Serengeti Storm ss-2 Read online

  Ava snapped her mouth shut. “I’ll thank you not to infer things about my sex life.”

  “You’re welcome, but I’m gonna infer all I want, poppet. Goddess, am I ever lucky the Alpha picked you? I’d have been bored to tears inside a week. Of course, nothing says I couldn’t have still fucked Caleb on the side.”

  “He would never betray Landon.”

  Shana just smiled. The little mateling had a lot to learn about men.

  “You’re wrong,” Ava insisted. “You don’t know him.”

  “I know him a helluva lot better than you do, sweet cheeks.”

  And she knew exactly what to do to him to make him forget his own name, let alone any loyalties he might have once had. Not that that would be an issue this time. No more betrayals and power plays. That was the plan. Just pure, unadulterated and unadulterous sex.

  Shana added a pair of dangling earrings and blotted her lips, turning back to Ava. “Now, how do I look?”

  The little blonde grimaced. “Like an expensive call girl.”

  Shana grinned. “Perfect.”

  She strutted toward the door, but the mateling suddenly barred her way. “Where are you going?”

  Shana arched an eyebrow and waved a hand at her outfit. “Did you think all of this was for your benefit? I’m gonna go give your brother the night of his life. By the time I’m done, he’ll be singing my name to the tune of the Hallelujah Chorus.”

  “He’ll throw you out on your skanky ass.”

  Shana snorted. “Honey, have you looked at me lately? Men don’t throw me out of their beds until I’ve wrung them dry.”

  Ava shook her head, her expression fierce and protective. A kitten testing out her claws. “You don’t deserve him.”

  “Nope. You’re absolutely right about that. But it doesn’t change the fact that I’m gonna get him. You can have your precious Alpha, but Caleb’s mine. Now why don’t you get out of my way, half-pint, or would you really like to see how long it takes me to kick your ass?”

  The blizzard promised for the night before had arrived in force. Caleb listened to the wind howl and felt like howling himself.

  He’d nearly challenged the Alpha.

  He couldn’t even remember what had provoked it. Memory had been washed away on a tide of animal instinct. All he remembered was Shana and an icy cold rage that Landon would dare touch her.

  How had he let himself get so tangled up in her again? Hadn’t he learned his goddamn lesson by now?

  Caleb sat on his bed with his head in his hands. Her scent still clung to the sheets. There was no way he would be getting any sleep tonight.

  The door banged open. His head snapped up.

  His brain shut off.

  What the fuck was she wearing?

  “Hello, Caleb.” Shana kicked the door closed against the wind. She snicked the lock into place.

  “Get out.”

  Her lower lip poofed out in a patently false pout. “Are you mad at me?” she asked, the baby-sweetness in her voice a lollipop complement to the fuck-me-suck-me outfit.

  “Yes,” he growled, even as his cock stood up for duty, and added, but not mad enough to pass up what you’re offering.

  The fake pout vanished and her emerald eyes flashed irritably. He wasn’t playing her game the way she wanted it played. “Fine. You’re mad. I get it.” Then a feline gleam flickered to life in her eyes and a sensual smile curled her lips. “You wanna punish me? I’ve been a bad, bad girl.”

  “Get out, Shana.”

  She smoothed her hands down her thighs and bent so her ass flared out beneath the miniscule skirt. “I think I need a spanking.”

  His balls tightened as if she’d squeezed them in a goddamn vise. “Very funny. Get out.”

  Shana ignored his words, focusing on the flare of heated interest she’d seen in his eyes. He’d always had a thing for her ass. They’d never tried spanking before, but she had a feeling it was exactly Caleb’s brand of kink. From the look in his eyes, she was right.

  And from the way she was drenching her thong, it was her kind of kink too.

  “I know I’ve been a bad girl. You have every right to be mad at me.” She walked toward him slowly, twirling one red curl around her forefinger. “Won’t you punish me, Caleb?”

  She stopped in front of him and bent over just enough to tease, cleavage on full display. Caleb’s hands gripped the sheets beside him. He didn’t move to touch her.

  “I’m in no mood for games, Shana.”

