Tired, she lay back on the cold couch and closed her eyes.
She snoozed for a few moments when a strange noise made her jackknife upright. Eyes wide, she watched as the door to her room came open, and Mac stepped in trailed by Mikhail and Anthony. All three looked troubled, their eyes dark with concern. Mac sat down next to her, but instead of speaking he stared.
She swallowed hard around the knot in her throat. “What’s the verdict, gentlemen?
“You’re infected,” Mac said, his voice raspy.
She said the one word covering her feelings on the subject. “Shit.”
Mac looked at the other men and nodded toward the door. “I need some time alone with her. I’ll be awhile.”
Without hesitation the men turned and left. Mac went to the door and locked it from the inside, then propped a chair under the doorknob.
“What are you doing?” she asked, standing up.
Mac’s march toward her looked purposeful. When he reached her, he drew her into his arms and kissed Destiny full on the mouth. Instead of tenderness and remorse, a kiss to say goodbye before she became a monster out of hell, his embrace spelled pure sex.
And she rejoiced in it.
Yes. Her body cried out for more and begged deep inside for the hard thrust of his cock into her swollen depths. She felt her folds moistening again, unfolding as the anticipation snarled into life inside her.
She pulled back from him and said between heavy breaths, “What are we doing?”
“I’m showing you what I feel the only way I know how.”
Tears seeped into her eyes and this time they fell on her cheeks. “How do you feel?”
At her tears he groaned. “Oh, God, please don’t cry. I can’t stand to see a woman cry. It kills me.”
“I can’t help it.” She gasped a breath, sobbing not close behind.
“No, no,” he whispered against her mouth as he pressed tiny kisses against her lips. “You’re going to be all right.”
“You don’t know that.”
When he drew back slightly, his gaze held scorching need. “Then if the worst comes, we’ll at least have this one more time. I’m glad I just have another chance.” His face twisted into a mask of emotional pain. “I love you.”
Her heart tightened in a combination of agony and ecstasy, affected by those three words and the distress in his expression. She buried her face in his neck as her arms went around his shoulders. “You don’t know how I much I needed to hear you say that.”
“Do you love me?” he asked, desperation staining his words.
“Yes.” More tears came as easily as the words. “I love you so much.”
Her confession spurred him onward, and he kissed her with a ravenous attention that destroyed all thoughts of danger and death.
Tears of fear and joy left, replaced with love and the force to create. She drew back from him a second. “What are we doing?”
“Loving,” he said in a raw, thick voice. “I hope.”
She smiled right before he smothered her lips with another hungry kiss.
His tongue conquered, a hot, welcome invader into her depths. As her arms went around him, and her hips nudged Mac’s, she pressed against his growing arousal. Immediate excitement bolted through her, energized by her love for him and the fever. She clutched at his arms, his chest, trying to get as close as she could. A million sensations took her by storm. His hard muscles cradled and demanded, shifting against her in ways that aroused her beyond bearing. Strength, daring, and demanding everything she had within her—that was her Mac.
Her Mac.
No matter what happened between now and the end of this mission, she would think of him from now on in those terms.
When he stopped kissing her, he gazed deep into her eyes. Feral emotions of savage desire and primal man battled with tender love. All these feelings rolled into a delicious combination she couldn’t resist.
He released her long enough to yank her sweater over her head, release the hook on her bra, and slip it off her shoulders. Then he walked her backwards until they bumped against a wall. His hands cupped her breasts and she gasped. Before her mind could formulate more than shocked pleasure, he leaned down and took one nipple into his mouth and sucked hard. The instant shock made her gasp again and writhe in his hold. As his fingers gently plucked one nipple, he suckled ruthlessly on the other, his mouth beginning a carnal rhythm. He lapped at the nipple, then sucked again, over and over.
Before she could absorb the feelings, he reached down and undid her pants. His fingers snagged in her waistband as he shoved down her pants and panties. Allowing his fingers to trace over the mound of hair, he caressed her reverently.
