Unstoppable Force (Force of Nature Series) (22 page)

When he’d tried to get away she had not
thought about the fact that she was much smaller than him and with a whole lot
less magic, or whatever it was they shared. Her only thought had been if he got
out of the place, he would reign terror down on her new family more than they
could have thought of. She had only gone after him to stop him. Not to kill
him.

Her wolf—she never thought of her as
anything but a separate person—had been pissed. The man was getting away and
she didn’t like it. When Louise had jumped to stop him, the wolf inside of her
had taken control.

The first time she’d bitten into him,
she’d only gotten his shoulder. His blood was strong and tasted slightly
bitter. She had pulled away and had been hit for her troubles. Her head had
spun for several seconds, but she didn’t stop. The wolf had attacked again,
this time going for the soft of his belly.

Louise shuddered when she thought of how
that had felt. Her teeth had touched though the softness and she had shaken her
head to do more damage. His bowel had opened then and the smell, along with the
taste, had made her gag. But he had gathered his magic and had touched her back
with it. She cried out in so much pain that she’d let him go. He had laughed at
them.

“You think to kill me? I think not,
child. You cannot kill your creator.”

She was hurting too badly by then to
think about what he was saying until he asked her for the key.

“Give it to me and I will let you live. You
see, I can kill you, but you cannot kill me.”

The key. She’d had it around her neck
when she’d shifted and could feel it touching her fur. She had no idea what it
was for, but he did. She moved into his mind to find it, not realizing until
Phil told her later that, as a wolf, she shouldn’t have been able to do that.

It wasn’t a key at all, but something
that held all he was, he thought. She moved back and forth in front of him as
he watched her, telling her that she was to obey him. Moving to the wall
closest to them, she heard the others coming down that hall toward them. She
knew as soon as she looked at him again that he was gathering whatever he could
to kill them all as soon as the others got there.

It took her several seconds to get the
chain off her neck. He smiled at her and held out his hand. She still wasn’t
sure if it was his good girl that pissed her off enough or simply that he
thought she would do as he commanded. When she had it on the floor in front of
her she picked it up gently with her mouth.

“Now, bring it to me and no one else
will get hurt.”

She started toward him and stopped just
shy of him being able to touch her.

“Give it to me now and I’ll kill you
swiftly. If I have to come for it, then you’ll suffer like you’ve never
suffered before.”

She saw it then. He was afraid she was
going to break it. And if she did…he wasn’t really sure what would happen, but
he did know that he would die. Good enough reason for her. She bit it.

At first she hadn’t been sure that she
would be able to destroy it. It was hard and big in her jaws. Then when she
dropped it, thinking to claw at it with her long nails, he’d sat up quickly and
tried to snatch it from her. She’d grabbed it back up in her mouth just as he
rolled over her and she rolled again until he was beneath her. She bit again,
this time breaking it.

The scream was horrific. She knew at
once that it was from him. But she was burning as well. Her mouth was on fire
and she would feel the liquid, strangely dark and hot, drip from her canines. That’s
when she noticed him.

William was melting. His face where the
liquid had touched him was gone, only bone was where his cheek had been. His
eye was also gone and in its place was a hole deep into his skull that was as
dark as the night. She started to move off him, but he had grabbed her and his
fingers now tangled in her fur. Whimpering once, she looked up when someone
touched her from above.

“Let him go.”

She didn’t know the man in front of her,
not even when he knelt down to her level.

“Let the key go and he will no longer
hold onto you.” He touched her again and she could hear the others coming. He
looked to the door before he looked at her again. “They cannot find me here
with you. This is my last good deed before I go to the place all bad people go
to.”

The connection to this man was quick. She
could see that he was the man who had saved Nancy. “No. You will not. We owe
you so much.”

He smiled when she released the key and
it fell right into William’s mouth. When it did he jerked several times before
she was tossed off him and against the far wall. The change was amazing.

He was first a dragon. Big and dark, she
could see how he would have been a large creature. But he changed again and
again, each time getting darker and uglier. Every time he would shift he became
so far from what he’d been born as, into something that no longer existed. Then
he simply stopped. He lay there as a man, whole and unharmed. But dead
nonetheless. She looked over at Timothy when he stood up. The others were
spilling into the room as he stood there.

“You have done something no others could
have done.” He looked at the man lying there so still. “He was once a great
man, wonderful to all mankind, but he became bitter and greedy. You are nothing
like him.”

Then he disappeared and she closed her
eyes.

“Are you all right?” She hadn’t realized
that she had fallen asleep until she heard Connor’s voice. “You looked like you
were having a nightmare. Were you?”

“No. Just thinking about what had
happened.” She had told him everything, as well as Phil. “Come here and lay
down with me.”

“No. If I do then I won’t be able to
stay awake. I’ve been working to get the house done, as well as a few orders
that I completely forgot about.” He stretched and she felt her body respond. He
stopped and looked at her. “You keep smelling like that and I won’t ever get my
orders finished. I’ve only come here to get a quick bite to eat and a shower. Behave.”

She let her need for him wash over her.
She knew he would smell her; she could as well. Moving to the edge of the bed,
she let the sheet pool in her lap. The t-shirt she had on didn’t hide very
much.

“It’s been a long time, Connor, and I
want you.” She was not going to pussy foot around any longer and wait for him
to come to her. She started to stand up and stopped when he moved toward her. “You
come to bed with me now and I’ll make it worth your while.”

He hesitated and she wanted to scream at
him. “The doctor said to wait for another few days. I’m not going to be able to
if you keep that up.”

