The Sigma Menace Collection

by Marie Johnston

  “My God, Mercury. That was just—just—”

  The intensity in his face didn’t show the massive ego boost he received from her spent reaction. Positioning himself at her hot, wet entrance, he thrust forward with no pause until he was buried to the hilt.

  Growling at the feel of her surrounding him, her body clenching and drawing him in as far as he could go, he paused only to let her adjust to his size.

  “I wanted to taste you, too,” she purred into his ear.

  “Later. I need to be deep inside.”

  Hooking her legs around him and grabbing his face to bring him to her mouth, he thrust his tongue into her mouth with the same rhythm he set with his body.

  Dani embraced him fully, hugging him even more forcefully. There was no way they could be physically intimate than they were now. He wanted every part of her.

  Opening himself up, he gingerly cast out the depth of his love and pleasure to her.

  With a gasp, she pulled back her head, awestruck. “I feel you.”

  The connection was open and he could feel her pleasure, and how it increased with each plunge. He pumped harder, feeling the hitch in her chest when the ecstasy intensified in them both. With one final surge, he let himself go.

  Their cries combined as orgasm hit them both, finally easing some of the pressure Mercury had built up waiting to take his mate again. Her walls clamped down onto him, enhancing the pleasure as her body milked him until they both could give no more.

  Mercury collapsed on top of his love, both of them breathing heavily, enjoying the afterglow.

  “I love you,” Dani murmured in his ear. “And I loved that.”

  A chuckled rumbled through his chest. “Then you’ll love this.”

  At her delighted giggle, he began thrusting again, rubbing her with his thumb until she was ready for orgasm number three. Pounding into her willing body, he relished the feel of his woman taking his girth, moaning for more, and losing herself repeatedly.

  Throwing his head back, roaring with the release, her legs wrapped around him, they both peaked together. Easing himself down to his side, he snuggled her into him with her back pressed to his chest.

  She reached for his hand, weaving their fingers together. He repositioned her leg so he could push into her from behind.

  “Mercury? Again already?” she asked, exasperated.

  Using one arm to wrap around her and massage her supple breasts, he slid his other hand down between her moist heat. Pumping slowly, he only rested his finger on her swollen clit.

  “Where do you think they coined the term ‘mating frenzy’?” Feeling her melt into him, he wanted to beat his chest with pride.

  “After this, we shower.” Her breaths were coming quicker with his leisurely strokes. “Where I will suck you dry.”

  Groaning at the image of her on her knees, the shower’s spray hammering at his back while she worked on him in front, he quickened his pace, his finger bumping on her most tender spot with each thrust. Within minutes, they were crying out together, his face buried in her neck, her face turned back toward him, as he filled her a third time.

  Mercury gave Dani five minutes of afterglow and recuperation before he climbed off the bed, and grabbed her ankles to slide her down. Her surprised yelp switched to a jubilant laugh when he swept her up into his arms and carried her to the bathroom for their shower.

  Chapter 14

  Her nose tickled.

  Dani roused from her warm nest next to the furnace she was now officially mated to. They’d fallen asleep curled into each other after the mating frenzy passed. Swiping at her nose, she felt something warm and slick. Swinging her legs to the floor, she sat up, feeling the drip fall to the floor. What the—

  Heading to the bathroom with her head back and her finger under nose, she flipped on the light—a bloody nose. Weird, she thought. She’d only ever gotten her nose bloodied when she deserved it, like during training, not randomly.

  She grabbed for a towel, when the cramps seized her middle. Dani gasped, doubling over, even looking down to see if there was a hot poker sticking out of her abdomen.

  Before her knees hit the floor, Mercury was at her side, easing her down.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked alarmed. “I smell blood.”

  Dani tried to say something, but her breath was stolen when another cramp hit. Crying out, she grabbed onto Mercury’s arm, leaving bloody fingerprints.

  “The baby,” she managed to gasp.

  Both she and Mercury looked down at the same time to see dark red staining the inside of her thighs.

  Bennett! Mercury roared mentally. Dani needs Doc Garreth!

