“Having a party I wasn’t invited to?” Bradi asked, appearing with his infant son in his arms. His arrival sliced through the tension in the air. Eli squealed when he spotted Marisa. Bradi chuckled. “I think someone is ready to breastfeed and in great need of his mommy. Since I’m worthless in that area, here we are.”
Eli was pushing six months old. He had Marisa’s green eyes and his father’s coal black hair. He also had his father’s temper. Marisa laughed and took her son. Nina watched her brother cradle both his wife and child to him protectively. Deep inside, she ached for what Bradi had. Their race was dying out and every new life created was such a gift from the gods of the land that even the coldest hearts among the Shamenian people melted at the sight of them.
“Let’s go home,” Bradi said.
Marisa eyed Pheebes. “Bradi, I think we should assure Pheebes and Jordan are separated for the night.”
“Why?” Bradi sighed and shook his head. “Tell me you didn’t spill what you and Lorelei have been cooking up?”
Marisa batted her eyes innocently. “Honey, we all see how much Jordan and Nina want each other. Unfortunately, Pheebes and Nina seem to have a history.”
Bradi rounded on Pheebes. “You touched my sister?”
Pheebes stood tall. At six-three, he was shorter than Bradi’s six-foot-six-inch frame but that didn’t stop him. Nina knew Pheebes well enough to know he wouldn’t back down from anyone but her.
“There was a time when I believed Nina would be my wife.” Pheebes inclined his head towards Jordan. “That has since changed.”
Nina couldn’t help but laugh. “As if I’d ever really marry anyone. Please, Pheebes, this is ridiculous. You, yourself, admitted you knew you were one of many men I took to my bed. I wasn’t particular. If the mood struck, I fucked them. They were a means to an end. Nothing more.”
“I told you I loved you,” Pheebes protested.
She smiled but it lacked warmth. “Many have told me as much. None have truly meant it.” Glancing at Bradi, she sighed. “Bradi, I, like mother, carry the ability to accidentally give off sexual signals.”
“And Christian let you be alone with hundreds upon hundreds of unmated men? He let you head the guards?” Bradi paled.
She shrugged at the mention of the chieftain. “He thought it best.”
“Best for whom?” Bradi demanded, looking as if he was going to attack.
Nina tipped her head, embarrassed. “Best for me, Bradi. Like mother, if I don’t see to the needs of my power, it becomes hard for me to control. While Kyriakos is the one with the magik in force, I still have some and what I do have isn’t easy for me to deal with. I can control the cat portion, but that side terrifies me. So, as I stated, I have to see to my power’s needs or things become difficult for me.”
Pheebes snorted. “They become difficult? That is putting it, Nina. Show them what you have done to make the pain lessen.”
She attempted to walk away, to let the matter settle itself, but Pheebes had other plans.
“Show them!” He seized hold of her arm and ripped the leather sheath from it. Burns and cuts in varying stages of healing showed. Marisa gasped, thrust Eli into Bradi’s arms and rushed to her.
“Gods above, Nina, what have you done to yourself?”
Pheebes refused to unhand her. “When the fights she picks with others do not yield the desired result—injury—she does it to herself. It is the only thing, besides lying with another, that dulls the pain of her cycles. She wishes to go off-world, in her condition and it will only worsen the further away from those like her she gets. She knows this. It is a suicide mission.”
Bradi shook his head and stared at his wife. “Fix her!”
Marisa sighed. “Bradi, I can’t. From what I’ve studied of the people here, Nina needs to couple with a shifter male—her mate would be ideal.” She cast a questioning look in Jordan’s direction. “But since no one knows who or where he is, she’ll need to take another.”
Tears threatened to fall and Nina held them back with all her will. “Not just another,” she whispered.
Marisa touched her cheek. “What?”
“One will not fix it, Marisa. One never does.”
“Bullocks,” Pheebes said, coming for her but finding Marisa in his path. “I helped you through two cycles, Nina.”
Nina met his gaze. She hated revealing what she’d spent so long hiding from him. “Not alone, Pheebes.”
