With the human’s blubbering confession, Taber released him and stripped away the soldier’s weapons before he stood. “If you try anything, you’ll regret it.”
Kenneth stayed on the floor, rubbing his neck and arms. “If I could see the women, to know the truth, I’ll leave peacefully.”
Taber stepped forward, pointing a gun to his face, ready to kill the man for the suggestion.
“Not going to happen. Do you think we’re that stupid?” Ty laughed.
Raja entered the room, blocking the light from the entry. “He’s human?”
“Special forces after Tabitha and Kallie,” Taber explained.
“Why Kallie?”
“Supposedly they were kidnapped. That’s all he knows. I don’t understand how Kallie plays into all this.” Ty leaned against the desk. “Where is she?”
“I haven’t seen her. The situation outside has been dealt with. What should we do with him?” Raja paused next to Taber.
“We’ll detain him in one of the cells, until we’ve made sure everyone’s safe. Someone needs to find Kallie.” Ty scanned the monitors. “I can’t see her here. I think it’s highly unlikely she went back to her room. She isn’t one to leave her post. We’ll get a tracker to find her.”
“If you don’t need me to deal with him, I’ll find Kallie.” Taber wasn’t one of the clan members who needed permission, but he sought Ty’s consent out of respect.
“Go. Raja and I can handle the situation here. Contact me when you find her. I want to know why she ran.” Ty then turned to Raja. “Get the human in a cage. We need Galen to look at Mark.”
Taber left to find Kallie. Once outside, he closed his eyes, leaning his head back to catch her scent. It didn’t take long for him to get a fix on her, but her scent was different from the normal sweet smell of morning. It was strongly mixed with fear. His Kallie was terrified. Guided by his nose, the faster he ran as her scent grew stronger. Maybe someone else got loose in the compound? He sniffed the air, but didn’t catch the scent of anyone else. Nothing unfamiliar and no one followed her.
He neared the back of the compound, closing in on the creek that only hours ago he promised his bear a rump. Her smell filled his senses. He turned around a corner and found her lying in the snow.
“What the hell?” He ran to her side, searching for any sign of injury. He found nothing. Her jeans and sweater were wet, but unstained with blood. She was unconscious.
Not caring about the snow, he dropped to his knees, wrapping her in his arms. A chain, she wore around her neck, slipped out from the collar of her sweater. The small capsule, which hung on the chain, was open. He took a deep breath, filling his lungs with her scent, and that’s when he smelled it. Poison! Painless, but enough to do the job.
“Damn it, Kallie, why?” He gently shook her body, trying to wake her, but she didn’t stir. He checked her pulse. She was still breathing so it wasn’t too late.
He stood and pressed his earbud. “Taber here. I need a healer.”
“Come to my quarters.” Bethany’s voice filled his ear.
“Hang in there, Kallie.” He lifted her weak body in his arms and sprinted back the way he came.
Damn it. I might not be thrilled to have a tigress as a mate, but I’ll be damn if I let her die on me. Who gives a shit what Thorben thinks as long as Kallie and I are together.
Chapter Ten
Taber laid Kallie on a sofa, holding her hand and moving only far enough away to allow Bethany access. His head pounded. He hated being useless while his mate lay there dying.
“What happened?” Bethany knelt next to the sofa.
“Poison. I think she took it herself. Can you heal her?”
Bethany didn’t answer. She slid Kallie’s wet sweater up to her breasts and placed her hands on the bare flesh of Kallie’s stomach. Closing her eyes, Bethany began to focus. “I can help her, but she’s going to suffer. My healing will counteract the poison and then leave her ill for the next few hours. Unless Galen, can…”
Galen placed his hand on Bethany’s shoulder “No, my healing would do the same. You’re becoming a wonderful healer. Go ahead, I’ll supervise.”
Galen had been training Bethany’s healing abilities since arriving in Alaska. She was picking up quickly, surprising everyone since she was human and up until a few weeks ago, didn’t know she had any abilities.
“May I, Taber?” Bethany’s green eyes glanced up at him, as if seeking his approval.
He frowned, completely baffled. “Why would I have a say in her well-being? She’s one of your tigers.”
“I feel she’s your mate.” She held up her hand when Taber started to shake his head. “Don’t deny it. As a healer, I can feel the mating current running within a body. The mating process isn’t complete yet, but it has started. You’ll be mated.”
He simply nodded. There was no time to waste debating that he and Kallie were too different to ever work. For years, he searched for his mate, and now that he found her, he wished he had stayed in Nome instead of coming when Ty called. Since literally running into Kallie, he always seemed to be on the wrong foot with her. She made him feel like a bear in a china shop, if he moved too much he might forfeit his hide.
Bethany began the healing process, her hands pressed roughly against Kallie’s stomach. Kallie moaned in pain, but her eyelids remained closed. Her fingers curled around his in a death-grip when Bethany removed her hands from Kallie’s stomach.
“Take her to her room and stay with her. The next forty-eight hours will be critical. Strip off her wet clothes and use your body to warm her. She’ll have extreme chills while her body works to repair the damage the poison did to her internal organs.” Bethany stretched and rose from the sofa, grabbing the mug of tea Tabby held out to her. She glanced back at Taber as he lifted Kallie in his arms. “If she isn’t kept warm, her body won’t heal, and she won’t survive.”
