Breeds: Stygian's Honour Part 40

Two days later, Stygian could feel his frus- tration level moving into overload and threatening his control to the point that it was becoming dangerous.

Where was the mating heat and how had she managed to dampen it when no other mate had managed to do so?

Heat, like in s.e.x on a near-constant level?

Heat, like his mate dying for his touch twenty-four-seven.

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Heat in the fact that they were supposed to f.u.c.k like minks and be unable to stay the h.e.l.l away from each other?

f.u.c.king.

Fighting.

Talking.

Bonding.

That was mating heat.

Where the h.e.l.l was the mating every other Breed experiencing it got to have, yet it seemed was being denied him?

It wasn't that he wasn't experiencing it, because G.o.d knew he was.

His tongue was so d.a.m.ned swollen it felt like a f.u.c.king golf ball was wedged beneath his tongue on each side. The heavy throb of the fluid contained within it was almost painful, and each small droplet of the mois- ture that pushed free of it to infuse his sys- tem was torturous in its effect on his body.

His c.o.c.k was so swollen and hard it was d.a.m.ned near unbearable. The heavy veins 578/862.

pulsed with blood and l.u.s.t, tightening to the point that he knew there would be no ease without the touch of his mate. And that touch didn't seem forthcoming. The l.u.s.t that should have been burning to tortured hunger inside her wasn't happening.

At least, it hadn't been happening for the past two days or nights.

Confusion, fear and a latent pain filled his mate's mind to the point that it seemed there was no room for l.u.s.t. That inner focus, con- fusion and fear that swirled through her senses was so intense that he couldn't break through it.

And she refused to discuss it.

She wouldn't consider discussing her past, the doubts he had sensed inside her concern- ing who she was, or what she felt or re- membered now.

And he blamed Jonas for that. Blamed him for it to the point that he could barely con- verse with the man civilly. If Jonas had kept 579/862.

his d.a.m.ned plan for betraying Liza to him- self, then perhaps, Stygian thought, he would have had a chance to bind his mate to his heart and a chance to help her through the emotionally complex situation she was now facing.

Stygian wanted nothing more than to touch his mate, to kiss her. To love her.

To ease the fear and uncertainty tearing her apart, which was keeping her out of his arms.

The bonding that came with the mating heat was something he had looked forward to in the years since he'd learned of the phe- nomenon. That chance to so be a part of a woman; her heart, her soul, her life; that he knew he was no longer a singular person, but rather one part of a whole. Fused so tightly to his mate that their souls were one ent.i.ty.

Yet, that wasn't there with himself and Liza.

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As though the mating heat itself had sud- denly stalled halfway through the process.

He could smell her need; it was there, bur- ied beneath her confusion. He could smell her arousal, and just a hint of the mating heat, but it was the same as it had been when he'd felt her retreat so far inside herself that he wasn't certain how to find her.

The spiritual distance was no longer there, as it had been before. Instead, it seemed all the emotions, the fear, the pain and confu- sion that she had kept at bay over the years were tearing through her instead. And he had no idea how to help her. No idea how to bring her back to him.

Nothing he'd tried had worked in the past two days.

She didn't rise to any verbal sparring he attempted.

She evaded his touch and asked for time with such deepening pain that pulling back to give her that time was killing him.

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She was holding herself in such lockdown that he knew that finding the key to release whatever she was fighting to hide within her- self might be impossible.

And he knew, the animal instincts that governed him knew, if he didn't do something soon, he might well lose her forever.

Those animal instincts were raging. As though the animal he could have been was pacing furiously inside him, the tension from the situation building to the point that re- lease, in some form, was becoming a necessity.

Pacing the sitting room restlessly, he turned to her at the sound of the bedroom door opening, his gaze narrowing on the dove gray cotton lounge pants and matching camisole.

The tank top smoothed over her pert b.r.e.a.s.t.s, hugging the lush curves just enough to cause his mouth to water. And f.u.c.k him, 582/862.

but her nipples were hard. Peaked and swollen beneath her bra, pointing against the lace beneath and refusing to hide from his gaze.

The need to lick those hard little points and burn the tender nerve endings with the hormone swelling his tongue was nearly irresistible.

A growl rumbled in his throat, drawing her surprised gaze.

His patience was nearing its end.

His mate. She was created to belong to him, and by d.a.m.ned, she would not hold herself and his rightful bonds to her heart for much longer.

d.a.m.n, it would be easy to pull the material from her body.

Not to mention s.e.xy as h.e.l.l.

He was only a breath from refusing to warn her of the kiss coming that would put her in the frame of mind for the wild, 583/862.

uncontrolled s.e.x the animal inside him was demanding he initiate.

His kiss would ensure the heat then. It would do as it was meant to and make her as crazy for him as he was for her.

He took a step and stopped.

