by Becca Van
She screamed as she shot straight up to the heavens. Her pussy clenched and released in a never-ending cycle of nirvanic bliss. Cream gushed from her entrance as her whole body quaked and quivered in ecstasy.
Broden pumped into her once more, and on the second stroke, he roared as he started to come. He shivered and shook over her, his cock pulsing and palpitating each time he shot another load of cum deep inside her pussy and womb.
Her internal muscles contracted around his dick with throbbing bliss until the glory began to wane, and she was left with the occasional aftershock trembling through her.
She forced her heavy lids up and smiled when she realized that Broden was lying on top of her, with his upper body braced on his elbows and his head resting on her shoulder. She caressed her hands over his muscular back and shivered when another aftershock wracked her smaller frame. “I love you, Broden.”
“I love you, too, baby.” Broden rolled them onto their sides and lifted her leg up over his hip to keep their intimate connection. She sighed with contented satiation as she rested her head in the crook of his shoulder.
“When can we go to the clinic?” she asked, trying to keep the excitement from her voice as she stared into his amazing gray eyes. When he smiled at her, Dusty laughed. She kept forgetting that her mates could feel her emotions through their mating bond.
“We’ll go soon, mate. You can shower while I make you something to eat.”
“Okay,” she agreed since she was hungry enough to eat a cow.
“Okay?” He quirked a brow at her suspiciously.
“Yeah, I’m starving.”
“I’m glad you’re appetite’s back, mate. I was worried about you last night.”
She traced a finger over his lips and laughed when he nipped the tip before sucking it into his mouth. “Do you know what I think?”
“What do you think, baby?” he asked after releasing her finger from his mouth.
“I think I was feeling ill because I was stressed, as well as all those riotous hormones.”
“I wish you wouldn’t worry, mate. I keep telling you that we can all take care of ourselves.”
“I love you too much to see any of you hurt or killed, Broden. I’d do anything I could to protect you.”
“So would we, baby. So would we.” Broden tilted his head and frowned. “We’re about to have company. Go and get cleaned up, baby.” He kissed her on the lips, held her against his chest, and rose.
As soon as she was steady on her feet, he turned her toward the bathroom. She glanced back over her shoulder to see him quickly dressing before she closed the door. As she washed, Dusty wondered who was visiting. She hoped it was Emmy and Pixie. Even though she wasn’t a hundred percent sure she’d conceived, she was too excited to keep the happy news to herself.
She wanted to share her joy with the other women who she was sure were going to be great friends.
She washed and dressed in under five minutes, and after brushing her hair, hurried out toward the kitchen. Her empty belly gurgled when she smelled the delicious aroma of bacon, eggs, and pancakes. Dusty hoped that Broden was making a lot, because she was starving.
“Dusty,” Emmy greeted with a smile and then hurried toward her. “How are you?”
“I’m great.” She hugged the other woman back and then gazed at the man leaning on the counter. She gave him a friendly smile and walked over to him with her hand out. “Hi, I’m Dusty.”
The big man straightened and took her hand in his. “I know. I’m Jayson Cannon. Pleased to meet you, Dusty.” Jayson released her hand when Broden growled.
She spun on her heels, glared at him, and pointed a finger toward his chest. “Cut that out.”
Broden gave her a sheepish look and then turned back to the stove.
“I actually came over to apologize to you, Dusty.” Jayson turned side on to her as if trying to hide the eye patch covering his eye.
She hoped he didn’t think she was bothered by the patch and his scars. She hated that he’d been hurt, but in her eyes, he was a hero. Anyone who’d fought for their country should be honored for protecting them. She frowned up at him. “What do you have to apologize for?”
“I put the nutmeg in the cauliflower sauce. I’m really very sorry that you were ill.” Jayson placed his hand on his chest over his heart and kept his gaze locked with hers. She hated seeing the guilt on his face.
