Lowlander Silverback (Gorilla Shifter Royalty 1)

by T. S. Joyce

  Kong was still waiting on her answer with a worried look in his soft brown eyes.

  She smiled and nodded, then followed him toward his Camaro. His gait hitched slightly, thanks to a broken bone that hadn’t been reset in time, but other than that and a map of scars across his body, he had healed.

  He opened her door and waited until she was inside, then he draped his suit jacket over her legs. While they followed the Gray Backs’ work trucks up the winding mountain roads, Kong’s hand stayed around hers, big and strong, steadying the shake in her fingers. His profile struck her as beautiful with the trees passing by and the storm clouds muting the light against his skin. High cheek bones, dark eyes to match dark brows to match dark hair he’d styled in a sexy, messy look today. His skin was tan compared to the white dress shirt that clung to his muscular shoulders. The top button was unbuttoned, and his black dress pants pressed against his powerful legs as he pushed down the gas on his rumbling hotrod.

  Mine.

  She smiled when her attention drifted to the Grayland Mobile Park sign over the white gravel road. It was a relief to drive under it, though she couldn’t pinpoint why. Perhaps because nothing bad had happened here. There were no memories of Mac to haunt her like there were down in Saratoga. Stepping out of the car, she waved at Willa, Georgia, and Aviana who held down the hems of their black dresses as they scurried to their trailers with their mates.

  Creed pulled little Rowan from her car seat and cradled her tightly against his chest, cooing as she fussed. Leaves swirled around his feet as he looked up with his ink-colored eyes, so much like Damon’s. “You tell us if you need anything,” he said to her before he turned to a waiting Gia and walked away with his daughter cuddled in his arms.

  Kong’s fingertips were light as a feather against her lower back as he guided her up the porch stairs of 1010. He’d gone quiet lately. Dimmer. Like a lantern that was almost out of oil and struggling to stay lit. Mac’s death and the battle that followed weighed heavily on him.

  “It’s not your fault, you know?” she murmured as she stepped into the bedroom and slipped out of her heels.

  “Mmm,” Kong said noncommittally.

  She unbuttoned his shirt slowly. “It’s not.”

  Kong went still under her touch, his eyes somber as he stared at her. “I wanted things to be different.” His nose and lip twitched, a sign of the animal that lived beneath his skin. He did that when he was thinking hard about something. “I wish we could’ve dated, like other people. Movies, dinner, picnics…normal shit. Not all this heaviness. I didn’t want it to be a loss that bonded us, Layla.”

  She smiled and pushed his shirt off his shoulders. “It wasn’t. I wanted you long before any of this stuff happened.

  She untucked the hem of his white undershirt and lifted it over his head. He grunted as he lifted his arms. Healed he might be, but there were still aching nerves nestled in the deepest wounds. She traced a long pair of scars across his ribs with a light touch.

  “Beautiful mate,” she whispered. “I don’t know how I would’ve gotten through this week without you.”

  Kong gripped her wrist as she got too close to a wide cavern of uneven red scar tissue under his arm. “You wouldn’t have had to go through this week if it weren’t for me.”

  “Mac had cancer, Kong.”

  His grip loosened as he searched her eyes.

  “It’s why he was in hospice. It had spread, and the doctors couldn’t do anything. If it weren’t for you and the Gray Backs, I would’ve planned his funeral alone and stood for him at that gravesite alone a couple of months from now. I would’ve mourned alone. I hate Rhett for what he did, and Kong, there are times where I wish I could’ve watched you rip him apart.” Her words shook like a lit candle wick in a strong wind. “But, mate,” she whispered, cupping his cheek. “It was Mac’s time, no matter what you or I wished. It was Fiona and Rhett’s awful decision that had nothing—nothing—to do with you. I don’t blame you, and it hurts me to see you blaming yourself.”

  Kong’s chest rose with his deep inhalation, and he leaned his cheek into her palm, making a raspy sound with his two-day scruff. She leaned up on tiptoes and kissed his lips. Then she turned and pulled her hair aside, watching him in the dresser mirror.

  A slow smile spread across his lips as he unzipped her dress slowly.

