Tooth and Claw Read online

  Luke spun back around and flipped his phone closed. “There’s an unmarked car in the area. They’ll be here in about ten. I think I’ll wait with them. My curiosity is piqued now. In the morning we can meet at the precinct so you can match smells to the evidence we’ve already got. Maybe we’ll get lucky and get a match. Then again, it’s not too big a leap to find his scent in the house. He does live there after all.”

  “No problem. I love smelling women’s underwear.” He grinned at Paxton so she would know he was teasing and got smacked on the chest for the effort.

  “Um, Seth?” Paxton tugged at a few chest hairs.

  “Yes?”

  “You’re still naked.”

  Damn straight he was. Being in his other form didn’t help. Always made Seth horny to let the cat loose.

  No, that wasn’t true. Being in any form near Paxton made him horny. He wished they were anywhere but in the middle of a neighborhood, surrounded by cops and probably an entire street full of prying, nosy eyes. The only things keeping them from seeing a full-grown naked man was the fact they were behind the SUV in the dark.

  He slipped into the jeans Luke handed him and zipped himself up.

  “Hey, I’m man enough to say thanks for putting your sizeable piece away, Toothy.”

  “Aw. Your ass still too sore, Lukey?”

  “You know it.”

  “Mine’s not,” Paxton declared, her eyes glued to his crotch.

  Seth raised an eyebrow.

  “Oh, ho. Not something I ever expected to hear from my partner’s mouth.”

  Paxton snorted. “That’s because you’re too busy hearing it out of your own.”

  Seth threw back his head and laughed, knowing Luke would never be offended.

  “Now I know I’ll stay with the surveillance team while you two go work off some calories.” His friend dug the keys from his pocket.

  Seth yanked his shirt over his head and addressed Paxton. “Are you sure you don’t need to be in on this?”

  “Nope. Luke can handle it.”

  “Good.” He grabbed the back of her head and tugged her to him. “I need you,” he whispered in her ear.

  She paused before answering and Seth stopped breathing. When she looked up at him, he could tell she’d come to a major decision. “You can have me.”

  He tore open the driver’s door, pressed Paxton inside, forced her over the console and gear shift to the other side, then followed her in. He took the keys from Luke’s outstretched hand, shoved them in the ignition and cranked the engine.

  Before Seth slammed the door shut he heard Luke mutter something that sounded suspiciously like, “Lucky bastard.”

  Chapter Five

  Paxton jerked off the vest and stowed it at her feet before buckling her seat belt. She had serious doubts about being able to make it all the way to her home before jumping the man sitting next to her. She had serious doubts about her sanity also, but she could no longer deny the feelings she had for Seth. Sometime during his romp she’d decided one bad vampire didn’t mean the entire race was bad. After all, she dealt with the scourge of the human race every day. That didn’t make all humans bad.

  Dillon had been killed in cold blood by a vampire, yes. But he could have just as easily been killed by a human. She had to accept that fact and move on with her life. Dillon would want her to.

  Besides, there was something hideously sexy about the way Seth had gone from virile, naked human male—Luke hadn’t been kidding earlier about the nice size of heat Seth was packing—to sleek jaguar. If she hadn’t already known of the existence of vampires, something straight out of supposed myths, she might have thought she was going insane. If there were vampires among them it didn’t take much to leap to the conclusion there might be other things out there that went bump in the night. Like the other shifters he claimed lived among them.

  “If you keep throwing pheromones, we won’t make it.” The smooth baritone of his voice made her clit tingle.

  “Then we’re in complete agreement. Nearest hotel?” He’d succeeded in turning her into a groupie, for God’s sake. A raving nymphomaniac.

  “You aren’t a nympho, Princess. And I don’t have groupies.”

  She hummed in response. “There’s one way to keep our minds off sex ’til we get home.”

  “How’s that?”

  “I’m dying to know about how my dating you makes me a princess.”

  The steering wheel creaked where he gripped it. “We aren’t…dating.” He sounded pained to say that.