Dusty walked closer to him and took his other hand in hers and gave it a squeeze. “You have nothing to be sorry for. It was my own fault. I just presumed the nutmeg was pepper. I knew better and should have asked. Please, don’t blame yourself.”
Jayson swallowed audibly and glanced away. When he met her eyes again, she could see the relief in his gaze. Giving in to an impulsive urge, she moved closer to him and hugged him tight. This time when she glanced up, she almost started laughing. The poor man looked so awkward with his arms in the air as if afraid to touch her, and there was an appalled expression on his face. When she realized he wasn’t even looking at her but over her head, and there was worry in his eyes, she released him and stepped back. She was about to turn to face Broden, who was making low grumbling sounds, but Jayson stopped her by placing a hand on her arm. He leaned down closer to her and sniffed.
“You’re pregnant. That was fast.” He released her arm and took a few quick steps away from her.
She startled when Broden wrapped a possessive arm around her shoulders and tugged her back against him. “Never touch my mate again,” he ordered in a hard voice.
Dusty gaped for all of two seconds and turned in his hold. She craned her neck to scowl up at him and poked him in the chest. “Get your head out of your ass, Broden. He didn’t mean anything by it.”
“You’re pregnant?” Emmy squealed, and just like that, the thick, angry tension in the air dissipated. The other woman rushed over to her and hugged her. “That is so awesome. Congratulations.”
“Thanks.” Dusty smiled with excited happiness. “I haven’t done a test yet.”
“You don’t need to.” Emmy grinned. “If they say you’re pregnant, then you are.” She turned to gaze at Jayson. “Are you ready to go? My mates will come looking for me if I linger too long.”
“Yeah,” Jayson nodded and glanced at Broden. He held his hand out and the two men shook. “Congratulations. You’re all lucky assholes.”
“We know.” Broden nodded and met her gaze as he released Jayson’s hand. “We’re the luckiest men alive.” He pulled her against his side. “Are you ready to head to the clinic, baby?”
“I thought you didn’t want me—”
He placed a finger over her lips. “You want to have that test, don’t you?”
“Yes.” Dusty was so excited she had to restrain herself from clapping her hands like a little kid.
“As soon as you’ve eaten, we’ll head out.” Broden pointed to the food he’d cooked for her. Dusty climbed up onto the stool while he saw Emmy and Jayson to the door.
She couldn’t wait to get to the clinic.
Chapter Twenty-One
“I’ve found the cunt,” Bennie said as soon as Irish answered his cell phone.
“Stop the truck,” Irish ordered Con. “Where?”
“I saw her entering the doctor’s clinic with some guy.”
“Get the weapons ready.” Irish smiled. “Make sure we have plenty of ammo, and scope out some vantage points. It’s time we took that slut out.”
“Already on it, boss,” Bennie replied.
Irish disconnected the call and then turned to meet Con’s gaze. “Head back to Ambrose, but don’t drive down the main street. We don’t want to call attention to ourselves.”
Con turned the truck around and headed in the direction of the small town. “Do you think four of us is going to be enough to get her?”
“Yeah.” Irish rubbed his hands together. “The population of that town is miniscule. They’re not going to have a chance of taking us out. I doubt they have any weapons. E
ven though the men are bigger than I expected, they must be all backward hicks to live way out here. This is going to be like taking candy from a baby.”
* * * *
“Are you ready, sweetness?” Archer hid his grin as he watched Dusty. She was eager for the pregnancy test results, but she was also worried that the test would read negative.
When she started wringing her hands together, Airen snagged her around the waist and tugged her into his lap. He kissed the top of her head before shifting her sideways across his thighs. Dusty sighed and leaned into Airen’s chest. “I am,” she finally answered.
Broden squatted in front of her and handed her the results. She stared at the paper and then met his gaze. “I don’t know what any of this means.”
“It means that you’re pregnant, baby.”
“I am?” she whispered as if she was afraid to believe.
“We are.” Archer nodded, a huge smile curving his lips.
