It took longer than she’d have liked, but Andrea managed to snake her healing magic beneath the Collar and loosen the wires of pain. Sean’s body began to relax, as, one by one, the bright wires unwound themselves from him and retreated.

Sean drew a long breath. When Andrea opened her eyes, he was looking at her, his irises calmed back to lake blue.

Andrea exhaled in relief. “Better?”

Sean’s answer was a growl. He dragged Andrea into his arms and brought his hard mouth down on hers.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

His mate. Andrea had leapt to his defense, ready to fight for him, and then, when Sean had collapsed in mortal pain, she’d pushed her Fae magic into him and healed him. He’d felt the Collar’s agony cease and slink away, as though she’d commanded it to go. He’d opened his eyes to find Andrea’s head bowed, eyes closed, her brow puckered in a little frown as she concentrated on easing his pain.

She was the most beautiful thing on this earth.

The ground was wet, cold, uncomfortable. Sean dragged Andrea up with him, kissing her as he rose to his feet with newfound strength. He pushed her down against the stillwarm hood of the car, and she smiled and wrapped her arms around him.

Andrea’s mouth was a point of heat. Sean licked it. He liked the taste so much he continued licking across her lips, and then down her chin and her slender throat. Her shirt was tight against her body, and Sean reached to tear the fabric away.

“Don’t.” Andrea’s hands came up.

Sean drew back a little, his heart pounding, dying for her. He couldn’t stop his snarl of frustration, and she laughed.

“Let me. I don’t want you to rip it; it’s one of my favorites.” Andrea grasped the hem of the shirt and slipped it off over her head.

There she sat, on the hood of Glory’s car, bare from the waist up. She was so beautiful, smiling up at him with her br**sts naked in the winter sunshine. It was cold, which tightened her ni**les into dark points, but when he touched her, she was warm, so warm. Sean leaned down and drew a nipple into his mouth, suckling her as he pushed her down on top of the hood.

“Not fair.” She hooked her finger into his waistband. “Take these off. If you get to look at something, so do I.”

Sean barely registered her words. He yanked off his boots and then his pants. She raised on her elbows to watch him and laughed, her eyes sparkling.

“You’re wearing them. The smiley faces.”

“I wanted to make you laugh. But not just now.” He tugged off the underwear and tossed it on top of his jeans.

Andrea’s laughter died as she roved her gaze to his very obvious wanting. She lingered there, her smile returning, sly and a little bit smug.

“What is so damn funny?” he asked.

“I was blessing my luck that the alpha who volunteered to claim me wasn’t ancient. And limp.”

“I haven’t been limp since I laid eyes on you, Andy-love.”

“That must have made for some painful moments.”

“It is pain.” Sean climbed onto the car over her. “It’s pain to watch you when I’m not inside you, not having you all the time.”

“We’d never get anything else done.”

“And why should I be caring? There’s plenty of others to get things done for me.”

“Must be nice to be at the top of the food chain.”

“It is. I have the privilege of claiming the best female Shifter in the world and bringing her out here where no one can find us.”

He tugged her jeans open and down her hips. Andrea helped, pushing away the fabric that kept him from her. The lace panties came off and followed the rest of the clothes to the ground.

Sean exhaled as he slid inside her. He belonged here, safe inside Andrea Gray, his beautiful love.

They fit together so snuggly, but when he began to move, it was hot, slippery, fiery, and fine. The awkward position, the fact that they were on a car in the woods, made the excitement burn. Andrea held his hips, her head going back as she felt it. In, in, in, all the way in. Goddess, you are beautiful.

How crazy to be naked out here, the river sliding by not five feet away, while he pumped and pumped and pumped inside her. This lovemaking wasn’t slow and lovely, like their first time. It was all animal, hard and fast and needy. This was like being feral, back in the wild days when humans had never heard of Shifters, back before anyone had tried to tame them.

Andrea moved beneath him, her little cries winding him hard into the frenzy. Sean was making noises too, panting like a crazy man, grunting and groaning. He couldn’t get enough of her.

Their mouths came together, tasting, devouring. Sean felt the wildcat in him wanting to come out, his claws sprout on his fingers. Damn what he wouldn’t give to have her in his wildcat form, when mating was basic and mindless.

But this was even better. He could kiss her lips, watch her eyes, touch her face, have her. When they were fully mated, they’d shift and go for a run, and then he’d take her down and not stop.

Sean’s breath grated in his throat, Andrea’s breathing was as rapid, her hands skating over him as she pulled him down on her.

“Andrea,” he said between kisses. “Mate. I don’t care about sun and moon. You’re my f**king mate.”

“I am right now,” she said in a throaty voice. She drew her fingertips down his chest, nails barely scratching him.

Damn it, why did she always have to laugh and tease and play? And then gaze up at him with those beautiful gray eyes, as though she wanted to peel back all his layers and look at the real Sean?

As it had last night, the mate bond reached out and wrapped around Sean’s heart. The iron bands of it were more painful than the Collar’s torture, because while the Collar lay quietly until provoked, the mate bond would tighten forever. Once begun, it would never die. His father was fighting the pain of having that mate bond ripped from him, and it gave Andrea the power to destroy Sean.

You belong to me. Mate, lover. Mine!

Sean shouted her name as his climax grabbed him and squeezed him hard. His seed sped out of him to be swallowed by the heat of her sheath, but still he went on, thrusting again and again inside her. Andrea arched to him, her own climax taking her, but Sean never wanted to stop.

And with his mate smiling that sultry smile, sliding arms around Sean and groaning his name with her beautiful red lips, he never would.

Both Sean and Andrea were panting as they wound down, the residual warmth of the engine keeping the cold from their bodies. Not that Sean would ever feel cold again. The mate bond, and Andrea, would see to that.