Warmth.
It was the first thought Tara had as she slowly awakened. She was very warm and so very comfortable. Her eyes opened to the rays of sunlight shining on her body through a window. She tried to move, but something stopped her. She blinked as her eyes adjusted to the light and focused on the object that had her pinned down, a white arm draped casually over her breasts. She gasped in surprise when she realized she was lying on her side and pulled tightly against a very muscular body. A long heavy leg draped over one of hers locking her in place. She raised her head slightly and saw the leg was bare and gulped. Whoever it was appeared to be naked!
Panic suddenly took over, what happened last night? She had a vague memory of gradually becoming engulfed in madness. She remembered someone stopping her and afterwards everything went black.
Who was holding her?
Instead of lying there pondering, she decided to get up. Slowly, as to not wake the stranger, she maneuvered the heavy arm from around her and carefully pushed the heavy leg off hers. She slid off the huge bed and stood up then turned around to face the man who had been holding her so possessively.
Long locks of auburn hair spread wildly over the pillows...Kendrick didn't have long hair.
For a moment, Tara forgot to breathe. Her heart began to beat excitedly. Why was she so happy to see him? Why did she feel so complete? It was as if a huge hole inside of her had finally been filled.
He looked like a red headed god laying there in a thin white t-shirt and blue jean shorts. His body was enormous, nothing but layers of muscles piled on top each other accompanied by a face that was surely sculpted to perfection just for her. If Tara ever had a dream guy, Kane would be it. She could barely believe he was back and lying with her so intimately. He was too good to be true, this perfect, hunk of specimen was hers? Couldn't be, it was all a cruel joke. And then, he opened those green eyes and she came crashing back to reality. He was back! Kane had returned. And the last time she saw him, he had wanted to get it on with her. She sure as hell was NOT ready for that!
Her first thought was to run! She moved away from him and her feet had barely touched the floor he grabbed her and she found herself back in bed with him. He'd pushed her flat on her back and pulled her into his arms to lay with her again.
"I'm not ready!" She screamed.
He gave her a confused look and then a look of amusement came over his handsome face when he finally understood. "Tara, if I was the same person I was back then, I would have made you mine last night. I left so I could come back to you and be with you as a human male with a human woman."
"Huh?" Tara asked looking up at him as if he'd lost his mind.
Kane smiled. "I don't want to mate with you. We have time to get to know each other. I want you to be comfortable with me, Tara." He ran his big warm hands down her bare arms admiring the color of her golden brown skin in the sunlight.
Tara squealed a little when he took a nosedive into her hair. His nose found the little nook that connected her neck to her shoulder and nestled there. She felt him breathe in deeply drinking in her scent.
Comfortable? He wanted her to be comfortable? Well how was she supposed to be comfortable with him draped over her like he owned her? Yet, deep down, her body shivered at his touch. She felt the urge to wrap her arms around his broad shoulders, well at least part of his shoulders since she doubt her arms could fit around him, and pull him down on top of her.
"I could drown in you," Kane whispered against her ear.
Her body reacted immediately. His deep sexy voice turned her on like no other man and sent tingles in secret places that weren't supposed to be responding to him. Fight it! She told herself. He could probably seduce her right here if she let him. What was it about him and his brother that caused her body to react so wantonly? She had never considered herself a sexual person until she met them. Confused and somewhat irritated over the changes they were taking her though, she pushed away from him so forcefully she ended up flying right over the edge of the bed.
Kane caught her before she could hit the floor. Damn... the man had inhuman reflexes, in which she was grateful for. It didn't seem to bother him that she was trying to get away from him. He plopped her on his lap and brushed back her long dark hair. Tara didn't understand what he was staring at or why he suddenly started growling, but he was beginning to scare her. His fingers traced something on her neck.
"You bare his mark," Kane told her.
"What?" Tara asked.
"My brother marked you as his to protect you, but it's no ordinary mark, it has turned into a symbol that has been permanently ingrained into your skin. That only happens when a wolf meets his life mate..."
"Are you saying that I belong to Kendrick as well as you?"
"It would appear that way," Kane said with a slight frown. "The problem is that I don't like to share..."
