Nina hissed, practically oozing rage. “Do you ever shut up, Jordan?”
The man nodded and ran his hand through his shaggy blond hair. “How is it that you two know each other?” There was no missing the underlying question. He wanted to know Bradi’s interest in Nina.
“I’m her brother.”
Relief washed over Jordan’s face. Bradi smiled. Nina pushed past them and headed toward the horses. The amount of energy she put into ignoring Jordan told Bradi that his sister was a far cry from hating the man, but it wasn’t his place to pry.
Jordan glanced back at Nina. “Gee, boss, do you want my report or not?”
“As if you have anything remotely interesting to offer,” Nina mumbled.
“I’ll have you know that my hearing is just fine!” Jordan shouted. “I started out as a werelion, boss. The weretiger attack only enhanced my supernatural prowess.”
“You mean skill,” Nina bit out.
“That too.” Jordan wagged his brows. It took everything in Bradi not to laugh at the two of them. Had he and Marisa fought like this?
Yes.
He laughed. They both glanced at him.
Jordan shook his head. “Anyway, the men I have undercover in Stegian’s castle say he’s got some big-ass plot for revenge that involves an outsider—a female outsider, to be exact.”
Nina stopped what she was doing and locked eyes briefly with Bradi. “What of this woman? Did you get a name?”
Jordan ran his hand over the back of his neck. “No, only that they call her ‘the healer’ and they seem to think that not only will she make a powerful ally for them, but she’ll somehow bring your family to its knees. Something about stopping the next generation or something. Not sure what they’re hoping for. Oh, maybe she’s part dog, then she could eat all the damn Janelle cats.”
“Shut up!” Nina shouted.
“Marisa,” Bradi said, ignoring their lovers’ spat and rushing toward his horse. “He wants Marisa. He knows about her healing powers and the baby.”
“Who’s Marisa?” Jordan asked.
“His wife.”
Chapter Twenty
Bradi rushed through the compound gates and dismounted his horse quickly, tossing the reins to the first person he saw. The redheaded teenage boy who caught them looked so familiar that he almost stopped to question him, but was too worried about Marisa to bother.
He ran full force toward his house. “Doc?” he called out, as he burst through the door.
“She’s not here. I’ve been waiting for her myself.”
Bradi turned slowly, not believing his own ears. “Pete?”
There, in the center of his living room, stood Commander Peter Williams. Peter gave him an odd smile before taking a step toward him. “You look like you’ve just seen a ghost, Bradi.”
“I…we…thought you were dead.”
A faint laugh escaped Peter’s lips as he turned in a small circle. “No, I’m very much alive, and I’ve been worried sick about the two of you.” Peter rubbed his side, as if feeling phantom pain, and nodded his head.
The urge to embrace his friend was great, but Bradi held back, unsure of the welcome he’d get. “We’re fine.”
“They told me that Marisa’s been staying here,” Pete said, glancing around their home. “Hardly seems like the kind of place she’d like.”
Did he know that Marisa was his wife now? “How did you find us?”
Peter waved his hand dismissively. “I called in a lot of old favors and managed to find someone who could track the POD signal. It took us a bit of time, but we finally found you two.” Peter put his hands out, and walked toward him. “It’s good to see you. I was afraid that you were dead. I couldn’t believe the preliminary reports concerning the POD when I saw them. I hoped beyond hope that one of the life forces that registered on the POD was Marisa’s. I never dreamed you made it off the ship too. But who was the third person?”
“Third person?” Bradi asked.
Peter’s brows came together. “Yes, the POD registered three life forms on board right before its signal was terminated. Who was the third?”
There had been no one else aboard the POD except for him and Marisa.
It hit Bradi then—the baby.
The POD had sensed the moment of conception and had included it in its signal. Bradi stiffened and waited for Peter to probe more. He didn’t.
“Umm, I’m not sure. The damn thing malfunctioned and we shot right past the rendezvous point. It’s sitting at the bottom of the sea as we speak. We were lucky to land there. If we had hit solid ground, we would not have survived.”