  Shana caught her lower lip between her teeth. What was she doing wrong? Why wasn’t he taking what she was so obviously offering? Caleb never said no. Or if he did, he never actually meant it.

  She straightened out of her pose and looked into his eyes. There was undeniable lust there. He wanted her, no question about that. But there was also a rawness, a wariness behind the heat that had more to do with hearts and flowers than the sweaty slap of skin on skin.

  Shana resisted the urge to make a very unsexy face. She’d really hoped the mushy love stuff could wait until she had him doped up on afterglow, but it looked like he wasn’t going to touch her until they had their girly talk about feelings.

  “I love you.”

  Caleb frowned. Okay, her confession had been a lot grouchier than she planned, and accompanied by an irritable glare, but did he have to look so damned pissed off by her girly emotional moment?

  “No, you don’t.”

  Shana gritted her teeth. “Yes, I do. Honest.”

  He arched an eyebrow skeptically. “You love me.”

  Shana tossed her head, feeling the tips of her hair catch on the bottom of her skirt. “I might not do it the way other people do it, but I do love you. And I wanna be with you.” She waved her hands in a vague gesture. “Like, forever.”

  Caleb snorted and Shana leveled a glare in his direction.

  “I can be faithful,” she snapped defensively.

  “The only person you’re faithful to is yourself.”

  “I was always faithful to you,” she insisted. “Technically. I didn’t sleep with anyone else when I was with you. And when I wasn’t technically with you, I only cheated on the others with you. So in my way, I was always faithful to you. Even when I was with them.”

  He frowned. “That makes no sense at all.”

  “I only ever loved you.” His eyes softened a bit and Shana quickly pressed her advantage. “And I promise you right now that I’ll only sleep with you. Until you’re dead. I’m not gonna be a celibate widow. That’s just cruel and unusual. If you die young, I want lots of hot widow sex.” The softness in his eyes hardened again and Shana internally cursed. She sucked at the mushy girl stuff. Sex she was good at. Love was trickier. “But I promise not to cheat on you until you’re dead. You have my word.”

  “You break your word every day.”

  “Yes, but only when it doesn’t matter. This matters. You matter. So I won’t.”

  He closed his eyes and slowly shook his head. “Shana, I don’t think—”

  She cut him off before he could tell her no. No was not an acceptable answer. “Don’t you want to spank me? It’ll make you feel better, put us back on even footing. You can spank me once for every guy I was with when I should have been with you.”

  He snorted. “That would take weeks. My hand would fall off before I finished.”

  “Ha-ha.”

  She saw a flicker of a smile around his mouth and her heart jumped. Shana reached out and tentatively brushed his hair back from his forehead. He never used to let it grow so long. “Caleb?”

  “You’re trouble, Shay,” he said without opening his eyes.

  “You like trouble,” she reminded him. She bent to brush her lips softly across his.

  She kept the kiss no more than a seductive tease. When she pulled back, he leaned forward, chasing her mouth. She let him catch her lips, enjoying the slow, drugging pull of his mouth. He deepened the kiss, his tongue sneaking into her mouth. The man sure knew what he was
doing. She could kiss him for days.

  But she wasn’t that patient.

  Shana straddled his legs and began to lower herself down, sliding down his chest, but Caleb caught her waist and held her still. He pulled back from the kiss, opening golden eyes gone dark and intent.

  “Caleb?” she asked, hating the shiver of uncertainty in her voice. Had he changed his mind?

  “You’ve been a bad girl, Shana.”

  She licked her lips, a spike of nervousness threading deliciously through the sensual anticipation heating her blood. She nodded slowly. “Very bad.”

  He spun her abruptly away from him. She was still stumbling on her four-inch heels when he hauled her back and yanked her facedown across his knees. Her breath left her on a gasp. Caleb’s hand hovered just over the skin on the backs of her thighs, so close she could feel his heat, but not quite touching. The teasing not-quite-touch moved up to the curve of her ass, left exposed by the thong and the too-short skirt. Shana squirmed, cream drenching her thong. He was really going to do it.

