Chapter 20
In the morning, after a quick shower, Tyson padded barefoot down to the kitchen clad in just a faded pair jeans and fitted t-shirt. Once again he hadn’t slept a wink, but last night had been even worse than the night before, and the night before had been hell. The scent of Cersi clung to his sheets. After she’d left, he’d humiliated himself by actually rolling in her scent like the damn animal he was. Hell, he’d even peeled off his sheets so he could sleep with his nose pressed up to the spot where she’d dripped her cunt honey all over them. No, he hadn’t slept that night either because he’d been too busy licking his sheets and beating his shit like it owed him money while he remembered how Cersi’s pussy had devoured him. Last night though… With a deep sigh, he plowed his hand through his unruly hair remembering how Monster had risen up and pinpointed the sound of Cersi’s breathing and then her heartbeat through all the other sounds of the house. When Monster honed in on her scent though, it was nearly Tyson’s undoing. He’d gone hard in an instant, and his dick stayed rock hard all night. Even now he winced at how swollen with seed his balls were. Cersi’s cycle had ended a few days ago. She’d just become fertile! The fucking scent of her pending ovulation had Monster snarling and tearing him up inside, and he got it. They could fuck her and put a pup in her and then she’d have to stay…right?
Oh, good fucking Christ! He fisted his hair and held on a moment while his muscles tensed. Listen to you! Put a pup in her? Fffffuck! Yeah, I can knock her up and force her to stay. Real fucking noble!
Entering the kitchen, he came to an abrupt halt when he saw Cersi standing at the counter. She was staring out the window, unblinking while stirring a cup of coffee very slowly with a steak knife.
Just the sight of her stole his breath, but seeing her like this, unguarded, it was like seeing a lynx in the wild. It was one of those things that just never happened.
Exhausted, hungry, ornery, and dealing with the worst case of blue balls ever, a grin still wrecked his face as he watched her. Dressed in another pair of tight ass jeans and a loose button-up flannel, he decided then and there that he liked her most when she dressed this casual. Crossing his arms, he pressed a shoulder into the door frame and stared. Clearly, she didn’t know he was there, so he let his eyes trip down her back to land on her ass. It was a nice ass. A perfect ass. Cersi had the kind of ass that had him fantasizing about palming her cheeks while he buried himself between them. It was definitely on his bucket list. Fuck it list. Whatever.
His smile faded as his dick went hard.
Goddamn!
It hurt having all the blood rush back to that area after he’d already spent all night engorged. Even beating himself off had offered no relief.
Gritting his teeth, he seethed at the effect this woman had on him. This woman who clearly despised him.
Lifting his eyes, they collided with Cersi’s. He knew he should be ashamed at having been caught staring at her ass, but he merely shrugged.
Staring right back at him, Cersi lifted the knife out of her coffee, brought it to her lips and placed it in her mouth before closing her lips around it. She made a leisurely show of pulling the blade between her lips until just the point rested on her bottom lip.
Tyson wanted to tear his eyes away, he wanted to act nonchalant like his pulse wasn’t racing and his cock about to explode, but Cersi drug the point of the blade along her lower lip and he was riveted. Concern warred with desire in a whirlpool of emotion. She was toying with him, he knew it, but he couldn’t stop his inner beast from loosing a growl that rattled its way up his chest. Monster wanted him to go take that knife from her. Monster wanted him to inspect her lips, make sure she hadn’t nicked herself before shoving her to her knees and giving her something more beneficial to suck on. He held Monster back.
Cersi’s eyes flashed as she ran the knife down her chin and tilted her head back, running the blade down the satiny column of her throat as her eyes fluttered closed. A feminine sigh left her lips. The sound had Tyson’s cock jerking even as his balls drew up tight and released a bead of moisture in preparation for what he wanted. The blade curved to glide over one collarbone before turning and heading back to the center of her chest. Tyson knew she was pushing on the blade now because a white line was left in its wake. When she started running the blade down between her breasts, his eyes narrowed on the thin rise of blood that dotted her skin.
Enough!
In two long strides, he had his hand wrapped around hers. Pulling the blade away from her skin, her eyes snapped open on a startled gasp. For several minutes, Tyson simply held her hand and stared at her as she blinked up at him. Finally, his eyes dipped to the thin cut she’d made right at the top of her cleavage. Inside, Monster slammed into him hard, pissed that he hadn’t taken the knife sooner. Unable to stop himself, one side of his mouth ticked up in a snarl. He thought it’d scare Cersi, but she smiled.
Damn her!
He knew how to wipe that smirk off her face.