“Oh. My. God.” Dusty covered her womb with a small hand. “I’m going to be a mom.” Tears welled and flowed down her face. She was laughing and crying at the same time. “I can’t believe it.” She sniffed and then wiped her face with the back of her hands.
“Believe it, mate.” Broden lifted her from Airen’s lap and hugged her.
Dusty cupped his face between her hands and then kissed him on the lips. “I love you, Broden. Thank you for making me so happy, for helping to make a baby with me.”
“I should be thanking you, baby. You’ve made all our dreams come true. I love you, Dusty.” Broden helped her to stand, and she turned toward Archer.
He snatched her from her feet and nuzzled her neck with his nose.
“I love you, Archer. Thank you.”
“I love you, sweetness. You’ve given us everything we ever wanted.” He lifted his head and kissed her softly, lovingly on the lips.
Dusty slid from his lap and rushed into Airen’s arms. He laughed exuberantly and lifted her against his chest. She wrapped her arms around his neck and legs around his waist. “I love you, Airen. Thank you for such a wondrous gift.”
“I love you so fucking much, honey. We’re going to be with you every day for the rest of our lives. I can’t wait to hold our cub.”
“You all say the sweetest things. I’d never dreamed—” Dusty shrieked when glass shattered.
“Get down,” Broden roared, but there was no need, because Airen had already taken her to the floor and was covering her body with his.
“What was—” She lifted her head to glance toward the window, but Airen gently shoved her head down again.
“Keep down, honey. Someone just tried to shoot you.”
“No.” She shook her head. “No, no, no, no.”
“Stay here and keep her covered,” Broden ordered. “Archer, with me.”
* * * *
“Did you get her?” Irish asked Con.
“No, the guy holding her moved at the last second. There’s no way he wasn’t hit, though.”
“Bennie, can you see the slut?” he asked over the walkie-talkie.
“No, boss. As soon as Con fired, they hit the deck.”
“I told you to fucking wait,” Irish snarled at Con. “If you’ve fucked this up, you’re a fucking dead man.”
Irish glared at Con with fury when the other man glanced his way. “I had the perfect head shot. I didn’t think the asshole with her would move. I’m sorry, boss.”
“You fucking will be,” Irish muttered under his breath. He squinted across the rooftop to the building next to the motel and lifted the walkie-talkie to his mouth. “Do you have anything, Lance?”
“Not yet, but they’ll have to move eventually.”
“Bennie, we need to get them out of there and into the open. You know what to do.”
“On it,” Bennie replied before disappearing from view.
Irish counted the minutes on his watch, and just before the expected distraction, he made sure the safety was off his semi-automatic. He was ready to pick the assholes off one by one, and then he would take the slut down.
* * * *
Broden and Archer quickly removed their clothes. As soon as they were naked, Archer opened the back door to the clinic and nodded at him. Broden nodded back, and they both called to their bears.
The transformation didn’t take long, and as soon as they were in their bear form, Broden ran toward the end of the alleyway, calling to the other shifters as he went.
“Someone just tried to kill my mate.” Growls, snarls, roars, and yowls filled his mind. He sniffed the air, trying to gauge where the danger was coming from and how many they would need to deal with. “I smell four. They have guns and God knows what else. Be careful. There are two men on the roof of the motel. One is on the empty shop next door, and the fourth is on the move.”
“We’re coming,” Tatum said.
“We’ll take out the fuckers on our roof.” Declan chuffed out a moan, no doubt already changing into his polar bear.
“Try not to kill them,” Jayson hissed. “We don’t want to bring the media here.”
“I don’t give a fuck about the media,” Archer said angrily. “Our mate is pregnant and needs to be protected at all costs.”
“Fuck!” was the collective reply.
* * * *
Airen winced as he shifted over Dusty and met her wide-eyed, scared gaze. “Are you okay, honey?”
“Y-yes.” She licked her lips and glanced toward the broken window and shivered.
