Their Mating Illusion [Paranormal Protection Unit 2] (Siren Publishing Classic)

by Honor James

  Her nails bit into his chest and she felt her heart beating out of control. Swallowing hard, she nodded. “You feel so much bigger this way,” she all but sobbed out as she rocked down on him, slid up, and then rocked back down again. Using her hands to balance her, she moved slowly. “And maybe one day we will try out slot D, but God, right now this one feels perfect.”

  “Very perfect,” he agreed on a soft breath. Gripping her hips, he held her steady as she moved. “It’s the angle making me feel larger inside of you, sweet. If you sit up straight you may not notice the odd pressure so much inside of your body.”

  “I like it though.” She was angled against him so that her clit rubbed against his pelvic bone each time that she pushed back on him. “Goodness, I really like this a whole lot.” But she did lever herself up so that she was sitting straight up and took him fully into her body with a keening cry of pure pleasure, rocking downward on his cock as she took him.

  “There you are,” he moaned quietly. “Now just move around however feels natural to you. Go with your instincts, love. I’ll help keep you up there.” Quincy lifted his hips a little to press completely into her silky sheath.

  “Oh God, yes,” she purred. “You are seriously one wickedly amazing man. So good.” And he really was. She loved every single moment of this, every thrust of his hips to hers. “Harder,” she begged.

  “You need to move, too, darling.” He chuckled. “I can’t do much with only an inch here, sweet. Lift up and slide back down,” he told her, using his hands to encourage her. As she slid down, he thrust up to meet her. “That’s it,” he told her in a rough whisper as he slipped a hand around to rub at her clitoris with his thumb.

  “Oh hell’s bells.” She lifted almost fully off of him and settled back down on him once more with a sobbing cry of pure emotional delight. “So damn good,” she moaned. “Why did I never do this before?” she asked aloud as she began to move on him faster, taking him more out of her body and sliding down harder and harder.

  “Because you were waiting for your bond-mate,” he said, hoping he’d guessed at her meaning correctly. “No one else could have satisfied you as much,” he added with a smug little grin. “Put your hands on my thighs and do that again,” he told her as he pressed his heels into the bed and crooked his knees up a bit so she wouldn’t have to stretch too far.

  Leaning fully back into almost a backbend against him, she rocked on him and felt her head falling and a scream building in her throat as she did it again. “Harder, please, again. Harder.” It was a demand, pure and simple.

  Lifting his hips in perfect timing to meet her every downthrust, he rubbed her clit hard and fast as he fucked her. Watching her, he smiled at the restless movements of her head and knew from the grip on his thighs she was close. Pinching her clitoris, he slammed up into her hard just as he twisted the little nub a tiny degree.

  Screaming, she came again, her thighs tightening on him, her inner muscles clenching him tight as she climaxed. Her nails bit into his thighs, the sound of her voice carrying, but she didn’t give a good hot damn who the hell heard her screaming to the heavens about the loving she received from her man.

  Releasing inside of her, Quincy lifted his legs to catch her and tip her forward over his chest. “I love you,” he murmured against her hair, stroking his hand up and down her back lightly. Grabbing the blankets, he pulled them up and over her body so she wouldn’t get cold.

  Lying over him with her eyes closed, she smiled. “Good, because I love you, too,” Maya told him honestly. “And I really like this way of being with you, darling. I love it because of the feeling of you resting inside of me,” she whispered and squeezed his still semihard erection inside of her body.

  Smacking her ass under the blankets, he grinned at her little yelp. “Behave, wench. You’ve already ripped three orgasms out of me tonight,” he teased, brushing a kiss to her nose as he rubbed his hand up and down her ass soothingly. “I don’t know if I’m going to be able to give you a fourth.”

  “You are now the Royal Warlock King, darling,” she whispered sleepily against his neck, not even meaning to bring it up. “You can do anything your mind can dream of, darling.” Her voice was a whisper of a sound, and she dropped off to sleep before he was able to reply, unknowing of the shock she had dropped on him.

