by Milly Taiden
Reaching down with one hand, he circled her hard nub, his hips relentless as he drove himself deeper and harder.
She cried out, her climax rolling her eyes back in her head as pleasure vibrated through her core. Shattered, she locked her legs around his waist as wave after wave crashed. The scent of her was almost too much. She was in full heat and her juice dripped down his balls. He pulled back and flipped her onto her stomach, spreading her wide from behind as he took her, letting his animal roar as he fisted her hair, riding her hard.
Francesca cried out, letting a final climax crest and explode and Marcus inhaled, his head falling back as he roared, biting back on the urge to mark her as he came, emptying his seed deep within her.
He held tight, letting every last drop pump from his body until the two collapsed forward onto the pillows. Still inside her, he cradled her close. “Was that what you expected?” he whispered.
“More,” she replied, but couldn’t help stiffening a bit as he nipped her shoulder from behind.
“What?” he asked, his voice confused.
“Theo. I can’t help but feel like I cheated on him, though I know I didn’t.”
Marcus held her close, kissing the back of her neck. “He knew this was happening tonight. With the way you smelled, there was no avoiding it.”
“I know, but—”
“There’s nothing to second guess, love. Theo will have you all you all to himself tomorrow. It’s best you have us each separately before you have to choose.”
She didn’t answer. Choosing was something she wasn’t looking forward to and Marcus’s mother’s words came back, giving her pause.
“I don’t want to have to choose.”
He chuckled against her sweat-sheened skin. “Then don’t. Neither one of us is going anywhere and neither of us will ever force you to pick.”
She rolled in his arms to face him, her eyes searching his. “You sound so sure of that.”
He nodded, leaning in to kiss the tip of her nose. “That’s because I am.”
“Something threw me into heat tonight. It’s not usual.” Her eyes locked on his. “Maybe it was both of you.”
He shrugged. “Maybe, but I saw the way you looked at my nephew. I think it was more. Like the two things together were a sign it was meant.”
“What was meant?”
He kissed her again. “Us.”
27
Outside the sports arena, Theo lifted Francesca from the front seat of his truck slid her down his front side, his hard-on almost instantaneous when she was nearby. She grinned up at him. “You dog,” she said.
“Nah, I’m all lion for you, baby. Ready to eat you in one bite.” He inhaled her delicious arousal scent. Damn, he wasn’t sure he could hold on much longer without making full-fledged love to her. After sliding a black knit cap over his head and tucking his hair under it, he grabbed her hand. “Look around so you remember where we’re parked.” She gave him a questioning look, but didn’t volunteer any answers. She’d find out soon enough.
People poured around them the closer to the entrance gate they got. Horns and canned blasts filled the air. Excitement electrified the crowd. Inside the stadium, the energy was palatable. Families and couples alike filled the aisles.
“I’ve never been to a soccer game, Theo. I don’t even know the rules,” she said.
“No worries, love. When a player kicks the ball into the goal I point out, you jump up and down and scream like crazy.” She laughed at him. He loved this shit. Sports were his thing. After he lost his family, the only way he found to release pent up aggression was on the field. When one sports season was over in school, he moved right into the next.
They had great seats in the bottom section nearest the field. You could almost shake the players’ hands. After stopping to get essentials: Cokes, popcorn, hotdogs, pizza, and grilled fajitas, they sat, ready to cheer on the team.
“Here’s all you got to remember, babe,” he said. “Our guys are in white, so when they control the ball, it’s good.” He pointed toward one end of the field. “When the ball goes into that goal, scream and shout your head off. That’s it.” He watched her suck a hotdog into her mouth and groaned. “Babe, you’re killing me.”
Francesca laughed, her mouth full of hot meat. Her eyes twinkled with life and happiness. Yes, this was the woman for him. And Marcus. Maybe. The first goal was scored and he missed it for staring at her. Eh, that was fine; some things were more important than sports. He explained the basic rules as she asked questions.
