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Chapter 19

Caleb’s whole body thrummed with power, but Regan could get no sense of what he was feeling. Did he regret his father’s death? Was he relieved it was now over?

But then it wasn’t over. It was only beginning.

Whether he realized it or not, Caleb now had a duty to the pack. He had killed their leader. Granted, Ethan had been totally crap in the leader business, but even so, he’d done a job, and someone had to take over. And for all his denial of his heritage, she knew Caleb would make a great alpha.

She’d remained silent as he pulled her after him into the dark forest. He turned her in his arms, and she opened her mouth to speak. Then shut it again.

His eyes were hot and filled with a burning hunger. She was suddenly very aware that he was naked, while she was dressed in nothing but his white shirt. He pushed her back against the tree trunk behind her, and the rough bark scraped her skin through the thin silk. Then his body pressed against hers, the hardness of his erection pushed against her belly. He raised his hands and framed her face, staring down into her eyes.

“I need you,” he ground out, almost against his will.

She had no thought to deny him. Instead, she pushed back into him, rubbing her hips against his hardness until he groaned. His hands moved between them, ripping the shirt open, devouring her breasts with his hungry eyes. He cupped one in his large hand, then lowered his mouth to her. Regan held her breath as she waited for his touch. He took one swollen nipple into his mouth and suckled hard, sending darts of pleasure through her body to ignite a fire low in her belly. He bit down and her sex flooded with hot, wet heat. Raising his head, he stared into her eyes, his nostrils flaring as though he could scent her arousal.

He captured her gaze with his own as one hand slid down the curve of her waist, across the flat plane of her belly. Excitement held her rigid as he trailed his fingers through the curls at the base, then lower to cup her in his palm. He leaned toward her so his forehead rested against her shoulder, and she breathed in the scent of him, sweat and musk.

For a minute, he remained immobile, but she could sense his tension in the labored breaths, the thud of his heartbeat. When she could bear the anticipation no longer, she shifted slightly, raising one leg to allow him more access, and he sighed against her skin. He raised his head and kissed her as he massaged his palm against her sex. His tongue thrust between her lips as his fingers pushed inside her. His mouth slid from hers to her cheek, then down to nuzzle her throat and all the time his clever fingers played with her, dipping inside then stroking lightly over her swollen nub until she was writhing against him.

“I need you.” She repeated his words, and they were true. If she didn’t have him inside her soon, she would shatter.

His hands shifted to cup her bottom, and he lifted her until her shoulders pressed up against the tree. She leaned back for balance as Caleb held her poised. His erection nudged at the entrance to her body, then he pushed inside and filled her with one fluid move of his hips. Regan wrapped her legs around his waist, her hands gripped tight on to his shoulders.

His fingers dug into the flesh of her bottom, holding her in place as he moved her on him. He flexed, pulled out of her, and then slowly thrust back with a roll of his powerful hips. She closed her eyes and gave herself up to the feeling as he deepened his movement, grinding his body against hers with each stroke.

Finally, he sheathed himself fully, rotating his hips in slow teasing circles so the pressure mounted higher, concentrated on that one small point between her thighs. He tensed as her inner muscles clamped tight, and she exploded against him. He thrust harder and faster until he was slamming into her, and the world ceased to exist except for his big, hard body. She opened her eyes as her climax built a second time, wanting to watch him come. The pleasure amplified until it was almost unbearable, and she threw back her head and screamed into the night as he spilled himself inside her. His head went back, and his voice joined hers. He was still moving inside her as though he couldn’t bear to stop, and she leaned forward, tangled her hands into his hair, brought his face to hers, and kissed him.

At last, his body went still, and he fell to his knees with Regan clasped in his arms. He rolled as he fell, so he hit the ground beneath her, and she ended up on top, straddling his hips with him lodged firmly inside her.

She lowered her head so it rested against his chest, closed her eyes, concentrated on her breathing and the sound of his heartbeats as they gradually returned to normal.

Raising her head, she stared down at him. Caleb’s eyes were closed, his mouth relaxed, and she could tell nothing from his expression. She looked lower. There was a wicked wound in his shoulder where Ethan had gotten that first bite, but the bleeding had stopped. She leaned forward and kissed it. Still he didn’t move, and she looked at him suspiciously.

“Are you asleep?” she asked.

“No,” he murmured. “Just recovering.”

She was unsure whether he meant from the fight, from the death of his father, or from making love. Probably all three. She stroked the hard lines of his face, over his cheekbones to the shadowed hollows beneath, trailed them over the sensuous lower lip, delving inside as his mouth opened for her, loving the feel of his hot tongue lapping at her fingertips.

He gazed up at her, his eyes as blue as the summer sky in the dim, shadowy light. They were peaceful, and some of the tension drained out of her.

“You recovered now?” she asked, shifting her hips and feeling his cock swell inside her.

He smiled and nodded, thrusting up into her. Still sensitive, her muscles clenched around him, and he groaned low in his throat. Raising his hands to her waist, he held her as he turned them both so she lay beneath him. Leaning down, he kissed her, and she opened her mouth to the slow, erotic thrust of his tongue.

This time their lovemaking was languid and sweet, and they came together in an explosion of pleasure that left Regan limp and boneless. Caleb collapsed on top of her, then rolled them both so they lay arms and legs entwined on the forest floor.

∞∞∞

Caleb did not want to think, and he did not want to move. Regan’s legs wrapped tightly around his waist, while her arms wound about his neck, her face burrowed against his throat. Her long hair tickled his nose, and he breathed in her scent, like wild flowers.

He’d needed her as an affirmation of life. Because his father was dead.

He had killed his own father. Wasn’t there supposed to be a corner of hell reserved for people like him? But he knew it wasn’t guilt he was experiencing. Ethan had deserved to die, had needed to die.

Regan shifted beside him. She loosened her grip on his neck and inched away, resting her chin on her hand and staring into his face.

“I can almost hear your brain working,” she said.