“Answer me, Thad, did you lie to me about the two of us being married or mated, whatever you call it?”
“Did he bite you when he was fucking you?” Peren asked, her tone sharp. Tension filled the small cabin to the point Green almost choked on it.
He wanted to shout out that he didn’t “fuck” Melanie, that he made love to her, but Peren was right. He had fucked her. It had been raw, carnal, and nothing like what he should have given to her. Nothing like what she deserved.
“I’ll take your silence to mean you did not claim me as mate.” The pain in Melanie’s voice nearly did him in. He could take Peren and Lukian’s disapproval, but hers would be the death of him. Yet still he said nothing in defense of himself. It wasn’t a matter for all to hear and it wasn’t as if he had a reason for either lying or omitting the truth in regards to being mated to her. “She warned me but I didn’t listen. I should have listened.”
“Who warned you about what?” Missy asked, pushing her way into the suddenly cramped cockpit.
“Elizabeth told me to stay away from him. She knew he’d do this to me.”
Green knew Melanie was crying. He could hear it in her voice, but he didn’t turn to look at her. He couldn’t. Seeing her upset and knowing he’d caused it would be his undoing. It wasn’t as if he could whisk her away to somewhere they could be alone. Somewhere he could make love to her as he should have and lay claim to her.
Peren smacked him once more. “Asshole!”
“Leave him alone,” Melanie whispered, pain evident in her sweet voice. “I’m tired and every muscle in my body is sore. Missy, will you ask Eadan if I can stay with him once we land?”
“Sure, sweetie.”
“You can bunk with me if you want,” Wilson said softly, appearing behind Melanie. “I won’t try anything, Mels. You have my word. Consider it a semi-asshole-free zone.”
Every ounce of Green wanted to attack Wilson. How dare he try to get Melanie into his bed! How dare he blatantly come on to his wife?
My wife? She’s not my wife and that’s what got me into this mess to begin with.
He drew in a deep, ragged breath, waiting to hear Melanie dismiss Wilson’s offer. When she didn’t, he spun in his seat to look at her, only to find Wilson guiding her toward the back of the jet—straight to his room. The beast within Green surged, nearly breaking free.
It was Peren who controlled it. Green would never harm a woman, beast form or not, and Peren knew it. She glared at him. “You don’t deserve her and you have no say with what she does with what’s left of her life!”
Peren stormed off, leaving Green to dwell on the truths she’d spewed forth. He shifted a bit before double-checking the gauges. Lukian cleared his throat. “She’s right, you know.”
“I know.” Green nodded.
“Doll baby, you cannot throw Green from the plane!” Roi shouted.
Green and Lukian glanced back to see Missy and Peren doing their best to get past Jon and Roi. When Green spotted a parachute in Missy’s hands, he glanced at Lukian. “Tell me you aren’t going to let them toss me out.”
“They’re pregnant and pissed.” Lukian gave him a once-over. “You’re part cat. You’ll land on your feet, right?”
“Not from this altitude!”
He wasn’t sure if Lukian was serious or not. Prior to Lukian mating with Peren, Green wouldn’t have ever thought his longtime friend would allow him to be pushed from anything. Being mated certainly had changed Lukian. In the span of three weeks, the lycan king had done a complete turnaround. He’d do just about anything to see his wife happy and that meant assuring her friend was cared for.
“Well, they do have a parachute, so I’ll think you’ll live,” Lukian said, peering down the end of his nose. His blue eyes locked on Green. “Besides, I sort of hope I’m the one who gets to push you.” He motioned toward the back of the jet and grinned.
Green followed his gaze. “Gee, thanks.”
“Anytime.”
Jon put his hand out and caught Peren a second before she would have made it past him. The fact Peren didn’t level Jon spoke volumes as to how much she respected him.
He appeared appreciative. “Sorry, ma’am, but I can’t let you toss him out. His skills come in handy. Toss Wilson. I can’t think of anything he has to offer that we really need.”
