Brandi (25 page)

The confession was torn from his throat as she leaned back and looked into his gaze. Then her teeth were on his neck and sinking in at the same time she slid down his full length again. It was heaven and hell happening at once. He yelled in triumph because she’d bitten him first.

Then his fangs lengthened in his mouth, as painful as everything else on his body. He bent to her neck and returned the torment to her, sinking them in deep. If this mating brought his death, so be it. In this woman’s arms was the way he wanted to go.

Brandi quivered at his bite, her orgasm propelling them both over as her body stilled and locked around his in mind-blanking pleasure. Gareth filled her body and emptied himself in the process, even though his erection remained steady and strong after.

While the pleasure ebbed, they remained unmoving, painfully but pleasurably connected. He had never been more contented with a woman in his entire long life.

Fearing Brandi might be suffering more than him, Gareth withdrew his fangs first, breathing hard as they receded in his mouth. He licked the unfortunately large puncture wounds his older teeth had made in her and winced at the surrounding bite he hadn’t even been aware of delivering to her fragile skin. Even healed, his mating mark was going to be a highly noticeable scar on her. He hadn’t had the presence of mind to be more careful.

Gareth put his lips over it, kissing it reverently. At least his mark on her would be one fight completely worth the battle. The thought made him smile against her.

When Brandi finally withdrew her fangs, Gareth was surprised to feel a little bereft. Following his lead, he felt her soft warm tongue licking across the wound. He got a little electric jolt with every stroke. He hadn’t been bitten during his other matings, but Brandi’s fangs were the least of the brands he expected to be wearing of hers. The scar on his forehead from their first physical fight was still healing.

His erection twitched, already wanting more. And he would have more.

Fearing Brandi might stop him if he asked how she was doing, Gareth rolled them sideways until she was positioned under him. His body did what it wanted without his prompting. There was a profound relief in every thrust home. Her back arching to tilt her hips for access was his favorite concession, one of the few he had learned to count on from her.

“Gareth… stop for a minute… if you can.”

He paused and pushed in hard, immersing himself in his idea of heaven. He also hardened his heart to hear her regrets. “Am I thrusting too hard?” he asked, stalling for time. Her hands framing his face had him looking at her in concern.

Brandi blinked and stared into her lover’s worried gaze. She was such a bad bet, but Gareth had taken her on anyway. “Don’t be ridiculous. I want it faster and harder… as hard as you can make it. But first I wanted to ask you a favor.”

Gareth withdrew and thrust slowly, watching her face. In her expression he saw her acceptance and her eyelids lowered as lust turned her face pink. “This is a good time to ask. I’d say yes to just about anything right now. You are so damn beautiful. I should have told you that from the very beginning. No wonder you didn’t think I was serious.”

Brandi swallowed hard and felt her face heat. “Thank you for the compliment, but I wasn’t fishing. Now I’m embarrassed about what I wanted to ask.”

Gareth snickered as he lowered his weight onto her and laid his head beside hers on the pillow. In bed, their heights matched perfectly. “Embarrassing you was not my intention. What did you want to ask? Hurry, I’m about to run out of patience here. I’m… riled up. Claiming you is going to take a while, even for an old guy like me.”

Brandi turned her hot face to his. “I thought maybe you might tell me you love me while you…” She dropped her gaze from his when his eyebrow shot up in disbelief. “Forget it. It’s dumb. I just thought… no man has ever… fuck this sappy shit. I told you I suck at this girlie stuff.”

Gareth’s loud growling in her ear startled her, but it was her hips being yanked up hard that she found alarming. “Gareth… what?” But questions and protests died as he molded her body to his. He wasn’t joking about him doing what he wanted to her. A second orgasm shook her body like a seizure.

“That’s how much I love you, and there’s still more,” Gareth said roughly.

Then pulling out of her still quivering body, he flipped a protesting Brandi over. Once on her stomach, he pulled her hips up until he could get inside her again from behind. Once fully seated, he rocked her body up on his thighs and pulled her to her knees, keeping her spread open.

