Mating Instinct (Morgan Clan Bears, Book 2)

by Theresa Hissong

  “He’s a madman,” Ransom declared. “We all live in fear of him.”

  “Would you be able to run the clan in his absence?” Drake pressed.

  “No,” Ransom admitted, shaking his head. “It’s not that I don’t want to, it’s that the others, the elders, have relied on a ruler their entire lives. I have no knowledge of how to lead them. I have no skills, other than farming and repairing things. It would take me years to make enough money to support them.”

  Rex’s phone rang in his pocket, and he removed it to see who was calling, then frowned when it was Ada. “Is everything okay?”

  “Did you find them? Is it Luca and Ransom?” she asked, a vibration of nervousness rang true in her voice.

  “Yes,” he stated, turning away. He made sure the volume was turned down as low as possible, because shifters had excellent hearing. Rex wasn’t sure if he wanted Ada seeing these men yet. He wasn’t as trusting of them as she was. “We are talking now.”

  “Please, don’t hurt them,” she begged. “Rex, they are young, and they wanted to leave the clan. Don’t punish them for being kin to Robert.”

  “We are still working things out,” he sighed, lowering his voice. “I don’t trust them.”

  “They won’t hurt me or Anna Claire,” she growled. “I promise.”

  “Let me finish up here,” he said, clearing his throat. “I’ll be home soon.”

  She cursed under her breath as he hung up. Hiding the grimace from worrying his mate, Rex turned toward the males. He took a seat in the same manner as he’d done in the diner, hardening his stare at the older O’Kelly.

  “Are you willing to help us take Robert O’Kelly out of power?” he asked.

  “I’ll lay my life on the line for a chance to take out my uncle,” Ransom vowed, looking at his older brother.

  “When do we do this?” Luca asked.

  Chapter 14

  The trucks arrived an hour after Rex’s call. Ada’s heart thundered as she opened the front door. Tessa stood at her back with Aria in her arms. The flash of long, black hair in the front seat punched the air right out of her chest. She took one step over the threshold, then three more to reach the steps by the time they parked. When the doors opened, she ran out into the yard but was grabbed around the waist before she could launch herself at the two males from her clan.

  “Don’t touch them,” Rex warned. Ada hadn’t even thought about her inability to touch a male who wasn’t of her blood again since mating Rex.

  “I forgot,” she breathed as Rex released her.

  “Ada,” Ransom sighed. “You really are safe?”

  “I am,” she promised, looking over her shoulder. “Anna Claire isn’t doing well.”

  “Where is she?” Luca asked, his eyes narrowing. Ada glanced at Gunnar. His body swelled with his protective instincts. There was no doubt in her mind the male was her friend’s mate. It was sad, because Ada wasn’t sure Anna Claire would ever be healed from the things she’d endured over the last two months.

  “She’s in my room,” Ada admitted, looking at the Morgan brothers. “May we all go inside and have a drink? It’s been a long day.”

  “Come on in,” Drake replied as he took Tessa into his arms, positioning her on his left side. His hold on his family was protective, and while Ada understood their uncertainty, it was unwarranted. Luca and Ransom were good males despite their ties to Robert O’Kelly. “The sheriff should be here soon.”

  “Sheriff?” she asked, stopping at the bottom of the steps. “Why is the sheriff coming here?”

  “We have more information on the guns,” Rex stated. He didn’t go into detail, but from the looks of anger on Luca and Ransom’s faces, she knew they had more insight into what was going on than she thought.

  “Okay,” she replied, walking into the house.

  The males took a seat at the table as Drake retrieved several beers. He set one down next to Ada as she stood at the island in the kitchen. Rex silently offered his seat, but she shook her head in denial. At that moment, she needed to stand. Her beast was too agitated to relax. It was causing unwanted anxiety to her human mind.

  “I’ll go check on Anna Claire while you talk,” she mumbled and curled her fingers around the bottle. Once she reached the hallway leading to her and Rex’s quarters, she paused to take a healthy pull off the bottle.

