Point of No Return: Project Exorcism, Book 3

by Mandy M. Roth

  “J-Jordan,” she whimpered, fear evident in her voice but her arousal out weighing it. “Not here. Not where anyone could walk in on us.”

  He heard her pleas and somewhere in the recesses of his mind, he knew they were valid but he couldn’t stop himself. He continued, licking her ass and finger fucking her pussy. She screamed in ecstasy, her orgasm hitting her hard. Jordan used that moment to take hold of his cock, line up with her entrance and ram himself to the hilt.

  The walls of her womanly core gripped him tight and he nearly exploded in her. She cried out, clawing at the ground before her as he began systematically drilling his body into hers, knowing he was causing her discomfort.

  Nina bucked against him, ramming herself onto his cock even harder.

  He dug his fingers into her hip and held firm to her, savagely slamming into her. The sight of his shaft disappearing into her body maddened him, taking an already depraved man and forcing him over the edge.

  No one would take her from him. No one.

  “Mine, Nina. Mine,” he growled, his mouth changing forms as he grabbed her hair and yanked her upper body towards him, still fucking her from behind. The act was primitive, but required. Mating rituals for the pride he’d originated from were long since rumored to be something that teetered on the edge of going too far. Each thrust into her tight cunt reminded him of how true the stories had been. Never had he taken a woman this hard, this rough and yet he still felt it wasn’t enough—that Nina’s body demanded even more from him.

  “Yes,” she whispered. “Harder.”

  He obliged, ramming deep before pulling back and drilling into her again and again. The need to speak was all consuming. “I claim thee as my mate, my soul, my love for all eternity. Take my seed as proof and taste of my blood as I taste of yours.”

  Gasping, she came up and pushed at his arms. Her claws emerged and dug painfully at his lower arm. He ignored the pain, his focus tried and true.

  Fixated on the creamy flesh of her shoulder, his teeth lengthened as a partial shift overtook him. He pressed his teeth to her tender flesh and bit down hard, breaking her skin. Her orgasm struck them, making the walls of her sex flutter around his cock as the taste of her sweet, coppery blood filled his mouth. He’d spent the majority of his life as a man who was unable to shift forms and who was able to deny his beast side its baser needs. As he drank down her rich blood, the animal side of him celebrated its victory. It uncoiled within him, making his muscles ripple and burn as his cat—a hybrid now—danced beneath the surface of his skin. Jordan lost the last thread of control he had, thrusting into her. His balls drew up seconds before his cock exploded, bathing her womb in his seed.

  Nina lifted his arm and licked along the claw marks, his blood entering her as her body twitched with ecstasy. She moaned, sucking on his arm, her eyes swirling back and forth from shifted form to normal.

  Wind pushed through the tiny hut, seemingly coming from all directions at once. It wasn’t natural and Jordan instinctively put his body over Nina’s, wanting to protect her. It struck them both, locking them together with a force he couldn’t dream of competing with. For a split second, it felt as if he had slipped his skin, entering her body.

  Nina gasped, her body bucking against his. He held her tight, knowing she was feeling what he just had. “Ride it out, baby. It will pass.”

  “Jordan?” she whispered, sounding so helpless that it nearly broke him.

  The wind died down and he stayed rooted in her, holding her tiny body to him. Every ounce of him demanded he protect her, regardless of the fact she was more than capable of taking care of herself. She was his. His to protect. His to be with. His to love.

  Kissing her neck, he snuggled against her. Never had he felt so whole, so complete. He licked the bite wound on her shoulder and the healing agents in his saliva reacted. The bite mark healed over almost instantly but just because it was gone meant nothing. He’d done something he could never take back. He’d bonded himself to Nina. He’d claimed her.

  But she didn’t claim me back.

  The thought sobered him as did the realization that he was holding her so tight he had to be crushing bone. He let go and she fell forward, hitting the ground fast. He withdrew from her body, horrified as the predatory side of him coiled into itself, fully sated. The man was left staring at the aftermath of what he’d done.