Marisa gasped. “Oh, honey, you’re trying to tell us delicately that until you lie with your mate, you have to use many men during your cycles to make the pain go away.”
She nodded. “Our mother passed before she could fully explain the whys, but Christian believes it’s because the other males cannot make me with child and my body knows this.”
Bradi held his son close and let out a pained growl. “No. The rumors of what happens to a female shifter who denies her cycle are horrific, Nina. They go mad. They take their own lives to end the pain and suffering.”
They argued amongst themselves and the pain of her cycle picked then to surge through her. Nina bit her lip to the point it bled and dug her fingernails into the palms of her hands. Pheebes was on her in an instant, trying to pull her into his arms. The pain intensified tenfold, causing Nina to cry out and rip away from him. She let her claws emerge from her fingertips and went to dig them into her forearm to blind the pain.
A strong hand clamped over her arm and she stopped just short of cutting it. The mating pain subsided substantially and she glanced up to find Jordan holding her, his green gaze full of concern. A slight purr escaped her as Jordan pulled her against his massive chest. He stiffened and Nina knew he could smell her arousal. Not only that, his cat was somehow answering her own.
He swallowed hard and the cords in his thick neck worked as his heated gaze raked over her slowly. It was on the tip of her tongue to beg him to kiss her, to end her longing. Too proud, she refused. Thankfully, Jordan had a mind of his own. Immediately, he had his mouth pressed to hers. She gasped, giving Jordan the opening he needed to add his tongue to the mix. The moment their tongues touched, Nina’s willpower left her. She melted in his arms, allowing him to lead their kiss. He drank at her mouth and tiny moans escaped them both. Each swipe of Jordan’s tongue chased the pain associated with her cycle further from her. When he finally drew back, no pain remained.
He stared at her, his lips swollen from their kiss and tiny beads of sweat evident on his brow. Instead of slapping him for daring to kiss her, she went to her tiptoes and planted a gentle, chaste kiss to his lips. She remained there, her lips curving upwards. Jordan smiled too, his lips brushing past hers in the process.
She wanted him to repeat his actions and kiss her again. He did and she trusted him fully, allowing him to set the pace. When they next separated, she felt like a lovesick whelp, unable to even pull her gaze from his.
“Nina?” Marisa asked, snapping her fingers in front of Nina’s face. “Hello? Can you hear me?”
She nodded, unable to step out of Jordan’s embrace.
“Look at me.”
She did. Marisa assessed her quickly and smiled as she stepped back. “Bradi.”
“Yes,” he said, his voice deep as if he was fighting the urge to beat Jordan to a pulp. No doubt, he was.
Marisa grinned. “Let your sister go off-world but only on one condition. She must agree to allow Jordan to not only accompany her, but lead the mission himself and no one other than the two of them may go.”
“What?” Bradi asked so loudly he made Eli fuss. He rocked his infant son gently and kissed the top of his head before arching a brow at his wife. “In her condition, my sister will end up sleeping with Jordan.”
“Exactly.” Marisa beamed and took Eli from Bradi. “Now, come on. Bring Pheebes with us and leave these two be for a bit. I imagine they have a lot to talk about. I’d think having affirmation of who your mate is would be pretty big, but that’s just me. Of course—” she gave Bradi
a pointed stare, “—my husband kept the fact I was his mate to himself for months so what do I know.”
“I’m never going to live that down, am I?” Bradi asked, shaking his head and motioning for Pheebes to accompany them.
The second everyone was clear of the area, Nina tried to force herself to step away from Jordan. It didn’t seem to go as planned. Somehow, she ended up pressing her body to his and going for his mouth with her own.
The devil-may-care smile that moved over his lips a second before she kissed him irritated her greatly. She used her foot to wipe his out from underneath him and rode his body to the ground with a thud. Jordan’s eyes shifted to amber and then to a deep shade of purple before returning to green. His nostrils flared as he flipped her onto her back and settled between her legs. Jordan ground his cloth-covered cock against her, making her moan.
