The Liger's Mark

by Lacey Thorn

  “What’s happening to me?” she asked, unable to control the shudders going through her. She closed her eyes, going slack in his embrace.

  “Kenzie!” Gabriel called her name, and she swore she heard fear in his voice.

  “Get me out of here,” she whispered. “Please.”

  She kept her eyes closed as he moved through the room full of people until the caress of fresh air touched her again. Too soon, they were across the expanse of ground between the main room and the cabin she’d woken in. She had a feeling this time she wouldn’t be leaving until he decided.

  “What do you know?” Gabriel demanded, and she blinked open her eyes in confusion until she realized Gideon had followed them.

  He ignored Gabriel. “Kenzie, I know we haven’t really met, but I’m Vic’s mate, Gideon. I know you trust her so I’m asking you to trust me. Vic said your beast was recessed. Is that true?”

  She nodded.

  “Did you mark her?” Gideon asked Gabriel.

  “Yes,” he hissed.

  “Then you separated for a length of time?” Gideon questioned.

  “What does that have to do with anything?” Gabriel demanded.

  “Everything,” Gideon snapped. “I need you both to listen to me. Whatever is going on between you two has to be pushed aside for now. Kenzie, your beast is emerging. I can see it in your eyes and your teeth. I’m guessing the changes began after your mate marked you. I’m guessing you tried to mark him, but it wouldn’t have been permanent. Your beast would know that.”

  “I…” Her voice trickled off as Gabriel shook his head.

  “The mark has been fading more and more every day,” he admitted, and she wanted to roar.

  “You’re animal wants that corrected,” Gideon said. “She’s probably been fighting you at every turn to submit to him, to have sex.”

  Flush climbed from the collar of her shirt to fill her face.

  “The beast isn’t really submissive,” Gideon assured her quietly. “She wants the opportunity to mark her mate now that she’s becoming a part of you. She needs it. His bite brought her from wherever she was inside you. Now, she’s demanding her turn. Maybe that’s what she needs to set her completely free. I don’t know. I do know that until you satisfy the animal’s need, you’ll have spikes of fever and pain as the beast fights whatever’s holding it back from claiming it’s mate. Only once full mating occurs will that ease off.”

  “I need to bite him?” Kenzie asked.

  “You need to mate him,” Gideon answered.

  Her gaze flew to Gabriel’s and skimmed over him from head to toe as she licked her lips. Hers. Every inch of him belonged to her. He gripped the hem of his shirt and tossed it carelessly onto the floor. He tapped his fingers over the healing spot where she’d tried to mark him before.

  “Come and get me,” he challenged.

  Chapter Eight

  The door had barely shut behind Gideon when Kenzie pounced on Gabriel. There was no other way for him to describe it. One minute she was crossing to him, the next she was on him, legs wrapped around his waist, hands clenching his shoulders as she rode against his denim-covered cock. He staggered though her weight was minimal. She was making growling noises and for once, his beast wasn’t pressing him to take. Instead, the animal was content to pass control to its mate, something it had never done before, but then they’d never had a mate.

  He moved them to the bed and sat on the edge. “Clothes,” he choked out as she scraped her teeth along his throat.

  She nipped him before pulling back and dropping to her knees in front of him. He swallowed as she eyed the bulge of his dick where it pulsed behind his zipper, and almost groaned when she reached for his feet instead. She took off his shoes and socks then stood, toeing off her sneakers and leaving them with his. She whipped her shirt up over her head, displaying her mouthwatering breasts. She lifted her hands, cupping the curves then using her fingers to pinch the hardened peaks, making them impossibly stiffer as he watched.

  He reached for her, and she shoved him hard, catching him off-guard and sending him to his back on the bed. She bent over him, one hand sliding into the band of his jeans, her knuckles pressing his cock against his belly as she tugged the material away and used the other hand to make quick work of the button and zipper. She shoved the material wide and leaned down to suck him in before he realized her intent.

