Author: J.D. Tyler

"There won't be a mess," she promised him with a wink. "Sit back and enjoy, and I'll take care of everything."

When she flipped back the covers and exposed him, bent over his throbbing flesh, his dazed brain grasped her meaning. All half-formed thoughts of protest died on his lips and he groaned, arching his hips.

Her mouth surrounded him, took him in, hot and sweet. The sensation fired his blood, not to mention the sight of her blond head bobbing over his lap, his cock disappearing between her lips. Just the idea that she planned to swallow his essence nearly made him lose it way too soon.

"God, Kira!"

She hummed in apparent pleasure, small fingers squeezing, manipulating his balls as she sucked. The dual stimulation was challenging enough in holding off his orgasm, but when the hand slid down his perineum, ventured into his cleft to massage the forbidden pucker there . . . Jax almost came totally undone.

"Baby, I can't last," he rasped. "Please . . ."

Please stop? Or please eat him alive? He wasn't sure. His world had been reduced to a whorl of intense, mindless pleasure. Nothing existed but what she was doing to him, how unbelievably incredible it felt to surrender to her.

Mine!

Unable to hold back any longer, he erupted with a shout. On and on his cock pulsed as she drank him down, not missing a drop. After what seemed forever, his spasms finally stopped and she pulled off him, wiping the corner of her mouth.

"Oh, my God," he breathed, the words a reverent praise of her talents.

She gave him a self-satisfied grin. "Did that help?"

"Did it ever! I think my bones melted."

"Good, that was the plan." Kissing his cheek, she arranged his gown over his lap once more and fixed the covers. "Can you rest some now? You look tired."

"Not sure. Maybe I could take a nap," he mumbled, suddenly drowsy.

"Go ahead." She took his hand. "I'll be right here."

Worn out from the naughty interlude, Jax fell into an exhausted, sated sleep. When he woke again, hands were shaking him, urgent voices calling from far away. He tried to ignore them but they were persistent, and he finally managed to crack open his eyes, blinking against the sunlight that shone around the edges of the blinds.

"You're awake! Thank God." Kira smiled down at him, eyes shadowed.

"Did I sleep all night?"

"Yep." Melina beamed a penlight into his eyes. "It's a quarter past eight."

"Jesus," he muttered, jerking his head from the light. "That's my brain you're skewering."

"At least you still have one. Do you remember me bringing in a cot for your lady to sleep on? Us giving you more blood?" She slipped the wretched device into her coat.

He thought. "No. Must've been out of it."

"You were, but I thought you might've had some awareness. The fact that you didn't is telling, Jax."

"My body is failing." God.

"Faster than I expected. This is it-do or die. You're going to drink from your mate's wrist, gain some strength, and then I'm releasing you. Go where you like, but if you don't come back mated, there's no coming back," she said bluntly.

Kira winced, and he wanted to snap at Melina to use some sensitivity, but it wouldn't do any good. The doc didn't believe in candy-coating the facts.

"Remember what I said about what could happen to your abilities after mating. Now, I'll leave you two alone. As soon as you feel strong enough to get up, do it." Then she was gone.

Kira watched her go. "That woman is so hard to like. But for some reason, I do."

"Because she's a good person, just shit on by life. Now, give me your hand."

She did, and he nuzzled the delicate flesh inside her wrist. Flicked out a tongue and tasted. His senses might be shot, but her sweet vanilla and citrus came through, making him dizzy. He needed her so much.

Resisting the urge to bite, he grazed the skin with one canine, making the small cut so fast she barely felt it. Little drops beaded in the slice and he captured them, soothed the area with his tongue. As before, the flavor was so strong and heady, he couldn't wait to learn how it would feel to be truly joined.

Strength seeped into his bones, that soothing warmth returning. Along with a more insistent heat in his groin. He wasn't going to get any stronger without the mating. Now was the time.

"My clothes?"

"Here." She handed him a pile of freshly laundered jeans, a green shirt, socks, and shoes. "Zan brought them. Everyone's worried about you."

"They won't have reason to be, soon."

She blushed. "They're all going to know."

"And be jealous as hell." Sitting up, he swung his legs over the side of the bed. "If any of those dipsticks give you a hard time, remember that's just their way of showing you how much they like you. If they ignored you, then you'd have to worry."

"I suppose so."

He dressed quickly, glad that he felt pretty good. One a scale of one to ten? About a seven at the moment. He'd work with it.

"What do you say we go for a walk?" he asked with a grin.

"To your favorite spot by the stream?"

"Unless you'd rather drive into Cody. I can book us into a nice room, order some bubbly and-"

"I think the stream is the perfect spot. And you're the only high I need," she said, almost shyly.

"And I think that's the greatest thing anyone's ever said to me." Chest swelling, he stood and held out a hand. "Shall we?"

"Let's go."

Putting her hand in his, she allowed him to walk her outside, into the new day. She trusted him to take care of her, now and always.

He'd do anything not to break that trust.

Anything.

Staring out the window, Nick watched them go, with a heart heavy.

So little time left, and they didn't know. How short life is. How unfair.

Turning away from the glass, he clenched his fists. "This isn't a gift, it's a curse. Take it back," he whispered.

But no one listened, or answered. No one ever had.

Not once, from the day he was born.

