Changeling Winds: Episode Two (The Bachelor Battles Book 2) (16 page)

Jason

The taste of her!

I lashed my tongue against her nub and drew another cry that had my hand coming up to hold a bare cheek so she couldn’t get away. I lashed her again, lingering to swirl, and felt her claws rip into my shoulder.

The Change was coming, I needed to get her other hand cuffed, but she begged! The sound of it had me sucking on that sweet nub and holding on as she jerked violently in pleasure.

More pain as she clenched a tight fist into my back, and then she was melting against me, filling my head with noises that had me thrusting against her leg
. I wanted her!

I took her up the levels quickly, but the urge to slow down and make it good for her, was unexpected. She was silken under my tongue, her rough groans sending heat into my gut, and when she raked me again in her climax,
I
grunted at the feel of it. This was the reaction Rankin had forced from me with her drugs and threats - the one she’d never been able to get willingly.

Angelica had frozen, realizing I was swept up in her pleasure and I braced for a punishment. Rankin only let me enjoy things on her terms. I drew back slowly.

“Stand up.”

Hearing that tone, I was suddenly unsure. Had I gone too far? I wiped a fast hand over my chin, and straightened with my pants jutting out against her stomach.

“This wasn’t part of our deal.”

My head shot up at the gravelly tone, and I realized she wasn’t satisfied despite the orgasm. The Change was still here, glinting at me. How could she even talk when she was like that?

“It is now.” My desire and her lack of anger made me reckless. “This is a part of my retraining.”

I leaned forward to press a soft kiss to her cheek, and the movement put us chest to chest. I sucked in air at the chill of desire, caught off guard. My body was still tight, a condition I was usually forced to tolerate until it left…

“Make contact, talk to me, be yourself with no rules or limits.

I swallowed my fear and did as I’d been instructed. I slipped my arms around Angelica’s bare skin and held her close.

My lips went to that spot just under her ear and she started to protest, unsure of my intentions.
Wise
, I thought, sliding forward to rock our bodies together. Rankin sometimes snapped when I did that, but Angelica only stayed still and let me have my way. Encouraged, I moved a little faster, hoping she wouldn’t make me stop yet.

Angelica

His lust was an impossible lure and I held as still as I could, feeling it, absorbing it. He was getting rougher as his own desires grew, and I did a fast evaluation of my control.

I found that the flames had been replaced with a deep ache I could manage… except, now I was extremely curious. The fire was still there, but distant. How far could I shove it back without breaking my own rules? Did I even care about rules right now?

“Yeah, that’s good,” Jason moaned against my neck, big hands on my bare breasts.

I shuddered. No, I didn’t care about rules. I liked his pleasure, a lot. It was pulling those flames back around me now like they’d never left and I arched toward him. He could go as far as he wanted as long as he didn’t stop yet. Afraid of scaring him, I kept my hands at my sides, lids closing again as he used my body for
his
pleasure.

Jason

I was on fire.

Her musky scent was in my nose, her taste in my mouth. I wanted her and there was no fear of what might happen afterward. Rankin had driven me crazy with these feelings some nights, and left me without a final part of the puzzle. I’d been relieved each time I came back to myself, but it would kill me to stop this.

Angelica’s body shuddered as I sucked on her neck, hips thrusting harder. I knew that level of need and I faded into sessions of lust where relief hadn’t come. With each one, I’d become more aggressive, until I was earning a punishment every time…

That thought cooled me off a bit, and I ripped my mouth from Angelica’s hot skin.

Her lashes fluttered to reveal piercing shades of red need. “Don’t stop now.”

My hands went to the buckle of my jeans before I could think, and I moved closer as she spread those long legs.

I dropped my jeans, hand curling around iron as I stepped between them, and her face flooded with hunger. Her hand moved for the ridged part of me that instantly snapped up harder at her attention. Scarred, razor-clawed fingers slid gently around me, tightening... air… where was the air?

Her legs came up to pull me closer and I placed my hand over hers, showing her how to please us both.

She caught on quickly, beginning long strokes with her hand that rubbed our bodies together in perfect flares of pleasure. I sent my fingers to her pointed breasts without asking.

