by Julia Mills
Tessa wanted to be mad. She wanted to stand up and shout her outrage at Max’s gall for questioning her father, to defend the man who’d always stood by her with all her might, and almost did. But then she took a moment to play back what had happened in Gerri’s foyer, before answering, “You are right, Max, my dad is a good man and I could tell he had no clue why he was along on this ‘business trip’ as Ulnac had called it.”
“Good,” Max reassured. “I just wanted to make sure before we proceeded with any plans.”
“Before we talk about the strategy you all have worked up for defeating the Cambion once and for all,” she looked over her shoulder at Lennox then back to Max. “What is this about Lennox being ‘the mad bomber’?”
Throwing back is head and roaring with laughter, it took Max several seconds to recover in which time her dragon explained, “Some might say I have a knack for blowing things up.” He grinned then quickly added, “On purpose, of course.”
“Of course…?”
Thrilled that Lennox picked up where she’d left off, Tessa listened as he continued, “I was a munitions expert in the army, several times over, and found out I was good at it. I knew where to place the charges to get the structures to fall the way we needed them to, how to direct the blast away from us and onto our enemies, stuff like that. Since then, I’ve gotten even better and hence, these bozos,” he winked at Max. “Have nicknamed me the mad bomber.”
Smiling because she could feel how proud her mate was of his skill but still afraid for him, Tessa warned, “Alright, mad bomber, but you have to promise me to be careful. I need you in one piece.”
Pulling her out of her chair and onto his lap, Lennox kissed her neck while whispering, “Whatever you say, mo stór.”
A buzz filled the air as Lennox’s lips froze on her skin and Max pushed back his chair and stood. Waiting for one of them to tell her what was happening, Tessa tuned into the faint static, and in the blink of an eye, she could hear Kayne speaking to her mate and a gruff panther speaking to Max in Spanish.
Since she hadn’t spoken Spanish in more years than she could remember, the Vaepanther listened to the demi-god as he explained, “Still no sign of the Cambion or Tessa’s uncle. Have you had a chance to ask her if she can think of any place they might be using as a home base?”
“He didn’t, but I can tell you now if that’s okay.” Tessa chuckled at both the Guardsmen’s surprise then added, “You two need to pay closer attention. Ya’ never know who might be eavesdropping.”
“You can eavesdrop anytime, darlin’” Lennox purred.
To which Kayne pretended to gag, “Oh my Goddess, can you save the mushy crap for when I’m not around?”
“Shut up, Kayne,” the couple snickered in unison just before Max spoke aloud.
“Juan Carlos has called. We are to meet with Rian and the others in the Grand Hall.”
“Okay,” Tessa answered climbing off Lennox’s lap as he told Kayne they would be right there.
With her hand securely in her mate’s while walking beside her cousin, the Vaepanther smiled despite the situation. She had no doubt things would change drastically in the next few hours, but knew with Lennox by her side there was nothing she couldn’t handle.
Now, bring on the asshole and his soul-sucking monsters. I’m ready to kick some serious ass…
Chapter Seventeen
Tessa’s information about her uncle’s real estate holdings was perfect. Not only did they find the Cambion, but also four Succubus and two Incubus. With no signs of Ulnac or Thomas, Lenn had sent Tessa to bed as the sun began to rise and worked until late afternoon with his brethren to make sure he could take down the Master Vampire’s warehouse with no harm to any of the other properties.
Bone tired and ready to drop, the mad bomber made his way across the lair and up the stairs of his home, before collapsing next to Tessa who still had a few hours left of her day sleep. Cuddling behind her, he fell fast asleep, awaking only when she whispered, “Kayne, Max and Rory are downstairs.”
“You have got to be kidding me,” Lennox groaned, rolling over to capture Tessa within his arms.
“No, mo ghrá,” she chuckled. “No matter how much I wish I was.” She kissed him on the forehead. “Just think, the sooner we get going, the sooner we can come back here and be alone.” Pulling her closer, he kissed her neck, teasing the pulsing vein at the base of her neck, loving her sexy inhale and the quiver in her voice. “Oh, you are a bad, bad dragon.”
“Would you have me any other way?” He asked before capturing her lips with his.
