Holding Hope Word Doc NC (5 page)

She climbed on top of Lucas,
straddling his hips. She knew if he didn’t want her there, he’d move her but he
did no such thing. With her hands on his bare chest, she could touch in the grooves
of his muscles. Lucas shifted beneath her to slide his cock along the folds of
her core. Warmth suffused her, a heat that bit up her spine, as his thick cock
glided across her soaked folds. Ella moved her hips so she could feel his full
length, still enamored by his strength and amazed how safe she felt with him. The
Goddess had given her the perfect mate.

Ella rolled her hips,
adjusting so the head of his cock fit against her channel and then she pivoted.
In one smooth lunge, Lucas was inside of her. She leaned down to Lucas’s ear
and spoke, “I want to ride you.”

“Oh Goddess,” Lucas
deep voice scraped against her spine as he trembled beneath her. She’d never
taken control but she was enjoying this. His eyes rolled back even as he
smiled. “You have become my little vixen.”

“You’ve been a very
good teacher.”

She didn’t give him a
chance to process her words before she pushed herself up on her knees,
his
shaft rubbing against her clit on the slow climb, and dropped back down onto
his full length. She could feel him hitting her cervix as she cried out. So
wet, they were so wet from her juices that she moved easily up and down.

Lifting her hands to
toy with her nipples, Ella used her leg muscles to build a steady rhythm. The
thought of making him cum, of having the power to do that very thing to her
mate, was overwhelming. Tears stung the back of her eyes. More firmly now, she
pinched and pulled at her nipples to send the sensations into her core as she
looked down to see Lucas watching her. Ella would give him a show.

She lifted her finger
to her mouth and licked before bringing it back to her breast and swirling it
around her nipple. Grinning at his eyes growing brighter to nearly a glowing
green, Ella did the same to her other nipple. Then she grabbed each breast in a
hand and massaged, extending them, rolling her eyes and moaning even as she
altered her rhythm to roll her hips and grind them onto Lucas’s cock. He was so
deep. She was so wet. Goddess, she couldn’t wait much longer. She’d started
this game but now she needed to find completion.

Without warning, Lucas
tugged her down. Ella could feel every hard groove of his body below her softer
frame. Lucas had a nipple planted firmly in his mouth before she could even
consider complaining that he’d taken over. His large hands held her hips and
she lay on top of him as he thrust his pelvis up. Each thrust put pressure on
her clit and caused her muscles to quiver.

“I can’t wait, Lucas.
It’s so perfect,” she panted. Her breath was coming in short bursts.

“Don’t wait, little
vixen. I don’t want you to wait. I want you to come. I want you to come with me
planted deep inside you.” Lucas continued talking to her as she fell off the
edge and into euphoria. Ella felt the bursts of his hot cum and then the abyss.
Exhaustion reigned.

* * * *

“Ella, sit up for me.”
Lucas startled her from her sleep. His voice held alarm and she reacted
immediately to his command.

His hands were at her
neck, rubbing over a spot that was growing more sensitive with every touch.

“What’s wrong? What is
it?”

Ella was sure Lucas
could hear the panic in her voice. She knew something was wrong. Lucas’s
demeanor –shit, his entire presence- had transformed. No longer relaxed, he sat
at attention and his face was in deep concentration as his eyes zeroed in on
that spot.

“Lucas, you’re scaring
me. Please talk to me.”

“I’ve been rubbing your
back and watching you sleep. Then I felt a lump here. It may be nothing but we
should check.”

“What kind of lump?”

“Don’t worry. You can’t
be ill because we don’t get diseases,” Lucas was quick to assure her. Ella
remembered he could feel her emotions now and would sense how upset she was.
Still, she was grateful for the reassurance even as her heart nearly beat out
of her chest.

“What do you think it
is?” Her voice trembled.

“Not sure but we should
have one of our medics check it out.”

“Someone you trust?”

“Yes,
one of my brothers-in-arms.
We’ve worked with TEU
a long time together. He’ll be safe.”

Ella reached her hands
around to touch the spot behind her neck. Lucas helped her find the lump and
she gasped in surprise, never remembering feeling anything like that before.

“Lucas,
wh
- what do you think it might
be?”

“It’s likely something
the men who had you placed in you. My best guess would be a tracking device.”
Lucas placed his hands on Ella’s shoulders, massaging gently but mostly simply
holding her in place. She looked terrified, that same expression her face held
when he’d found her in that damn cell.

He sighed and ran his
hands through his hair. “What I can’t figure out is why I hadn’t noticed it
before now.”

“So- so they can find
me? They know where I am?” The panic was rising. Ella pushed away from Lucas
and paced the floor. “Crap. They’re coming for me. They wouldn’t let me escape
like that, with a tracker and not be coming for me.”

“There are secure perimeters
all around this cabin for miles. It will alert me the moment anyone crosses
them. For now, we’re fine.”

“For
now?”

“Yes. Look, Ella, you’re
right to be concerned but I promise that I will not let anything happen to
you.” Lucas stopped Ella’s pacing and pulled her against him. “You are mine,
mi
amo
. No one
hurts what belongs to me.”

Ella relaxed into his
words. She knew them as truth. She was safe. Lucas would keep her that way.
After everything that had happened, after a life filled with lies and deceit, Lucas
gave her hope and she’d trust in him. He was her mate.

* * * *

“I’ve found a lump
along Ella’s spine on the back of her neck,” Lucas reported the moment the line
was connected.