During a delay in the game when time ticked toward the end and they were up by a couple goals, he unbuttoned his pants and turned to her. “You remember where we’re parked, right?” Her eyes nearly popped out when she saw him stripping.
“Theo? What are you doing?” she asked.
He scooted down in his seat. “Don’t worry about me. Just head to the truck, nonchalant like.” He kissed her. “Love you.” Then he whipped his shirt off and leapt down the remaining stairs, jumped the railing, and ran onto the field.
He streaked across in his socks and sneakers, holding the team’s pennant flag in each hand extended high in the air. The crowd went crazy. Security chased him, but those humans had no chance of catching him. He even slowed by a couple of the players and high-fived them.
Seeing this wasn’t the first time he’d done this, though it had been a while back, he knew the quickest way out of the stadium and to his truck. When hitting the first row of vehicles in the parking lot, he shifted into his lion so anyone walking around wouldn’t see him dashing between vehicles. Besides, if someone claimed to have seen a lion running through the parking lot, the police would throw them in jail for being on drugs.
And look at that scrumptious ass up ahead of him. Man, could he pounce on that every day and night until the day he stopped breathing. Fuck, she was hot! And she smelled delicious! As silent as a stalker, he crept up behind her, shifted, and scooped her into his arms. She squeaked as he lifted her. He kissed her hard, adrenalin and excitement racing through him.
He opened the passenger door to his crew cab and waited for her to scramble inside. The only thought in his mind was taking her somewhere and getting a taste of her. Right now. Theo slammed the door and rushed around to the driver’s side, sliding into the cab.
The engine roared to life, the rumble and heavy vibration mimicking the urgency in his cock. The wheels peeled out and he turned toward a back exit, bypassing the rest of the traffic. The truck bounded over rough turf and divots behind the stadium until he pulled onto a back road. Gravel kicked up behind the wheels and the truck bed fishtailed.
“Theo! What the hell?”
He didn’t answer, his fingers gripping the steering wheel tight. Just the memory of how she tasted drove his animal insane.
“Where are you going? This isn’t the way home.”
“Home takes too long in this traffic. I can’t wait.”
“Wait for what?”
He turned, feral and full of need. “To bury my cock between your pretty pink folds.”
His rough voice deepened with each word. She visibly shivered and glanced down at his erection. She grinned and it was almost his undoing. He couldn’t wait now.
She unclipped her seatbelt and slid across the front seat, her fingers molding to the curve of his inner thigh. He sucked in a hard breath.
“What are you doing?”
28
She continued as if he hadn’t spoken and his mind reeled. How the fuck could he focus on driving while she touched him? Trailing her fingers over the thick shaft, she gripped him hard and ran her thumb over the head of his cock. Without a word, she dipped her mouth toward his lap and curled her tongue over the hard ridge, sucking him deep.
Theo growled, dropping a hand to the back of her head, urging her to take more. She deep-throated his full length, and he sucked in an even shakier broken breath, jerking the truck to the side of the deserted road. He shoved the gear shift into park and t
hen reached over, pulling the lever to recline the passenger seat.
“Theo—”
She rose her head from his cock and he took that opportunity to silence her with a hungry kiss, his hands pushing her leggings from her hips along with her panties. She helped him wiggle them from her ankles. She opened her mouth to say something, but before she could utter a word, he pushed her knees apart and drove his cock deep.
A soft moan left her gorgeous swollen lips. The truck rocked with each powerful thrust and she locked her legs around his waist just to hold on. Her hips matched his drive for drive and hit for hit until the windows fogged with their ragged breath.
She raked her nails across his back and he hissed, biting down on her nipple to shove them both over the edge. She screamed his name, her body shuddering as her climax ripped through her body. His mouth watered at her wild scent and Theo threw his head back, a roar tearing from his throat as hot spurts jetted from his sex. The word MINE reverberated in his mind and his canine’s lengthened, but he turned his head, forcing them to recede. Not just yet.
