Craving Her Mates (My Wicked Mates Book 1) Read online

  She had been at her wits’ end with school and the pressure her parents were placing on her to do well. It was starting to show through her perfect veneer of what she interpreted as good submissive behavior. He’d insisted on cooling it on weeknights until the end of the semester.

  They say men don’t have the first clue about how to read a woman’s thoughts. He suspected there may be some truth to the sentiment. What he did see was the language of frustrated desire in every twist of her wrist, every shift of her feet as she looked anywhere but at him. Her robe was belted tightly around her waist, but with each movement of her hips, her breasts jiggled, and he felt himself begin to grow hard.

  She was right to be angry with him, but he had planned to make it up to her that morning. She just didn’t know it yet.

  “Smells wonderful,” he said, switching on the coffee pot, needing something after a long night at the computer. The warm aroma of percolating coffee permeated the air, and he breathed a mental sigh of relief. The kitchen was spotless, attesting to just how pissed she was at him for taking the same side as her parents. The green marble counters polished bright, and the ginger-colored cabinets gleamed in their newly waxed state.

  Oh, boy.

  Her stance was stiff. She was furious, and it showed.

  “Thanks,” Natalia mumbled, turning her face enough to let him see the firm line of her lips pressed into a frown. She focused her attention back to the pan. The buttery smell of the eggs made his mouth water, but so did the hypnotic movement of her ass under the robe.

  The sizzle of the bacon crisping in the oven about did him in as she bent over to check. The robe crept up so he could see a hint of her white cotton panties winking from underneath. It was hard to focus on pouring coffee, watching her ass wiggle as she turned the bacon over to let it cook for the last few minutes and drain. God, she was so fucking beautiful. She thought because he’d been teaching her the service aspect of submission, she’d become something less. How far that had been from the truth.

  She stood up straight, pulling the eggs off the heat and switching off the oven. Watching her move in the kitchen was like watching her dance. Every move was coordinated. Every effort accomplishing at least three things simultaneously.

  She took two plates out of the cupboard and divided the eggs. Natalia popped the pan in the sink and reached into the oven for the bacon tray before he could even add cream to his coffee. It made the front of his jeans uncomfortably tight. He wondered if anyone had ever popped a zipper before breakfast. If it were possible, that day might just be in the running. Fuck. Just focus.

  He sat at the bar end of the island, and she slid a napkin and fork over to him. Moving the napkin into his lap, he salivated at the plate she put in front of him. The scrambled eggs were a beautiful light yellow, whipped to perfection, and the bacon was still hot and crisp from the oven.

  “Thanks. It looks great,” he remembered saying.

  His wolf agreed. She knew he was one of the dual natured but she also hated that he felt like he had to restrain himself around her.

  “You’re welcome,” Natalia murmured, not meeting his eyes.

  Cage had swallowed the first bite of fluffy eggs and closed his eyes as he relished the flavor. Delicious. In six bites the eggs were gone, and he was almost done with the bacon. She nibbled at her own breakfast, reading her book next to him, trying so hard to pretend he wasn’t there he almost laughed.

  “So, what do you want to do today?” he asked, sliding off the bar stool and bringing his plate to the sink. As he passed behind her, he pressed his body against hers and buried his nose in her hair. Her skin smelled of her lavender shampoo, the intoxicating scent of bacon and her natural musk. She froze, unsure of how to react. He could tell she wanted to melt against him, but her pride wouldn’t let her.

  He ground his cock against her ass and wrapped his arms around her, cupping her breasts in his hands. His fingers moved around her nipples and it felt so erotic, touching her through the satin of the robe. Cage wanted to lift her off the barstool right then and fuck her from behind, but her body needed warming up.

  “What are you doing?” she asked. There was a breathless quality to her voice he hadn’t heard in way too long. It was his fault. He accepted it. His work took him away for days at a time and now with her long hours at school, their time together was special. He hated that she was angry, but he needed to show her being a submissive wasn’t always about floggers and nipple clamps. It was about patience and understanding with a bit of structure to keep things from sliding too far in any one direction in the power exchange.

