark, because if she could see the tightness of his boxers, she would surely run. She was scared… he could see and smell it. Steven couldn’t blame her for the fear… this was something completely out of her realm.
Approaching her with enough noise to tell her where he was, he took her gently by the hand. With the tiniest tug, he pulled her to her feet not trusting himself anywhere near the soft mattress just yet.
“Relax,” he instructed in a whispered voice while he slid to stand behind her. “There’s nothing bad going to happen. I won't let it.”
He let his hands trail up her arms to her shoulders, massaging the muscles with soft but firm circles. The cool silky feel of her hair whispering across his hands and forearms made him catch his breath. Pulling her back against him, he felt her flinch and try to jerk away when she felt his hardness pressing against her lower back.
Steven cursed himself and his abrupt action… now he’d have to calm her down again. “Shhh, I’m a man,” he kept his voice soft as he whispered the words in her ear. “I’d have to be blind not to be affected by you. But I can promise… you’re safe.”
Jewel’s heart was racing as she stilled and closed her eyes. His breath against the side of her cheek and neck caused chill bumps to stream across her flesh and quickly disappear as warmth took their place.
Steven inhaled her scent, confirming the fact that she was enjoying the attention almost as much as he was enjoying giving it. The only difference was that lingering fear still present in the scent of her arousal. Pulling her back with him, he slowly sat down on the bed with her in his lap facing away from him.
Twining his legs around hers to spread them and keep her still, he barely touched his lips to her ear. “I’ll make the mating mark as painless as possible,” he whispered. “But you have to relax while I’m touching you.” He waited until she nodded her consent before proceeding.
The truth was, he could have just simply bit her and had it over with, but what she didn’t know wouldn’t hurt them. Plus, he wanted her to enjoy the experience. He couldn’t give her the full pleasure of receiving a mark… he’d promised to behave. This was one promise that would take all his willpower to keep. He’d have to be careful not to lose control.
Caressing the side of her cheek with his lips, he dipped his hands down around her waist coming up under the tank top.
Jewel flinched a bit then tried to relax when his warm hands touched her skin. She felt like he’d just set her on fire where he touched and she fought the urge to lean completely back into him. This was a business arrangement… nothing more.
“Shhh,” he breathed giving her something else to think about as he kissed the side of her neck and sucked some of her soft skin into his mouth. Splaying his hand across her stomach muscles, he could feel them flexing in anticipation as he let his other hand sweep down over her thigh, only to make its way back up the inside of it.
Jewel felt like she was melting and couldn’t help it when she arched against him, giving him better access to her body. She spread her thighs open further, unconsciously inviting him in. His fingers massaged the inside of her thigh in a desperate rhythm only a hair’s breath from the fire that was burning so hot.
Her lips parted in a silent scream when his teeth suddenly sank through her skin at the same time his hand cupped her hard between her spread thighs.
She tried to jerk away but Steven gripped her mound applying pressure in a massaging motion as he retracted his fangs from her neck. He should have stopped there, but when she turned her face toward him, his lips took possession of hers, plundering them as he continued torturing her core.
Jewel’s bucked against him, feeling all the fire pool against his fingertips in earth shattering waves that felt so good it was frightening. Untwining her legs from his, she slid off the bed and onto the floor as the pulsating heartbeat between her thighs throbbed with a vengeance.
She nearly jumped out of her skin when Steven leaned down over her shoulder and his face appeared right next to hers.
“That’s enough, it’s done,” he whispered.
Steven stood up and walked over to the overstuffed chair in the corner of the room where she’d placed her dress. He put her dress on the back of the chair and sank down into it. He’d wanted to stay close to her but didn’t trust himself at the moment. Hell, he could barely trust himself in the same room.
“That’s all there is?” she asked quietly, reaching up to touch the bite on her shoulder. She couldn’t even feel the wound over the throbbing that was still happening much lower.
“Yeah,” Steven said and leaned his head back, looking up at the ceiling. He couldn’t look at her for too long because if he did, she would lose the clothing she was wearing and he’d made a promise not to touch her in any unnecessary way. Every instinct in his blood was telling him to finish what he’d started and make her his in every way possible.
Jewel didn’t move from her spot on the floor for a long time. When the tremors of her release finally passed, she looked over at him and could barely see his shadow sitting in the chair. She suddenly felt a loss because of the distance between them.
