Act of Command

by Mandy M. Roth

  He froze and then sniffed the air loud enough for her to hear it clearly. “Mae!”

  He knew her name?

  She had yet to get a good view of anything more than his back and his injured side, but she didn’t think she knew him. He tried to push off the floor, but fell again, his damaged side ripping open and bleeding more. Yelping at the sight of him hurting himself in an obvious attempt to locate her, she moved towards him, tripping on the long gown. She fell on him ungracefully. Heat flared through her as she did. She feared she’d hurt him.

  The next she knew, he was turned under her, holding her to him in a death clasp, his face buried in the crook of her neck, her body sprawled out on his. It was hard to ignore just how hard the man was all over. For a split second they were nothing more than a mass of tangled hair and limbs.

  Finally, he grasped her upper arms gently.

  She lifted her head slowly, able to see him now that he was this close to her. Her mouth dropped open. It was the man from campus. The hunk she’d been attracted to.

  The man you sculpted.

  The man she’d dreamed was coming to help her.

  Warmth rushed over her, stealing her breath, her body suddenly pliable against his. He certainly was tall and that was a bonus. At five-eight she wasn’t short for a woman and this man managed to be longer than her.

  Confusion coated his expression as he looked up at her. “Mae?”

  “Yes.” Her palms went to his steely chest. She didn’t push off him. Didn’t question how he knew who she was. She just touched him, the warmth continuing. “I dreamt of you.”

  His lips twitched and he nodded. “Love, you reached out mentally to me. You let me know I was looking in the wrong location for you.”

  “What?” she questioned. The feel of his chest was amazing. She couldn’t seem to stop touching him. As she continued to run her fingers over it, she smiled. “It’s exactly how I sculpted it.”

  He quirked a brow. “Come again?”

  “Wow.”

  “Are you hurt?” he asked, his voice deep.

  She just stared at him, unable to think much beyond how close he was. As her fingers eased over his injured side, her breath caught. “You’re the one who is hurt.”

  He caught her hand in his and the heat intensified. She locked gazes with him, totally freaked out and excited, all at once. Her statue guy was real and he’d come for her. He was even better in the flesh. She’d not done the man justice in the sculpture. He looked her over, his gaze searing through her.

  “I am slightly battered, but fine, Mae. I need to know if you are injured in any fashion.”

  She shook her head. “Scared, but not hurt. I don’t feel great. They gave me something that I’m allergic to.”

  His hand moved to the cheek where Denis had struck her. The man’s jaw hardened. “Who hit you?”

  She dipped her head somewhat. “I’m okay. It doesn’t hurt anymore.”

  He ran his thumb over her cheek and stopped at her lip which was nearly all healed over. “I’m sorry.”

  She just watched him. What did he have to be sorry for?

  The edges of his entirely too kissable looking lips eased upwards. “I should have gone to you the minute I smelled you.”

  Had he hit his head or something? Was he crazy? “Excuse me, but what?”

  “On campus,” he said.

  She blushed. “You remember seeing me on campus?”

  “I haven’t been able to get you out of my mind,” he returned, making no move to push her from his body. “I was drawn to you then. I shouldn’t have ignored the pull. I should have gone to you. I could have prevented this.”

  She grunted. “No. The jerk who stood me up could have prevented it. Not you. Whoever you are.”

  The blond cringed and cast a soft look in her direction. “Mae, it’s me, Corbin.”

  Corbin?

  Her mind raced and she panted. “The guy who stood me up?”

  He winced. “Yes.”

  Mae pushed up and off him much faster than her body, still fighting off the effects of all the drugs, could handle. She swayed and the room spun wildly. Suddenly, Corbin was standing as well, yanking her against his powerful frame, steadying her. “Easy, love.”

  She felt as if she’d just gotten off a carnival ride. For a moment, she dreaded she’d be sick. The closer Corbin held her to him, the more her stomach eased. She rested her forehead against his shoulder and let him hold her. “You never showed. I waited over an hour.”

