The Hero Within

by Bec McMaster

  A growl hovered in her throat. Damn him.

  Damn him.

  "You know what I'm waiting for," he teased.

  For her to beg.

  "Please." She simply didn't have it in her to wait.

  "Please what?" A smoky whisper that stirred her curls.

  "Kiss me, Johnny," she begged.

  Johnny cupped his hands under her bottom, spreading her hips wide as he lowered his head to feast. "Oh, I'm not thinking about kissing you, darlin'." He traced his tongue just above her clit. "Nothing as civilized as that. I'm thinking about fucking this wet little pussy with my tongue. I'm thinking about making you scream. I'm thinking about forcing you to surrender every scrap of self-control you own, until we both know who owns you."

  "You talk too much!" she panted.

  "Do I?"

  "Yes, damn—"

  Johnny suckled her clit into his mouth, and every thought fled her mind as a stab of pleasure went through her. She'd been joking about him talking too much. Those heated words got her off almost as much as this, but... Jesus. That tongue. It felt like he knew her own body better than she did. Every teasing flick sent a shiver darting through her, and she could feel the wave about to break over her.

  "Fuck," she gasped. "Fuck, please."

  Johnny lifted his head just briefly, his dark eyes shining with pure wickedness. "Eden McClain," he chided. "Your language."

  She shoved his head back between her legs, so close to the damned edge that she didn't care about manners. Or control. Or dignity. She just wanted to come.

  Johnny laughed against her flesh, the sound vibrating through her. Then that delicious mouth was consuming her, devouring and licking, his tongue plunging inside her, pushing her higher and higher....

  All the tension within her suddenly exploded out, and she was pretty sure she actually screamed. Eden's heels dug into the back of his shoulders. Johnny suckled hard, as if her utter devastation wasn't enough and he wanted to wring every last greedy drop of pleasure from her.

  Until he finally lifted his head.

  Eden collapsed on the bed, wrung out and panting, trying to make sense of her body—or what was left of it.

  Stubble rasped against her hip as he crawled over her, and he wiped the slickness from his mouth with the back of his hand, his eyes twinkling. "Judging from the way you were pulling my hair I'm going to guess you liked that."

  "I didn't hurt you, did I?" she breathed, wincing a little as she remembered grabbing fistfuls of his hair right before she came.

  "I'm pretty sure I'll survive."

  Smiling smugly, he rested his arms on either side of her head as Eden's heart raced. Her thighs parted and his hips slid into their cradle, his erection focused on only one thing.

  But it was the look in his eyes that consumed her.

  Eden didn't dare look away, her heart feeling like it was fragmenting in her chest. Warning: Danger ahead, some part of her whispered.

  Because being in his arms felt like finally coming home to a place she'd longed for, but had never been able to find. There'd always been something missing in her life. Seeing Riley with Luc, and Mia with Adam, and the happiness they all shared had only exacerbated the situation. She'd thrown herself into work instead, so she was too tired to even regret how cold and empty her bed was when she crawled into it at night.

  This… felt a little like what she saw between the others.

  You are falling bad....

  The first thrust took her slowly, as Johnny nuzzled her lips with the same dedication he'd given to her pussy. Kissing him was almost as delicious as having him eat her out. The man's mouth ought to be given an award.

  He thrust inside her slowly, each move echoing that of his tongue. This wasn't fucking so much as a slow, intense session of lovemaking. He'd done this to her that morning at Shadow Rock, as if he wanted to make it last forever, his mouth and hips trying to tell her something he wouldn't put into words.

  Eden clenched around him, trying to make him lose control. He drew back and grinned at her, and the next thrust came a little harder.

  "You're beautiful," he breathed, "Eres la luna que me consume, el sol alrededor del cual giro. Te amo mi angel."

  "What are you saying?" she whispered, so close to the edge she could feel it crumbling beneath her feet.

  "You drive me crazy."

