To Catch a Snake: Book Three - Supernatural Bounty Hunter Romance Novellas (16 page)

Chapter Twenty

“How’s your head?” asked Marcus, passing her a cup of coffee.

“Mmmm, better, thank you.”

She sat up and sipped the hot liquidy goodness as Marcus sat beside her. They were in Marcus’ enormous, and swanky, bed. It was the most comfortable bed she had ever been in. When she first saw it, with the giant headboard and the black, silky sheets, a twinge of annoyance flashed through her. As tired and shaky as she was after her ordeal with Jacinta, she was still jealous over the other women who had shared Marcus’ bed. Well, why would he have needed such a big bed before he met her? How many women did he have in there at the same time?

But, in spite of her animal’s unease, she had ignored that feeling. If he could get over her exes, she could get over his. Whoever they were.
Bunch of bitches.

Of course, she was feeling a little more sanguine about his exes. She found out that the leggy blonde who featured in numerous pictures on his phone was actually his cousin’s daughter. It had apparently been her wedding day.
It explained why she was wearing a wedding dress...

Last night, Marcus had tracked her using the device in her purse; they were fortunate that Jacinta had brought it with her when she kidnapped Ling. As he rushed to reach the apartment he called Detective Leeman and told him to get there and quick. Luckily, Marcus had some rudimentary lock-picking skills and was able to get into the apartment and stop Jacinta in time.

Jacinta had been arrested for multiple counts of attempted murder. Detective Leeman had spent hours trying to get the python to confess to attempting to kill Ling, all to no avail. And given that a broken and burbling Jacinta confessed, he now understood why.

The python had no idea what the Detective had been talking about; he had, in fact, forgotten all about Marcus and his vendetta. He fell in love with his prison pen pal, a cobra shifter called Harmony, who lived on a farm to the north, with her extended family. When the python was released from prison, he and Harmony went to the farm and were immediately married. He’d been there ever since. He was still under arrest for breaking parole, but he wasn’t overly surprised, and Harmony said she would stand by him.

Jacinta, on the other hand, practically had a nervous breakdown. Detective Leeman said that she was undergoing psychiatric assessment and that Myron had hired a lawyer for her.
Myron made it clear he would do all he could for her for the sake of their kids.

After Ling was discharged from hospital, Marcus insisted she get checked out, and then he brought her to his apartment. It was modern, and just about all the furniture was black.
It was very Marcus
. Although, part of her was itching to get in there and redecorate, and put her own stamp on the place.

She’d called her mother, who was almost frantic and tried to get Ling to come home, but Marcus firmly told Fang that Ling was not going anywhere. Ling thanked him profusely; she’d been through enough trauma that day. She and her panda were just content to curl into their mate’s arms and go to sleep.

Ling smiled behind her coffee cup as she looked at Marcus sprawled next to her, completely naked and uncaring. She’d met a lot of shifters, but never one who was so comfortable with nudity. Of course, it helped that he had absolutely nothing to be ashamed of. Her eyes drifted down to his huge manhood.
Nope, nothing at all.

She put her coffee cup down and stretched her arms over her head. She caught the lascivious smile on Marcus’ face as he fixated on her breasts, and she giggled. Marcus insisted that he didn’t have anything suitable for her to wear to bed, so, too tired to argue, she had gone to bed naked. She didn’t usually like to sleep naked, but it was kind of growing on her. Plus it saved time ripping each other’s clothes off later.

Marcus set his own cup down and turned to her. Gingerly, he felt the slight lump on her head. “How are you feeling, really?” His green eyes bore into her and, oh, she just wanted to melt on the spot.

“I feel fine, no, I feel happy. I was scared at the time, but I’m just glad it’s over, and that we can be together. We can, right?”

Marcus chuckled. “You’re damn right we can; there’s no way I’m letting you get away again.”

She giggled, and his snake grumbled. He turned dead serious. “No, seriously Ling, if I ever think I’m about to lose you again, I will chain you to this bed. You are never getting away from me.”

Ling nodded at him solemnly. “I believe you. That’s the most crazily possessive thing I ever heard, and yet, strangely, I find it really romantic.”

Marcus grinned. “Yeah, you do.”

She slapped at him, and he ripped the covers off her, pulling her down the bed and kissing his way up her delectable curves. He nestled between her legs; his rock-hard erection deliciously pressed against her sex, and he kissed her soundly. She snaked her arms and legs around him. She wasn’t the only one who wasn’t getting away.