“You’re so beautiful,” he said.
Then he worked on his jeans. Seconds later he grabbed a condom from his pocket before the jeans fell around his knees.
As she helped him slide the condom over the thick length of his cock, he took in deep, drawing breaths.
“Am I going too fast?” he asked.
“No, no. Please do it now. Now.”
He helped her remove her shoes and get out of her pants. As he brought her up in his powerful arms, she locked her feet around his waist. He propped her back against the wall, and with one stabbing thrust, he took her. She moaned on a strangled breath at the incredible sensation. His lips drew back as he held her against the wall, and with another ramming thrust, he speared her to the root. She cried out again.
This was it. It didn’t get any better than this.
And it may never again.
If she died today she would truly die happy. That was all anyone could ask for.
Again his cock slammed into her swollen, wet cunt.
“Yes.” He groaned. “I love you, I love you.”
Another forceful thrust made her answer his groan with a gasp. Mindless with passion, she took his hard, determined thrusts with a twitch of her hips. His fingers dug into her ass as he held her against the wall, his hips hammering back and forth.
She was being fucked out of her mind and loved every moment of it.
Amazed pleasure erased all sadness and wrapped it in happiness. Destiny moaned as molten, hard heat penetrated and retreated. Her mind seemed to float, absorbing the reality of here and now and forgetting what might happen tomorrow. If she would see the next second or the next day, she couldn’t tell.
Didn’t need to know.
An orgasm screamed through her and she released a startled moan. Her entire body quivered and shook as tiny gasps left her throat.
Mac thrust faster and harder, expressing his pleasure in the drawn out moan that left his throat. His muscles bunched and shook, and his incredible strength thrilled her deep, deep down in heart and soul. His excitement overjoyed her, and the feeling bloomed in her clit. His cock stretched and spread her cunt around its thick incursion, and each plunge between creamy, wet walls gave her unbelievable bliss. Her fingernails dug into his sweater and her lungs felt like they might give out. All because this man wanted to fuck her into a mindless meltdown unlike anything she’d experienced.
“Come,” she said. “Come.”
“Not…yet,” he gritted through his teeth. “More for you.”
By now his hips churned against her so insistently, she felt another climax rising, brought on by overwhelming desire.
Her head fell back and she begged. “Please, please.”
Furious yearning built as his solid, unrelenting cock rubbed back and forth inside her.
Up. Up. Higher…higher…higher.
Yes.
Clenching and releasing, her cunt tightened around his cock and she stifled her scream of ecstasy against his shoulder. She bit into his sweater as her entire body pulsed and shook and she thought she might never breathe again.
A growl left his lips. He shivered, his cock jetting with three deep, hard jerks. His head fell back as his muscles started to relax.
“Incredible. You are so incredible,” he said between panting br
eaths.
Destiny opened her eyes and caught his gaze, the love she saw there assuring her whatever happened next, she would never regret what they’d done.
As they smiled together and rearranged their clothes, Destiny laughed.
“What’s so funny?” He flicked his finger over her nose.
“Tell me this isn’t the strangest assignment you’ve ever been on.”
His smile grew broad and unrepentant. “It’s more than strange. I’ve got the added benefit of being with the love of my life.”
She sagged against the wall, her arms looped loosely around his neck. “The love of your life?”
“Yeah. I wish I’d told you before.”
“No more could haves or should haves, Mac. We go on from here.” She felt confident, more than able to say what she wanted and needed. “No matter what the future holds.”
A knock on the door made them draw back. Mac threw her a teasing grin. “The whole damn room smells like sex. We smell like sex.”
Whoever came in the room would get a whiff, and she laughed. “Well, too bad.”
He started toward the door. “Yeah, if they can’t take a joke, fuck ‘em.”
When Mac slid the chair away from the door and released the latch, in walked the one person neither of them expected to see again. Behind her stood Anthony and Mikhail, their expressions filled with curiosity.