  Then she was lost in a sea of sensation, wracked by the waves of pure pleasure that rolled through her. Each thrust pushed her higher until she could barely breathe. Johnny slammed into her, a quiver running down his spine as he grunted, and finally collapsed atop her.

  Tension pitted deep within her as she stroked her hands up his sweaty back. She liked this. Too much. She adored kissing him. Lying in his arms, it felt like nothing would ever be able to touch her here. She felt safe.

  But for how long?

  Johnny lifted his head, his breath catching and his heart pounding as if he'd run a hundred miles. "What's wrong?"

  "Nothing's wrong." She lifted her mouth to kiss his lips, but he turned his face away, before looking back at her insistently.

  "Eden?"

  He could feel the tension curling through her, which, considering she should be suffused with post-orgasmic bliss, left his stomach knotting up.

  "There's nothing wrong. You destroy me," Eden whispered, her fingers stroking his arm. "Each and every time."

  "Then why are you biting your lip like that's a bad thing?" The horrible feeling was back, leaving him a little breathless, like something was squeezing his lungs.

  The words I think I love you whispered through his mind, but he choked it down before he could betray himself.

  Because he wasn't certain if she felt the same way.

  A small frown furrowed between her brows. "Because I can't control my world when I'm with you. I forget what I'm supposed to be doing. You're a distraction I don't need."

  "That's not a bad thing," he murmured, lifting away from her, his slackened cock wet with his cum. "You can't control everything, angel. Least of all me. This is a negotiation between us, in which we both get to meet in the middle. I have something you want; you have something I want."

  "Which is...?"

  You. I want you. Johnny curled onto his side. Damn it. He felt breathless again. Was he really going to say this? "I know this is fast—"

  Eden suddenly clamped her hand over his mouth, her eyes punching wide.

  "What?" he muttered, behind her palm, as she sat up like she'd been shot.

  "Holy shit," she whispered. "I have something they want. They have something I want. That's it. That's how I get my cure."

  The breath rushed out of him. Fuck. He'd been about to tell her how he felt, and now she had her epiphany? "You have incredibly bad timing."

  But Eden wasn't listening.

  She rolled out of bed, reaching for her clothes. Within three seconds she was tearing her jeans up her legs and trying to find her bra, wincing as her body clearly reminded her of yesterday's climb. Bruises shadowed her hips from the harness. He'd tried to be careful with her, but she was coated in blackened marks from head to toe.

  "Bless your wicked mouth. I need to work out how to contact General Bligh."

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  A plan formed as Eden headed for the bathroom. It was risky and relied on elements of pure luck, but she just might be able to pull it off if she was clever. Arik returned just as she'd had her epiphany, but she'd sent him out to track Mayhew down again, in the hopes he might be able to get a message through to the general.

  But first, a shower.

  Eden stripped her clothes off, turning on the water. Hot water poured out of the showerhead, gallons of it. She was used to a trickle, and this was more luxurious than she'd ever known.

  Closing her eyes, she stood under the spray as long as she could. Hot water sluiced away the aches and pains of the last couple of days’ exertion. Tomorrow would be worse, she suspected. Unused muscles obliterated by sudden exertion. Leaning h
er forehead against the wall, she lost herself in the drum of the water on her skin, thinking about all she'd learned about the bacteria and the cure. They needed a way to get into the military base, and Mayhew could do it, but how to talk him into helping them? She had something General Bligh wanted, but what about Mayhew? Without him the entire plan fell apart.

  It was only when the water ran cold that Eden hauled herself upright. She must have almost fallen asleep, or into some sort of semi-trance. The traces of yesterday's headache began to ache behind her right eye. She needed more sleep.

  No time for that.

  She turned the shower off and started drying herself. Beads of perspiration clung to the mirror, so she wiped her fingers across it.

  She was just about to flip her head upside down and towel dry her hair when something caught her eye.

  A chill ran down her spine as Eden used the towel to dry the mirror instead, her heart starting to beat a little faster.

  She leaned closer.

  There.

