by Susan Bliler
Chapter 30
Marko sat on a bed at the infirmary at Apex with Thea on his lap. When he’d gotten to the room, Pyper had ordered him to put Thea on the bed, but he couldn’t do it. He literally could not bring himself to remove his hands from her. Pyper had noticed and snorted before jerking her chin toward the bed. “If you’re gonna hold her, you’re gonna have to sit, you tall bastard.”
Thankfully, Thea didn’t complain. She didn’t do much of anything but sit in his arms and let Pyper get a better look at her leg before she was handed an ice pack with a, “It’s just a bad bruise. Goes all the way to the bone, so it’s gonna hurt for a good while. Try to stay off your leg.” Pyper canted her head. “And I’m gonna need a blood sample.”
“NO!” Marko snapped. “No more tests on her.”
Pyper smirked. “I meant from you, big boy. I need to see what changes have occurred since Thea brought you out of your…haze. You’ve been out of it for quite some time, and I haven’t been able to get any samples. I couldn’t get anywhere near you. None of us could.”
“Haze?” Thea asked looking between him and Pyper.
“It’s nothing,” he muttered and wondered if he was going to get away with the dismissal when Pyper’s eyes narrowed to mischievous little slits.
To her credit, Pyper turned and rifled through one of the drawers beneath the long counter in the room. “Don’t have what I need here.” She looked up. “I’ll be right back.”
Pyper left the room and finally alone with Thea, Marko instantly scented her heightened apprehension.
Since the day the helicopter crash and his subsequent change, his senses had grown more heightened. They were great before, but now they were off the chart. Hell, right now he could even hear Pyper humming two rooms down. The sound of her soft song was quieted though by the suddenly rapid beating of Thea’s heart.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered.
Unsure what exactly she was apologizing for, and wanting to settle her, he simply replied, “Don’t be.”
“I shot you, Marko.”
“If you’re worried about the pain from that bullet, don’t be.” Unable to help himself, he mumbled, “You leaving hurt worse.”
“Me?” Her eyes rounded a moment as she looked up at him in clear shock. It only lasted a moment before her brows dipped in a frown. “You left me, remember?”
“No,” he answered. “I didn’t.”
“I woke up alone, Marko.”
Her words gutted him because he could only imagine what it had been like for her, especially after what she’d endured, to wake up in a strange place all alone. Standing, he settled her on the bed before burying a hand in his hair and pacing in front of her.
“ I was in a strange place and all full of mixed emotions.” She didn’t even stop her argument as Pyper silently re-entered. “My head was all messed up from the drugs, and my heart was all confused about…about what we had to do. And there I was alone. No explanation, no one to give me answers. Nothing. I was cast aside like a goddamn afterthought. And for someone who’s already endured that, having to live through it again was a nightmare. I was hurt, and yeah, sure, maybe I took off to feel sorry for myself for a minute, but the second I found out I was with child that all changed.”
Marko stopped pacing and faced her. “I wasn’t trying to hurt you, Thea. I had to go and get a bag together so I could stay with you in the suite at the main estate house. I couldn’t take you home, not to my cabin. Jenny needed to keep you close in case you went back into heat, but the infirmary was full. You were no longer critical, so we moved you upstairs. I only left to get clothes. Jenny was supposed to stay with you, but she got called to the infirmary on an emergency. This whole thing is one giant misunderstanding. I didn’t cast you aside. You were never an afterthought. Not to me.” His heart was pounding, his palms sweating. He felt ill. Something was off.
“Well, how was I supposed to know that?” Thea argued.
Pyper was studying him curiously now. “Marko?”
“You could have stayed around long enough,” he yelled. Goosebumps were rising all along his skin, and he could feel his incisors threatening to punch through his gums. “You ran. Just like everyone else. You didn’t even wait around for an explanation or to even give me a chance.”
“What do you mean like everyone else?”