Bucking him off, she hissed in a very unladylike fashion and bolted in the opposite direction. She barely made it a stone’s throw from him before she found herself being tackled into a patch of cultivated ground.
She rolled in the patch of vegetables, taking a head of cabbage with her. Coming up, Nina eyed Jordan. He arched a brow.
“You wouldn’t.”
She continued to watch him, the cabbage in hand and ready to throw at him. “Oh, I most certainly would.”
He rushed her, catching her off guard and easily subduing her. Nina toppled to the ground and Jordan rode her body down, cradling her fall but remaining above her all the same. She tried and failed to slam her head into his. She snarled and Jordan smiled wickedly as he continued to grind his hips against hers, striking her sweet spot and nearly sending her airborne with pleasure.
“Get off me,” she said, not sounding very convincing in the least.
Jordan chuckled as he rubbed against her. “Make me.”
It was so incredibly childish that she couldn’t help but laugh. It was something she rarely did, let alone with Jordan near. For a moment, their guards fell and they stared at one another. Nina tried and failed to stop the smile that crept over her face. She stared up at the man above her and nearly fainted at the sound of her next words. “You are so handsome. Why is that? Were you sent to tempt me, Vasil?”
His eyelids fluttered and as he opened them, she saw not only his desire but her own reflected back at her. Normally, Nina would have hidden behind threats, violence and snide remarks to push away the unfamiliar need coursing through her veins. She did the exact opposite, she struggled to break his hold on her hands and when he let go, she didn’t strike him. No. Nina cupped his face and traced his lower lip with her thumbs. “What’s happening to me? Tell me why my body hungers for yours and yours alone?”
He didn’t answer. Instead, Jordan tipped his head slightly and nipped at her thumb. The move sent the shifter within her into overdrive. It demanded sex, as did she. Jordan seemed to sense her need because he ran a hand under the edges of her leather vest and undid the only button holding it shut. The second he freed her breasts, he dipped his head and licked an exposed nipple. Nina arched her back and wrapped her legs around his waist.
It had been months, possibly years since she felt this good, this free of pain. Each touch from Jordan seemed to soothe her aching body. The minute he drew her nipple into his mouth and rolled it around with his tongue, Nina ran her fingers into his hair and held his head firm to her. There had never been a time she wanted a man more than now. Her pussy was damp with anticipation and her breathing had fallen into sync with Jordan’s.
He continued, kissing, sucking, licking his way over her breasts before sitting up on his knees and staring down at her. Something passed over his face that she couldn’t read. Thinking she wasn’t what he expected, Nina tried to cover her breasts.
Jordan shook his head and caught her wrist with his hand. “No. I want to look at you, Nina.”
Tribal markings covered her body, each meaning something important. They came from the Shamenian side of her ancestry. The mark he seemed so drawn to made promises of life being created when she was to join with her mate. The one just below it signified her fierce, warrior-like outlook upon life and the one she’d been careful to hide since she was but a child meant that the warrior in her would be tamed and that she would take on a nurturing role among her people.
Jordan lacked natural born markings since he wasn’t a Shamenian. Only a few among her kind did not possess them. To her people, if you were not born unto them, and arrived from the outside, having no markings upon you, you were considered an enemy until proven otherwise. But for some reason her people had opened their arms to Jordan, his brother and the crew who had accompanied them. Nina assumed Jordan was repulsed by her markings but when he bent and began to trace them with his tongue, she knew better. He was curious.
“I’ve wanted to see what these looked like from the moment I laid eyes on you,” he whispered, his voice hoarse. “So beautiful. So perfect.”
Nina didn’t know or care if he was referring to her markings or her. She only knew she needed him in her now. She reached for the ties of his pants and ran her fingers down his steely abs. The man was in incredible shape.
Jordan’s muscles tightened under the weight of her barely there touch. She took pleasure in the knowledge he was as affected by her as she was by him. This man she’d clashed with at every turn from day one made her body respond in ways she’d never dreamed possible.