  He tensed, still holding her. “I’m so unbelievably sorry, Mae.”

  She felt it deep down that he meant every word he said. Another thought occurred to her. “I sculpted the same guy my mother insisted I go on a date with?”

  He touched her chin, lifting her face so that their gazes met. Confusion knit his brow.

  She licked her lips. “I like to sculpt things and paint. I’ve been working for weeks on a sculpture of a man I thought I made up. I didn’t think you were real.”

  “I’m real,” he said, caressing her cheek lightly. “I’m sorry I didn’t stay for our date.”

  “Why did you leave?” she asked, unable to tear her gaze from his face. Did the man realize how handsome he was?

  He cringed. “Part of it was work-related, but another was catching your scent.”

  She pursed her lips, not following his train of thought.

  He sighed, still stroking her cheek. “I arrived on campus, and I was headed to where we agreed to meet. Then I caught your scent. It did something to me. I know this is no excuse, but from the minute I smelled you, I wanted only you. No other.”

  “So you bailed on me?” she asked, totally lost.

  “I didn’t know you were you, Mae. I assumed you were already at the Union. My mind didn’t even consider you were my date. You were simply the woman in the yellow dress whose scent drove me mad.”

  Her scent did that to him?

  She blinked up at him. “If you’d have bothered to show for our date, you’d have figured out I was me.” Saying it felt silly, but necessary.

  He scowled. “I know. Trust me. That is all I’ve thought about since learning you and the woman in the yellow dress are one in the same and that you’d been taken. The night of our date, I was called to work. I had to leave the country and I was gone for nearly two weeks. Mae, I need you to know, if I had it to do all over again, I’d change every action I made.”

  She stared at him. “I’d have refused to be fixed up by my mother.”

  Corbin tensed. “Mae? You don’t feel a pull to me?”

  “Oh, I do, but I’m pretty sure it’s the drugs talking,” she said, easing back from him slightly. “I’d have told my mom no when she pushed me to go out with you. Sorry, but I’m not interested in a man who skips out on dates.”

  Corbin winced and took her hands in his. “You said you sculpted me.”

  “I did.”

  He locked gazes with her. “Before the drugs were introduced to your system?”

  Crap. She really wanted to tell herself it was just the drugs making her want to jump the man’s bones. With a groan, she closed her eyes. “Great. My dream guy is a douchebag. Hot and with a great accent, but a douche all the same.”

  “Mae, has anyone explained mates to you?” he asked, drawing her attention back to him.

  “I know about mates. Why?”

  He simply watched her as if waiting for her to answer her own question. As she thought harder on it all, her eyes widened and she yanked her hands free from his. “No way! We’re not. We can’t be. Our mothers forced us to go on a blind date that, if you’ll recall, you didn’t bother following through with.”

  “I swear to you, I will spend eternity making up for that with you,” he said, inching closer to her. “For now, will you just let me hold you a moment? I need to know you’re okay and then I’m getting you out of here.”

  “You can’t get me out. Not yet,” she said, wanting to be held, but refusing to go to him
fully. She was still angry he’d bailed on her. It was childish considering the man had somehow managed to find her after she’d been taken by crazy people, but still, her pride was wounded. “People are working to get me out, but they need to coordinate it so no one else being held gets hurt or killed.”

  Corbin eyed her and then tensed, touching his side lightly.

  Mae’s anger with him faded quickly. “That looks bad. We should clean it or something.”

  “It will heal. Whatever they gave me is slowing my natural ability to heal, and I can’t be certain, but I feel much warmer than normal.” His blue gaze zeroed in on her, raking over her slowly. “And other things.”

  She felt the heat rising off him and knew what it was. Drug-induced desire. “Corbin, the one guard said they shot you full of the same stuff they’ve been using on all of us. But that they had to give you a whole lot of it. I don’t know a ton about it, but from what I do know, it makes you desire certain things.”