A knock sounded at the door and Peter looked at Bradi. “You going to get that?”
“What? Oh yeah, hold on.” Bradi tried to regain his composure and opened his door. The redheaded boy who had taken the reins from him stood there looking at him. It hit him then, it was the boy from the POD.
Snatching the boy’s collar, he yanked him through the threshold. “Why, you little son of a bitch.”
A hand clamped down on his shoulder. “Before you tear his head off, you should know that he’s Dr. Graves’s grandson and he saved my life,” Peter said.
“I told the little bastard to give me five minutes. He took off the second I cleared the damn doorway!” Bradi ran his hand through his hair to avoid striking the kid. “I had to drag Doc further than I should have to get her out of there.”
“Ceelean, tell the Lieutenant Commander that you’re sorry before he decides to tear your heart out.”
The boy gulped and took a step backwards. “I’m s-sorry.”
“There, that’s better, now isn’t it?” Peter said with a chuckle. “Now, where’s my fiancée?”
“Umm, Pete, I don’t know how to tell you this, but—”
“Bradi, get the door. My arms are full and Christian is loaded up too!” The sound of Marisa calling out to him was both a relief and a worry. She was safe from Stegian, but about to walk into another hornet’s nest. “Janelle, the door, now! I see your horse out here. Don’t make me—”
He opened the door slowly and found a large mound of plants greeting him. Assuming that Marisa was behind them somewhere, he began to unload her arms. “You should not have carried all of this.”
“Pfft, please, these are light. You and Christian sound so much alike at times that it scares me. Oh,” she said, her eyes lighting up. “You should see the healing properties in some of these. That one with the blue tint is similar to aloe, except it heals burns instantly. Christian showed me and I’ve got to tell you, it blew my socks off. Bradi…what’s the matter?”
Chapter Twenty-One
Marisa eyed Bradi. He seemed a bit pale to her. Following him through the doorway, she reached for him. “Are you sick? Did you get too much sun? I told Nina to take it easy on you.”
“You never do stop lecturing about one’s health, do you, Dr. Langston?”
Marisa’s heart thumped wildly in her chest. Had she just heard who she thought she did? Turning slowly, her gaze drifted first over a redheaded boy who looked even paler than Bradi—and then it fell on Peter.
She dropped the plant in her arms and stared at him for a moment, too shocked to move.
Christian came in behind her and stopped quickly. “Marisa, what’s wrong?”
“Peter?” she asked, reaching for him, unable to believe that he was not only alive, but standing in her living room.
He caught her hand in his and pulled her to him. His embrace was strong, passionate, overwhelming. Marisa’s lungs screamed for air, but her body refused to take a breath. This couldn’t be happening. His lung was punctured. She’d thought he was dead. And now there was Bradi and the baby.
Peter cupped her face and brought his lips down on hers hard and fast. Normally, a kiss from him could bring her to her knees, but now she wanted to push him off.
“Little doctor?” Christian’s voice brought her back to her senses and she ended the kiss with Peter.
Marisa touched Peter’s face lightly, still unable to believe her own eyes. “You’re alive.”
He kissed her fingertips and drew one seductively into his mouth. She heard Christian gasp and wondered what could be going through his and Bradi’s minds.
“Please,” Marisa said, pulling her hand back from Peter.
He looked her over and smiled. “I guess this planet agrees with you, Marisa. You’re glowing! I’ve never seen you look so beautiful.”
Did he know?
She glanced back at Bradi and found his jaw clenched tight and his eyes blazing. “Peter, I don’t know what to say. I thought that you were gone. We thought you were gone,” she added quickly, still looking at Bradi. His face didn’t change and she wanted to run to him and toss her arms around his large neck. She didn’t.
