It had done the same to her mouth, her tongue. Before he had pulled free she had wondered if she could take that bulging head clear to her throat. It was amazing. Unlike anything she could have imagined. Yet, not completely unexpected.

Elizabeth wasn’t fooling herself in any way. She had wondered if it would happen. Wondered if he possessed not just the sense of the wolf, but in some part, the sexuality as well. The Feline Breeds called their women their mates. In one interview, Callan Lyons and his wife had been amazingly reticent about the sexuality Callan displayed. But Elizabeth had known that something had bonded them closer than just love. She could see it in their faces, in their eyes as they gazed at each other. That little glimmer of a secret. And she had been envious. She knew Dash would have warned her beforehand if he knew this would happen. Knew he wouldn’t have hidden it from her. And he had been even more surprised than she had. It filled her with a sense of pride, of feminine possessiveness, to know that he had not given that experience to any other woman. It was hers alone. As shocking, as amazing as it had been, it was still hers alone. Just as that magnificent hard-on was hers. Period. She watched as it flexed, throbbed. Tempted her. Her hand smoothed over Dash’s chest as he suddenly tensed further, down his abdomen, across the top of his thigh.

“Elizabeth.” His voice was dark, thick, his fingers tightening in her hair.

“Hmm?” She caressed her way between his powerful legs, her fingers moving slowly until she was cupping the smooth, silken sac of his scrotum. “Why don’t you have any hair here?”

“Ah God.” His hips arched as she caressed his testicles softly, running her fingers over the ultra-smooth, obviously ultra-sensitive, flesh. “Because I’m a Breed.” He seemed to have pushed the words between

clenched teeth.

“Am I hurting you?” She stilled, watching the soft pearl of liquid forming at the opened eye of his cock.

“No,” he breathed out roughly. “But are you sure you want to keep this up?”

“Mmm.” She pressed a kiss to his chest, watching his hard flesh jerk as she cupped the sac more fully within her palm. “I’m sure.”

“Elizabeth,” he groaned as she moved lower, her lips stroking over his flexing abdomen. “Baby. Wait.”

“For what?” Her hand stroked up from his testicles to the hard shaft of his cock. Her fingers couldn’t circle it, but she could stroke it. She watched as her hand slid up the thick pole, her finger rubbing over the slick essence that seeped from his cock.

“We need to talk.” His voice was strained. “About earlier. Elizabeth, we have to figure this out.”

“What’s there to figure out?” She laid her head on his lower stomach, the bulging head of his erection just below her. Before he could speak, her tongue peeked from her lips and swiped along the glistening head of his cock.

“Oh hell. Elizabeth,” he muttered, his fingers tangling in her hair as the muscles of his abdomen clenched harshly.

She went lower, despite the pressure he exerted on the strands he gripped. Her mouth capped the hard crest, her tongue flickering over the little eyelet at the tip before stroking around the bulging crest. She was rewarded with a small spurt of the salty sweet fluid that had released into her mouth before.

“Enough.” Before she could tempt him further, tease him further, he gripped her shoulders and flipped her to the bed as he rose over her. “Are you insane?”

She licked her lips slowly as she watched him from beneath lowered lids, hungry for the taste of him. There was something wickedly exciting in drawing his cock into her mouth. Something that fired all her baser instincts and made her completely wanton.

“Not insane,” she whispered as she lifted her head and licked her tongue over his lips, pressing against them, slipping it between them.

She shared the taste of his essence with him then. Her gaze locked with his, seeing shock flare in his eyes a second before he groaned roughly; the hand that had tightened in her hair pulled her head back until he could take control of the kiss.

His tongue tangled with hers, then followed it as it retreated behind her lips. He swept into her mouth demandingly, licking at her lips, her tongue, kissing her with a heat and hunger that had her moaning and arching into his touch.

“Damn you.” He tore his lips from hers, breathing roughly as he stared down at her. “You felt what happened last time, Elizabeth. You know what I did to you.”

“Yeah,” she sighed, smiling in anticipation. “Now do it again. Let’s see if it will work again the second time.”

Shock filled his gaze, then heat. Incredible, incendiary heat as he stared down at her intently. Slowly, a smile that could only be called wolfish curled his mouth.

“I’ll make you scream harder this time,” he warned her softly. “I’ll make you…”

He stopped, his head suddenly rising, eyes narrowing as he stared at the door.

“Dash?” Elizabeth felt his body tense dangerously, rather than in arousal. He was moving from her as she heard feet pounding up the stairs, then a hard knock at the door. “Get ready, Dash. Grange has men in town and they could be heading out here. We have to get you moving. I’ve called the pilot; fifteen minutes to landing.”

Dash snarled as his head turned, but Elizabeth was already out of the bed and pulling on the clothes he had left laying out for her.

“So much for a damned shower,” she muttered as she pulled her panties over her long legs, covering the glistening, soaked mound of her pussy. “Dammit, I hate wearing wet panties.”

Dash turned for his own clothes, snarling in silent fury. Her panties were wet, his cock was steel-hard and they were heading to a cold plane. He reminded himself to make sure he hurt Grange. Really bad. Before he finally got around to killing him.

Chapter Twenty-One

“You were loud enough to wake the dead,” Dash snapped as Elizabeth slipped around the corner of the cabin two mornings later. Sweat poured from her braided hair and down her face; her clothes were damp with it.