  Rex didn’t follow her, and for that she was thankful. She couldn’t believe Luca and Ransom were in Olive Branch, and the Morgan brothers were accepting of them.

  Ada was honest when she told them she wasn’t scared of them. There’d been times when the two males were adamant about fleeing, but there was no money for them to travel to make their own clan elsewhere. Robert kept every dime for himself.

  “Anna Claire,” she whispered as she opened the door. The female was awake, but curled up on the couch in the living area of her quarters. “You’re awake.”

  “I can’t sleep,” she whispered.

  “Luca and Ransom are here,” Ada announced, keeping her features soft. She wanted to give the young female a sense of family, letting her know her cousins were there. Granted, they were right at her age, even though they were Robert’s nephews. There were other brothers in the O’Kelly line, but from what Ada knew, they’d been killed years ago. The reason was never known.

  “What?” she asked with a jerk, sitting upright. “They’re here?”

  “Yes, in the kitchen.”

  “Wait, how? Robert sent them to find you, and they’ve been throwing him off your trail for weeks,” Anna Claire said, using her father’s real name. It saddened Ada her friend didn’t have a father figure in her life. She’d been treated badly by the male, but the young female had remembered the integrity her mother had instilled in her from an early age.

  “I don’t know,” Ada answered. “The males are talking to them now.”

  “I want to see them,” she sniffled, standing up. She adjusted the shirt Ada had given her. Anna Claire was a little bigger than Ada, and Tessa had a pair of sweat pants that would fit her perfectly. It was all they had until they could safely take her to the store to acquire a new wardrobe.

  “I’ll take you,” Ada offered. “It’ll probably be best for you if you ate something too.”

  Anna Claire didn’t comment and followed Ada out of the room. When they entered the main house, the conversations taking place stalled. All of the men swiveled in their seats to take a look at Anna Claire. Gunnar was the first one to stand up.

  “Are you okay? Do you need anything?” he fussed.

  “I’m fine, thank you, Gunnar,” she whispered as she ducked her head. Ada didn’t miss the slight blush to the top of her cheekbones. Gunnar, however, did, and he dropped his shoulders in defeat as he moved to the stove to stir a pot of food.

  “Anna Claire,” Ransom greeted and stood from his seat. The Morgan brothers watched as the male approached her, holding his hands out as if to catch her if she fell. “They told me what happened, and Luca and I promise to make things right.”

  “Oh, Ransom,” she cried, rushing into her cousin’s arms. Ransom caught her as she fell apart. Ada’s chest ached as the sobs fell from the young female’s lips. A crash sounded behind her, and she glanced over her shoulder to see Gunnar standing at the sink with his fists balled as he leaned against the counter. Rex hurried over and spoke softly to him, pointing out toward the backyard. No one noticed him slip outside, ripping his shirt off his back as he went.

  Luca and Ransom held Anna Claire between them, letting the young female cry until she was spent. When she pulled back, Luca used the sleeve of his tattered, red and black flannel to wipe away the wetness from her face. “You’re going to be okay now.”

  “I’m just relieved you two are okay,” she sniffled, trying to compose herself again.

  “Your friends found us,” Luca stated, then turned toward Rex and Drake. “Do you see now that we will fight by your side? Robert had stripped his own daughter of her pureness. I want him dea
d for that alone.”

  “They are good males,” Anna Claire defended. “Please let them help you kill my father.”

  “Anna Claire!” Ada gasped at her harsh words.

  “I want him dead, Ada,” the female stated through gritted teeth. In an instant, she changed from scared to full-out deadly. Her eyes changed colors and her fangs thickened in her mouth. “He tried to have me killed. Dwayne wanted to ensure I never lived to see another sunrise. If I could, and if I was strong enough, I’d go right now and take him out with my bare hands.”

  “We will avenge you and Ada,” Rex vowed as he came to Ada’s side, taking her into his arms. “No one, male or female, should have to live in the conditions you all have been subjected to. Shifter law will prevail, and I will personally see to it that Robert and his two goons are punished with death.”