Nina yanked on Jordan’s shirt and he assisted in removing it, paying no mind to the fact he discarded it over the fence when he tossed it away. He bent and captured her mouth with his. Their kiss was explosive. Grunts. Growls. Pure animal magnetism at its finest.
A shrill scream jerked Nina from the moment. She stilled, as did Jordan. He tipped his head and listened. She followed and did the same. More screams sounded from the other side of the fenced area. The side the others controlled.
Jordan swallowed hard and moved off her as if in pain. “I’ll check it out.”
“Not without me you won’t,” she said, rolling to her feet. She reached for her vest and bumped heads with Jordan. Another laugh escaped her.
He wrapped his hand over hers and stared at her with eyes so green they rivaled nature. “Hang on to this moment.”
“What? The begging like a bitch in heat?” she asked, her temper trying to return.
Jordan shook his head as he handed her the vest. “No. Hold on to the way we can make each other smile, Nina. Because we can. We don’t have to fight all the time. Do we?”
She yanked her vest on and tried several times to get it to button. It refused. Her breasts were swollen from passion and had no desire to be confined. Jordan ran a finger over the tops of them and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Before I go, tell me the truth, without yelling.”
“The truth about what?” she asked.
“Would you have let me touch you if you weren’t entering another cycle?”
She wanted to say no but that wasn’t what came out. “I don’t know. Probably not, because I’m stubborn.”
Jordan seemed satisfied with that answer. He rushed the fence and leapt, clearing it by at least a meter. He landed in a crouched position next to his discarded shirt. He tossed it over to her and Nina caught it with one hand. He winked. “Wear it, baby. I want my scent all over you and yours all over it.”
She didn’t argue and that in itself should have shocked her. She put his shirt on and when she looked up, Jordan was gone. Her heart went to her throat and for a split second Nina forgot how to breathe. She’d almost lost him once, after he first arrived, to the others. He’d come to her planet with traces of lion DNA in him and after he was brutally attacked, he now had both lion and tiger.
Nina ran at the fence and jumped. She just missed hitting it before she landed on one knee and grit her teeth at the pain that radiated up her leg. She was better than this. She didn’t make careless mistakes. Clearly, Jordan had gotten under her skin, wrecking havoc with her response time.
Pushing
through the yellow leaves, that hung to the ground in masses from the black bark covered trees of the jungle, Nina continued to work herself into a panic over Jordan and his safety. She ignored the bite and sting of the branches as they sliced at her cheeks and exposed forearms. All that mattered was him. To have come this far with him, to have given in to the pull so much and to lose him wasn’t on the table.
She nearly took to the trees to better see but with as clumsy and out of sorts as she seemed to be as of late, it seemed unwise. She tapped into her shifter side, allowing her eyes to shift. She drew in a deep breath, trying to catch his scent. While successful, it wasn’t as she’d wanted. His scent clung to her and the shirt she now wore. It was impossible for her to track him.
There were growls and obvious sounds of a fight. Nina bolted in the direction they came from. She broke free of the foliage and the sight that greeted her was bloody. Jordan was on the ground with a partially shifted male—a hybrid enemy. Neither was moving.
She raced forward and grabbed hold of the hybrid male, ripping him up and off of Jordan. She assumed she’d find Jordan’s chest ripped out. When she found him smiling up at her, she took a step back. Her gaze went to the hybrid male. There was a hole clean through his chest. Jordan’s hand was bloody as was his upper half.
“I won,” he said, rising to his feet with ease.
She grunted and rolled her eyes. “You gormless fool! I thought you were dead.”
“Gormless?” He used his non-bloodied hand to scratch his temple. “Yeah, I’ve got no clue what that means.”
She snorted. “I’m shocked. Really. I am.”
He came at her fast, crowding her body with his. He wagged his brows suggestively. “I’m on a kill high, baby, and my dick is so fucking hard I could cut diamonds with it.”
Point of No Return: Project Exorcism, Book 3 Page 3