  It was his job to take care of her. He thought he was doing that by insisting on her studies. What he hadn’t anticipated, was how much she’d miss their almost weekly trips to Inferno. It was time to make it up to her. To make flesh become all the words he never seemed to have the time to say lately.

  “I’m taking you,” he whispered, tugging at her robe and letting it pool at the ground at their feet. She was in her white cotton panties, and all he could think of was driving his cock deep inside her as she writhed on the kitchen island. It was all he could do not to mark her as his mate. They’d talked about it, but he wanted to wait until she’d finished school.

  Cage ran his hands along her bare breasts, brushing her erect nipples with his fingers. They were calloused from too many years working outside to make ends meet, but they still had the power to make her moan and thrust her pretty ass against his erection.

  “Oh, my God,” Natalia whispered and braced herself against the counter.

  “Spread your legs,” Cage ordered and she complied, her body vibrating with want and need.

  He hooked her panties with his thumbs, drew them over her ripe and luscious ass and down her taut thighs. They fell onto her feet, and she kicked them away. He could smell the perfume of her arousal, and it made his hands shake.

  “Do you want this, Natalia? Do you want me inside of you?”

  Her body trembled. “Yes.”

  There was a spatula on the counter. He rinsed it off in the sink and dried it, contemplating just how many swats she was going to get that day. Just enough to make her pant because he knew he couldn’t wait much longer.

  “First, I want to warm that beautiful ass and make it nice and pink.”

  Natalia sighed and angled her ass higher.

  “Please…”

  “Please, what?”

  “Please, may I have a spanking?”

  His cock hardened at the soft whisper of desire in her voice and it was all he could do not to give in to temptation and take her right there.

  “Count.” The spatula cracked across her ass with a glorious popping sound.

  Smack!

  “One.” Her voice trembled as she said it.

  Cage struck the other cheek. It was far too white and looked lonely. Then he came back for another pop at the first side and watched her wince.

  Smack! Smack!

  “Two… Three.”

  He put the spatula down and unzipped his jeans, releasing his straining cock. “Are you ready?” His hands rubbed along the heated expanse of her ass, loving the way she melted against him now. The tension broken, she was once again putty in his hands.

  “Yes.” Natalia moaned, arching her back and spreading her legs.

  Cage wanted to dive right in, but her need to be rewarded for her near perfect tolerance of his inattention outweighed anything else. She deserved more than a quick fuck over the breakfast dishes. Even if that is what he really wanted to do, right at that moment. To bury his dick inside her in the middle of her congealing eggs and thinly sliced multi-grain toast. Images of honey dripping down her pale white thighs sent his cock twitching. He knew he’d have to take her soon, before he disgraced himself standing there, letting his imagination take off without him.

  “Up on the island.” He demanded. She needed this badly and he was going to give it to her. Natalia’s breakfast dishes were in the way, half-eaten, but he pu
shed them away. Smutty images of fucking in a platter of eggs sounded good until you got your ass cut with flying cutlery or a broken plate.

  Natalia heaved herself up onto the marble island and lay down with her legs parted and her calves dangling off the edge. The lips of her pussy were pink and succulent and now they were all his. Cage’s cock throbbed in time with his heartbeat as he pulled her sweet slit toward the edge of the counter and buried his face in her folds.

  The sweet and tangy taste of her was an ocean of nectar on his tongue. She was so wet already. He followed each fold, caressing her hidden recesses. He licked along the top of her pussy up to her throbbing clit. She shuddered against him as he took the erect bud between his lips.

  Natalia screamed out, thrusting against his face as he sucked harder, flicking the nub with his tongue. He entered her with two fingers and he gasped, widening her legs to accommodate him.

  Cage pushed his fingers in and out of her tenderly, but as he licked her beleaguered clit once again, he entered her harder, with three fingers.

  She moaned, arching her back, panting as he helped her climb higher and higher. She shuddered against him as his fingers brushed her G-spot, and he felt her fly apart in his arms. Natalia came, gushing sweet nectar around his insistent fingers, and he rested his cheek on the taut flesh of her stomach.

