Her Guardian Angel (Fire and Snow) (17 page)

"Protection, we need protection," she rasped out.

He rolled off her and watched as she reached over to the top drawer of her bedside cupboard and pulled out a box of condoms. He chuckled gently, "You really did think of everything didn't you, love?"

She passed the box over with a sly smile.

"I bought them. Got no idea how to use them. I do believe that's your department."

He took the box from her while shaking his head. He loved her sense of humor. He leaned in and kissed her briefly before setting about opening the box. He had one out and ready to put on when he became distracted by watching Adele reach behind her to unclip her bra. Watching her lush breasts spring from their confinement had his erection bobbing and his blood on fire. She noticed he'd stopped and smiled cheekily at him.

"I'm not distracting you am I,
mon amour
?"

"In the best possible way, my love. You are so beautiful."

He finished putting the condom on and lowered himself over Adele. He wanted to take his time and savor this first time with his mate, but he was so worked up it might be a short trip through the park this first time. He vowed he would make it up to her later. He kissed her lips and trailed his mouth down to her breasts where he worshipped her until she was writhing beneath him, and he could smell the fresh cream she was pushing out for him.

He pulled back to look down at her passion soaked face. She truly looked like a goddess. He lined his erection up with her folds and began to gently urged forward. Her heat burned the tip as he pushed through her tight entrance.
Total nirvana
. He felt like he was coming home. He was right where he would always belong. He watched as she arched her back under him as he continued to push into her slowly. She grabbed at him. Grabbed fists full of his hair and dragged him down to her mouth. He went willingly. He consumed her mouth as he slid his way further into her tight wet heat. He felt the slight resistance of her hymen as he broke through it. He swallowed her cry and held still while her body adjusted to having his inside her. He needed a moment too, to absorb how wondrous it felt being inside his mate for the first time and knowing he was the first and the only man who would ever be inside this divine woman lying beneath him. She'd moved her hands to grab at his shoulders as he'd entered her fully. Pricks of pain as her nails sunk into his skin pushed him higher. After a minute, Adele loosened her grip on his shoulders and started tentatively rocking her hips against him.

"Are you okay, Adele? I didn't hurt you?" Her eyes were still closed, her forehead creased. He was worried she was still in pain.

"It only hurt for a little bit,
amour
. Now I just feel...full, you take up so much room inside me. I need, I need you to move Dominic. I need you moving inside me."

She started rocking harder against him and his control snapped. He placed his left hand possessively around the front of her neck, gently holding her down. He kissed her again as he took over control, thrusting into her over and over. Each thrust jacked him higher, burning brighter. He felt her body clench around his as her orgasm steamrolled through her body. He couldn't fight it any longer. He slammed into her one final time, tilted his head back and roared as he found his release.

Dominic had never felt so complete than he did with Adele asleep beneath him. She'd passed out from the pleasure. He grinned like a fool as he slowly eased himself from her body. He pulled off the condom, grabbed a tissue and tossed it in the bin by her bed. He then snuggled Adele into his side as he spooned up behind her. He held his right hand out and examined his claws. They still hadn't receded back into his hand. Once she knew about him being a shifter and she was his mate, he would claim her completely and mark her. He was so glad he had talked to his father about all this. If he hadn't, he wouldn't have known to be careful to keep his right hand away from her skin. At this point his mark would scare the life out of her. He was sure any girl would panic if they woke up after a night of sex to discover what looked like four wide scratches revealing snow leopard spots beneath tattooed onto their skin. He sure as hell would in the same position. So he lay there, listening to his mate's breathing even out. Her heart rate settle and watched as his claws receded and his human nails reappeared.

Chapter Eleven

Cole slammed his way through the front door of his motel room and headed to the bathroom to have a shower and clean the dirt off. He felt a little better thanks to finding that stray dog to torture, but it wasn't his slave. It had been weak and died on him; he then had to bury the damn thing. Attracting the attention of the authorities would not help him find his slave.

Damn it, he needed his slave back.

He needed to feel his hands on her skin. See her skin marked up by his touch.

Hear her screams.

He'd spent the last two weeks searching and still no sign of her. He'd spent the first week scouring Strahan, but the only trace he'd been able to find was some bloody handprints on a Salvo's clothing bin near his house. Now he was in Queenstown and he'd been methodically searching the town for any sign of her but to no avail. Bloody hell, he wished he'd bothered to find out what her name was. He'd not cared what her or her mother's names were while they were under his control. It hadn't been important. They were both his slaves. Possessions didn't need a name. But now that he couldn't find her, he really wished he'd demanded that one of them tell him, to make it easier to trace her.

After he finished cleaning himself up, he sat down at the table in his room with a map of the Cradle Mountains and the surrounding region. Which way had she gone? There were only two main roads out of Strahan, one that headed east to Queenstown and another that headed north to Zeehan. There was a main road running from Queenstown to Rosebery that cut across close to Zeehan. Probably best to take that road. Given that she'd had two weeks, he doubted she would be on the road between Strahan and Zeehan. If she was, it would be because she'd died from her injuries. Shit. She better not be dead. He started rubbing the center of his chest at the ache that formed at the thought of his slave dead.

He needed her.

She was his and she didn't have permission to die on him. He squeezed his eyes shut against the pain that suddenly shot through his skull. Damn it, he needed to calm down or he'd be useless. Without his slave to work out on he was having trouble staying focused on anything. He needed to work out to stay balanced, to feel like he fit in his skin. His Dad had shown him how to stay in control of himself, and he had taught his son well before he died in a car wreck when Cole had been sixteen. For the last ten years Cole had been perfecting what his Dad had taught him. If only his Dad was still here, he'd know how to find his slave then he would have helped Cole discipline her for leaving. That would have been some beautiful father-son bonding time right there. Damn, but he did really miss his old man.