  “I have a boner to pick with you, mister.”

  Kong chuckled deeply, and she closed her eyes to revel in the sound of it. Damn, she’d missed that over the past few days. Now, it was medicine for her soul.

  “I think the saying goes ‘I have a bone to pick with you.’”

  “No, boner, because you have shown no interest in sleeping with me.”

  “The couch is comfortable, and I wanted to give you space.” Kong unsnapped her bra, then reached his hands through her open dress and slid his touch around her ribs until he cupped her breasts.

  “That’s not what I’m talking about,” she said on a breath.

  “Oh, I know what you’re talking about, woman.” His words were a rattling growl that lifted gooseflesh across her forearms.

  “Then why haven’t you made love to me?”

  Kong pressed his lips against the back of her neck and sucked gently. Curling back against him, she sighed. He worked his way down the side of her throat and grazed his teeth right over the mark he’d given her before everything went wrong.

  “Because you’re in heat,” he whispered against her skin. “I can smell it. Practically taste it on the air.” He rocked his hips against her back, pressing his hard, thick erection against her. “You think I haven’t wanted to cover you? Wrong. It’s hard to think about anything else, but it didn’t seem like the right time to talk about family planning.” He gripped her long hair at the base of her neck and lifted, exposing the other side to his biting, sucking affection.

  “You’re ready for a baby?” she asked. “With me?”

  Kong spun her and settled her hips onto the dresser, then pulled the front of her dress off her arms and let it pile in her lap. He locked his arms on either side of her hips and took a sip of her lips. His eyes weren’t soft and brown anymore. They were the wild green color. “I am. I told you I want a family. It happens when silverbacks mature. I’ve set up a life here, a business, so I could afford to take care of a family. My instincts scream every time I smell those sexy pheromones you’re putting out. Cover her. Put a baby in her. Make a family with her. It gets overwhelming, but the timing isn’t right, and you don’t have the same instincts to breed as I do. I want to get you pregnant, yes. But I also want you happy, and I want our love story to be that slow burn like Mac’s was with his Gloria. I never want you resenting me for pushing you into something this big so fast. So I’ll wait. We’ll be careful and use protection until you’re ready.”

  She cupped his neck and grinned. “You want to know something?”

  “Hmm?” he asked, leaning down and drawing one of her nipples into his mouth.

  She moaned and arched her back to give him a better angle. “I really…really…really like that you want a family with me, and only me. Oh!”

  Kong sucked hard and dragged his lips across her chest to draw her other nipple into his mouth. She spread her legs wider to give him more access. She had to get this out before she lost her mind completely. “But I think you’re right. I want to be your family group, and I want to give you a baby, but with everything going on right now, I think we should wait until the dust clears.” Panting, she lifted his chin until his gaze hooked onto hers. “I’m on the pill now, but when we’re ready, I’ll stop taking it. Until then, we can have fun practicing.”

  And Kong, that sexy as hell man, didn’t even make her feel guilty for putting off a family—not for a second. He gave her a wicked smile and dropped to his knees, then rucked up her dress, exposing the thin black lacies she’d worn to hide a panty line in her dress. “Perfect,” he murmured before he looked back up at her with his blazing green eyes. “You w
ant me to make you forget?”

  Oh, she knew what he was offering. A chance to forget the muck of the last few days. He was offering to lift the heavy weight off her chest for a little while—to give her a break from the darkness that had inched into her life like a suffocating fog.

  “Yes.” She couldn’t say it fast enough. She’d needed this kind of affection, but Kong had seemed reluctant to give it lately. Now that she knew it was for her benefit and not because he didn’t want it, she couldn’t get him inside her fast enough. The soft rip of her panties filled the room, and she leaned the back of her head against the mirror as Kong lowered a hungry gaze between her legs and let off a soft growl.

  “Eat me,” she pleaded desperate to lose herself with him.

  He pulled the backs of her knees until she was at the edge of the dresser, then he gripped her hips and leaned forward, pressing soft lips against her slick folds. A tease.

  “Please,” she whispered, rolling her hips forward.