No. He wouldn't do it. If there was to be any peace in his heart that she had come to him of her own free will, then he had to force himself to have the patience she had asked him for two days before.

Since he couldn't f.u.c.k his mate, that left sparring with his partners. One or the other was going to have to happen.

Sparring it was.

"We're going to the gym downstairs," he told her as she moved for the coffeepot.

And G.o.d only knew he'd give anything to allow her that cup of coffee. Normally, caf- feine was like a kick-in-the-a.s.s shot of high energy to mating heat. But his patience was 584/862.

at an end. He didn't think he'd survive wait- ing to see if it would actually work.

Because right now, she looked good enough to eat from head to toe.

Her hair was still damp from her shower, lying in long dark blond curls that fell nearly to her waist. One long curl waved over her breast and tempted him to move it aside. To brush it over her shoulder as he pushed aside the strap of the top and began tasting soft, satiny flesh.

The soft cotton pants she wore skimmed over her soft curves.

"You can go to the gym downstairs," she stated with a shrug as she poured the coffee.

"I have work to do."

She turned and moved to the laptop as though to power it up and do just that. Just as she had done the past two evenings. She stared at the screen, her expression still, her emotions ragged as she pretended to work.

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Setting the coffee cup on the table beside the couch, she moved to open the screen on the device.

"Then bring the laptop with you," he growled. "I f.u.c.king don't care. I'm going to the gym, and whether you like it or not, you're going with me."

Nothing flashed in her normally express- ive gray eyes. Not anger, fear or uncertainty.

She stared back at him with such a blank look that his teeth clenched.

"Pack it up and get moving, Liza. Now."

She must have seen something in his gaze that warned her against crossing that line.

Glancing at the laptop, she sighed wearily before closing the top and securing it. "I'd like to get back in time to actually sleep to- night," she informed him.

"Why?" He had to force himself to throttle the anger building inside him. "It's Friday night, not Sunday, and it's not as though you have a job to return to."

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"No, I don't, but I do have other things I can be doing besides sitting on my a.s.s and filing my nails." Her voice never raised, nev- er changed inflection. "There is more to my life than a job, Stygian, or what's happened since you came into it."

"Such as?" Watching as she moved toward him, it was all he could do to keep from pus.h.i.+ng her to the floor and mounting her.

His d.i.c.k throbbed with a hunger that was becoming painful, imperative as the swollen glands beneath his tongue pulsed in heated demand.

"Such as the Navajo Scholars Fund I chair, the museum fund-raisers I help with, and the scheduling I do for the chiefs of the Six to visit the Nation's schools. Did you even care to check into anything I do besides what may or may not aid the Breeds in their little agenda here?" she questioned without inflection.

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"I don't know, Liza, I rather liked the uni- versity's cheerleading squad and the fund- raising projects you were doing there," he drawled. "Don't you have a meeting coming up soon?"

"Not one you can attend."

Oh, that unbothered, unemotional att.i.tude of hers was going to get her a.s.s in trouble.

Better yet, it was going to get her a.s.s f.u.c.ked.

The need to take her down, to heat her arousal to boiling point and find that point of feminine submission was becoming a hunger Stygian knew neither of them was going to escape. Especially if she kept this att.i.tude up.

"If you have to do this, let's get it over with. I'll be ready for bed early tonight," she stated as she headed for the door.

Stygian clenched his teeth, forcing back his growl as he followed her.

She would be ready for bed early tonight?

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Oh, she didn't want to mention that bed right now. She really wanted to do her best to keep his mind off that bed.

"This is stupid, dragging me around like this," she informed as she stopped at the door and turned back to face him. "I do have things to do, Stygian."

There was no anger in her face. None in her eyes.

Son of a b.i.t.c.h, he wasn't mated to a f.u.c.k- ing mannequin, and her impression of one was starting to p.i.s.s him the h.e.l.l off.

He was not going to get into a confronta- tion with her, he told himself-told the anim- al snarling inside him.

He'd be d.a.m.ned if he'd force the l.u.s.t he knew was inside her to rise, even though he knew if he p.i.s.sed her off enough, she'd re- lieve the ache torturing his b.a.l.l.s.

She'd have no choice.

If he pushed hard enough, it would burn inside her as well. It was that push he had 589/862.

the problem with. He wanted a willing mate, one who came to him without a push or coercion.

One that came to him because she needed and ached for him as desperately as he did for her.

Opening the door and allowing her to pre- cede him, he was suddenly struck by the faintest hint of the mating scent. Just a hint, nothing overt or heavy.

What the h.e.l.l was up with that?

Every mate he had ever come in contact with had held a heavy mating scent. It was always unmistakable, and always heavy enough to ensure all other Breed males were warned away.

"Why do you need to go to the gym?" she asked as they moved into the hall to join Flint, Mutt and Dog. The fact that the mating scent was so subtle had his animal instincts pacing restlessly.