by Reina Torres
His voice was tumbling from his lips. He told her over and over again how much he needed her, how deep inside of his soul that he carried his love for her.
Tamsin was nearly beyond words. She could barely pull a breath in as every deep slap of his body against hers chased her breath back out again.
“Donal, now-”
The rock-hard shaft pushed her over the edge. Tamsin tossed her head back on a shout, dug her fingers into the thick and flexing muscles of his shoulders.
And there he was, falling into the same oblivion beside her.
She felt the hot rush of his release fill her up and as her strength left her, Donal still had the will and presence of mind to lower her to the bed, cradling her against him.
Soothing her until she sighed and cuddled close.
They fell asleep with a light sheet draped over them by Donal’s caring hand, their bodies still connected and entwined together.
Chapter Eight
The sun hadn’t even stretched over the horizon when a soft rap on his door pulled him from Tamsin’s arms and taken him downstairs. Zenzile stood on his doorstep with a rather sullen Magheli behind her. The blond Afrikaner had made himself clear the last time they’d spoken.
One look at Donal’s naked form had urged the other man to knock him to the ground.
Donal had taken the hit and a few punches as well, but he’d easily shrugged off the other man and made it clear that he’d had his chance.
Now, as the two stood before him, he chose to focus on Zenzile and the pinched furrow between her brows. “What’s wrong?”
Her words were short and to the point and even as much Zulu as he understood and spoke, he was struggling to understand as Zenzile imparted her news like a stampede of information pummeling the air between them.
And when she stopped, waiting for his answer he didn’t understand the nervous pinch of her lips. He knew something was worrying her and that became all too clear when she chose to express herself in his native language. “We would understand if you decided to stay here with Tamsin.”
Donal felt the air thicken between them, and he reached out to her. She met his hand with her own and he felt grounded as if they’d closed the gap that had suddenly opened between them. “When do we leave?”
As Zenzile released his hand, Donal saw the tight pinch of Magheli’s shoulders release. He understood the protective nature of the other man.
“We’ll leave after noon. We’ll make more progress in the dark. We have the advantage of knowing the land. We’ll be able to get closer to them when they can’t see us approaching. Just get back to camp when you can.”
“I’ll be there.”
“And Tamsin?” Finally, Magheli had spoken. His eyes were full of challenge. “You’d leave her here alone?”
Donal’s gorilla roared forward and he had to quiet the fury in his head and the frantic drumbeat of his heart in his chest.
They both wanted the male to pay. Pay for questioning her safety. Pay for saying her name. Neither of his visitors could tell just how much turmoil was tumbling inside of him. They had no way of knowing how dangerous he was.
He had only begun to taste the renewed passion of his relationship with his mate, but he had yet to seal their bond. And until she bore his mark, had shared his blood and his body, any threat to that bond brought the wild rage boiling to the surface.
In a way, he was taken back to those days in America when he feared for the safety of those around him.
And one more distasteful and yes, distrustful look from Magheli may result in his blood spilled on the ground. Needless, yes, but the wild anguish and passion of the animal within him was looking to put down any and all dangers to their mate.
“She will be cared for, and you would do well to remember that she is my concern.”
The other man scoffed. “You sound like you’re a man from generations ago. If you don’t understand that she’s not your possession-”
Donal grabbed the frame of his door with such force that the wood groaned under his hands, and Zenzile stepped back, putting her hand on Magheli’s chest. Whether she meant it as a way to control the other man, or if she thought to give her his protection, Donal’s gorilla was moments away from tearing the other man to pieces.
It was only when he heard the soft shift of Tamsin’s body on the sheets in their bedroom that he felt control descend over him again.
He wanted his mate. Needed to be beside her, over her, and inside her.
With a nod to his friend he closed the door.
When he reached their bedroom, Donal walked to the side and opened the floor to ceiling windows and let the fresh air of the African morning flow into the space and sweep over Tamsin’s skin.
With a soft sigh, she rolled over in bed and brought her hands up beside her face, still blissfully asleep.
Donal reached down and pushed the waist of his light sleep-pants over his hips and let them fall to the floor.
He was already hard. He had been since he’d heard her skin caress the sheets of their bed.
Moving toward her, the heavy bob of his cock felt like a divining rod, drawing him inexorably closer, and when his knees pressed up against the mattress, he bent over the bed.
Donal peeled back the cotton blanket and bared her sun kissed skin to his hungry eyes. Since they had been together in America, Tamsin’s body had matured even more. Her hips and backside had taken on lush curves, and her breasts were more sensitive than they had been in the past.
He smiled and shook his head. It was equally possible that he had learned more about himself since he had accepted both sides of his nature and come to a greater understanding. Not just of his own body and needs, but touching Tamsin and loving her… every inch of her beautiful body, had come to mean more than life itself.
And that, was what he needed to do before he was called back to camp.
Tucking his leg under him, he knelt near the edge of the mattress and bent his arms until his lips were a scant inch from the top of her foot. He pressed a light kiss on the smooth plane of skin and then to the inside of her ankle.