Marcus leaned his elbows either side of her. “Are you ready to bond? Because if you’re not, I can wait…” The moment the words left his mouth, his snake thrashed inside his head. He knew they were a lie;
he couldn’t stand to wait another moment
.

Ling fluttered her eyelashes. “Well, maybe you can wait, but I can’t.”

Marcus’ eyes flashed to black as he let out a rumble of pleasure, and Ling blushed as her own dissolved to orange.

He planted sweet kisses over her neck. He pulled back and inhaled deeply, groaning at the satisfying jasmine scent of his mate. “Mate; mine,” he purred.

He reached between them and aligned himself, desperate to be inside her, desperate to bond.

The way he said those words send shuddering darts of pleasure to her womb. Her panda yipped excitedly; she couldn’t wait to be possessed by this man. Ling had said it before, and she would say it again - her beast was one twisted little ankle biter.
Speaking of which…

“Wait!”

He hesitated as the tip of his cock nudged against her weeping entrance. His forehead creased in worry. “Don’t you want to?”

“I do, of course, I do, but I have to tell you something.” Ling rubbed her lips together and held her breath for a few moments. “I’m pregnant!” she blurted.

Marcus looked at her blankly.

“We’re having a baby,” she clarified when he didn’t say anything. She let out a nervous laugh. “What do you think?”

His face broke out into a wide smile as his snake hissed in satisfaction. In the space of less than a week, he would have his mate bonded to him and pregnant; damn he felt smug. “That’s the greatest thing I ever heard.”

Ling’s face lit up, and her panda yipped. “Thank god, this doesn’t change anything does it?”

“It only makes it better,” he cooed.

Ling felt happy tears spring forth. “Now hurry, I can’t stand to not be bonded to you for another minute!”

Marcus gave her a predatory smile before thrusting inside her. Her flesh parted as he inescapably pushed inside. She cried out at the sudden fullness; her body rippling around the massive intruder, and dancing the line between pleasure and pain.

He waited for a moment before he placed a small kiss on her mouth and began driving himself in and out of her. She gasped every time he entered her, and dug her tiny claws into his shoulders.

The small kindle of desire inside her quickly turned into an inferno as he relentlessly filled her. She wanted to stay this way forever, to be joined so intimately, but she couldn't hold back her mounting lust. The blissful anticipation tingling through her body was too much, and she began pushing her hips against him, meeting him thrust for thrust. His movements became faster and faster as his beast mercilessly urged him to take her and bond her to them.

Ling moaned as she felt him growing even bigger and harder inside her, relentlessly rubbing against her inner walls. The fire within her pulsed through her body, and she couldn’t take it anymore. She screamed as she rushed to release. Her panda roared as her fangs dropped, and she eagerly pushed them into Marcus’ skin.

Seconds later, Marcus exploded inside her, and she felt the pinpricks of his sharpened teeth on her body. They tasted each other’s blood as their animals roared in ecstasy and the feeling of love flowed between them.

Reluctantly, they pulled back from one another, and Ling relaxed back into the bed. She smiled as her chest heaved. Marcus looked down on his mate, at the graceful curve of her neck, her happy, flushed face and the orange infused eyes.
She was unbelievably beautiful
. His snaked hissed in agreement.

He leaned down and buried his head in her shoulder. “Mine.”

Chapter TwentyOne

Ling surveyed the damage to her house. It wasn’t too bad. Structurally, the house was sound, but it would need some work. Plus the smell of smoke was awful.

Instead, she decided to focus on admiring the gorgeous engagement ring Marcus had bought her. It was a simple, elegant, but rather large diamond. She couldn’t stop looking at it and found herself waving her hand around to make others look.

First thing that morning, they had gone to the jewelry shop to buy a ring. Marcus insisted it was the top priority. Now, they were at her house to pick up some of Ling’s clothes; they would be living at his apartment while her house was repaired.

Her panda yowled as she heard a key in the front door. Ugh, please not her mother. Her panda growled at the familiar scent.
Nope, even worse.

Robert strode into the house and was immediately beset by Marcus, who came flying down the stairs. Robert screamed in surprise as Marcus maneuvered him into a headlock.