Peter touched her chin and directed her attention to him. “I wasn’t sure that you’d survived either, but I knew that I couldn’t stop looking for you, Marisa.” He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a scannable notepad. “I brought our engagement contract with me, so if they have a minister or a licensed uniter, we can make it official.” He didn’t give her a chance to respond. “Gods, I’ve dreamt of this moment. I’ve wanted to hold you in my arms and make love to you since we departed Earth. I can’t wait another minute.”
“Peter, I think that we should—”
He ignored her and looked at Bradi. “Who can we see about making this official? The sooner the better. I want to be buried so deep in my wife by the end of the night that this planet sends her off because she’s screaming too loud.”
“Peter!” Marisa shouted, shocked by his statement.
“You would need to speak with our Chieftain,” Bradi said coldly, never once revealing he was her husband now.
Was it shame that kept his tongue tied or was it something else? He’d married her. He’d said he loved her and made her love him in return. It couldn’t have all been a lie, could it? The very fact he seemed unwilling to stand up for her now made her inner fears seem more real by the second.
Peter clapped his hands and walked over to Bradi. “Great, take me to this guy and we’ll get the ceremony started. Oh, and I want you to be my best man, of course.”
“Of course,” drawled Bradi, his gaze hard and on her.
Marisa’s brow furrowed. “Bradi?”
Christian stepped forward and broke the tension in the room. “I may be of some assistance in locating the Chieftain. If you’d like, I will take you out in search of him.” He looked directly at her and tipped his head. She knew then that Christian had bought her and Bradi some time to talk and thanked him with a silent nod.
“Right this way,” Christian said, motioning to the front door.
Marisa waited until she was sure they were gone before moving toward Bradi. He jerked away quickly and glowered.
“I won’t hold you back, Doc.”
“What do you mean you won’t hold me back?” She glared at him. “And what the hell was all that about? You practically handed me to the man.”
Bradi laughed. “I have feared this day from the moment we got on that POD. I knew, in my heart, I knew that you could never be mine.” Abruptly, he turned his back to her. “Just go, Doc.”
“You think you can get rid of me that easily? You think that I’m going to walk away from you, from us, without a fight?”
He didn’t move.
Reaching out tentatively, Marisa touched his back. “Bradi, please don’t send me away. I love you.”
“Don’t do this, Doc.”
“Gods damn you, Bradi! I’m telling you that I love you and you’re pushing me out the door. In case you forgot, mister, I’m already married to you.”
“Not according to Earth customs.”
She snorted, not believing that Bradi could be so childish. “Well, guess this baby isn’t really here either. I mean, you don’t seem to care about our marriage anymore, am I to assume that you don’t care about me or our son?”
When he didn’t respond, Marisa drew in a sharp breath. “Oh gods, that’s it. I was just something to bide time with. Now that Peter’s back, you know you can hand me off. Be rid of me and the burden I represent.” She touched her stomach. “Damn you to hell, Janelle! I will love this child enough for the both of us. I don’t need you. Go ahead. Go back to it all.”
That got Bradi’s attention. He turned around slowly, and she saw why he hadn’t faced her—he was crying. “How can you possibly want me over him? He’s human. He’s career driven. And this planet is both glorious and cursed. It’s safer for you to go.”
“I love you. Live with it, jerk.”
“I love you too.”
Running to him, she threw her arms around his neck and pressed her mouth to his. Bradi kept his lips closed tight, so she moved to his cheeks to kiss away the tears there. “Bradiainn Janelle, I love you with all my heart and I don’t care if you want me to leave.” She paused. “Well, if you do want to go back to all those women, I’ll—”
Bradi lifted her off the ground and backed her up against the wall. His mouth came crashing down on hers and the minute that she tasted his salty kisses, she began to cry as well. “I love you, Marisa.”
“You called me by my name. You rarely call me anything but Doc or baby.”
“I thought it was only fair. You called me Bradiainn.”
She stroked his long black hair back from his face and planted kisses all over his neck. “I need you in me, Bradi. I need to feel your cock buried deep in my body. I need to know that you won’t leave me. That you want me here, with you.”