Inhaling Tessa’s moan, letting his fingers massage her magnificent body, needing her more than he’d ever needed anything in his life, Lennox fell face first into the mattress, bellowing, “Damn you, bastards! Damn you to Hell! Go away!” As Tessa pulled away and giggled at his rant.
“Hurry up, Loverboy,” Rory chuckled.
“Shut up!”
“Paybacks are a bitch, my friend,” the youngest O’Reilly brother retorted. “I seem to remember a certain mad bomber giving me grief when I found Claire.”
“Did you really do that, Lenn?” Tessa tried to hide her laughter as she half-heartedly scolded him.
Rolling over, he looked up at her, and in his best imitation of a good little boy, Lenn shrugged, “Maybe…but you like me bad, remember.”
Leaning over, his sexy-as-hell mate gave him a quick kiss before teasing him with an incredibly sexy walk that had his heart racing and his cock hardening. Standing with her hand on the door frame and her hip cocked to the side, Tessa looked over her shoulder winked and purred, “Oh baby, I love you just the way you are.” Then disappeared with an evil giggle.
“You will pay! All of you will pay!”
“At the risk of sounding like a total spoilsport, I must insist you hurry, Lennox,” Max’s accent was more pronounced than usual as the King chuckled, “After all, you are the star of our little show this evening.”
“Time’s wastin’,” Kayne added.
“I’m comin’. I’m comin’,” Lennox grumbled, hurrying to shower, dressing as fast as he could and racing down the stairs to avoid watching that tiny little vein in Rian’s head pop out and throb.
“That was quick,” Rory teased.
“Yeah, well, now I have a reason not to get in trouble with your brother.” Lennox looked over at Tessa, sure she was the reason for everything good in his life from the moment he met her.
“Ah, isn’t love grand?” Max winked, putting his arm around Tessa and whispering conspiratorially in her ear, “If he ever gives you any trouble…”
“I’ll call.” She winked. “I promise.”
“Thanks, Max,” Lennox griped in mock anger. “Thanks for turning my girl against me.”
Giving him the sexiest little grin he’d ever seen, Tessa purred, “Never, a chuisle mo chroí, never.”
After kissing his mate soundly amid catcalls and teasing from his friends, Lennox herded everyone to the Hall just as Rian was growling, “Where are they?”
“We’re here, Ri? Don’t have a stroke,” Rory calmed, being the one person, besides the middle O’Reilly brother who was thousands of miles away, with the ability to could get away with talking to the Dragon Leader that way in front of his Guardsmen.
Shaking his head, Rian looked around the room before finally giving them all a half-smile. “You all know why we’re here. Unfortunately, it’s not the first time and won’t be the last. Some of us have fought this enemy before. Others of us are new to the fight. But all of us have suffered because of the Cambion, the Incubi, the Succubi and the vamps.”
He looked at Tessa, warming his smile and winked. “Present company excluded. Tessa, you are always welcome at this table and in this lair.”
Rian’s look turned grim along with his tone, making Lennox uneasy and his dragon growl. “I wish it could’ve been under better circumstances…” The Dragon Leader’s head fell forward and if it hadn’t been for his shoulders vibrating
with his barely contained laughter, would have gotten away with his gag as he added, “that took the pain in the ass mad bomber off our hands.”
As it was, the room still erupted, into laughter and for several long moments Lennox sat next to his lovely mate, thinking this is exactly what I’m fighting for.
“Okay, okay,” Rian calmed everyone in attendance then looking at Lenn apologized, “Sorry, I couldn’t resist.”
“No problem, Boss.”
It took less than an hour for Rian and Max to explain what they had come up with as far as a plan and for everyone to load up in the SUVs and head to the warehouse owned by Ulnac Mooreland. On the way there, Lennox spent most of the time trying to convince Tessa to stay in the car, out of the way of danger.
“Are you serious?” Tessa slapped the seat between them. “I have to be there.” She swatted his thigh. “I need to be there. My family, or at least part of them, are the reason for all of this. The least I can do is clean up after Ulnac.”
“Tessa…” he growled.
“Lennox…” she growled in return, making him hot and bothered and wishing they were alone.