  Grabbing the towel and putting it between her legs, he swung her up into his arms, cradling her into his chest as she remained curled into the pain. Gasping between bouts of searing pain, tears fell hot onto Mercury’s chest, mixing with the blood still dripping from her nose.

  Rushing out of the bedroom, Mercury grabbed a blanket to wrap around Dani’s naked body and snagged a pair of shorts and a shirt for himself off the nightstand by the door. Holding her tightly, Mercury sprinted out the door and down the trail to the lodge’s infirmary.

  The doctor met them by the door to quickly assess Dani. “Take her to a hospital. We aren’t equipped for this.”

  Commander’s got the car ready. Bennett rounded past them to hold open the lodge’s back door so they could run through and out the front instead.

  The black sedan was idling, with the commander holding the rear door open. Bennett went around to slide into the driver’s seat while Mercury climbed in the back with Dani on his lap.

  The commander’s face grim, he nodded to Bennett and shut the door. Dani didn’t need to look herself, affirmation was in the look of alarm fleeting across Bennett’s face as his eyes flicked down to the blanket. She could feel the wetness between her legs, dampening the blanket.

  The ride to town at illegal speeds seemed both excruciatingly long and alarmingly fast. In between the stabbing, searing bursts of pain, a dull throb settled into her lower belly.

  This is it, she thought to herself. I’m losing the baby.

  We’ll get through this, Mercury calmed her, picking up her thoughts, and Dani was grateful. The pain was too bad for her to speak, but they still had a way to communicate.

  The lights of the city flashed by as they crossed over to Freemont and sped to the hospital. Mercury settled her next to him only briefly so he could get dressed and then nestled her back onto his lap, whispering soothingly in her ear. She sunk into him, the anchor to her panic, grateful he was by her side.

  Pulling into the emergency room’s garage, Mercury pushed the door open and was climbing out before the car was fully stopped. The little elderly gentlemen staffed to direct the garage’s traffic was pushing a wheelchair over for them, but Mercury blew by him, storming through the double doors.

  An alarmed triage nurse looked as if she was going to try to stop them, but a quick look at the size of Mercury, and an even taller Bennett, had her faltering. Then her eyes landed on the now bloodstained shirt on Mercury, Dani’s bloodied face, and the blood-soaked blanket around her.

  “Follow me.” She led them to a single room. When Bennett tried to follow, she hesitantly stopped him. “Are you related to the patient, sir?”

  Bennett looked like he was going to push past her, but he glanced at Mercury instead. “I’ll park the car and wait out front.”

  The nurse shut the door and began to gather information from Mercury and Dani, who was thankfully in the system due to her prenatal visits. Another young male nurse entered, donned a pair of gloves, grabbed some supplies and began to unwrap Dani.

  It was a sign how scared out of his ever-loving-mind Mercury was that he didn’t growl or lunge for the young man.

  Dani tried to keep her breathing steady, concentrating on each inhale and exhale when the spasms hit. With each spasm, a little more blood seeped out between her legs and trickled out of her nose.

>   The next two hours went by in a blur. Mercury never left her side, holding her hand the entire time. They hooked her up to IVs, drew blood, checked her heart, performed an ultrasound and pelvic exam while Dani was in bouts of pain. They offered her pain medication, but she declined, unwilling to risk a mental fog during such a critical event.

  There was a female doctor, not much older than thirty, who introduced herself as the OB/GYN on-call and had been in asking her questions, but Dani hadn’t seen her since she was admitted.

  Almost as suddenly as the pain came on, it stopped. Just suddenly ceased. Residual soreness remained, like she had done a killer ab workout, but no more searing, stabbing pain, nor throbbing or gushing blood.

  Assuming it was over and their baby was gone, Dani and Mercury began the grim task of cleaning her up. The nurses had wiped quite a bit off her, but there was still dried blood and residue and she wanted it gone, if only to pretend their baby still had a chance. Grief clawed at her heart, but she remained resolute to hold it inside, until she was alone. Mercury’s emotions roiled off him, matching her own. No she wouldn’t be on her own; they shared this awful experience.

