Thomas (9 page)

Almost as soon as the blade cut into
him, his skin was healing over. There was not even a scar. She said
that no matter what happened to him from now on, he’d heal almost
immediately. Misha whistled, then laughed.

“
This is not funny.” That,
of course, made him laugh all the harder. “Damn it, Misha, I’m
living with a being that is old enough to have been around when
there was no us. She can do things that I can’t even think about
right now, and she fucking reads minds. And she’s given that
ability to Hannah.”

That shut him up. Finally. When he sat
there for so long, Thomas was sure he was going to be pissed. Then
he’d have to knock him on his ass for threatening his mate. But all
he did was nod then look up at him.

“
Just mine or everyone’s?”
Thomas growled low and Misha laughed. “I don’t know what has you
all upset. So what? You’re younger than your mate. Big fucking
deal. Your mate is a slob. Well boo hoo for you. You have a nice
house, have servants waiting on you hand and foot, and you don’t
get injured. You have life so fucking tough. You want me to knock
you on your ass a few times to see if you cannot only heal from a
cut but a busted rib or two as well?”

“
Fuck off. How am I
supposed to provide for her?” It hung there for several seconds
before he realized what he’d said. But he knew that was what it
was. He couldn’t give her anything that she didn’t already have or
even want. But Misha only laughed before answering him.

“
You love her, you moron.”
Yeah, well that wasn’t going to happen overnight to his way of
thinking. But Misha stood up when someone seemed to be coming
toward them. Thomas was surprised to see not just Linyah but Hannah
and Mike, as well as Jackson. They were handing out sandwiches and
bottles of water to everyone they passed. When Linyah was near him,
he took the sandwich and pulled her to his body. He needed her to
touch him back, but she was still holding herself just a little
back from him. Thomas didn’t know what to make of the slight pain
in the area around his heart.

“
You were so stressed that
we came to see you.” He nodded, overwhelmed at how it made him feel
to have her there and not completely sure why. “Hannah said you
forget to eat when you do these things, so we brought some food.
And some help if you need it.”

“
I think we’re about
finished here. There were only a few more children to find when
Misha and I took a break. You’re right though, it’s grueling work
and very stressful.” She nodded and he pulled her just a little
tighter to him when he saw his brother holding onto Hannah. He
wasn’t jealous, he supposed, but the need to be held like that, to
love like that, made him want more. “How did you get here?” He
nodded when she flushed. “I see. And everyone was okay with that
mode of transpiration?”

“
Hannah thought it was a
hoot, whatever that means. Jackson took it in stride, I suppose,
but Mike said he’d be taking the plane back with you guys. He said
that if he were meant to transport like that, someone would have
provided him with a barf bag. I had to have Hannah explain to me
what that meant.” They looked around when someone shouted. The last
body had been found. “I didn’t know this is what you were doing or
I would have helped you. It would have been my pleasure to have
helped you in any way I could.”

“
Your dad and brother
helped, which we appreciate. But you needed to rest. You needed to
heal.” She nodded and took the water when he handed it to her. “I’m
glad you’re here though. I never thought about how much better I’d
feel with you around.” Thomas felt silly at admitting that to her,
and he had no idea why. This having a mate business was difficult
to figure out. But she nodded at him too.

“
Me too.” She looked
around again, and he felt her stiffen. Before he could ask her what
was going on, someone moved out of the shadows and walked toward
them. She pushed him behind her, and he didn’t move. He wasn’t so
macho to think that if she needed to protect him from something or
someone that he could do a better job.

“
What are you doing here?”
The man only stared at Thomas as she asked him again what he wanted
and why he was there. Thomas watched him and decided that he didn’t
care for the other man, especially the way he looked at
Linyah.

“
You should have stayed
away from here, Linyah. There is danger afoot. I have told you time
and time again that you are to stay safe for me. I cannot protect
what is mine if you are running around without me.” The man smiled
at him as he continued. “My name is Timmer. I am her male. She will
be mine soon, sooner if she would only settle down and tell me the
date.”