Leaning forward, he captured her lips and kissed her with everything that he was. Pulling back, only because the SUV was coming to a stop in the park where they were stashing it a few blocks from the target, Lennox looked deep into Tessa’s eyes and pleaded, “Stay right by my side. Do not do anything dangerous. If anything happens to you I’ll…I’ll…” The lump in his throat got too big to talk around, so he finished telepathically, “Dammit, Tess, I’ll die without you. I love you.”
Crushing her lips to his, she replied in kind, “And I love you. So, remember that when you’re blowing stuff up.”
Hurrying out of his seat, Lennox raced around the vehicle, helped Tessa to her feet and then went back to unload his equipment. Smiling as his mate grabbed a couple of his duffle bags the mad bomber laughed out loud, when she mentioned, “Maybe you can teach me how to use all the goodies in these bags sometime? We could be the mad bombing couple.”
Loving Tessa even more than he had the moment before, Lennox led the way along the route he’d been assigned while keeping in close contact with his brethren. Stopping outside the chain link fence surrounding Ulnac’s warehouse, the mad bomber got out the ten charges he’d prepared earlier in the day.
Leaving Tessa to watch his equipment, the mad bomber placed the first four charges on the far side of the large rectangular building and was just heading back to collect the rest when he was overwhelmed with the scent of rotten fruit and old blood. Spinning to the left, Lennox ducked just in time to miss the long blade flying at his neck. Pulling the sword from his back at the same time that Kayne and Maddox appeared on either side of him, the three Guardsmen battled a trio of young Cambion, surprisingly adept with their weapons.
“We’ve got bogeys and more incoming. Go protect Tessa,” he called to Rory, who was the closest to where the mad bomber had left his mate.
“No can do, brother. These bastards are everywhere. Can you blow the building?”
Kicking an oncoming Cambion in the chest, the mad bomber leapt on the soul-sucker and beheaded him before answering, “No way. Explosives are only set on the far side.”
“Then we fight,” Rian roared, answering instead of his brother.
One after another the Cambion came. Where the dragons had estimated fifty maximum, Lennox was sure there had to be more than two hundred, all charging ahead, only to be sliced, diced or beheaded by one of the Guardsmen.
“Tessa, go back to the truck,” Lennox called, slashing across two more Cambion as he worked his way towards the spot he’d left her.
“Tessa, honey, answer me.” Another Cambion down and the mad bomber was racing towards the far corner of the lot, searching for his mate. Screaming out loud, Lennox sped into the darkness.
“Tessa! Where…” The air froze in his lungs, and his feet refused to move as Lennox saw the woman who meant the world to him suspended in midair with a very tall, very smug looking vampire’s hand around her neck.
“Back off, dragon.” The vampire demanded. “And call off all your little playmates or I’ll snap Tessa’s neck.”
Dropping his sword, the mad bomber held his hands in front of himself and tried to pacify the man he knew was his mate’s Uncle Ulnac. “Just put her down and then we can talk.” Lennox watched the vampire slowly shake his head as Tessa struggled to breathe.
“Hold on, mo chroí. I’m not gonna let anything happen to you,” he reassured his mate while trying to come up with some way to stop Ulnac from killing her without stopping his friends from eradicating the Cambion. Then her strangled voice floated through his mind, making both man and dragon roar.
“B-blow h-him…up… S-stop h-him…”
Stepping forward, the mad bomber demanded, “Put her down, Ulnac! The fight’s over! Almost all your creatures are dead! You lost!”
“I’ll never…”
In a flash, even before he finished what he was saying, Ulnac’s head flew off his shoulders, Tessa hit the ground, and a tall, wounded vampire appeared out of the shadows with blood dripping from the blade of his sword. Speeding forward, Lennox scooped Tessa up into his arms while extending his broadsword and bellowing, “Get back, you fucking bloodsucker. Just get the fuck back.”
“L-lennox,” Tessa whispered, patting him on the chest.
“Not now, darling,” he murmured then hollered, “Kayne! Rory! Pearce! Anybody! Get the hell over here.”
