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Chapter 9 - The Temptress

Logan

I couldn't bare to see it. How much she hated me.

I didn't realize how small she really was until I held her within the confines of my arms. Not just small, but petite, barely over five feet tall to my six four. Slim hips, tiny feet. She wasn't built for carrying and delivering young. Tiny but beautifully made, curved in all the right places. I couldn't help the guilt that wracked me as I'd touched her in a way I knew she didn't want.

She didn't push me away. She didn't tell me to stop. And I'd hurt her. Badly. I'd watched her cry on the hidden camera barely containing my own tears, regretting what I'd done. Filled with shame over how much I'd enjoyed it, being inside her. Finding balance in the chaos. I wouldn't blame her if she never spoke to me again. I only wish there could have been another way.

The barely leashed animal prowling just below the surface knew differently. His draw to her was magnetic, frightening in intensity. No wonder her smell drew me almost to insanity! He'd staked a claim on her and no one would get in the way of that. Not even Striker.

She completed me. Completed us.

It had taken me this long to figure out she was my mate. And I'd shattered any chance of making that work. I'd have to find a way to for her to forgive me. To find absolution.

When I next entered her cell, there was a definite air of change about her. Marie no longer appeared frightened. She was calm, almost docile, perched on the edge of her bed as if waiting for me.

I shot her an uncertain look as I closed the door. It beeped as it locked behind me.

"I've been doing a lot of thinking…" She started as I toed my boots off. Not wanting to startle her again, I kept my distance across the room.

"Yeah?" I could barely look at her.

"If I do this… I want something in return."

"What do you want?" I asked, discomfort twisting through my belly, somehow already knowing what she was going to ask of me.

"I want my freedom."

This was something I knew I couldn't give her. It had taken a lot of resources to track her down, apprehend and detain her, not to mention the cost involved in all of the above. There was a whole task force dedicated to taking care of her. There was no way Striker would let her go. And selfishly, I was glad, because if she was allowed her freedom, I wouldn't be able to have her.

"I'll have to have that conversation…"

Marie hadn't brought it up before, but I knew she was wondering what would happen to her in the subsequent future. I couldn't say as this was a new division, but other departments which held test subjects didn't have a track record for letting their hard work go to waste.

She nodded, in a way that said she was less than satisfied with my answer.

"Aren't you coming over here?"

I swallowed, feeling like I should apologize again. Damn, I was turning into such a sissy. Vic wouldn't ever let me live that down, if he only knew.

"It's just… yesterday… I… err…." I broke off awkwardly.

"It's okay… I know you have a job to do."

She didn't know how much willpower it had taken to force her into what happened. The kisses that preceded were some kind of misconceived way of testing the water. The animal didn't need such niceties. He knew she was attracted to us, pheromones didn't lie and hers were attuned to our frequency so acutely that it made me wonder if we weren't made for each other.

"I think, maybe, we got off on the wrong foot… it would be nice to have someone to talk to. It gets kinda lonely in here."

Did I hear her correctly? Did she just say she wanted me around?

She got to her feet and came over to where I was standing, still by the door. I must have looked liked I'd been slapped. I recoiled slightly as she drew nearer, no longer trusting myself. The way she'd smelled yesterday was still fresh in my mind. The prickle of salt at the base of my tongue, her unshed tears. The distress, acrid, almost like burning. I'd terrified her.

Today she stood with a fresh kind of confidence. Her chin tilted up towards me, not smiling, but definitely not timid.

"Look, I'm not just going to wait around for your brother to come back. So you'd better get on with it."

I didn't know what to say. I was stunned into silence.

She reached out, her delicate fingers working over my neck into the base of my hair, winding there and pulling me down to meet her lips. This wasn't right.

"Don't you want me anymore?" She asked so innocently. From the bulge in the front of my khakis, it was obvious that on a base level, I did. Of course I wanted her.

She took one of my large hands in hers and placed it against her skin, under her shirt. She was so warm, so soft. So inviting. I stroked across her navel ever so gently, the indent perfectly moulded to my thumb, wondering again how a child could grow in a space so compact. They'd assured me it would happen, that everything was in order.