"I am not an object to be shared..." Tara told him. "And I don't like to be bitten either," she suddenly gasped. "Does this mean I turn into a werewolf?"
"Tara, I swear if you say that one more time..."
"What?" Tara asked Kane.
"I did not speak," Kane told her.
"I could have sworn I heard Kendrick's voice..." she looked around the room. "Is he hiding somewhere in here?"
Someone laughed.
"Do you hear him?" Tara asked Kane.
"Kendrick is speaking to you the way he speaks to me by using telepathy. When he "bit you" as you say, he started the ritual that binds two life mates together for eternity, but in order for it to be complete, you must mate with him."
"Oh my god, here we go again! Is that all you two wolves can think about? Sex, sex, sex?" Tara pulled away from Kane. He let her go this time and watched her back against the wall as she stared at him suspiciously.
"You know you want him, Tara, stop fooling yourself," Kendrick teased.
"Shut up Kendrick and get out of my damn head!" Tara finally learned to think the words instead of saying them out loud in response.
"As you wish." She felt his presence leave her. It was very disconcerting.
"Tara," Kane said bringing her attention back to him. "Sex is not what a wolf obsesses about when he finally finds his life mate, although it is an important part of the ritual to help with the binding."
"Really, now?" Tara asked in disbelief. "Then what is it?"
He suddenly stood in front of her, his tall body bent over hers blocking out everything until only he existed. She hadn't even seen him get up.
"The binding itself," Kane answered her. "The longer you are not bonded to us the more impatient, irritated and aggressive we become. The need to immediately bond you to us is instinctive, it ensure us of your protection and calms our fear of losing you in some way. As long as you remain unbounded to us, we cannot care for you properly. We will not know where you are when you wander off, we cannot be there for you if something happens, we cannot understand your emotions or thoughts. An unbounded life mate is a wolf's worst nightmare. It is torture to us..."
Tara's heart began to ache. She had no idea what it must be like for him, the only person she'd thought of was herself. "I...I'm sorry, I didn't understand. I don't mean to give you such a hard time, it's just that...I'm human, surely you can understand why this is upsetting to me."
"Which is why, I changed for you."
She frowned at that. He was right! He had changed. She didn't feel the high intensity she usually felt around him, neither did she feel the danger that went with the high intensity. He felt...human, normal...not like the wolf she'd obsessed about over the past weeks.
"Kane...what did you do to yourself?" she asked in alarm. What had he done during the time he'd been away?
"I've become human..."
"How?" Tara stared up at him in shock.
"My father is a powerful shaman. He was able to tone down my animalistic instincts so that I might be with you on your level as a human. It will only last a few days."
"Kane, this is the reason why you've been gone so long, to become human for me? Why would you do that to yourself?"
"I would conquer this world for you, Tara, and make everyone bow down at your feet, if it guaranteed your love and acceptance."
A vision of the gigantic wolf that called itself a god suddenly replaced Kane for only a second. The dream she had, was it a connection to Kane in some way? And those words, those words he'd just told her...had been so beautiful, so honest. How could she not fall in love with him after hearing them...after what he'd done...She looked away not wanting him to see the tears that were threatening to spill from her eyes. "Do you love me, Kane? Even after knowing me for only a short period?" She needed to know this...before she finally gave in to him...
"Love? Love is a word only used by humans to confirm a fleeting intense emotion that never lasts for long. Wolves do not love Tara, we "live"through each other, something that is so much stronger than the word "love", but because you are human, I only know of one way to make you understand what you are to me, if it pleases you to hear me say it, then yes, "I love you, Tara."
It was over for her, she knew she couldn't fight him anymore even if she tried and she didn't want to try. Her entire life she had searched for acceptance for someone to love her and to be able to love someone who would appreciate her. It seems she had gotten it all wrong; the love of her life was not the human she had been searching for but a completely different species, a wolf...
Tara reached up, wrapped her arms around his neck, and dragged his head down to her lips. Kane was completely caught off guard; he had not been expecting her to kiss him. His astonishment was so intense even Kendrick felt it. "Damn..." he heard Kendrick whisper. Kane felt his brother leaving his mind, the bastard had been eavesdropping.