Cole sighed as he started packing away his things neatly in his suitcase. He would leave first thing in the morning and head to Zeehan. It would probably take at least a few days to search the town for signs of her. He would have to be careful though, there were people in Zeehan who didn't like him and would cause him a great deal of trouble if they found out he was around. So he would have to be quiet and quick about it before heading on up to Rosebery.

~ * ~

Adele looked up from her bowl of cereal to watch Dominic move around the kitchen. He'd only put on his jeans when they'd finally climbed out of bed, so his upper body was on full display, and she was making the most of it. As her gaze roamed over his exposed flesh she felt herself begin to warm. As if he could sense her eyes on him, Dominic glanced over his shoulder at her with a lopsided grin and winked before he closed the fridge and sauntered over to her at the table with his breakfast.

"Keep looking at me like that, beautiful, and we won't be leaving the house at all today," he said as he leaned over to gently kiss her before sitting down.

"Hmmm, well as nice as not leaving the house sounds, I've way too much that I have to do." That and Kit would be home soon from her night shift of guarding Kelly. As much as Kit might approve of her and Dominic finally getting together, Adele was pretty sure Kit didn't want to witness it first hand.

"So, what's on the agenda for this bright and beautiful Saturday morning?" Adele couldn't help but preen as she heard how happy Dominic sounded to be spending the day with her.

"House hunting. There are a few that look good." She grabbed the stack of printouts she'd compiled over that week and handed them to Dominic to look at.

"The one on the top is my favorite."

Dominic cocked his eyebrow at her, "The house is painted purple."

She barely contained her laugh; she knew he would say that. She couldn't hold back her grin as she spoke.

"I know, right? I love it, and it will make giving directions easy."

Dominic looked at the page again and winced.

"I guess that's one way of looking at it."

She reached over and patted his arm. Poor Dominic. He looked like she'd just shot his dog or something.

"The more important things are that it has three bedrooms, a bathroom that actually has a bath, a nice big wood heater, a big kitchen with brand new oven and cooktop and a huge fenced back yard. Lots of room for Kelly to have all the things she needs."

She watched as he read the description below the picture and his frown slowly eased away.

"It's not too far from the hospital either, which is good. I reckon Kelly would be able to walk to school from there too if she wanted to. When is it available?"

"It's vacant at the moment. The previous tenants moved out last week. Perfect timing, and it's only $130 a week so I'll be able to afford to buy some furniture to put in the house too. I guess we need to start looking for all that stuff."

She frowned as she grabbed her pen and jotted down a few notes about furniture she'd need to buy on a piece of scrap paper. How on earth was she going to get all this done in a week?

"How about we take a tape measure with us and measure the house, then we can go do a round of the second hand shops and see what's around that will fit."

She smiled as she looked into Dominic's eyes. He thought of everything--especially the little things she always forgot. She would have arrived at the furniture shop before realizing she didn't know how big the rooms were.

"Sounds great."

~ * ~

Dominic stood in the driveway next to Adele and the Real Estate Agent, Marlee Van Dyke. He was holding Adele's hand and felt her excitement vibrating through her. He looked at the house. It really was purple. The photos hadn't been exaggerated as he had hoped. Some moron had actually clad the house in light purple iron paneling. From the outside, the house didn't look anything special--aside from the purple factor--just your average iron clad home with a fenced backyard and carport. He could tell Adele loved it already, so it looked like he was going to have to get used to a purple house, not that he expected to be moving in with her next week. It was too soon for that, but at some point they would live together--apparently in this bloody purple house.

Dominic allowed Adele to drag him up the drive behind her. He could hear her quietly chuckle.

"Something you find amusing, beautiful?" He was pretty sure it was his reaction that had her amused, but he couldn't resist the chance to tease her a little.

"Don't you like purple, Dominic?" Her voice was laced with humor as she spoke.

"I like purple just fine. Just not on houses as the only color." That earned him another chuckle as Marlee opened up the front door and ushered them inside then led them around the house on a quick tour. Dominic was having serious trouble not wincing as each room revealed more purple horror. Even the metal edging around the shower door was bloody purple! However, Adele was right about the kitchen. It was nice and big and the stove was brand new. He needed to focus on the positives. The bedrooms had built in robes so that was money saved. He took out his tape measure and started taking measurements of the rooms while Adele and Marlee finished going through the house. He needed to distract himself from focusing on the purple everywhere. He made sure to measure the windows too. The deep purple curtains were going. There wasn't going to be a discussion on that one. There was a limit of how much he could endure, and the curtains pushed way beyond it. He finished up and found the ladies chatting in the lounge room by the front door.

"There you are! I was starting to wonder if you got lost. I can move in as soon as I want. I was thinking Wednesday. That will give me a few days before Kelly gets released to get everything set up. Do you think you and Kit could get the day off to give me a hand?" Adele's voice was so excited Dominic couldn't help but smile at her.

"Sure, beautiful. You'll have all the help you'll need. I promise," he said with a wink.

~ * ~

Adele smiled as she stood in the driveway of her new home. Number fourteen Wattle Avenue. She was fingering the front door key in her hand as she looked up at the house. It was a pretty house, iron clad and painted purple. She knew a lot of people who wouldn't be caught dead in a purple house, but she loved the color. It wasn't anything special, just your average three bedroom house with a fenced backyard and carport. But it had been available for her to move in straight away, and the rent was in her price range--and most importantly the Child Protection Service had approved it as suitable.