Appearing at his side as if out of thin air, Max laid his fingers on the top of Lennox’s blade and pushed towards the ground while motioning with his free hand towards the vampire. “Lennox O’Lachtnáin, I am pleased to introduce Thomas Mooreland.” Then with a shit-eating grin, the Panther King added, “Thomas, meet your daughter’s mate, the dragon we call the mad bomber.”
“Holy shit. I’ve done it again,” was all Lennox could say as he held tight to Tessa and let his head fall forward.
Chapter Eighteen
Thankfully, Thomas had forgiven him and was actually proud to know that Tessa would have a strong, protective mate. It had taken several hours to get the bodies burnt, and the ashes cleaned up, and Lennox was upset he hadn’t gotten to blow something up, but having his mate in his arms was better than all the explosions he’d ever set combined.
Arriving back at the lair less than an hour before sunrise, Lennox made sure Thomas could stay with Kayne for his day sleep before taking Tessa home. Helping her shower against her wishes, the mad bomber simply stated, “I’m never leaving you alone again. My heart can’t take it,” and washed her back as she laughed.
Getting her his softest T-shirt, Lennox helped his Vaepanther into bed then laid down, pulled her into his arms and held her as she slept. Visions of what he’d witnessed haunted his dreams. Waking every hour with the guise of checking on Tessa, the mad bomber knew he would never forget what it was like to see Tessa hanging from Ulnac’s gloved hand. The panic and fear at the thought of losing her would be indelibly etched in his memory for the rest of his life.
Opening his eyes to find the windows dark and his mate smiling up at him, Lennox couldn’t speak, couldn’t think, could only feel. Pulling her into his arms, he smashed his lips to hers, his hands roaming her soft, womanly curves and held them tight to the hard planes of his body.
Sliding his hands under the soft cotton of her T-shirt, the electricity of their connection skittered up his arm. The dragon marking on his back, the one that depicted the beast with whom he shared his soul, flared to life.
Rolling over, Lennox pressed his body into Tessa’s as he deepened their kiss. The mad bomber’s heart nearly jumped from his chest when his mate gasped into his embrace, her fingernails digging into his back as her hips rolled against the hard length of his erection.
Fire shot through his veins as their tongues slid along one another and Tessa’s legs wound around his waist. Lennox’s dragon growled low in his soul, the need of both ma
n and beast to be one with their Fated Mate overriding all thought and reason.
Pushing her shirt up her back, he groaned in ecstasy as the softness of her stomach touched the hardness of his and the need to feel every inch of her silken skin pushed him to tear his lips from hers, rip the shirt from her body, and slam his lips back to hers with the speed given to him as one of the Universe’s famed warriors. Tessa’s hands wrapped around his ribs, her nails leaving fiery trails of passion down his back as she mewled low in her throat and rolled her hips against his throbbing cock.
Tearing his mouth from hers, Lennox kissed across her jaw, taking her earlobe between his teeth as he gasped, “I love you, Tessa. Have to feel your warm, wet body wrapped around me.”
Her answering moan and the strength of her grip on his shoulders had his cock pushing against the zipper of his jeans so hard that the mad bomber had no doubt it would be permanently marked for the rest of his life. With his mind swimming and his dragon roaring, Lennox could barely breathe as his need was quickly becoming damn near unbearable.
Tessa’s fingers tangled in his hair as she moaned, “Oh my Goddess, yes…yes…yes… Lennox, please, I want you… I need you…”
Visions of them making love in the water floated through his mind; visions he knew beyond all doubt had come from Tessa. Maintaining their kiss, Lennox slid his hands under her ass, stood with her in his arms and with the most heavenly woman he could ever imagine wrapped tightly around his body, Lennox strode to the bathroom and begrudgingly let her shapely legs slide down his body. Breaking their kiss, he used his preternatural speed to pull her shirt over her head, strip out of his boxers and then start the water in the sunken tub Pearce had told him they would never use.
Score one for the mad bomber…
Knowing he would always want Tessa as much as he wanted her in that moment, Lennox picked up his glorious mate and stepped into the tub while eating at her mouth as if she was the very air he breathed. Reveling in the shivers that racked her body as the hot water touched her ass, he panted as the soft curls covering her mound teased his hard cock.