Tamsin’s breath sighed from her lips as she stretched her leg, tightening the muscles through her thigh, clenching her thighs together for a moment before her calf tightened, creating the most delicious curve at the back of her leg before it coursed down to her foot and curled her toes. When she released the tension in her legs, he followed it, using his lips to trace its path. Calf, knee, her inner thigh, he travelled along her skin, kissing and tasting her.
“Donal,” her groan broke over his skin like a wave of energy, “what are you doing?”
He slipped his hand behind her knee and lifted it up, drawing in a breath against the back of her thigh before turning to brush his cheek against her skin.
“Ooh…”
Donal’s smile was predatory, focused on making his mate shiver and shake before he had to leave for the camp. He needed her release more than his own, but he would chase both.
He worked his way up toward her center with kisses, the scratch of his scruff, and the soft soothing touch of his tongue.
Her voice reached his ears, soft and needy, begging for something she couldn’t find a name for, but he knew what it was.
And he knew how to give it to her.
Donal kept hold of her leg, draped it over his shoulder as he leaned into her core. He pressed his lips against her folds and kissed her, slipping his tongue between them with a searching stroke.
Tamsin’s hips lifted off the bed, her back bowing with the rough cry that burst from her lips. “Oh… oh, yes!”
He drove himself forward, a hand under each of her thighs, pressing them closer to his head, squeezing and then gently releasing the tension, but allowing movement, teasing the sensitive skin of her inner thighs with the rough scratch of the hair along his jaw.
Her voice, her breath, the tension of the muscles in her body, he found a way to play with them all as he tasted her and made her move res
tlessly against him.
He had never heard anything as beautiful as her voice begging him for release. Donal answered her with his mouth and the hungry way he ate from her, the way his tongue slipped into her body over and over, darting through her lips to taste the honey of arousal.
But he knew what she needed.
His instinct that drove him to lift her higher with his hands and press his face into her silken curls until his lips found her clit. He felt her pulse against his lower lip before he blew a soft breath over her swollen flesh.
And when a shudder rolled through her body from head to toe, he felt it against his face, his chin, his mouth and the scent of her need drove him further.
Drove him into her core.
He put his mouth on her, focused his attention on the bundle of nerves that pulsed against the flat of his tongue, and canting her hips barely an inch, he found just the right amount of pressure to push her over the edge.
Her hips bucked against him, nearly pulled free of his hands, and her surprised shout sent birds bursting from nearby trees.
Donal wasn’t done, not by a long shot, and he wasn’t waiting for her to come down from the heights he’d brought her to. He knew she wasn’t ready for his mark, but he wasn’t going to waste an opportunity to tie her to him in other ways.
Passion was one thing he knew they shared. There was no doubt about that. He had one of her legs draped over his shoulder and he could hear her shallow breaths as she rode the tail end of her orgasm. Donal got up on his knees and raised himself over her body.
In the morning light, her breasts were as rosy red as her cheeks and her eyes sparkled in the sun that slanted in through their windows. With one hand he guided himself between her legs and pressed in, just until her body grasped the swollen head of his erection and cradled him between her folds. The slick heat of her orgasm bathed him and eased his way in deeper without any effort at all.
“Tam?”
She blinked, struggling to focus on his face. “Hmm?”
“I love you.”
He reached for her hands and pressed them to the bed above her head, almost tangling with the ends of her dark hair. As he settled her hands there, holding them together, his body sank deeper into hers.
“Don’t,” she gasped, and shook her head, “don’t hold back. I… I love you, too.” She blinked and her eyes filled up with tears. “I’ve loved you for so long.”
He withdrew to the tip and sank back to the hilt.
“I’ve loved you,” she sighed, “so much.”
Again, he seated himself inside of her.
“Come inside me, Donal. Give me all of you.”
Within him, his beast rose up with a shout. He wanted it as much as Donal did.
Finding their release in her was everything they wanted, the definition of need. They wanted to mark her in any way they could, and spilling his seed in her body was one of the most beautiful ways that it could happen.
“Are you… are you sure?” He was already rocking into her, stroking deeper and deeper into her slick channel.
“Yes, heavens yes, Donal. Please.”
And that was all the permission he needed.
Hours later he had to hope that Tamsin remembered that she loved him. She certainly seemed ready to throw something at his head. Holding a thermos of coffee in her hand, she seemed ready to aim it at him without much provocation.
“You’re leaving me here?”
Donal ignored Magheli’s smug smile and focused on Tamsin’s wrath. She would always be his biggest concern. “You’ll be safe here with the others.”
“Safe.” She said the word as if it was something she was trying to scrape off of her tongue. “I’m not staying here to be safe.”
“It makes more sense for you to stay here than at our house. I’ll need to hire staff before I’ll feel safe leaving you-”
“Well, that’s just the thing, Donal. You won’t be leaving me. I’m going with you.”
