Chapter 36

Two more days of prowl sex later, Cora sipped her coffee and thought about the man in her bed. Ok, it was just regular sex, but all sex with Jameson felt like prowl sex. She couldn’t wait to try the real thing out again, though, see if she remembered any more of it this time.

Her phone buzzed. Lynessa. Shit. How to explain any of this to Lynessa? She downloaded a picture of an ocean view off the Internet and texted it to her friend, hoping it would make her think Cora had tried to drown her sorrows in the Caribbean. A random picture wasn’t actually lying. Right? It could have been allegory. A statement on the potential joys of hiring pool boys named Paco.

Jameson came downstairs, fully dressed, and she pouted. “Rule in my house is all men attend breakfast naked.”

He just smiled and shook his head, then accepted her offer of coffee. “You get the paper yet?”

She and Jameson were both among the last of a dying breed: subscribers to the actual newspaper. Cora shook her head. “Not yet. And since you broke the rules and got dressed, you can be the one to go out and get it.”

Jameson smiled and squeezed her ass on his way to the door. “Cheeky.” Cora blushed like a teenager and followed to watch Jameson through the glass door.

He unrolled the paper while still at the end of the driveway. Heathen! That would be the first thing she changed about him. Ha ha. Not. Maybe. He stiffened as he read the headline, his face going stormy. She stepped onto the porch, holding her robe together at the chest. “What is it?”

Her man turned to her slowly, holding up the paper. Five Hills’ Mythic White Wolf Sighting, First in 50 Years!

She grimaced. “Guess the wolf’s outta the bag.”

He rolled the paper back up and headed for her garden. He loved it as much as she did and he’d taken a tour of it every morning he’d woken up there.

“What the shit?” Jameson snarled, his eyes on the ground.

She hurried over. Bootprints. Oh. “I love my neighbors, but I think I might need to stronger boundaries.”

Jameson knelt and stared at the footprints. “Neighbor? You sure?”

Cora shrugged. “Who else would it be? If it was a vampire I’d have felt it, right? And as far as I know ex-literature professors don’t even have disgruntled students, so… yeah, I say neighbor.”

But her big, bad wolf wasn’t ready to let it go. He looked at Cora, an expression of puzzlement on his face. “I just realized I don’t even know if you have family.”

Cora’s heart twisted for him. His family was gone. He’d thought maybe hers was, too. “I am alone, except for my friends. Ah, friend. Singular. I don’t see my family, Jameson. Haven’t even talked to them in months.”

He waited patiently for her to tell the rest of it.

She took a breath. “Typical story, I guess. My parents got married because my mom was pregnant. They never seemed to like each other. My dad disappeared when I was three, came back when I was ten. I’m pretty sure he was in jail but he never said what for. My parents barely spoke after that, to each other or to me. I got out as soon as I could and never looked back. My mom thought my dad was a whore and an asshole, and my dad thought my mom was a bitch and a nag. Fun times.”

Jameson moved closer, folding Cora into his arms. “I’m sorry, honey. You deserved better.”

She squeezed his middle, rubbing her cheek against the soft cotton of his t-shirt, turning her smiling face into his chest. “And now I’ve got it.”

He lifted her face to his for a kiss. “You bet you do.”

Jameson tucked her head back against his chest and held her close. Cora closed her eyes for a minute and soaked up the love.

Jameson rested his chin on her head, deep in thought. Then he snapped out of it, chugged his coffee, and aimed them for the house.

He growled in her ear. Sex time again. Goodie.

***

Jameson steered Cora up the stairs. The boot print in her garden made him feel pissed, overprotective. Protecting her made him think of fucking her, and fuck if he was going to get anything figured out until he did the latter. He was sore. But the good sore of way too much sex with someone you fucking loved.

Cora bounded up the stairs in front of him, wiggling her ass invitingly. He caught her around the hips and pulled her down to the wooden steps.

“Jameson!” she cried giggling.