  Gunnar ran through the forest, letting his bear wear itself out. It took all of his human strength to not turn back for the house to console Anna Claire. Her tears broke him, tore his heart right from his chest.

  His brother had spoken to him softly at the kitchen sink, reminding him not to do anything to scare Anna Claire. He wanted to yell and throw more than just the damn metal lid to the pot he was using, but Drake was right. Any outburst would send her cowering to Ada and Rex’s room.

  Gunnar wanted her in his quarters so he could care for her. His beast knew she was his mate, and although the animal inside him didn’t understand the human side as well, he had to lock down his need to touch her. In all reality, his human mind knew it would be a long time before that female would be ready to find her mate.

  No one had to tell him what they’d done to her. Gunnar could see it in her eyes, her tight jaw, and the dark rings around her eyes. No amount of shifting from animal to human could heal the mental anguish she must’ve been dealt living with her father.

  Her fucking father!

  He shifted, standing in a clearing at the far end of their land. Drawing in a deep breath, Gunnar roared into the night, letting out all the pain from knowing his potential mate was broken and he couldn’t do anything to fix her.

  “What was that noise?” Anna Claire gasped, looking toward the back door.

  “It’s just Gunnar,” Rex offered as an explanation. “He’s out for a run. Everything’s okay.”

  Rex knew it wasn’t. The roar from his brother’s human throat squeezed his heart. There was anguish and pain in that release. There was no way his brother was going to be able to stay sane, assuming what had happened to Anna Claire.

  As much as Ada didn’t want to talk about it, Rex needed answers to take to his brother. Anything she could disclose would help the male. Fuck! The next several months were going to be hard on both of them. Gunnar would have to grow the fuck up real fast if he wanted to save Anna Claire, and she was going to have to come out of her shell if she wanted a chance at a life outside the O’Kelly clan.

  As far as the presence of the others, Rex was concerned what would happen with them. Ransom and Luca were in no position to run a clan. From the things Ada had told him, the homes on the clan’s land were in no condition to house anyone. They were beyond poor, and it concerned him Robert had been taking all the money he was receiving from nefarious sources. It was imperative they go after Robert O’Kelly as soon as possible. If he was funneling guns into the area, they might have bigger problems on their hands.

  “Sheriff’s here,” Drake announced as he stood from his seat at the kitchen table. He kissed Tessa on the forehead as she made an excuse to put their sleeping cub to bed. “Hurry back.”

  Rex urged his mate to take Anna Claire to the couch. They needed to ask her some serious questions, and he hoped she was willing to spill whatever she knew about her father and the two males who were helping him.

  “I need to talk to all of you about what’s going on with the O’Kelly clan,” the sheriff announced as he entered the room. Luca and Ransom stiffened as they eyed the sheriff.

  “You know what we are?” Ransom asked.

  “I do,” Garrett admitted. “No one knows the secrets I carry. Being a man of the law, I have to keep you hidden from the humans, but I must get those guns off the streets. It’s important you tell me everything you know.”

  “I’ll tell you everything,” Anna Claire spoke up, causing all the males’ heads to turn.

  “Anna Claire, my name is Garrett,” he said, introducing himself. “I know this is going to be hard on you…”

  “What I have to say needs to be heard, Sheriff,” she growled.

  “Take your time.”

  Ada held the young female’s hand, giving her strength. The fear that’d been in Anna Claire’s eyes since she’d been found slowly diminished, and its place was determination like Rex had never seen.

  Anna Claire painted a picture of a male who’d been corrupted by greed. The things the female knew were more than what Ada had admitted, and from the look on his female’s face, Rex realized Ada may not have known everything about Robert O’Kelly.

  Chapter 15

  The final decision had been made. They were going at first light to take down the O’Kelly clan. Ada had made them promise to spare the elders, because they were innocent. Rex and the sheriff assured her they’d bring them to the Morgan clan’s land as soon as it was over.