Kallie was surprised to be alive, let alone naked in her room next to a very naked Taber. She squirmed, trying to scoot away from him, but his large arms trapped her against his chest. What the hell? How did we get here?
She closed her eyes, hoping to remember what happened and more importantly how she ended up naked in bed with him. She couldn’t remember anything except the attack. People attacked the compound, a man broke down the command central door, fear flood through her and she ran. At the stream she held the capsule in her hand. After that, everything was blank.
“Hey, wake up!” Wanting answers, she pounded her fist against the barrel of his chest. He woke with a start and extended his claws. She winced as they pressed into her back.
“Taber.” She whispered, trying not to spook the bear any more than he was.
“Damn it, Kal, you should know better than to abruptly wake a sleeping bear. I could have attacked you.” He retracted his claws and pulled her to his body, snuggling her close to him as his eyelids drifted shut once again.
“Stop that.” She swatted his arm, wriggling to get out of his grip.
“You need to stay here. My body heat…” His words were heavy with exhaustion.
“What the hell do you mean?”
“Kal, you tried to poison yourself. Bethany has done what she could to reverse it, and now your body needs to heal the damage. Stop moving so much. I’m on strict orders from the healers to provide body heat and keep you calm for the next forty-eight hours.”
Her fingers roamed her neck, seeking the capsule she kept on a chain. She could feel by the weight alone, it was empty. She had one safety measure and it failed her. She left Mark, and jumped out the window, running until she was certain no one had followed her. Kallie then grasped the only escape she had been certain of. “You’re dreaming if you think I’m going to stay cuddled with you for the next two days.”
“I’ll sedate you if I have to.” He ran his hand over her arm, and she trembled with excitement. “Damn it woman, look at you. You’re freezing. Your body can’t provide the heat you need while it’s doing
such extensive repairs. Once the chills have past you won’t need my heat and I can get out of your bed, but until then be still.”
When she continued to fight him, he added. “The longer you fight me the longer you’ll be stuck next to me. You’re using energy that your body needs to heal.”
She was cold and his body was so warm, like her own personal heater. Sucking up her pride, she curled around him.
“Why, Kallie?” He whispered, gently rubbing her arm.
“They were here for me.” She cringed at the thought. They would find her and try to take her back. She knew it was inevitable, and tried to prepare for it, but her plan failed.
“Kenneth, he was the threat who attacked command central. He showed us a picture of the two women he was here to find. Tabitha and you. What I don’t understand is why. Why was he after you?” He squeezed her tight against him. “Kal, if I’m going to protect you, I need to know the truth. Why were you so scared that you thought death was your only option?”
No one ever asked about her past before. Regardless of her fight, fate mated her to Taber. She wanted to be honest with him, to confide her deepest fear with him. “Before my father passed, he promised my hand in marriage to someone he thought would protect me since he would no longer be able to. In the end, the man he chose betrayed me. He traded me for his own life when a shady business deal went wrong and he was head over heels in debt to a Russian company. They wanted money or they’d kill him, instead he gave them me. I think he expected them to kill me…I wish they had.”
“What happened?”
“The man I was taken to in Russia, Wesley, he was human. Through the black market he purchased one of those collars that prevent us from shifting. He drugged me, forced me to shift, and when I came to, I had the collar around my neck. It was modified so I wasn’t able to shift out of my tigress form. It forced submission and wouldn’t allow me to leave the grounds.” Her stomach rolled and she fought the rising bile.
“Did you ever meet someone called Victor, or hear of Bratva?”
“Wesley had a brother named Victor. He was a shifter and Wesley was jealous. What does he have to do with anything?”
“We had Victor Senior’s son in section four and the people who attacked today were his men. We believe Victor and Pierce contacted Kenneth, telling him you and Tabitha were sisters and were kidnapped by us and held here against your will. Kenneth was leading the men, desperate for the money Pierce paid him.”
“I knew Wesley would never give up. He thought of me as a prize because he could keep me submissive.” Even to her own ears, she could hear the terror in her voice. “I can’t go back. I won’t, I’d rather die.”
Taber placed his finger under her chin, slowly guiding her to meet his gaze. “Kal, I won’t let that happen. I’ll protect you, I promise.”
“Don’t make promises you can’t keep.” Her fingers went back to the empty capsule hanging around her neck. “I need another safety measure and next time, don’t stop me.” She shivered, more violently than the last.
Taber nestled closer and rubbed her arms. “I never make promises I can’t keep. I need to inform Ty of your past. Connor, the wolf shifter, can perform his computer magic and find out everything on Wesley.”
Ignoring the pain in her stomach, she pushed up, leaning on her elbow and stared at him. “I don’t want everyone to know.”
“The Elders have to know. Unfortunately, you play a part in everything that’s happened here today. Finding Wesley might help us take down the rogues attacking your clan. You have to realize Wesley won’t stop until you’re dead. I’d rather it be him.” He smiled. “You can’t withhold valuable information like this when it can save your life and other clan members.” He reached for his cell phone on the nightstand. “I’ll protect you with my life. Now rest, you’re prolonging the healing.”
