Brandi

by Donna McDonald

  She headed for the door of the room to look for the clothes thief just as it opened. Instinct shoved logic aside as panic ruled her decision making again. She shifted to her wolf for protection and bared her teeth at the person coming through the door.

  “Is your sense of smell affected too? Better save those nano thingies that help you shift. You might need them for other purposes before we’re done with each other tonight,” Gareth advised.

  Brandi shifted back to a human, but no clothes came with her change. She doubled over because it had hurt way more than usual. When the change pain subsided, she looked down at her traitorous body. Her skin was on fire everywhere as the nanos scrambled. How had she become so ill?

  She glared at Gareth and put her hand over her pubic area where his eyes had been glued since he walked into the room. “Stop staring. Why am I naked? And why am I cramping like hell?”

  “Hormones,” Gareth answered quietly, forcing his eyes away as he closed and locked the bedroom door behind him. He wasn’t leaving her again, unless she threw him out. It had come down to a claiming—one way or the other.

  “You’re in full-blown female werewolf heat. This is your first time from what Ariel told me. It was probably why you fainted.”

  “I did not faint,” Brandi said firmly. “The fumes in the cage room must have drugged me… or something.”

  “The ‘or something’ is that you fainted because your female hormones are too far out of balance. Your nanos can’t keep up. I’ve been on the phone with Eva since you passed out yesterday. Ariel and Heidi are in heat too, but their bodies seem to be handling it better. You moaned in your sleep all last night. I can tell you’re hurting. I’ve been worried sick about you.”

  Brandi ignored his statements that she wasn’t holding up as well as her packmates. Screw his opinion. She knew she was a survivor. “Yesterday? What the hell do you mean yesterday?”

  Gareth growled in warning. Her anger was pushing all the wrong buttons in him.

  “I mean yesterday, and that belligerent, disbelieving tone is not helping me control myself. Zip your lip and listen for once. I’m barely able to keep my hands to myself as it is. You passed out yesterday and have slept ever since. We’re in a hotel room back in Virginia. They sent a rescue copter to retrieve us because you never regained consciousness.”

  Brandi moved her hand away from her crotch to fist both hands on her hips. “You’re making shit up. Don’t mess with me, Gareth. This is not a good time. I’m hungry, hurting, and not in the mood.”

  Gareth closed his eyes and counted to ten before speaking so he wouldn’t yell back. “Why couldn’t you have been one of those women who cry during her heat cycle? No. You just had to be the pissy mood version, didn’t you? Hell, I guess that fits the rest of your cranky personality.”

  Brandi heard the warning growl leave her throat. Her fangs grew even longer and thicker, extending well beyond her bottom lip this time. Worse, the burning between her legs was demanding something be done… and done now. But at the same time she thought she might kill Gareth for real if he touched her sexually. Her inner conflict was annoying on more levels than she could explain to herself.

  Gareth opened his eyes and glared. “Who are you fighting, Brandi? Me? Or yourself?”

  Brandi ran a hand through her hair. It grew several inches every month and haircuts only seemed to make it want to grow faster. Left uncut, it would be at her waist in half a year. “I’m not fighting. I just don’t like the idea of you taking care of me. I’m just… fuck, I don’t know what I am.”

  “Well, let me enlighten you, Agent Jenkins. You are a pain in my two-hundred-year old ass. But you’re also the most magnificent female I’ve ever known. Look at you—challenging me when you don’t know how precarious the situation is for both of us. Instinct rules you and I’m at the center of it. I can give you the fight you’re needing if that’s what you want, but damn it Brandi. You’re going to have to commit to me first. I’m not going to mate a woman who isn’t ever going to love me back… at least a little.”

  “Love? I have told you over and over that I don’t know what that is,” Brandi said sharply, dropping her hands. “I had no parents, barely grandparents, and the rest of my life has been one temporary relationship after another. I am the worst woman you’re ever going to find when it comes to having no warm fuzzy feelings for people. Sex I can happily provide, but if you’re looking for spontaneous snuggling and all that other crap… I’m not the one for you.”

  His loins tightened at the pain in her words. Gareth knew Brandi didn’t hear the neediness in her voice. Her adrenaline spiked after her denial. Now she waited fearfully for his possible rejection. She didn’t have the good sense to realize how impossible it was for him to ever walk away for real. She also didn’t know the truth her body spoke which was a hell of a lot louder than her words.

  Gareth’s frustrated sigh echoed around the room. If he mated the woman in front of him, he might be signing on for a hundred years of fighting, bickering, and emotional hell. A man would have to be either crazy or madly in love to even contemplate such a stressful relationship. Maybe he was both.

  “You may not know what love is, but I do. And I love you, Brandi. I love you. I want you in my life any way you’re willing to be there.”

  “Gareth…” Her instinct was to deny his confession of love… to deny that he could emotionally feel something for her that she didn’t understand and couldn’t return. She waved a hand down her body. “This is all I have to offer anyone and you know where it’s been.”

