by Yvette Hines
Both their breaths caught.
She trembled as she pumped her hips, seeking more.
He was in control. His hold on her kept her at his mercy. She could only get or take as much as he allowed. For a moment, he taunted them both as he maintained a significant gap between her labia and the base of his shaft.
Fisting his hair she kissed him, nipped at his lips, his jawline and chin as she pleaded, whimpered and threatened him with bodily harm if he didn’t take her fully.
His chuckle came out as a lust-filled groan even as he brought her down all the way and he found himself enveloped in heaven. “Ahhh, Brita.”
“Alek fuck me. Fuck me!”
They rocked and thrust against each other. They held, scratched and dug deep into supple and taut flesh. He wasn’t sure who was fucking and who was getting fucked. They took from each other without any rest or ease. Her pussy quivered around his dick as her first orgasm turned into her second. It was taking all of his strength not to give in to the urgency of his body. His sac was so tight against the base of his cock with the need to release it stole his breath. Or maybe it was Brita taking it.
He didn’t care. He felt senseless and more beast than male. The heady scent of their combined musk was an aphrodisiac to his cat. It wanted to hunt, capture, claim and mark Brita for all time.
Mine. Mine. Mine. His jaguar continued to roar inside of him.
Alek’s teeth had extended so long that his gums were on fire. She was too close. Her shoulder was right there. Unable to resist, he swiped his tongue over her muscle, feeling it tighten and jump.
As a hybrid shifter he could mark her anywhere. The usual place was shoulder or inner thigh, somewhere tough enough to take the bite.
“Brita,” he muttered.
“I-I…Alek.” She was whimpering, her voice was tattered and rough like someone who had been crying for hours. He had no clue what she was trying to say.
“Sweetnesssss,” he hissed and purred. His vision narrowed, colors melded and faded. He couldn’t restrain his feline much longer. “Too close...have to move.” He tried to warn her.
“Do it!”
Do it? He had to have misheard what she was saying. Was he taking his own wishes and projecting them out to his ears. Dragging his head away from the temptation, he stared into her face.
Her hair hung untamed around her face, the band broken off by him during their loving. Her eyes were bright, luminous. They were so green they snuffed out any traces of blue. There were no tears, but her face was tight with anguish of some kind.
“Am I hurting you?” He halted all movement. His heart skipped a beat.
“Yes. So bite me.” She cupped his face and met his gaze. “Take away the pain.” Grabbing one of his hands, she placed it against her core.
He understood the ache she was feeling, he’d felt it too. Ever since the first moment he touched her at Dark Moon. He didn’t ask for any more clarification. He wanted to kiss her, but his teeth were extended so he couldn’t. Instead, he cupped the back of her head, angled it to the right as he slipped his other hand up her spine, drawing her tight against him.
Without preamble he parted his lips and snapped his teeth into the muscle along the curve of her neck.
Brita flinched then let out a sigh that became a long moan. She swiveled her hips urging him back into the dance.
Answering her seductive call he rocked into her. They remained like that, keeping their movements slow and gentle as he held her captive against his mouth. Out of all the times they’d come together in lust, this was the first and only time their loving had been tender, affectionate.
She came, crying out her pleasure.
His release was next as he pulled away and let out a bird scattering roar. When he could think straight he leaned toward her again and licked the puncture wounds until they began to draw closed. Tomorrow she would be bruised, but eventually in a few days she would heal. However, it would please him that the mark would still remain—proof she belonged to him.
Mine. His jaguar sighed, sated finally.
“Are you alright?” Alek sat back then glanced at her.
Her lashes were wet and her cheeks were moist. This time she had cried. Seeing it caused his heart to ache and thump hard in his chest.
When he began to speak, she placed a finger over her lips. “I’m okay.” She kissed his lips softly.
Taking her at her word, he remained quiet. Instead, he pulled her away from him just so he could reposition them. When she was finally across his lap and in his arms he then rose. They left the patio and moved into the house.
She rested her head on his shoulder as he carried her through the lower level and to bed. He was humbled to see how his fierce exceptional hybrid relaxed in his arms, appearing content and trusting him. If he had to put a reason behind it, he’d say that her emotions were taxed, overwrought. In an hour, she may want to argue over the bite and what it really meant for them. But for now, he was going to enjoy the moment and her.
Chapter Six
She listened to Alek’s heartbeat as she rested her head on his chest. One of her arms lay against his side, while her other hand drew lazy designs over his abs. Once they’d come in from outside she’d promptly fallen to sleep. She’d awakened deliciously with him curled along her back and sliding into her with measured, tempered thrusts. She’d climaxed then soon found herself rolled beneath him for further tender loving.
Now they were relaxed and silent, listening to the hooting of owls and the howling of the Comyn wolves.
“Sweetness?” His hand caressed her from hip to knee.
“Yes.” She brushed over his navel. His heart skipped a beat beneath her ear.
“Why didn’t you shift the other day when I chased you into the woods?”
She knew this question would eventually come. Even considered bring up the topic herself just to have it over and done with. It didn’t set her teeth on edge to hear Alek ask the question countless shifters had asked her before. In the past, the inquiry always caused her hackles to rise, making her feel singled-out, not shifter enough.