Thomas had to calm his cat the moment
the man said Linyah was his. “Yeah, so not going to happen, buddy.
I’m her male and she’s my mate.” This time he stepped in front of
her and for once, she stayed put. “I don’t give a rat’s ass who you
are or what you think to gain by coming here, but I’d have a look
around if I were you. You’re in my neck of the woods and we don’t
take kindly to poachers. We protect what is ours.”

“
As do I. And Linyah is
mine. But I do not understand you. Poachers? Why would I care if
you like fish? And this term, ‘nekked in the wood’? What do you
mean?” Misha laughed, as did Hannah; the man, however, looked ready
to boil over. “You will not laugh at me. I am a great man. I have
been chosen above all others to take her as my mate. You will stop
touching her as of now.”

“
I don’t think so. And if
you have a problem with that, then you go and get the person who
you think promised her to you and bring them before me. I’ll settle
this right away.” Misha stood up as he continued. “As for poaching?
That means that you’re trespassing on something that belongs to
someone else. In this case, his mate. I’m leader here; this leap is
mine. As of the moment she accepted him, she was a part of my leap
as well. I would suggest that you get the hell out of here before I
let him tear you a new ass.”

“
You cannot talk to me as
such.” Misha let a little of his cat go, and the man took a step
back. “I will return, and when I do, you will need to give her over
to me. Then you will see who the poacher is.”

When the man disappeared, everyone
turned to look at Linyah. Thomas pulled her to him and was
surprised when she didn’t struggle. He nodded his thanks to Misha,
who took Hannah and left them alone. Thomas wanted to ask so many
questions, but he had no idea where to start.

“
My sister is responsible
for this.” Thomas looked down at her when she spoke. “I just asked
her about Timmer and she said that she’d told him he’d be my male.
It had been arranged before I met you. She said that she’d take
care to let him know that he was no longer considered my male. She
said…she said she was worried about me.”

“
You spoke to her?” Linyah
nodded. “And did she tell you why she’d not told this man that you
had a mate now? Or that he was shit out of luck?”

“
She has been trying to
contact him since she found out about you. I think…she thought if I
had a male she’d not have to be concerned with my welfare so much.”
He could see she was hurt by that and wondered about it. “My sister
and I don’t really…she hates me. I don’t have a clue why, but she
does.”

For some reason, Thomas doubted that
was true. He couldn’t really see why anyone would hate her, unless
it was for her inability to clean up after herself. He tried not to
think of the mess he’d be coming home to and held her tightly. When
she settled against his body, he felt his entire wellbeing shift.
He felt as if he’d been given a great gift for some
reason.

“
It’s really too bad for
him. But he’ll have to learn to live with disappointment.” She
laughed slightly and he smiled. “We have to have someone straighten
this out. I can’t have him touching you now. My cat, he gets sort
of pissy when my mate is touched by another male. Me
too.”

“
I don’t understand why
either of you would care.” He lifted her chin to see her face.
There was no way she didn’t get this. “I’m not all that special.
I’m sort of…awkward, if you want to know the truth. Not all that
much to look at, and I know that I’m a pain in the ass.”

“
Awkward? How do you
figure that?” She shrugged and started to pull away. “No,
seriously, how did you come to the painfully wrong conclusion that
you’re awkward in any way?”

“
I’m sort of tall. I mean,
next to you I’m not, but usually I tower over men. I’m forever
getting hurt by one thing or another. I have big boobs and my feet
are forever getting tangled up together when I get in a hurry.” He
watched as she pointed at each thing she thought of as a defect.
“And I have a short fuse.”