“Ooo,” Roi nodded eagerly, “that’s a great idea. The two of you can push Wilson out. You don’t even need the parachute. Here, give me that thing. No sense wasting resources. The government will just love us if we show them we’re making cutbacks.”
Jon laughed. “Yeah, consider pushing Wilson to his death cutbacks.”
“I heard that!” Wilson yelled from the back of the jet.
Eadan chuckled as he leaned against the back wall. The minute his eyes fell on Green, the smile faded from his face. Green couldn’t really blame the guy for being pissed. Melanie was his sister. He wanted the best for her. Green did too.
Standing, Green stared down at Lukian. “I’ll be right back.”
“I advise against going anywhere near those two at the moment. They’re likely to really do it. And if you insist on doing it, keep in mind that unless you lose your head or pierce your heart,” he clucked his tongue on his cheek, “you’ll most likely survive. It won’t be pretty but you’ll live.”
“Oh, you’re real funny. I’m dying here. Really.”
“I do try.”
Ignoring Lukian, Green headed for Wilson’s room. Peren and Missy shared “kill him” looks as he neared them. He put his hands up, signaling surrender. “I wanted to claim her. The beast wanted to as well. She used her power to help me control it. I thought she understood that I had to bite her. When she commented on being married, I was too stunned to hear she was happy to tell her the truth.”
“Do you love her?” Peren asked, cutting to the chase.
“That’s between Melanie and me. Once we figure everything out, we’ll be sure to let you all know,” he said sardonically. He went to move but found himself held in place by an unseen force. Instantly, his gaze went to Eadan. “Let go of me.”
“She’s resting. Something about Wilson calms her. The minute he wrapped his arms around her, I felt her system stop its inner struggle. Let her sleep.”
Green’s jaw tightened and his fists clenched as he glared at Eadan. “He better not be touching my wife!”
Tipping his head, Eadan’s lip curled. “Herein lies the problem. She is not your wife, Green. Not this time around.”
Shocked, Green took a step back.
Eadan cast a smug look in his direction. “Dad filled me in on all I needed to know prior to coming. I’m up to speed on the situation. As are the rest of the Ops.”
This was more than he was willing to deal with at the moment. He needed to get to Melanie to straighten things out between them. He didn’t need to stand and be judged by people who didn’t fully understand what was going on. “Let me through.”
“No.” Eadan splayed his hands and quirked an eyebrow, as if daring Green to try to go through him.
For a split second, Green entertained the idea. Knowing it would upset Melanie more if her brother were harmed, he reined his temper as best he could. Eadan leaned against the seat next to him and crossed one foot over the other, looking entirely too cocky for Green’s liking.
“Give her time, Green.”
“She doesn’t have time,” he whispered, knowing each moment with her was precious.
Eadan nodded. “I know.”
Chapter Sixteen
Roi cornered his mate near the back of the jet, snaking his arm around her waist and pulling her against his chest. He growled as he took in her sweet scent, now combined with his since she carried his children within her. “Mmm, twins.”
Missy laughed, rubbing against him. “Are you going to be okay? You passed out cold when you found out you were going to be a daddy. I’d like a heads-up if I should alert the others.”
“Ha, ha,” he
said, bending and pressing his lips to her temple. “I love you.”
“I love you too, but I’d love you more if you’d let Peren and me push Green from the jet,” she said, her voice sugar sweet.
“Missy doll, I told you I was fine with Wilson going.” He waggled his brows as he nipped playfully at her ear.
She purred, a trait she had due to the excessive amount of various strands of cat DNA she carried within. The sound drove Roi mad with need. “Mmm, baby, do that again and I’ll be buried in you before we land.”
Missy turned in his arms and leveled a serious stare on him. “Promise me that you won’t let Green—”
Knowing he couldn’t make promises involving someone else’s life, Roi silenced her with a kiss. When he pulled back, he expected Missy to ask again. She didn’t. Instead, she put her head against his chest and sighed. Her fingers caressed his sides gently. “I want them to be as happy as we are.”
“I know,” he whispered, holding her to him.
