by Leela Ash
But she knew the answer. She could feel it. In the shallowness of her breath, in the unthinking animal way that her body pressed against him, begging him to continue. Fire rose within her, higher and higher. Darian wasn’t a man who delighted in quick pleasures. Only the pinnacles of desire would do for his Mate.
Button and zipper undone, his hands disappeared beneath her pants. They stroked her buttocks, claiming them, then slowly pushed the jeans down. As they slid lower, his kisses descended as well. Flowing down her neck, along the small of her back. Lingering playfully, as he nibbled at the curves of her hips.
Tess stepped out of her clothes – free, naked – and turned. Her love knelt before her, eyes drinking in the beauty of her body.
To be naked before a clothed man felt odd. Yet Tess found her passion growing despite her vulnerability. Or, perhaps, because of it. It was a pledge of her trust in Darian, her eagerness to arouse him. As if she had made an offering of herself, her body, for his pleasure. Tossing her shoulders back she stood, revealing herself fully. Letting him drink his fill of her. Holding nothing back.
To her delight, she saw the crotch of his pants swell. A silent witness to the desire lurking behind his calm, masterful demeanor.
Tess reached for the buttons of his shirt, intent on stripping away the clothes that hid him from her. But Darian caught her hand. Raising her fingers to his lips, he kissed them gently and whispered, “Lie down on your stomach.”
Her breath caught in her throat and she obeyed. Her nipples, still tingling from the touch of his hands, ached as the bedsheet’s soft folds rubbed against them. She could imagine his eyes upon her, savoring the curves of her thighs, her buttocks. Behind her she heard a shirt fall to the ground, then pants. Quivering with anticipation, she burned as she felt the bed shift.
Muscled legs straddled her, she felt his manhood brush against her buttocks – then powerful hands settled on her shoulders and gently began to knead. “You’re tense,” Darian whispered. “Let me help with that.”
Massage, too, was new to her. Yet as his hands moved, stroking, Tess felt her body sing. Muscles softened, melted. His strong hands found knots, secret tensions she’d hidden within her for so long. One by one, he banished them until she lay, basking in a soft joy she’d never known.
Before those relaxed muscles could rob her body of its arousal, however, his hands glided lower, circling her buttocks. They slipped between her legs. Fingers kneaded her thighs and, softly, secretly, stole higher to caress her womanhood. Tess moaned, burying her face in the pillow, as Darian stroked her. She felt herself grow wet, ready for him.
“Now,” she pleaded, as she rolled onto her back. “Please, now.”
Hard, erect, he knelt before her. Ripped, chiseled abs… iron stomach… lean thighs… no detail of her dream was missing. And across it all spread the tattoo of his Dragon, its scales rippling with every motion of his muscles.
He was perfect. She wanted him, needed him.
Unable to hold herself back, Tess caught him by the hands and pulled him down.
Darian joined her. Bodies wound together. Mouths joined. Hard cock pressed close, achingly close against her damp sex. At its touch, soft whimpers escaped her.
With a firm, smooth thrust, he entered her. His thick manhood filled, her, devoured her, just as it had when he Claimed her. Each stroke rocked her, fanning the flames that burned between her legs. Cries – sharp, needing – spilled from her as her fingers knotted themselves in the sheets. His own deep, guttural moans of pleasure joined hers.
Eyes closed with ecstasy, lips parted, he drove again and again into her most secret parts. Desire blazed, burned… and, with a cry, she came. His hot seed spilled inside her as he joined her in bliss.
Panting, exhausted, Darian dropped beside her. Tess snuggled closer, reveling in the dampness of their bodies and the lingering, wet traces of their love nestled between her thighs.
“I love you,” he whispered.
A hitch, the faintest of hesitations, and then she answered, “I love you too.”
It was true, after all. No matter how much she hurt him, she would always love him.
For a time, they lay there, twined together. Darian’s breathing grew deeper. As he dozed, Tess gently unwound from his embrace. At last, when her love slept, she slipped out of bed. Slowly, sadly, she gathered her clothes and dressed.