  “Ahhh,” he cried out as she wrapped her lush lips around the swollen head and lashed him with her tongue.

  He tunneled his hands in her hair and held on as she worked his cock with her mouth and hands. He watched her, unable to tear his gaze from the siren she’d become. Her cheeks sunk in with the force of her suction as she pulled her mouth up his shaft. Then she’d swirl around the head, tongue flicking all around before surging back down until she butted against the hand she was holding him with. The other hand had gone lower, caressing his balls as they grew tighter and tighter with the need to come. Sweet, merciful heavens, she was going to kill him with pleasure.

  He tugged at her hair and almost came unhinged when she growled, the sound sending him thrusting into her mouth as orgasm approached. She growled again, and he jerked, fighting the need to fuck her mouth as he wanted to fuck her pussy.

  “I’m going to come,” he warned.

  She only sucked him harder, taking more of his shaft into her mouth until he felt the constriction of her throat around the tip. He held on, fucking up into her, feet flat on the floor as he fought to keep some control. Then she slipped a finger back, caressing the taut skin just beneath his ball sac. He grunted, and she rubbed against the perineum, scraping it with her nails and seeming to force his cum from his cock in a series of hard blasts. She didn’t pause, never even choked as she swallowed and kept working him for more. God damn, she was going to give him a fucking stroke. His heart galloped in his chest as she finally eased up and began licking him daintily.

  He was still panting when she tugged at his hands until he released her hair. He watched through a hooded gaze as she worked his jeans the rest of the way off then shucked hers. He edged back on the bed while she viewed him with the eyes of the beast inside her. He stopped moving when his head hit the pillows and his feet no longer dangled off the end.

  She stood, gazing at him, her chest vibrating with a purr that had her breasts trembling and her nipples taunting him to cup them in his hands and suck the ripe berries crowning them. He stared at her as she placed her knees on the bed outside his legs and crawled up his body. She paused over his dick, lapping at him again as if she hadn’t had enough, and his cock jerked in response, still hard and thick and more than ready for whatever she had planned. She gave another purr and nuzzled him before moving back up.

  “Mine,” she claimed, lips pulling back from her teeth in challenge.

  “Then mark what’s yours,” he rumbled.

  She growled again then bent her head and licked over the healing red mark she’d left. He’d never once considered how her inability to permanently mark him as he had her would cause problems for her beast. She scraped her teeth across his skin, and he closed his eyes as he waited for her to claim him. Another growl and she struck, teeth sinking into his chest above his left nipple. She sucked at him, and he knew she was finally taking in his potent blood. This was what she needed, what her beast needed.

  Fire raced through his veins as his beast surged up with a roar. He gripped Kenzie tight, turning them until she lay under him on the bed. She released her grip on his chest with a cry of her own. Then he shifted her legs farther apart with his knees and slammed his cock deep. She was wet with lust and desire, tight and hot where her channel clasped him.

  “Mine,” he grunted.

  “Mine,” she challenged back.

  He dropped his mouth to hers and claimed her with his tongue as he fucked her with his cock, both piercing inside her and taking what she offered. Her legs lifted, wrapping around his waist. Her fingers clenched his shoulders, nails digging i
nto his skin. She jerked from his kiss and arched her neck, howling in satisfaction as she offered him the spot he needed.

  His turn to sink his teeth in, holding her in place as he fucked her mercilessly. Hard, fast and deep, each stroke had her pussy rippling around him as the pleasure moved higher and higher, urging them both toward release.

  “You will not leave me,” she roared, fingers gripping his hair and almost ripping him bald as she pulled him from her neck.

  “Kenzie,” he murmured.

  “You will not leave me,” she stated again, voice hard and clear. “Or so help me I’ll hunt you down and make you rue the day you ever thought you could.”

  He met her gaze, met her challenge, and something inside him gave. Her bite had awakened needs in him he hadn’t realized were there. She wound around his heart like ropes of steel.

  “I will not leave you,” he promised.

  “Mine,” she informed him, jerking his hair again.