Phyllida stood at the entrance, her face a mask of curiosity. “Well, look who I found.”
Destiny and Mac echoed their surprise at the same time. “Phyllida!”
As they all shook hands, Destiny and Mac fired questions at the tall English agent. She put up one long-fingered hand. “One inquiry at a time. By the way, is there any bloody tea around here? I’m dying for a cuppa.”
* * * * *
Mac stood near the couch in the room and couldn’t believe Phyllida had shown up in one piece. A rush of good thoughts and some relief ran through him. Physical satisfaction also lingered, a heady reminder of the earth-shattering love he’d experienced with his woman.
His woman.
Yeah. He knew a silly grin parted his lips, but he couldn’t help it.
Phyllida settled on the couch next to Destiny and finished her long story. “It’s been awful. The basement is a maze and it’s hard to get out once you’re down there.” She gave Anthony and Mikhail suspicious looks. “And I wasn’t sure if I could trust any of the blighters up here.”
Destiny laughed as she patted her fellow agent’s arm. “We left the basement by way of a vent. How did you get out?”
“Same thing. I was also the one who accidentally set off the alarm that said there was an intruder coming in the building.”
“So you’ve been hunting the creatures?” Mac asked, incredulous.
Phyllida’s large blue eyes widened. “Yes. Once I realized what was going on, I—wait. Did you say creatures? As in plural?”
“Most definitely,” Mikhail said.
Throwing another disconcerted look Mikhail’s way, she frowned. “I know Jordan is the one, but there’s another?”
“We’ve been trying to figure who it is. But the worse thing is yet to come.” Destiny explained what transpired up to that point, and the dreadful news she might soon be on the list of maneaters. “Mikhail and Anthony are working on an antidote.”
Mac remained quiet as Destiny explained to Phyllida why she had stayed locked in the room. “We thought it was the only way.”
Destiny also explained when she thought she received the dose of the Black Widow drug. She showed the torn sweater sleeve and her upper arm. “This is apparently where I was injected by Jordan.”
Mac noticed that Phyllida’s forehead was doted with perspiration, and her breathing seemed to have increased.
After updating Phyllida, Mac felt drained. He hated the sensation of not being in total control. If nothing else happened during this mission, Destiny would understand, every day of her life, that he treasured her more than his own life.
That is, if she lived.
Sharp mental pain darted through his system, and he winced as if a he’d been dealt a physical blow.
Before Mac could make another comment, a bellowing noise echoed throughout the building. “That’s the same noise Destiny and I heard earlier.”
Destiny stood, her body lines tight. “Right before we found the blood and Mitzi.”
Mikhail raced toward the door and the outer reception area, Anthony following close on his heels. They didn’t have more a few seconds to react, and later Mac would always remember what happened as if he saw it in a dream.
Phyllida brandished her weapon like an Amazon ready for battle. Although Destiny didn’t have her weapon, she rushed out with the others.
Before they could say another word, the reception door collapsed inward with a tremendous crash. For a wild second Mac felt like he’d dropped into a Wild West movie or maybe a combination of Alien meets Alias. Then he didn’t have time to think.
“Jordan?” Anthony asked in a choked voice as he stood near Mikhail.
The patch on her shirt said Jordan, but she appeared nothing like the woman who ministered to his injuries earlier that day. With her tangled hair, distorted features and elongated hands, she looked like a nightmare come to life. Wood chips lodged in her messy hair, her clothes appeared ready to split apart, and he thought he saw pain in her eyes.
And her teeth were stained red.
Blood.
Phyllida stepped toward Jordan, determination in her movements. “Jordan, its Phyllida.”
“Don’t, Phyllida,” Destiny said, putting one hand out in a plea.
Phyllida took her gaze off the creature in front of her for one moment, glancing at her compatriots with a strange sadness in her eyes. “I think I understand what’s happening now. It has to be. Thank God it’s happening just in time. Enough time to do what I have to do.”