She found a pen beside the phone and, on the pad of motel notepaper, she wrote him one last message:
Darian,
You deserve someone better than me. I know I’ll never convince you of that, so I’m leaving. Don’t bother looking for me. Just take your boy and go. Find another woman, one who’ll be a decent Mate to you.
Tess
That was all. No explanation. No sign of how much she loved him. No plea for him to forgive her. All of those would simply hurt him and make it harder for him to move past her betrayal.
It was better this way, even if it broke her heart. Better for him.
And, in the end, that was what really matter. He was a good man. He deserved a good woman.
Not someone like her.
Silently, Tess set her message on the pillow beside him. Then, heart and footsteps heavy, she slipped out of the room and walked away into the night.
Chapter 12
Crunch.
Crunch, crunch.
Something was stomping about Tess’ cabin.
The noise roused her with a vain, foolish hope. Darian had come back for her! He was going to explain why it was stupid to abandon your hope, your love, and your future. He would refuse to leave her, he’d make her see sense. He wouldn’t leave until they talked this through.
He’d forgive her, for the unforgivable.
Crunch.
One eye cracked open. Damn, she felt miserable! Not just alone, hopeless, and unloved. No, a dozen physical aches joined their spiritual brothers. Dry mouth, pounding headache, dizziness… those were the signs of a massive hangover. Her stomach growled and her back ached.
How long had this bender lasted?
Judging from the beer cans scattered around her lawn chair, three days.
Three days of beer, and gin, and her old buddy whisky. Three days to contemplate how wrong she’d been. How, once again, she’d made a total mess of her life. Abandoning Darian had torn a hole in her soul, one she doubted she could ever fill. Which left her with only one option.
Run away.
Shed herself. Again. As she’d done so many times.
Crunch.
Unless… this really was him? Rising onto an elbow, Tess prayed that her Dragon had more sense than she did.
The man standing in the middle of the mess wasn’t Darian, however. Her heart sank as she realized that. Though, honestly, she hadn’t truly dared to believe he’d come back for her.
The stranger staring at her was big. Six and a half feet of solid muscle, arms that looked like barrels and threatened to shred his flannel shirt. His image wavered between annoyed lumberjack and mangy bear.
Shifter, then. Looks like Dick’s arrived. With help, this time.
“She’s in here!” he bellowed. Tess cringed as a stab of pain answered that call. To her, he simply growled, “Where’s your neighbor?”
“Gone. Flew off.” Darian’s bound Dragon couldn’t Shift – but they didn’t know that.
One last gift she could give him.
Behind the Bear, a familiar face appeared. Dick. Pale, panting, and looking ready to lose his lunch. “Tess. Where’s Morland?”
She waved indistinctly. “Flew off. Pretty amazing to see, y’know.”
“Did he give any hint of where he was heading?” She shook her head. Carefully, so as not to set the room spinning. “Which way did he fly?”
Tess pointed randomly. She couldn’t locate ‘north’ to save her life, even on a good day. And today was definitely not a good day.
“Dammit.” Dick turned to leave. “Let’s head back to town.”
That was it?
Inquisition over already?
She was about to congratulate herself when a small woman slipped into the room. Gaunt, sharp-featured, she wore dull jeans and a boring tan coat that the eye naturally slid over. Nothing about her impressed, from her plain, brown, short-cropped hair to her unremarkable features. Yet her form shimmered in the air, like a heat mirage. One moment a woman stood before her, the next a Rat.
“Ugh,” Tess muttered. “You lost the Shifter lottery, didn’t you?”
The woman ignored her question and offered one of her own. “Why did Morland leave?”
Dick cleared his throat. “We should get going. We don’t know how much of a head start he has.”
The Rat waited. Tess smiled, spotting one last chance to give her ex grief. “Because I told him the Fangs of Apophis knew where he was and he needed to get out.”
“How did you know that?”
Dick’s eyes widened in horror. He gave a slight shake of his head.
Which Tess ignored. “He told me.” She jerked a thumb at her former lover. “Wanted me to find out where a Wellspring was. I decided I’d rather help the Dragon.”