  He snarled, leaning closer. “Mine,” he told her.

  She turned her head, nuzzling her face into his neck. Her tongue flicked against his skin.

  “Yours,” she purred. “Always yours.”

  She clung to him then, face hidden in his throat as he pounded her flesh. She came with a scream. Her pussy clenched around him, and his thrusts slowed, his hips twisting as he fought to surge deeper inside her. It wasn’t enough. He needed her taste. He yanked free of her and quickly slid down until her lifted knees were by his head. Then he shoved his tongue inside her. She screamed again, lifting up to press closer to his mouth.

  Gabriel sucked and lapped up her spilling juices. He brushed his thumb over her swollen clitoris and urged more from her. She thrashed on the sheets, her pussy drowning him in her sweet release, and still it wasn’t enough. He was edgy, primal and completely out of control. He moved again, rising up and rolling her over to her stomach. She automatically went to her knees as if she knew what he craved and wanted to give it to him.

  He caressed the flare of her hips, squeezed the perfectly rounded globes of her ass and tugged them apart. His gaze zeroed in on the tight pucker of her anus, and he knew eventually he would want to take her there. He needed to claim her in every way possible. His beast would accept nothing less. She wiggled, rubbing her swollen cunt against his dick and pulling a ragged groan from him.

  He used one hand to lodge his cock at her opening and slammed back home. God, she fit him perfectly. She dropped her torso to the bed, turning her head to the side, cheek pressed to the covers as she glanced back toward him. He met her gaze and held it as they both rode the heights of pleasure again.

  This was what he’d needed. He’d tasted her dominance, and now he needed her complete submission. The soft whimpers leaving her throat, the look of total trust in her eyes, and the way her body softened in acceptance gave him exactly what he wanted. She moaned, and he gritted his teeth at the hard contractions of her pussy as she came again. This time he went with her, roaring as he filled her tight channel to overflowing with his semen.

  He reached under her to press a hand against her stomach, holding her to him as he shook with release. His gaze calmed as he stared at her, and the steel tendrils around his heart became a cage that only she held the key for. He pushed his hips against her ass then slowly slid back until his softening cock slipped free. Her hips lowered to the bed, and she sighed in utter contentment, the sound soothing him. He eased down beside her, pulling her back against him. He brushed his lips over her neck and finally gave her something he’d never anticipated giving anyone. His submission.

  “Yours,” he murmured and knew with complete certainty he’d never leave her again. It would be like ripping out his soul and leaving it behind.

  They dozed on and off for the rest of the day, surfacing only long enough to make love with the same exhausting ferocity before falling into slumber once more. He held her every time, either spooned behind her or with her half lying across his chest. Each time left him more wrapped in her in ways that would never leave him even when she wasn’t next to him.

  He was stroking his fingers up and down her side when she shifted her arm until she could prop her chin on her fist and meet his gaze.

  “Did you mean it?”

  He heard the need in her voice, and it made him feel a hundred times the fool for what he’d done. “Yes,” he vowed. “I’ll never leave you again, Kenzie.”

  She seemed to soak that in then asked another question. “Who’s Laura to you?”

  “A friend, more like a sister, actually, and no, I’ve never slept with her.”

  She stuck out her tongue at him then laughed at the look on his face. He swatted her playfully on her spectacular ass.

  “Do you really not like Holt?” she finally asked, and he heard the need in her voice. Holt was important to her, and she wanted him to accept him.

  “It’s not that I don’t like him,” Gabriel told her honestly. “It’s knowing he’s seen you like this, touched you like I do.”

  She scooted onto her knees beside him, hair tumbling over her shoulders as she leaned forward. “Never like this. No one has ever touched me like you do. He’s my friend, and I won’t give him up. You’re my mate, and I’ll never do anything that makes you uncomfortable or jealous. I need you to trust me to have both of you in my life.”

  “I’m not jealous,” he grunted, and she laughed. He loved the sound of it, just as he loved the grin that lit her whole face up.

