A Seacat's Love (Oceanan Trilogy Book 1) (28 page)

“I am not sorry about that.”

Rick’s eyelids dropped halfway in consideration. “Oh?”

“You do not know what those scares signify on my planet.” She gazed up at him. “Do you?”

“I didn’t know that a couple of cuts could signify anything other than what they are. So what do they signify?” His gut told him he already knew.

“They are equivalent to a wedding ring.” When there was no change in his expression, Leonora laid back on the mattress. “On my planet, you would be seen as a married male, and any female that tries to come on to you, would be stigmatized and ostracized.”

Rick remembered the dream he had. Leonora was his wife and pregnant with his child. “And what about you? Wouldn’t you be seen as a married woman?” He grinned. “After all, it was you who placed those marks on me.”

The idea of being married to Leonora under her laws was exactly the ammunition he needed to convince her to stay with him.
Question was, even though she loved him, would she consider living among the race that had killed her friends?

Leonora shook her head negatively. “No. I have no such markings on my body. So on my planet, I am seen as a single female, eligible for a male to claim.”

Rick’s smile vanished as he stiffened. It was not the answer he wanted. He did not like any man looking at Leonora, for it meant he was interested and Leonora belonged to him.

“Just as you are seen here. Remember, here on Earth only a wedding ring signifies you are married, not some scar on your back.”

Rick said nothing, nor did he make a move. Leonora was staring at the ceiling, so she did not notice his expression darkening. Had she seen the deadly gleam in his eyes, she would have stopped, for the storm that was brewing promised to be an ugly one. And it got worse with each word that left her lips.

“When I leave, you will find someone else to warm your bed. Being attractive and unattached, you would have no problems in finding another willing female. As for myself, I do not intend finding another mate so soon. I would dedicate my time to my research. Perhaps even broaden my studies.”

“Don’t you want a family? A husband? Children?”

“Perhaps one day,” she answered, shrugging her slender shoulders.

She sounded so aloof that her meaning concerned Rick. “Perhaps?”

“Uh huh. Maybe someday down the line I will find another mate—a good male who would give me a lair full of kittens, as long as I am the one who chooses the mate. If Challen ever finds out that I am no longer a virgin, he just might join me off to the first male who asks for my hand.”

Rick thought back on the dream. Images of Leonora in that pregnant state, making love to another man, made him extremely jealous and dangerously angry.

Without missing a beat, she snorted. “That is if he does not decide to give me to Tigif. We both know Tigif is going to open his big mouth and tell Challen about us. And I know my brother.
When he gets angry, he has the tendency to act first and ask questions later.” With a wry chuckle, she added, “I can just see myself married to Tigif and pregnant with his kittens.”

“Never!” Rick suddenly jumped on top of her. “I’ll never let another man touch you! Ever!” He slammed his lips hard against hers with the intentions of punishing her for saying such hideous things. Once the painful kiss was over, they both tasted blood. Neither knew from whom.

“Don’t ever say anything like that to me again!” he snarled, a savage, fury shone in his eyes. “Don’t ever think about leaving me and going to another man, Leonora! I forbid it!”

“Then mark me.” Leonora quickly reached over the side of the bed to where she had hidden a small kitchen knife between the mattresses. “Brand me yours so that no one will touch me.”

Rick was rendered immobile at the sight of the knife.

“Mark me on my legs, Rick, like I did on your back. No less than three cuts. Do not let another male take me from you.”

Rick stared at the knife. For a moment, the need to do so entered his being. Then he thought of the pain Leonora would suffer afterward. “I can’t.” He gingerly took the knife out of her hand and placed it on the dresser table.

“But…”

Rick read concern in her eyes. He understood. It warmed his heart that she wanted to be his wife. In his mind, she already was. There was no need for him to hurt her. In time, he will make the proper arrangements that would make them man and wife under Earth’s laws.

“Sweetheart, I can’t hurt you, you know that.”

“So you would rather have me go to another male, is that it?” Her voice trembled with the emotions she valiantly tried to contain.

“No, of course not.”

“The blazes, you say!” Her eyes watered. “You would rather share me with every male alive instead of having me for yourself!”

“That’s not true!”

“It is true. You would rather see me as Tigif’s lifemate and pregnant with his kittens!”

“Nora,” Rick warned in a low, frigid tone.

“Fine then.” Leonora threw the sheets off her body. “I do not see why I should remain here.”

Rick snatched her arm as she got off the bed and yanked her back down. His legs became entangled in the sheets. Enraged, he flung them to the floor before pinning Leonora with his naked form.

“Get off me! Since I am going to become Tigif’s lifemate when we return, I might as well start sharing his bed. After all, he does want me. He has said it a thousand times. He is eager to make every male know
I belong to him.”

“You’re mine, not his, damn it!” His grip on her shoulders tightened. “You’re not going to him.”

Her pale eyes narrowed up at him. “But you do not want me. Release me. Let me go to the male who does want me. Let me go!” She managed to remove his hands and move to the edge of the mattress. “I am going to mate with Tigif.”

“NO!” Flinging Leonora back onto the bed, Rick pressed her into the mattress with his full weight. He kissed her with another out-of-control kiss. “You’re never going to Tigif! No other man is going to touch you! You’re mine, damn it!” He roughly spread her legs apart. “I’m never going to let you forget it!” He forced himself inside her, driving his meaning across with his body. “Never!”