  He had nothing to say to that, which was all right. She was dead to the world. He got to lie there though, his mind a swirling mess of thoughts and worries as he processed it. With what she’d given to him and he’d taken during their mating, he was now a Royal. Holy hell. Not bad for a kid that had a less-than-great childhood, always scrounging around for his next meal and praying it didn’t rain on the nights he hadn’t dared to go home.

  Chapter Nine

  Three Weeks Later

  “What do you mean, he wants to see me? Did you make sure to tell that son of a bitch that I don’t want to see him?” Maya demanded as she looked at Talon.

  “Yeah, that’s when he thought you were mated to Aiden, who is a Dragon. Now we have to tell him the truth,” Talon replied diplomatically.

  “Fuck that.” Maya dropped into the seat and looked up at Quincy. “If he knows, then he will know that Quincy now has all of the Royal Power. Are you really ready to call up the Council and demand of them that Q be given his rightful place yet?” Quincy had been trying to learn all the power that was inside of him and she didn’t want him to be hurt. Dammit. She was in love with the man. Of course she didn’t want him hurt! “Quincy?” She turned to her bond-mate. “Honey, what do you think? It is your destiny, your life after all, love.”

  Shooting a look at Talon and then to her, he sighed. “I think we have to tell him the truth. Or at least a version of it,” he said as he was moving to her. Taking her hand in his, he squeezed her fingers. “But we all need to agree ahead of time just what that version of the truth is. We will need to tell him that obviously Aiden wasn’t her mate, that we were maybe testing him?” He looked to Talon for help. This was way, way out of his field of knowledge.

  “Yes. We can put out there that we wanted to ensure that Michael wouldn’t be against her having a bond-mate and if he states that he wasn’t then he would have no reason to be against you. I think that will work best,” Talon added.

  “Sounds good to me.” Quincy was all for absolutely anything and everything that got him out of pressure-filled situations. At least ones with people staring at him. He hated being in front of people he didn’t know or who didn’t know him.

  “One day you will have to claim it though, sooner rather than later,” Talon reminded him. “You are the new True Royal Line. You and the children that you and Maya are working so hard to create,” he added with a grin. “You will have to claim your right at the Council Table before our next meeting.” And that was just fucking ducky. “Sorry, buddy, but there it is.”

  Feeling decidedly nauseous, Quincy sat down heavily in a chair. “Fuck me,” he wheezed out, pressing a hand to his turning gut. He so wasn’t ready, nowhere near ready, and had no idea how to get there sooner. He’d thought it was tough learning the abilities he’d been born with, but with the power he’d inherited from Maya during their mating, it was a whole new level of insanity and chaos.

  “I know how to help, but you would so not fucking like it. I know a surefire way to snap the powers inside of you to attention and for you to learn them in a jiffy, but it would seriously piss you off.”

  Sharing a confused look with Maya, Quincy warily regarded Talon. “Every instinct says not to ask and yet my curiosity is daring me. So I’m going to be a moron and ask you anyway. What do you mean by knowing a way to snap everything to attention?” His tone was extremely cautious.

  “Kill your bond-mate,” Talon said softly. “Or at least put her into a situation where she could die. It’s not pretty, I know, but your protective instincts will jump to the front and the power inside of you will burst free. A Warlock will do anything for his mate. A Royal Warlock with an ovulat
ing bond-mate would turn the fucking world inside out for his bond-mate.”

  Quincy wasn’t sure which of them was more shocked as they stared at him. “Ex-squeeze me?” he said, shaking his head. “I did not just hear you suggest that I put my bond-mate into a potentially life-threatening position.” He’d get to the ovulating bit later, much, much later.

  “That’s basically what I said but not all. Tap-dancing around the truth won’t make it go away,” Talon said and grabbed his stress ball. “I’m a Dragon. I smell these things.” He looked to Maya. “Sorry, kiddo, but there it is, the truth. Now then, yes. The way to get your power to snap fully into attention would be if you put her into danger, especially now that you know that she is ovulating, but damn, if she were pregnant and I even suggested it you would go postal, and that would save the danger to your bond-mate because it would be something that would come forward to protect your unborn heir.”