“I’m broken!” he roared, and even though Thea flinched, he couldn’t hold himself back. “I’ve tried to keep my distance from you because I know I’m not good enough for you, Thea! The Megalya captured me, tortured me, and I lost control over my abilities. I’m not a regular Skin Walker. I’m less. That’s why I never conversed with you at the main gate. That’s why I never flirted back. No matter how fucking much I wanted to, I held back because you deserve a man who isn’t cursed with demons. You deserve a man who’s strong enough to control his inner beasts.” The more he talked, the more his chest heaved like he couldn’t catch his breath.
There was alarm in Pyper’s voice when she took a protective step closer to Thea. “Marko!”
“Don’t!” he snarled when Pyper’s hand closed around Thea’s arm.
“Marko?” Thea’s voice called his attention back to her, and now she was staring at him worriedly. A hand flattened over her belly, and it enraged him because she was acting like he was an actual threat to their child. Hell, maybe he was.
“He’s been feral, Thea,” Pyper explained. “I think he’s having a resurgence.” Pyper rushed the door and threw it open, bellowing into the hall, “BRONCO!”
Chapter 31
The sound of booted feet pounding down the hall drew Thea’s attention, and it was a mistake. As soon as she turned her head toward the door, Marko snatched her off the bed. She shrieked but clung to him as he crossed to the farthest corner of the room and squatted, keeping her cradled in his arms. He was being irrational, but Thea didn’t really know why.
“Easy,” Thea crooned, drawing his attention with a gentle hand on his cheek. Her brows were drawn in a look of deep concern. “It’s alright.”
His eyes locked on hers but quickly shifted to the door when Bronco entered.
“Pyper?” Thea asked tremulously. “What…what’s going on?”
“He’s been feral,” Pyper explained.
“I know,” Thea answered. “You said that, but I don’t know what that means. What is feral?”
“It’s like what happened to you with the drugs.”
Thea gasped, “Was he drugged?” She tore her eyes from Pyper’s and looked back him, her gaze sliding over his face as she studied him.
“No,” Pyper answered. “It’s called the affliction.”
Thea tensed, and her mouth fell open as her hand slowly dropped from his face. “Wh-what?”
“It’s the Skin Walker…”
Thea cut her off. “I…” she licked her lips. “I know what it is. It’s what happened to Eden and Monroe, right? It’s what happens to Walkers when they find their Angel. Right?”
Marko held her gaze and nodded silently.
“This can’t be,” Thea whispered, and her instant rebuff drew a deep growl from his chest.
“Look,” Pyper held up a hand. “He hasn’t eaten, hasn’t slept. He’s walking a very thin line right now, Thea. Maybe you shouldn’t…”
“Shouldn’t what?” she challenged. “Shouldn’t say that maybe you’re wrong?” She shoved at Marko’s chest, but he refused to release her. “When this happened to me it was just the result of drugs. Maybe his, I don’t know, chemistry or inner animals or whatever are just reacting to what we had to do.”
“No!” Marko snarled and tightened his hold on her as his eyes lightened like miniature snow globes that had been shaken violently.
Thea couldn’t hide the fear in her voice when she called out, “Pyper?”
“Calm down,” Pyper held her hands up. “Everyone calm down.” She pointed a finger at Marko. “Especially you! You calm the fuck down right now, Marko. You can’t change w
ith her in your arms, you might hurt the baby.”
Instantly, Marko’s hold loosened and the rolling growl that had been coming from his chest ceased. In a voice polluted with his inner beasts, he snarled, “Leave, Bronco!”
The Sentry didn’t move though until Pyper turned and nodded at him. “Go. You being in here is just making shit worse.”
Bronco left, and Pyper looked at Marko. “I’m going to leave you two alone, and I highly suggest you fix this grand misunderstanding that’s been hanging between you two. You need to collar and fully claim her, and that can’t happen unless you’re honest with each other.” Her eyes slid to Thea. “Be honest with each other.” Pyper walked out, clicking the lock on the door from the inside before sealing them inside the room.
Alone, Thea turned to look at Marko. “Put me down.”
“Can’t,” was his only response.
“Damn it, Marko. You’re acting like a caveman! Put. Me. Down.”
