by Scott, Talyn
She pulled away, licking her delicate mouth with a tiny pink tongue. Her eyes heated, her mind confused at what she’d done. Mike’s Beast could take no more.
Three breaths in.
One slow release out.
Three breaths in.
One slow release out.
Her blue eyes widened to saucers, her trembling hands pushing the hair from her eyes as she started off the bed. His hand shot out and gripped her wrist. Now positioned flat on her stomach, she glanced at where Mike held her, then over her shoulder at him. And with all the experience she’d had in dealing with werewolves, the Alpha of North America being her Mate no less, she still fought not to run from him.
“Mike,” she started then stopped with a shake of her head, realizing she’d waved her red flag at a volatile Beast. “I should never have sucked your cock.”
Even in his mid-transformation, her words hit his heart like a physical blow. Still, she refused him. He hooked his elbow beneath her right leg and lifted her hip high and flat against the bed, spreading her for his entry. He could scent that she was still drenched, her back hole lubricated, her cunt naturally juicy from her earlier climaxes. By her labored breathing, her nonexistent adrenalin, she wanted his possession of her.
Three breaths in.
One slow release out.
Patiently, he’d waited most of his life for this, had mourned her every damned day of his lonely misery. In his current agony, his werewolf refused to wait any longer. His vision was going red and hazy, his Beast fighting for full possession of Mike’s faculties. Still he somehow managed to fight his werewolf back for Tatum, but for how long?
“One kiss,” he pleaded in his distorted voice. She turned her head and he thrust his pierced tongue inside her mouth in a rhythmic sucking that mimicked her pussy, when she had greedily wrapped it around his seeking fingers. His weight was completely atop her, his canines dripping to bury themselves deep into her shoulder. Her realized her submission was his, but he wanted one thing first.
When he pulled his mouth away from hers, he mounted his lonely cock right against her slit. He could feel her tremble for it, her hungry body eager for fucking. “Ask.” He brushed the end of his cock against her swollen, creamy lips. “Me.”
Her hips moved, taking an inch of him inside, stretching her and torturing him. She played one game too many. He nipped her throat aggressively enough without breaking skin, a male clearly warning his mate. He removed the inch, leaving her sensitive and empty, the move torturing her as much as it tortured him. “I can’t hear you.”
“Please,” she whimpered her capitulation, “I want you inside me.”
“Ah, Tatum, my Tatum,” he groaned, circling his hips as he slid his shaft deep into her wetted haven. As he reached the tight ring of her womb, he tilted to the side, swiveling, instinctually knowing where her special spot hid. She gasped, crying out for more. His werewolf settled with their intimate contact as he drove deeper still, before pulling out slowly, only to shove back inside her. Only one more thing could make this moment complete. “Who’s inside you? Tell me now.” He gripped her chin, willing her to turn her face and see him, wanting her to think of only him in this moment.
She moaned. “Mike Carter. The piercings, the borings spinning, it’s all too much.”
“You were born to handle this.” Tatum’s pussy quivered around him, and his chest grew tight with emotion. “I’m here now, returning for my Mate.” He fucked her in real time, in the blurring speed of his species, listening to her gusts of screams as she came for him. “Again,” he growled, her body driving him mad. He was about to blow. “Come!”
“Mike!”
Biting his wrist, he pressed his blood offering to her lips, his hips rocking her at breakneck speed. When her mouth suctioned him just as her pussy did, he shot off with a bang. His werewolf roared in his head and bit down, pinning her between the tender flesh of her shoulder and neck, and swallowed her. Their bodies slick with sweat, their blood flowing between them, he pumped her to the brim with his speed, his sex jetting hot liquid as if it were his first go around. “You are mine, Tatum,” he said around the mouthful of her flesh, swallowing her tangy blood, not ready to release his bite until the last aftershock rocked his body. “I can never let you go again.”