She turned back to the tall monster. Without warning the English woman’s body shuttered, a trembling almost epileptic in form.
“What the…” Mac couldn’t believe his eyes as Phyllida started to change.
Destiny reached for Mac’s arm, her grip one of terror and stark disbelief. No one spoke as Phyllida morphed, her body stretching and elongating into a long, gangly figure that didn’t resemble her stout structure in the least.
Mac imagined her face would still be recognizable in some ways as Phyllida, but he couldn’t see from his angle. His hand trembled and he straightened his arm so that his gun wouldn’t waver on the monstrous beings.
Mikhail mumbled another language, something Slavic. “She’s infected.”
“The second creature,” Anthony said as if they hadn’t guessed.
Tension built in the air, strung taut as a wire ready to snap. Electricity seemed to tingle over Mac’s skin, the fear like a stench in the room.
“Jordan.” The word slipped from Phyllida as she reached out to the other creature, her voice a sibilant utterance. “Leave these…leave others…be.”
The tension snapped.
Jordan lunged at Phyllida, her talon fingers swiping at the agent and slashing across her face. Phyllida’s guttural roar tore through the room as she staggered back.
The monsters clashed, their unsteady bodies wavering for balance as they grabbed each other and thrashed for position.
Destiny grabbed her sidearm and stood beside him. “We’ve got to stop them, Mac.”
Mac shook his head. “There’s no time!”
Seconds later Phyllida and Jordan swayed to the right and crashed into the computer desk. Anthony scampered out of the way as the desk broke in two and computer parts flew in his direction. Mikhail reached out for Anthony and pulled him farther away from the destruction.
Growls and whimpers issued from the women as they fought. Bloody gashes formed on their skin as clothing tore. They rolled along the floor as Mac and Destiny edged away from the mêlée. The creatures bellowed, sounds deeply embedded with suffering.
> Phyllida’s voice growled, her tone grief-stricken. “Shoot us! For God’s sake shoot us!”
Destiny put out one hand. “No!”
A gurgle came from Phyllida’s long throat as Jordan slashed Phyllida’s neck wide open. Blood spurted in a shower over Jordan.
Jordan shoved the Englishwoman’s body aside and with a scream, hurled toward the others.
Four weapons came up at the same time, and gun blasts pierced the room as they emptied their weapons into Jordan. Jordan screamed, falling backwards. As she landed on the floor with a sickening thud that vibrated the floor, Mac heard his harsh breathing echoing in his ears. He trembled with reaction, and the silence dropping over the room was mausoleum quiet.
He turned to Destiny and saw the fear in her eyes. “Mac?”
Knowing what he must do, he took her arm and pulled her to the lab. “Come on!”
Mikhail called out as he followed, “We don’t know if the antidote is ready.”
Mac didn’t care. “It’s got to be ready.”
“This will take a few minutes,” Mikhail said, his face lined with strain and remnants of fear and disbelief.
Mac slipped his arm around Destiny and looked into her eyes and he saw the terror lingering in her deep eyes. “It’s over, Destiny. It’s over.”
She shook her head and took a deep breath. “Maybe not.”
Mac felt numb. The only comfort he owned now came from cradling his woman in his arms. He kissed Destiny’s forehead.
“I love you,” he whispered against her ear.
He didn’t give a flying fuck if anyone heard him.
“Yes!” Anthony did a bump and grin swirl to his hips. “Yes! I think we’ve got it.”
Mikhail didn’t look as certain. “We won’t know until we administer the antidote if it will work.”
Destiny shifted out of Mac’s arms and felt the tiniest bit of hope. “Then let’s do it.”
Seconds later she sat in the same chair where she’d given blood not so many hours ago. As Mikhail injected the antidote, she felt a shiver go through her frame, and the fever seemed to recede. “I can feel something already.”
Mikhail pulled the needle out of her arm. “Too soon.”
Winter Warriors Page 15