  “God, Cage. That was…” Natalia gasped out, and he smiled. Her breathing was still erratic but now it was his turn.

  Cage kissed the insides of her thighs and reached for the dishtowel to wipe up as he tugged her up off the island.

  “Oh, I’m not done with you yet, Miss Adams. Turn around and brace yourself,” he said, smacking her ass.

  She grinned at him, a saucy smile on her lips as she did what he asked. “Bad, bad Master Cage,” she said, her voice smoky in that way that made his dick harder than hell. “I should leave you with your cock in your hand for the shit you’ve handed me over the last month, bucko.” She rasped out, angling her ass upward so he could admire it. She wouldn’t leave. She wanted him inside of her just as much as he did. But first, he needed something for that sassy little rosette winking at him. He dug in his pocket and pulled out her favorite silicone butt plug wrapped in a cloth.

  “Oh, I don’t think so, Natalia. I have plans for you.”

  He ran his hands over the pear shape of her still pink bottom. Reaching for the butter, he swiped a nice amount and rubbed it across her puckered back entrance. His fingers moved inside of her and she clenched, fighting him at first, then yielding to his touch. He slathered the butter over the plug and slowly inserted it into her ass.

  “Oh, my God,” Natalia groaned, a hoarse sound keening from her throat.

  She bent over, and he positioned himself against her opening, ready to take what was his. She was still so wet and he took full advantage, entering her pussy with one earth shattering thrust.

  God she was so tight, even with him finger fucking her only minutes before.

  “That feels so good, Cage,” Natalia moaned as his cock filled her empty places. The sensation of the plug and his dick made her squirm beneath him, and her breathing became erratic.

  He began to move, and soon his hips had a mind of their own. Faster and faster, it became about how soon he could empty himself inside of her so he could take her again. It wasn’t just the job keeping him from filling her pussy when he knew she’d want it. It was this. The power of denial. The waiting making it all the sweeter.

  Her hips rocked against him, and he gripped them hard, plunging his cock into her slick channel over and over. His balls tightened, and he knew he was about to come. He reached around her and searched for her clit and found it, still erect. He thumbed it, and she spasmed around his cock, sending bursts of electricity through his body as he came, pumping his hips in one final thrust.

  She stood there, leaning against the counter, his cock still inside her, and he knew he would do anything to make her melt in his arms like that again. However long it took. And, if he was lucky, for the rest of his life.

  His wolf agreed.

  If only things had gone according to plan. But instead, he’d lost the one thing in his life that he treasured the most. His mate.

  A knock on his office door sounded, shaking Cage from his memories. That had been their last morning together. Soon after, everything snowballed into a fiery inferno of Hell, and the life he’d built was suddenly a smoking pile of cinders. There was only one way to hold onto what he loved and that was to buy Inferno when Julian bailed. Fucker.

  “Enter.”

  His assistant Shelley swept in, a pile of papers in her hand. Clad in jeans, an old ratty Bauhaus tee and sporting black hair with pink highlights, she threw all convention to the wind.

  “Okay, boss. You asked me to look over anything in the database that didn’t make sense for staff or members. Seven years’ worth.” She slid her silver-rimmed glasses back from where they’d slid down her nose with an irritated sigh.

  “It’s a lot of work. I know.” He grimaced. “But if we can find any irregularity that leads us to pinpoint something for the police…” Cage ran his hand through his hair in frustration.

  Shelley held up her hand. “It’s no problem. I just ran it through an algorithm and did some minor tweaking.” She nibbled on her dark red lips and dumped the wad of papers on his desk.

  Cage grinned, his eyes widening at the paperwork Shelley laid out in front of him.

  “Look. Here’s a chart of all the employees we’ve hired in the last seven years.” She spread out the papers and showed him a neatly arranged bar graph.

  “Okay. Then there’s this one.” Shelley pointed to a chart that said Members with a black tipped fingernail. “Every one of them checks out except for one. Oh. And I went back eight years. Not seven.”