Climbing up in the bed, she glanced once more over at his shadow before pulling the blanket up to her chin and pretending to sleep.
Steven listened to her breathe as he became very calm. He’d told her that they could get the marriage annulled once the threat of Anthony was gone, but what he hadn’t pointed out was that the mating mark was permanent and binding… forever. The corners of his lips lifted in a satisfied smile.
*****
Quinn slowly inhaled, smelling Kat’s natural scent filling the air. His eyes darkened when he detected the scent of her rising passion. Moving silently, he came to a sudden stop seeing her lying propped up on the arm of the sofa in the living room. Her dark hair had fallen out beside her like a shimmering curtain and her lips were slightly parted.
He let his gaze trail the length of her body and had to lock himself in place as he hardened beyond anything he’d felt before. He couldn’t remember ever seeing anything so beautiful.
One of her hands trailed down the length of the summer dress she was wearing, only to come back up under the hem until she had cupped herself between the legs. He watched the muscles of her bare arm move in rhythm as she licked her lips. Her other hand came up to softly cup her breast, massaging it in a way only she would know to bring pleasure.
For several minutes, Quinn just watched her in awe. Her cheeks were flushed making her look feverish as she moved. The side to side motion of her hand let him know she had found the little bundle of nerves that was causing her to flinch and whither on the sofa.
Her eyes were closed making him wonder whose image she secretly held in her mind’s eye. Did her lover look like him?
Quinn also took note that the sofa was too small for her. She needed to be laid out on a large bed with her dark hair fanned out around her. He abruptly got a mental image of her writhing on the dark purple comforter on her bed upstairs. His eyes narrowed when she looked at him and cried out something that could have been a name, but he wasn’t sure.
If he had his way, his name would be the only thing she screamed while in the throes of passion.
Kat didn’t care who her imaginary lover was, so when her drunken mind brought Quinn to her, she just spread her legs and raised her hips up so the ghostly image could touch her.
The image continued to watch her from the shadowed doorway and she noticed the bulge in the crotch of his pants. She was so close to completion but she couldn’t reach it on her own… she needed the apparition to help her. Kat knew it was the aphrodisiac in the bottle making her do this, but it felt too good to bother caring.
Quinn listened to the tiny sounds she was making and with every heartbeat knew she was coming closer to her goal. Then she moved to grab something that was wedged between her and the sofa. His eyes narrowed seeing the bottle of Heat.
Kat took a sip feeling her heartbeat between her legs. It seemed all she was doing was frustrating herself… she needed to find someone to help her finish the job. The apparition was just standing there watching and she didn’t need a voyeur, she needed participation.
With a sigh, she removed her hand from under her dress, “Well Gran, I feel a lot better now.” She looked at the bottle, raised it up for a toast, and then placed a kiss on the purple glass. “So what if my own mate doesn’t want me. I bet it would only take about five minutes to go find a guy who does want me… at least for the next couple hours.”
“That tainted drink is nothing but poison,” Quinn growled from the darkened doorway leading into the hall. He now knew for certain her mate had left her after he’d taken what he wanted.
Realizing her voyeur had been real, Kat closed her eyes and lowered the bottle, tucking it between her legs for safekeeping. “Please tell me you set the silent alarm off and the cops will be here any minute.”
“Afraid not,” Quinn lifted an eyebrow and added, “And as for you finding a lover tonight, that’s out. I changed the pass code on your alarm system and set the dead bolts. We are locked in… together.”
He moved fast but Kat was faster and flipped over the back of the sofa to stay out of his reach. She checked to make sure the bottle was still in her hand before glaring at Quinn.
“What the hell did you do? Follow me?” Kat’s voice was slightly panicked knowing he would be able to catch her if he tried hard enough. “Are you a part-time stalker?”
“We need to talk,” Quinn insisted. Now that he was closer to the sofa, her heightened scent was heating his blood and making him fight for control. “Now.”
“Get out!” Kat pointed toward the door with the same hand she was holding the bottle in. “Get out and stay out!”
Quinn’s gaze followed the bottle in her hand, hating it more and more by the second. “Why?” he jumped the sofa as she scrambled backwards. “So you can go find a lover?”