  “Child,” he muttered. At Talon’s look he sighed. “The baby would be my child, not an heir. Yes, naturally they would be because that’s how this Royal shit works, but first and foremost it would be a child, our child.” Knowing he was off topic again, he looked to Maya. “I don’t like this plan.”

  “Uh, hello, I’m the bait. I don’t like it either.” She was still so totally stuck on “ovulating” and “child” that nothing else right now seemed to filter through her muggy brain. She swore that Talon had short-circuited her brain with those careful words. And she knew they were careful, careful because he had chosen them and put them out just when he was sure Quincy was listening.

  “Then we’re not doing it,” Quincy said, shaking his head. “I won’t risk anything going wrong, Talon. I can’t. You can’t ask me to risk my bond-mate on a probability, no matter the odds. You could be completely and terribly wrong, and if you are she…” He couldn’t say it, just shook his head. “No.”

  Talon nodded. “Then I suggest you start to practice even more. Maya, show him how you harnessed and tapped into the power as well.” He leaned back again. “And this time, no fucking in the clean room. Dammit, there are cameras there and if I see another fucking image of your shiny white ass, Skittles, I’m going to beat the hell out of you.”

  Feeling enough relief that he wouldn’t have to worry about Maya in danger, Skittles grinned at him. “You’re just jealous cause I’m getting some and you aren’t,” he teased. Shifting fast when Talon winged something at his head, he chuckled and got up. “Come on love, time for more…lessons.” Skittles wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

  Snickering, Maya looked at him. “So we get to go to the clean room, right?” She shot Talon a look and smiled. “So I suggest that if you don’t want to see his shiny white ass you should tell control to kill the feed now,” she stated simply and hugged Quincy. “Come on, baby. Let’s see what kind of things we can tempt you into now.”

  Growling softly, he smacked her bottom. “Anything and everything, darling mine,” he teased, getting her out of the room quickly. Walking with her, he was quiet for a time. “He thinks I’m not trying,” he murmured quietly to her. “I am. I know I’ll never convince him but every time I try it’s like there’s something just not right. Like something is out of place or not connecting as it should,” he whispered as they moved at a crisp pace to the clean room. “I feel like I’m missing something important,” he muttered.

  “It’s okay, honey, I’m sure that it will click with you soon, my love,” Maya assured him. “I’m not worried about how long it’s taking you to learn it, darling, I really am not.” She looked up at him and winked. “When you are ready to bloom, darling, you will.”

  Snorting at her words, Quincy hugged her closer to him and sighed softly. His little bond-mate had such faith in him. He loved her all the more for the support she was giving him. Unfortunately he felt like he was letting everyone, her and the Teams, down by not figuring it out. Damn it, he was one of the smartest damn people on the planet and he couldn’t figure out a new ability!

  She walked into the clean room with him and looked up at the video cameras. “All right, first things first.” She moved in close to him and wrapped her arms around him with a smile. “How about you kill the cameras for a time so that no one can see me naked as well?” It was all a part of how she put it to him that would make him tap into what he needed to do.

  Without even a thought, he killed the link between the cameras and the security room. The lights went out on each but he didn’t look away from her. Kissing her softly, he brushed his lips over hers with a smile. “You are the sexiest instructor I’ve ever had.”

  Maya laughed and held onto him. “I love you. If I’m the sexiest instructor that you have ever had then I’m totally and fully happy to have it as such. I always want you to be attracted to me. I really and truly want you to continue to forever want me, love me, and never let me go.”

  Lifting his head, Quincy touched her cheek with light fingers. “I love you so much I feel like I could burst out in song at the drop of a hat. I am never, ever letting you go, Maya. You are mine and while I might not be one of the changers, I’m fucking possessive as hell.” She was his, all his, and only his for the rest of time.

  “Good.” Maya licked her lips and then spoke. “How about you get rid of our clothes now so that we can see about trying to blow a few fuses this time with power?”