  “What? Why?”

  Shelley narrowed her black-rimmed eyes and blinked. “How long have I been here?”

  “Errrr…” Damn. He was drawing a total blank.

  She whacked him on the arm with a sheaf of papers from the desk. “Look. I was there when that guy hurt Natalia. I get it. What I don’t get is what the previous owner was thinking when he just brought anyone in here with complete disregard for everyone’s safety.”

  Remembered anger simmered in Cage’s veins. “Go on.”

  “Okay. So as part of my algorithm, the computer matches medical records, security checks, and attendance with all of our customers, and now with the new addition I just put in, our employees.”

  Greek. The woman was speaking in foreign tongues.

  “I know you’re going to explain that in terms even I can understand, right?”

  Shelley rolled her eyes and slid her glasses back in place. “Yes, boss.” She cleared her throat. “Look at this chart.”

  She waved it in front of his face until he snatched it out of her hand.

  “Geez, Shelley. No more caffeine for you.”

  Shelley snorted in response, waiting until his gaze passed over the page. “Well? Do you see it yet?”

  “What am I looking for?”

  “Oh, my God. Give me that.” She huffed, yanking back the paper. “I’m…just, oh! Here.” She held up the page, her finger zeroing in on two distinct points in the graph.

  “These two are an employee with irregular paperwork and a guest who has managed to slip by us using something other than his real name.”

  “How do you know?”

  “The background checks we do go back a number of years. Criminal, credit…you name it. But this guy…” She pointed. “There’s nothing.”

  “Nothing? Like just born yesterday nothing?”

  “Yep.” Shelley’s eyes sparkled. “And that’s not all.” She spun another chart toward him from the sea of papers now swimming all over the top of his desk.

  “This woman here. She’s been working here as a Domme for a few years. Her name is listed under Amanda Adams, but that’s not her real name.”

  Cage held up his hand. “And I�
��ll just bet you’re going to tell me who it is, right?”

  Shelley pressed her lips together and frowned. “I will, but you have to promise not to be mad.”

  “Why the hell would I be mad?”

  “Because the woman on that form…her name is Natalia Adams.”

  Chapter Seven

  Natalia woke to the sound of snoring. There was a weight on her body. Ryder. His arm was draped over her, the heat making her claustrophobic and edgy. She eased out from underneath him and rolled out of bed. Her body ached from earlier, but the satisfaction at bonding with Ryder left a sweetness humming in her blood.

  The mark on his shoulder was red but it would heal. The meaning behind it would not.

  The early evening shadows gave the room a cozy feeling, but when the cool air hit her naked skin, she shivered. Her clothes were soiled, and she couldn’t very well start rummaging through Ryder’s things. She’d lost an entire day, and she had to get home and check on the cat. And then she needed to call her captain.

  And her animal needed to run. To feel the earth beneath her paws and shake the human bullshit off for just a little while.

  Speaking of that…where was her purse? There. On the dresser. He’d brought it. Appreciation for the man in the bed warmed her. He was a lot more than he seemed. Natalia quietly opened her purse and saw the line of angry texts from Holt. Yep. And one from the captain.

  Great.

  I’m fine. With Ryder. Will call when I get home.

  She sent it to both of them. Let them think what they wanted. It wasn’t like the whole force didn’t see him carry her out of the crime scene yesterday. Shit. She was going to hear about that one for months.

  Something about him calmed her. It was as if her tension had just evaporated. Even her cat seemed happy.

  She crept across the carpet to the bathroom, stubbing her toe. She yelped, covering her mouth to muffle the sound, but Ryder still snored on.

  Typical man. Would probably sleep through a band of axe murderers.

  Oh, God.

  It all came flooding back to her. The scene. Her name written in blood. She stared at herself in the mirror, the harsh fluorescent lighting bringing every flaw to life. Her hair, still tangled and only half dry, tumbled down, covering some of the marks on her shoulders. Her makeup had been washed away, leaving her barefaced.