“I want Eadan happy too, Roi.”
“I know, Missy doll. I know.”
Chapter Seventeen
One week later…
Green moved slowly, leading Wilson and Jon along the edge of the river. The oxygen-rich Amazon was humid and seemed to be an entity all its own. Green and Jon were the only two team members who hadn’t spent the morning complaining about the heat. Even under the canopy of the jungle’s trees, it was warm. Jon originated from the south and seemed to relish the heat. Wilson, on the other hand, hated it.
Glancing over his shoulder, he caught sight of Wilson smacking the back of his neck and cursing under his breath about the mosquitoes seeming to like the taste of him more than anyone else. Green caught Jon snickering. Something moved in the distance and Green tossed a closed fist up as he dropped to one knee. Wilson and Jon followed suit. They were miles from their base camp on a reconnaissance mission.
Pointing at Jon, Green motioned for him to ensure that they weren’t being flanked. Amber eyes stared out from Jon’s cammoed-up face. The bushrag head-and-torso ghillie he had on made him look like a moving compost pile, not a man, just as it was designed to do. The suit covered the outline of his body and weapon so he blended with his surroundings. The rest of the team went with tactical vest and camouflage fatigues. The foliage on the rainforest floor wasn’t as dense as most people assumed it would be. The canopy above acted as a light filter and also reduced the amount of rain that actually hit the ground. So, while certain portions were so thick, it was difficult to see your hand before your face, others were thin enough to move through with ease. The suits did aid in blending into spots that were covered in brush. It also gave them peace of mind.
Green twisted a bit and bumped a woody vine. A small shadow moved overhead, and Green’s gaze locked on it. The second he found a tiny brown monkey staring down at him with a curious expression, he decided against attacking. His luck, the monkey would end up being a by-product from Krauss’s experiments and decapitate him while he wasn’t looking.
Green shook the thought from his head.
Wilson visually scanned the area, clutching his M60 close. Green couldn’t help but think of Missy’s comment when she’d put the order in for weapons. The minute she’d mentioned Wilson must be compensating for something, the entire team had lost it, laughing to the point they were snorting.
Green was comfortable with his M16 and a Desert Eagle sidearm. If worst came to worst, he could shift into a panther and tear someone’s head clean off. Of course, with Krauss’s experiments, the likelihood of his enemy possessing similar, if not better, skills was great. They’d no doubt possess the ability to regenerate severed heads. That or they’d sic the monkey on him.
Always comforting.
He glanced up to find it grinning at him like it understood his line of thinking.
“Bravo-Dog-One, we’ve tagged the area in question and are heading to rendezvous point.” Lukian’s voice filtered through Green’s earpiece. Reaching up, he clicked his com three times to indicate he heard but could not respond.
“Enemy?” Lukian asked.
Green didn’t respond.
“Unknown?”
He clicked twice more to indicate yes. Sniffing the air, he let his supernatural senses take the lead. Aside from the normal smells of the jungle, Green couldn’t pick up on anything different. Still, he knew he heard something. Since the monkey hadn’t moved, he ruled it out. Now, as for any of the monkey’s little buddies showing up, that was a different matter.
“What the fuck?” Wilson called out, a second before he fired a small burst. Birds scattered and the jungle seemed to flare to life.
Green turned to see what it was Wilson was firing at and found a man with some sort of blow-dart weapon about a foot from him. Since it was unheard of for anyone to be able to sneak up on him, he was shocked. “Don’t shoot!”
Seeing the blank look on the man’s face, Green quickly repeated what he’d said in several regional dialects, hoping one would be the man’s. Several more tribesmen made themselves known.
“That little bastard over there shot me with an arrow!” Wilson yelled. The low rumble that emanated from his throat told Green his friend was on the verge of a shift. Once he did that, killing would be inevitable.
Green ducked and spun around the native tribesman with the blow dart. Each tribesman there barely came to mid-chest level on him and looked to have placed a bowl over their head and cut their hair. The tribesman whispered something that Green surmised to be “man demon”. In his culture that was exactly what the I-Ops were.