“
Mmm
…” she groaned, stroking me faster.

My mouth went back to her neck, suckling, and she tightened her grip until I couldn’t find the air again. Each stroke of her hand rubbed me through her satin wetness and put me closer to impurity than I’d ever been. Rankin had never let me get this close to that particular area.

I felt Angelica’s body tightening, going over that edge again, and I arched forward. Her heat opened to me and I slipped between the folds and over the cliff, too, joining her in pleasure.

I bucked against her tightness, already wishing it wasn’t over. We’d cum together and it was a powerful moment for me. I’d never willingly given a woman pleasure, nor had her return the favor. What I wouldn’t give to be free to do this whenever I wanted!

Angelica

I used a quick twist to rip the cuff from the wall, drawing a shocked look.

“Get a bandage on that!”

Staring at those familiar, lightly bleeding claws lines, I was mortified by my lack of control. Jason was a defenseless male and I’d hurt him, taken advantage. I was no better than the headhunter on his trail or the Network that had enslaved him. He wasn’t safe around me.

“Why… did you play the Game… instead of… buying a mate?”

I gaped at him in surprise. Didn’t he know blood pushed it back?
“The Change.”

Jason understood there was more and insisted gently as he pulled up his pants.

“But why… all this?”
He asked, getting his breath back. “Surely you know other males.”

I bit back a sharp remark. I knew hundreds of them if I counted the rebels, but I wanted what Candice had fought for and gained. How did I explain that?

“I’m a Pruett. We aren’t like the rest.”

He didn’t understand, and I tried to put it in terms he might be able to accept. “I don’t want a mate to service my needs.”

What a liar!

“I want that ideal match. For me, it’s remission or nothing.”

Now he was the one not sure what to say, but that beautiful face was easy to read. He was still keeping secrets.

I dropped my head, eyes flat black. “This is not a necessary part of our arrangement, Jason. Service is not....” I choked, still pulsing with the powerful relief he’d given me. “The service was
amazing!
”

I lunged for the door. Daniel had said they would feel it, too, but I’d chosen wrong. I didn’t have a mate and now the fire would increase. Too much longer in the flames and I would snap.

I slammed the master door behind me, heading for my kit, my extra clothes. I’d lost control, taken advantage of a male. I couldn’t stifle another angry noise. I’d lost more than that. He wanted to be free and I was taking it out in trade. The Pruett family honor slapped at me, and I paced the room in satisfied shame.

Chapter Nine

Jason

An hour later, I was still listening to the silence in confusion. What had I done wrong?

By the time I finished bandaging her claw marks, there was complete silence from her room and the feel of it was worse than noise. The wounds stung a bit, but I was a fast healer, and didn’t consider myself to be hurt. In fact, there was a small amount of pride that I’d made an infamous Pruett go against her own will.

I shifted gently back onto the couch, mind blazing with new, and dangerous ideas. What did I really know about her clan?
Not enough
, I realized. Maybe it was time to do some research.

With a quick glance to be sure her door was still closed, I went to the wall screen and typed in Rankin’s account code with shaking hands. When she found out…

Information from Rankin’s personal files flashed onto the screen, and I fell into reading.

Angelica

More than surprised, I watched him from the cracked door. He was clearly breaking the rules. I could tell by the way he peered over his shoulder, and it kept me still, waiting. What was so important that Jason would risk a punishment to know?

I saw the image flash onto the screen, and felt my heart thud. He was doing homework on me, flipping through the pages of information like he’d been using a wall screen all his life… What had happened to the Network’s meek, well trained male? Was it possible that Candice was right about these men actually being smart enough to fool the entire world? If so, then I’d just been manipulated into a service call to settle me down.

As I observed him access a classified file, I could easily believe it. The question was
,
why was he trying to learn where I lived and my relationship to the Network?
To see if he could trust me?
Anything he found in there would only make us seem loyal.

“Mutter…”

I strained to make out his low words, glad there were no cameras in these cars, like there had been in the winner’s apartment.

“…one in every generation.”

I assumed Jason had just found out about Candice and Daniel, and the way her mate’s family had been able to breed a male child to sell for every generation. It wasn’t an accident.