“No, you won’t.” Donal was quickly losing his patience. He didn’t have time to argue with her. They needed to get into their vehicles and go. Soon. “We’re going after poachers. The patrol who went out in our place came across their tracks and a recent kill. Where other groups have all but stopped their crimes in our area, this is the only one that is stepping up their hunts. I don’t want to worry about you in the middle of danger.”
“And where will you be?”
He couldn’t help but admire the fiery flash in her eyes. “I’m sorry, what-”
“Where will you be while the others are facing danger, Donal? You tell me that we’re ma- that we’re supposed to be together. But I don’t know how that’s going to work if you leave me behind to protect me, and yet you’re going to go out there and put yourself in danger.”
He lowered his voice and moved closer, dipping his chin to meet her eyes. “This is not your fight, Tam.”
“I’m about to make it into a fight, Donal.” She leaned over and picked up the rucksack that Thabisa had given her. “Thabisa can’t go with you. She’s still recovering from her injury and you know I’m handy with a rifle. Your father taught me alongside you and with all the time I’ve had on my hands since you left, I’ve spent quite some time at the range. I can at least help be another pair of eyes to watch out for signs of the poachers. And if you go out with fewer people than you’re used to. it’ll just make me worry. Then I’m likely to borrow a car and come after you on my own.”
Magheli tried to hide a laugh and ended up coughing loud enough for Zenzile to give him a good solid thump on his back. “I wouldn’t put it past her.”
Donal turned his frustration on the other man, and for once, the Afrikaner took a good look at him before he backed down. Donal’s smile was forced, but he hoped that the blond man had seen his gorilla bleeding into his eyes.
Better men had been affected by a momentary glimpse of the wild soul within.
He felt a tug on his sleeve and turned to look at Tamsin again.
Her narrowed glare brought heat rushing up along his skin. She had such an effect on him, even with just a look.
“Donal Graystoke. Don’t you dare try to intimidate him! You’re making this into a mess. And maybe you think you have a right to dictate what I do just because I’m in love with you. That’s not going to happen. I did not come all the way to Africa to sit back and hope that you’re safe while you rush out into the dark to stop hunters from killing precious wildlife.”
Zenzile smiled at her. “Don’t forget, Sifiso. When you came to us at first, you saw that men in the area told us to go home and take care of our families and be safe, you were the one who stood up and told those men and yes, some women, that we were taking care of our families.
“That the wildlife of Africa is just as important to our people as if they were our family. You can not say now that Tamsin is an exception to the rule.”
Donal wanted to roar in her face and tell her that the rules were exactly what he wanted. Still, he hadn’t shown the others who he was under his skin.
He hadn’t shared that part of his personality with them.
And it was true. The women who served the Bandile and went out on patrols had families. These women were dedicated to nature and nurture.
Could he honestly say that he would force Tamsin to stay behind?
Trust.
He heard his spirit rushing up through their connection and heard the voice repeat.
Trust.
Of course, I trust Tamsin. I just can’t escape that feeling that it would be a mistake to take her with us.
Protect. Trust. Beside us.
The image in his head was the deciding factor. Whether it came from his own mind or his gorilla, he didn’t know. But there it was.
Tamsin standing between them, her hands on both his shoulder and the gorilla’s. Between them, they could protect her. Between them, she gave them strength.
He had been wrong to demand that she stay behind. He’d meant to protect
her because he loved her, but he could also understand what it would feel like to be left behind while Tamsin marched into danger.
And he’d left Tamsin behind before, leading to years of separation. He wasn’t going to make that mistake again.
“You’ll come with us, but if we come in contact with the poachers you need to promise me that you’ll stay back.” He continued before she could start to argue. “We’ve been trained for these situations. We don’t have the time to train you now. Stepping into an armed confrontation without training-”
“I know,” she agreed with him, “I could put others in danger. I get that, I really do, Donal. You won’t regret this.”
He pulled her into his arms, ignoring the curious looks from his friends, and gave her a kiss that reminded him all too much of the taste of her body that he’d had a few hours before.
When he leaned back and looked at her, he couldn’t help but smile. “You take care of yourself, Tam. I want… no, I need you to be safe.”
“And I feel the same way, Donal, but I think I like the idea of being able to watch out for you too. The way it should be.”
Chapter Nine
Donal looked over at the passenger seat of the jeep and struggled not to throw the man out of the vehicle and leave him behind. Magheli hadn’t chosen to sit up front with him. Zenzile had made the seating decisions for all of them, taking hold of Tamsin’s hand and helping her get in the back. All the two men had to do was shrug, climb into the front seats and avoid speaking to each other for as long as they could.
As twilight descended over the land, they saw headlights approaching from the opposite direction.
Slowing the jeep, Donal stayed in the center of the well-traveled road and waited for the other vehicle to come closer.
Zenzile was the first to see the identifying marks on the vehicle. Donal saw her leaning forward and tilted his head closer to her.
“It’s Paulie’s guides, but something is wrong.”