Highland Beast Page 2
His balls drew up tight and hard as he shoved deep and strong then shallow and short. With each pass he moved an increment higher to brush the sensitive bundle of nerves behind her pubic bone. Each time he rubbed there, a gasp rushed up to swirl around him, further inflaming his passion. Yes. Yes. At last.
His. His. His.
She was his to take. His to hold. Martha would bring him back to the world of the living and teach him what pleasure truly meant.
MacAdam felt the quickening of her body, the sudden stillness that overcame her and knew she was close to her pleasure. “Now. Now, woman!”
Martha let go with a scream. She shivered and quaked, bowing her back as her fingers clasped at the furs on the bed. Dark brown curls clung to her forehead and her eyes were tightly shut, the fan of her lashes casting shadow on her high cheekbones.
Everything coalesced inside him as profound emotion coupled with intense need crashed inward and he thrust hard, pounded deep. Her fingers came up to grab at his chest, digging in sharply but he didn’t care. His body let go, drowning him in pleasure he thought he’d never feel again. His roar shook the chamber walls. His gums tingled with the need to bite, to claim. As he released his seed deep into her body, he felt her come again.
MacAdam clutched her to him, held her through the storm and promised himself he would never let her leave.
Chapter Two
Brawny arms held her tight and with a feeling of disbelief, Martha opened her eyes and stared up into MacAdam’s golden gaze. A more beautiful man had never been born but this had to be some kind of weird dream, didn’t it? Things like this didn’t happen to plain, everyday women like her. Sure, she was an empath with psychic gifts but in all other ways she wasn’t at all unique. This man, who wasn’t really a man at all, would, in her world, be with a woman who was supermodel beautiful. But looking into his eyes, she sensed no regret. Dropping her carefully erected shields, she searched his emotions. They were strong, powerful. They shocked her senseless.
Fear, lust, yearning all burned within his thoughts.
Without stopping to think, she lifted her hand and settled it along the sculpted perfection of his face. “What the hell just happened to me? I can’t help but feel as if I’m Alice and I’ve dropped into a hole somewhere.”
“Who is this Alice?”
She shook her head at the confusion and curiosity that burned in his eyes. This emotion she understood since, despite her odd sort of calm, she was scared to death. “Never mind. You pulled me through the mirror into another world, and for all I know I can never go back. You have to tell me what just happened.”
He bent his head and kissed the tip of her breast before looking at her again. Finally, he sighed. He settled down next to her and pulled her tight against him. She couldn’t see his face but that was okay. A sense of comfort as she’d never known before seeped into her bones. If this was a strange and naughty dream, she sure as hell wasn’t ready to wake from it. At least not yet.
The deep baritone of his voice rumbled in his chest. “I swore when the witch was finished with me I would never want a woman again.”
“A witch?”
“Three hundred years ago, I took the witch Embeth to my bed. ’Twas the biggest mistake I have ever made. She wanted things from me that I could not give.”
“Things?” Martha shifted enough to look up at him. His expression told her he was far away in another time. Then he seemed to become aware of her again. He stroked a finger down the length of her nose.
“She wanted my love.”
“I see.” Martha cleared her throat. “You didn’t love her?”
He shook his head. “No. She was a companion in my bed but there were sharp edges to her. I prefer soft curves.” MacAdam wagged his brows playfully and swept her naked body with a hand, making her shiver, and she knew he mixed his metaphors. He went serious again, the playful moment gone in a blink. “She cursed me to a world behind this mirror. A place where everything I could desire was here except a woman to assuage my needs and the camaraderie of my pack. Loneliness has been my only companion for all of these years.”
Martha’s eyes misted with tears and furiously she blinked them back. This was not a man who would want her pity. “That’s awful.”
“’Twas,” he said simply. “According to the curse, only a woman who possessed a pure heart and who stroked the runes carved on the frame of the mirror could free me from this prison.”
Martha couldn’t help it. She rolled her eyes and snorted. “Pure heart. Yeah, right. I just had wild monkey sex with a wolf man whom I don’t know and who yanked me through a mirror into another world. Jeez.”
“Do not condemn yourself. Do you hear me, woman?” His words were delivered like a slap, making her go still. “You heard me. You know me and do not try to tell me otherwise.”
Finally she sighed and relaxed back into his arms more fully. Offering comfort, she stroked his arm. “I know. I have empathic gifts, MacAdam. I read people’s emotions and yours reached out to me. I couldn’t resist you.”
Flashing a wicked, white grin, he laughed. “That ’twas what all the wenches said when I was a lad.”
Despite the craziness of this entire situation, she laughed. “Bet you gave the women fits.”
MacAdam’s returning smile was like pure sunshine and then his expression turned downright naughty as he focused on her breasts. Reaching out, he took one in his hand and gently teased the flesh. Her nipple, pressed against his warm palm, tightened and hardened. “I have my mind set on only one woman at this moment. Everything about you is the sweetest pleasure.”
Martha sighed and closed her eyes. “If I’m dreaming, please don’t let me wake up.”
“’Tis no dream.” Finally he released her and sat up in the bed. “Come. Let me share something with you.”