  “Yes, I do. It’s been with me for months. I don’t give a damn about where it was before that. Your wolf has always belonged to me. I would kill anyone who tried to change that connection.”

  Gareth walked forward, tired of being so far away from her… both physically and emotionally. He slipped his arms around the woman he wanted and breathed her in. Her scent was richer than the liquor she was named for. And her taste…? He couldn’t wait to find out how she was in this condition.

  When he took her mouth, Brandi let him invade it, opening to him with no holding back. Gareth knew her lack of fight was the closest thing to a yes answer he was going to get. But he also knew Agent Brandi Jenkins only gave in this way to him. He didn’t take her concession for granted—not at all.

  He let her mouth go finally and leaned his forehead against hers. “Okay. I accept your limited offer. Screw being worried about tomorrow. If you’re going to destroy me, either physically or emotionally, I’m going to at least die a happy werewolf who’s finally had all he wanted from you for once.”

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about, but I feel like I’m going to die if you don’t fuck me really hard in the next three seconds,” Brandi whispered. The statement ended on a whimper as Gareth growled in her ear and gripped her butt hard enough to leave bruises.

  Her trembling hands pulled his shirt over his head before attacking his jeans with enthusiasm. Gareth’s body was always like a hot rock wall, tense and firm under her greedy fingers. His scent—something masculine and woodsy—was driving her more insane than usual.

  By the time she had him naked, she was shaking like a leaf. “Undressing you took all my energy. Now I feel ill again…” Brandi whispered, her fangs sensitive against the smooth skin of his chest.

  Gareth lifted her and stepped from the pile of clothes she had pushed down his hips to the floor. He wrapped Brandi around him and carried her to the bed. But instead of falling on her like he normally did, he spun and sat with her in his lap. What he needed for protection from potential pregnancy was still in his jeans, but he was reluctant to let go of her to retrieve it.

  “Brandi before we go too far… we need to talk about precautions to take during this time… Eva said I should explain…” His voice broke off as she rose to her knees. Her scent was killing him. Damn it. “There could be consequences from…”

  His words were lost as Brandi lowered and sheathed herself in one hot
wet slide down on him. Her ride back up was slow and deliberate. The next downward glide was equally glorious. Her rhythm was full of delicious intent and her gaze beneath lowered lids was clouded with lust.

  His head spun knowing the woman he craved found so much pleasure with him. On one downward glide, Brandi paused and trembled. Her forehead touched his shoulder. It was an uncharacteristic display of tenderness. He latched on to her choice to show it to him now and gave it the interpretation he longed for.

  “I intended to take the high road and protect you from further complications between us,” Gareth whispered.

  “I already know this is complicated, but right now I don’t care. I just need you,” Brandi whispered back.

  Her tongue snuck between her fangs wanting a taste of the skin she smelled. Already the joyful clutching in her pelvis told her volumes about how much relief being with Gareth was going to give her. She figured she might as well enjoy the journey.

  Gareth tasted amazing, more amazing than he usually did to her. Her fangs slid over skin as she rose. She hovered at the top of his erection, her fangs streaking over his face, down his neck, until she could lick his shoulder again.

  His body quivering under hers had her wolf rumbling inside. His erection pulsed and throbbed as she tightened around him. She couldn’t kiss him for her enormous fangs being in the way, but she could lick, which she did until he was bucking and pleading for her to ease up on him. It wasn’t their first power game in bed, but it was the first time she wasn’t inclined to concede. She pressed her breasts against his chest and squeezed only the first few inches, laughing when Gareth hissed in frustration over her talent.

  Gareth gathered his senses long enough to clear his throat. “Bite me. I know you want to and it’s painfully obvious to both of us how much I’m anticipating it. When it comes to my turn, you can be damn sure I won’t be hesitating like you are. You’re who I want.” He winced when her internal muscles tightened around him further. “Brandi… you’re killing me.”

  The confession was torn from his throat as she leaned back and looked into his gaze. Then her teeth were on his neck and sinking in at the same time she slid down his full length again. It was heaven and hell happening at once. He yelled in triumph because she’d bitten him first.

  Then his fangs lengthened in his mouth, as painful as everything else on his body. He bent to her neck and returned the torment to her, sinking them in deep. If this mating brought his death, so be it. In this woman’s arms was the way he wanted to go.

  Brandi quivered at his bite, her orgasm propelling them both over as her body stilled and locked around his in mind-blanking pleasure. Gareth filled her body and emptied himself in the process, even though his erection remained steady and strong after.

  While the pleasure ebbed, they remained unmoving, painfully but pleasurably connected. He had never been more contented with a woman in his entire long life.

  Fearing Brandi might be suffering more than him, Gareth withdrew his fangs first, breathing hard as they receded in his mouth. He licked the unfortunately large puncture wounds his older teeth had made in her and winced at the surrounding bite he hadn’t even been aware of delivering to her fragile skin. Even healed, his mating mark was going to be a highly noticeable scar on her. He hadn’t had the presence of mind to be more careful.

  Gareth put his lips over it, kissing it reverently. At least his mark on her would be one fight completely worth the battle. The thought made him smile against her.