Ling had to force herself not to laugh. “Marcus, sweetie, it’s fine. That’s Robert, my ex-husband. He’s an asshole, not a burglar.”

With a lack of enthusiasm, Marcus allowed a very flustered Robert to stand up. Although, Marcus kept a hand clamped on his shoulder.

“What are you doing here, Robert?” asked Ling in annoyance.

Robert looked at Marcus suspiciously. “Umm, can I talk to you in private?”

Ling shook her head vehemently. “No, anything you want to say can be said in front of Marcus.”

Robert looked into Marcus’ stony face, nervously. “I came to talk to you; your mom didn’t say anything about you being with him.”

Marcus was silent, but Ling rolled her eyes with so much gusto you could almost hear them. “She wouldn’t, given that Marcus is a snake shifter, but she’ll have to eventually, given that he’s my mate.”

Robert sighed. “I’m never going to get you back, am I?”

Marcus snorted, but Ling shrugged. “No, are you going to give up these ridiculous attempts to annoy me?”

“I suppose so.” Robert looked at her with admiration. “Wow, you and a snake - that’s pretty wild. I don’t suppose you and him would want to…”

Ugh, she knew where that was going
. “No, thank you,” she interrupted primly.

Robert nodded. “How about if I just watched the two of you together?”

Marcus tightened his grip on Robert, and he yelped. “Time to leave Robert.”

“Ah, come on.”

Ling folded her arms. “I’ll give you five seconds to give me the spare set of keys and get out. If you don’t, then I leave the room and Marcus does whatever the hell he wants.”

Robert gulped on seeing the evil smile spread across Marcus’ face. “Okay, okay.”

He pulled the key off his ring and tossed it to Ling. Marcus then led him to the door, and not so carefully, pushed him through.

Ling came up behind him and smoothed her arms around him. “I’m sorry about Robert,” she murmured.

Marcus shook his head. “It’s not your fault. But if he comes back again, you understand that I’ll have to kill him.”

“Mmmm, I understand, and if you go to jail for it, I’ll wait for you.”

He smiled wryly. “I’d expect nothing less.”

*

In the end, Marcus and Ling decided to sell both his apartment and her house, and buy a new house together. Somewhere new to raise their family.
Given that there were two babies on the way
…

Ling’s mother almost fainted when she heard the news. Fang, at first, demanded a big, family wedding, but on hearing that Ling was already in the family way, she insisted on a small, quick wedding. Ling and Marcus couldn’t have been happier.

Fang felt a little trepidation at the thought of boa constrictor grandchildren, but she did find there were untold benefits of having a snake for a son-in-law. She became very popular in her Ladies Society. They were all fascinated by the fact that a snake had married her red panda daughter. It was pretty unusual for a snake to marry outside their species, and all the ladies were eager to hear all about it. They were particularly enthralled to hear about his life as a bounty hunter.

Marcus figured it was a family trend to marry outside the species, given that his brother had mated a rabbit and his eldest nephew intended to mate with a raccoon. He wondered who Mia would mate with, although he already had a pretty good idea.

They hadn’t been able to determine who broke into Mia’s apartment, and the rabbit shifter was a little nervous about that. Logan fixed new locks on her doors and windows, but she decided she didn’t want to stay there. She and Logan went apartment hunting.

Norman, the camel shifter, somehow managed to get the case against him dismissed. Apparently the prosecution fumbled some key evidence.
Apparently, they lost the banana he was trying to use as a gun
. They often saw Norman about town. The camel always waved at them, and Marcus bit back the urge to chase him.

After a few stops and starts, Ling actually did come to work for Marcus’ bail bond agency. She enjoyed the work and found it easy, and particularly liked being within reaching distance of Marcus all day.

The rest of the office was in two minds about it. When the door to Marcus’ office was locked, they knew exactly what was going on in there. While Carly had no problem with it, Mia didn’t really like thinking of her uncle that way.
But that certainly didn’t deter them.

Marcus also liked having Ling close by him every day. It put his possessive beast at rest. To calm himself when they were apart, he put another tracking device in her handbag. Ling teased him for being overprotective, but really, she loved it.

As for her the imminent additions to their family, she was hoping for a boy and a girl. But, boy, girl, snake, panda – any which way, she would be happy. As long as she had Marcus, life was perfect. She had caught herself a snake, and there was no way she was letting him go.

Mine
.