He snarled and shook his head. “I can’t, Thea. I can’t have my hands off you right now. I can’t let you go. I can’t. I just…can’t.”
Sighing, she crossed her arms as some of her anger faded. “Is it because of what happened to you?”
“If you mean being captured and tortured by the Megalya, the answer is no. It has to do with being afflicted and not being able to make you mine.”
“You can’t be sure I’m yours.” She kicked her legs, wiggling from his hold until he released her. “Maybe you just feel that way. That’s how I felt when I was drugged. Maybe after time…”
“No. It won’t wear off. This isn’t drugs, honey. This is all me, all feral beast wanting to find, fuck, and claim what’s his.”
His words sent a punch of lust shooting to Thea’s womb, but she was too afraid of getting attached to him again. If whatever this was wore off, she wouldn’t be able to stand another rejection. “I don’t think this can work, Marko. I think we’re both just too broken for this to work,” she offered quietly. “Maybe…” she lifted sad eyes to his. “Maybe we should just be done with each other.”
“You’re not done with me,” he finally answered.
Unease knotted in her belly.
Letting sincerity show in his eyes, Marko declared, “You’ll never be done with me, honey. And, I’ll never be done with you. We belong together like the night and the moon, like the tide and the wave. You’ll never have one without the other, and even if you refuse me all the rest of my days, I’ll never stop chasing you.” He took a step toward her. “I’ll never stop wanting you.” Another step. “I’ll never stop dreaming of you and wishing you were in my arms. For all my days I’ll think of the softness of your hair and the way your skin smells pressed up against mine. I’ll never forget the music that is your voice or the beauty that is your heart.” He dipped his chin, his eyes going hard. “The way your body fits mine, the way your thighs cradle me as I’m buried to the hilt inside of your wet slit, that’ll be tattooed on my soul the way your name is tattooed on my tongue. You are my life, Thea, and I’ll never let you go. You’ll never be done with me because without you I am nothing. Without you, I am not whole. Without you, I cannot live, and so if you run know that I’ll be right behind you. Every step, every day, until the end of my days.” He closed the space between them until she had to tilt her head far back to look up at him. “But imagine if you didn’t run. Imagine if you gave me a chance. I know you think all men are the same.” He lifted a hand and captured her chin, lowering his head until his lips were inches from hers as their breath mingled. “Someone left you. Someone hurt you, and you thought I was the same. I’m not like other men. I am no fucking man! I am a beast. I am your beast. And this beast mates for life. I know you’ve been hurt, and yeah we’re both broken, but let’s be broken together. You can use my pieces to make yourself whole, and I’ll help you do it.”
“And what about you,” she asked.
“I’m gonna work so damn hard to get my head right. I’m gonna control my goddamn beasts because I’m done letting them control me. You deserve strength, and that’s what I’m going to give you.” He dipped his head. “I’m taking charge.” Leaning forward, he brushed his lips softly against hers and Thea’s eyes fluttered closed on a moan. He breathed against her lips, “Don’t make me chase you, Thea. I’d rather fuck you. I’d rather eat you.” He pulled back, “Let me love you. Let me keep you.”
Thea kept her eyes closed. She didn’t move and didn’t speak for long minutes when finally she whispered, “I ache for you. I ache for you all the time.”
“Then stop being so fucking afraid and take what’s yours. You don’t have to ache. I’m right here. Don’t ache, Thea.”
“I don’t want to.”
Without hesitation, Marko’s lips crashed onto hers. Their kiss was passionate and full of all the things they still hadn’t said. Hands ripped at clothes, and it reminded Thea of the first time they’d been together. It was so urgent, so paramount.
Chapter 32
Thea matched Marko’s urgency. Her lips and tongue tangled with his even as her hands worked feverishly to rid him of his shirt. He wasn’t as careful. His hands fisted her shirt and ripped it from her body before finding the button on her jeans, snapping it open and tearing the material down her thighs. Before she even knew what was happening, his hand slid down the front of her panties and two strong fingers dipped inside her. Marko growled so hard that she felt the vibration in her breasts where they were smashed up against his chest.