  His nostrils flared. “I desire you.”

  She yelped.

  His eyelids fluttered. “Your smell, Mae, it drives me mad.”

  She didn’t feel like herself either, but she wasn’t sniffing the air like a wild man. He was. She held up her hands. “Okay, take it easy there, big guy.”

  He blatantly adjusted his cock and she realized just how big a guy he really was. She also became very aware of the fact the drugs were still in her system. Her mouth watered and she found it hard to tear her gaze from his hand. As she did, she couldn’t look away from the start of sandy blond hair that poked out from the top of his waistline. The deep V-cut of his hip muscles made her feel a little weak in the knees. She touched the back of her neck, positive she’d burst into flames if she kept staring at the man.

  Corbin sniffed the air louder this time. “Mae, I can smell your desire.”

  “Yes.” It wasn’t the most brilliant response she’d ever had, but it was all she could manage. Didn’t anyone have a shirt they could cover the man with? Maybe a cardboard box? Something? Anything? She was going to burn up if he didn’t cover his upper body and soon. His lower body too at this rate.

  He eased closer, coming into focus more for her without her glasses on. That only served to make her want him more. Heat thrummed through her, centering in her groin. She half feared her lady parts would attack the man. If they were able to separate from her, they might very well have done just that.

  He put his fingers into her hair, his palms on her cheeks. His lips were so close that she wanted to sample them. His lips met hers and her mind shut off. The moment his tongue found hers, she whimpered and began to rub her body against his as they kissed. She’d been kissed before, but it hadn’t been like this.

  This was amazing.

  Moaning, she ran her hand down him and stopped when she touched his injured side. The idea of making out with him in a place they were being held prisoner, while he was injured, seemed wrong. She broke the kiss and he tried to continue it.

  “Corbin,” she said softly. “You’re hurt and we need to be ready to go when the extraction thing happens.”

  “Extraction thing?” he questioned, his lips looking entirely too kissable for her willpower at the moment.

  “Yes,” she said, staring at his mouth.

  He pushed her hair behind her ears. “If you know how much I wanted to be buried deep in you right now, you’d run to the other side of the room.”

  She nearly sighed at the sound of his accented voice. It only increased his hotness factor. Not that he needed any help. As she thought harder on what he’d said, she swallowed hard, pink staining her upper neck and cheeks. “Oh.”

  He cupped her cheek and she closed her eyes, happy for the contact with him. She tipped her head, resting her face on his palm as she squeezed his other hand. Mae couldn’t stop herself as she started to cry, so happy to no longer be alone in the ordeal that she couldn’t contain herself.

  Corbin held her against his very hard frame, his long, powerful arms wrapping around her as he held her to him, her head on his shoulder. He rocked her in place, rubbing her arms. “You’re warm. Too warm.”

  “Ezra brought me in here to help stop it,” she said through her tears. “When I woke up, I felt better. But when I touch you there is heat again. I didn’t know shifters could do that.”

  “We can’t,” he said. “But I’ve been told it happens between mates.”

  She jerked. “I’m not Denis’s mate!”

  “Denis?” he asked, his voice deepening.

  “The guy I burned. I didn’t mean to burn him. I don’t even think I did it, but he said I did,” she muttered, lowering her gaze.

  Corbin exhaled slowly. “Was this Denis trying to hurt you?”

  She nodded.

  “Then I’m glad you burned him, Mae.”

  “But I didn’t. Did I?”

  “My guess is you did.”

  She eyed him. “Then am I making it hot between us?”

  “I think it has more to do with mates than that,” he said. He’d mentioned mates before. She knew what mates were. Any self-respecting supernatural did. What she couldn’t understand was why touching Corbin would cause the heat?

  As she thought harder on it, she gasped, her eyes widening. “No!”

  He kept hold of her. Had he not, she might very well have leapt away from him and run. “Yes.”

  “No,” she repeated.

  “I’m close to taking offense,” he mocked.

  “No way. No.”