  The beginning of a rash blossomed on the middle of her chest. It was so faint she almost mistook it for stubble rash from Johnny's jaw, except for the fact she'd been staring at tiny red dots exactly like these for the past two weeks.

  All the heat drained from her face.

  Headaches. Muscular aches. Thirst. She'd put it down to a strenuous couple of days, but the truth stared her straight in the eye.

  She had the plague.

  Eden walked out of the bathroom, a towel wrapped around her hair and her skin pink from the shower.

  Johnny glanced up from the map he was poring over with Lincoln. He was about to look back down when something about Eden's expression set off alarm bells.

  "What is it?" he demanded.

  "Promise me you're not going to freak out," Eden said, in the sort of voice that made his stomach drop.

  Johnny considered her. You don't say something like that unless you’re fairly certain someone is going to lose their shit.

  "No promises," he growled. "Why? What's wrong?"

  Swallowing hard, she began unbuttoning her shirt. "I've been a bit headachy in the past couple of days, but I assumed it had to do with everything that was going on." Her fingers fumbled on a button.

  "Eden?" His voice sounded hollow. Outside of him. He had the sudden sensation the world was dropping out from under him.

  He knew, before she told him.

  "I'm in phase one," she whispered, holding her shirt open just enough for him to see the faint hints of rash on her chest.

  Cold shivered through him.

  Johnny's heart squeezed into a tight little fist in his chest, and it was all he could do to stop himself from swaying. No. This couldn't be happening.

  Eden cleared her throat, still not quite meeting anyone's eyes. Her lashes fluttered toward Lincoln, then she glanced down again. "I'm so sorry. It's likely I was infected with the plague when I stayed at Shadow Rock. Anyone who came into close peripheral contact with me might have been infected, as it can be spread by airborne contamination as well as body fluids. Symptoms don't tend to show for around three to seven days after exposure. If I'd known...."

  "It's all right, Eden," Lincoln said simply. "I've spent the past couple of days with you. You wouldn't have put them at risk if you'd suspected. You're not that type of person. And we’ll get our cure."

  He couldn't believe how calmly she was taking it.

  "So what do we do?" Johnny demanded, throwing his arms wide. "Hope and pray Bligh comes through?"

  "We've got time."

  "How much time?" he demanded, his voice rising. "We can't wait for Bligh and hope he gets your message. We can't rely on his good conscience. He might just lock us up and throw away the key."

  Or worse.

  He hadn't misunderstood what Mayhew was saying about burying any sign of this plague. If Blight discovered Eden was infected....

  A hand clamped down on his shoulder. Lincoln. "Settle down," the other warg said.

  The fucker was fusing him....

  Johnny saw red. He broke the warg's hold on him, and Lincoln hit back, their arms locking. Johnny slammed him into the wall, and Lincoln's breath hissed out between his teeth.

  "Calm the fuck down or I'll put you down." Lincoln snarled, capturing his wrist.

  Rage enveloped him, his voice growing deeper as his vocal chords started shifting. "You think you can?"

  "Johnny!" A voice. Eden's voice. He felt her hand on his shoulder then, and the breath snarled out of him. Her face loomed in front of him. "Stop it! He's right. You need to calm down."

  He looked down at his hands, and realized he wasn't staring at human flesh anymore.

  Another slither of ice through his veins. He hauled himself up short. Fuck. He'd almost gone warg. Lincoln stared at him like he didn't dare move, his cheekbone swelling.

  Johnny reached deep, searching for that part of him that belonged to his father. It was harder to find than he'd expected. His heart beat a hundred miles an hour, and all he could see was that damned rash.

  Eden wrapped her arms around him. "It's going to be okay."

  Wasn't that a punch in the face? He was the one who should have been consoling her. Eden knew exactly what the plague could do. She had to be scared.

  "I'm sorry," he whispered. "I wasn't expecting that. I just...." Lost it. "I can't lose you, angel."

  "You're not going to," she reminded him.