Chapter 11
Bane Ruyter strolled into the master suite of the main house with a half dozen suitcases under his arms, tossing them into a corner. “That’s the last of it,” he said, playing at a smile. “I don’t mind being your bellboy this time, especially if Jayce doesn’t have to stress over this part of his personal life any longer.”
Mike cocked his head toward the shower, bouncing Ardan in his arms, listening as Bren washed their Mate. “Tatum and I had a long talk about the past. I, uh, told her my side of the story, from when we were teens.” He stared out into the darkened night, thinking he saw a flicker of movement. “You’ve guards placed everywhere, yes?”
“Many.” Bane said assuredly.
“Anyway, Tatum said she would try day by day.” He turned away from the window. “That’s more than I anticipated for my first day back.”
“Oh, she said that, did she?” Bane made a funny face at Ardan, patting his golden head. “Sounds to me like she did more than try. I think the entire island heard your reunion. But that’s what males do, Ardan,” Bane said to his nephew. “They keep their females happy for an eternity. It’s a tough job, but it has its rewards in spades, ones you can’t know about until you’re much older.” He glanced at his watch, frowning.
“What is it?”
“Jayce took the territorial Betas meeting without me.” His head cocked, the Beta obviously using their mental path to communicate. “He wanted us to split up until we finish slicing and dicing these rogues. By the way, impressive kills on your part, Carter. I piked the heads of those rogue Gryphs you dusted, strategically placing them around the entrance to the Dynasty Empire’s miasma.”
“What’s the difference?” Mike asked. “When rogues are rogues, they’re not going to pass back through Prince Volos’ realm to see the destruction of their kin.”
“Oh, but they will,” Bane argued with a look of disgust. “The nasties have their underground haunts right past the miasma’s entrance, sex and sip clubs making Ryan’s play dungeon at Six Feet Under look like Disneyland. I’ve pulled mixed-blood Younglings out of there on occasion. It’s a hard recon to manage, since most vampires won’t risk their lives to sneak a pureblood werewolf into their most sacred realm.” His smile was all teeth. “There’s always a price with vampires, whether a blood debt or a bargaining of your very soul.” Bane shifted nervously, very uncharacteristic of the Beta.
Mike knew what he was about. “You can’t sense Jayce.”
“He should be over the islands by now.” He misted away, his voice coiling around Mike. “It’s probably nothing, but I’ll check. Don’t even think about telling Tatum.”
“That’s all you have with you?” Bren stepped from the bathroom, a towel around his waist, tilting his head toward the suitcases.
“I never placed emphasis on material things.”
“You sound like Tatum,” Bren said with a chuckle. “I have to buy her clothes, since she goes against all female scenarios by hating to shop.”
Mike walked into the nursery alcove connected to the master suite and placed Ardan in his cradle, one specifically crafted for the future Alpha. Its spells and wards were many, fueling power for Ardan’s much-needed protection, the cradle’s size immense in order to accommodate a baby far larger than human infants. “Ardan eats and sleeps, his complete cycle for now.”
Bren raised an eyebrow when Mike turned from the alcove. “In between the eating, I swear he goes through a box of diapers a day.” Then his eyes dropped to one of Mike’s bags, an old satchel he kept, his only item of sentimentality besides his late grandmother’s flawless emerald ring. The one he wanted to give to Tatum. And the…
“I remember this,” Br
en whispered, pulling the yellowed envelope from the side flap.
“Nosy much,” Mike retorted, pulling it from his hand.
“You’ve carried this letter around since what, you were sixteen or seventeen? What’s it about?”
“Ciaran gave it to me when I first arrived in the states, after seeking him out when he was rogue.” A sigh left him. “It contains information regarding my true father.”
“It’s sealed.” Bren gaped. “You never asked Ciaran about it, even when you were recently in Scotland.”
“Seriously, we’ve been quite busy.”
Bren shook his head, his chestnut-colored hair brushing his shoulders. “You didn't want him to know you could never face what’s inside.”
“Are you trying to piss me off?” Mike bristled, not because Bren pushed him, but because he was accurate.
“Not today,” Bren quipped, looking behind Mike and smiling devilishly.