Lowering his head, his eyes stayed on hers as his head tracked downward. Finally, he tore his gaze away to settle his eyes on her cut. Just a breath away, he could see that it wasn’t bad. It wasn’t even deep enough to leave a scar, but the scent…the scent of her blood was so damn appealing that his throat suddenly dried up. His heart, which had been racing earlier, was now hammering against his rib cage.
Fuck it!
Closing the distance, he pressed his nose to her warm chest and slowly dragged his tongue up the cut, laving her wound even as he felt her tremble.
Goddamn, she tasted so fucking good! He licked her again and then it was his turn to smile as the knife clattered to the floor. Her hand lifted, fisting his hair and forcing his mouth closer. Gentleman that he was he obliged.
Cersi’s body was bowing now, and Tyson had to wrap one arm around her waist to anchor her in place. His free hand lifted and curled around the nape of her neck to hold her in place as he continued to lap at her skin, his nose nudging her shirt over so he could get access to her breasts.
“Uhhh…I can come back.”
Cersi jerked in his hold, her eyes slamming open.
Pulling away just a fraction, Tyson glared over his arm at Noah and snarled, “Do that.”
“No!” Cersi was shoving him off of her now. Stepping away from him, she straightened her shirt and offered Noah a brittle smile. “I…I just cut myself is all.”
“Oh!” Noah hurried through the kitchen, stepping between them to get to the sink where he bent and pulled out a first aid kit that he settled on the counter next to Cersi’s coffee.
Over Noah’s bent form, Tyson and Cersi stared at each other.
“Here we go!” Noah stood, interrupting their view of each other before he turned and faced Cersi with an opened band-aid. “Where at?”
Tyson grinned when Cersi blushed. “I can do it.” She reached for the band-aid, but Noah jerked it back.
“Let me help. I got you, Cers.”
Pressing her lips together on a sigh, she pulled the top of her shirt open.
“Oh.” Noah stilled a moment before his tongue poked out when he leaned forward and used his fingers to spread the opening in Cersi’s shirt wider.
That fast, Tyson’s grin was gone. With one hard shove, Noah and his goddamn band-aid flew across the kitchen.
“Hey!” Noah barked as he hit the furthest wall, annoyance bunching his brow as he held up a thumb that still had the band-aid stuck to it. “I was just trying to help!”
Tyson reached into the first aid kit and pulled out his own band-aid. “Don’t.” He opened the band-aid and probably made too much contact with his knuckles on Cersi’s skin as he applied it, but oh well. When he was finished, he shot Noah a dark look and growled, “Don’t ever touch.”
“It’s like that?”
Tyson dipped his chin once.
“She ain’t even wearing your mark, man!”
That pissed Tyson off. Grabbing Cersi’s hip, he shoved her behind him and turned to face Noah. “You challenging me for her?”
Before Noah could answer, Cersi bellowed, “Oh good Christ, stop!”
She stepped out from behind Tyson and shot him a dark look as she took her coffee and left the kitchen. “No one’s challenging for me, and there’s no way in hell anyone is marking me.” She brushed past Noah. “Have a good day, boys.”
Chapter 21
Beating feet out of the kitchen, Cersi considered retreating upstairs but opted to head for the den where she heard voices. She didn’t trust herself to be alone with Tyson if he followed her, not that she expected him to.
Concentrating on not spilling her coffee, she wondered what in the hell she’d just been doing. Taunting. She’d been teasing Tyson and his Monster because…well because she’d spent a restless night thinking about what they’d done in his cabin. She hadn’t slept a damn wink because she’d been all hot and bothered by what they’d shared and then she’d been all hot under the collar about how he’d treated her after. Mostly, she lay awake wondering if he’d sneak into her room at some point during the night. He hadn’t, and in the morning she’d been equal parts relieved and dejected.
“Hey!” Vesa greeted from where she sat on Haddix’s lap.
Christ! Did they ever stop touching?
Dropping onto the couch across from them, Cersi faced the fire and sipped her coffee. She only got one swallow down when Tyson stepped into the room. Carrying his own mug of coffee, he strolled casually into the room and dropped onto the end of the sofa opposite her.
Pushing to her feet, she declared, “I’m going for a walk.”
Vesa looked from Cersi to Tyson curiously before saying, “I’ll come.”
Vesa was already pushing up from Haddix’s lap when Cersi held up her hand. “No…no, thanks.”
Vesa looked between Cersi and Tyson again.
A twinge of guilt speared through Cersi as Vesa lowered herself back onto Haddix’s lap, but Vesa knew Cersi liked her space, her private time.