Entwined, the two panted in each other’s arms as the urgency of their first time faded.
“Boy, you sure know how to show a girl a good time. Not even the backseat,” she teased.
Theo chuckled against her throat, his voice still rough against the near miss marking. “What did you think would happen when you wrapped those luscious lips around my dick?”
“I thought you’d come in my mouth. After all, it was you who said you couldn’t wait.”
He groaned at the image she conjured and his cock hardened, still inside her. “Don’t tempt me.”
A high-pitched squeal from the console under his radio rivaled his gorgeous mate’s orgasmic cries. “What the hell is that?” she asked, out of breath.
“Don’t worry about it,” he said. “It’s a scanner that picks up calls to the fire house when an emergency comes up. I don’t have to go in for a few hours. And I’m staying right here inside your hot, tight pussy until the very last second.” His mouth crashed down on hers again, eager to get back to what they were doing.
He tried to ignore the voice on the scanner, but he couldn’t totally block it out. His life calling was to save others, though his mate ranked above it now.
There had been a terrible wreck and vehicle pile-up on the interstate not far from them. Several engines were being called out plus a couple haz-mat teams. That probably meant a tanker truck full of gas or flammable liquid was involved.
If it exploded, a lot of lives could be lost. Like his family had been lost in the wreck and subsequent explosion that took them from him when he was a child.
“Theo,” his love said, “that sounds bad. You should go to help. They need everyone they can get.”
His heart burst with emotion for his mate. She understood who he was and what this job meant to him. No other woman ever got it. They only complained that he was never around at night and slept all day. This woman was perfect for them.
He kissed her and pulled out of her with a groan. “We’ll pick up right here as soon as we get home. I promise.” Francesca giggled and her cheeks warmed. God, she was so beautiful.
He pulled his pants on and slipped his T-shirt over his head while she continued dressing. Her worry floated on the air.
“I hope there’s no one we know in the pile-up,” she said. “It seems really bad.”
29
At the accident site, Francesca got out of the truck as Theo pulled most of his uniform out of the toolbox in the back. There had to be a dozen cars, a semi-tractor trailer, and bus mangled in a stretch of a couple hundred feet. She’d be surprised if there were any survivors.
“Babe,” he said, “please stay back where it’s safe.”
“You don’t have to tell me twice.” She had no plans on dashing into such a catastrophe. Theo ran up to one of the fire engines and pulled gear from side storage bins. First responders were spread out, pulling people through car windows and dousing flames.
The scariest situation she noted was liquid seeping from a dent in the semi carrying a flammable substance. She could see the warning stickers and signs on the semi’s carrier tank.
A flash of yellow close to the tanker caught her eye. She borrowed her cat’s eyes to focus in on the long distance. Breath caught in her lungs. The color was from a bean bag, a WWF Hulk Hogan bean bag, hanging halfway out the back of a crushed Accord trunk.
Wasn’t that the same bag Marcus had at the Shakespeare play they went to? How many people had a bright yellow wrestling bean in their car? It had to be him.
“Marcus!”
With little thought, she and her cat, close to the surface, sprinted past the emergency vehicles. She heard Theo call after her, but there was no stopping. No, they had a mate to save and nothing was getting in their way. Not even bossy, overprotective men.
Behind her she heard heavy thumping and clanging. No doubt, Theo was near. What she didn’t know was if he would try to stop her or help her save their mate.
The Accord was tipped onto the driver’s side, the roof crushed against the back wheel of the semi, another vehicle smashed against the Accord’s undercarriage. It was pinned with no way to move it. Theo passed her and leapt onto the car’s passenger side, which was the only access into the car. He busted the side window with his elbow and leaned in.
Francesca heard him yell Marcus’s name, but didn’t hear a response. Please don’t let him be dead, she prayed. Please. She tried to see what Theo was doing, but had no view of the inside of the car from where she was. Then the driver of the car pushed against the underside of the Accord moved. Francesca hadn’t even noticed the woman in her panic to get to Marcus.
