by Mina Carter
“Ohhhh…” The sigh escaped her lips, a sound of pure pleasure cut off when he pulled back, and surged in again.
The door rattled in the frame as he picked up speed, each thrust stroking every nerve ending in her tight pussy as he claimed her with his body all over again. She gasped and clung to him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and burying her face in the side of his throat as he took her. Her body wasn’t her own, reacting to every move of his in an effort to bring yet more sensation to their joining.
“That’s it, go with it,” he murmured, one hand braced on the door behind her, the other holding the back of her knee. He pulled it to the side, opening her further to him, and they both groaned as he slipped in another, impossible, half inch. So deep she wasn’t sure where he ended and she began.
Within seconds she was done, her body stretched so taut she was surprised she didn’t shatter on each breath.
“Logan…” She didn’t say anything else. Couldn’t. But it didn’t matter. He knew what she meant, knew what she wanted, and gave it to her. In spades. His thrusts sped up, and he impaled her on his cock again and again. He rocked his hips at the end, catching and grinding her clit between them.
She lasted three thrusts.
On the first, her entire body tingled.
On the second, time froze.
On the third, ecstasy exploded and hit her bloodstream like a bullet. It rolled through her, a wave of unstoppable pleasure that took her under, submerged and consumed her. Each thrust after that took her deeper into its embrace, each grind of his pelvis against hers adding another tidal wave to the storm. She whimpered, clinging to him as his movements became harsher. Then he slammed into her one last time, his entire body tense as he growled his pleasure, his cock jerking and pulsing as he bathed the walls of her pussy with his white-hot seed.
Their ragged breathing was the only sound in the close confines of the small room until, finally, he spoke, “We should get back.”
Dropping a kiss on her forehead, he pulled out. She shivered, a cold chill running up her back. “You go ahead. I’ll be right out. Need to sort this dress out first.”
He nodded, almost distracted as he zipped up and straightened his clothes. Then, without a backward glance, he opened the door and slipped back out into the party.
Zara leaned her head back against the door, a shuddering sigh on her breath. Logan was so distant at the moment, what with the pressures of running the league and her father out there still a threat. The image of the hussy in the red dress tried to intrude but she pushed it away.
“Things will get better, baby,” she murmured, smoothing a hand over her only slightly rounded stomach. “They will, I promise.”
The thing was, she wasn’t certain if she was reassuring the baby or herself.
Fucking men and their fucking stupid fucking games.
Zara snarled to herself as she pulled her car to a stop in a screech of brakes outside Tony’s gym and leaped out. The bleep of the central locking had barely sounded behind her before she crashed through the double doors and stormed through the gym inside. Fighters scattered out of her way, parting like a sea as soon as they saw the furious look on her face. Seasoned fighters they might be, some even champions of their class, but anyone who wanted to mess with a pissed off woman of any species was just asking for a world of hurt, and they seemed to know it.
The stairs passed in a blur and she threw open the door to Logan’s office to find the man himself behind his desk. He was dressed for training, a sleeveless hoody open halfway down to reveal his heavily muscled chest with loose sweats. Surprise and guilt swamped his features as he half rose from his chair. “Zara. I didn’t expect you. I thought you were at your appointment.”
“Don’t get up,” she snapped. “I’m not staying.”
Movement to her left and the scent of another female made her swing her head around. Her cat snarled at the sight of the woman from the other night sitting cozy as you like across from Logan. Like him, she was dressed for training, sweats and a hoody combined with a sports bra that seemed designed to reveal rather than support her ample bosom.
“What is she doing here?” Zara snapped. Last time she checked, Tony’s didn’t have any female fighters.
“Gabbi and I were just discussing her training program.” Logan stood, moving around the desk to approach her like a bomb disposal expert would a live grenade. “She’s a good fighter. We’re considering taking her on here.”
Zara’s eyes narrowed. “Oh, I just bet you are.”
No wonder he’d looked guilty. He’d obviously booked this little tête-à-tête while she was conveniently out of the way.
