A Twitch of Tail (9 page)

Tiduaron glanced at them and then the queen, before shrugging.  “As you wish, my darling.  See yourselves out.  The
leaving
starts promptly at three p.m. tomorrow afternoon in the training arena.”

 They exited quickly, leaving the three of them alone.

Tera looked up at him in confusion.  “I’m not wearing perfume.”

Melo picked up her hand and pressed it to his cheek.  “You smell amazing, sweetheart.  Like brown sugar.”

She smiled, some of her confusion easing away.  Then she looked at Tahlon and made a face.  “I asked you if I needed something nice and you said no.”

Tahlon trailed his fingers down her arm.  “I know, and I’m sorry.  I’ve never seen her dress for dinner like that before.”  He frowned, wondering what was going on.

“I’m sure she’s just being difficult,” Melo said.  “I think she was surprised that Tahlon is mated now.  She probably had plans to try to talk him into staying with the ambush.  She’s clearly upset that he’s leaving, and she’s being a bitch.”

Tahlon took Tera’s hand.  “Let’s get out of here.  I’m sure I can scrounge up something for us to have for dinner.”

Tera smiled at him, but it wasn’t a real smile.  Her face was far too expressive to fool him, and the tightness around her eyes and mouth told him that she was worried.

Leaving the house, he swung her up into his arms and sat in the back seat with her on his lap.  The drive to his house was short.  It was the home that he and Melo had shared.

Melo parked in front of the tiny two-bedroom house and turned off the engine.  Tera hadn’t said a word since they left the king and queen’s home.  Brushing his fingers across her forehead, he said with a low voice, “You okay, love?”

She blinked tear-filled eyes at him.  “I made things worse by being here, didn’t I?  I insisted on coming, and I’m going to get you killed!”  She started to cry, burying her face in his neck and squeezing her arms around him tightly.

Tahlon met Melo’s eyes in the mirror. Shushing her gently, he cuddled her closer.  “You didn’t, love, I promise.  She was pissed off from the start and looking for a fight.  I wish you’d never been exposed to her.  She had no right to behave that way towards you.  I wanted to rip her head off.”

Tera shuddered, her breath hitching as she tried to compose herself.  “I’m sorry,” she whispered, her voice cracking with emotion.

Tahlon leaned back, cupping her chin and turning her face towards him.  “Don’t be.  It’ll be alright, baby, I promise.”

She didn’t seem convinced, and Tahlon wasn’t entirely sure that it was going to be okay, himself.  But he did know he was the best fighter in the ambush, and he’d do anything to be able to leave with Tera.

He carried her into the house and when he tried to put her down, she clung to him, struggling to remain in his arms.  “Make love to me, Tahlon, please.  I need you so badly.”

Melo said quietly, “Go spend time with Tera, Tahl.  I’ll make dinner and start packing.”

Tahlon nodded his thanks at his brother, striding quickly to the master bedroom and kicking the door shut.  He laid Tera down on the bed.  Her legs wrapped around his waist, and her hands fisted in his shirt.

Placing his hands on either side of her head, he lowered his head and kissed her forehead and then both eyes, the tip of her nose and her flushed cheeks, before nibbling on her bottom lip.  Her hands slid through his hair and cupped his head as she angled her head and plunged her tongue into his mouth.

His fingers flew down the thin blouse she wore, opening the buttons hurriedly and popping the last two in his rush.  He fisted his hand in the back of his shirt and jerked it over his head, crushing his mouth back on hers again.  Their tongues slid together in a hot rush, touching and tangling, dancing together as her body moved under him.  The apex of her thighs rubbed against his erection that strained against the suddenly tight confines of his jeans.  As she arched under him, her body flushed and her eyes were bright with passion.

Undoing her slacks, he stepped back far enough to pull them and the tiny lace panties off.  He shucked his own jeans, his body shaking with desire.  He stepped from his clothes and straightened, drinking in the sight of his mate’s lush, naked body.  She arched up and turned onto her stomach, moving up on the bed on her hands and knees.  She glanced over her shoulder at him.  She didn’t say anything, beckoning him with the heat in her eyes and the soft panting breaths that escaped her parted lips.  He climbed up onto the bed.  She spread her legs further apart and lowered her head.