“Be back soon.” She could feel Tyson’s eyes on her but didn’t even bother glancing at him as she made her way out of the room.
***
Tyson watched Cersi slip out of the den after rejecting Vesa’s offer of companionship. Even from where he was seated across from his Alpha and Vesa he could scent Vesa’s disappointment.
No doubt scenting it too, Haddix grabbed Vesa’s hand and gave it a squeeze offering, “Wanna go to town and catch a movie?”
That fast, Vesa’s scent morphed to one of contentment.
Watching Haddix stand effortlessly with Vesa in his arms before setting her feet on the floor, Tyson wondered if Haddix truly enjoyed spending so much time with his new mate. Nostrils flaring, he let Monster sift through the scents filling the room until he realized that with all the recent commotion at the compound he’d missed it. Inhaling again, a grin kicked at one corner of his mouth.
I’ll be damned.
Haddix was happy. Finally, unbelievably, legitimately, happy!
Shoving up off the couch, Tyson met his Alpha’s gaze. Haddix gave him a knowing nod. Yeah, he was going to follow Cersi, and yeah, Haddix knew it. Since she’d arrived, Tyson found it difficult to stay away from her for too long. He told himself it was because she was an outsider, un-trusted and unknown. He tried to convince himself that it was the potential threat she posed that kept him stalking her, and not interest. It was all bullshit. She wasn’t a threat any more than Vesa or Afften were, and he chased her because he was hot as a goddamn rutting bull elk and he had his eyes set on her.
On his way out of the kitchen he heard Vesa beam, “Ooooh, can we watch a sci-fi?”
He smiled at Haddix’s groan. It was well known in the pack that Haddix hated sci-fi movies. Hell, they all did, but only because they got enough of it in real life. He didn’t envy his Alpha today.
Hurrying to the front room, he hoped to catch Cersi before she left the house, but by the time he got there, the coat and boots she’d been borrowing from Vesa were gone.
Tyson jerked his boots onto his bare feet and slipped into his coat.
Outside, he let his nose lead him. Picking up Cersi’s scent was easy. Monster was tuned to her now. His senses honed in on her, and he had to ignore how the front of his jeans tightened painfully as he drank in her sweet scent. Mmm, brown sugar and buttercream. The smell reminded him of how her skin tasted, which reminded him of fucking her, and the closer he got to where he knew was, the faster Monster paced.
He found her at the end of the compound that was furthest from his cabin. Was it a message? Fuck yeah, but it was one he ignored.
Sneaking up on her was easy because he was part wolf and knew how to move with stealth. She didn’t hear him coming which meant he was able to catch another of those rare moments where she was unguarded. Standing in shin-deep snow, she had her head tilted back, her face presented the sky. Her eyes were closed while she just stood there just breathing in the crisp mountain air.
“Beautiful.” He’d meant to mutter it under his breath, but when Cersi whirled around, he knew she heard.
Startled gaze locked on him, it took her a minute to mask her surprise before she looked back up at the sky. “Yeah, it’s beautiful here.”
“Wasn’t talking about the view, Badass. I was talking about you.”
She snorted and continued to look at the sky a minute before slowly turning to face him. “You think I’m beautiful, Tyson BloodMoon?”
“Yeah,” he muttered. “You’re beautiful, Cersi. Hell, you’re the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen, but your looks are nothing compared to how breathtaking your soul is.” He narrowed his eyes on her. “I know what you did.”
She didn’t react.
“For Vesa. I know you became a Bounty Huntress so you could hunt down her family. I know you did that just to gift her closure.”
“I’m not that noble,” she admonished. “I looked for my parents first.”
“Lie,” he growled out. “You looked for your parents way after you found Vesa’s, just last year in fact. You keep trying to hide your shine, woman, but it keeps blinding me.”
He took a step toward her, but Cersi surprised him when she backed up. It was the first time she’d shown any real sign of submission. He suspected it was because she was feeling the way he was. Raw. He felt exposed after what they’d shared. He knew it had to be worse for her, especially after the way he’d thrown her out afterward.
“I’m sorry about last night,” he rushed out before she could stop him. He’d been dying to apologize, and he needed to say the words to her.
“Yeah, me too.” She faced away from him again and thank fuck. He knew he paled at her words. They gutted him because he didn’t know if she meant that she was sorry he’d been such a dick or if she was sorry about what they’d shared. He prayed it wasn’t the latter because he didn’t regret it, and thinking she did felt like she was taking it away from him.
“I was trying to protect you.”