  He pulled her clit between his lips and sucked gently. In shaking gasps, Layla’s breath left her body as she ran her fingers through his hair, then gripped it hard. Punishment for his teasing. The growl in his throat grew louder and vibrated against her right where she was most sensitive. She bowed against him and groaned. Maybe she really was in heat, or the human equivalent, because right now, she was unbelievably sensitive. She closed her eyes and imagined his long dick sliding into her. Kong released her clit and drove his tongue into her, drawing a gasp from her lips. His fingers dug into her waist, but it didn’t hurt. She wanted him rough this time. Forget. Forget everything.

  Kong angled his head as she raked her fingernails through his hair and pulled him closer. He went deeper the next time he pushed into her, and she spread her legs and cried out. He’d found his rhythm now, not too fast, not too slow, careful to pay attention to her clit every few strokes. Her legs were going numb. Hell, her whole body was floating as he pushed her closer to release.

  “No, no, no,” she murmured. “Want more. Want you inside of me. Want you to cover me.” Yes, that sounded right. Like he called it. Like his people called it. Breeding. Covering. Wild, like her Kong.

  With a growl, Kong sucked her clit hard and then stood, tugging her dress over her head in one smooth motion. Kong pulled her off the dresser, then settled her stomach on the edge of the bed, feet on the floor. “Lock your legs,” he rumbled out. “Ass in the air for me, beautiful.”

  The jingle of his belt as he removed it brought a wave of excited anticipation as she arched her back and gave him a full view of her soaking wet sex.

  His teeth grazed her skin just above her ass, and then his kisses worked their way up until his mouth was at the mark he’d given her. The head of his hard cock was right there, pressing into her by an inch. When he eased out, she wanted to scream. He pushed into her a little farther, and her legs relaxed. She moaned and rocked her hips with him the next time. He took her deeply. God, he was long and thick. Stretching. Almost pain, but more pleasure.

  “Harder,” she said on a panting breath.

  Kong grabbed her breast, other arm locked against the bed beside her ribcage. With a grunt, he thrust in until she’d taken all of him. His body was rigid, tensed, muscles firing and twitching as he pushed into her again and again. “Layla,” he gritted out in a helpless voice. Yes. Yes! She closed her eyes against the primal growl that rattled from his chest against her back.

  “Harder,” she begged.

  His powerful hips jerked as he slammed into her. His hand was rough on her breast, but she didn’t care. She wanted him like this. She’d been wrong to tell him to be gentle with her when they’d first met. Kong wasn’t a gentle man. He was rough and feral, and she loved that about him. She shouldn’t have stifled him. It was she who needed to compromise and accept his animal. And his animal liked to fuck. Hard. She gasped as he slammed into her faster. She was so wet. Could feel it every time he slid into her. Slick sound. Slick shaft. God, he felt so good inside of her.

  The snarl in his throat grew louder. Almost there. The pressure filled her entire body, from her middle to her fingertips. She arched her back as he gripped her hair and clamped his teeth onto her shoulder. Not hard enough to break the skin, but hard enough to draw the first pulse of a body-shattering orgasm from her. Kong froze on the next stroke with her name rasping from his lips. Jets of heat shot into her, and he bucked into her again and again, matching her orgasm. With one last growl, he pushed her chest onto the bed and pumped into her again where he stayed locked deep inside of her, emptying himself completely. His body relaxed against her as he kissed the back of her neck, over and over.

  “I love you. I love you,” she chanted in a whisper because it felt so important that he knew right now.

  He smiled against her skin and bit her softly again. Sexy. Bitey. Kong. With a sigh, he slid out of her and pulled her flush against him on the bed. He spread the covers over their legs and kissed her softly. It wasn’t the passionate kisses they sometimes had when they were overwhelmed with each other. This one said those three important words back to her without any sound. He cupped the back of her head like she was precious and sipped her until she smiled sleepily and hugged him close.

  He inhaled deeply and pulled her body close as he rested his chin on top of her head. “Thanks for forgiving me,” he murmured so softly she almost missed it.

  Shaking her head against the soft pillow, she said, “There was nothing to forgive.”

