Eli fixed him with a hard look. “What was your plan? Just to wait until they popped out and say ‘oh by the way—this one’s mine and these two belong to my brothers!’?”
“I thought we might try a little fucking finesse!”
“She wanted to get rid of them,” Eli said tightly. “At least now she thinks they’re human. She was scared they weren’t.” He thought it over for a moment and glared at Gabriel. “I thought you said she told you she wasn’t raped?”
The accusation took Gabriel aback. “She did.”
“Well that isn’t the way I heard it. The damned second I told her I’d fathered one of them she wanted to chew me up and spit me out!”
Gabriel eyed him assessingly. “And yet you still managed to fuck her somehow,” he said tightly.
Eli’s lips tightened. “She’s my mate,” he growled. “If you think I’ll be fucking asking your permission before I touch her you can think again.”
“And mine.”
Gabriel and Eli both turned to look at John as he entered the kitchen.
“We bred on her. That doesn’t make her our mate,” Gabriel said tightly. “She’s human. You might as well get that through your heads right now. The very moment she discovers what we are she’s going to take to her heels and never look back. The idea of bringing her here was to protect our spawn.”
John eyed him assessingly. “Meaning you have no interest in trying to convince her to stay beyond that?”
Gabriel stared at him a long moment and finally looked away. “I don’t fucking understand what’s happened here any better than you two do. Something happened. It’s affected all of us—her included. She thinks they found something in her blood. I think she’s right and that’s why they’re so keen to get their hands on her. I just don’t know whether it’s because of the babies or not.”
“Meaning as soon as she has them she’ll feel entirely different?” Joshua, who was cooking, asked sharply. “There are three of us here that didn’t get the fucking chance to spawn and Marlee’s the first female, human or dragoness, that offered that possibility.”
“She didn’t offer!” Eli growled. “She made that clear as a bell!”
“And it seems to me that you and John fucked it up for the rest of us!” Luke retorted angrily.
Eli glared at him, struggling with the urge to knock his teeth down his throat.
“The government is going to fuck it up for all of us if they manage to get their hands on her,” Gabriel said pointedly. “The only way to prevent that that I can see is to try to convince her to stay with us so that we can protect her. I don’t think she’s convinced now by a long shot even though she’s worried about the government boys catching up with her. And genius here decided to allay her fears by convincing her they were human babies. So now, maybe, she won’t be worried so much about them catching her? I don’t guess you thought about that?”
Anger flashed through Eli, but he felt his face heating with discomfort. “She was afraid,” he said tightly. “I could see it in her eyes.”
“Well it’s a damned good thing you thought to comfort her!” John snapped.
Gabriel held up his hand before the two could come to blows. “He had a point—to an extent. She doesn’t necessarily have to find a doctor to abort. There are things she could take— and she might’ve been tempted otherwise. At least he allayed that anxiety and I don’t think we’ll have to be worried about it. The problem is that she might decide that she doesn’t have to worry about it at all.”
“It isn’t likely she could elude us,” Luke put in.
“Not for long,” Eli said grimly, “but it might be long enough to get her into trouble even we would have a hard time getting her out of—without revealing what we are. That wouldn’t help her, us, or the babies.”
———
Marlee didn’t even make any attempt to play the courteous guest and try to make polite small talk when they all gathered to eat. She was pissed off with all of them! She couldn’t decide whether she was more furious with Eli or Gabriel. They certainly topped her shit list, but the others had known! She knew damned well that all of them had and that made them accessories as far as she was concerned!
It was almost more annoying that they seemed oblivious to her anger. Not one of them made any attempt to draw her into conversation and they dispersed so quickly when they’d finished their meal that it seemed painfully clear that none of them wanted her there any more than Eli did!
She debated whether to help Aaron and Luke with kitchen clean up after the meal since everyone else had abandoned ship, but she could see that they worked as efficiently together as all the others when they paired up in the kitchen. Shrugging the impulse off even though she felt guilty about not even offering, she went into the great room, turned the big screen TV on and flipped through the channels they had available. It wasn’t much of a selection, actually, but she supposed the mountains played havoc with reception.
Giving up on finding anything to occupy her mind after a few minutes, she turned the TV off again and wandered out onto the back verandah. There were no city lights, or car lights for that matter. There were no buildings in sight with the exception of the large barn some distance to the south east of the main house and what she supposed must be a pump house and a small shed. The stars and moon shed far more light than she’d ever thought they would, though, illuminating a shadowy landscape that was so alien to her she found it far more disturbing than peaceful.
A faint creaking sound from the porch caught her attention and she whipped in that direction. Eli, she discovered, was seated in a rocking chair at the other end, tipped back with his feet propped on the railing. He took his feet down and got up, sauntering toward her.
Irritation flickered through Marlee as soon as the fright passed, but her heart didn’t cease to pound against her ribcage like a trip hammer. He stopped about an arm’s length from her, folding his arms over his chest and propping his ass against the railing. “Still pissed?”
It occurred to Marlee that the deep, gravelly drawl of his voice was just about the sexiest thing she’d ever heard. If everything inside of her hadn’t already been straining to reach out to him before he opened his mouth, it certainly was the moment he did.