  An aid came in to check on her and brought clean linens. Once Dani was clean, the bedding and her gown changed, her and her beloved sat to await the grim news.

  “I still sense him,” Mercury said, finishing bitterly, “but I can’t tell if he’s okay.”

  She remembered when Mercury asked her if she sensed their baby’s gender and her delight when he told her they were having a boy. Tears poured down Dani’s face when she thought she couldn’t produce anymore. Mercury hugged her close, saying nothing.

  A quick knock and the door opened. The young doctor gave them a small smile, carrying a little device in her hand. “I just want to check the heart rate again and then we’ll go over the results.”

  Dani nodded despondently, dreading the anticipation of hearing nothing.

  “Now, you’re pretty early in your pregnancy yet, so we may need to do another ultrasound, but let’s give this a shot first. Just don’t be alarmed if I’m not successful,” she smiled reassuringly.

  Dani squeezed Mercury’s hand and stared at the tiled ceiling. The cold gel was a pleasant sensation after the heat of her painful episodes. As the little wand slid over her belly, she heard static-like sounds that were of no consequence and a beat that matched her own heart. The doctor’s brow furrowed, but she pressed on, making sure she thoroughly scanned both sides of Dani’s belly.

  The sound of a strong, steady rhythm filled the room with its rapid beat.

  Smiling triumphantly, the doctor listened for a few seconds before removing the wand.

  Unshed tears shimmered in Dani’s eyes and she looked at Mercury, terrified to be ecstatic. His own brow creased, silver gleaming through his eyes, not clear on what the sound was.

  “Is that—” Dani’s voice caught.

  “Your baby.” The doctor was still smiling, relieved not to be delivering devastating news to the terrified parents.

  “I don’t understand.”

  “To be honest, I don’t either.” The woman pulled up a chair on the other side of the bed so she could talk to them both. “Other than being a little anemic, but nothing critical, you seem to be perfectly healthy. As for the baby, the heart rate was lower than normal when you first came in, but now it’s sitting at a strong hundred and fifty-two beats per minute, which is perfect. All our other tests—perfectly normal.”

  She stood up. “My only instructions are to make sure you’re taking prenatal vitamins, so you’re getting enough iron, and to eat a healthy diet. Include a little more red meat and leafy greens until your hemoglobin level returns to normal. You’ll need to have your doctor recheck your levels at your next OB visit. Otherwise, come right back if you start cramping or spotting at all.”

  “So, what happened?” Mercury looked as dumbfounded as Dani felt.

  She shrugged. “We’re doing some coagulation tests to see if you have a clotting disorder, but I don’t think they’ll be abnormal. Before she left, she turned and joked, “Maybe you didn’t need all that blood.”

  Eyes wide, Dani turned to Mercury. Something Agent X said in the bookstore came back to her. Madame G will be pissed she wasted all that blood. The evil monster may have only needed a drop to bind her to a future baby, but months of growth would have increased the amount.

  “Do you think our mating overrode Madame G’s claim on me and our baby? Like our blood bond is stronger than hers?” She grabbed Mercury’s hand and placed it over her barely rounded belly. “Do you sense her taint at all?”

  Mercury closed his eyes, concentrating. When he opened them, relief and disbelief showed through the glowing, swirling dark silver depths. Slowly, a grin began to spread across his handsome face, showing off sharp white teeth, his fangs retreating.

  Dani bit her lip, afraid to be happy. “Do you think it’s the same for me? I’m not bound to Madame G anymore?”

  “I never sensed her taint on you, but you swore a blood oath to her. Do you feel different?”

  This time, Dani was the one who closed her eyes for inner reflection. Imagining that she was searching every corner of her consciousness, she floated through her own mind.

  “I feel free.” Disbelief quavered in her voice. “I didn’t realize how shackled I felt, feeling that little bit of her inside me.”

  Mercury dropped his head onto her chest, expressed a sigh, with his hand still placed on her belly. “You two might be all right, but I don’t think I will be after tonight.”