As they walked, fingers linked, Kira's nerves started to get the best of her. Because the truth was, Jax was every fantasy come to life.

As he tugged her along, walking slightly ahead, she ogled his ass hugged just right in the well-loved jeans. His broad back flexing under his T-shirt, his trim waist. The scrolled tattoo winding lazily from under the right sleeve to trail down his arm. She couldn't wait to see the rest of it again, lick it. Taste his skin.

"What are you thinking about so hard?" Turning his head, he looked back at her, lips curving into a sensual smile.

For a second, her brain fritzed, totally short-circuited by his sheer beauty. Not the pretty kind, but dangerous. All raw, sexual male. She'd never been one to prefer any sort of facial hair, but his goatee was the perfect complement to his masculine face and bad-boy, motorcycleriding image.

"Earth to Kira."

She shook herself out of the drools. "Sorry. Too much on my mind, I guess."

"I'll fix that by blowing all those pesky thoughts to dust." He grinned at her, his meaning clear.

"I'm sure you will." His words reminded her of something. "What did Dr. Mallory mean when she told you to remember what can happen to your abilities when we mate? Can something go wrong?" The idea of anything happening to him scared her.

"Not wrong, exactly." He paused. "She told me the bonding could negate my powers for a while."

"Oh, no! Will you get them back?"

"Most likely."

"You seem pretty nonchalant about it."

"I'm not. But when it's a choice between losing my abilities or my life . . ."

Not much of a choice at all. She hoped he didn't regret their mating, but couldn't bring herself to say so. In spite of nature forcing life-altering changes upon them, she and Jax had formed their own connection. One based on mutual trust, friendship, and attraction. Nothing could take that from them.

Except death.

She shivered.

"You cold, baby?"

"No, I'm fine." She smiled and the worry in his eyes eased.

When they reached his favorite spot by the stream, he turned and gathered her into his arms. Pulling her flush against his hard body, he cupped her face. "Relax, angel. I'm not going to devour you. At least not until you're begging for it."

She was there already. His hands on her face, the heat of his erection burrowing into her tummy, his strength surrounding her . . . Oh, yes. She wanted more of that, with the two of them naked, tangled, and sweaty.

His kiss was slow and thorough. Sweeping and exploring. Like a master, he eased her gently under his spell, and she wondered whether he might be part Sorcerer. She rubbed against him, needing to be closer, to crawl inside him.

Breaking the kiss, she knelt on the spongy ground and unzipped his jeans. "First I want to devour you," she said, voice husky. "Will you beg for it?"

His eyes darkened with predatory hunger. "Make me."

"I like that sort of challenge."

Hooking her fingers in the waistband, she pulled down his jeans, slid them off. He kicked off his running shoes, stepped out of the pants, and spread his legs, standing with his feet braced slightly apart, and then pulled off his shirt. All of the glorious skin she'd been eager to touch and taste was right there, a living sculpture of male beauty.

Reaching out, she cradled his heavy balls, squeezing, manipulating carefully. He moaned and widened his stance, encouraging her to do what she wished. What she wanted was to drive him out of his mind with a tongue bath, and so she grasped the base of his cock, lifting his stiff erection. Bending forward, she licked the silky sac, determined not to leave an inch unloved. He squirmed, buried a hand in her hair and thrust his hips, clearly enjoying the attention.

Getting into her ministrations, she kissed and suckled each orb as though savoring a juicy peach. Delicious, too, smooth and creamy, just like-

"Kira," he rasped.

"Mmm. Ready to beg yet?"

Whatever reply he might've made was silenced when she swallowed him to the root. A cock this magnificent deserved her undivided attention and she gave it, sucking him with firm pulls, laving the underside, worrying the sensitive flesh with lips and a slight grazing of her teeth.

Her wolf lasted longer than she expected, and she smirked to herself as he disengaged with a low growl of warning. "Get those clothes off, because if I do it there won't be anything left but scraps."

"You wouldn't want me to traipse back in the buff?"

His eyes narrowed. "I don't share."

"Good to know, because neither do I."

Kneeling, he helped divest her of the pink cotton shirt she'd worn this morning, followed by the lacy white bra. Both were tossed aside and he literally crawled up her body, pushing her to lie on the grass. Straddling her, he tweaked a nipple and it immediately perked to attention, seeking more of the same. But he moved on, attacking her jeans with the same impatience she'd demonstrated, stripping them and her underwear down her legs. The shoes and socks went next, and the whole pile joined the rest of their clothing.

"Christ, you're so pretty," he breathed in reverence.

She resisted the impulse to cover herself. Barely, and because she knew he didn't like it when she did. "I'm happy you think so."

"It's a fact." Bending, he sniffed her neck, inhaling her scent. "So good. Sweet. You're not afraid of the Big Bad Wolf eating you up?"

"Should I be?" Oh, God, he felt so good above her, his hard cock rubbing her belly.

"Oh, yeah. Be very afraid," he deadpanned.

Then he gave her nipples his full attention, treating them with the same care she'd lavished on his balls. He suckled, scraped, and licked, making every nerve ending sizzle in joy. She clutched his short black hair as he began to kiss his way south, humming to himself in pleasure. Callused fingers parted her folds and it was his turn to drive her wild, his tongue lapping at her clit, her channel, sending tendrils of delight spiraling through her abdomen and to her limbs.