by Amelia Jade
The others nodded and pulled up chairs.
“Okay,” Garrin said. “First thing we need to do is figure out the best way to get across the ocean, to within striking range of Fenris.”
Asher lifted a finger. “I think I have an idea for that…”
Garrin looked around the group as they began to delve into the nuts and bolts of planning their strike.
They could do this, he realized. They could pull this off, and bring Mia’s brother home safely.
He just hoped he could bring Mia home safely too.
Chapter Eleven
Mia
The door vibrated so softly Mia might not have heard it if she hadn’t been lying on the couch in her common area with the TV on mute.
At first a smile ghosted across her face as she realized it was Garrin, knocking extra quietly. She almost got up and walked over to the door to swing it open and call him a smart ass, before he wrapped her up in one of his bear hugs—no pun intended.
But then she remembered his stubborn, sexist attitude earlier and she sank back into the couch, even as the someone’s knuckles rapped audibly off the thick real-wood door. He was knocking louder, assuming she hadn’t heard him.
Be fair. He was being an asshole, but he wasn’t being sexist. He was being racist.
Mia frowned as she considered her thought. Was it racist? She supposed the term applied. Speciest? Xenophobic? She was making up words and using other terms, though none of them truly applied, or felt correct. She knew sexist wasn’t correct though. Garrin had female Green Bearets in his command, and she knew they saw combat just like the men. So it wasn’t her sex.
It was her species. Her race.
She was human, and this was a shifter operation. He didn’t want her involved with it, didn’t want to have to protect her.
It was a valid point, and one she had absolutely no counter to. If she went along, his men would be hampered by her, and they would have to look out for her if things didn’t go perfectly, which was almost assuredly going to happen. But Mia had felt a calling the instant she’d heard what was going on. Something that told her she needed to be part of the party that went into Fenris. It was an intense, blazing siren that she just could not ignore.
How the hell do I explain that to him?
“Mia, I know you’re in there,” came Garrin’s voice, muffled by the door. “Open up. We need to talk.”
She didn’t respond, instead rolling onto her side, facing away from the wall that was between her and the shifter just then. With the way that the house was laid out, the common room jutted forward from the rest of the house. Anyone approaching her front door simply had to reach out and knock on the wall to their left, and she would hear it right behind the couch.
“Please.”
His voice had changed, softened perhaps. It seemed more…rational.
Mia sighed, unable to stay mad when confronted with logic and reason. She hated it, because it made working up a good fury difficult, since she could often see both sides of a problem and understand where the other person was coming from.
“You better not be faking whatever it is we need to talk about, just to get inside my house,” she said tartly as the door opened a crack.
The shifter’s broad back was to her, but he spun smoothly as she spoke.
His eyes grabbed hers and she looked deep into his as he spoke.
“I’m not making anything up. We need to talk about earlier. Calmly, logically.”
Mia’s lip curled back. “Normally I’d agree with you. But I can’t this time.”
He stopped halfway through the door. “What do you mean?”
“My reasoning doesn’t make sense,” she told him. “It’s not logical. It’s part of the reason why I’m so mad. I need to be there, Garrin. I know it. I feel it. But I can’t tell you why.”
His face scrunched up as he looked at her with dissatisfaction. “Why not?”
She threw her hands in the air and walked back into her kitchen. “Because I don’t know why. I just do. I feel it in here,” she said, tapping her heart. “And I know that I’m right up here.” This time she tapped her temple.
Garrin didn’t respond at first. He fully entered the house, leaving his big boots at the door before walking in a U-shape into her common area. Then he sank down onto the couch she’d just vacated. Mia leaned against the island in the middle of the kitchen, regarding him as he looked around thoughtfully.
“I can’t just ignore the additional risk this poses to my team, Mia. You’re asking me to put their lives into increased danger, with no tangible reason why.”
“I know,” she said quietly, unable to meet his eyes. “I know. But I need to go, Garrin.”
Garrin sighed.
“Trevor doesn’t know who any of you are,” she said into the silence that followed. “He’s unlikely to trust any shifter after this ordeal. Having me along could make it an easier process.”
The hulking form on her couch shrugged. “He’s a human, like you are. If he doesn’t want to come, there’s very little he can do to stop us from just taking him, you know.”
“How kind.”
He glanced over at her. “Don’t put that on me,” he said, perhaps just a little too sharply. “It’s not my fault. It’s just a factual observation. It’s not like I want to knock him out and bodily haul him around. I’m just saying we don’t need you to convince him to come along.”
Mia raised her hands, palm upward in a helpless gesture. “I don’t know what to tell you then. But if you don’t take me along, you’re going to be making a big mistake, I just know it.”
She hadn’t expected her comments to garner much of a reaction from Garrin. Not after he’d shrugged off all her other ones. So it caught her completely unawares when he began to laugh.
“What’s so funny about all this?’ she asked, feeling her temper flare.
“Nothing,” he said, raising a calming hand in her direction. “It’s just that this is exactly what they told me would happen.”
Mia frowned. “Who told you?”
