Call of the Wild (10 page)

“Another one? How many times was she shot?” he asked as he helped turn her. The drugs were starting to wear off and she couldn’t hold back a mewling sound of discomfort. Aaron moved to the head of the table and buried a hand in her fur as he looked into her eyes.

“Why didn’t you sew up the wound? Why hasn’t she been anesthetized?” he asked the doctor.

“As soon as I get this second bullet out, she’ll be able to shift and that will go a long way in completing her healing. She’ll be sleepy. Healing during a shift takes a lot of energy. Other than that, she’ll be good as new. Now, where is this bugger?” he mumbled under his breath. When she snarled, he told Aaron to hold her still while he dug out the bullet.

Aaron put his hands on either side of her head and looked into her eyes. “Hold still, baby, we’re almost done. You do realize I’m really pissed at you for getting yourself shot? We’re going to be discussing this later.”

Marsha liked the fact that he seemed to care. She wasn’t too thrilled with his attitude though. She hoped he didn’t think he could tell her what to do. If he did, he had another thing coming. She would have continued her musing because it was distracting her from the pain in her shoulder, however, the doctor found the slug in her hip and she couldn’t stop the scream when he pulled it out.

“Yes, I know, it hurts like a mother. Well, all the hardware is out now so you can go ahead and shift; it should help,” said the doctor as he moved away to dump the bullet and wash up.

Marsha snarled again and batted Aaron’s arm with her paw.

“Okay, I get the message. Come on, Aaron, let’s give the lady some privacy. She’s feeling a little shy,” said the doctor.

The doctor didn’t really give him a choice. He took hold of his arm and pulled him to the door, shutting it after them.

Marsha took a deep breath and nearly passed out from the pain. She needed to shift. Her wounds were still bleeding, and the pain medication was wearing off. Ignoring the pain as best she could, she called her human self forward and let her cougar fall back. The cat wanted to get away from the pain and it helped her human self push through. It took effort to ignore the pain and concentrate on a whole, healthy body.

A few minutes later, she lay panting on the table. She was lying in pools of her own blood. Every muscle in her body felt sore, and she wanted nothing more than to sleep. She knew if she didn’t get her ass up, Aaron was going to come back in. Already, she could hear him trying to convince the doctor to let him enter the room.

She rolled over and swung her legs down to the ground. Half falling to the floor, she held onto the table to stay on her feet. When she decided she was steady enough, she walked over to a door at the side of the room. She knew it held a shower. There was also a closet with spare robes. She grabbed some flip-flops, put them on, and stepped into the shower long enough to wash off any blood from her skin. She was too tired to do much more.

Her muscles were shaking as she pulled on a robe. She was sure she looked like a fat drowned rat and could care less right now. All she wanted was to sleep. She would have to stay awake long enough to give her report, then she was going to sleep for a week.

As she opened the door, she saw Aaron opening the other door. He took three large steps and was by her side, scooping her up in his arms.

She considered objecting to his high-handedness, then decided to go ahead and let him do the work. She wasn’t sure she could make it on her own anyway.

As they stepped into the hall, she saw some security personnel there, as well as Laura and her mate, Alexander. She was fading fast, so she just concentrated on the most important information.

“The Society, they traced the Alpha here. Scouting…looking…for shifters,” was all she was able to get out before she dropped unconscious.

“Shit, we’ll have to wake her up and get a full report. We need to know if The Society is here in force,” said one of the security guys.

“She gave you enough to get started. Right now she needs to recover,” said Aaron. Before anyone could gainsay him, he marched off with her in his arms.

“Maggie, how do I get to Marsha’s quarters?” he asked, ignoring the people behind him.

“If you will get into the cart, I will drive you there. I am monitoring you both. Her pulse and respirations are normal. Yours are elevated. Do you need medical assistance?” she asked.

“No, I’m fine. I was worried, but once I see for myself that she’s okay, I’ll calm down.”

Back at medical, the doctor went in to clean up his room while the others gathered to talk. Luckily for Aaron, it was known he was likely Marsha’s mate. It gave him privileges that would otherwise be denied.

“Marsha’s going to be okay, right?” asked Laura. She knew her own abilities. She still wasn’t sure how the whole healing while shifting thing worked. The mind had to continually reinforce the healthy image. In real time the tissues took a normal amount of time to recover. The instantaneous healing was actually shifter magic holding their healed form until reality and thought realigned. It was why shifters who healed needed so much rest; the bulk of their energies were kept occupied maintaining a healed form. A severe enough injury could still kill.

“Yes, love, she’ll be fine once she’s rested,” said her mate. “If what she said is true, then we’ll have to take steps. The Society cannot find out about our enclave here. I’ll have to head back east. It will work with our plans, as I’ll be able to coordinate from that end.” He looked at his mate. “They can’t find out about you. You’re pregnant, we can’t risk our babies.”

“You’re right,” she said on a sigh. “I don’t know how long we’ll be able to keep this location secret. But the longer we can the better. It will give us time to build our defenses. I have some ideas on that. For now, we need to make sure The Society believes their scouts were killed by a genuine cougar and not a shifter. Isn’t one of the deputies a human mate? He can deal with any people that come to claim the bodies. It would be a good idea if he had a small cut of some kind and he let them steal a sample of his blood. We should also have some blood samples on hand from a wild cougar. We’ll tell anyone that comes that we had to destroy the animal. Give them an opportunity to steal the blood sample.”

Alex gave her a hug. “Just one of the many reasons I love you, brilliance under pressure. Make it happen, guys. I’m going to take my mate to bed.”

“Right away, Alpha,” said the security guy.

His alpha, though, just waved a hand in the air. If he were going to have to be gone for a couple of weeks, he planned to spend every minute until he left with his mate.