He put one arm around her front and gripped her hair with the other. He gave a good solid tug backwards while he thrust up hard and deep. His mouth found her ear.

“Mine completely,” he whispered, being stern. “Mine to love. Mine to do this. You are my everything. Get used to it. Say okay now so I know you’re hearing me.”

Brandi quivered in his arms. Damn the man was amazing when he was in this mood. A short laugh escaped her. She was happier at that moment than she could ever remember being. And this was the only place she was ever going to let Gareth order her around.

“What if I don’t say okay?” she asked, just to hear his reply.

His hand loosened in her hair. His arm around her went slack. Brandi moaned as she started to fall forward. “
No—don’t turn loose
,” she cried, tightening on him as best she could.

Gareth’s satisfied laugh in her ear was nearly evil, but his hand gripped her hair again harder than before. His mouth went to her shoulder and sucked as he lifted her whole body in the air with every upward thrust. She was shaking hard and pushing back on him to keep from falling out of his arms. When he yelled in release, it sent her spiraling into another long orgasm herself.

After that was done for both of them, his hands came around her front and cupped her breasts. His support was all that was holding her upright and it made her laugh.

“I do love you, Brandi.”

Gareth’s profession had tears gathering in her eyes. “I don’t know if I’m starting to love you or not, but I no longer want to kill you. Can we let that count as my warm and fuzzy feeling about this?”

Gareth grinned as he thumbed across two nipples which both pebbled under his stroking. They hadn’t even gotten to the good stuff yet. It was going to be a mating night for them both to remember.

“Not wanting me dead is a good start, I suppose. I’ll show you a few more good reasons to keep me alive later. Then I’ll show you some more tomorrow... and every other night we’re together for the rest of our lives.”

“Deal,” Brandi whispered, moaning at his exquisite torture of her.

His fangs nipping her shoulder again sent shivers coursing through her as Gareth pushed her down to the bed and made her happy with him all over again.

Chapter 19

The next morning Gareth pulled his mate’s slack, but very warm body over his. Damn it. He didn’t even feed her last night. It was a wonder Brandi wasn’t more ill. It was definitely a wonder he hadn’t damaged her. He hoped her nanos could handle him because he already wanted her again.

Brandi groaned against his shoulder. “What time is it? Do we have to get up?”

“It’s 0-cat-thirty. Don’t you smell them?” Gareth asked.

Brandi sniffed the air. Her stomach growled when she thought she smelled food. Did wolves eat panthers? Yuck.

She laid her head back down on Gareth’s chest. She was starved but too tired to eat. Her body ached and it was the first time she’d felt true discomfort since her conversion. Gareth had obviously outpaced the nanos last night in his use of her. She felt his erection pressing against her belly again now and snorted. She couldn’t help wondering what he’d been like as a younger man.

“No. No more sex until you feed me. My nanos haven’t caught up with your abuse yet. And my brain is mush from all the endorphins.”

“Glad to hear both those things. How are you otherwise?” Gareth asked softly.

Brandi raised her head at his concerned tone. “You mean emotionally?”

Gareth nodded. “Yes. I guess that’s what I meant.”

Brandi folded her hands and put her chin on them. “Well, I’m not angry, upset, or feeling the urge to throttle anyone this morning. I believe that might be a first for me.”

Gareth laughed. “And it only took fourteen orgasms to put you in a mellow mood.”

“Thirteen,” Brandi corrected. “Sorry. I faked the last one. I was tired.”

His punishing pinch sent her rolling off him in laughter. She knew his ego wasn’t really harmed by her confession. And it had been the truth.

She rolled off the bed and to her feet, moaning as she stood. It had her laughing again. Her walk to the bathroom was not very steady. Her legs felt like jello… something that had never happened to her before. When she exited the bathroom, she was walking a bit steadier, but her muscles still ached.