He growled against Tara's incredibly soft lips and crushed her voluptuous body against his. He picked her up and carried her to the bed. The human side of Kane yelled at him that he should not be doing this. He was going too fast and he needed to slow down, but for a moment, he lost control. She tasted so good, even his humanity couldn't stop him from wanting to devour her.
Tara's world had turned upside down the minute she felt his lips on hers. Butterflies filled her stomach. She felt slightly dizzy. The chemistry between them felt like electricity. She let out a helpless whimper when his tongue parted her lips and stroked against hers, tasting her.
Kane growled loving her taste. Mine, he thought as his hand moved into her hair and held her still against the onslaught of his kiss. He grew demanding with his need for her; kissing her as if she belonged to him and there was nothing she could do about it.
Tara felt completely overwhelmed by him; the intensity of the kiss was both frightening and sensual. Man or wolf, Kane knew how to kiss a woman to the point she felt her very soul being sucked right into him. She wanted him and found herself rubbing against his body needing...something from him to ease the desire burning inside of her. Suddenly, her stomach let out a loud obnoxious growl accompanied by a gnawing pain. Bringing them both back to reality.
Kane froze, his body tensed as he slowly pulled away from her and took in deep breaths to get a hold of himself.
Tara was so embarrassed her face turned a dark shade of red. "Oh my god..." she whispered. "I swear that's never happened before."
Kane leaned his forehead against hers and smiled. He started to chuckle. "I am grateful it happened. I became a human so I would be able to take it slow with you, but even as a human it is hard to resist you."
Tara smiled.
"Know this my life mate, if you kiss me again on your own, I will not stop until I've made you mine."
Tara could feel his hardness pressed against her, huge, thick...and blushed even deeper.
"If I was not human right now, I would not be able to pull away from you," he told her, "especially when your scent fills the room like an addicting drug." He moved away from her and stood staring down at her as she sat up.
The wolf in him would not have hesitated to go after her and claim her. It would have immediately taken her scent of arousal as a sign to mate with him. The wolf would not have listened to her protests, not today, and for a moment Kane was glad he was more human than wolf. Tara would have been seduced completely against her will. Perhaps she would have hated him afterwards, but the mating ritual would have been complete. He didn't want that, he wanted Tara to willingly come to him which was why he was going through this painful process of being human in the first place. It seemed to be working, had she not been the one to initiate their first kiss? His heart skipped a beat, it would be a memory he would never forget, For now, his mate was hungry and he was slightly angry at himself for letting her be hungry.
"If we were bonded I would have sense your hunger. I'm supposed to take care of you, not let you starve. You distract me too much for your own good." He buried his fingers through her hair amazed at how thick and soft it was. "You're so beautiful," he mumbled, his eyes memorizing every detail of her perfect exotic features.
He had to make himself pull away from her, to concentrate on other things like feeding her. Never in his entire life had a woman so enraptured him. It was dangerous; she could destroy him if she ever thought to do so, as powerful as he was, as strong as he was, she was his weakness.
Tara couldn't believe she had actually kissed Kane. What was happening to her? She had never kissed a guy before and Kane wasn't just any "guy". Her personality was changing and she wondered if it was because of Kane and Kendrick or was there a hidden side to her she was just beginning to release.
One thing she knew had changed and that was the room temperature. It was suddenly burning up in her room. She glanced at the thermometer and noticed it had risen to 90 degrees within a very short time. Had the kiss she shared with Kane caused the temperature to rise? She stared at him not sure what to make of this.
"Let's go so I can feed you," Kane told her.
She glanced at the shorts he was wearing and thin white shirt, the man didn't even have any shoes on. Where was he going to go dressed like that with her? "Kane, could you please change into something more decent before we go out?" She asked as politely as she could not sure if he'd get offended by her request.
He tilted his head at her. "Would this please you?"
"Yes, it would please me very much!"
"Then I will return, wait for me."
Tara watched him push up her window and jump out from the second floor. "What the!" She ran to the window and looked out but he had disappeared. She shook her head, definitely a wild man, there was some things about him that would never change she suppose. For a moment she stood there deep in thought. Kane had returned and he had turned human for her, even if it was temporary, it was still a huge sacrifice. But what would happen once he turned back into his dangerous, unpredictable self? Could she still handle him?