“Pete will be back soon. We need to sit him down and explain what has happened.”
Digging her nails lightly into the back of his neck, she growled and bit at his lower lip. Her pregnancy hormones picked now to rear their ugly head. “I said that I needed you. Do your husbandly duties now before I really get pissed off.”
A wicked grin spread over his face as he pushed his knee between her legs. “What did you have in mind?”
Grabbing hold of his cock through his pants, she licked up his neck and laughed softly. “How about you fucking me against this wall for starters?”
Bradi wagged his dark brows. “Mmm, how about I make love to you against the wall instead. Same results, makes me feel like a romantic guy, changing the terminology.”
Marisa unfastened his pants and let them fall to the floor. It wasn’t so easy to get herself undone. “Err, Christian tied me up and now I’m stuck.”
Bradi narrowed his eyes as he tipped his head. The unspoken question on his face was enough to tell Marisa that her husband was a jealous man. Not that she needed anyone or anything to remind her.
She snorted. “Not like that. He helped me figure out the cord thing.”
He laughed as he let a claw spring forth from his fingertip. Slashing through the cord and the material, he freed her instantly. “Your breasts are getting bigger.”
Marisa rolled her eyes as she stroked her husband’s erection. “So is your cock.”
Bradi dropped his head down and took one of her nipples into his mouth. Her body reacted with a jolt and she cried out as he sucked hard. Desperate, she pumped his shaft. “Please, Bradi, hurry. I need you in me.”
He growled out as he pulled his head up. His eyes flashed to yellow and she knew he was fighting to stay in control of his beast. The truth was, he’d always have to fight it, and that hurt her heart. She wrapped her legs around his waist and stared into his yellow eyes. They flickered back to blue. “No, let it be, and let your hands go. I want you to make love to me, Bradi. No worries, no rolling away and into water.”
“No.” The look on his face confirmed her suspicions. Bradi had been hiding from her when he’d rolled into the bathing pool that night so many months ago. His running, his hiding who and what he was, had to end.
“Fuck me now!”
“Doooccc,” Bradi growled out as he slammed into her, impaling her with his cock. He smashe
d her body to the wall and sent hot juice running down her thighs. With each thrust, Bradi left the back of her head banging against the wall. It would have been painful if the feel of him buried deep within her pussy didn’t feel so good.
Clawing at his back, she held tight to him as he continued to pump his hips rapidly. His back rippled and she knew that he was just this side of shifting. The thought of that should have scared her; it didn’t. It turned her on. “Oh, yes, Bradi…yes,” she cried out as she felt her orgasm building.
White lights flashed behind her eyelids as her inner thighs tightened. A tingling sensation moved down to her toes. Bradi snarled as he pushed her hard one last time against the wall, and finished deep within her, spitting his seed into her.
Panting and still coming, Marisa hugged him tight as she wiggled on his still-hard shaft, utilizing all the pleasure it had to offer.
Bradi’s eyes shifted back to blue and he tried to back away from her. “Doc, I’m sorry. I lost control.”
“Shhh,” she whispered, pulling his mouth to hers. “It was perfect. It’s part of you, Bradi, and I love you, so I love it as well.”
“You are too good for me. You know that, don’t you?”
Marisa moved her hips more and felt him flexing his cock deep within her. He lifted her free of his shaft and eased her to her feet. She thought he was done. When he turned her to face in the other direction and pulled her hips back, she knew she was wrong. As he hooked an arm around her midriff and took her to the floor, she glanced back at him. “Bradi?”
Instantly, she felt the head of his cock rubbing against her soaked slit. A low rumble sounded from his throat as he ran his hands over her ass. Pulling her cheeks apart, he slid a finger dangerously close to her sensitive anal opening.
“Bradi?”
“Relax, Doc. I would never hurt you.”
“I know.”
Bradi: Paranormal Shifter Fated Mate Galactic SciFi Military Romance (Interstellar Alphas Book 2) Page 11