  When Brandi finally withdrew her fangs, Gareth was surprised to feel a little bereft. Following his lead, he felt her soft warm tongue licking across the wound. He got a little electric jolt with every stroke. He hadn’t been bitten during his other matings, but Brandi’s fangs were the least of the brands he expected to be wearing of hers. The scar on his forehead from their first physical fight was still healing.

  His erection twitched, already wanting more. And he would have more.

  Fearing Brandi might stop him if he asked how she was doing, Gareth rolled them sideways until she was positioned under him. His body did what it wanted without his prompting. There was a profound relief in every thrust home. Her back arching to tilt her hips for access was his favorite concession, one of the few he had learned to count on from her.

  “Gareth… stop for a minute… if you can.”

  He paused and pushed in hard, immersing himself in his idea of heaven. He also hardened his heart to hear her regrets. “Am I thrusting too hard?” he asked, stalling for time. Her hands framing his face had him looking at her in concern.

  Brandi blinked and stared into her lover’s worried gaze. She was such a bad bet, but Gareth had taken her on anyway. “Don’t be ridiculous. I want it faster and harder… as hard as you can make it. But first I wanted to ask you a favor.”

  Gareth withdrew and thrust slowly, watching her face. In her expression he saw her acceptance and her eyelids lowered as lust turned her face pink. “This is a good time to ask. I’d say yes to just about anything right now. You are so damn beautiful. I should have told you that from the very beginning. No wonder you didn’t think I was serious.”

  Brandi swallowed hard and felt her face heat. “Thank you for the compliment, but I wasn’t fishing. Now I’m embarrassed about what I wanted to ask.”

  Gareth snickered as he lowered his weight onto her and laid his head beside hers on the pillow. In bed, their heights matched perfectly. “Embarrassing you was not my intention. What did you want to ask? Hurry, I’m about to run out of patience here. I’m… riled up. Claiming you is going to take a while, even for an old guy like me.”

  Brandi turned her hot face to his. “I thought maybe you might tell me you love me while you…” She dropped her gaze from his when his eyebrow shot up in disbelief. “Forget it. It’s dumb. I just thought… no man has ever… fuck this sappy shit. I told you I suck at this girlie stuff.”

  Gareth’s loud growling in her ear startled her, but it was her hips being yanked up hard that she found alarming. “Gareth… what?” But questions and protests died as he molded her body to his. He wasn’t joking about him doing what he wanted to her. A second orgasm shook her body like a seizure.

  “That’s how much I love you, and there’s still more,” Gareth said roughly.

  Then pulling out of her still quivering body, he flipped a protesting Brandi over. Once on her stomach, he pulled her hips up until he could get inside her again from behind. Once fully seated, he rocked her body up on his thighs and pulled her to her knees, keeping her spread open.

  He put one arm around her front and gripped her hair with the other. He gave a good solid tug backwards while he thrust up hard and deep. His mouth found her ear.

  “Mine completely,” he whispered, being stern. “Mine to love. Mine to do this. You are my everything. Get used to it. Say okay now so I know you’re hearing me.”

  Brandi quivered in his arms. Damn the man was amazing when he was in this mood. A short laugh escaped her. She was happier at that moment than she could ever remember being. And this was the only place she was ever going to let Gareth order her around.

  “What if I don’t say okay?” she asked, just to hear his reply.

  His hand loosened in her hair. His arm around her went slack. Brandi moaned as she started to fall forward. “No—don’t turn loose,” she cried, tightening on him as best she could.

  Gareth’s satisfied laugh in her ear was nearly evil, but his hand gripped her hair again harder than before. His mouth went to her shoulder and sucked as he lifted her whole body in the air with every upward thrust. She was shaking hard and pushing back on him to keep from falling out of his arms. When he yelled in release, it sent her spiraling into another long orgasm herself.

  After that was done for both of them, his hands came around her front and cupped her breasts. His support was all that was holding her upright and it made her laugh.

  “I do love you, Brandi.”

  Gareth’s profession had tears g
athering in her eyes. “I don’t know if I’m starting to love you or not, but I no longer want to kill you. Can we let that count as my warm and fuzzy feeling about this?”

  Gareth grinned as he thumbed across two nipples which both pebbled under his stroking. They hadn’t even gotten to the good stuff yet. It was going to be a mating night for them both to remember.

  “Not wanting me dead is a good start, I suppose. I’ll show you a few more good reasons to keep me alive later. Then I’ll show you some more tomorrow... and every other night we’re together for the rest of our lives.”

  “Deal,” Brandi whispered, moaning at his exquisite torture of her.

  His fangs nipping her shoulder again sent shivers coursing through her as Gareth pushed her down to the bed and made her happy with him all over again.

  Chapter 19

  The next morning Gareth pulled his mate’s slack, but very warm body over his. Damn it. He didn’t even feed her last night. It was a wonder Brandi wasn’t more ill. It was definitely a wonder he hadn’t damaged her. He hoped her nanos could handle him because he already wanted her again.