I decided not to interrupt him yet. If Jason was into classified files, he might learn something we could use. Punishing
him,
never occurred to me - not after he’d gifted me with this dim place where there was no fire.

                                 
Jason
    

I jumped when the door opened, scrambling to turn off the connection, but her words stopped me.

“If you close it down, security will prevent it from being reopened. They probably already know someone is into it.”

I turned to see she was in the kitchen area, pulling things from a drawer. I hadn’t heard her come out of her room.

“Let me know if you find anything I should see.”

I gaped at her. She’d caught me using a wall screen without permission. That was a whipping offense.

“Close your mouth, Jason, or I’ll have to do it for you.”

I snapped it shut at the repeat warning, still fighting the urge to challenge her on that.

“I would guess that you’ll have another minute, maybe even two, before they cut the feed.”

I caught her hint and didn’t ask if they would come to arrest me as I got back to digging. I was deep in Rankin’s personal files now, seeing her plans, what her orders were.

“She’s supposed to follow you and verify the rebels are all together.”

That brought Angelica to read over my shoulder, and I knew better than to move when her grip on the chair caused it to start fracturing.
Never run from a Changeling, it triggers them
. The rule went through my mind again, but I had no intentions of it.

“Move.”

I quickly got out of her way.

Angelica slid into the chair and sent those brutal hands over the keyboard with lightning speed.

“The Eastern half of the Network wants total control, and has made plans to eliminate the West Coast part of the clan at the meeting. They’re also planning to send in troops to clear the
enire
Borderlands of rebels at the same time. That’s why there was no security at the complex…”

Angelica began closing files, deleting codes.

“What are you doing?”

“Making it seem like we didn’t find this.”

I didn’t question again. If they didn’t know we’d found the plan, they would stick with it and we’d be able to ambush them.

Apparently the thought made my new owner very happy, because she grabbed me and pulled me onto her lap for an awkward kiss that sent us both onto the floor.

In her clumsiness, she also knocked the screen off the wall. It crashed to the desk, scattering sharp debris across the floor.

Landing on top of me, Angelica giggled.

I stared at her in surprise as the main door to the car was kicked in.

                              
Angelica

It was one of those moments that made me grateful for my chosen career - thinking on your feet was mandatory for a bounty hunter. I shoved us to the floor, and played the role I was actually hoping to live someday. I laughed like a sated female, and then snapped my head up in shock as Network security broke in.

“Halt there!”

I lifted my hands without a protest, but pushed Jason back down with my knee when he would have run at the sight of the first guard through the door. His reaction would have told me who she was even if I hadn’t recognized her.

The two electronic clubs she wore delivered a nasty shock and sometimes even killed. They were a Network security favorite, but it was the small can of acid on her belt that gave me a real glimpse of why Jason was so afraid. Not meant to kill, the acid spray was designed to cause screams. This was Rankin and from the glare of Changeling rage, I guessed she hated me. The feeling was mutual and I planned to let her know it.

“What’s the problem? I’ll pay for the screen.”

“Someone accessed...
umph
!”

Without looking away from us, Rankin delivered a quick punch to the other guard’s throat that took the woman to her knees and stopped her from answering me.

I recognized the pox-marked face now gasping at Rankin’s boots. It was Scars - from Jason’s attempted abduction as we’d boarded. Rankin had been behind that. My mind exploded with fresh hatred for both of them.

The guards in the rear had taken in the mess first, but the one coveting what I now legally owned, only had eyes for our entwined bodies. The Head Defender was tall, lean, and cruel. I’d seen it in the choice of tools on her belt, but it was also in the tight weave of the hundreds of intricate red braids that hung to her knees in ponytails.

“Look.”

Scars pointed at something as she stood up, drawing Rankin’s attention. The Defender’s brows drew together in fury as she spotted the bandage on the floor, and then traced it to the marks I’d left on Jason’s shoulder.

He shuddered under me, breathing harsh, and I felt that nearly uncontrollable heat rise up to turn my sight crimson. “Do you want a quick death or a slow one?”