“Bitch, out,” she snarled, her shift magic swelling to fill the room as her cat moved up to just under her skin. Like Zara, the lioness was ready for a fight.
“Kitten, please,” Logan murmured soothingly, moving forward. She warned him off with a look and he stopped dead, hands out in surrender. “Please. Think of the baby.”
His words made her pause and then just increased her anger. Because of her pregnancy, she shouldn’t shift. She knew that, her cat knew that, but it didn’t stop her dropping claws, the vicious talons erupting from the tips of her fingers as she glared at the two.
“Get. Her. Out.”
He sighed. “Gabbi, could you give us a moment?”
“Of course, boss.” The blonde inclined her head and levered herself up out of her seat.
Zara watched her every movement. The woman was a born shifter and moved with the lethal grace of all cats. More than that, she moved like a fighter, with that inbuilt awareness all the good ones had. Other issues aside, Zara’s managerial instincts screamed for attention. If she’d seen the woman in the street, Zara would have moved heaven and hell to sign her to the Scarlet Moon.
The fact that she was a born shifter, a lioness, and looked like every guy’s wet dream, though, didn’t help Zara’s current mood. Not when she felt tired and dumpy. Hadn’t she been warned that Logan never stayed with one woman long? Why had she expected to be any different, especially when she wasn’t a born shifter…
Gabbi rolled her eyes at Logan as she passed. “Pregnancy hormones, eh?”
Zara’s warning growl followed the woman out of the room. As soon as the door closed, she turned on Logan, her eyes glittering with fury.
“How dare you change my doctor without telling me?”
Logan’s expression remained calm and neutral. Almost. She caught the small widening of his eyes and the flash of guilt, again, in the back of his eyes. “I didn’t think Kingwood was the best option for your care, so I arranged for an expert.”
Zara’s eyebrows shot up. “An expert?”
She advanced on him, finger with claw stabbing into his chest. “So you thought a human, with no experience in shifter pregnancies, never mind a lion pregnancy was the best option for my care? OVER an actual shifter doctor with many years dealing with all sorts of shifter issues?”
He backed up to the edge of the desk, only holding there when he couldn’t go any further. “Doctor Latimer is the best in her field, and she wrote some excellent papers on shifter pregnancie—”
“Bullshit!” she hissed, snarling up at him. “She might have written about them, but the woman’s never touched a shifter in her life. About crapped herself when I growled. I smell the lie on you, so what’s wrong with Ethan all of a sudden? Why don’t you want him as my doctor?”
“Oh, so it’s Ethan now, is it?”
His response made her eyes widen and then she barked a laugh. “You’re jealous! You don’t want him around me because he’s male. Is that it? So, basically, you don’t trust me.”
Logan stilled, his expression wary as though he’d realized exactly what a minefield he’d found himself in. She couldn’t bring herself to find any pity for him though, and instead waited for his answer, one eyebrow raised.
“I do trust you. We’re mated—”
“Mated, yes,” she snarled, her anger
spilling over as tears of rage and frustration welled up. Even mated and carrying his baby, he was looking elsewhere. For a real, born shifter female. “Yet you’re quite happy to cavort with that fucking hussy when you think I won’t find out.”
“Baby, it’s not like that,” he insisted, reaching for her.
“I don’t want to hear it.” She shoved his hands away and made for the door, tears beginning to fall. “Just leave me the hell alone, Logan.”
Chapter 3
Zara drove blindly, not caring where she was going just as long as it was away from Logan, until she found herself outside her old apartment. Taking a shuddering breath, she looked at it. She’d been meaning to cancel her lease and move out properly, but now she was glad she hadn’t. She needed somewhere quiet and safe to lick her wounds—a den that was theirs for her lioness to feel secure in after the upheaval that surrounded them.