Martha had always been shy about her body but she found with this man she had no modesty. When she was seated on the edge of the high bed, she watched MacAdam as he stood and sent his eyes on a heated study of her nudity. A soft, low growl rumbled from him as he stretched out a hand. She took it and stood on legs that trembled from the aftereffects of the best sex she’d ever had. It had been a long time since she’d been to bed with a man. Her body ached in the most delicious way but she wasn’t about to complain.
When she looked around to check out MacAdam’s room, he came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her middle. “This is like something from a history book,” she said, her visual exploration taking in the beautiful aged tapestries and an enormous table that appeared to have been carved by artisans from a time past. A silver goblet, a dark green wine bottle and a loaf of heavily crusted bread, half eaten, sat on it. At one side of the table was a big book. Curious about this man and his things, she stroked the hand he had settled on her belly and drew away. Giant rugs were scattered across the stone floor and she walked barefoot across them until she reached the table. She sensed MacAdam watching her as she ran her hand over the battered leather of the old book.
“This looks so old. May I?”
“By all means,” he said, moving closer to where she stood. “Do you read?”
She flashed him a look over her shoulder and then quickly realized that women from his time most likely wouldn’t read. “Yes. I’ve been to university and everything.”
A quizzical expression drifted over his stern face. “Wondrous.”
Martha turned back to the book and opened the cover to reveal a genealogy of his people.
Silas.
The top name was scrawled with elaborate lettering.
Quickly she turned. “You are Silas. Silas MacAdam. It says so here at the top of the list.”
“I have called myself MacAdam for so long. ’Tis who I am. But you may call me Silas if you wish.”
Silas walked up to the table and let his finger drift down the list of heavily scrolled names. “I am at the top of the list of our people yet the witch’s curse lets me see the names of those who are, even
now, living in your time. I was alpha of my clan yet they have all gone ahead without me and their names continue to appear in my book as they live and mate and hunt.”
“I’m so sorry,” she whispered. “You must have been so lonely.”
He reached out and captured a tear from her cheek. She didn’t realize and hastily swiped at her face with her hands. “Dumb. I don’t even know you really.”
“Ah, but you do, lass. Come.” He closed the book and took her hand again, leading her to a scarlet curtain in the far wall. When he lifted the aged material aside, Martha gasped. Her hands went up over her mouth.
“It’s beautiful, Silas. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
If she hadn’t suspected the air was full of magic before, she knew it now. Tropics in the Highlands? Impossible! They’d stepped into a whole other world. Tropical birds perched in trees overlooking a silver-tinted waterfall that splashed cheerfully into a crystalline aqua pool formed of rock. Moss-covered banks were gently sloped and giant yellow butterflies danced through the humid air.
Before she’d had time to recover from the stunning sight, he lifted her into his arms. She made a little girly squeak and he laughed as he carried her into the pool. “Wait! You’ll hurt yourself.”
“Do not worry about my back, dearling. You are as light as a feather.”
Laughing too, she snorted, “Yeah, right.”
“You are perfect,” he said as he sank them both into water that was surprisingly warm and felt wonderful on her skin. Silas released her to slide down his body. His cock was hard again, hard and big, as it brushed between her thighs and against her belly. Martha caught her breath and, unable to stop herself, she sank against him, loving the way her breasts felt against his chest. Like a cat, she brushed her nipples back and forth over the crisp mat of black hair and practically purred. “Ah woman, you burn me,” he whispered as he bent his face near her ear. “This wolf would gladly eat you for his supper.”
He stroked his cheek against hers. “You like this place?”
“Oh yes. Wow. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“This castle is built into the side of a mountain, and though the witch hated me when she cursed me, she left me with all this beauty yet no one to share it with.”
“What a bitch!”
Silas laughed again and tightened his hold. “You sound as if you would do battle for me against her.”
She realized he was right. To do such a thing to another was beyond cruel. Anger curled deep in her chest but then it dimmed as he grinned wickedly and took her lips with devastating effect. His tongue stroked her bottom lip with a simple tasting before sending it deep into her mouth. She’d never in her life been kissed with the singular intent to seduce and her belly tightened as his hands stroked the lines of her back and settled at the dip of her waist to pull her close. His stiff erection was sandwiched between them and the base of it pressed her core, sending shimmering pleasure whipping upward. A low moan greeted his kiss as she pressed even closer.
Her nipples, stiff and aching, were planted against his chest and, needing relief, she rubbed them against the hard muscles. Silas made a wild sound then gripped her ass and lifted her high against him. As naturally as sunlight, she wound her legs around his waist as he carried her through the shallow pool to stand with her beneath the gently moving waterfall. Immediately drenched, she watched the drops of water drift over the curves of Silas’ beautiful face and gather in his thick dark lashes. Impulsively, she opened her lips over his chin and flicked the spot with her tongue. She’d never been a sexually aggressive woman but with this man she felt brave and outrageous. If this was a fantasy, then she needed to be a full participant. Martha looked into his golden eyes to see desire swimming there, and once again she let down the protective shields she’d learned to build over the years.