  Paxton’s heart sank and a lump formed in her throat, threatening to choke her. A groupie. Just like she’d thought.

  “My mistake.” They were merely on their way to tangling the sheets into oblivion. They only had sex going for them. In the cage. He was right, they weren’t dating. She’d just thought what they’d done meant something more to him than scratching an itch.

  “We’re sort of…mated.”

  “Mated?” Her heart leapt this time, shooting north with hope. Mated sounded better than, “we aren’t dating”. Sounded a hell of a lot more like married. Long term. Happily ever after.

  “Yes. I’m sorry I didn’t give you the chance to decide. You sort of went against everything I knew about you and surprised me. You were too hard to resist.”

  “Right,” she murmured. “What, exactly, did you know about me?”

  “Honestly? I thought you hated me. You did your best to avoid me, yet when you were close your body responded to me.”

  She gasped. “I don’t hate you. Well, okay, I did hate you. Sort of. Not really you, but what you are. Because of what happened—I don’t hate you anymore.” She’d done her best to avoid him, yes, but only because she’d been afraid of what he was. And then there was the part where she’d worried about being a vampire’s one-night stand.

  “Trust me, you’ll hold my interest. Forever.”

  “And that mind-reading thing you do is a little weird, so try not to answer my thoughts a whole lot, ’kay?”

  “Promise.”

  “Turn left at the next street.”

  “I know.”

  “So this mate thing…”

  “I knew you were the only woman for me the first time I met you. I tried as hard as I could to stay away because Luke told me about your boyfriend, but being with you tonight pushed me over the edge. Jaguar shifters and vampires both mate for life. And remember that bit about the whole ‘royalty’ thing?” He turned to her and grinned. “I guess that sort of makes you my princess.”

  She couldn’t resist. “Do I get a crown?”

  He flicked his gaze to her and his mouth opened and closed. “I was joking. It’s really only an implied title, I don’t really—”

  Paxton laughed. “I know, I know. I was kidding too.”

  He pulled up in front of her house. “It’s probably not wise to kid me, sweetheart.”

  “Oh, yeah? What’ll you do? Spank me?”

  “For starters.”

  Damn it. She’d been teasing. Partially. Now she was imagining her upturned ass and his big hand landing on her pale cheeks. Her face heated. She actually wanted him to spank her. Any other man, any other time, she’d have pulled her Glock on the dick and told him to get lost before she blew his head off.

  And why the shit wasn’t she more concerned about his telling her she was his mate? She’d only just decided she didn’t want to stay away from him. Shouldn’t she be more worried about the forever part?

  Seth was out of the car and around to her door before she could reach for the handle. He offered his hand. Who was she to say no? She accepted and allowed him to pull her from the SUV, trying her best to be patient when what she really wanted was to throw him to the ground and get him out of those clothes once more. Wouldn’t the crotchety Ms. Stella across the street love that?

  “I believe we talked of using a bed this time around. I’m all for standing when in a hurry but when I have the time, I like to be lying down where I can savor ever
y single inch of your skin.”

  “You did it again.”

  He shrugged but didn’t look the least bit contrite. “Sorry. Can’t help it. You’re in my head now. I only said I’d try and it’s so new. Give me a chance to work on it.”

  Paxton shoved him forward. “Get in there before we get caught.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  She unlocked the door and kicked it shut when they were both safely inside, then attacked.

  “Off. Now.” Now that she’d made her decision about him, she didn’t want to waste any more precious time being without him. He had to have drugged her. She suddenly didn’t care.

  His teeth descended. She blinked to make sure she’d really seen what she thought she had. Even if her eyes hadn’t registered them, her nipples did. They peaked, hardening under her bra so they rubbed irritatingly against the cotton material. She jerked her shirt off while Seth, the maddening bastard, took his time, moving slow as molasses until she thought she’d go nuts.

  He watched her as she toed her shoes off and kicked them across the entryway. The butt-hiding pants were next to go, following her shoes. She faced him in her bra and panties, her breath coming in pants.