  Calmness washed over him like a sluice of cold water as his omega half rose. His skin itched with heat as he pulled back, forcing his body to shift. Hair vanished along his arms, and his fingernails ached as they transformed.

  He'd never in his life come so close to flipping that switch before. A part of him had almost thought itself immune.

  It's her, said the darker part of himself. She does this to you. You're too involved. Too twisted up emotionally in her.

  Having no one might have been both a blessing and a curse. He breathed out a helpless laugh. All this time, and the warg had been sitting there beneath the surface of his skin, waiting.

  "Are you okay?" he asked hoarsely, drawing back and looking down into her upturned face.

  Eden swallowed. "No. But now I know how my patients feel. I can't afford to fall apart right now. And I've got plenty of time."

  "Bullshit." She wasn't going to live with the threat of this over her head any longer than she needed to. "I'm done sitting around waiting on the Confederacy. We have to crack the military labs tonight."

  "Arik tells me you have important information for me," Mayhew said, looking bored even through an eight-inch monitor.

  "I do," Eden said, swallowing hard.

  "I'm not interested in playing games, Miss McClain. I told you this morning I don't take risks for no gain. So what's changed?"

  She let out a slow breath and started unbuttoning her shirt. "This."

  Mayhew's eyebrow arched as she worked the first three buttons open. "Intriguing, to be sure, but a strip show isn't something I can't view any day of the week, for the right price."

  She opened her shirt, revealing the rash across her chest. "I didn't notice it this morning. It was only after I got out of the shower that I saw it." And since then, it had only darkened and spread. "I have the plague, Mr. Mayhew."

  He froze, and then his fingers continued rolling those ever-present dice over the backs of them. "I'm sorry to hear that, Miss McClain."

  "You should be," she replied bluntly. "There's a chance you were exposed to it this morning. You won't know for another three to seven days, of course, and you might be lucky. But you did share your drink with me. Wanted to show me the finer aspects of Confederacy life."

  The color rapidly drained out of his face.

  "It's a virulent disease, passed along through body fluids," she continued, reeling off the facts. "Blood, semen, saliva. You drank out of the glass after I did. I'd recommend you start a course of antibiotics, just to make certain, but as you know, the plague's immune to them. It mig
ht help ease the fever, a little. It might prolong it. But within two weeks there's a chance you might be dead... unless you'd care to beg General Bligh to open up his laboratory to you. Maybe he will. You know him better than I do.

  "And of course, there's the risk to your loved ones, the people around you. It didn't take much to set it off within the population of Absolution."

  "Did you know?" he snapped, clenching his fist around his dice.

  "Of course not," she replied tightly. "Regardless of how much I want that cure, I would never risk the lives of innocent people."

  "Fuck." He pushed away from his monitor, pressing his fist to his mouth. A muscle in his jaw ticked.

  "We're going after the labs tonight," she told him. "We need your help to get us in."

  Dark eyes cut toward her. Mayhew laughed humorlessly. "And in return I get a booster shot of the hydrogel. This seems to have played out very well for you, Miss McClain. You've finally given me incentive."

  The strain got to her then. "It hasn't bloody well played out in my favor at all! You think I want the plague?" The clock in her head was ticking down again. She had a day or two before the fever hit. If she didn't get a handle on this cure, she'd be out of action.

  Then what?

  Mayhew wiped the sneer off his face, looking pale. He nodded. "Fine. I'm in. What's the plan?"

  "You tell me," she replied. "You're the one who knows the military base inside and out. You're the one who can hack the schematics."

  Mayhew smiled. "First step: We need a distraction."

  "Sure you got your shit under control?" Arik asked, his eyes roving over the military labs below them.

  Lincoln must have told him about the earlier episode.

  Johnny checked all his guns, his hands moving over them with unconscious ease as he mentally prepared. "Locked and loaded."

  "Just don't want to be going in there with a ticking time bomb," Arik said coolly.

  "I'm fine."

  "You don't look fine."

  "Can we just focus on the mission?" It was the only thing keeping his heart rate normal.