Her pussy clenched and she cried out at the force of his need to take her. He didn’t see her as other men had seen her. They’d thought her a freak because of her empathic gift, slightly plump, not particularly sexy, but not this man. He wanted her with every breath in his body. He ached for her, would die for just one more chance to plunge deep into her. His loneliness was there too, along with a quiet desperation to keep her with him forever.
Groaning low, Martha nipped his lip and dragged her tongue along its length, drinking the breath he expelled. She took the kiss deeper, aggression riding her hard. Silas squeezed the globes of her butt and dipped his fingers deep between them as he drew his cock along the swollen layers of her pussy. She felt his urge to plunge hard and deep. He was holding something back, she realized. Something powerful.
A growl ripped through the air.
His.
Oh yes! He was a man but also a wolf and she knew the notion was ridiculous, but she’d seen him now in both forms and it was a truth she had to accept. Power clung to him along with a savage need to possess, to claim.
Over and over he raked her pussy, demanding a response, and helplessly she writhed against him. Suddenly kisses weren’t enough as a fierce lust burned higher and higher. She broke the kiss and buried her face against the high curves of his chest. Nipping there, licking his damp flesh, she finally sucked on his skin and felt the rumble that vibrated through him.
He moved against her as the water soothed their bodies. As the heavy ridge at the head of his cock brushed her clit repeatedly, Martha felt her body begin to tighten like a spring wound too tight. Her cry of distress reached him and he increased his pace, the precision of his strokes. The stimulation soon proved too much and suddenly the tension burst, sending her over the sharp edge of desire, but Silas wasn’t finished.
Lifting her higher, he positioned her over the head of his cock then slid her down. The fullness of him, the heat was delicious as savage pleasure ripped through her and she felt little-used vaginal walls grip him tight and begin to pulse. He widened his stance and began to plunge slowly in and out of her drenched body. “You are the most beautiful of women.” Words she’d never thought to hear were panted out against the flesh of her throat. Her head dropped back like a flower with a broken stem. She felt his bite, his tongue and the heat of his words as he spoke them.
“What am I going to do with you, Silas?”
“You’re going to fuck me. Be my companion. You will stay with me. That is what you shall do.”
And then all words dissolved into a wild give and take, flesh meeting flesh as her body milked his length and his growls turned to groans of pleasure. Her own whimpering cries blended with them as she opened her heart, her mind and her body. Impossibly, she felt his passion, his emotion, and her body responded by tightening and releasing on him until she flew apart again. This time she wasn’t alone as Silas stiffened against her. His white teeth snapped then ground together as he blasted his semen deep into her willing body.
Chapter Three
Martha sat at the roughhewn table wearing a huge white shirt that belonged to Silas. After all, she’d worn nothing but her nightgown when she’d been pulled through the mirror and straight into his arms. It was either that or go naked. Not much of a choice. His shirt was worn and so soft but sheerer than she was comfortable with. She knew that he could easily see every curve, every shadow from his lounging position across the table from her. Might as well get used to it since he’d made it very clear last night that sex was on his mind. A lot!
They’d played in the pool for hours and she’d had the amazing experience of watching him shift into his wolf form and back again. From a distance, she’d watched him hunt both rabbits and deer in the forest beyond them. As a woman with paranormal gifts, she tended to believe in the impossible yet there was something so unreal about watching a man turn into a beast. The folks back home would’ve thought her even more twisted if she ever shared the experience.
Nope.
Best to keep this to herself if she ever returned to her world and her time. Long ago she’d learned to protect herself from the intrusion of others. But how on
earth was she going to protect herself from Silas, who was sprawled there watching her as if he planned to have her for breakfast rather than the assortment of bread, meats and cheese he’d taken from the castle kitchen and set before them.
A shiver of awareness skated up her spine and her scalp tingled as she tried to ignore the blast of heat that burned through her core. Her body ached deliciously. Shifting in her chair, she tried not to think about the ways in which he’d touched her last night. He’d brought her sleeping body to life and given her reason to hope her life might not always be so desperately lonely.
Trying to appear casual, she ignored his hot gaze and tore a hunk of warm bread from the crusty loaf and spread butter on it. She nibbled at it, noting the way his eyes watched her lips when she licked them. Her lower body clenched, her pussy throbbed. Had a hotter man ever been born? He was bare-chested, his long black hair brushing his shoulders. The crisp mat on his chest narrowed downward, bisecting his torso to dip coyly into the front of old-fashioned breeches. He seemed perfectly content to watch her yet she sensed tightly wound emotion within him.
“Aren’t you hungry?”
“Aye. I am.” He rumbled the words in that low, sexy voice.
“Then…um…why aren’t you eating?”
“Later,” he murmured as he reached out to clasp a silver goblet of water with one beefy hand but instead of drinking, he gave her a curious look. “What were you like as a lass?”
The question surprised her. She smiled. “Weird, I think.” Then she shook her head, realizing she’d used a modern word he might not understand. “Strange.”
“How so? Have you a mother and father? Do you have friends who might even now be searching for you?”
She shook her head. Due to the nature of her gift, she kept herself apart from people. “No. Sad, huh?” She shrugged, very used to the fact she was alone in the world. Perhaps not quite as alone as Silas but she understood isolation.