  “Damn it, why aren’t you naked? Sure didn’t take you any time when we were on scene.”

  One corner of his sexy mouth curved up. “Just watching the show, Princess.” He twirled his finger in the air, asking her to turn around.

  She did, glancing over her shoulder with a pout.

  “Take off the panties. Slowly.”

  Paxton loved the guttural tone. He was just as affected as she was. She didn’t need to see the impressive bulge at his fly to know it.

  Still with her back to him, she bent ever so deliberately, dragging the panties down her legs as she went.

  Lord. Not only had she become a nympho but an exhibitionist as well.

  “Mine,” he growled.

  When she had the offensive material off, he grunted. “Spread your legs.”

  Her stomach fluttered as she complied. Never even thought of disobeying him.

  “Grab your ankles.”

  Paxton moaned and wrapped her fingers where he wanted them, wondering what he saw when he looked at her this way.

  “Beautiful.” He’d wandered over to her and now his fingertips brushed her backside, sending a shiver over her skin. He traced her crack, pausing for a moment to press gently on the one area of her body no other man had touched, before moving on to her slit and swirling in her juice.

  “Oh God,” she whimpered, hanging her head when he reached her clit and trapped it between his thumb and forefinger.

  His other hand slid up her spine to stop at her bra. He traced the material around to her front and unhooked the closure, causing her breasts to swing free.

  “Stay,” he ordered when she would have wiggled to take the bra off.

  Shock ripped through her along with a squeak when his tongue landed squarely on her anus, circling and tasting the tight ring which only got tighter when she squeezed her ass. A sharp slap landed on her right cheek.

  “Relax.”

  “How the hell do you expect me to do that?”

  Chapter Six

  Seth stroked the redness of the cheek he’d smacked. A pretty pink. Needed to be darker.

  He struck it again, grinning at the groan the slap elicited. He found her clit once more and pressed. Paxton’s knees quivered and for a second Seth thought she might collapse.

  “I thought we were using a bed this time,” she panted, her bottom tensing as he rubbed along her very wet pussy.

  “Didn’t know you were going to try and tempt me the second we walked in the door.”

  “Bullshit.” She twisted and give him a dirty look.

  “I don’t know. I kinda like you how you are, all bent over and open for me.”

  “Might be nice for you. You’re not the one curled like a pretzel. The back won’t hold out too long here. Besides, I’ve heard the rumor about how long vampires can last so starting out in this position might not be the best.”

  “Ah.” Seth grazed his fingertips down her spine and laughed when her butt cheeks clenched again, trying to deny him access to the taut pucker there.

  She could try all night. Eventually he would breach the barrier.

  He patted her beautiful ass. “Stand.”

  She did. “I’m just gonna let you know right now, I’m not into BDSM. So don’t think you can order me to do whatever you want and I’ll bow down to your demands.”

  He nodded. “We’ll see. Go get on your bed. I want you spread-eagle for me by the time I get my clothes off.”

  She licked her lips, and a split second later she bolted. Seth’s jaguar purred at the sight of her round bottom in flight.

  Using his vampire speed, he undressed and made it to her room just as she was turning around, on all fours, to face the door.

  Lounging against the wall, Seth cocked an eyebrow. “I thought I said spread-eagle.”

  “Shit.” Sitting, Paxton wrenched her head up and stared at him.

  Her gaze took in his nakedness, raking him from head to toe, lingering on his stiff cock, before moving on.

  “I’d love to taste your pussy, Princess, but you haven’t done what I asked.”

  She looked at her lap. “Oh.” Her legs shot open.

  Seth smiled to himself as he crawled between her spread thighs, right to the heart of her, and licked her slit.

  “Oh my God.” She collapsed onto her back. Her heels dug into the mattress and her thighs pressed in on his head.

  He stopped.

  “No, no, no. Don’t stop.”

  “Legs wide,” he ordered, and waited for her to comply.