  Dani ran her hand through his short hair, watching the light reflect silver off the dark strands.

  Lifting his head, he grabbed her hand, kissing the back. “Let’s go home.”

  Epilogue

  “You gonna go the planet route and call him Mars? Or wait, Saturn! That’s a kick-ass name.” The excitement in Kaitlyn’s eyes was the only thing keeping her safe from Mercury’s irritation. She was genuinely psyched, but spitting out naming themes and ideas for the last few months was getting a bit trying.

  “No, Kaitlyn,” Dani answered with a tolerant sigh, taking another bite of breakfast.

  “Oh, right! Going the element route like Daddy. Maybe Barium, we could call him Barry.” Acknowledging the eye roll, she kept trying. “No? Lead’s hardcore. Oooh, Platinum! Yeah, maybe he’ll have that funky color thing going on, too. Cool.”

  They were the only three eating at the lodge, waiting to start their day. Mercury planned to meet up with Bennett after the Guardian got back from an interview. They were going to go check out the clan the female shifter claimed sold her off for amnesty. It had taken them this long to gather the evidence they needed to not only prove her story, but determine if it was a widespread problem. Their findings were disturbing.

  “Can we put her out of her misery?” Mercury grumbled around a mouthful of bacon.

  “Okay, Kaitlyn. Our official name announcement, just for you.” Dani grinned wickedly, almost feeling bad at Kaitlyn’s giddiness. They had told the others weeks ago, but kept Kaitlyn guessing. The female seemed to enjoy all the names she could come up with.

  “What is it? What is it?” She squealed with delight.

  Of the entire pack residing at the lodge, Dani should have guessed Kaitlyn would be their biggest cheerleader. The Guardian was full of a zest for life and anyone around her couldn’t help but ride on her coattails. She had even started buying baby gifts. Excessively. Dani had to ask her to hold off or they would run out of room.

  Rubbing her now rounded belly, also Mercury’s favorite pastime—well, second favorite—she gave a dramatic pause.

  “We’ve decided to name him after my father for the middle name, and keep an Italian first name.”

  Kaitlyn clapped her hands together, nearly jumping up and down, her long braid swinging behind her.

  “Dante Antonio Santini.”

  Kaitlyn threw her hands up. “Perfection!”

  She leaned down
to give Dani a hug, then gave Mercury a noogie while he scowled, hiding a smile.

  “Oh, Dani, you’re cooking for me tonight, right?” Kaitlyn asked. “I mean, I don’t want you to go cross-eyed staring at screens all day.”

  “You’re so considerate,” Dani said, with teasing sarcasm. “Yep, lasagna. My grandmother’s recipe—extra meat, of course.”

  “Hell, yeah. Catch ya later, bitches.” Kaitlyn left with a wink.

  Dani loved rotating the more domestic duties into her week between learning the security and computer systems. Mason’s death left an opening and now she could be like the rest of the Guardians. Finding a niche she realized she had a passion for, Dani dove into learning everything electronic. It kept her busy when missions took Mercury away from the lodge for days at a time.

  Once she had a good handle on that, she planned to work on cool experimental gadgets. She’d be like James Bond’s Q, noting with irony that she just referred to herself as a letter when she never did with Sigma. Q probably didn’t have a playpen or bouncy chair in his lab, though.

  “Ready to get your techie on?” Mercury stood and held out his hand to help her up.

  Dani looked at the male who had become not only her mate, but her partner and best friend.

  “Let’s do it.”

  Bennett narrowed his gaze on the deranged young man before him. Ratty honey-blond hair stood up in tufts as if the man in the metal gray scrubs constantly tugged at it. The round, padded room was a drab white, no color to be found. Only a shabby mattress on the floor and one blanket decorated the entire room. The man’s entire existence—brought down to one room and a blankie.

  Bennett agreed to talk with the guy because of details he revealed during a psychotic breakdown in Cassie’s office before she was ever introduced to their world. Fresh out of school, struggling to build her practice, she’d had no doubt this patient needed to be committed after hearing his ravings. He was a danger to himself and others.