The thought of her drinking that stuff every weekend and sleeping with strangers had his blood pressure soaring. He tried to take the bottle from her but again Kat moved out of his reach in the nick of time. “Give me that bottle!”
In defiance, Kat tilted the bottle back for another drink and then held it up slightly, waving it back and forth.
“Why? You can’t handle it,” she taunted remembering how drunk he’d gotten the last time he’d drank it. “You’re a lightweight when it comes to drinking Heat. Not man enough to hold your liquor?” The memory of that night … here in this house pissed her off again.
“Give it to me!” Quinn demanded and reached for the bottle again.
Kat took a few quick steps backward and raised the bottle. “Want it that bad? Here!” she screamed and threw it at his head.
The bottle sailed across the room toward Quinn, spinning end over end. Instead of catching it, Quinn hit it, slamming it into the far wall. The sound of it shattering was like music to his ears. “Now that your little addiction is gone, maybe we can talk,” he thundered.
“Addiction?” Kat yelled, bumping against the end table in her haste to keep distance between them. She growled and glared at him when her favorite lamp fell over and shattered on the floor. “I haven’t drunk Heat in over ten years! It’s because of you that I stayed away from it.”
“Then what was that? Water?” he pointed at the remains of the bottle shattered across the carpet.
“Until tonight you idiot,” Kat was tired of backing up and making circles around the living room was making her dizzy. She stopped and raised her chin in defiance, “I don’t have to listen to you, so if you want to talk, then there is a nice telephone pole outside that might listen to you… but I don’t have to. You are not my mate and your orders don’t mean a damn thing to me.”
Quinn stopped right in front of her and glared down into those ice blue eyes that had haunted his dreams for so many years. Throwing the fact that she had mated with someone else in his face wasn’t very smart. “You will listen to what I have to say… but first, I’m going to make sure you’re sober enough to hear it.”
Kat blinked realizing she was suddenly upside down and the room was spinning because he had turned around so fast and started moving across the living room. Looking up… or down, it depended on your prospective, Kat seen the cute ass she’d drooled over as a teenager and smacked it.
“Put me down!” she screeched when his big hand landed on her bottom with a responding smack.
Doubling her efforts, she rained blows cross his lower back and pulled viciously on his long hair, but he didn’t miss a beat as he took her into the bathroom. Pulling back the shower curtain, Quinn stepped into the tub still carrying her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
Quinn cringed as he turned on the cold water and waited the second’s delay before the frigid rain hit them. Kat immediately started to shift but he held on, bringing her body off his shoulder and pinning her arms to her sides.
“Stop!” Quinn demanded and Kat snarled at him. “As an alpha, you have to obey me and I am ordering you to stop.”
Kat glared up at him and slowly went back to normal. She hated that rule with a passion. The alpha’s right to order other shifters was a law that all shifters had to follow… it was pure instinct.
Every clan alpha could exert their authority to avoid confrontation, but from one alpha to another it was meaningless. In other words, Warren could not order Quinn to stand down but he could order Micah and the cougar would have to obey the jaguar alpha. The same went for any were-creature. There were no limitations.
“I hate you,” Kat cried through chattering teeth. “I wish you would drop dead.”
“Liar,” Quinn exclaimed. “You don’t hate me.”
“The hell if I don’t!” Kat raged. “You’ve been running around shadowing me since you and Warren declared peace and treating me like I’m some little girl that needs your protection. I don’t need shit from you. I’ve survived ten years without you and I’ll survive another ten!”
Quinn glared down at her, “You survived ten years without me just fine all right! What about your absentee mate?” he thundered.
Kat’s growl would have made her brothers proud if they’d heard it. It was deep, guttural, and turned Quinn on like a light switch. He answered with a growl of his own but it abruptly turned into a pained whine when she lifted her knee and drove it mercilessly into his erection. His knees buckled slightly but he didn’t let Kat go, knowing she would run again.
“You have no right to ask me that question you son of a bitch!” Kat yelled and started fighting him again. She wanted to get out of the shower and wrap herself up in a blanket to get warm. “My mate left me the morning after and never looked back if you must know.” She informed him sarcastically. “I wasn’t enough to keep him happy. He ignored me and pretended it didn’t happen.”
Quinn was angry with Kat… but even angrier with her mate. Unfortunately, Kat was the only one in the room with him so he took his anger out on her.
“Is that who you were thinking of while you were on the sofa?” Quinn demanded.