Francesca helped the woman out of the car and to a paramedic who had reached them. Then Francesca noted that if she got to the other side, she could look in through the Accord’s windshield.
In the next breath, she saw Marcus’s slack face and Theo’s controlled panic as he fought with the car’s frame to bend the metal to be able to pull Marcus free. She also smelled gasoline.
Taking a second to analyze the situation, she saw the answer. Her eyes met Theo’s. “Get out here and pick up the car. I can get him out.” She then sucked in a deep breath and yelled with strength from her cat, “Red, we need you now!”
Theo stood beside where she knelt at the side of the windshield closest to the ground. He lifted and she squirmed under the narrow opening between the semi’s tire and busted driver’s window. Marcus was unconscious, but his pulse was steady. Or was that her own she heard? Nope, hers was out of control. Had to be his heartbeat.
His body was at an odd angle, squished between the bent-in roof and steering wheel. She wiggled farther in, stretching up to pry him loose, but the damn seatbelt had him strapped in. Out popped a talon from her fingertip. Have claw? You can slice and dice, pick locks and slash seatbelts.
As the belt slid away, her lungs filled with gas fumes. A violent cough tore her hands from Marcus. Time was running out. Voices registered in her brain, but she kept them to the background to keep focused on her task.
Suddenly, the car lifted several inches and Marcus slid toward her. She cushioned his head from hitting the ground and grabbed him with a deadlock hold. “I got—” Toxic fuel fumes choked her again, but her fingers stayed hooked to her mate.
Hands wrapped around her ankles and dragged her from under the car. She’d have a bit of road rash on her butt, but her cat would heal that before they got back to the truck.
Next thing she knew, she was being carried. A hot flash surrounded her, then a cooler, heavy weight. She hadn’t even stopped coughing yet.
The body on her raised and flipped his helmet off. Hands rushed up and down her body, and not very sexily, she might add. “Theo,” another cough racked her, “I’m fine. Take care of Marcus.”
He leaned down and kissed her then held her cheek to his. “Goddammit, Francesca. You scared the fucking shit out of me.” He kissed her
again, then pulled back to look into her eyes. She was sure she looked a mess. Her eyes watered from fumes and coughing, which meant her mascara was everywhere. Ugh, she hated that.
He picked her up and jogged toward the trucks. Men had several hoses out. One was shooting foam onto a mangled mass of black, burnt metal. Her heart skipped. If Marcus had been in the car when the explosion went off, there would’ve been nothing left of him.
The implications of what she saw hit her. Her body began to shake uncontrollably. Theo held her tighter. “You got him out, baby. You saved him. You’re safe with me. We’re all safe.” He kissed her forehead.
The next hour her brain didn’t register from going into shock. She knew she was in the ambulance with Marcus on the way to the hospital. Kelsy talked soothingly to her and cleaned her up, promising that Marcus would be okay. She did good.
30
Marcus felt a warm hand in his. Beeping sounds around him were irritating until he realized the sound matched the beat of his pulse. His eyes opened. He was in a hospital room. His bear replayed all that happened. If they had a place to shift then it could finish healing Marcus’s human form. But he wasn’t too bad right now, if not.
The warmth in his hand was from the woman he loved. She sat in a chair next to his hospital bed, asleep. Besides a few smudges on her face, she looked fine. Her eyes popped open, meeting his. She hopped to her feet.
“How are you feeling?” she asked. “You scared the crap out of me and Theo.”
He ran a hand through his hair. “I scared myself, too.”
“Did you see what happened? Did someone wreck in front of you?”
He replayed the event in his head. “Yes, but I swear, it was intentional.”
“What do you mean? Someone caused the accident on purpose?” The worry in her eyes told him she really cared. He loved this woman. Was it too soon to say it? The door to the room opened and Theo walked in. He’d showered and was in the clothes they went to the game in.