“Lucas,” Caedon
questioned. “Shit, we’d given up on you ever contacting us.”

“We needed time. Ella
needed time but I don’t think we have that anymore. For whatever reason, I’ve
only now found this lump and I need Van out here to check it.”

“Not happening. Van has
found his mate. How about I send Nico?”

“Yes. Nico will work.
Let him know she’s still skittish about meeting people. It’s one hell of a
story. She didn’t even know what she was until just before she was captured and
she can’t recall how long she’d been in captivity.”

“You want me to run
some checks on her?”

“Go ahead. The answers,
and knowing more about her past, might help her move on,” Lucas agreed. “I’ll
send you some details back with Nico.”

“Good deal. Let me get
Nico headed in your direction. I’m patching you through to Madden. He’ll have
my ass if he finds out I talked to you and didn’t fill him in.” Caedon
transferred him before he had a chance to object.

“Lucas, brother,”
Madden’s voice came across a broken connection. Lucas knew he was in TEU’s gym.

“Working out?”

“Sparring
with a new recruit.
What’s going down?”

“I need a medic to look
at something I found on Ella. It might be a tracking device but the thing I
can’t figure out is why it took me so long to find it.”

“Where is it?”

“On
the back of her neck.”
Once he answered, Lucas
immediately knew Madden was working his way through to the right conclusion.

“She’s your mate.”
Lucas could hear the smile in Madden’s voice. Despite the circumstances, Madden
would know just how profound this mating would be for Lucas. Lucas also
remembered all the teasing he’d done when Madden claimed Layla not even a year
ago.

“Yes. And I deserve any
ribbing you’d like to dish out because I get it now.”

“What about the
woman-what’s her name-you lost? You thought she was your mate.”

“I was wrong. I may
have loved her but it was nothing like this bond. This is like magic.”

Madden laughed. “It is
magic. You can feel her magic now, brother.”

“She’s had a rough
time, Madden. Ella didn’t even know what she was until a few days before she
was captured. She was raised by humans after her parents died when she was a
child. I’ve been teaching her our ways but eventually, she’ll need other women
in the
Magdalena Circle
.”

“Bring her here for the
evaluation and then she can be among the others.”

“Not yet. She’s not
ready for all those people.
Oca
!
She freaked
out when I told her a medic I’ve known nearly my whole life was coming here.”

“You realize that if
you’re right, if that’s a tracking device, you’ll need an
evac
,”
Madden insisted.

“Of
course.
Let’s take this a step at a time.” Lucas agreed.

* * * *

Three hours later,
Lucas sat in the small kitchen with Nico as Ella remained locked away in her
room. Nico had removed the tracker with a simple surgery. Now, after a blood
exchange, Ella was healing. The device had been deep and what Lucas had felt
had actually been a cyst that had formed above it over time as her body fought
off the alien fibers inside her body.

Terrified but safe, she
closed herself off emotionally.
Oca
!
Her ability
to shield her feelings would drive him insane but for now, Lucas left her to
her thoughts while he talked over the next steps with Madden via conference
call.

“Nico, report,” Madden
instructed.

“Well, I performed the
procedure to remove the device. The bastard who placed it had embedded it deep
under her muscle. She’ll take a while to heal though she will make a full
recovery. Lucas’s blood will help. She was upset and frightened but otherwise,
she’ll have complete range of motion with no permanent damage,” Nicolaus
reported.

“Lucas, what’s the
security level up there?”

“I’ve been on full
alert since we arrived months ago. There’s been no activity and the only people
we’ve seen are the caretakers that Anton sends with food every four days.”

“Good. Nico, head back
with the device. Caedon will analyze it and then we decide the next move,”
Madden issued the direction before continuing, “but do not disconnect it. I
don’t want these bastards knowing we’ve found it yet.”

“I’m on my way,” Nico
answered and headed for the door. Lucas waited for Madden to talk but it seemed
Madden was waiting on him.

“I told mama.”

“And?”

“And she wants you to
bring her to the compound. For once, papa and I agree that it’s the wrong move
until we have this sorted out. But if I were you, brother, I’d begin preparing
your mate to meet the family.”

“You’ll call once
you’ve got more info on the device?” Lucas asked
,
changing the subject back to work, a mission he could control.

“Yes. There’s other
events changing and they might all coincide. I’ll be back in touch within the
day. Get some rest.”

“Madden,” Lucas cleared
his throat, “thanks, brother.”

“Nothing
to thank me for.
We’ll talk later.”

Madden disconnected and
left Lucas with nothing to do but return to his mate. For the first time since
that first day, he worried about her reaction to him. Ella had been distant
when he fed her right after the surgery. He hoped her time alone had helped.

Chapter
Four

“Why? Why are you
making me do this? Is there not anywhere else for us to go?” Ella demanded.
Getting the news she would meet her mate’s family hadn’t made her happy. She
wasn’t ready. Terrified might be the best way to describe the turmoil
threatening to eject her breakfast. Tears hovered on the rims of her eyes
preparing to spill out even as she fought them back.

Lucas put down the box
he was carrying and took her into his arms. He held her firmly even while she
fought to get free. “Don’t push me away, Ella. I know you’re frightened. You’ve
not been with people in such a long time. I won’t lie to you and say this won’t
be overwhelming but it is unavoidable. I need you to be safe.” He stroked her
back to settle her as he spoke.
“
Sei
tutto
per me
.
You are everything
to me, my world.”