He spoke quickly, mixing dialects from the region, hoping to get one right. When the native bowed his head and put his hands in the air, Green exhaled.
Jon stood at his full height and the natives lifted their crude but effective weapons once more. “Green, what did I do?”
“You look like a walking and talking tree to them, Jon,” Green said, suppressing a laugh. Now was not the time for jokes, but he had to admit, it was funny. “Shift into a tiger, they’re sure to think you’re a god as well.”
“They think we’re gods?”
Green listened as the natives spoke amongst themselves, lowering their weapons once more. “In a way. They believed us to be man demons at first.”
“What did you tell them to make them think otherwise?” Jon asked.
Green scratched his chin. “To be honest, I’ve no idea. I thought it was along the lines of we come in peace. Then he bowed and now I’m not so sure.”
Wilson hissed. “Where’s a fucking pen when I need one? Science Geek admitted to not knowing the answer to something. I need to make note of this.”
Ignoring Wilson, Green watched the natives converse among themselves. They pointed toward the sky and then back at the I-Ops before one jabbed another in the chest. They formed a line and then disappeared as quickly as they’d come, leaving Wilson holding his upper thigh, Jon slinking back toward them, and Green stupefied.
“Bravo-Team?” asked Lukian.
Touching his com unit, Green sighed. “We’re fine. Well,” he glanced at Wilson, “alive. But the natives are truly restless.”
Wilson nudged him. “Tell him they’re most likely preparing a bonfire to roast us with now too. Bastards.” He clutched his leg and growled.
Green eased Wilson’s arm over his shoulder, taking the majority of the man’s weight off his bad leg. “Nah, I don’t think rats are high on their food chain either. You’re good.”
Jon snickered and Wilson groaned. “Sure, now Green develops a sense of humor.”
Chapter Eighteen
“Fuck you,” Wilson bit out as Green tried to inspect the wound on his upper right thigh. “I don’t want you touching me.”
“I believe the arrow you were hit with was poisoned. It would be in your best interest to allow me to clean it and verify whether poison is involved.” Green attempted again to get a better look at it but Wilson wasn’t having anything to do with it. Other tha
n Jon, none of the men were being particularly friendly to him. Even Jon was reserved, more so than normal.
Setting his medical bag aside, Green rubbed his temples. It had all gone too far. For the past week, he’d watched as his friends, men he considered brothers, pulled away from him, eschewing him for something he hadn’t intentionally done. It wasn’t as if he set out to hurt Melanie. Hell, he’d been ecstatic the minute she acknowledged she was not only happy being his wife, but wanted to recite their vows in front of family and friends.
How did I let it get this out of control?
“Since you’re being a pigheaded jerk, will you at least let me take a look at it?” Melanie asked, catching Green off guard.
He jerked back, letting her through. Her smell, lavender and lilac, drove him mad, and the urge to pull her into his arms was great. The thin white blouse she had on left her nipples showing through, and it was all he could do to keep his hands to himself. He knew the sweetness of having her berry-like nubs in his mouth. He knew the look upon her face when her orgasm struck and the feel of her pussy as it clenched around his cock. He wanted it all again. He wanted it for always—he wanted her.
Brushing past him, Melanie made his entire body burn with need. He’d spent every night since they’d landed watching over her, sleeping by her side without her knowing. Green would leave her room just before she woke, allowing her to believe that he’d given her the space she’d needed. It was a lie. Eadan was aware of his deception because Green switched rooms with him so he could be alone with Melanie.
She seemed to have gotten a bit more energy over the last week. Green’s only guess was that it had something to do with the fact she was actually sleeping through the night now. Eadan had been shocked, but he seemed to think she rested soundly because Green was near, holding her as she slept. Since Melanie refused to submit to any testing or even speak with him in daylight hours, Green wasn’t sure what was happening. He only hoped the end results left her alive and well. There was no way he could or would live without her. She just didn’t know it yet.
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