  I took her without her permission and did it violently.

  Jordan gasped, moving back from her.

  Nina lay there a moment, her body battered and bruised but at peace for the first time in a long time. She rolled gingerly to her side, looking up at Jordan through hooded lashes. Shock and disgust reflected back at her and she cringed. He’d only just left her body and already he appeared to regret it.

  Her stomach tightened and try as she might, she couldn’t hold her tears. He’d chased away the mating pain but left her heart hurting. She hated the knowledge he’d taken her only because nature deemed it so.

  “Nina,” he whispered, reaching for her cheek.

  Embarrassed to be seen crying in front of anyone, let alone him, Nina shied away from his touch. He jerked his hand back as if she’d burned him. She tugged at the skirt Manna had given her, covering herself from his view. She curled her legs to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, wanting to disappear.

  “Nina, I’m sorry,” Jordan said, his voice low, sounding as if he were fighting his emotions as well. “Baby, I never meant to—”

  She didn’t listen to the rest of his words. Instead, she sounded him out, going to a place mentally where she could be alone. Once there, she thought upon what had happened. He’d come for her, sensed her pain and reacted, fucking her until it ended. Then, he regretted the decision. He’d helped her so much but wanted to erase his actions?

  Her thoughts wandered to what else had happened. Her eyes widened as her gaze snapped to Jordan. “You claimed me!”

  Shame was evident on his face and it lanced her heart. She moved to her feet and swayed, her body more battered than she’d first assumed. Meeting his gaze, she shook her head and then went down hard, the world around her spinning away into a black oblivion.

  Jordan grabbed Nina, catching her before her head would have hit the ground. He eased her against his chest and then laid her softly to the ground. Quickly, he righted himself, tucking his cock into his pants. He lifted Nina carefully, hating what he’d done to her. Their first time together should have been beautiful. Special. Not this. Not brutal and one-sided. He’d taken from her and given nothing in return. She deserved more. She deserved better.

  He moved with speed towards the village and was greeted by Manna. She took one look at Nina and eyed him wearily. He didn’t respond. He didn’t have to. Following her into her hut, he kept hold of Nina, wanting to keep her with him for all time but knowing he had to put distance between them. Already he’d hurt the one person in his life he never should—his mate.

  I hurt my wife.

  The thought bit at his sanity as he laid his wife on the bed. He touched her forehead. “I forced myself on her and I also forced a claim on her.”

  Manna sighed and pushed him out of the way to get to Nina. She shook her head. “She is your true mate, Jordan. Her body would not have accepted your claim if she were not. She is a strong female. One who would accept no other claim than one of aggression and pleasure. Do not think you did not offer both. Her body craved it and you gave it what it needed.”

  Puzzled, his brows met. “Accepted my claim? She didn’t. She didn’t bite me back. She didn’t tell me I was hers. It was purely one-sided and I hate myself for that. I should have—”

  Manna cut him off, motioning to Nina’s lower stomach. Jordan watched in awe as the symbols on her body there, morphed into something else. They changed before his very eyes and he shook his head, unable to make sense of it. They then began to fade. As did all the markings on her body.

  “W-what the hell did I do to her?” he demanded, terrified he’
d done even more harm than he’d already suspected.

  Manna offered a reassuring smile. “You claimed her as your mate and her body accepted the claim. See.” She ran her fingers over the faint markings on Nina’s stomach. “This means she is bound to a powerful alpha male. And this—” she traced another within the same set of markings, “—means there can be no question of compatibility.”

  “What do you mean?” He stepped closer.

  Manna grinned. “Her body accepts your seed, Jordan. A child now quickens in her womb.”

  One minute he was upright, the next he was blinking, staring up at Manna as she leaned over him, still smiling wide. Groggy, he touched his head. “W-what happened?”

  “You fainted,” she said matter-of-factly.

  He balked at the idea and then remembered what she’d told him right before he went down. “Nina’s pregnant? I got her… We… She’s carrying my child?”