“Asher. Andrew, Ava. They all said that you would tell me you just knew it, that you had to come along. That I was a fool for resisting.”
“They did?” she asked, her forehead wrinkling in surprise.
“Yeah,” he admitted.
“Did they also tell you that you’re an obstinate fool?”
The huge shifter winced. “Yes, but they were much politer about it!”
“Shame on them,” she said wickedly. “Does this mean I’m coming?”
Garrin’s eye’s rose to meet hers, and there was a deadly seriousness about them all of a sudden. “You’re on the roster. But Mia, you will do as you’re told, and you will not protest or hesitate, no matter how much you may dislike something, or be afraid. Do you understand? This is no game.”
She felt the command presence of a colonel in the Green Bearets and a military man with over two decades worth of experience coming through the words then, impressing on her the extreme danger that she would be in.
“I understand,” she said, her voice equally grave, letting Garrin know that she understood what was at stake, and what was expected of her.
“In that case, welcome aboard,” he said gruffly and extended a hand to her.
“Thank you!” she said, bypassing his hand and throwing her arms around his neck, to better help her plant a kiss upon his lips.
“Don’t thank me,” he mumbled around her. “This isn’t going to be a pleasure cruise. There will be fighting, and there will be death. We just have to do our damndest to ensure it’s them who do the dying, not us.”
Mia settled into his powerful embrace, feeling his muscles under her head, and remembering how quickly they could turn from gentle and loving to deadly destruction. She was entering his world now, she thought soberly, and nothing would ever be the same.
“Garrin,” she whispered, holding him tightly to her.
“Yes?”
“He’s
going to be okay, right?”
Her mate nodded. “Yes, yes he will.”
Her mate? Had she really just called him that?
Yes, I suppose I did, didn’t I. Interesting.
Mia wasn’t sure she agreed with her subconscious, though she did like him. Reaching a hand up, she pulled Garrin’s head down so that she could kiss his neck, her lips leaving soft marks as she went.
“That feels nice,” he said, his deep voice thrumming through her body as she rested on his chest.
“Good,” she replied, and sensuously writhed her hips in his lap, letting him know exactly what she had in mind.
“So does that,” he commented.
“That?” she said delicately, licking her lips as she stared into his eyes. “That was nothing.”
Garrin’s growl filled the room as he lifted her clear into the air and took her to the bedroom.
“Gent—” she tried to say, but it was too late. Her clothing tore away from her frame with a single ripping sound, and in the handful of a few seconds she’d gone from completely clothed to nothing but the underwear around her waist.
“Perfect,” Garrin rumbled, his eyes ablaze with arousal, his fingertips fiery hot as they slid across her now-exposed skin.
“Mmmm.” Mia couldn’t even form words as he stroked her with painstaking slowness, his fingers not missing a single square inch of her as he dragged them across her skin, making sure to spend extra time in certain areas.
She began to pant and moan, unable to control her reaction to his touches. When he dipped a finger under her thong, Mia couldn’t slow herself down, and moments later the first climax rushed through her body like the shockwave of an explosion. She’d barely had a moment’s warning before it hit her.
If it weren’t for Garrin’s other arm around her, she would have fallen over. But the big shifter held her upright, and then guided her onto the bed. As she fell back, his own clothing joined hers on the floor, though his stayed in one piece.
I suppose it wouldn’t do for a colonel to wander home naked from a human’s house. Could be a bad influence on his dignity and hurt his standing with the troops.
She decided to let it pass as his gently swaying cock caught her attention while he climbed onto the bed. He went to mount her, but Mia shook her head.
“No. Not that way,” Mia said, placing a stalling hand on his chest.
Garrin frowned as she repositioned him onto the edge of the bed, but his confused look became a grin as she swung around, seating herself on top of him, her breasts almost at the height of his face. She gasped as he took one of her nipples into his mouth, the warmth of it combined with his tongue bringing another wave of pleasure into her brain.
Only the press of his cock between her legs stirred Mia back to the present, and she spent the next few minutes rubbing herself against him as Garrin kissed her as thoroughly as he could. He only pulled back when she at last took the first of him inside her, the action leaving her just as breathless as he was.
Arms hooked around his neck, hips slowly bouncing up and down, the two of them pressed their bodies together, basking in the touch of the other. Bare skin to bare skin was the most seductive, sensual, and intimate feeling that Mia had ever known, but with Garrin it became something more.
It almost felt as if…
She gasped softly to herself, the sound coming just as he slid his entire length deep into her.
It felt like when they were together like this, they were two halves finally coming together to form something else. Something more. Something stronger than what either of them could ever be individually.
The realization shook her to her core almost as much as the sensation of his cock filling her, making her hips shake with pleasure.
Oh, those ladies had been so, so right.
Garrin was her mate.
And so much more.
***
Garrin
Bacon sizzled and spat from the frying pan as he flipped it, and beside them in a separate pan scrambled eggs slowly cooked their way to yellow fluffy perfection.
“Ready for the English muffins!” he said happily, glancing over at Mia.
She was watching him with a weird little smile on her lips.