Kat lifted her chin and smirked wickedly, still feeling high. “Yes, it was… though I wouldn’t have him now. But he was good to me before that night, and that’s the mate I remember, not the asshole that left me while I was still sleeping.”
Quinn snarled darkly, “If you miss him so much, then why didn’t you fight for him? Tell me who he is and I’ll force him to come back.” It was a lie but Quinn wanted a name for the tombstone.
Kat stared at him in disbelief before her face twisted into a malicious sneer. “Then go look in a mirror. He’ll be right there staring back at you.”
“Make sense damn you!” Quinn roared, shaking her a bit. “Stop your drunken ranting and tell me who the hell he is.”
“Why? So you can go into a jealous rage and try to find someone that doesn’t exist?” Kat cried. “I’m not on a drunken rant.”
“Stop lying to me! I saw the mating mark… your mate exists. TELL ME!”
“Damn it!” Kat screamed and lowered her head, pressing her hands to her ears. “You're stupider then I thought. Stupid enough to mark me and not remember!” Lowering her hands she glared up at him. In one quick movement, the sound of a smack echoed throughout the bathroom.
Quinn was shocked to the core and quickly released her like she was some kind of disease. Or at least that’s what Kat thought it seemed like. She quickly scrambled out of the shower and ran out of the bathroom, leaving Quinn under the spray of cold water.
Unfortunately for the female, Quinn didn’t stay there long.
Turning off the water, Quinn got out of the shower nearly taking the shower curtain with him in his haste. He didn’t think about the water he was dripping on the floor or the small puddles he was leaving behind on the polished hardwood. His anger spiked again now that he’d digested what Kat had screamed at him.
He walked to her closed bedroom door and tried to turn the knob. When he realized it was locked, he banged on the heavy oak.
“Open this door Kat!” he demanded. “Explain that bullshit excuse you just gave about me being your mate.”
“Go to hell!” Kat yelled at him through the door. “It’s been ten years since you even thought about talking to me about that night… you can wait a few more minutes.”
Quinn backed up and planted his foot in the center of the door. It flew open and Kat looked up from tying her bathrobe closed.
“I told you to wait outside.” Kat hissed. “I was putting on some dry clothes.”
She pushed past him and out into the hall, glaring at the water puddles on the floor. “You can clean up your mess and come down to the kitchen for some coffee and a half-ass reasonable conversation when you’re done. Warren left some clothes in his old room the last time he came here with me. Get dry and put them on while you’re at it.”
With that, Kat left Quinn standing alone again, making the cougar wonder what the hell just happened. Grumbling to himself, he went to the room Kat designated and got some clothes then returned to the bathroom. After getting dry and changing, he wiped up the water and threw the towel in the hamper.
Thumping his palms down on the bathroom sink, he looked in the mirror and blinked as it hit him again. If that was truly his mark between her thighs… then she was his and his alone. Just the thought had him hard for her again.
Damn it, he didn’t remember anything from the night he’d spent with her and she’d only been sixteen. He’d stop coming around because of the journal… true. But he’d also stayed away because he had wanted to make a sixteen year old his mate… desperately wanted it. Had he stayed away for nothing?
Kat was sitting at the kitchen table trying to stop her hands from shaking while she drank the strong coffee. The Heat had almost worn off the moment Quinn forced her into the shower. Needless to say, she was madder than a hornet at him. Though seeing him dripping wet with cold water and a handprint on his cheek had lightened her mood quite a bit.
Who the hell did Quinn think he was, demanding to know whom she’d mated? He knew he was the one, so why make her relive the humiliation of knowing he’d ignored her for the past ten years?
Asshole, she’d get even with him one way or another. Her eyes slid back to the pantry where she’d found the bottle of heat as a thought struck her. There was an herb her grandmother had kept hidden in there that would solve a lot of her problems. She smiled deviously as she slid off the barstool and disappeared into the pantry.
Looking about for a couple minutes, Kat finally found what she was looking for. Grabbing the corked perfume bottle of passionflower essence, she wandered back into the kitchen.
Her grandmother had always kept this stuff around in case a guest showed up that she didn’t trust. She would mix some of the herb into their drink and calmly sit down and talk to them. Trick was, the herb acted like a truth serum, but if you used too much it would put the person drinking it to sleep.