“Mine!” he snarled, and Thea could only nod as she sucked at his tongue, hoping up and wrapping her legs around him when he lifted her off the ground. He carried her to the wall and pressed her into it before pulling his fingers out of her and fisting her panties. In a blink, nothing was separating their bodies. Her warm soft skin pressed up against the dark hard planes of his, and when his cock probed her slick entrance, Marko stilled to ask, “The baby?”
“It’s okay,” she panted. “Do it, the baby’s safe.”
Marko slid all the way into her in one languid thrust. Thea arched, her breasts pressing harder against him as she moaned. “Markoooo!”
Slowly, his hips started working, and in minutes the only sounds in the room were their pants mingled with the sound of wet sex. His hands and mouth were everywhere, and it was better than Thea remembered. His muscled body shoved between her thighs as he pistoned himself in and out of her wet slit.
“So tight,” he growled. “So fucking good!”
“Yesss!” she breathed.
“Tell me your mine, Thea!”
She clung to his shoulders and mewled.
“Say it,” he demanded.
“Yours, Marko. Always yours.”
His hips grew frantic, and he sucked a stiff nipple into his hot mouth. Thea cried out as orgasm seized her, her hands clawing into his shoulders as she continued to ride him.
Marko pounded into her over and over, drawing out her aftershocks until she felt him erupt, shooting his seed deep inside of her. His hips jerked as he emptied himself and before he was done, he ripped his halo from his throat and thrust it forward, clamping it around Thea’s neck.
Instantly, her energy was sapped, and she went lax in his arms, her eyes fluttering.
Leaning forward, he whispered in her ear, still buried deep inside her. “I’m taking you home, Thea. I’m keeping you.”
She nodded numbly and mumbled just as her eyes closed, “Keep me, my beast.”
Epilogue
Thea hummed to herself as she swayed her hips to the holiday music blaring from the radio. It was almost Christmas, and because it was she and Marko’s first holiday together, she was doing everything to make it perfect. They already had plans to spend New Year’s day with her parents, but Christmas was going to be theirs and theirs alone.
It had been weeks without even the faintest hint of her old panic attacks, and she hadn’t realized how truly life stifling they were until they’d finally left her in peace. Now, she felt like a w
hole new woman, and she was.
They were back at StoneCrow, and she’d officially moved into Marko’s cabin with him. Dipping her finger into the large bowl of whipping cream she tucked her fingers between her lips and moaned before spooning a large dollop onto the gingerbread she’d just made. The scent of sweet treats mingled with the earthy scent of the tall pine that Marko had erected in the front window. Because they didn’t have any ornaments, the tree was only decorated with strings of popcorn and cranberries, but to Thea, it was perfect.
Grinning, she slathered whipped cream all over the cake with one hand while rubbing the other over her rounded belly. She was getting big now, and it felt almost like her belly was a physical manifestation of her heart. Each day her stomach grew a little more, and it mirrored the love in her heart. She was so damn happy with Marko that it felt surreal. Half the time she expected to wake and find that it was all a dream. Instead though, she woke each morning wrapped in her Walker’s arms. Marko was so loving and attentive. And, he was such a doting mate that she knew their child was going to be spoiled. It made her smile to think of her big bad beast brought to his knees by a tiny little babe. Jenny had asked them if they wanted to know the child’s sex, but they’d decided they wanted to be surprised. Thea didn’t care one way or another, as long as the child was healthy, but she knew Marko was hoping for a little girl.
The sound of booted feet stomping on the porch had Thea rushing to finish frosting the cake.
When the door opened, Marko’s eyes scanned the room until they locked on hers and the second they did, a gargantuan smile claimed his features. She loved that. She loved that every day he came home happy to see her.
From the door where he shrugged out of his coat before bending to unlace his boots, he called, “How are my two loves today?”
“Incandescently happy,” Thea supplied truthfully in a mock English accent as she scooted around the kitchen island and made her way toward the door.
Marko met her in the sitting room and in the warm glow of light from the flickering fire in the hearth, he wrapped her in his arms and kissed her soundly.