“What?” he asked at the same moment the bacon in the pan popped and a few drops of grease splattered on his forearm. “Ow,” he cursed to himself, using a paper towel to wipe them off.
A giggle brought his attention back to Mia.
“Oh, find that funny do you?” he asked, and she nodded through her laughter. “Well, I guess you get to go hungry then,” he pronounced.
“What? No!” she protested, horrified at the idea of missing out on the feast he was preparing.
“Then stop laughing at my misfortune and toast them buns, missy,” he teased, tossing her a wink.
“You wish you could toast my buns,” she muttered, loading the toaster.
“And you’re just scared to let me, because you might actually like it,” he growled, bouncing his eyebrows suggestively.
“Stop it!” she laughed, pushing the toaster down. “So, we’re making sandwiches out of all this?”
Garrin nodded. “Yep. Shame you don’t have any cheese to add to it, but I suppose we’ll survive with just bacon and egg.”
Her eyes rolled over the amount of bacon and egg they were making. “Yeah, I think we have enough to feed a small army!’
“What do you mean?” he asked innocently, following her gaze. “This is all for me!”
“What about my portion?” she asked.
“Oh, I’ll be making that next,” he announced calmly.
Mia frowned. “But there’s no bacon left. Or eggs.”
Garrin nodded. “Exactly.”
Comprehension dawned on her face and she launched herself at his side, laughing as he ensnared her with an arm and lifted her from the ground to kiss her until she pushed away from him for air.
“I need to breathe sometimes!” she protested. “Just like I need to eat.”
His laugh shook the both of them, but Mia never tried to pull back. Instead she got that little twinkle in her eye, the same mysterious smile pulling at her lips as before.
“Are you going to tell me what that’s about?” he asked.
“Maybe when we get back,” she said seriously, then slipped from his grip and wandered across the kitchen.
He rolled his eyes as Mia flicked on the television.
“Do we have to listen to that drivel?” he asked as the news reporter started talking about the latest gossip in regard to some celebrity sightings or something like that.
“Yes,” she said, lifting her nose primly and sticking out her tongue at him.
Garrin laughed and shook his head as the reporter continued her broadcast.
“…And in other news, the government has announced that it has concluded its investigation into the Cloud Lake Dam accident. The official report, released this morning, stated that they would be asking for their allies’ permission to land a military peacekeeping force that will cordon off the shifter territory of Fenris, and then seek reparations and punishment for those responsible. While no official timeline has been released, sources say the government intends to act swiftly, so that none shall escape justice, and they hope to have the cordon established within forty-eight hours.”
Mia and Garrin both swung around to stare at each other in shock.
“Well that certainly happened faster than expected,” he muttered.
“You knew this was going to happen?” Mia asked, her attention still split between him and the TV screen.
“Nothing confirmed, no.”
“But you knew the humans were going to do something like this?” she pressed.
There it was again. She referred to her own government as “the humans.”
Garrin very carefully did not snort at the concept that she was spending so much time around shifters that she was beginning to sound like one. He wasn’t entirely sure Mia would like the
comparison.
“Yeah,” he admitted.
“This is why you weren’t allowed to go forward with the mission in the first place,” she said, and he saw it in her eyes as she connected the dots.
“Pretty much.”
“So what happens now? Are we definitely not going?”
His eyes narrowed. “Oh no, we’re still going.”
Mia jerked in surprise. “We are?” Then she recovered and nodded at him. “Of course we are.”
“Exactly,” he said, his brain already shifting back into military mode. “Which means I need to—”
“I know,” Mia said, cutting him off. “Go.”
“You need to as well,” he told her.
“What? What do you mean?”
He jerked his head at the television. “We have less than two days to get in and get out. If we’re doing this, we’re doing it now.”
Mia didn’t move.
“Move it, Mia. This is no mental theory anymore, this is the real deal. Grab what you need. We’re out of here in five.”
She didn’t move for another long moment. Garrin thought he was going to have to either leave her, or start yelling some more. At the last possible second though, she burst into motion and ran into her bedroom. Thirty seconds later she emerged, a small backpack over one shoulder, stuffed with clothes.
“Let’s go,” she said, moving to the front door.
Garrin stared in surprise at her efficiency, but then a smile took over. “That’s my girl,” he said, and together they took off for the Green Bearet base at the motel.
***
Mia
The car pulled off the road and flashed past the entry gate, barely slowing to present identification before it took off again.
Behind them came a line of other vehicles. There was a grand total of ten in the convoy, with her and Garrin in the lead.
“Uh, where are we going?” she asked as they ignored the signs that all read Terminal and continued out onto the tarmac. “Shouldn’t we be going that way?” She pointed in practically the opposite direction.
Behind the wheel Garrin just shook his head and gunned the engine, piling on more speed. They flashed across the cleared land. Mia leaned around the passenger chair in front of her and looked ahead. They were swiftly approaching a small hangar, in front of which a sleek-looking private jet was parked. As they closed, she saw the door to the plane unfold, extending stairs toward the ground as if to welcome them.
