Page 72 of Shifters' Fated Summer
Strong arms scooped around my waist. He dragged me up in jerky movements as his legs kicked. Somehow, I knew it was Cade. The fated mate bond sang in delight at his contact, and I wanted to throw up.
We broke the surface, and I coughed, expelling the lake water from my lungs and sucking in air. My throat felt like sandpaper.
“Here, lift her up,” Luca’s voice shouted.
Blearily, I blinked at Cade. His beautiful golden hair was plastered to his head, and his tanned skin was pale. He lifted me up, and another set of hands gripped under my arms and hauled me out of the water.
“No, I’m burning,” I mumbled, unable to help my whimper.
Water streamed off of me, soaking Luca as he went from crouching on the deck to sitting with me in his lap. I leaned back against him, all the fight leaving my body.
“What the hell happened?” Luca asked, his words quick and furious.
Cade gripped the dock and pulled himself up. His muscles bulged gloriously, and arousal swirled in my belly and tingled between my legs. It was as strong as or maybe even worse than that first day after the mate bond formed between us.
Ineeded him.
Luca held me with his hands across my ribs, snug against his chest. I needed his hands higher or lower, preferably both. Shameless, I squirmed, needing something, everything, all of them right now.
Cade stepped forward, lake water pouring off of him. He was dressed in pants and a shirt that now clung to him.
“What’s wrong?” Luca asked, his hands squeezing tighter.
Cade said nothing. His eyes were glazed. He stopped right in front of us and dropped to his knees.
“Cade?” Luca asked.
“She’s in heat,” Cade rasped, not taking his gaze off of me.
Behind me, Luca stiffened. I felt the tickle of his nose against my neck as he smelled me. One of his hands went to the exposed skin on my chest.
“Oh, fuck,” Luca said.
Chapter 27
Dock
Cade dropped to his knees, his hands bracketing my outstretched legs.
Luca spluttered, “Cade, we probably need to get you guys inside. And, shit, I can smell her. Damn that’s hot. Fuck.” He groaned, and I felt him nuzzling against the side of my neck.
The fever was returning to my skin, and I squirmed, caught between being so turned on I couldn’t think straight and the aching cramps in my gut.
“I don’t feel good,” I whimpered.
“I’m going to fix that for you, baby.” The intensity of Cade’s golden-brown eyes set fireworks off in my stomach, temporarily quelling my discomfort.
My heart raced, anxiety choking me. There was no way this was happening. No way Cade just called mebaby.
Luca groaned again, the sound guttural. My stomach swooped as his hands moved to my breasts, gently squeezing and teasing through my thin tank top.
Cade gripped my shorts and dragged them down my hips. My bare ass hit the wood of the dock and I gasped. He dropped the discarded clothes like they meantnothing.
My brain couldn’t process everything happening. It was a feverish cloud of hands and masculine grunts and groans.
Cade shoved his pants down his thighs, not even bothering to take them off.
The sight of his dick stole my breath. He might have been thicker than Luca, but I would’ve had to see them side by side to compare. I had a feeling that might happen sooner rather than later, and the thought made me giggle. I had officially lost it. This was a hallucination, and I was probably still sinking in the lake.