Why was it that these men had such an effect on her? Because they all did. She’d tried her best to ignore the fact that they did, and there was certainly a notable difference in the effect that each of them had on her, but she felt like she was strung out on something every time she was in close proximity to any of them—something like X, or at least the way she’d heard it described. Every nerve ending tingled almost as if she’d encountered some kind of bizarre force field. Her libido purred to life, warming her to ignition point so that it took no more than a light caress to send her up in flames.
“I don’t even know what your last name is,” she said after a moment and then grimaced.
“I didn’t know your first name until yesterday.”
Something flickered in his eyes. “Bear.”
Marlee stared at him, more than half convinced he’d said it as some kind of poor attempt at a joking reference to the bear that had attacked her. “Bear?”
He shrugged. “Standing bear. I am an injun.”
She met his gaze. “And a bigot. Do you hate all white women, or just me?”
He unfolded his arms and uncrossed his legs. Grasping her shoulders, he guided her between his legs until she was standing close enough his warmth and scent wafted to her, weaving their intoxicating spell. “Baby, is there anything about the way I touch you that says hate to you?”
She smiled with an effort. “Only your lips.”
Something flickered in his eyes. He pulled her closer until her center of gravity shifted and she found herself lying against him. “Must be some kind of language barrier thing,” he murmured, slipping his arms loosely around her and lowering his head to meet hers. “Let’s try that again.”
Her heart just seemed to stop in her chest as he
brushed his lips lightly across hers and then just as gently sucked on them. For a handful of seconds, he hovered a hair’s breadth from her lips, as if waiting to see if she wanted more. She tipped her head up and closed the distance.
Her awareness of him expanded the moment his lips closed over hers. His hands tightened briefly on her and then coasted in opposite directions. One arm curled around her shoulder blades, pressing her breasts more tightly against his chest. He reached downward with the other hand to cup one buttock and rock her pelvis against his. Moisture flooded her channel and her focus shifted inward, drawn by the warming pulse of blood in her breasts and her sex.
His kiss was slow, a thorough exploration rather than the fevered mating of mouths of before, but it aroused her just as thoroughly. She lifted her eyelids with a great effort when he finally broke the kiss. His lips curled upward at one corner. “Better?” he drawled huskily. “Or should I try again?”
She wanted to tear his clothes off and mount that thick rod of flesh he was rhythmically brushing against her mound. She swallowed with an effort. “I don’t understand why you have this affect on me, Eli,” she murmured.
His eyes gleamed. “That makes two of us then, baby, but I think I’m more inclined to go with it and enjoy it that question it.”
She was more inclined to go with it than question it, too, and that worried her. She didn’t know anything about him—except that he might have fathered the baby she was carrying and he’d apparently been high on some kind of hallucinogenic weed when he’d impregnated her.
And that still didn’t explain why she’d felt that way when she certainly hadn’t smoked anything. “You brought me here to protect the baby.”
“And its mother.”
She chewed her lip. “Would you feel the same if it wasn’t yours? What if it belongs to John?”
He tilted his head. “You think I’d be less inclined to protect my brother’s child?”
She pushed away slightly. “That’s the whole point, Eli. I don’t know you—except in the biblical sense.”
His gaze became shuttered. “What makes you think there’s that much to know?”
She studied his face and finally lifted a hand and lightly traced one hard cheek. “I have a feeling you’re fathoms deep, Eli Bear.”
He lifted a hand to hold hers and then moved her hand to his lips and nibbled her palm.
“There’s were you’re wrong, Ms. F-B-I,” he drawled, laughter threading his voice. “I’m as shallow as spring puddle on a flat rock. If you could read my mind right now you’d know the only thing on it is how to convince you to let me go fishing in that little cavern of yours.”
Marlee couldn’t help but chuckle. “I would never have guessed,” she murmured, bumping her pelvis lightly against his ‘pole’.
“I was thinking you might not have figured that out.”
“Seriously, though ….”
“Baby, I’m as serious as a heart attack,” he murmured, dipping down to nibble at her neck.
“I think you’re seriously trying to distract me.”
“Is it working?”
She chuckled again and gave up. “I think you know the answer to that.”
“Good!” he said briskly, setting her slightly away and then catching her hips and lifting her straight up. She tipped across his shoulder, trying to brace herself up with her arms.
“Eli!”
He popped her on the ass and strode toward the glass doors. Marlee’s sense of playfulness vanished the moment he strode inside with her. She struggled upright and looked around. To her horror she discovered both Aaron and Luke were sprawled on the couch facing the TV—staring at her as Eli strode past them with her over one shoulder. “Put me down!” she hissed.
“I intend to,” Eli said, striding toward the stairs and trotting up them at a pace that jarred every tooth in her head.
“I mean it, Eli!” she grunted.
“I mean it, too!”
She sucked in her breath of the edge of a scream when he abruptly pulled her from his shoulder and tossed her. She landed in the middle of his bed with a jounce that nearly gave her whip lash and gaped at him a moment before she managed to thrust aside her surprise and glare at him. He was already halfway out of his shirt and missed it.