  “This is because I stood you up, isn’t it?” he asked, humor in his voice.

  Mae stared up at him. “No way.”

  He touched her lower lip. “Love, I’m going to get you out of here and then I’m going to prove to you that I’m right.”

  Her mind raced with the implications and she gasped. “I sculpted you before I ever even saw you.”

  “Because we’re mates,” he said softly.

  “You’re saying my mother set me up on a blind date with a guy who just happened to be my mate?” she asked, lifting a brow but staying close to him. He felt too good to move away from.

  Corbin groaned. “Trust me when I say, my mother will tell me she knew it all along and I’ll never hear the end of it.”

  She couldn’t help but giggle. “Your mother is amazing, but I can picture her saying it.”

  “That’s right, you’ve met her. I forgot she told me that,” he said. “I should apologize for her then. I’m sure she overstepped her bounds. It’s what she does.”

  “She’s lovely,” said Mae. “She is always so encouraging of my art. I even sent her a piece and a picture of my current one. She’s great. But she is hoping for grandchildren.”

  Corbin jerked her against him. His long, thick erection was pressed against her low stomach. “I very much want to give her them.”

  Mae nearly bolted from his grasp.

  He laughed. “Mae, I’m not going to tear your clothes off. I want to, but I won’t.”

  She thought about him doing just that and found her body heating at the idea.

  He sniffed the air. “I can smell your desire. If you want me to stay true to my word, please try to control your lust. One of us needs to, and ever since you came into my life, I’ve had no control whatsoever.”

  She looked him over, her mouth watering.

  He touched her chin, lifting her gaze to his handsome face. “Mae.”

  “You look like a male model.”

  He sighed.

  She squinted and lifted his long hair. “Is it me or is there light pink on your tips?”

  Groaning, he rubbed his forehead. “It’s not you.”

  “My mate has pink tips?”

  His gaze locked on her and she realized that she’d just acknowledged him as her mate. Gulping, she released his hair and tried to step away. He shook his head, invading her space, causing cream to flood the apex of her thighs. He yanked her to him and suddenly his mouth was on hers and she was powerless to stop
him.

  Not that she wanted to.

  As she realized how much she was willing to hand herself over to the man with her, she found herself humming softly as their kiss continued. The more she hummed, the more intense the kiss became.

  Chapter Eleven

  Struggling to keep hold of his lion, Corbin broke the kiss with Mae, his entire body wanting to devour her. She bit at her lower lip, the softest of hums coming from her. She reached for him, her hum intensifying—the sound the single most beautiful thing he’d ever heard.

  His lion roared deep inside him, wanting out. It wanted him to bite the woman, sink his teeth into her and forever mark her as his. Corbin wanted it too, but he wouldn’t do that. He wouldn’t just take her choices from her and thrust himself upon her in such a manner. He’d always been in control of every situation. Always able to hold it together no matter. This would be no different.

  He’d simply stop desiring her to such a degree.

  The idea was almost laughable. Simply being near her intensified his burning ache for her. Each time their skin-connected, heat raced through him, centering in his groin. She had asked if it was a shifter thing. It was not. It was a mated-pair thing.

  Her deep brown eyes stared up at him and he sensed the drain the entire ordeal had taken upon her. Dark circles were under her eyes and he knew she’d not had the sleep she needed. She’d lost weight since he’d last seen her and that was simply unacceptable to him. He’d get her free from the facility and he’d see to her needs.

  All of them.

  Then he’d claim her.

  Right now he needed to assess the situation. Get the lay of the room. Prepare his defenses. He needed to get her out of the place and to safety.

  “Mae,” he said, whatever meds were in him making him feel as if he might catch fire without her. “Please, love. I have to get you out of here.”

  Her hum turned into the softest of songs. He smelled hints of Fae then and something else. Something so alluring that he nearly whipped his cock out and started to jerk off then and there. He knew then he wasn’t going to win the battle on being a gentleman.