A wave of tiredness washed over her. She hadn’t been sleeping right, the pregnancy knocking her around in ways neither she nor her lioness had anticipated. Then there was the worry. When she wasn’t worrying, her cat was, analyzing every little twinge and ache in case it could be evidence that there was something wrong with the baby. That it might be a halfling, a worry that had been escalating for a few weeks after Ethan hadn’t been able to get a clear image on the ultrasound. She nibbled her lip, holding her hand over her stomach as the baby kicked again. It didn’t like the cramped up position of the driver’s seat and was voicing its displeasure in the only way it could. Sharply, and repeatedly, right under one of Zara’s ribs.
“Shhh, no need for that, baby,” she murmured. “We’ll go lie down, take a nap in a minute. Just you see.”
Reaching into her purse, she pulled out her cell and speed dialled Ethan’s number.
“Come on, pick up,” she muttered as the call rang and rang. It wasn’t like him not to answer, especially for her, but she had no idea what was going on since Logan had imperiously changed her medical care. Sudden worry hit her. Surely he wouldn’t have done anything to Ethan… would he?
She almost chuckled to herself at the thought. No way would Logan go that far. He might have an evil reputation, but she’d discovered that was a front. Sure, he was ruthless and determined, but there was a good man buried underneath all that. Besides, Ethan was a wolf. He could take care of himself.
The call clicked over to voicemail.
“Hey, Ethan. It’s Zara. There seems to have been a mix-up with my medical care, and I wanted to check whether the ultrasound for this Friday was still on? I’m a little concerned over the baby’s activity and… you know…”
She trailed off for a second, worry hitting her again. After all, she wasn’t cat enough to hold Logan’s attention, so what made her think she could bring a baby to term when born-shifters couldn’t?
“It would really put my mind at rest.” She laughed, the sound strained. “I bet you get so many pregnant women with these fears, it must be so boring—”
She cut off at a sharp rap on her car window. A young woman stood on the other side. Zara frowned, cracking her window open a little.
“Sorry Ethan, I have to go… Yes, can I help you?” she asked the girl, ending the call with a swipe of her thumb.
Young, she had a mass of curly dark hair and piercing green eyes that seemed to look right through Zara. Dressed in tatty but clean dark clothing, she looked like one of the many down on their luck youngsters in the city. At first she thought the girl was a shifter, but the energy that whispered over Zara’s skin wasn’t quite right. It felt more like that of a magic user instead. That piqued her interest. What would a spell slinger want with her?
“I’m sorry to bother you.” The girl’s voice was light and musical, again with an edge that sounded almost shifter-ish. “I have a message for you.”
“Oh?” Given the way the girl was dressed, she’d half expected a plea for money but now she was definitely interested. “From whom?”
“Your father.”
“I want nothing to do with that asshole,” Zara snarled, baring her teeth as her cat joined her in an expression of pure anger. The girl jumped back, fear on her face even though there was a car door between them. Anger rolling through her to replace her previous weariness, Zara shoved open the door and leaped out to confront the youngster. “Do you know what he did to me? Tried to sell me off as a damn fight prize!”
The girl backed up fast. “I know, I know. He said he feels so bad about that, especially now he knows you’re…” She motioned toward Zara’s stomach.
“He knows I’m pregnant?”
“Yes.” The girl nodded, her big eyes entreating. “He said to say congratulations and he’s so happy he’s going to be a grandfather.”
“Really? He said that?” Zara couldn’t help the surprise that colored her voice. She wouldn’t have thought her father would care whether she was having a baby or not.
“Yes, he did.” The girl dug in her jeans pocket and pulled out a scrap of paper. She held it out to Zara. “Said to give you this.”
Zara frowned, suspicion rolling through her. “What is it?”
The girl shrugged. “Just a number. It’s for a lioness midwife. Apparently she’s the best with lion births…even halfling ones.”
All Zara’s insecurities and fears washed over her. The need to ensure that her baby was okay outweighed any suspicion about the source of the aid, and she reached out to take the scrap of paper from the girl’s gloved hand. As soon as her fingers closed around the paper she knew she’d made a mistake.
Gloves. In the heat.