She had worked her way down the point in twice the time it should have taken her and she had ignored half of what he had told her along the way. He had caught her scent first thing simply because she hadn’t tested the direction the wind was blowing. He had heard her skirting the small clearing five minutes before, going in the complete opposite direction that she should have gone. She stopped, frowning, her blue eyes flashing with anger.

Her breasts were heaving with exertion and nerves and he doubted she could have heard anyone sneaking up on her for the pounding of her own heart.

“I was quiet, dammit. I didn’t make a sound.”

“Do you think I would lie to you?” he growled. “I heard you coming five minutes ago. If this were Grange’s property the guards would have already had you down, stripped and fucked. I told you, Elizabeth. Quietly. I showed you how.”

He was being hard on her. But if he could hear her that far away then those damned dogs patrolling

Grange’s estate could too.

“How much quieter do I have to be?” She was tired, irritated and ready to tear into him now.

“A hell of a lot quieter,” he snarled. “Turn around, get your ass back up to that point and try it again. Grange returns to his estate in two weeks. That’s it. End of training and kill time. You won’t be ready.”

“The hell I won’t,” she snarled. “Son of a bitch. You’re a Breed. Of course you heard me. Grange doesn’t have Breeds for soldiers, does he?”

“No, he doesn’t,” he said softly, smiling tightly, controlling the instinctive rush to protect her. “He has dogs. Big mean dogs trained to fuck nosy little girls who come creeping around his estate. You’ve had a taste of it, baby. Wanna try for the real animals now?”

Her face flushed in fury, her lips thinning as she stared at him coldly.

“Aren’t you just a barrel of laughs this morning,” she sneered. “Too bad you’re not as well trained as Grange’s dogs are.”

She turned on her heel and slipped back around the cabin as he felt offended anger flow through his body. He stomped after her, determined to teach her that soldiers never sassed their trainers. Not and get away with it.

As he rounded the side of the cabin he had no more than a second’s warning before his feet flew out from under him, leaving him on his back with a furious Elizabeth straddling his chest, the sharp end of a stick pressing to his throat.

“I get breakfast now, big boy,” she snarled, curling her lip in sneering triumph as he narrowed his eyes at her. “Who says I can’t be quiet?”

She had him. Damn her, she had tricked him so quickly he hadn’t even considered she would turn so sneaky.

He lifted his hand and pulled the stick away from from her, tossing it aside as he stared up at her.

“Next time you come over me like that you better be naked,” he growled.

“Next time, I’m going to stomp your balls for being so insulting,” she snapped back. He had no doubt she would. If she got the chance.

He lifted her off him then rose to his feet as she stood, watching him in triumph. “You did good. Not good enough, but good.”

She breathed out roughly.

“Not good enough?” She placed her hands on her hips as she watched with a frown. “I got you. Fair and square. How is that not good enough?”

“Because I trust you and I have the added handicap of being so damned hot to fuck you I can’t consider you a threat just yet. Bad move on my part. I won’t make that mistake again.” Damned if his pride could handle it.

They had been working for most of the morning. He had dragged her out of bed before dawn, marched her to the top of the rise above the cabin and told her to wait before heading back down. On the way up, he had taught her how to move through the brush, keeping her steps light, her breathing slow and easy. How to pace herself, time her steps, and move without causing a ripple of sound. Not that he had expected her to pick it up as well as she had. She had actually surprised him. But she could be better. If his instincts were right, she had the potential to move as silently as any hunter ever born. And she was willing to work for what she needed to know. That was imperative. Elizabeth understood that she needed what Dash was teaching her, just as Dash himself was aware of it.

“That’s a poor excuse,” she finally grunted before turning and heading back to the front of the cabin. “I need a shower and breakfast. I’ll try it again after I’ve thought about it.”

She was rolling her shoulders, her voice was thoughtful, as though something had come to her that she wasn’t quite certain of, and her ass was filling those jeans out like a dream. Dash grimaced as his dick throbbed and his lust seemed to hit peak level. He hadn’t touched her since the night at Mike’s ranch. The rushed departure, exhausting flight and the journey to the cabin had been made in less than twenty-four hours. They had both collapsed into the bed and slept like the dead as soon they had eaten a hastily prepared meal.

Training had begun yesterday as soon as they left the cabin and by the time he nearly carried her back into the cabin last night, he had known sex wouldn’t be at the top of her list of priorities. But it was rising quickly to his.

He watched her disappear into the bedroom of the small cabin, and minutes later heard the shower turn on full force. He put together a quick breakfast: two large, filled omelets, fried potatoes and orange juice. Fresh coffee brewed on the counter and by the time she walked out of the bedroom nearly thirty minutes later, he was setting it on the table.

“Eat. We’ll practice self-defense after breakfast then give it a break until evening.”

He sat across from her, digging into his own food. It was fuel, pure and simple, high on carbs and protein with plenty of running power. She would need the energy to get through the next two weeks. She was already run down, tired. She wasn’t living on shattered nerves and fear now. That adrenaline heightened the senses and gave an added edge, even if it was a false one. Now, she was going to have to teach her senses to work in the proper direction. Without the nerves. Without the adrenaline kick that the life or death situation she had faced before had given her.