“I can’t.” She tried to keep it succinct.
“What do you mean?” His hand now danced along her lower back. “As in you were never guided into your shifting?”
For natural born shifters it came without so much as a simple discussion. She was told that one moment you felt the urge and the call of your animal that they wanted out—in a breath the magic of it all overtook you.
She ached for her animal.
“No. The ability to do it is not in me. It’s missing. I’m broken.”
Grasping her shoulders, Alek then drew her up so she was eye level with him.
This lovely female was fast but furless. Distinct. She was also special to him and the last thing he wanted was for her to believe she was anything less than perfect. “Brita, the Goddess has made us all unique and special in our own way. There was no mistake in how you were crafted. None,” he declared, emphatic. He pulled closer. They lay bare and open to each other. “Do I make myself clear?”
Her gaze held his. For a moment he thought she wouldn’t answer him, then she whispered, “Very.”
He kissed her then held her.
She let him.
Alek knew there were no guarantees in life. He wasn’t sure how long Brita would be in his arms. A mate for life was a decision they both had to make. Now wasn’t the time for the discussion. When it came, he had to prepare himself and his jaguar/wolf inside of him that he may have to let her go.
Never.
But in this he could not agree with his animal. Not if staying brought Brita unhappiness.
~YH~
The first results are in. That was all Brita needed to hear from Niki before she was riding toward the clinic in her Jeep. She’d asked Alek to follow her in his truck. He’d agreed. After kissing her, he’d then opened the front door and allowed her to walk out of the house first. She and Alek had loved, laughed, run, taken in a mo
ve and drinks the night before at Dark Moon, but both had remained anxious under the surface. The last two days had been nerve-wracking and long.
Now as they walked into the clinic she felt as if she wanted time to stop. What would be the results? What had the doctor discovered? If she had no connection to Niki besides the fact she had an uncanny resemblance to her, then what? She was in Pigeon Forge and back to her empty life.
It was odd to her how the tourist spot had seemed perfect, exactly what she needed, until there was a possibility that she could be a part of something bigger. And Alek.
However, if there was no link here for her, she was definitely gone. Because how could she justify saddling Alek with a nobody?
For a moment, the rambling words of the doctor came to mind about mates, but she shoved it away.
“Hi, Brita. Alek.” The same receptionist was at the desk with a kind smile. “Simon is in his office down the hall waiting for you.
“Thank you.” She tried to offer a smile in return but her lips trembled so she relaxed her features and nodded.
Alek slipped his hand into hers, interlocking their fingers as the traveled the hallway side-by-side.
When they arrived at the door it stood open. The room had more people than it was probably originally designed to hold. Simon sat in the chair behind his desk reviewing notes in his chart, mumbling to himself. Dean and Bhric leaned against the wall behind the two visitors’ chairs. Brita wasn’t shocked to see that Bhric had come with Dean and Niki again, in the two days since her labs had been drawn she’d witnessed and learned that nothing happened involving people in the neutral zone without Bhric being a part of it. He really cared for these people as if he were their leader. He’d extended that same caring nature and protection to her. The male really was an alpha.
The chairs were both vacant because Niki was too busy pacing in front of them.
“Good, you’re finally here,” Niki called out when she saw them as they entered, as if she’d been waiting for hours.
“I’m here.” Brita shrugged feeling out of sorts from her nervousness. Alek squeezed her hand then escorted her to a chair. Once she was seated, he stepped back to hold up the wall with his cousins.
Niki finally sat. “Okay, doc. All here. What’s the results?”
She was glad Niki had asked, because she wasn’t sure she could find her voice beyond the lump that had formed in her throat.
Simon glanced up and looked around the room as if he’d just realized they all were there.
Brita shook her head, he really was a one-track minded genius and that track generally was the science of medicine.
“Remember, these are just the initial findings. There is still a lot more we don’t know.”
“Mmhm,” Niki sighed and waved her hand rushing him along. Will he come on with it.
“I know, right.” The laugh slipped out of Brita after the words. She felt relief that Niki seemed to be just as eager about it all as she was.
Niki’s features were drawn into a frown as she glanced at her then back to the doctor.
Brita wasn’t sure what the look was about.
“Using your data, Niki, as a baseline to test Brita’s DNA against, we have determined that you all are monozygotic. It is wonderful. Just to be sure it wasn’t another level of the scientific tamper and somehow Brita’s DNA had a assimilation gene in it, we tested her preliminary results against your surviving siblings. There was a match there, but strictly family.”
Her ears rang. Brita was so excited to hear the words familial she couldn’t think straight.
“Monozygo---what?” Alek stepped up behind her, his heat wrapping around her like a quilt.
“Monozygotic.” The word slipped from Simon’s mouth like warm butter. His eyes were large and bright as if he expected them all to get it because he’d repeated it.
“What does that mean?” Brita finally found her voice.
“Oh…you’re twins. Identical!” Simon declared.