He pushed her dress up, thrilled that she almost always wore one, not pants, then ripped her underwear to the side. Her breath came quickly and she thrust her ass out at him, her core wet, glistening. So ready for him already. He pushed her up the stairs just a bit and latched on to her with his mouth, wanting her so ready she was slippery. But she wanted his cock. Only liked this for short bursts. Which was killing him. He would pin her down one day soon. Make her take his tongue. She pulled away, tried to reach behind her for his zipper. In one swift motion he was out of his pants and in her and she cried out into the stairwell. Fuck, yes. “You’re mine, Cora,” he growled.

“I am. Only yours.” she said heatedly, thrusting back against him. His gaze fell on her neck, in the curve where it met her shoulder. He gripped her there with his hand, used it to lever her against him harder. But fuck if he wanted his hand there. He wanted his teeth.

“What, what is it?” she said, her breath coming in pants punctuated by his thrusts.

“What is what?” he growled.

“You got all… strange. I could feel it.”

He could only tell the truth, especially when he was buried inside her. “I want to claim you, Cora. Mark you as mine forever.”

“Do it,” she said and the rough edge to her voice made him almost spill inside her.

“Don’t you want to know-”

“Do it,” she said again, interrupting him. She didn’t have to tell him twice. They would figure the rest of their lives out together.

He fell on her, ever wary of the killer she was, wondering if she would turn on him when his teeth pierced her skin. Shit! Her resonant! He hadn’t seen it since the night in the forest. But it didn’t matter at the moment. His fangs lengthened in his mouth and he struck, penetrating her soft, delicate skin with a vicious snarl that was all for her.

Cora’s scream pierced his sensitive ears, but it turned to a lusty moan so quickly he knew she was feeling no pain. Her ass thrust against him and her legs twined around his, locking him to her, squeezing his hard flesh with her soft strength. “So good.”

Her glow flared, blinding him, but she didn’t seem to see it. It pushed him right to the edge to find her already there. Jameson felt the electricity surging through his body at the two points where they joined. as if they’d completed a circuit, allowing the energy to flow freely between them. A vibration began in his solar plexus and shuddered through his whole body, sending him careening into the most incredible orgasm Jameson had ever experienced.

From the way Cora was thrashing and crying out beneath him, her clenching core pulling him deeper with every spasm, hers was just as good.

They came back to themselves slowly. Jameson’s fangs receded so that he could kiss Cora’s neck gently, reverently as it healed before his eyes. He was still buried inside her, and she shuddered as he softened and slipped out, turning to find her shelter in his arms.

Jameson carried Cora to the top of the steps, then brushed hair from her face, surprised to find tears on her cheeks. “Ah shit, I hurt you.”

She shook her head, a smile shining through the tears. “Not at all. You chose me.”

Jameson grinned back, his heart lighter than it had been in one hundred fifty years. “I’ll always choose you, Cora. I’m yours. I’ll never be anyone else’s.”

From somewhere in the house, his phone rang. Then hers. Then his again. Text message after text message came in.

“Emergency at the ranch, it sounds like,” Cora said in a teasing voice. “Vampires need killing or something.

Jameson was glad to hear her phone ringing too. He’d seen how badly Flint and Bryce had been torn up, seen the way Riot had shied from Cora. He was afraid they thought of her differently now. That would kill her.

They rushed to their phones. Jameson’s messages were from Flint and Riot.

Flint: Are you ok? Bryce says my eyes are glowing

Riot: My eyes are glowing, what kind of bullshit is going on now?

Cora’s message was from Carick, mysterious as ever.

Switch, you have triggered something

Jameson blew out a breath. “No vampires.” No reassurance either.

He took Cora’s hand. “Cora, where is your resonant?”

Her face crumpled and her mind flew back to that night. “I don’t know. I can’t- I can’t remember much.”

Jameson pulled her in for a hug. “Get dressed. We’ll find it.”

He texted Riot and Flint back, starting a group message with them. They were covenbound to the same coven, and would have to work together from now on. No more petty fights.

We’re fine. Tell me if eyes stop glowing or anything turns up. We’re heading out to the forest.