She shot him a disbelieving glance over her shoulder. That look. It was the one she gave him that made him feel like she could see straight through him. He wasn’t worried about it though. It didn’t worry him because he wanted her to know what kind of beast he was. For the first time in ever, he wanted to be seen. But sharing what they had was a two-way street, and he knew Cersi would be worried about feeling too exposed. She was probably over thinking it this very minute. She’d be afraid that he’d see who she really was. She’d still be trying to hide behind the façade she’d built up, the fake badass persona of who she wanted the world to believe she was. She couldn’t hide from him though. He was a hunter, and Monster didn’t see disguises. Monster saw the truth, and the truth was that Cersi was light. She was right and good and clean and pure. She was air that breathed life into his lungs and fanned the flames of his Monster. She was his.
He’d had enough of her running. Monster had made his choice, and Tyson was all in too.
He was on her in two big strides. She gasped as he grabbed her and spun her to face him. She tensed, her hands flattening on his chest to keep him at bay, but he wasn’t having it. Wrapping her up in his arms, he lowered his head, their breath mingling until he pushed his forehead into hers. “I know what you’re doing, Beautiful.” Her body was rigid in his arms. “Whenever you let me get too close, I can smell your distress. You don’t like people getting close, do you?”
“No,” he answered for her. “You’ve had your guts ripped out by life, your insides have been shredded, and I get it. Your heart is fragile. It’s been crushed, so now you keep it hidden away, and locked up in a cage where you only pull it out on rare occasions. Probably when you’re alone and feeling vulnerable, probably when you want to remind yourself that you’re real.” He could scent emotions roiling within her like an oncoming storm, they increased in intensity with each passing second. “You probably lock yourself in the bathroom and look at yourself in the mirror while your eyes swirl with self-doubt as you try to remind yourself that you’re deserving.” He tightened his arms around her, enveloping her in his warmth, “And by the Gods, Cersi, you are deserving! And I promise you that I’m not trying to take anything from you. I promise you I would never.”
“Promises,” she huffed quietly. “What else are you gonna promise me, Tyson?”
“I can promise you that today is gonna be hard. And I can promise you that tomorrow’s gonna be hard. Next week, next month, next year…it’s all gonna be hard, and I promise that you can’t do shit to stop or change that. What you can do is find somebody to help you wade through the tough stuff. You can find someone you can rely on, someone to help you. You can find someone to help make the hard days do-able. You can find someone to help you carry that load.”
“You him,” she asked. “You gonna help me? You gonna save me? Be my hero?”
The sarcasm in her tone pricked at Monster, but Tyson squeezed her tighter. “No. I’m not gonna be anything you won’t let me be or do anything you won’t let me do, Beautiful. What I’m promising you is that if you gave me a chance, if you let me, I have a Monster who needs a mission, and guarding your heart is the only thing that interests him. I don’t wanna hold it. I’m not asking for that kind of trust from you just yet, but if you let me, I’d like to help you protect it. I’m damn good at protecting things, good at keeping things safe. I know you’ve been afraid of letting people in and for good reason. You haven’t fallen for a man because you’ve never believed that he’d be there to catch you. I will. I wanna be the one who proves you wrong. I wanna be the one who makes up for all those years you weren’t loved right. Don’t,” he huffed out pinching his eyes shut tight, he curled his fingers around the nape of her neck and pushed her head into his chest, resting his chin on top of her head. “Monster’s been baying at the moon for years, and it tears me up inside every damn time. Don’t make me admire you from afar too.”
He smelled her tears before he felt the warmth of them on his chest.
“I don’t…” Cersi began, but he cut her off.
“No. Don’t answer now. Just wait. Sleep on it. Mull it over. Trust is a big fucking deal and even more so for people like us. And I know me offering myself up ain’t much. I’ve got a dark beast sleeping inside of me. He scares everyone. He used to scare me too until you came along. You made everyday worth the fight, and I’d continue that fight…for you, with you. And, if you find me worthy…” He released her and stepped back, dropping his arms to his sides. “If you want someone to fight with instead of against…find me.”
Turning and walking away from her was the hardest thing he’d ever done, and Monster was pissed at how he’d left things. They were open-ended. Cersi could still walk away. She could take his offer and simply bolt. She probably would. After all, what was he offering? Himself? A shifter harboring an uncontrollable Monster in his middle? Who’d want that? Hell, half the time he didn’t want to be around himself, but what else could he do. He’d faced demons and beasts the likes of which most would only ever read about in horror stories, but offering himself up to this woman was the most terrifying thing he’d ever done.