She settled uneasily in his embrace, listening as Taber filled Ty in on the information she gave him. Damn it! She was a tigress and should be able to protect herself. All those years, being locked in her animal form, tortured when Wesley was in a bad mood, and locked in that awful cage when he wanted nothing to do with her. She wouldn’t live like that again, no matter the cost.
She didn’t realize Taber ended the call or that she was crying, until his finger brushed away a tear from her cheek. Glancing up at him, she tried to hold the tears back, but they fell faster. Finding the Alaskan Tigers clan, she thought she had finally turned her luck around and settled in nicely. But her miserable past still haunted her dreams and destroyed the small measure of safety she thought she had.
He ran his fingers through her hair. “That’s why you have the white streaks.” It wasn’t a question, merely a statement.
“Yes. I’ve tried to cover them with dye, but it never works. They make me recognizable, easier for him to find me, which is why I don’t leave the compound ever. Instead, I stay hidden, and try to accept the streaks as a part of me.”
“I’m glad they won’t be concealed. They’re unique, like you.” He pressed his lips to her forehead, sending heat racing through her body. The electricity he created stole her breath.
Pressing her hand against his chest, she played with the little patch of hair in the center of his pecs. I’ve always thought bears were hairy. “Taber you know this…we can never work.”
“I thought that at first too, but seeing you unconscious and near death, I know we can make it work. Kal, we’re meant to be. Do you think it’s coincidental I was the one who found you? Or that now, of all times, is when we find each other?” He cupped her face. “Don’t deny fate without giving us a chance. We deserve that much.” He pressed his lips to hers, not allowing her a chance to deny him. He tasted of honey and sunshine, making her crave more of both.
Maybe it was her near death experience, that made her throw caution to the wind and return his kisses, but she did and without hesitation. She was never going to be the same after this. Life as she knew it and the woman she’d been before, would both be gone. Diving her tongue between his lips, she devoured him, getting her fill of honey. Their nakedness allowed them to forgo the necessaries of clothing removal and to indulge in their desires. The passion controlling her didn’t allow her to rethink what they were about to do or to change her mind.
She slipped her hand down his chest, until she could take his already growing shaft into her hand. Wrapping her fingers around him, she slowly slid her fingers over his length.
Her body craved his touch and it had been too long since she felt the gentle caress of another. He pulled his mouth from hers and kissed a path down her neck. Sensations collided and threatened to overwhelm her when he teased her nipples. He slipped on top of her, breaking her hold on his shaft. His bulky frame hovered above her and he stared down at her, desire burning in his eyes.
He caressed every inch of her body, sending moans of ecstasy from her lips. For such a big man, he was incredibly tender, as though trying to memorize every curve of her body with his hands and mouth. Heat soared through her blood and her cat clawed under her skin, impatient and demanding. It had been too long since she had been intimate with another and her beast wanted Taber hard and fast.
He blazed a hot, wet trail of kisses across her belly and stroked her thighs with his fingertips. With every touch, she arched her hips, demanding more. She couldn’t get enough of him. Nudging her legs further apart, he cupped her core. His fingers delved inside her and she met the teasing thrusts. A demanding mewling sound, she barely recognized, vibrated in her throat. Passion drove fire through her, melting the chill in her center. The trail of wicked kisses tingled over her thighs. He moved his hand and replaced it with his mouth. Tiny nips and gentle licks flicked over her sweet spot, nearly driving her over the edge. She grabbed his hair, torn between pressing him closer and dragging him up. She wanted all of him.
“Taber, please I need you.” Even in the sexual haze, she realized what she said and those few words changed everything. Sex would complete their mat
ing and there was no going back, but in that moment she didn’t care, she wanted him inside her.
“Your wish is my command, mate.” He spread her legs further, giving him the access he needed before filling her slowly, inch by inch. Half way in, he slid out before thrusting back in, filling her completely with his manhood. His strokes fed her fire like tinder set to dynamite.
His hips increased pace, driving the force of each pump. The thrusts became deeper and faster, falling into a perfect rhythm, moving with such precision, as if in a well-choreographed dance. Their bodies rocked back and forth, tension stretching her tighter as she fought for the release she longed for. Upon that release, she dug her nails into his back, arching her body into his. He pumped twice more and shouted her name as they came together. Eternity stretched on until he collapsed beside her.
Her breath slowly returned to normal and Taber cradled her against him, caressing her spine with long, lazy strokes. For the first time, in a long time, Kallie’s heart didn’t contain fear. In Taber’s arms she knew she was safe.
Chapter Eleven
Sated, Taber cradled his mate and it wasn’t long before her chills returned with a vengeance. They rocked Kallie’s body with such force her health concerned him. He pulled the covers over them, drawing her closer to his body, and nuzzled her forehead. “I’m sorry,” he whispered, breathing in the sweet aroma of her hair.
“For what?” Her teeth chattered.
“We should have waited until you were feeling better. I knew your body had to repair, and now you’re suffering for my desire.”
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