  Manna laughed softly. “I’m glad you’re still laying flat. The look upon your face tells me you would have gone down hard again at this news.”

  He shook his head. “She can’t be, Manna. She didn’t accept my claim. She didn’t bite me back or declare me to be hers. The bond doesn’t go both ways.”

  “That may be how things work among straight shifters but Nina is not a full shifter. She shares the blood of the magiks of our world. Regardless how fierce a warrior she may be, Jordan, rest assured, you are dominant to her. Her body understands this. It also understands who you are to it—her true mate. When you executed your rights as her true mate and laid claim to her, there was never any doubt. Her body had no choice but to accept you. And the proof of that now grows within her.”

  He went to his elbows. “I only wanted to ease her pain. I didn’t mean to force her. To make her accept me.”

  Manna helped him to his feet. “You did ease her pain, Jordan. I sense no more from her. Though, you were rough in your taking of her. It was what her body required. You sensed as much, knowing it was needed to ease her suffering. You think you hurt her but in actuality, you ended the torture she’d been enduring. You eased her pain.”

  He bent his head. “I’m not her mate.”

  “How can you even argue that point?”

  “You gave her some of that drink,” he said. “It fooled her body into accepting me and my seed.”

  Manna’s laugh shocked him. He faced her and found her grinning again. “Jordan, I lied. There is no such drink. It was merely sweetened juice from the ponutaious fruit. You understand it does nothing other than act as a natural sugar extract.”

  He understood then. “You knew I’d react badly to the idea of another man being able to give her what only I could.”

  A nod was Manna’s only response.

  Exhaling slowly, Jordan stared down at Nina. “None of this takes away from how I claimed her. She’ll never forgive me.”

  “Or is it you’ll never forgive yourself?”

  Manna’s words hit him hard. She was right. Unable to deal with the truth of it all, Jordan raked a hand through his hair and backed out of the hut. He turned and broke into a full run, needing to put distance between himself and his greatest weakness.

  His wife.

  Chapter Five

  Nina plucked a prickly briar from her hair and inwardly cursed the thorny vine it had come from. This section of jungle was thick with them. She knew it would clear but in the meantime, she had her fair share of scuffs and scrapes from them. She cast it aside and trudged onward. Her mind wandered back to Jordan and she paused a moment, her chest tight at the knowledge he’d not only regretted what had transpired between them but that he’d run off, abandoning her in the process. It was his choice. She’d refused to go after him, choosing instead to try to make her way home, even against the advice of a well-meaning Manna.

  Nina had been raised on the planet, raised to understand the jungle and how to survive within it should the need arise. It didn’t mean she liked it. For as tough as she liked to pretend to be, she preferred the warmth and comfort of her own bed and the ability to soak in a hot bath over briars. She wasn’t a fan of having to catch and trap her own meals either. Shifting forms and allowing the panther side of her to hunt for dinner was an option but she felt drained and the cat lay dormant inside her—the first time in her life she could ever remember it doing so.

  Spotting a clearing, Nina sighed, making her way to it. She took a seat upon the downed tree, her body aching. She was in great shape and shouldn’t be as exhausted as she was. A part of her wondered if her reluctance to continue onwards was due to Jordan being in the other direction. Did her body crave its mate and sense he wasn’t near? If so, she was screwed because the guy wanted nothing to do with her.

  The one man she truly wanted with all her being had, in the end, rejected her. It served her right. For so long men had been objects—a means to an end. Nothing more. She understood Pheebes’s pain and hated that she’d been the one to cause it. Now, as the one on the receiving end of rejection, she didn’t wish it upon anyone.

  She’d been on the move for the greater part of six hours. The suns would soon set and the threat of the others attacking would increase tenfold. Knowing she’d had to keep moving once night fell, she laid upon the log and closed her eyes. Her intent was to get a thirty-minute nap to help combat the drain on her system.

  When she came to, it was to darkness and a rustling of leaves in her vicinity. Her inner alarms went off, alerting her of danger. Something was close and its intent wasn’t friendly. She remained in place, pretending to be asleep, allowing her enemy to think her anything but a threat. As she attempted to allow claws to emerge from her fingertips, she realized how little of a threat she truly was.