He stroked his hand up her back, brushing her hair off to one side.  She shivered, her hands clenching on either side of her head.  Trailing the fingers of one hand up and down her spine, he reached forward and touched her pussy, finding her hot and wet.  He soaked his fingers with her honey, parting her swollen lips with just the tips of his fingers, tracing a heated path from the hard nub of her clit to her entrance.  Her body rocked with the movements of his hand and she made low, impatient noises every time his fingers slipped over her clit.

Leaning forward, he planted one hand on the bed next to her head and kissed down her back while slipping one finger inside her.

“Tahl,” she moaned, moving her hips back.

He nipped at her back and pulled his finger out.  “Not yet, baby,” he crooned, sitting up and fisting his cock, rubbing the swollen head against her wet folds.  He eased just the tip inside her and gripped her hips with both hands, giving himself a moment to grab hold of his control.  She was so hot and wet and making little sounds that were maddeningly sexy.  He didn’t want to stroke into her once and come.

Gathering his control, he thrust into her with one hard press until their bodies were flush together, and she let out a low groan.  Pausing, he stroked his hands over her back.

“I love to see you like this, kitta, spread out for me.”

She moaned, and he eased out of her almost entirely, before sliding back into her slick core.  He began to pound into her, his fingers digging into her hips as he held her tightly.  He could feel himself drawing close to the edge.

“Touch yourself, baby.  Make yourself come,” he growled.

Her hand clenched on the blanket and then relaxed, sliding down the bed before disappearing underneath her body.  Her body bucked as her fingers began to move over her clit.

“Ah, Tahl,” she moaned, squeezing her eyes shut as her body grew tense.

“Come, Tera, come now,” he demanded, nearing the point when he wouldn’t be able to hold back.

Her body jerked and she wailed, “Tahlon!”

He roared his pleasure to the ceiling, driving himself deeply into her as his cock spasmed over and over, and her pussy clutched him like a vise.

Overcome with the need to mark her, to make sure that everyone knew that she belonged to him, he sank his teeth into her shoulder, his fangs elongating as his cock spasmed inside her.  She cried out, her voice raw with passion, her pussy clenching his cock.  Pulling his teeth from her shoulder, he stroked his tongue across the mark.  He dropped to his back on the bed with a groan, already missing the tight, wet heat of her body.  She moved to him, draping her body half across his with her head tucked against his shoulder.

Slowly, in the silence of the bedroom, their hearts stopped racing and their breathing returned to normal.  He stroked his hands up and down her back.

“Baby, when I break from the ambush tomorrow, there isn’t anything that they can do that will keep me from you.”

She lifted her head and looked at him.

“Tahl, I love you.”

Cupping her face, he kissed her.  “I love you, too, Tera.”

Her eyes shone with unshed tears, and she sniffled and laid her head on his shoulder, taking in a deep, slow breath and letting it out on a sigh.  He could feel the tension in her body and knew that worries plagued her mind.  He wasn’t immune to worrying over what would happen tomorrow, but he knew that no matter who he was chosen to fight to break out of the ambush, no one would keep him from returning to Tera’s arms and the new life that awaited him in Ohio.

“You’re mine forever, love.  Nothing will ever keep us apart.  I swear.”  He’d never spoken more truthful words.

Chapter 7

Late Friday evening, after a meal of boxed macaroni and cheese and frozen pizza that Melo had put together from Tahlon’s meager kitchen supplies, Tera left Tahlon in the bedroom to pack and found Melo in the second bedroom.  The room was nearly empty, with only a stripped bed and small dresser in one corner.  He was standing in the center of the room and staring at one bare wall.  She could see a faint rectangular outline on the beige wall, showing that something had hung there so long that the sunshine had faded the area around it.