  “Do you need to be punished?”

  Her breath came in little pants now, her body tight with anticipation. “Yes.” Oh Goddess, did she ever.

  The first smack was more startling than painful. A sensual wake-up call. Caleb’s hand landed and stayed, massaging her ass, soothing any trace of hurt.

  “How naughty have you been?” he asked, his voice gravel rough, the erection riding her hip letting her know she wasn’t alone in her need.

  “Very.”

  Another slap, another slow caress. Shana hissed and squirmed, pressing up into his hand. This was nice, but it had better be just the appetizer. She wanted the main course. She wanted to lose control.

  “Are you sorry?”

  This time he didn’t wait for her to answer before bringing his palm down on her ass. Her response was lost in the cry that ripped from her throat. He picked up the rhythm, a series of quick smacks, wringing a series of sharp, yearning cries from her throat. The feeling was perfection. Her ass grew hot from the blows that he kept just the right side of pain. Shana spread and braced her legs, raising her ass higher.

  They were both breathing roughly when he paused, his palm flat on the curve of her ass. Caleb slid his hand down, his fingers sliding beneath her thong. He speared one long finger inside her and swore.

  “Fuck, you’re dripping.”

  Shana barely heard the words. She tightened her inner muscles around his finger, writhing helplessly on his lap. Enough spanking. They’d try more later. Right now, she just needed him inside her. Now. “Fuck me, Caleb,” she urged. “Do it now.”

  He cursed jaggedly and flipped her off his lap onto the bed beside him. Shana watched him yank off his clothes as she sprawled seductively on her back. His body was a feast for the eyes, muscles gleaming deliciously in the low light.

  She licked her lips. “God, you’re gorgeous.”

  Caleb just grunted, kicking off the last of his clothes. Naked, he turned back to the bed.

  Shana reached for the fastening to her miniskirt, but Caleb gave a single sharp shake of his head. “Leave it on.”

  His strong hands closed on her waist, flipping her and drawing her up onto all fours. He nudged her knees wider apart and pressed her shoulders down until he had her just the way he wanted her, with her ass raised up to him like an offering, her legs spread wide.

  A single quick tug ripped the thong away from her body, but Caleb left the schoolgirl outfit intact, from garter belt to heels. His fingers slid into the wet folds of her pussy, probing. “You ready for me, Shay?”

  Shana didn’t think she could get any wetter. Moisture dripped down her thighs. “Yeah, Caleb, do me now,” she urged, giving him a teasing little waggle of her ass.

  “Don’t move,” he ordered, gripping her hips hard enough to bruise. The thick head of his cock pushed into her heat.

  Shana grabbed fistfuls of bedding, needing to sink her claws into something. His hips shoved forward and his name ripped out of her throat like a curse. His fingers squeezed her hips and he rocked deeper, but it wasn’t deep enough. She needed more. She needed all of him, pounding into her. This was taking too fucking long. She needed to come.

  “Come on, Cale.” She shoved her hips back roughly against his unyielding hold.

  Caleb drew back and slapped her ass hard a fraction of a second before he pistoned his hips forward.

  “Jesus, yes!” Shana screamed. Her inner muscles clenched tight around the invasion of his cock. He drew back and rammed home again. She bit her lip hard to hold in her cries. Her head thrashed back and forth, whipping her hair across his stomach. Caleb fisted one hand in the thick red mass at the base of her skull, holding her steady with his other hand at her hip as he drove into her.

  Shana dug her nails into the mattress, her entire being focused on his cock sliding into her, his body slapping rhythmically against hers. Short, keening cries burst from her throat in time to his movements. He ruled her, body and soul. Untamable Shana was a puppet to his will, drawing her pleasure—so tight and sweet and hot and hard—only as he allowed her.

  The sharp sting of one last rough smack on her ass sent her careening into her release. She erupted into contractions of pleasure. Caleb’s body covered hers, slamming deep and high one last time. He sank his teeth into her shoulder and she came again with him. The lioness rippled under her skin, clawing to get out, and Shana didn’t have the will to hold it back. Her spine arched on another sharp wave of bliss as, together, they shifted form, the animal wildness claiming their joined bodies as the lion claimed his mate.