  She tensed, focusing on her hand, willing her claws to appear. None did. It was as if her cat side was no more. While she could sense it there, deep down inside her, she couldn’t seem to slip back and forth with ease—or at all. It had always been second nature. Something was wrong. Something was blocking her ability to shift forms.

  Knowing she was fodder for the taking, Nina rolled off the log narrowly missing a blow from the enemy. There was a snarl and a blur of movement. She came up crouched, looking around, trying to judge where exactly the enemy was. Even her senses were out of whack, refusing to give her accurate readings. In a flash, something was charging her.

  Muscle memory kicked in and she twisted out of its path and seized hold of a piece of wood. She slammed it down on her attacker’s back and it shattered. That was a good sign. While she couldn’t pull on her panther to assist, she at least maintained something close to her normal strength. Though, she could already feel the toll it was taking on her body.

  She turned, knowing the enemy rarely, if ever traveled alone. Growls and snarls seemed to surround her. She backed up, pressing herself to a tree trunk as she felt utterly helpless for the first time in her life.

  Another shadow burst free of the tree line at her and she prepared to give it her all. As she stared into familiar green eyes, she tipped her head. “Jordan?”

  “Are you hurt?” he asked, his breathing heavy. It was then she noticed the blood on his hands and forearm.

  “No,” she whispered.

  He put his body in front of her, his back to hers and he held out a hand. Claws emerged from the ends of his fingers and a low growl rumbled free of him as he glared into the darkness. “You messed with the wrong man’s wife.”

  She stiffened at being referred to as his wife and waited for the denial she was sure would follow. None did.

  Confused, she put a hand to his back. “Jordan?”

  He twisted and cupped her chin with his unshifted hand. His gaze locked on hers. “You scared the hell out of me. Never, ever do it again.”

  “You left,” she stated, sounding so unlike herself that all she could was blink up at him.

  Emotions washed over his handsome face. “Because I hurt you, Nina. I forced you to accept me as your husband. I needed to think of how
to fix this for you. I know you don’t want me, that you didn’t claim me back, regardless what Manna says.”

  She teared up and swatted his back. She’d have yelled at him for being so utterly stupid but the enemy picked then to attack.

  Jordan spun around and met the threat head on. She backed away, giving him room to do what he needed to. She’d never seen him in direct, head to head battle with one of the others. It was awe inspiring—the way he moved fluidly, twisting, turning, dodging, striking. With one massive blow, the enemy was no more.

  Nina glanced at the two pieces that had once been the threat and her stomach churned. She moved quickly towards a patch of fallen leaves and bent, positive she was about to be sick. Never before had such a sight bothered her. In fact, she often found such a thing amusing, as twisted as it sounded.

  Jordan was suddenly there, rubbing her back gently and pulling her hair from her face. He leaned, his body pressing to hers. “I don’t think the baby much likes all this violence.”

  The baby?

  She stilled.

  He sighed. “Shit, I thought you’d have figured it out by now.”

  She twisted in his arms. “A baby?”

  He nodded.

  Her mind raced and it took a moment for her to fully realize what it meant. She gasped. “We’re true mates?”

  “Yeah, at least that’s what people keep telling me,” he said softly. “I’m so sorry I forced you to accept my claim and that…”

  Nina tossed her body against him, her arms going around his neck. She held him tight. “Don’t leave me, Jordan. Please.”

  “Leave you?” he questioned, returning the embrace. “Baby, I’m not going anywhere. I’ve been tracking you all damn day and if you think I’m letting you out of my sight again, you’re wrong. I don’t care if you’re more than capable of handling yourself or not.”

  She tensed and then eased her hold on him. “Jordan, something is wrong. I can’t shift forms. My cat side isn’t working at all.”

  He glanced towards the dead enemy. “Stars above, you could have been… Nina…you and the baby could have… I should have been here sooner. I should have never left you to start with.”