“Where the hell are my clothes?”

Gareth rolled off the bed, feeling like a million bucks. He reached under it and pulled out her duffle. “Your jeans were salvageable and they’re being cleaned, but your shirt had who knows what kind of blood on it. I sent it with Fallon to be burned at the facility.”

Brandi dug through the contents of the bag, pulling out clean clothes. She smiled as she pulled on jeans that now fit a little more loosely. She pulled on a t-shirt and sat on the bed to pull on socks.

“So I’ve been out of it for two days. What happened to Jon and Susan?”

Gareth huffed out a breath. “We’ll talk about that later. I need to use the facilities right now. You probably should go out and greet our unwanted guests. Don’t kill them until I’m there to witness it.”

Brandi snorted as he ran to the bathroom. “Coward,” she called.

If Gareth was going to tell her Jon and Susan were now in one of Sheldon’s lab cages, she didn’t want to hear it anyway. Those people didn’t belong in a cage. If Jon was able to help the others, there was no good reason not to let them all go home to their children and the life they wanted to be living. If Sheldon wanted their cooperation with his freaking testing, he could damn well offer them something in exchange. If they didn’t want to be studied, Sheldon would just have to wrap his stubborn scientific mind around that.

Then she remembered Danger Brain Diane. And the testosterone amped up guard. What had been their fate? She looked at the bathroom and snorted. She also wondered if Fallon and Lars would tell her.

Standing, she ran a hand over her nearly shoulder-length hair, immediately remembering Gareth passionately holding her captive by it last night. The effects of that recent memory went straight to her groin, making her hunger again for the man now hiding in the bathroom to avoid her questions. She hoped the urge to kill him stayed away.

Maybe she’d focus on the great sex like Ariel said she did with Matt. The sex was certainly phenomenal. Maybe she’d let her hair grow out long enough for Gareth to wrap around his wrist.

Rolling her eyes at her rationalizing, Brandi took a deep breath and headed out to see Fallon and Lars.

***

“Look Lars. She lives
and
she’s still able to walk this morning. I am disappointed in the prowess of the great Gareth Longfeather,” Fallon declared.

Brandi raised her middle finger. It served only to make Fallon laugh. Ignoring him, she turned to her other visitor. “Hello Lars. How are you feeling?”

“Much better—thank you for asking. The inside of me has finally caught up with the outside. I will certainly think twice before angering Gareth again. I am sorry I missed your great battle with Dr. Crane’s sister. Fallon said he missed seeing it as well. Your mate would not say how it was he was involved in the fight. As usual, Gareth says nothing interesting.”

“Well, I don’t mind telling you. Even though I didn’t need the help, Gareth got all macho and jumped in front of a tranquilizer gun to protect me. The dart took him out. I took out Diane afterward. The woman would be dead now if not for Fallon. He whacked her with his mojo and made me go rescue the bears instead.”

“Yes. He told me. Too bad Diane Crane got away,” Lars declared.

“Got away?” Her irritated gaze swung to Fallon’s. “Damn it. Diane Crane got away?”

Fallon nodded. “So it seems. She was not present when we went back for her and the guard. The guard never recovered and died on the trip back to Virginia. We think Diane Crane killed him quietly before she ran. We were too busy with the bear hybrids and our very brave fallen agent to chase after a scientist. I’m sure we will be seeing her again. ”

Brandi sank into a seat at the tiny dinette table. Lars put a caffeinated soft drink in front of her which she gratefully sipped. Sugar and caffeine—the winning combination to chase away her sex hangover. “What happened to Jon and Susan? That’s all I really care about anyway.”

Fallon and Lars exchanged looks instead of answering. Finally, Fallon turned to her. “So Gareth did not tell you what he did?”

Brandi sighed and leaned back in her chair. “No, he didn’t tell me anything about what happened. But if Sheldon has put those poor people in cages, I’m going to kick some government scientist ass.”