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“That sounds like an excellent idea,” said Hutch, standing up and offering Nora his hand. “What do you say we shift and go for a run on the beach?”
Nora closed her eyes and smiled. “That sounds perfect.”
* * *
It didn’t take long for Hutch and Nora to make their way down to the beach, build a bonfire and find a place to stash their clothes. Each of them called forth their clouded leopards and marveled at the way the two shifting storms seemed to dance and feed off each other. The lightning seemed to have more spark and crackle, the thunder was louder, and the colored shards rivaled the aurora borealis in their dazzling display.
Emerging from the shift, Nora charged Hutch, bumping into him with all her might and found she could barely move him. He clubbed her flank with his paw, sending her sprawling. She was quick to recover and bounded away from him. They chased each other along the waterfront, rushing in and out of the frigid water and splashing one another.
Clouded leopard-shifters rarely engaged in sexually dominant games in their shifted form due to the disparity in size between males and females with male cloudies being twice the size of their female counterparts. In addition, the clouded leopard was often referred to as the closest living relative to the prehistoric sabre-tooth cats because of their large canines—the largest of any cat in proportion to its body size. These two facts had contributed to the endangerment of their purebred brethren.
Nora pulled ahead as they raced side-by-side and jumped up on the side of the cliff, using it to vault back over Hutch’s head and race back down the beach. Hutch snarled in annoyance and took up the chase. She knew on a straight, flat course, Hutch’s size and strength would allow him to catch her, but her quickness and ability to turn more quickly meant as long as she zig-zagged and switched back, she could avoid being captured. That was the theory, anyway.
Proving just how wrong she was, Hutch anticipated one of her zigs and he managed to topple her, tumbling in the sand with her. When they came to a stop, they both stood and nuzzled one another before heading back to the bonfire and their clothing. Shifting, she realized, had the same effect on Hutch as it had on her—the size and engorgement of his cock was a clear sign that he had found their game as arousing as she did.
She stretched out alongside the fire, spreading her legs and holding out her arms to him. “Please, Hutch, I need you.”
The feral smile he gave her made her shiver, but not in fear. This man truly was her fated and natural mate. He understood what she wanted and needed and was ready and willing to give it to her. He knelt between her legs, pulling her up with his hands and holding her hips. The broad head of his cock paused only for a moment at the entrance to her core. She clutched at his heavily muscled biceps as he pushed himself inside her. Her pussy softened and welcomed him home.
Holding her tight, he began to thrust inside her with short, sharp strokes—allowing the nubs to cause friction as he surged in and become longer and stiffer as he pulled back. It was a unique sensation to which she was becoming addicted. Each time it seemed his cock drove deeper and deeper. She was wet and slick and still he filled her to capacity—rasping her tender flesh as the barbs raked furrows along her inner walls. She could feel the pleasure and pressure building. Her body had learned the ways of his all too well. Nora realized there would never be a time she could resist him. Everything she had done and been had led to this—an erotic encounter of the first order on a beach in Alaska. People could be watching, but she didn’t care.
Over and over, he stroked into her, compounding her pleasure with his relentless thrusting until she came, yowling his name, digging her nails into his flesh, and bowing her body. That little bit of pain released the beast within him, and he began to pound into her. He drew all the way back and then drove deep, filling her with cum. The warmth filled and soothed her ravaged pussy in a way that made her purr in contentment and pleasure.
CHAPTER19
HUTCH
“I’m not ready to share you with anyone else,” he said as he helped her up and they got dressed and extinguished the bonfire.
She re-holstered the gun she’d insisted on bringing and slipped a knife into a sheath under the sleeve of her sweater. Catching his side-eye she said, “Don’t start.”
Taking her by the hand, he led her along the beach and to the path that led up the seaside cliff and away from the house. He realized that he would do whatever it took to keep Nora safe and happy, and he knew she felt the same.
“I’d die for you,” he said quietly as they walked hand-in-hand.
“But would you kill for me? Because I know I would kill whoever I had to in order to keep you safe.”
Hutch stopped, looking down at her and pushing her hair out of her face. “You are not allowed to feel guilty about the work you did for the Master.”
“I killed people, Hutch. I ended their lives and destroyed the lives of those who loved them, and I did it without ever questioning why.”
“Because he raised you that way. Somewhere along the line, he figured out how to turn off that switch inside you that would have allowed you to refuse. He normalized it for the child who owed him everything. My guess is it wasn’t until you met your friend—”
“Fallon,” she supplied.
“Fallon—that the switch flipped on. Her humanity is what brought you back from the brink. I’ll bet it wasn’t until you allowed her in that you ever questioned him. He is at fault—not you. He knew that if he raised you the way he did, he could create a perfect killing machine. He didn’t count on the enormity of your heart and the strength of your spirit. And now that he knows, he can’t allow you to live.”
She nodded. “I know. No matter what else happens, no matter who else gets hurt, the Master has to die. Do you know that sick fuck actually thought that at some point he’d take me to mate?”
“Again, he wildly underestimated your strength, courage, resiliency, and honor.”
“Honor?”
“Absolutely. It got buried for a while, but deep down inside, the spark remained, and the first chance it had to erupt into flames, it did. You want to tell yourself it’s because I am your fated mate, but that isn’t it. The Ghost knew no other life, but becoming friends with Fallon was the first step towards your truest self. Doc always says there’s something in the water, and I’m not sure he isn’t right. But once you got to Mystic River, your soul recognized its home in the same way your heart recognized mine.”
“Are you always going to be gushing romantic stuff?” she asked, oddly touched and hoping the answer was yes.
Hutch chuckled. “Yes. Get used to it.”