Pale arms wrapped themselves around his waist, Tatum pressing the front of her body against his back. The feel of her there, comforting him, he didn’t know whether to laugh, cry, or fuck her senseless.
“Well,” she said, whispering a kiss between his shoulder blades, “You are a father now. Maybe you should open it.”
Mike understood what she meant in facing the past to strengthen one’s self for the future, but it didn’t make the thought of opening that damned letter any easier for him. However, her acknowledging Ardan as his son broke Mike’s heart wide open. “Are you really here with me,” he whispered in awe, “taking me as your own.”
“No matter what’s happened, you complete our family.” She slid around his body, going up on her tiptoes to pull him down for a kiss. “Day to day, we’ll learn one another and make this work. I will try.”
“I want forever so that’s what I’m taking.” He gripped Tatum around her waist, nipping at the corners of her plush mouth before kissing her hard, until he tasted a tinge of blood. When he pulled away from her, their souls touched as if it were full moon already. And before he knew what was happening, he ripped the waxed seal on the envelope with fresh courage and read in his natural, werewolf speed. Mike blinked, not believing what he was seeing. Then read it a second time and a third. He thrust the letter at Bren’s chest. “Read.” Bren read silently, Mike watching on as the horror of understanding reached his co-mate. “We have to tell Bane.”
“I sensed Bane leave while Tatum and I showered.”
“He left for a specific reason.” Mike held up his hand before Bren said anything to frighten Tatum. Yes, she could deal with rising storms, but it was in his nature to protect her. And Bane had specifically requested she not be told that Jayce could possibly be missing. “Is there a safe room here?”
“Yep.” Bren moved to Ardan’s alcove, gathering him.
“We’re going to the safe room?” Tatum asked when Mike tore his shirt over his head and then covered her naked body. “What’s in that letter? What’s going on?”
“Nothing, I originally thought,” he growled, meeting Bren’s shocked eyes. A vampire landed on the roof. “Go, Bren!”
“You, too,” he demanded, taking Tatum by the arm and guiding their family through what smelled like Jayce’s closet. “All of us, Mike! We’re staying together.”
Mike looked out the window, sensing a second vampire misting in around the beach. “They’re Gryphs, just go!” They weren’t easy to kill. He hadn’t a doubt Bren’s Beast could take one down, but Tatum and Ardan were better served with Bren by their sides. Tatum and Ardan were also better served with Mike fighting this battle alongside their security team. In the past month, he’d learned the battle techniques of Royal Gryphs quite naturally. Without a second thought, he misted to the rooftop to face his enemies.
“There you are,” a male voice called, laced with something sinister.
Mike rematerialized on the roof of the main house, his shocked eyes finding the same Gryph from his Youngling years, the one who took Tatum the night Bren and Jayce had frightened her in the marsh. “I guess I can match weeks of death and destruction to its master.”
The Gryph’s face distorted and then reformed. Rannan Holm sketched a regal bow, his midnight wings flaring in pride.“I helped you years ago, yet you killed what’s mine.”
Mike shook his head, realizing the two rogues he had killed must have been two of the Holm brothers. Ciaran’s old letter to Mike had actually been a missive for Jayce’s father, one explaining the Dynasty’s penetration of spies inside the Academies. Obviously, those spies had bred many werewolves with Royal Gryphs, the odd combination hard to sniff out. “You helped no one but the Dynasty that night. You were cleaning up a mess, trying to draw attention away from your drunken brothers while in fear they would be found out as spies.” Mike heard Pack Males fighting against the single Gryph below, grunts and the clang of weapons filling the air. Yes, they were nearly impossible to bring down, had been on this earth since the beginning of time.
Black fire leapt in Rannan’s eyes. “I will collect two bodies tonight, for the two you took from me. I’ll start with Tatum Shirley, killing her slowly while you watch. Then I’ll move onto Jayce Jordan’s Youngling. A pity but his lineage cannot go on. I’m far older than my brothers were.” He stepped closer, a short blade in each hand. “My power is great, so you won't take me down. And when you’re burning in anguish from the carnage I will surely lay at your feet, I will languish in torturing you for the rest of your eternal life.”