  “You’re so jealous,” she teased.

  He sat up, pulling her astride his hips.

  “You’re mine,” he growled. “Jealousy has no place in my heart.”

  She smiled and cuddled into him. “You’re mine.”

  “Completely,” he assured her.

  “This is what I always dreamed mating would be,” she whispered. “I’ve never felt so wanted in my life.”

  He kissed her on the brow, arms wrapping around her. “We’re going to have a few things to take care of, Kenzie. I hope you’re prepared for that.”

  “I can handle anything as long as I’m with you,” she vowed.

  “We need to figure out why the hunters are after you. We’ll stay here a few more days, but we’re going to need to head to Oklahoma soon. I need to get Laura back and check on Tah and everyone. Plus, I have a father to deal with, and he’s not going to be happy with what I have to say.”

  “He’ll be against our mating?”

  He hated to hurt her, but he refused to lie. “He will. According to him, I’m never supposed to take a mate. It would be selfish of me when so many others are depending on me.”

  “That’s not fair,” she said heatedly as she sat up, cupping his face in her hands. “Why should you walk alone, watching everyone else find happiness? Why would your father want that for you?”

  “He’s a hard man,” Gabriel said. He was starting to question a lot of things himself that he’d been told over the years.

  “Good or bad, at least you know who your father is,” Kenzie admitted. “My whole life I’ve held on to the belief I was a cougar who was unable to shift for some reason, and that’s why my parents gave me away. I just accepted it and tried not to let it matter. Then when my adopted family couldn’t wait to get rid of me, I told myself it didn’t matter. I was okay being on my own.”

  “Oh, baby,” he whispered. “You don’t ever have to worry about being on your own again.”

  “Gabriel, I’m scared,” she confessed, and there was a wash of fear in her eyes. “I heard the hunter in the cabin say he’d found me, and there was pure excitement in his voice. In the motel room, I heard them say I was the first one who’d survived some experiment that was done on me in infancy. That the doctor would be happy to get his hands back on me. I have no idea what he did.” She paused, taking a deep breath before meeting his gaze once more and continuing. “The woman who gave me the box was terrified to have me in her house. She said I was death because everyone in my shadow died.”

&nbs
p; A chill blazed through him as he held his shivering mate and tried to comfort her.

  “I don’t know who I am,” she whispered.

  “You’re my mate,” he rumbled. “Everything else we’ll discover together.”

  She nodded and curled back into his lap. Already his heart was filling with love and a fierce need to protect like he’d never encountered before, even when rescuing someone. This tiny woman bound him to her with the strength of a thousand men, and he knew he’d rip the hearts out of anyone who ever thought to hurt her again.

  Chapter Nine

  Hunger drove them out of the cabin and back to the main lodge. Holt was there along with Vic, Gideon and Laura, while Laramie had his head bent over something at the front desk. All of them glanced up when they walked in. Vic met her gaze and lifted a brow in question. Gideon leaned in and whispered something to his mate that made Vic smile. Laura was on her feet first, gaze scanning both of them from head to toe.

  “Feeling better?” she asked, coming over to them.

  “Much,” Gabriel assured her, reaching out to cup her face with one hand and turn it side-to-side.

  “How are you? Healing? Any problems I should know of?” he demanded.

  “I’m fine,” she said, smacking his hand away and stepping back. “Dusty kept an eye on me as well as Gideon. So other than feeling a bit smothered, I’m fine.”

  “You could use some smothering,” Gabriel informed her. “You look more like yourself.”

  “You look relaxed, happy.” Her glance turned to Kenzie, and she offered a tentative smile. “Mating seems to suit you both. I’m very happy for you.”

  Kenzie knew Laura meant her words, but she sensed an underlying sadness to them. Had Laura thought Gabriel might be her mate? That didn’t make sense since Gabriel had described her as being like a sister to him. There was a depth of emotion to Laura’s words, though. Kenzie glanced up at her mate and couldn’t hold back another grin as his eyes met hers.