He looked at her when she walked in and motioned for her to join him, and she slid into his embrace.  After a few moments of silence, he said, “Tahl and I were raised in an ambush in Europe.  Our mother, Cecily, had me when she was only sixteen.  Fifty years ago, a woman didn’t just have a baby out of wedlock, even if she was a tigress, so to keep things proper, her parents forced her and our father, Paul, to get married by human standards and mated within the ambush.  Our father ditched us when I was eight.  I remember the night vividly, because Tahl and I were sitting at the top of the steps and listening to them scream at each other.  Our father accused her of having me and Tahl to keep him tied to her forever, and she accused him of sleeping with every female in the ambush.  He walked out that night and never came back, leaving the ambush and his family behind.

“A few weeks later, she took us to our grandparent’s house for a long weekend, and she didn’t return.  Our grandparents never said for sure, but I’m certain that she never planned to come back.  They told us that she was just taking a long vacation, and for a few months we bought it.  But eventually it became clear that she’d abandoned us just like our father did.  I still don’t know what happened to her or my father.  She even cut off contact with her parents.”

Tera’s heart broke.  “I’m sorry,” she said softly.

Melo stroked his thumb along her jaw and shook his head.  “Don’t be sorry.  Tahl and I were raised by our grandparents who love us very much.  We had a crappy start of things, and it was hard as hell knowing that our parents didn’t want us, but we were lucky.  We could have wound up in foster care, living with strangers.”

He wrapped both arms around her and kissed her forehead.  “Our grandparents want to meet you.  We’ll go to Europe this summer, if you’d like.”

She smiled.  “I’d love to meet them.”

“Good.”

She said, “So you had to break your promise to the Europe ambush?  When did you leave?”

“We were born into that ambush.  When the time came to oath myself to the king and queen when I turned eighteen, I declined, so there was no promise broken.  I stayed until Tahl turned eighteen, and we came here to the Florida ambush.  At the time, Tiduaron was unmated and the ambush was much larger.  He oversaw our training as warriors for the ambush.  Then he mated Genevieve, and slowly the ambush began to shrink.  I never really noticed it.  It was so gradual, but she chased away the females so she could have all the males in her harem.”

“She’s selfish,” Tera said irritably.  “She had no idea if those females were possible mates for the males in the ambush.”

“True, but I don’t guess she cared.  She didn’t like the competition.”

Tera looked at the wall where Melo had been staring.  “What was on this wall that you were thinking about so seriously?”

Melo grimaced.  “The place was furnished when we moved in.  Hanging on this wall was a painting of a woman holding hands with two children while they walked along a beach.  I woke up every morning with the picture being the first thing I saw.  After a while, it began to grate on me because I’d never known that kind of affection from my mother.  I gave it away.”  He smiled sadly.  “I was just thinking now that if it was still there, I would imagine that the woman was you and the boys were ours.”

“Oh, Melo,” she sniffled.   She hugged her arms around him tighter, resting her head against his chest where she could hear his heart beating steadily.

He smoothed her hair with his hand and pressed a kiss to the top of her hand.  “You are everything I ever wanted in a mate, and someday, you’ll be the mother of our children.”

Lifting her head, she met his bright blue eyes.  “I love you, Melo.”

His eyes widened, and then he smiled before saying, “Oh, sweetheart, I love, you, too.”

* * * * *

Saturday passed quickly.  They ate breakfast out, since there was no more food in the house, and brought back sandwiches for lunch.  Tera and Melo helped Tahlon pack up the remainder of the house, which they were leaving furnished.  By two p.m., the SUV was stuffed full of boxes and bags.

Tahlon had been quiet most of the day, working silently beside her and Melo as they folded clothes and sorted books and CDs.  The training arena was close enough to walk to, so they left a few minutes before three.  The phrase “training arena” had conjured images in Tera’s mind of something from the gladiator days, with a dirt and sand floor, high walls, and rows of seats where the ambush would watch the training.  In reality, it was a large, wooden barn with roping that created squares like boxing rings.  Weight lifting and boxing equipment was scattered around the perimeter of the four rings.