She didn’t want him to. She stood up
then and walked toward him, taking off her shirt as she went. This time, she
was going to get him to make love to her even if it killed her. Or her him. Whichever,
she was getting him naked.

“Stop.”

She did. She wasn’t sure what he wanted,
but didn’t move.

“It’s my turn. You had your way with me
the last time, now it’s my turn.”

“What is it you want to do to me,
Connor? Because from where I’m standing, you’re entirely too dressed and way
too far away.” When he pulled his shirt over his head and dropped it to the
floor, her mouth watered. “Connor, are you going to make love to me or is this
a ploy to get me to go back to bed?”

“Oh you’ll be going back to bed, soon,
and me with you, but first I want to shower with you. I’ve only just realized
that I’ve not been able to wash that lovely red hair of yours. That amazing
body hasn’t had me go over it with a soapy sponge, and I’ve not had the
ultimate pleasure of taking you against the wall while the water beats down on
us.”

Her knees trembled.

“Don’t fall now. If you do then I won’t
be able to do all the things I’ve been thinking about for the past month.”

“You’ve thought of me?” She knew that
she sounded pleased, but didn’t care. He’d been thinking about her. He nodded
as he moved again. “In what way?”

“Mostly beneath me. Also when you’re
over me, riding me. I love watching your face when you’re enjoying yourself.” This
time when he moved he stopped just short of touching her. “But I simply love
you. And no matter what we do, I will enjoy it.”

He took her mouth in the gentlest kiss
she’d ever gotten. As he touched her it was like he was touching her soul. When
Connor lifted his head he looked down at her and she knew, for as long as she
lived, the look on his face would remind her of how much she loved him. Kissing
him again, she led him to the bathroom.

~~~

Connor walked behind her, knowing that
he was going to make love to her all night. Smiling, he thought of what Clint
had told him just that morning. He wondered what the man would do when faced with
the lovely creature he’d walked in on.

“If you have to, stay away from the
bedroom. She needs to rest, not romp in the sack with you.”

Connor had lifted his brow at the man’s
old fashion terminology.

“She’s just gone through more than most
wolves go through in their entire lives. She did it all in one day. Stay out of
the bedroom.”

Who was he to say no to his mate? Certainly
not him. And certainly not when she was doing all the things he’d been thinking
about for weeks. Years even. He wanted her in the worst way.

As she turned on the water to the shower
he stopped her. He wanted to bathe with her in a nice, deep, warm tub. He’d had
a very nice one installed in their bathroom so that they could have as much fun
as they wanted and not soak the lower floors. He told her what he wanted. “You
wait and I’ll take care of this.” He picked her up and sat her on the counter. “I
want this to be perfect.”

“It is, so long as you’re here.”

He grinned.

“I mean it. I don’t need all this fancy
stuff. I just want you.”

Connor kissed her nose and went to find
the lighter that CJ had given him a week ago to light some pretty candles for
Lou. He was lighting the third one when he thought of music. Hurrying out of
the bathroom, he turned on the radio only to be blasted by the hard rock he had
been listening to over a month ago. Turning it to something soft and sexy, he
went back to the bath.

“I thought I could help.” She’d finished
off the dozen candles for him. “Connor, please. I seriously don’t need all this
romance. Sex is fine without it.”

“Yes, but I don’t want fine. I want
romantic. I want you to blush when you think of the trouble I went to. I want
you to…” He sat her on the counter again. “I want you to sit here like a good
girl and leave me to my work.” He swatted her ass and moved back to his job. The
candles were a nice soft vanilla scent and he hoped she liked them. When she
spoke behind him he nearly dropped the lighter.

“You have the cutest butt. Has anyone
ever told you that?”

He shook his head, trying his best to
concentrate on what he was doing. He did moan when she cupped her hands over
his ass cheeks and squeezed.

“They’re hard as stone too. And a nice
size.”

He nearly swallowed his tongue when she
reached between his legs and cupped his balls. He didn’t move when she moved up
his shaft to the tip and then back down again. He knew what she was doing. She
was seducing him and he didn’t have the strength to stop her. When he started
to turn to her, she stopped him.

“No. I want to touch you. Feel you.” He
set the lighter on the window ledge and held onto the tub with both hands. He
hoped to Christ that he didn’t fall and kill himself because there was no blood
in his head. “You have nice hips. They aren’t like some people’s, but make a
nice flare from your rock hard abs to them. I guess it has to do with running
all the time.”

“It’s in our DNA to be slim. I suppose
it has to do with being hunters to survive.” He felt her press her body to his
and he moaned. “Louise, you’re supposed to be sitting down and letting me have
you.”

“I know, but you looked so yummy like
this that I just wanted a small taste.” Her teeth bit his shoulder and he had
to grip the side of the tub harder. He was going to leave fingerprints, he knew
it. “Did you know that you taste like muscle to me? I know that sounds stupid,
but the way you feel when I bite you makes me think of big, strong men and
muscles.”

He groaned again. “I need to protect
you. And if you don’t stop that right now, someone is going to get hurt.” Her
laughter made him smile.

“You won’t hurt me. Not on purpose
anyway.” She ground herself against his ass and he reached out his left hand
and pulled her flush against him. “You like that? You like me touching you like
this?”

Her voice got huskier, almost primal. He
wanted to stand and turn, but also wanted this to build. When she ground
herself against him again, he did stand this time and leaned against the wall. She
ran her hands up his chest and pulled none too gently on his nipples. When her
fingers trailed down his chest, he sucked in his belly when she reached into
his pants.