Rick was conscious of only one thing, of making certain Leonora never forgot to whom she had given herself to—to whom she belonged. The only way he could think of in accomplishing this feat was by impregnating her; that way she could never forget him. For each time she gazed upon their infant, she would be reminded of the father.

“Stop it, Rick! You do not want me!”

“The bloody hell I don’t want you!” He tilted her hips to his incoming force.

Leonora shook her head. “You do not want me. I will never be yours! You do not understand.
I will never truly be yours!”

There was a click inside his soul. Rick lost total control. His hips rammed into hers. “You’re mine!”

“Then mark me, blast you! Mark me!”

Leonora urged Rick on with her clawing fingers. Her slender legs wrapped around his mad driving hips. Rick snatched the knife off the table and held it at his side, near Leonora’s left thigh. He paused to look into her pale blue eyes.

“Mark me so that Tigif can never touch me. Or is that what you want?” She raked her claws, not gently, into his long, blond hair. Grabbing two fistfuls, she forced him to look more closely at her. “Is that what you want? Do you want Tigif to fuck me like you are doing right now?”

She closed her eyes and arched her back. She made certain the tip of Rick’s nose grazed her neck downward, stopping in the valley between two hardened peaks. To have her respond this way to another man’s touch made Rick’s last doubts of hurting her disappear.

“No.
No!”
he growled against her chest.

Grabbing his wrist, Leonora lowered her left leg and directed his hand, plus the knife, to her thigh. “Then do it, Rick. Do it before it is too late! Before Tigif takes me from you. Forever!”

“Never!”
Rick yelled as he tore into her tender flesh with the knife. He cut her twice more to reinforce his meaning.

The young Seacat screamed out in triumph and in pain. Rick dropped the knife and poured his seed deep inside his soul mate’s body.

Tuesday, the 20th of May

Leonora sat on a chair facing the beach, fingering her puffy red scar with a dreamy look on her face. She was thinking back on how she had to use Rick’s jealousy against him, so he would mark her.

Carol Ann exited the house onto the deck. “I hope you never intend on doing something as foolish as that again.”

“What?”

Carol Ann gestured with her chin to Leonora’s leg. “Rick could’ve killed you with that knife.” She shook her head. “According to Lance, making my brother as furious as he was that night was in any intelligent person’s opinion a very stupid and deadly thing to do. It was more than obvious that his anger was out of control. Lance mentioned that whenever the Predator’s temper rose to those heights, a few dead bodies never failed to show up, unless he was there to stop Rick personally. I suggest you never make him that angry again. You might not be so lucky next time.”

“It was the only way I could think of to get him to mark me,” explained Leonora. The pain she had felt was a small price to pay for having Rick make love to her in such a wild, uncontrollable, possessive manner. She released a long, nostalgic sigh.

“Those scars look painful,” commented Carol Ann with a grin.

Leonora beamed as she proudly displayed her scar. “A pain worth enduring.” She met Carol Ann’s eyes. “Like childbirth.”

Carol Ann laughed. “Unbelievable. Has Tigif seen it yet?”

“No.” Leonora lowered her skirt before felinely walking over to her new sister-in-law. “And please do not tell him. Rick and I wish to keep our union a secret until the right time comes.”

“No problem. That’s none of my business anyway. However, Rick is. I don’t like seeing him in any pain.”

“Do not worry; it was painless for him.”

“Painless?” Carol Ann’s face expressed shock. “Are you kidding me? The man still hasn’t gotten over it, and it’s been a month.” Leonora smiled while Carol Ann bitterly continued, holding up four fingers. “He’s bought four killer guard dogs and has forbidden me to ever leave your side when he’s not around because he fears losing you. And he doesn’t like dogs. Do you consider
that
painless? Well
I
don't. I have to take care of those giant dogs."

“I apologize for dragging you into this. But I love your brother so much that I never intend to be with another male.” Sobering, she added, “Even after we part.”

“Yeah, well.” Carol Ann grimaced. “Do me a favor and get him off my back. He’s driving me crazy, agonizing and complaining about how he hurt you.”

“I will have a talk with him when he returns.”

“Please do. And by the way, Tigif is in his room, I heard the television going. He sure loves his
Superman
. Anyway, I’m going to be right over there,” she said, pointing to a section of the beach, “trying to catch some sun. If you need me, just yell.”

“Will do. Have fun,” said Leonora entering the house.

“I will. Bye.”

“Bye.”

An hour later, Carol Ann was on her belly, enjoying a romance novel. A cloud passed under the sun, making it cloudy for what she felt would be only a few seconds. When ten minutes went by and it remained cloudy, she glanced at the house then toward the sky in search of what was blocking the sun. There was not a cloud in the sky. Shrugging her shoulders, she went back to reading her book. She was at the best part and did not want to be interrupted.

Suddenly the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. Scanning the area, she saw nothing was amiss. She chastised herself for allowing her brother’s paranoia to rub off on her. She returned to her book after giving the sky another puzzling scowl. Four pages later, she heard a growl behind her. She froze. She believed it was one of Rick’s new pet guard dogs until she heard an unfamiliar man’s voice.

“Now
that
is a gorgeous bottom.”