“Yeah, well, I’ll be picking your feathers out of my teeth before you manage any of that.” Mike had no weapons on him, would have to rely solely on his Beast. Without another word, he released his werewolf. On the heels of his release, a fissure entered the air, marks of the Alpha and the Beta. Mike lifted his nose to the air, scenting Jayce’s blood. His co-mate was greatly injured, but he remained outside the house while Bane misted inside. Obviously, the Beta was to protect Tatum and Ardan.
“Ah, the Alpha doesn’t know when to stay down.”
“No, you just don’t know how to finish the job.” Mike studied Rannan’s leg, seeing where Jayce took a plug from his hamstring. That’s where he would strike first. When Mike lunged with claws and teeth, a body slammed into Mike’s back, toppling him over. He landed on the rim of the second floor balcony, the iron railing cracking several ribs. Still, he flipped smoothly, hiding any pain from his enemies, an unspoken rule he’d follow until his dying breath.
This he refused to take tonight.
Jumping high, Mike caught a flicker of movement to the side, but it was too late. As if in slow motion, a long blade headed straight for his throat, the hand at the hilt belonging to Mabon Holm. Mike spun out just as Jayce blocked the hit and took the blade across his shoulder. He was in Alpha Beast form, snarling in horrifying rage.
Rannan jumped over the roof, tightening his wings to land on the balcony. As he did, Mike grabbed the long blade out of Jayce’s shoulder and thrust it upward, only managing to pierce Rannan’s wing on his descent.
Jayce lifted Mabon to his mouth and bit clear through his throat. With a roar only the Alpha of North America could release, he flung Mabon from his balcony in disgust, spitting the Gryph’s blood out of his mouth.
“Mabon!” Rannan screamed as he flew back to the roof’s edge. Mabon’s decapitated body was wiggling on the pool deck, yet his head was sitting in the palm of Jayce’s hand. Jayce bared his bloodied canines to the moon and slung the head at Rannan.
“One to go,” Mike sneered. He jumped high, even with broken ribs, and charged Rannan too late. The Gryph disappeared into the thick night, his wings flapping above the house. “Mother fucker is getting away!”
“I still have your blood in me, Tatum’s, as well,” Rannan’s voice drifted from the sky. Reminding Mike the Gryph must have fed from them that fateful night so many years ago. The flying vampire could hunt them easily. “I will find you soon and finish this. The Alpha won’t always be around.” And then he was gone.
&n
bsp; “Let’s get Jayce inside,” Jude called out. “He was injured before he took that hit to the shoulder. Rannan and Mabon had stabbed him with silver before he stepped foot into his meeting.” Jayce shook Jude off, and then Jude held up his hands.“What’s the plan then, Alpha? Are you going to go after him while you’re bleeding to death?”
“I’ll feed. I’ll hunt.” Jayce roared, the thunder of his anger shaking the house. “I want my queen!”
“She is safe below with Ardan, can’t you feel her?” Mike brought himself down to his most human form, eyeing Jayce’s fusing shoulder. “It’s the silver dulling your senses. Find her inside the house. Drink from her.” Jayce misted inside to find Tatum. Jude followed.
Bane appeared next to Mike, misting in his most human form. “What the hell was Rannan blubbering about, when he said that he had your and Tatum’s blood in him?”
“It’s a long fucking story and he’s getting out of reach.” Mike searched the skies, his fists clenching.
Bane pressed his hand against Mike’s chest. “You just can’t take off on Tatum again. Getting yourself killed after she’s finally accepted you isn’t the best laid plan. I’ll strategize and bring Rannan down. It’s what I do.”
“With all due respect, Beta, you can never strategize when battling crazy. You fight it right back with your own brand of crazy.” He misted away with Bane calling to him, but he didn’t stop, not until he landed on Captiva Island.