  Her belly trembled under the hand he placed just below her navel, and she sucked in a breath.

  “That’s my girl. Stay.”

  Using his forefinger, he touched her, spreading her juices, circling her clit, teasing her until her hands fisted in the comforter.

  He’d never seen anything more beautiful than the feast laid out before him.

  Five feet seven inches of creamy flesh just waiting to be devoured. His incisors lengthened even more. Nibbling ever so gently at her labia, Seth worked a finger inside her sheath. She tightened on him, squeezing him with those inner muscles so he wished his cock was there instead of his finger.

  He wanted her to come first. Screaming his name.

  The pulse at the inside of her thigh called to him, beckoning him with its rapid tattoo. Who was he to resist?

  Flicking at her clit with his tongue and thrusting his finger in and out of her heat, he drove her to the pinnacle. Her back arched and she held her breath, waiting for the exact moment of release.

  He sensed it. A millisecond before she exploded, he bit her. Just as her sweet, tangy blood crossed his lips, bursting on his taste buds like a ripe, juicy peach, she shouted his name.

  Her vagina gripped his finger in time with the throbbing at her clit as he took in her life’s blood.

  He didn’t want it to end.

  He carefully swiped his tongue over the punctures to seal them and rose.

  Breathing heavily, Paxton’s body went lax.

  “Not so fast, sweetheart.” He chuckled. She could barely open her eyes.

  “Wha…?”

  “My turn.”

  “Oh, right. Uh-huh.” She tried to lift a hand to his face as he covered her body with his, his rigid cock nestled against her sopping folds.

  On his knees, Seth grabbed hers and brought her legs up to his waist. The move aligned her opening with the head of his dick. The thick, broad head wept with pre-come as if begging for release.

  “Fuck me, Seth.”

  Her murmured plea pushed him into action. He slid inside her, only stopping when he came to the resistance of her womb.

  She felt so perfect.

  “You have a little…blood, on your lip. Right here.” Paxton reached for his mouth and wiped the spot away. She astoni
shed him when she licked the evidence of his bite off the tip of her finger. “Warn a girl before you bite her next time, won’t you?”

  “Sure.” He punctuated his answer by withdrawing from her pussy and driving back in.

  Her eyes rolled.

  “Fuck, that’s never felt so good before.”

  “It better not have,” he growled. Thinking about her with another man was not acceptable.

  “Do it again.”

  “With pleasure.” His balls drew up tight. He wasn’t going to last with this slow thrusting. Hell, he wouldn’t last with fast either. Damn catch twenty-two. Damned if he did and damned if he didn’t.

  Oh well, they had the rest of their lifetimes to figure out speed.

  He watched his cock slide from her body, glistening with her come in the overhead light. He liked her like this, all spread out for his use, her body giving in to his demands. She might say she wasn’t into BDSM but he had a feeling she’d try anything he asked of her. He couldn’t wait to get her hands tied behind her back so he could bend her over, up on her knees with her cheek resting on the pillow while he fucked her ass.

  “Please,” she ground out. “Faster.”

  With her head thrown back, he clearly saw the pronounced vein carrying blood down her neck. He pounded into her, anxious to bite, to taste her yet another time.

  “Do it,” she commanded in his head.

  “Now who’s talking in whose mind?”

  “Now who’s taking too fucking long?”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  The orgasm tingled at his balls, building until sweat formed on his forehead and dripped onto Paxton’s cheek. He closed his eyes and gritted his teeth. Her body seized against his, signaling her own release. The soft, fast swoosh, swoosh of her pulse drew him in. Pressing his lips to her throat, he waited for the precise moment when their climaxes would rush to the forefront.

  Not yet…not…yet…

  It slammed into him. With one final thrust, Seth buried his cock in Paxton’s pussy. She screamed his name again.

  And Seth’s teeth sank into her jugular.

  Her arms folded around him, hugging him close, keeping him from leaving.

  “Silly girl. Never. I will never leave you.”