by Dianna Love
He pulled in a deep breath. “You make me happy.”
She had no way to tell him how being with him had given her happiness she’d never before experienced in her life.
But she could show him. She shoved a hand inside the new jeans she’d bought him and grinned when she gripped him.
He hadn’t worn the boxer shorts she’d also bought.
Gan’s body tightened and his hands gripped her on each side of her waist. In a strained voice, he said, “I will do anything.”
Now was not the time to laugh at this powerhouse man who she held fully in her grasp. She snagged his lower lip between her teeth and pressed gently as she stroked him.
Eyes shut, he shuddered hard and muttered. “Too much. Too soon.”
She ordered, “Put your hands on the wall.”
His eyes flew open. He could defy her, but heat and need burned through those eyes. As instructed, he placed a hand on the wall to each side of her head and stared her down, challenging her.
Her skin missed him. Her breasts missed him. Her body begged for him.
Time for him to feel the same way.
Stroking his hard length again, she reached down with her other hand and massaged his balls. Muscles in his arms strained. His jaw flexed with the effort of holding back, because he was definitely trying not to let go “too soon,” as he’d said.
She would show him that sometimes it should be all about him.
She kissed his lips and down his chin to his chest. She used her tongue to tease his nipples on that thick wall of muscle as she kept up a steady up and down stroke. His balls tightened.
Lifting her head, she said, “Look at me,” just as he had made her do when the roles were reversed.
His eyes opened. The fierce gaze met hers.
Her fingers slid up and down again.
Shaking started in his legs and climbed his chest to his shoulders. He would not let go.
She paused and he made a sound of pain.
Then, very gently, she told him, “Show me you are happy.”
With that, she stroked him quicker and clutched his sack, then bit his chest.
He came hard, calling her name and pounding the wall with his fists. She hoped he didn’t smash it.
When she’d milked him dry, he dropped to his knees and put his head against her stomach. “You give me ... like no other time.”
She ran her hands through his hair, gentling him.
Yes, they had a mission tonight, but would not leave for hours. This could be the last moment like this. The last time she had a chance to show Gan what love felt like.
That word did not belong in her vocabulary when it came to men, but she could think of no other way to describe what she felt for him.
In a different life, he would be the man she would gladly mate.
This intimacy had been just for Gan.
She wanted him to remember her as nothing like those other women who’d used him in the past. She wanted him to remember her as the woman who had cared. She just could not tell him the truth, because he already returned that love without saying the words. Admitting her love would only make life more difficult for him when they parted, which would happen too soon.
She accepted that and would let him go when the time came.
What kind of twisted fate would let her live years convincing herself she could never have a mate then wave the one in front of her only to snatch him from her grasp?
When his labored breath slowed to normal, she shook off the melancholy moment. “Guess what I have, Gan?”
“Please say condom,” he croaked out.
So much for surprising him. She laughed. “Yes.”
For a man who had fallen to his knees, he came up fast, grabbing her and tossing her on the closest bed. Her back hit and she bounced in a fit of laughter.
Gan dove on top of Scarlett, but landed on his hands and knees so he didn’t smash her.
A condom!
He would finally be inside her.
Of all the women who had come to him as their dirty plaything, Scarlett treated him as if he really were special.
She looked at him as a man.
Not some secret to keep in the dark.
He couldn’t help the growl in his voice when he half asked and half begged, “Where is condom?”
Her eyes twinkled with amusement. She wanted to tease him.
Reaching between her legs, he gently teased her tender spot with a finger.
She arched. “My back pants pocket. Now.”
In a second, he had her jeans unzipped and shucked off her legs. He dug into both back pockets until he came up with his trophy, grinning like an idiot.
Both of her eyebrows lifted. “We doing this today?”
He bit the foil and ripped open the package, sheathing his now-hard-again dick. She had given him relief unlike anything he’d felt before. He should still be limp, but the thought of being inside her drove a new burst of energy through him.
With her jeans gone, she’d surprised him by wearing simple pink underwear she must have bought at the big store. He ran his hands up her legs until he could bite the elastic on her tiny panties and drag them down an inch.
Just enough to draw in a deep inhale of her.
He’d smelled her desire before, but never so strong and sweet as being right here when she wanted him.
And she did want him.
Leaving her panties in place, he ran his tongue up the crotch and her thighs squeezed him. He nosed her in the same spot and enjoyed smelling how much he affected her.
“No more condoms if you aren’t going to use that one,” she warned.
He laughed this time. He could easily tear off the panties, but he would not destroy something of hers.
Hooking his thumbs under each side of the silky material, he slowly slid them down to her knees then off her feet to drop behind him.
She sat up, reaching for him.
He moved to meet her, caught her wrists, and kissed her. Releasing her, he put his hands to good use and pulled her T-shirt off, breaking the kiss only long enough for the shirt to clear her head. Then he lowered her, kissing her the whole time until her head hit the pillow. She’d been running her hands all over his chest, driving him crazy with her touch.