With a hiss of rage, the Rat turned a venomous glare on Dick. “You idiot! You’ve screwed up for the last time. The Fangs will have your head for this!”
“I’m not the one who let him escape!” he yelped. “Your Nest is to blame for that! If your spies were better…”
The unnamed Rat didn’t buy that excuse. Neither did Tess. “The whole point of caution was to prevent him from taking to the skies, where we couldn’t follow him. Arnage!” The Bear ducked his head. “Don’t let this Fae escape. He’ll answer to the Masters.”
That did not sound good to Tess. She didn’t even need to see Dick’s horror to know that. As the Bear turned toward him, he scrambled backward, howling, “Wait! I have information you need. Let me go, and I’ll give it to you.”
The Rat held up a hand, freezing Arnage in his tracks. Odd. Given his arrogance, Tess had assumed that Dick was a high-ranking member of the Fangs. Clearly, though, the ‘lowly’ Rat was in charge here.
“Tell me this information.”
“Promise me you’ll let me go!”
Thin lips pinched tight for a moment then the woman nodded. “Very well. I give you my word.”
Tess almost burst out laughing.
It’s a trap, Dickie-Boy. That agreement came way too fast.
Beggars couldn’t be choosers, though, and her ex gulped the bait down without blinking. “That woman? Amatessandra? She’s an Adanai, like me.”
Rat-Girl sized her up. Tess met her gaze levelly, not sure why the Fangs would care about that.
Dick spelled it out. “If anyone would know why the Wellsprings closed – or how to open them back up – it’s her.”
Well, shit. Tess rose unsteadily to her feet and was dismayed to find that the room spun.
“Good to know,” said the Rat. “Arnage, tie them both up and lock them in the jeep.”
Fool that he was, Dick actually seemed surprised by the betrayal. “But you promised!”
“I lied.”
Arnage leaped, in a blur of motion that startled Tess. How the hell could anyone that big be so fast? One enormous fist closed around Dick’s collar. Then, with a quick snap of the wrist, the Bear slammed the man’s head into the door frame, hard enough to crack the wood. The Adanai collapsed, limp, in his hand. Arnage let him slide to the ground and turned to face Tess.
Hell. Oh hell, oh hell.
Intuition and knowledge both bubbled up from somewhere deep inside her. Without thinking, she shifted her weight onto the balls of her feet, preparing to dodge. Her right hand dropped to her side, seeking a weapon – a sword? a gun? – that wasn’t there.
As her hulking opponent stepped forward, Tess let her body do its thing.
An enormous, beefy hand swatted at her. She ducked beneath it easily and came up fast, already twirling into a ferocious side-kick. The tip of her boot hit the big man solidly just above his belt. Direct kidney hit!
Arnage grunted, looked puzzled, then said, “Huh. I felt that.”
Wonderful. That’s what they’ll put on your tombstone: ‘No, seriously, the dude felt it!’
Her right hand twitched again. It really, really wanted a weapon to equalize this fight. The Bear was bigger than her, stronger…
…and this room would not stop tilting. Tess danced away from his next swing but slipped on a beer can and nearly went sprawling.
Arnage waded in, fists flying. She dodged a haymaker, got clipped by a quick left jab, and reeled backward. Now her shoulder hurt as much as her head did.
That silent, half-forgotten Tess (the one that knew how to fight) declared this battle a lost cause. Unprepared, cornered, and still hung over, she didn’t stand a chance.
Time to run. She knew the Indian trails out of here. Time to see how well she could sprint in this condition.
Crouching, she waited for the Bear’s next assault. As he lumbered forward, trying to box her into a corner, she dropped low and kicked his ankle, hard.
She still wasn’t sure he even felt that, but it was the best she could do under the circumstances. With a quick prayer for luck, Tess sprinted for the doorway.
Up until now, the Rat-woman had watched silently, hands in her pocket. Clearly, there was a hierarchy to the Fangs. Bruisers bruised. Commanders commanded. As Tess charged toward freedom, however, the scrawny woman moved with snake-like speed.