“
Don’t forget you’re
sloppy.” She glared at him and he laughed. “Okay, first. Tall? Yes,
but that’s perfect for us. I can sit you on a counter and fuck you
easily because you fit so well. Getting hurt? You’re in security,
you are going to get hurt for the simple reason that you’re hanging
with bad guys. If you didn’t get a bump or bruise once in a while,
you’d be letting more get away than you catch. Your boobs, as you
call them, are delicious. Your nipples are succulent, and I love
the way that they fill my hand when I suckle at them. I love the
way they bounce when I take you. The way that your nipples harden
so tightly when you’re aroused. Then there is the added fact that I
love the way they taste, especially when they’re dewy from your
need. And Linyah, I need you now.”

She nodded and he lifted her up. There
were a great many people around them, so simply throwing her to the
ground and fucking her hard like he wanted wasn’t going to work.
Before he could tell her they were going to his hotel, they were in
his bedroom. He looked down at her face when he realized she’d
taken them just where they wanted to be.

“
I thought this would be
faster than waiting for you to fly home.” He nodded and took her
mouth. Christ, he wasn’t going to make it to the bed, which was
only a few feet away. When she moaned, Thomas did the only thing he
could think of and took her to the wall right beside him and ripped
her clothing from her. If sex was all they had for the rest of
their lives, Thomas thought he could live with her mess. He slammed
his cock into her even as she cried out she was coming.

~~~

Linyah wandered around the house twice
while she tried to think of something to do. The man who cooked for
Thomas had made her a really big breakfast, but that had been over
an hour ago. She wasn’t hungry, but she was bored. Mike came to
tell her she had a phone call just when she was contemplating going
back to her home.

“
It’s Hannah. Hannah
Lanning.” The woman sounded so unsure of herself that Linyah found
herself smiling. The two of them had a great deal in common. “I
have to go into town today and I was wondering if you’d like to go
with me. My aunt—her name is Wanda Little—wants to talk to me about
something. Anyway, she wants to have lunch with me too. I don’t
know why she does, but I couldn’t tell her no. She tricked
me.”

“
How did she trick you?”
Linyah decided that she’d go to this lunch thing just to protect
the young leopard. She wasn’t going to let anyone hurt her new
friend. “I mean, did she blackmail you?”

“
Oh no, nothing like that.
She just asked me if I was busy. Then when I said no, she said
good, we can have lunch. She might have done that because I’ve been
sort of avoiding her.” Before Linyah could ask her why, she
continued. “Not really avoiding her so much as…well, I don’t know
what to say to her. She’s my Uncle Daniel’s wife, see, and well you
know about my family and all. But while she’s nice and all, I have
a feeling that she’s…I think she might be reporting things back to
my grandparents. I know that sounds really paranoid and all, but I
really don’t want to distrust her, although I find myself doing
just that.” The last came out in a rush, like she was getting it
out before she changed her mind.

“
You can read her mind,
you know.” Hannah didn’t say anything, and Linyah understood. “Ah,
so you’ve done that. And now you know that’s just what she’s doing.
You should have just told her that she wasn’t going to do that any
longer and canceled lunch. Unless you want me to go for another
reason. What do you want me to do to her? I will. There are any
number of things I can do so you don’t have to have lunch with
her.”

Hannah’s laughter rang through the
phone, and she was sure that Mike heard her. He smiled at her as he
sat a glass of something brown in front of her, then a large plate
of cookies. The man was going to kill her if he kept this up. While
she waited for Hannah to speak again, she bit down into one of the
cookies and moaned. Lemon snaps.

“
No. Not just yet anyway.
But I would like for you to go with me and help me find something
to wear that says ‘back off, I’m fine.’” A gun at her hip came to
mind, but Linyah said nothing as she devoured two more cookies. “Do
you know what I mean?”

“
Yes. You want something
to give you confidence.” When Mike started to hand her three more
cookies, she growled at him and he laughed. “I’ll go with you, but
I don’t know how much help I can be. Power dressing to me is
wearing my uniform with my hair pulled back so tightly my eyes are
crossed. And a gun in my hand. I’m pretty sure that won’t work. Not
for her but with the restaurant that we’re going to. I’ve noticed
that humans frown on guns hanging from one’s hip.” Hannah laughed,
as did Linyah. She really liked this young woman.