*****

In another part of the caverns, Aaron and Marsha had reached her quarters. Maggie had opened the door for him and then she returned the cart to medical.

Aaron stepped inside and looked around. He was curious about the way the shifters lived down here. He knew Marsha was a high ranking member of their forces. Her living space reflected that. She had three rooms: living room slash office, a bedroom, and her own bathroom that he could see through an open door. He carefully placed her down on the bed. He knew she valued her privacy. At the moment, though, his need to make sure she was unharmed overrode her wishes. Since she was out cold, she wouldn’t know he was looking.

He opened the robe and inspected every inch, paying particular attention to the shoulder where she’d been shot. There wasn’t even a scar. While he noticed her beauty, right now he was more concerned with her health. He turned her on her left side, pulling the robe down her arm. He looked over her right hip, thigh, and ass. He didn’t know how a wound inflicted on her animal form would translate to her human body.

Once he was sure there was no outward evidence of an injury, he tucked her into her bed. He was still worried, so it didn’t take but a moment for him to make up his mind to stay. Fair was fair. He’d seen her naked, so he stripped off the sweats he was wearing and got in the other side of the bed.

“Turn off the light, will you, Maggie?” he said as he pulled Marsha into the curve of his body. A part of him knew she was now where she belonged. That small part now had the task of convincing the rest of him and her.

“Lights off, good night, Aaron Donahue,” said Maggie the House.

Everything was quiet, so Aaron let himself follow Marsha into sleep.

The next time Marsha woke up, there was something hard poking her in her girly parts. There was also a large male hand wrapped around her boob. Her nipple instantly responded by hardening into a tight bud.

Even in this form, she knew the scent of her mate when he was wrapped around her.

“Good, you’re finally awake. It’s been something like ten hours,” he said as he nuzzled her head.

Marsha snapped her elbow back into his belly. “What, exactly, are you doing in my bed?” As much as she wanted to jump his bones, she knew she needed to start on the right foot. He didn’t need to know she was his for the taking.

“I hate to break it to you, sweetheart, but you talk in your sleep.”

His hand had started to wander, leaving her breast, traveling down to the juncture of her thighs. Before he reached her curls, she twisted her body. It was important for her to see his face.

Aaron wasn’t going to take a chance on her kicking him out of the bed. As she moved, he did also until he was over her, nestled in between her legs. “You’re right. This is much better,” he said as he leaned over to take her mouth.

Marsha considered fighting him for all of half a second. Then she wrapped her legs over his hips and her arms around his torso—she was all in.

After practically devouring her mouth, he sent his own on a tour of all the spots he’d picked out during the long hours of watching her sleep. First, there was that sweet spot behind her ear where he could see her pulse beating rapidly. Next, he nipped the curve of her shoulder, making note of the way her breath hitched, and he could feel her nipples hardening even more. He made her breasts the next stop on his journey. After licking the bud, he pulled it into his mouth and sucked hard, nipping the sensitive tip.

While his mouth was busy, his hands weren’t idle. He wanted to touch every inch of her body. He loved her ass, and spent a good amount of time squeezing and massaging those soft globes.

Suddenly, he came up on his knees and lifted her knees over his arms. “Sorry, I can’t wait. I’ve been hard since I put you in bed, and snuggled up to that world class ass of yours.”

His cock knew just where it wanted to be. After testing to see if she were ready, he guided himself to her opening and thrust home.

“Damn, you’re so tight and perfect.”

Marsha wasn’t listening. She needed him to take her…now!

“Move!” she shouted, raising her hips in an attempt to encourage him. That was all he needed. Spreading her open, he let his urgency guide him. He had her knees pushed up almost to her shoulders as he pounded out his need. Never had he felt as if his very existence was tied to burying himself so deep inside a woman their souls would touch.

Reaching down between them, he plucked at her clit. He knew he was close and he didn’t want to be so much of an ass that he didn’t have her come too. Marsha shouted his name as she clawed his back, her spasms triggering his own release. Damn! It felt as if he were coming forever, emptying his essence into her body.

He released her legs and kissed her temple. Both of them were slick with perspiration from their exertions.

“Thank you,” he said, kissing her ear and working his way over to her mouth.

Marsha was almost too tired to respond, but she just smiled and gave his shoulder a little pat, then let her hand fall to the bed. He’d worked her good.

Getting out of the bed he walked into the bathroom to dispose of the condom he must have put on before she was even awake, confident much! Looking over she saw she was right about his ass though, it was epic.

“Now that I’ve taken the edge off, we can have some real fun,” he said as he returned to the bed. There was an opened box of condoms on the bedside table, he put one on the pillow by her head as he leaned down and took her mouth again before she could object. She was tired so she lay there and let him make love to her.

It didn’t take long before he was rolling that second condom on. His arousal triggered hers, and she decided she had some more energy, after all. Either that or he was feeding her his.

The next hours were a revelation for both of them. Aaron knew he wanted her. He was frankly amazed that he could keep getting so hard with almost no time in between orgasms to recover. He blamed Marsha. She turned him on like no other woman ever had. He wanted to live with some part of his body touching hers, preferably inside hers for as long as she’d let him get away with it.

Every time Marsha tried to speak, Aaron would take her breath away all over again. He’d taken her fast and furious, and he’d taken her slow and sensuously. She wouldn’t soon forget when he’d flipped her over and mounted her from behind. He went so deep she could feel each thrust hit her womb.

Finally, they were both spent. The only covering on the bed was the fitted bottom sheet. They had completely wrecked the bed. They were sprawled out, side by side. Even now, Aaron had one arm and one leg hooked across her body, as if he were worried she’d get away. She wasn’t getting away without help. The bed wasn’t the only thing wrecked.