Dimly, Tess saw something in the other woman’s hand. A gun? A remote control? Couldn’t tell – couldn’t stop to find out. She shied away, only a step away from the outdoors…
…then a needle jabbed into her neck and a terrible, agonizing pain filled her body. Every muscle tightened, froze, and she plummeted to the ground, unmoving. Somewhere, she heard the ‘tick tick tick’ of a taser.
Move! Tess screamed silently at herself. Crawl! Get out of here!
Nothing happened. Caught in that agonizing moment, she could do nothing except suffer.
“Arnage?”
“Got her. Sorry, ma’am,” the Bear answered.
Something slammed into Tess’ head, a solid blow that would leave a goose egg in the morning. The world faded and, mercifully, the pain disappeared with it.
Chapter 13
Somewhere in a strip hotel in southern Connecticut, Darian tried to focus on the future.
Safely back in civilization, Ethan was happily gorging himself on all the treats he’d missed in the Maine woods. Pizza, the Disney Channel, and toilets that flushed topped his list. Yet even the sight of his delighted son couldn’t rouse Darian from the cloud of gloom that had settled over him when he woke to find Tess’ note.
They were Mates. He had Claimed her, and she him. How could she suddenly change her mind? What happened to ‘now and forever’?
“Daddy?”
Ethan was staring at him, worry clouding his small face. “What is it, sport?”
“Don’t you want your food?” He pointed at the untouched McDonald’s bag that sat on the bed next to his father.
“Sure. In a little bit.”
“But it’s cold now. You didn’t eat when it was hot.”
“It’s fine.”
“No. Cold fries suck.”
Why couldn’t the boy let this drop? A dull, weak anger stirred in his heart, until he realized what was happening.
Ethan was worried about him. He might be a child, but he could tell when his dad was miserable.
“Do you want to play with my Legos?”
Even now, when he ought to be dazzled by the return of television and crap food, his son tried to cheer him up. How could he stay annoyed at that kind of love?
Darian made himself smile. “No thanks. And I’m fine. Even with cold fries.”
Ethan wasn’t buying the excuse, or the smile. Frowning, eyes troubled, the boy bit his lip.
His father’s first urge was to say something, anything, to cheer him up. But the usual empty exc
uses died on his tongue. Instead, he chose an honest answer. “I’m okay. I’m just sad because Tess isn’t here. I thought she’d come with us.”
“Me too.” Ethan scrambled up onto the bed. “Why did she go?”
“I don’t know.”
“I thought she liked us.”
“I thought she liked us too.” His heart ached to admit that. But it was the truth, and he needed to face it. For three days, he’d brooded in this hotel. All of the plans he needed to make – how to get his money safely, where to go, how to protect his son – had been neglected. As much as this hurt… as hard as it was to consider a future without his Mate… he had to do this. For Ethan, at the very least.
Somber, quiet, his son prodded the bag of cold food. “Did Tess leave because of me?”
“No!” A chill ran through him at the question. Why did his son keep blaming himself for the things that went wrong? Was it a child’s innocent narcissism? Or – a more terrifying thought – was this his doing? Had he somehow given Ethan the impression that he resented him? That he’d be happier without him?
“Should I not have woke her up?”
“No, Ethan, this had nothing to do with you. Tess just…”
Danger!
Rage filled him. Not the crazed, maddened anger of a man out of control. No, this was a Dragon’s fury. Cold. Focused. Spelling doom for anyone who raised their hand in evil. Darian staggered as anger and alarm flooded through him.
Danger! Someone has hurt our Mate!
Since Tess left him, his Dragon had been quiet. So silent, in fact, that it made Darian wonder if his Shifter soul knew something he didn’t. Now, it sprang to life with a passion he had never felt. The rune on his chest, the prison that kept his Dragon penned, burned. Pain raced along it as if the great serpent had turned its fiery breath on its magical chains.
“Daddy!” Wide-eyed with fear, Ethan clutched his forgotten McDonald’s bag. “What’s wrong?”
“Tess is in danger!”
His son never questioned that statement. “We gotta help her!”
But how? He didn’t even know where she’d gone.