  Chapter Eight

  Caleb was really going to miss that little schoolgirl outfit. It was a real shame it had been demolished when they shifted. Shana had looked like a thousand kinds of sin in that getup.

  She shifted restlessly in her sleep at his side before settling again. She’d always been an uneasy sleeper. Caleb stroked her hair, remembering the way it had flowed down her back, loose and wild and longer than that postage stamp of a skirt.

  He’d buy her a new one.

  Provided she stuck around long enough to try it on for him.

  Caleb winced. Dawn was breaking through the storm after a night of the best sex of his life and he was already waiting for her to renege on her promise to stick with him this time.

  So much for trust.

  Shana stretched against him and gave a low purr. In the dim light, he saw her emerald eyes open and blink at him sleepily.

  “Good morning, lover.” She kicked free of the sheets tangled around her ankles and flung one leg over his, draping herself across his chest, a blanket of warm, willing flesh.

  Caleb combed his fingers through the disorderly mass of her hair. He longed to stay like this forever, in this quiet pocket of peace, but he knew it wouldn’t be long before the devil inside her spurred her to something they would both regret. A part of him was already braced for it. Waiting for the ax to fall.

  Shana stacked her hands on his chest and propped her chin on them. “So, do you forgive me? I forgive you.”

  Caleb frowned. So much for peace. “Forgive me for what? You told me to spank you.”

  Shana rolled her eyes. “I liked the spanking. Obviously. I meant for before.” She gestured off into the distance, letting him know she didn’t mean the recent past.

  “What before?” he asked warily, unsure what he was being forgiven for.

  “For not challenging the Alpha. For not fighting for me.”

  “Fighting for you would have gotten me killed. I was a kid.”

  “You were strong enough,” Shana insisted. For a moment she fell silent, and he thought he might be able to drag her kicking and screaming back to that peaceful place. But then she spoke, her voice soft and sly. “You aren’t a kid now. You almost challenged Landon today. You could defeat him, Caleb. You could be Alpha.”

  A veil of red fell over his vision as anger coursed through his veins. She was still trying to manipulate him.
Still trying to turn him into her own personal mercenary. Will fight for sex.

  Disappointment and frustration warred with anger, but it was the anger that won, tightening every muscle in his body.

  She would never change. No matter what sweet words she gave him, no matter how many different ways she found to tell him she loved him, he would never be more than a tool to her. A means to an end. Her love would always be a lie.

  Caleb felt like a thousand kinds of fool. He had almost believed her this time. She’d almost had him.

  “Is that what this is about?” The words felt like jagged shards of glass leaving bloody tracks as they dragged themselves out of his throat. “You thought you could fuck me into challenging Landon?”

  “What?” Shana blinked at him, wide-eyed and innocent. “No.”

  He didn’t buy her act for a second. He shoved her off him and quickly stood, grabbing his discarded jeans and yanking them on. “I’m never gonna be Alpha, Shana,” he growled roughly. “I don’t want to be. I may be stronger than Landon, but we’ll never find out, because I’m never going to challenge him. Never. I’m not a leader. I never have been. You’ve always known that, but you could never get it through your thick head that I’m not going to change. I’m not going to become the perfect Alpha just because you have some twisted need to be the Alpha’s mate.”

  Shana pulled the sheet up in front of her, the move modest and distinctly out of character. “I didn’t mean it like that.”

  “How did you mean it?” He held up his hand to stop her before she could reply. “Don’t answer that. I don’t want to hear whatever lies you dig up.”

  “I’m not lying!” She threw down the sheet, kneeling on his bed, wearing only her hair and her indignation.

  “No? Then tell me you don’t want me to challenge Landon.”

  Shana hesitated, her eyes flicking down to the mattress.

  “You can’t say it, can you?” Caleb shook his head. “I should have known. It was always about finding someone strong enough to best the Alpha. You never wanted to be with me. And, you know what, Shay? The feeling’s mutual. I don’t want to be with you anymore. I’ve had enough.”