Airen hated that she was scared and feeling the cold, but there was nothing he could do about either of those things right now. His mission was to protect their mate and cub, even if it meant giving his life. He wanted to lift her up off the cold, hard floor, but there was no way he was going to make her a target. The wind was blowing in the wrong direction, and he had no idea how many of the enemy they were dealing with, but when he heard Broden reporting in a moment later, he almost sighed with relief.
The back of his shoulder was hurting something fierce, and he could feel blood seeping from the wound. He wasn’t worried overly much since he had rapidly healing abilities, but if he didn’t get the bullet out soon, his skin was going to close up. It would hurt a hell of a lot more to have Broden cutting him up and digging the bullet out of his flesh.
Dusty moved her hands from his chest and hugged his neck. She gasped a few seconds later and looked at her hand. Tears welled and trickled down her face. “Airen! Oh no, Airen. You were shot. Why didn’t you tell me? Let me up. I’ll get something to stem the flow of blood.”
“Shh, honey.” Airen kissed her quickly on the lips. “I’m fine.”
“Fine! How can you say that? You’re bleeding.” Dusty’s tears flowed faster, and though she struggled to quell them, she lost the battle.
Airen ground his teeth when her small body started shaking with silent sobs. He was furious at the fuckers who’d made his mate cry. If he ever got his hands on them, he was going to rip them to shreds. He brushed the hair back from her forehead and leaned down to whisper comforting words in her ear, but a loud explosion rent the air.
He jerked and groaned when his head felt as if it was about to explode, and while he tried to keep the encroaching darkness at bay, he was fighting a losing battle. His last thought just before he lost consciousness was that he hoped he didn’t crush his mate and cub.
* * * *
“Move, move, move!” Archer shouted through the shifter link.
“Airen, are you and Dusty okay?” Broden asked. “Airen, fucking answer me right now!”
“We’ve got the two guys on the roof,” Brooks said through the link.
“I’ve taken down the other fucker,” Jayson said. “He had a fucking sniper rifle.”
“That leaves one more,” Archer said.
“He’s in the clinic.” Tatum roared. “He threw a percussion grenade right on top of Airen. He’s out cold. Fucking asshole just shoved him off of Dusty. He has a gun to her head.”
; Archer’s heart flipped with fear. When he met Broden’s gaze, he could see the terror in his brother’s gray eyes. “We’re soldiers,” he told his brother after sucking in a few deep, calming breaths. “Let’s go save our mate.”
* * * *
Dusty ears were ringing so loudly, she couldn’t hear anything else. When she felt Airen slump down on her, she knew he was badly hurt. She had no idea what had caused the explosion, and while she was scared that Airen was dead, she was also filled with rage. Rage that those bastards had hurt, maybe killed, one of her mates.
She blinked to clear her blurry vision and didn’t realize she was crying until she rubbed at her eyes. When she felt Airen chest expand, she sobbed with relief. He was still breathing. He wasn’t dead.
Dusty was just about to roll Airen over so she could tend to his wounds, but before she could, he was dragged off her. She shook with terror when she saw the big, bald man standing over her with a gun pointed at her chest.
“Get up.”
Even though she didn’t hear his words, she read his lips. She shook her head and tried to scramble back. Her heart pounded hard and fast against her sternum when the man bent down, grabbed her sweater in a fist, and tugged her to her feet. She swayed a bit as she tried to get her equilibrium back, but whatever the bang had been seemed to have scattered all her senses. Before her brain started working, the bastard was standing behind her, his arm tight around her shoulders and chest with a gun pressed against her head.
Her legs trembled, and her knees threatened to give out, but her fear slowly waned when she felt love and warmth being pushed at her through the link. She glanced at Airen’s prone form on the floor and more tears spilled down her cheeks when she saw the blood on the back of his shirt. It looked as if he’d bled a lot, and there was a new wound on the back of his head, which was bleeding profusely.
Fear and anger warred in her heart and soul, but she pushed the terror aside and clung to the ire. This was one of the assholes who’d shot one of her mates and then tried to blow him up.