Darkness enveloped her, cutting off all her senses, and she fell. The sound of the girl’s voice followed her into the blackness.
“Forgive me…”
“For fuck’s sake, Zara, pick up your damn phone.”
Logan growled to himself as, for the fifth time in the last hour, Zara’s cell went to voicemail. Resisting the urge to hurl the thing across the room, he put it down carefully and precisely. For one, it would ruin a perfectly good phone and two, it wouldn’t change anything about the situation.
Leaning back in his chair, he rubbed his hand over his face. Fuck. Why was she being so fucking difficult about all this? He’d only been trying to look out for her… He closed his eyes with a groan. Well, maybe there had been a little bit of an ulterior motive, but who could blame him? Ethan wasn’t just a member of the Kingwood pack. He was an actual Kingwood as well, which meant he’d been born into wealth and had attended the best private schools and universities.
He snorted in bitter amusement. The guy was a doctor for heaven’s sake…how much more intelligent and successful could you get? Certainly a world away from a street scrapper made good in the ring… No wonder Zara had gravitated toward him. She was cultured and clever, everything Logan was not. She and Ethan were cut from the same cloth. He should just let her go…
A knock at the door roused him from his private pity party. He looked up.
“Come in.”
The door opened and Gabbi popped her blonde-maned head around the frame. “Hey, boss. I’m heading out but I just wanted to check on you.”
He managed a small smile. “I’m good, Gabbi, but thank you for checking. Much appreciated.”
Seeming to take his comment as permission, she slid through the door, takeout coffee mug in hand. He looked at her curiously, sensing she wanted to say something else.
“Look, boss, I’m really sorry if I caused a problem earlier.” She looked away for a moment, color rising on her cheeks. Taking a breath, she carried on quickly, as though she had to get it all out in one quick rush. “And for the other night… I thought you were like most guys. But I was wrong. You’re a good man… she’s lucky to have you.”
Logan sighed, swiping a hand over his eyes. He was as tired as fuck. The scent of coffee rising from Gabbi’s mug taunted him. Perhaps he should go down and grab a mug himself.
“She’s pissed at me for changing her doctor,” he said suddenly
and then paused, surprised that he’d blurted it out. But he needed to talk to someone, didn’t he? And Gabbi was his people. She’d grown up in a neighborhood close to his old one. Of all the fighters in the clubs, she’d understand him and where he was coming from.
“You did?” Her open expression invited him to continue, so he did.
“Yeah. Doc Kingwood… from the league? He’d been looking after her, but it’s our first and I wanted to make sure she had the best care, you know? So I got this doctor who’s been studying shifter pregnancies, Latimer. But that’s wrong apparently.”
He sighed. “The woman has been dealing with human pregnancies for years, she’s got a freaking alphabet of letters after her name… she knows what she’s doing. I just wanted Zara to have the best. Is that wrong of me? It must be,” he concluded miserably. “Now she’s mad as fuck at me. I should have asked her, shouldn’t I?”
“Yeah, sorry but you really should have.” Gabbi grimaced, nodding.
“You can say it. I’m a fucking idiot, aren’t I?”
“You’re a man. That goes without saying. But you thought you were doing right. I mean, Doc Kingwood’s good but his specialty is combat medicine, isn’t it?” She shrugged. “If I was the pregnant one, I’d want my doctor to be an experienced obstetrician for sure. There’s a lot more to pregnancy than the risks because we’re shifters. There’s a lot of other shit that can go wrong as well…
“Not that I’m saying it will,” she added hastily at the look on his face. “Just saying I’d want them to know all that stuff as well, just in case?”
“Exactly!” He threw his hands up in the air. “You can see that, so why can’t she?” he asked, shaking his head.
“She’ll come around, boss. Don’t worry.” Gabbi smiled, reaching out to put the mug on his desk. “Got you this in case you’re pulling an all-nighter. From the looks of this lot,” she indicated the files spread over his desk, “you’ll be here a while.”
He blinked in surprise. “Err, thanks. That was really thoughtful of you.”
