Rapture Untamed (Feral Warriors #4)(46)

"I'll keep an eye out for company." Hawke shifted back into his bird and lifted into the sky. Kougar, still in his house-cat form, took off, heading toward the Mage stronghold.

As Olivia turned to her men, Jag's arm went around her shoulders and he pinned her hard against his side.

A low warning growl rumbled from his throat. "Jack off."

"Jag." She did not appreciate his undermining her authority even if she'd been about to tell them the same thing, if not quite in the same way.

Ewan shrugged and walked away, presumably to find a little privacy to take the mind clearing into his own hand.

But Niall held his ground, his lip curling. "That decision is Olivia's, not yours."

Shit.She felt like a bone being fought over by two hungry dogs. She elbowed Jag hard in the ribs. "Quit being so damned territorial."

But his grip on her didn't loosen one whit. He was too strong to fight without stealing a bit of his strength, and the irksome man would know if she tried. He was giving her no choice.

With a huff of frustration, she met Niall's gaze. "Find release on your own, Niall. You'll not be using me for this one."

The man's mouth tightened, hurt flaring in his eyes. "I've never used you."

Oh, Niall.Now was not the time. "That was a poor choice of words on my part. But you understand my meaning. Get your mind opened and do it quickly, or you'll be waiting in the car."

His mouth tightened, his jaw hardening until she thought he might crack a tooth. "He's forcing you."

Olivia hesitated, then told him the truth, or close enough. "For the moment, we're together, Niall. And I'll not be having sex with another."

"No other?" He looked at her askance. As if she were never exclusive.

She supposed he was right. She never was, for no man had ever caught her interest in that way. Until Jag. The Feral's effect on her body disturbed her almost as much as his hold over her life. Never had a man ensnared her so completely. Yes, he had a remarkable gift with those hands, but his touch affected her long before he intentionally pleasured her. The barest brush of his fingers made the heat rise inside her as it was doing now.

Pamela Palmer Rapture Untamed

"Go Niall," she snapped when he still hadn't moved.

With a growl of frustration, Niall swiveled on his heel and stalked off, leaving her alone with Jag.

The rain continued to fall through the trees, splattering on her head and running down her cheeks, but rain had never bothered her.

Jag's grip on her loosened the barest bit, his thumb tracing circles on her shoulder.

"What were you thinking about during lunch? All I did was touch your neck, yet you were rising." His mouth dipped, his warm breath teasing her temple.

"Nothing. Let me go, Jag."

He didn't. Instead, he moved to her earlobe and took it carefully between his teeth, his breath tickling the sensitive lobe and sending delicious shivers through her body.

His teeth released her ear, a soft stroke of his tongue easing the light pinch before his lips trailed down her rain-slick neck, heating her from the inside out. Deep inside, her body turned warm and soft, and damp. The restlessness began to build again, throbbing and tightening all over again.

Pamela Palmer Rapture Untamed

"Jag, stop. You're doing it again," she gasped, her breath turning shallow, labored.

"You can do it with your knuckles, your mouth. The heat. The pleasure."

He released her and turned her to face him, his grip on her shoulders absolute as he stared into her face. In his expression, she saw a mix of bemusement and satisfaction.

In his eyes, fire.

"Goddess, you are rising again." His hands shot up under her jacket, curving around her waist.

Through the thin cotton of her shirt, she felt a sudden rush of coolness battling back the tide of heat, and shivered.

"Enough, Jag," she pleaded. "You're giving me temperature whiplash."

His mouth kicked up, a soft, amused smile. "You rise for me even when I don't try. I've never seen anything like it."

"I can't say I'm thrilled about it."

He chuckled low. "It's a good thing I can cool as well as heat."

Pamela Palmer Rapture Untamed

"I suppose. That's quite a gift you have."

"It comes in handy from time to time."

"Have you always been able to do that with your hands?" She stepped closer, drawn as much to his heat as to the man himself, and slid her arms around his waist. "Or was it one of your Feral gifts?"

His hands slid to her back, pressing her closer. "I've always had the ability. When I was a boy, I used to catch forest creatures - rabbits, deer, squirrels - calming them and making pets of them if you can believe it."

She found herself smiling at the thought.

"I wasn't always an ass." A hardness entered his voice with his words, a hardness turned on himself.

Her smile died. The man he'd become, the Jag she knew, was no longer that boy.

Instead, he'd grown into an angry and difficult man. Because of something that happened, something he blamed himself for, she was positive. Something that concerned Cordelia.

Pamela Palmer Rapture Untamed

"Jag?"

His chin brushed over her hair. "What?"