Chapter 11 | Rex

Chapter 11

Rex

My female was unusually quiet when we walked home after the bar had closed. Normally, I’d enjoy listening to her tell me about her day. She had a gift for describing the patrons and her encounters with them that often made me laugh. I worried when I was in the kitchen and she was waiting tables by herself, even though I knew that Drova didn’t allow his waitress to be interrupted in her work too much.

Her stories made me feel like she was doing alright. They made me feel like she’d come so far and that I’d done the right thing by getting her to work at the bar. She felt useful, like her own person because she was earning money, most of it through tips. My Kara today was a far cry from the little stray I’d picked up in the back alley half a week ago. She was bolder, smiled broadly, and didn’t fear speaking when she had something to say. Even Drova didn’t intimidate her anymore, but he was treating her with kid gloves; he knew she was under my protection. I would crush him in a heartbeat if I found out he’d harmed her or put her in harm’s way.

My Rhico neighbor was coming home at the same time we were, something we’d managed to avoid until now. I heard his heavy footsteps before I saw him, but my tension instantly mounted. The male wasn’t all bad, but he wasn’t trustworthy, and I didn’t want him to know I had a female in my home at night. I was a strong fighter; I had a reputation not to be messed with, but even I couldn’t fight impossible odds.

Tucking Kara even closer, I was tempted to pick her up and dash for it. The male rounded the corner ahead of us, blocking that option. I spun us into an alcove instead, pressing Kara against the wall and shielding her with my body. Rhico didn’t have a very sensitive sense of smell, and they didn’t have the best eyes either, but their hearing was fantastic. Kara made a startled noise that made the male jerk a glance over his shoulder, and on instinct, I dropped my mouth to hers and covered the noise.

It was a mistake to give in to that primal urge. Her sweet lips against mine made me lose all sense, reverting me to the hormone-driven adolescent I’d once been. My body pressed closer, and my lower hands picked her up, spreading her thighs to make space for me between them. I should have stopped; I should have asked her if this was okay, but her sweet scent urged me on. She was aroused, her body onboard, and that was the sweetest enticement. It was almost enough to make me forget about the Rhico stomping around behind me, and how I wanted to hide my mate from him.

Kara curled her small hand around the back of my neck, her blunt nails scraping deliciously across my skin. Her fingers tangled in my hair, and the tug on my scalp set my blood on fire. Rhico? What Rhico? Nothing mattered except my mate and getting more of her taste, more of her soft sighs and sounds.

Our tongues tangled as I slipped mine between her lips, and she shuddered against me. It reminded me we were more than just mouths, and my hips jerked forward, pressing against her core. She could not mistake the bulge of my cock for anything but what it was—my fierce, blatant desire to fuck her. Against this wall if she’d let me. Her scent was growing stronger, more urgent, which evoked a deep sense of satisfaction. Everyone would know that she wanted me, me .

That thought was what slapped some sense into me, and I pulled back with a gasp, my spine prickling, and my belly clenching with a hint of shame. Inside my pants, my tai ached as they curled around the base of my cock, rather than holding my female to me as I took her. I did not want to lift my head from my mate when she looked so pink and mussed, her lips wet from our kissing. Forcing myself to look over my shoulder, I assured myself that my neighbor had gone inside and the streets were once again empty.

“Safe?” Kara whispered, proving that my clever woman had sensed the danger, just as I had. My chest ached when I was forced to wonder if she’d only let me kiss her because she thought she couldn’t call out to stop me. The soft, warm look in her eyes, the heat of her scent, assured me I did not need to worry.

I nodded, my clenched lower hands unable to release her curvy rear. My cock still pressed tightly against the juncture of her thighs, against her heat, where I wanted to sink deep. “Let’s go home, Rex,” she said, her hands still on my neck, stroking gently over my skin and into my hair. A silent groan wrenched from my chest at the sensation, and her legs hugged me tighter around my hips, pressing us even closer together. Fuck, she felt so damn good in my arms—I never wanted to let her go.

My lower hands were always closed into fists at rest, allowing me to hang from a tree limb even if I slept. For a tree-dwelling species like mine, that was the perfect path of evolution. Right now, it was less than perfect, because I did not have the strength to release my grip around her ass. There was no way I could manage to put her down when passion and protectiveness blended in a volatile mix inside my veins.

Taking a step with her in my arms, our cores rubbing together as I walked, felt like insanity too. Insanity I could not stop, and from the way my mate’s fingers dug into my skin, she didn’t want me to. Crossing the street and unlocking my door felt like walking a mile, but it only took ten seconds. Then, we were enclosed in a sheltered space, alone with nothing but darkness.

My mouth found hers, claiming it frantically, and my female responded like wildfire, bursting into flame in my arms. I could not stop what happened next; I didn’t want to. This was inevitable anyway, and it was about time Kara found out what lengths a Pretorian mate went to when pleasing his female.