He wrapped his fingers around her wrists again and pulled them slowly from his body. “Hold pillow.”
“I can’t. I have to touch you,” she rasped.
“Hold. Pillow.”
She muttered, “Dammit.” Then grabbed a fist full of each end of the pillow. “Happy now?”
“No. Happy soon.”
His hands were already on her breasts. He added his mouth to suck on her tits and tease them.
Her back arched off the bed. A ripping noise told him her claws had the pillows.
Leaving a hand on her breast, he used his tongue and lips to praise the smooth skin of her stomach and farther down, kissing the moist heat between her legs.
She made a sound of want.
His dick throbbed in response.
Their bodies knew each other as if they’d been this way for many years.
Keeping fingers on one hand busy teasing a breast and his mouth on the other one, he slid fingers through her heat, then dropped down to follow that path with his tongue.
She whimpered. He had never heard anything so wonderful. Her body tensed and shook.
He pushed a finger inside.
She cried out, pleading with him to keep going. To hurry up. To get done.
He smiled at every demand.
She could wait.
He moved his tongue faster, keeping in rhythm with his finger going in and out.
More sounds of cloth ripping. Her muscles tightened around his finger. Her body trembled.
With the next brush of his tongue and slide of his finger, she climaxed. He lapped up her sweet juice, pushing her release to go longer.
He had never lost track of time, but he did now.
When he had her
limp, he laid his head on her chest to hear her heartbeat. He loved that sound. She drew deep breaths, lifting his head up and down slowly until her body calmed.
Leaning a little, he kissed her soft nipple and licked it with his tongue, then blew on it.
Both nipples hardened.
Her fingers drove into his hair and gripped, giving him a tug. Her voice deepened with desire. “Come here, wild man.”
Swinging over the top of her, he lowered himself to kiss her softly.
She clutched his arms, holding him close as if she would keep him forever. He wished to hold her forever, too. She kissed him with soft lips, tasting, then her mouth demanded more.
Her knees slid forward as her legs bent. She moved until she stroked against his aching dick.
Enough. “Now is time,” he said on ragged breath.
“Oh, yes, wild man.” She reached down and guided him into her, moaning with pleasure when he took over and pushed deeper. She clawed his back.
Truly clawed it and he smiled.
He wanted only to please her, to make her feel the joy and power he did being inside her.
To see him as a mate.
She met his every move until he was pounding wildly into her.
Her body gripped him. She tensed, then called out, “Yes, oh yes.”
With her satisfied, he gave into the sensation racking his body and let go. He could not feel his body without feeling hers. They were one right now.
Time moved slowly at first, then he floated on a happy cloud. Not anywhere. Just with her.
Too soon his mind woke him.
He rolled over, bringing her with him.
Never had he held a woman like this.
Never had he felt this ache in his chest whenever she was not close.
His heart hurt over what he had to do, but his needs were second to what he had to do for her. To keep her alive, he would find a way to hand himself over to Lincoln. He did not trust that tiger to allow Scarlett to walk free with the other women.
Gan swallowed the moment of pain.
His life had never been his own and never would be. He could be a prisoner anywhere.
He would trade himself to Lincoln to free the women and Adrian.
Once all of them and Scarlett were safe, Gan would turn his tiger, Gemelo, loose on the stupid tiger shifter who dared to harm Scarlett.
Lincoln had to die before the Guardian called Gan to headquarters.
Chapter 28
Mad Red clawed at Adrian’s insides in a rabid push to break out.
No! Adrian powered that word to his animal through what was left of their telepathic link. They once had a much stronger one that allowed them to work as a perfect killing machine when the military needed it.
But now?
They used that line of communication to disparage each other.
You get us caught again. You hate us, his wolf snarled.
Did he hate both of them?
Adrian didn’t think so when he had so much hate committed to himself. How could he blame his wolf when getting trapped in a titanium cage too small to allow shifting at all had broken their bond?
Adrian hadn’t allowed the enemy to capture them on purpose, but the result ended up the same.
He’d been in his own mental hell while trapped. During that time all he heard were pained howls and crazy sounds from his wolf. Adrian’s wolf had been called Red by his brothers in arms, who piled affection on his wolf that took the lead into any dangerous situation.
Adrian named him Mad Red in Wyoming when his wolf started talking to him again. Gone was his best friend, replaced by a demonic animal who despised him.
He accepted that as his due.
His job had been to watch his wolf’s back just as his animal had watched Adrian’s every day of their joined existence.
But some days, the pain of living so close to the result of his mistakes crushed his soul.
“Cut it out, wolf,” a voice hissed nearby.
Adrian blinked to focus his gaze again. He had a habit of losing touch with the world. Bad habit for someone carrying a dangerous beast inside him.
Turning toward the sound, he realized where he was again. In a cage again, but he could stand if he wanted to and open his arms wide without touching the bars on each side.