  And as she traced the scars on his body, the ones he’d received avenging Mac and choosing her, she was struck with how lucky she was to be in this moment. Wrapped in the arms of the man she loved. A week ago, this wasn’t a possibility, but here she was.

  And suddenly, Kong’s earlier question took on a new meaning.

  You ready to go home?

  Home wasn’t a place anymore.

  She smiled against his skin and kissed a scar right above his heart.

  Home was Kong.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Kong’s cell phone rattled across the bedside table, kept from falling off the edge only by the cord that was charging it. He scrubbed his hands over his face and squinted at the glowing caller ID on the screen. Five in the morning, and why the hell would Kirk be calling him this early, or at all? Kong hadn’t talked to him since the night Fiona had given the order to kill Mac.

  He accepted the call and murmured, “Hang on.” Then he looked over at Layla who was still sleeping peacefully beside him, her arm thrown over his middle and a slight frown drawing down her delicately arched, sandy-blond eyebrows. No make-up and clad in nothing but a pair of cotton panties and a tank top, and damn his mate stole his breath away.

  He slipped out from under her arm and pulled the covers over her, tucking her in tightly before he unhooked the phone from the charger and padded out of the trailer.

  “What do you want?” he asked low as he leaned on the front porch railing. The Gray Backs would be up soon to go to work on the landing, but he didn’t want to perk up their oversensitive hearing and make them lose any sleep.

  “I just got a call from Fiona.”

  Kong’s heartbeat stuttered and then picked up double time.

  “Kong, she’s not done coming after you and Layla.”

  “Why would you tell me this? Aren’t you one of her henchmen?”

  “No.” Kirk’s voice sounded off. Defeated or disillusioned, perhaps. “I’m already dead, Kong. I have been since she gave the order to take out Mac. I was supposed to help Rhett, but I didn’t. Couldn’t.”

  “I thought you were playing watch out while Rhett—”

  Kirk made a clicking sound behind his teeth, and static blasted across the phone as if he had rubbed the speaker against his shirt. “I told you I didn’t choose to be your guard. This is a courtesy call. I’m handling the sawmill until you’re ready to take it over again. I just wanted to say you don’t have to worry about the business. I’ve got this until she comes for me. It’s
the least I can do for what I was a part of.”

  “But you said you weren’t a part of Mac’s death.”

  “That’s not what I’m talking about. I mean for what I’ve had to do to you. Controlling you, watching you, berating every little thing you did wrong. You didn’t do anything wrong, Kong. You’re still not doing anything wrong. Our people are fucked up. Fucked. Up. I told Fiona I’m rogue now, but before I did, she asked where you were staying. I didn’t tell her anything, but she’ll find you. She asked me what happened to Gordon and Ivan. To Rhett. She said they hadn’t called or come home. I didn’t answer, but that was answer enough for her, you know?”

  “Kirk, you didn’t have to go rogue for me.”

  “It wasn’t for you, man. It was for me. I want my pride intact at the end. Besides, Fiona has no use for me anymore. She won’t give me a family group, and I suck at murdering people for her. I just wanted to warn you it isn’t over with her yet.”

  Kong slammed his fist onto the railing and ran his hands through his sleep-mussed hair. “I don’t get it. Why this obsession with me? It can’t just be the birthmark. Why can’t she just let me go?”

  “Don’t you see? It is the birthmark. Every generation sired by the silverback with the mark of the Kong has gone down in our history books as the strongest. The smartest. The ones who made a difference in our survival. It isn’t you. It’s your genetics she needs.”

  “Needs?”

  “Kong, the family group she’s put together for you? She’s in it. She’s the head female.”

  Shock slammed into him, stealing his breath away. No. “Fiona wants to breed?” She was forty and still capable, but she’d only ever shown interest in ruling the gorilla shifters.

  “Yeah, man. But she won’t bear offspring for just anyone. She wants you to father her get. She wants her offspring in the history books.”

  A hundred things snapped into place. Fiona searching tirelessly for him after his mother had stolen him away. Her putting so much effort into breaking him when he was a blackback. Her obsession with the contract and not allowing him to taint his seed. It wasn’t for the betterment of a family group. It was because he was being groomed to be her claim.