Her gaze was snagged by the ripple of muscles along his arms and torso as he pulled the snug knit shirt off his head and dropped it. He reached for the snap of his jeans.
Marlee was torn between irritation at his highhandedness and fascination as he stripped the jeans from his lean hips and then placed a knee on the bed and crawled toward her. She fell back against the pillows as he grasped her legs and lifted them, tipping her over. Planting a knee on either side of her hips, he unfastened her jeans and tugged them off, backing away until he could pull them from her ankles. He took hold of her ankles then, spread her legs wide and settled between them, propping the weight of his upper body on his elbows. Dipping his head down, he sucked the patch of skin where her ribs met, stroking it with his tongue before he lifted his head again.
“You get to know me your way. I’ll get to know you my way,” he drawled lazily, his eyes gleaming with a mixture of amusement and promise.
She lifted her brows at him, but he focused on her belly again almost immediately and dipped toward it again. That time, however, instead of sucking on it, he blew on it. Marlee laughed before she could even consider trying to quell it, jerking her knees upward.
“Ticklish stomach,” he murmured, laughter threading his voice. “No questions?”
She grabbed his hands as he slid them up her rib cage. He twisted his wrists and grabbed hers. “No interference,” he said chidingly, shifting upward and lifting her arms above her head.
“This is a serious investigation, ma’am.”
She met his gaze, searching her mind for a question to pose. “You grew up here on the reservation?” she asked tentatively.
He grunted. “No.” Transferring his grip on her wrists to one hand, he stroked a hand lightly down her from shoulder to belly and then up again along her ribcage. He found her ticklish spot unerringly and goosed it with his fingertips, making her erupt into laughter again.
“Ticklish ribs, too.”
“Have you ever been married?” Marlee asked when she caught her breath.
“No.” He slipped his hand upward to cup one breast, squeezing it lightly, and then focused on the nipple, teasing it with his fingertips until it stood erect. Cupping her breast again, he lifted it to his mouth as he lowered his head and covered the pert bud.
Marlee felt her belly clench at the first tug of his mouth. Tentacles of heat wafted through her, gathering strength with each successive pull of his mouth until she seemed to be floating on a cloud of endorphins. “Why are you so angry with me, Eli?” she whispered when he finally lifted his head and met her gaze again.
Eli stared at her for a long moment, wondering how she could’ve gotten the idea that he was and realized that she was right. He was angry—still—no matter how badly he wanted her, he was still angry. He was angry that she’d even considered destroying the one thing he had wanted so badly for so long that he couldn’t remember not feeling the desperation to have it and the despair that he never would.
He was far angrier, though, because he had mated himself to a human woman. He hadn’t even realized it until she’d asked—that he was angry about it or that he had, but it occurred to him with an abruptness that almost deprived him of breath that that was the power she held over him. That was the reason he couldn’t think straight when she was around him or think of anything else when she wasn’t.
That indefinable ‘something’ that there was about her that set him on fire went well beyond admiration for her beautiful face and body, her spirit and her intelligence. It was more than the fact that he’d finally managed to mate merely in the sense of having successfully spawned at last and that she was carrying his future.
Fear and frustration had spawned his latent ang
er because he knew just as surely that she wasn’t bound as he was. She could walk away and never give him another thought, but he was bound to her for his lifetime. Even if the remote possibility, now, of finding a dragoness did come to pass, he had blood bound himself to Marlee … and she couldn’t be there for him for his lifetime even if she wanted to.
“You wanted to abort my child,” he said finally, knowing even as he did that it was as irrational to be angry with her about that as it was to be angry with her because he had blood bonded with her.
The statement threw Marlee into complete disorder. “I didn’t know it was yours. I was afraid it was a … monster.”
He looked at her strangely and abruptly rolled away from her, dropping one arm across his eyes. “It’s yours, too. How could it ever seem like a monster to you?”
Marlee turned to look at him in dismay feeling a horrible sense of guilt slowly settle inside her. Lifting a hand, she settled it on her belly, rubbing it almost apologetically. “You’re right,” she said finally. “It was a crazy thought.” She sighed. “I honestly was trying to think of the baby’s best interests, though, whether you believe it or not. You must know what prejudice is like, how miserable it can be for the person who’s singled out to be tormented. I was trying to be unselfish. I just thought it might prefer to be spared a life of misery if it was … different.”
He lifted his arm to study her face. “I’m different. Would you have spared me the life of misery I’ve had?”
Her gaze flickered over his face. Sympathy welled in her as she thought about how unhappy his childhood must have been without a mother to dry his tears or cuddle him. Would his father have given him the tenderness every child needed? Or would he have worried that doing so would unman his sons? “Has it been terrible, Eli?”
He hooked his hand behind her head and dragged her across his chest. “There’ve been times when I’ve wondered if it was really worth the sacrifice my mother made to ensure my life.” He skimmed her face with his gaze. “Now, I begin to think maybe it was.”
Surprise flickered through her when he pulled her down for a heated kiss. She’d thought she’d ruined the moment with her questions, and yet the heat was still within her, banked and waiting only for him to call it forth. She caught fire at the feverish hunger of his kiss and the touch of his hands.
Dragon Blood Page 13