The challenge pulled Rankin’s eyes to mine in surprise at the open challenge, and I shoved harder.

“You can fight me first, either way. I’m a better challenge than a Burnt-out homesteader or her defenseless mate.”

Jason

Rankin’s eyes flew to me, and I cringed into the carpeted floor. “I didn’t tell!”

It wouldn’t be believed. Rankin would make me bleed for this. No one was supposed to know about her obsession, but more than that, she’d killed a male and never been charged for it. This was beyond danger, and I trembled.

Angelica moved in front of me, blocking Rankin’s furious gaze.

“I wonder if the Network knows...”

I heard the scornful mocking in Angelica’s tone as she gave a shove meant to make Rankin snap.

“Bet they’d give me or my cousin your place if we asked for it. They know we always get the job done.”

I waited tensely at Angelica’s threat, hoping for the fight and also dreading the violence. If the Head Defender attacked us without provocation, she would lose her job and maybe her freedom. From the files we’d read, I was pretty sure she was supposed to be undercover, but killing a male was a death sentence.

Rankin also sensed the pit. “Slam you, Pruett!”

I peered up Angelica’s braced leg to see she was grinning eagerly.

“Anytime you like, Defender.
Anytime
you like.”

I thought Rankin would attack anyway, but she stormed from our car with her guards. It was the first time I’d ever seen her back down, and it gave me a new level of worry. When she came for me, things would get ugly.

Angelica moved to fix the sliding door. Designed to withstand the abuse of Changelings, it snapped into place under her insistent touch, but didn’t hang right. The silence was thick as she turned around, and I opened my mouth to spill everything I’d held back from her.

Angelica

Aware of how on the edge I was, I jerked a hand. “Not a word.”

I was hot. My sight flickered in that red-tinted shade that I was keeping around Jason, but the need this time was for blood. My thoughts were flying. Rankin wasn’t going to wait until we made it to the Safe Zone. She wanted Jason even worse than I did.

My eyes went over him, wondering what he was thinking, but not in control enough to withstand hearing his voice. He looked terrified… and I loathed it.
If he was going to fear anyone, it would be me!

I instantly hated myself for the thought, and I spun into the darkness of the bedroom, letting the door slam. That was another problem with Jason. I was already becoming attached. When it was all over, I would be crushed like Stone Mountain, but I doubted I’d survive this time.

I didn’t want to use him or force him into ‘servicing’ me because he needed the escort to Baker or felt pity for my pain. I wanted
him
. And I hated him a little for being able to pull that out of me without feeling any of this fire in return.

Jason’s shadow paced back and forth under the door. I wanted to tell him he was safe, but I wasn’t sure of my control. I needed an outlet from the challenge in Rankin’s expression, and for the bloodlust I was still carrying from the Games.

I stayed in my room.

                                 
Jason
   

After reading the file, I understood a lot more about my new owner.

Very territorial and possessive of their males - will not rent them out.

That was clear to me by the way she’d stood up to Rankin, but I could also see Angelica being very jealous… And I admitted to myself then, that her edge of danger was part of what made her attractive to me. It said that with her, I’d be safe.

Appear to only make matches.

Are often seen in the company of males, but rarely rent their services.

Home [17325 Harris Rd.] has multiple exits on every level, and a secondary weapons armory on the ground floor.

Rankin had been inside their home. Why was she keeping track of the Pruetts? There hadn’t been time for a more detailed study, but I’d seen the name on the investigation file. The Network suspected them of something - beyond being rebel sympathizers. Why had they let Angelica live?

I had a lot of questions, but the one I lingered on was why Angelica hadn’t snapped once in the entire time we’d been together. In the labs, when their eyes got like that, they were at their most dangerous, but she’d kept that reddish shade during most of the time we’d been alone together. She was so much stronger than the Changelings I’d had contact with. And in so much more pain. She was burning up.
If she flipped while we were running from Rankin…
Would Angelica run?

My head shook. No. The warrior I’d viewed in the cage didn’t run from anything unless it was a ploy to draw her prey into the death she’d chosen. We would be dealing with Rankin, probably before we made it to the Safe Zone. The image was bad enough to send me to my feet again.