  Chapter Ten

  “Are you sure that it’s all in place?” Talon demanded. “Everything is in place, right? She won’t actually be harmed, right?” He had planned everything perfectly. They had put everything into play so that Quincy would come into his power because it was now necessary that he do so.

  “Absolutely.” Mac nodded and pointed to one of the human contractors they used on some missions. “Bernie will be driving, he’ll have a malfunction, the wheel will jerk out of his hands, he’ll be thrown out, and will roll. When he comes up, he’ll yell a warning out which Trey will echo from point B there.” He turned to point to the man. “We’ve done this over and over, easily twenty times. There have been a couple minor variations but absolutely nothing that could harm her. Especially if you’re right about Skittles’s instincts taking over like you think.”

  “Trust me, with her being pregnant he’s going to make damn sure that she’s safe.” Well he had to assume that she was pregnant because she had been ovulating, and they had been far too fucking sexually active for his peace of mind. “Make it happen. Now.”

  “You got it, boss.” Mac nodded and signalled to Bernie to get into place. Praying to Gaia everything went exactly as planned, he slipped up to his perch to wait and watch. Talon booked it out of there and ensured that he was nowhere near the scene so he couldn’t be blamed. Signalling Trey, who took up position reading as he did over lunch, everyone just waited until Mac spotted them. Watching until they hit the magic mark they’d figured out through a lot of trial and error, he pressed the comms. “All right, Bernie, they are moving right on pace.”

  Mac watched as Maya moved from the run on the side of the compound’s road and off to the shade. It was at the three-mile mark where she typically ditched Quincy for his longer ten-mile mark. When Quincy began to come back around from his run, he knew that the timing was just right. Finally, when Quincy was close enough to Maya to see what was happening, he spoke softly in his mic and comms set. “All right, Bernie,” Mac said as he watched everything with a careful eye. “Trouble now.” Instantly the tire blew on the Jeep and threw the man out as it veered right where it was supposed to, straight for where Maya now stood stretching out her muscles from her run and waiting for Quincy. “Come on, Q,” Mac muttered and saw him coming right along.

  Bernie stumbled to his feet on cue and yelled out a warning. Trey, popping his head up but too far away to do anything even with his speed, raced forward, lunch and book forgotten.

  Catching a shimmer of light off of something, Quincy focused and stumbled. “Maya!” He screamed her name as he ran faster. He wasn’t going to make it. Trey was
n’t going to make it. In that instant everything narrowed down and he felt the huge surge of energy. Throwing out a hand, he disintegrated the Jeep into nothingness as he kept running to his mate.

  Maya had turned when the shouts were yelled and just stood there. For the life of her she couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe, just watched the Jeep tumbling toward her. Seeing Quincy, she turned to him and then she felt the intense surge of power and turned to watch the Jeep as it was destroyed so that not even a speck of dust remained of it.

  Turning to Quincy, she ran for him, and when he caught her in his arms, held onto him tightly, shaking in fear at the realization of what nearly happened. “You saved me,” she whispered on a shaky breath, and tears dropped from her eyes.

  Hugging her to him as tight as he could, Quincy kissed her face over and over even as Trey and an out-of-breath Bernie ran up to them. “Oh god, I’m so sorry. Are you all right?” Bernie asked with genuine horror in his voice and eyes. But it was Trey that gave it away and Quincy saw red.

  “You motherfuckers,” he breathed out angrily.

  Maya frowned and looked at the men and then back to Quincy. “Q?” she asked and then understood immediately. “Oh lord. Enough. I need you to get control of yourself, honey, or you are going to hurt someone.” And it wouldn’t be her. It would be his team, his friends.

  “Get away from her, now,” Quincy said softly, energy beginning to crackle around him. “Leave,” he warned. It would be his only warning. He was so fucking mad. When Trey and Bernie backed off, he calmed a little and looked down at her. “Are you really all right?” he asked, running his hands over everything he could reach, checking her with care.