It was then I looked up and into her eyes. Softly smoldering, the liquid chocolate they used to be now burning into me. She held my gaze as she pulled her top off, revealing her small but perfectly formed breasts. I watched her nipples peak, palest rose against lily white.

Her hands worked their way under my own shirt, caressing my stomach, fingers exploring below the waistband of my pants. She was seriously testing my restraint, and she knew it. A half smile curved the corner of her mouth.

"Kiss me?"

I couldn't hold back any longer. Moving swiftly, I leaned in and brought my lips to hers in a hungry kiss. Her mouth tased like white chocolate and peppermint. I lifted her to carry her over to the bed but she shook her head, pulling me down to the floor.

"Take these off." She muttered breathlessly, pulling at her own pants. I was surprised but not unhappy to discover she was naked underneath.

Her concentrated arousal hit me then, filling me up, awakening the beast inside me. He drew his tongue over her body, lingering on seemly inconsequential places, her collar bone, rib, hip, until he settled himself over her legs, pinning them beneath our weight.

He plunged into the act of satisfying our mate, kissing her intimately, rewarding her with deep sucking licks and reprimanding with a sharp nip to the inner thigh when she squirmed too much. She was panting with the effort of not giving into it so soon, pleasure so acute she'd give anything to chase it just a few seconds longer.

The wolverine was a master at play, and he permitted her those last few precious moments before her body whole tensed and she came apart, arching off the ground and all but screaming as her first orgasm flooded through her. I could tell it was her first from the look of complete euphoria that crossed her face.

The animal bared his teeth, intent on getting his needs met now he'd fulfilled our mate's. From previous experience, I knew they only way he went about this, hard and fast from behind. I wasn't far enough gone to allow him this liberty.

Beating him back into submission, I pulled Marie up, perhaps rougher than I'd intended, and set her sitting astride me. The dampness from her pussy leaving a wet imprint on the dark green of my t-shirt.

I shuffled out of my own pants quickly, my desire springing free, and in a few swift seconds, I was filling her. Her inexperience obvious from her jerky movements and faltering rhythm. I could have rolled her underneath me, taken her in the most primal way, but that wasn't how I wanted to do things. I wanted her to chose.

I grasped hold of her hips, guiding her, thrusting up into her delicious heat, her cries of pleasure ringing all around me. I reached up with one hand to cup a breast while the other found it's way between us, focusing on working her with my thumb.

Her cries grew in intensity, writhing, her face morphing between sheer gratification and something way more complex, as she screwed her eyes shut and gripped onto me tighter.

The moment she came for the second time was incredible, the flush that colored from her checks clear down to her chest, the way her whole body queried and convulsed with the force of it, leaving her whimpering.

The feel of her internal muscles squeezing set me off too, and we were coming together, me pouring strand after strand hot seed into her.

Exhausted, she slumped down over me while we both caught our breath. I laid a shaky kiss against her damp temple, pulling her close to me while I softened and slipped from her body in a rush of spent passion. I wished I could've stayed and held her like this for a while, but I knew it would be easier now to leave her like this way. Before I could form any more of an attachment.

Because holding her in my arms felt so right. Made me feel complete, and even if it was only for a few precious moments, normal.

After I'd left, I watched her on the surveillance monitor, craving her nearness. Her gentle touch. I watched the tears stream down her cheeks, the wracking sobs that took over her body that only a few minutes ago had been moved by an entirely different sentiment.

I understood then that she'd been seducing me, for what reason, I couldn't be certain. Maybe she thought I'd fall for her and help her escape. Or else, lure me into a false sense of security. Maybe she really was just lonely.

And maybe I didn't mind that if it was the only way I could have her. See, my life had not been an easy one. Darkness and questionable decisions aside, sex was an easy enough to obtain, but connection, feeling, was a whole other thing. Until now, I hadn't realized how high a value I'd placed on it. I craved that life free from the burden of loneliness. Of endless cold nights and of the the barren wasteland where my heart should have lain.

I craved instead, one of care, of home. Of love.