Niki looked as if she wanted to punch the doctor if he so much as clapped his hands. “Are you fucking kidding me right now?” She launched to her feet. “I’m tired of all you doctors and scientists and your damn jokes on my life.”
Brita was shocked and extremely overwhelmed, as well as the fact her mind was bouncing with a zillion questions. However, she felt as if it had finally started to rain in the desert of her life. Why was Niki so angry?
“I’m angry because this shit has been going on all my life. One thing after a damn ‘nother.”
The room fell silent.
Brita got to her feet and stood before Niki. A cool blossom of awareness opened up at the back of her mind. “Why did you just talk about being angry?”
“What?” Niki stared at her as if she’d suddenly started walking on the ceiling before her. “Because you asked why I was so angry.”
Dean moved up beside her. “Mate, Brita never said that.”
Niki turned on her mate, her hands bawled up on her hips. “Yes, she did. I heard—”
As if the sun had just broken over the horizon and shined on every one of them, there were multiple audible gasps of wonder.
“You can hear each other’s thoughts when mental shields are down. I told you monozygotic.”
“No offense, doc, but if you say that one more time, I may punch you before Niki does.” Brita leaned over the desk and met the wolf’s gaze.
He growled.
She hissed.
Alek’s hand touched her shoulder.
“Why don’t we all retract the violence for a moment and see if we can get a few more answers,” Bhric declared, the calmest person in the room.
It took a few minutes, and a lot of grumbling, but soon she and Niki reclaimed their seats and the men took up spaces on the wall again.
“If we are identical, then why are there marked differences between us?” Brita began.
“In identical twins there is commonly one that is taller, rounder, fairer haired…etcetera.” He flipped a few pages in his notes, before continuing. “However, your DNA is so exact that it leads me to believe that your genes were tampered with after insemination and conception. Most likely, the egg placed in your mother was manufactured to split. Once that split happened there appears some areas of insufficiency. Meaning that there would not have been enough of certain DNA traits within the cocktail they created for both.” He met their gazes.
“They planned for us to be identical but different?” Niki canted her head to the side as she seem to try and make sense of it all.
Brita knew what she was going through because she too was perplexed by such gene tampering. The military may have trained her as a weapon, but they didn’t alter who she was from birth. Or had they?
“I’m sure they had no clue which of you would get all or some of certain genes. Sadly, I doubt you two were the first egg they tried this on. With no surviving records from the lab when it was destroyed I can’t be positive. However, in science when there is a grand success, there were also many failures.”
“What do you think happened to them?” Alek spoke up.
Simon waved his hand over the file and the computer that sat at on the corner of his desk. With the manipulation we’re seeing, it is doubtful they even survived.” He smiled at them. “You two are medical miracles.”
“What else can you tell us?” Dean was beside Niki again, holding her hand.
“Not much right now. My team is actively pursuing more information, but when I have it…you will have it.”
“You can shift,” Brita declared as she glanced at Niki. “In the mornings we passed you and Dean in the woods. With ease you went from cougar to take your human form. When we came by you all again you were a cougar once more.” She didn’t intend for her words to come out so harsh, forceful. But yesterday when she’d seen it, she’d marveled at the happening and envied the other female. Now, she was infuriated that it was apparent that Niki had gotten the long straw in life. The shifting and the family.
I’m sorry.
Brita could feel the sincerity in her sister’s words. Her twin. However it didn’t lighten the burden she carried. “I don’t want your apology.” She stood, feeling caged in. For the first time in her life since leaving the military she wished she was back in the desert so she could run for days and hours alone, undetected.
Niki stood. “Brita—”
“No!” Shaking her head. “You got everything. I got the fucked up raw deal on every front. Do any of you know what it’s like to ache for a family? To feel broken and not whole? There’s a void that’s inside of you that anger or vengeance or superficial happiness can’t fill. Members of my team shifting around me and there I stand the odd man out.”
The female before her didn’t try and stop her tirade, however, her mate spoke up to defend Niki from Brita’s lashing. “Niki may have had the family, but her life was hell. You were trained, she was tortured—poked, prodded and tested while seeing nothing but the walls of a lab into her adult life. You had freedom.”
Brita didn’t want to hear his words or take them to heart. That would mean that she would have to feel the guilt of using her anger against someone else who was as innocent in the matter as she was. But, her training had taught her to protect the innocent and annihilate the guilt. The only problem was as she’d heard it, the guilty had already been eliminated.
Alek stepped to her and wrapped his arms around her, his chest to her back. He placed a light kiss on her shoulder directly over his mark.
Struggling to inhale and accept his comfort, she breathed.
“I want to get one more sample from you, Brita.” Simon rose, measuredly.
“Don’t you have enough?” Alek countered.
“I would have said yes, but since I can smell the notes of your mate mark, I’d like to do another test with the new sample.” The doctor offered them a wide smile. “Humor me.”
Everyone in the room stared at her and Alek as if they were waiting for more of an explanation.
None was offered from her or Alek.
Brita refocused on Simon, she could think about what may or may not be happening between her and the hybrid whose bite she wore now. “On one condition.” She eyed the wolf.