  Ada sat there the entire time, listening to Anna Claire’s cousins and the Morgan clan make a plan, but all she could focus on was her body and the fear she was feeling in her belly. She wasn’t sick. Hell, she didn’t even know what was going on with her and had chalked it up to her nerves, but during the last half an hour, the heat had changed to a tightness in her womb.

  Rex had glanced at her a few times since she’d started squirming in her seat. He didn’t say anything while she quietly got up to grab a tall glass of ice water. Even it didn’t help the fire she was experiencing.

  “I think I need to take my mate to bed,” Rex excused himself once they’d finished talking. He approached her, and she noticed his eyes flash gold, his nostrils flaring slightly. His hand appeared in front of her face, silently telling her he wanted to take her somewhere. When her fingers slid across his palm, she felt their connection and smiled up at him as he pulled her to his chest.

  “Let’s retire for the night,” he stated.

  “Okay,” she replied, releasing him to set her cup in the sink.

  There was a plan to go after Robert, but Ada was worried about the males. There was evil in her old clan leader, and she wanted to protect Rex and his family by telling him everything she knew.

  “Please watch your back,” Ada begged as Rex pulled her over the threshold of their quarters. Anna Claire was spending some time with her cousins. “Robert is vicious.”

  “With my brothers, the panthers, and Anna Claire’s cousins, Robert Kelly won’t stand a chance,” he promised, pulling her to his chest.

  “I feel so safe and loved when you hold me like this.” The electricity she felt every time they touched would never get old, and having his warmth surrounding her was a bonus. Her voice was only a whisper, but her mate heard every word. Whatever else she had to say about Robert was forgotten with her mate’s touch.

  “You are mine to love, mine to protect, Ada,” he replied, tucking his crooked finger under her chin. When their eyes met, he dipped his head, capturing her lips in a heated kiss. “Your mating scent is so strong.”

  His kisses sent a fire into the pit of her stomach. Their first mating had been beyond perfect, and he was quickly learning the things she liked and needed during their time together. Rex was a thoughtful lover, making sure she was satisfied.

  “Mmmhmmm,” she hummed when he lifted her, wrapping her legs around his waist. Ada dug her fingers into his massive arms, using her thumb to trace the ink of his tattoos. She loved looking at the vibrant colors.

  His mating scent was stronger too, and her beast prowled in her mind, demanding they come together as a mated couple. She felt different than when they had first touch
ed. His skin was warmer to the touch, and she couldn’t get enough.

  Her body rocked as he took powerful steps toward the bedroom. He never stopped kissing her, even when he paused to kick the door closed. She tangled her fingers in his long hair at the base of his neck, tightening her hold as she rubbed herself against his hardness. Wetness pooled between her legs, and she whined as a heaviness formed in her breasts. Ada wanted him to touch her with his strength. Could he hold her tight enough without hurting her? She wanted that…no, needed the touch of her mate. The idea excited her more as the ache between her legs heightened.

  “You want my cock, sweetheart?” he growled, his fangs thickening in his mouth.

  There was something feral about a male partially shifting for his mate. It was a sign of their dual nature taking over; the need to connect with their mates. It wasn’t just Rex. Ada’s fangs were thick, and her eyes had given over to her beast’s coloring.

  “I need you inside me, Rex,” she begged, reaching up the back of her shirt to unhook her bra. When it was free, he tossed her on the bed, pulling a giggle from her lips.

  “Get undressed, Ada,” he ordered, but took control, practically ripping her shoes, socks, and jeans from her body. She struggled to pull her shirt over her head.

  When she was bare, Rex placed one knee on the bed directly between her legs, planting his fists at her hips as he leaned over her body. His hair hung low, covering the sides of his face. When he looked at her, she saw the raw need in his eyes and her beast growled with approval.

  Ada frantically reached for his shirt, pulling at the material as he ducked his head to kiss her belly. Once the material was free, he prowled up her body, his muscles rolling and swelling as he moved over her. She reached for the button of his jeans, popping the top one with ease. He took care of the rest on his own, but didn’t leave her there for long.

  “Open for me,” he purred as she relaxed, letting her legs fall open.