Had this been built for a lion shifter?
No. Probably for a tiger shifter, based on the comments he’d heard while being brought here. Their alpha hunted strong female shifters, especially female tigers. That bastard’s cats had overwhelmed him and the female wolf shifter when they’d fought at the lake house.
Now he recognized the voice speaking to him as the female who’d fought beside him.
He didn’t even know her name.
She looked like hell with blood and mud covering her face. It had been battered looking when he first saw her. The bruises had begun healing.
That made sense.
She’d said the capsule in her back had stopped her from shifting. Her hair needed a bucket of water dumped on it to wash out the blood that had dried there.
Streaks ran down her face.
Speaking of water, he felt a drizzle falling on his skin and looked up at the rain. He should have noticed that sooner, too.
He would never be able to return to full duty again. Not with his corrupted senses. He’d put his men in danger.
“What is wrong with you?” she asked in sharp whisper.
Former instincts sometimes kicked in, like now. He sat up, alert and scanning the area. Two more cages were farther away. One held a woman, wolf shifter by the smell, curled on her side, looking asleep.
Not sleeping. She sobbed quietly.
Could that be the woman everyone had been trying to save? Fayth?
The last cage sat empty.
No guards nearby.
No obvious electronic equipment, but now that the fog in his brain cleared, he recalled taking in all he could as they dragged him to the tiger shifter.
“Are you mute? I recall you snapping orders before.” She hadn’t said that as a compliment.
Sitting back against the cage, he moved closer to the side nearest her, just as she had done in her cage. That limited how loud they had to talk.
“Not mute.”
“Then what’s wrong with you?” She shifted her position as if she’d been sitting that way a while and gotten stiff. Did she have injuries?
Why did he care?
The part of his soul that struggled to keep him sane said, Because protecting others had been most important to you and still is.
He could not accept he was still that man, but caring cost him nothing at the moment. She kept asking what was wrong with him.
Should he give her some answer that would shut her up?
One look at that determined face said he’d be wasting his voice. She’d call bullshit.
“We’re fucked up.” He always included Mad Red so the wolf wouldn’t feel left out.
In return, Mad Red slashed his insides. Adrian grunted. Fucker.
“I knew that,” she said the same way someone would say “duh.” “I asked what was wrong with you specifically. Your wolf was fighting strategically, which I thought you might have had something to do with until you shifted and fought them in your human form.”
“I did?”
“You don’t know? Shit, I can’t believe I stayed with a berserker. Scarlett’s going to get an earful for your crazy ass. Where’d she find you two?”
What the hell? She thought she could criticize him after he knocked shifters off to save her ass?
He remembered that, just not shifting to human to fight. Mad Red might have done that because Adrian did something dangerous like criticizing him during the fight.
Still, her words pissed him off when he thought he’d fought well.
Since she opened the door to honesty, he pointed out, “Why don’t you use the rain and wash that crap off your face and hair. I’ve never known a shifter to stay nasty when sh
e could clean up.”
Her eyes had been sharp and aggressive, but they widened.
Had he hurt her feelings?
Shit fire. He should not talk to anyone. Ever. He offended everyone around him, even strangers.
Truth, his wolf muttered.
Shut up, asshole, Adrian shot back. He had enough to do just trying to make conversation with this female.
Mad Red. Not asshole.
Adrian sighed and gave up.
He pushed his attention back to the female and sucked up his bruised pride. Not much left of that anyhow. “Hey, uh, whatever your name is. Sorry. That was not nice. I said I was fucked up. I shouldn’t talk.”
She pfft at him. “As if I care what you think?”
Good. He was off the hook.
Lifting her chin, she said, “Just to be clear, I wear this mud and blood on purpose. I do whatever I have to when fighting to stay alive. This protects me from predators.”
Those words resonated with him.
Hadn’t he said to all of his men, human or shifters, to do whatever it took to stay alive?
“Who hunts you?” he asked.
“The fewer I share that with, the longer I stay alive.”
Fair enough. He understood the only way to keep a secret was to tell no one.
She returned to her earlier questioning. “Why can’t you control your wolf?”
“How ...?” He caught himself before he agreed with her. He’d only admitted to being screwed up. He had not said he couldn’t control his wolf. “Why would you say that?”
“I can smell that attempt at lying by evasion all the way over here.”
That was not easy to do when she had to scent past the rank smell of dried blood and needing a bath.
His soul warned him to keep that thought to himself.
He sat there, unwilling to toss out words that would backfire on him.
Making a big ordeal of sighing, clearly for his benefit, she said, “When we fought Lincoln’s shifters, we had it down to two that were losing after the others chased Gan and Scarlett’s truck. Do you even remember when I shifted and told you we needed to run before I shifted back ... because you turned human and jumped back into the fray?”
No, he didn’t. He stared away from her, unwilling to admit so much loss of memory while he tried to rebuild what he could of his mind.
