Guardian Bears: Marcus (13 page)

T
hey held
each other as they got Hazel back into her home, leaving the luggage in the car for later. There wasn’t much of it, but Marcus could feel his muscles wanting to give out, and it could wait for morning.

He’d made his calls on the drive back to town, phoning his contact in the FBI first and tipping him off to the location of the kidnapped girls. He was sorry that he couldn’t give better news to their families, but at least they could be properly laid to rest. And the remaining Serpents were going to face the consequences of what they’d done. That would have to be enough.

He’d also called Lucas, and let his friends know he was done with the job - and, not incidentally, that he’d survived. By the time he was done explaining what had happened, they’d arrived back in Coldwood.

“So, you own your own company?” Hazel asked as he carefully guided her wheelchair inside.

“It’s a partnership,” Marcus said with a smile. “Guardian Bear Security. Me and two friends from my time in the service.”

“And they are… like you?” Hazel didn’t seem to know how to put that question into words, but he knew what she meant. There was only one thing she could be asking about.

“They’re bear shifters, yes. I’m really not supposed to let you know about us existing, Hazel, so I hope I can trust you to keep it to yourself.”

“Oh, don’t you worry about that, dear. You’re going to be family now! And besides that, you’ve saved me from the Serpents, and saved my daughter too - I owe you much more than keeping a secret.” Hazel smiled, and it looked as though a great weight had been lifted from her. “You dealt with the Serpents. That makes you a hero in my book, and the rest is details.”

He waved off her thanks. “I was just doing the right thing, that’s all.”

“That is
not
all. No one else was doing it, were they?”

He couldn’t think of an argument, and anyway didn’t really want to. Having Lisa’s mom thinking of him as a hero couldn’t be a bad thing. And it was true, he supposed. No one else had stopped the Serpents.

“So what are your plans now, Marcus? Are you going to take my daughter away to the big city?”

Lisa looked unhappy at the idea, and Marcus felt his face cloud. “I know Lisa wouldn’t abandon you. I’m not going to try and drag her away.”

“Good. Because even with the FBI and the police and whatnot crawling all over the woods, that witching stone is still going to be there when it quiets down again. Someone’s got to keep an eye on it, and stop anyone else being tempted by it like the Serpents were.”

Marcus smiled. “You really don’t want Lisa to leave, huh?”

“Is that so bad? I want my daughter with me, and my grandkids when they arrive. And you know, you and your bear friends are going to need some open space to let your animal sides loose once in a while. The big city won’t give you that.”

“And I imagine I’ll be able to get a good price on the Serpents’ compound, once the investigation’s done with it,” Marcus agreed, thinking about it. The more he looked at it, the better the idea sounded. Lisa looked from one to the other.

“You mean you don’t want me to leave town?” she asked, wide-eyed. He laughed and hugged her.

“I’ve been looking for a better solution since you told me you had to look after your mother,” he said. “Now she’s found one for us. I want you to have the life you want, you and Hazel both. Nothing matters more than making you happy.”

“I’m glad to hear that,” Hazel said. “More husbands should think that way! Now I’m going to get some sleep. Don’t you two do anything I wouldn’t!”

Lisa muttered a half-hearted “
Mom!
” under her breath, and Hazel chuckled. Marcus felt his heart warm as he watched them.

So this is what having a family is like
, he realized.
I could get used to it.

Lisa wheeled her mother into her bedroom, and Marcus collapsed into a chair. Even his reserves of strength had been taxed by the night he’d had. He sat there, recovering, until his mate returned.

“Come on, let’s get you cleaned up,” Lisa said, helping him to his feet again and into the shower. He sighed, relaxing as the hot water washed the blood off him, and when he emerged, he felt like a new man. Lisa was waiting for him in the guest bedroom, nervously watching him. He saw her eyes flick to his wounds, and then to the first aid kit she’d unpacked onto the dresser. Without being asked, he sat down and let her examine him.

“I can’t believe how quickly you’re healing,” she said, her fingers gently running over the gunshot wound in his arm. The flesh was raised, tender, but the wound was already shut, and her touch didn’t hurt. She ran antiseptic wipes over his injuries, carefully making sure they were clean and closed. Looking up at him, she spoke. “This isn’t natural, Marcus.”

“It’s normal for shifters. We heal very fast,” he told her. “Unless someone hits us just right, we’ll recover from just about anything.”

“And here I thought it was because of my magical healing touch,” she said with a grin. Marcus laughed.

“That might have something to do with it too,” he admitted. “I definitely feel better when you’ve taken care of my wounds.”

“Does it hurt?” Lisa asked, her fingers tracing over the wounds again, the marks on his torso from earlier. Her voice was soft, nervous, and he smiled down at her.

“Now? Just a little.” He took her hand, squeezing it, meeting her eyes. “Getting shot or stabbed hurts me as much as anyone else, I just recover quicker than most.”

He guided her hand down across his body, over the firm ridges of his abs, and smiled to see her face heat. His heart beat faster as he watched her respond to his touch, and he stood again. It was time to claim his mate properly.

Reaching down, he lifted her and carried her to the bed.

* * *

L
isa gasped
as he lifted her. It felt so right to be in his strong, warm arms, to feel his freshly washed body against hers. They fit together perfectly, in a way which left no room for doubt. Love would do that.

She thought about all the things he’d done for her, the chances he’d taken to keep her safe. He’d had to live a double life, risk himself, all to get close enough to the Serpents to save her and the town from them. And he’d done it thinking that she hated him for it.

That must have been such a sacrifice for him. She didn’t know if she could have faced that, if she could have pretended to be something Marcus would hate even to save him. But he had the strength to go through with it, to keep to his plan and win through.

Part of her was disappointed in herself for believing that he had sided with the Serpents, but she knew she couldn’t have done otherwise. She trusted him, believed in him. She couldn’t doubt what he told her. And she knew, deep down, that she was right to trust him. This man would never do anything to harm her; the deception about the Serpents was a plan he’d committed to before he’d known she was there, and it wouldn’t be fair to blame him for sticking to it.

Marcus placed her tenderly on the bed and looked down at her. He towered over her, wearing only a towel, his hair still glistening wet from the shower. What a marvel his body was, beautiful and powerful and hard. The wounds were fading marks - it looked like they’d be there for days yet, but no more than that.

No wonder he doesn’t have any scars
, she thought, looking him up and down as he turned to close the curtains.
Nothing from his years as a soldier.

His face was serious as he turned to face her again. Intense, determined, and almost reluctant.

“Lisa, what I said earlier, after the fight,” he started, then paused. A little sigh and he spoke again. “You need to know what being my mate means. It’s different for us bears than it is for most people.”

She smiled, scooting back on the bed so that she could look at him fully. He sat down on the bed’s edge, looking serious.

“It means that we’re bound together by fate. That we can never be with anyone else. I didn’t know what it was when we met - I was too young, and no one had taught me. Even in the military, when I knew other shifters, I heard about it but I didn’t know how I’d feel when I saw you again. I didn’t know I’d already met my mate.”

He moved closer, taking her hand again. She looked up at him and saw how careful he was being. A man his size could have been threatening, looming over her - but Marcus was giving her space, wasn’t pressuring her. He was just there, her man, her bear.

“I don’t know how I could live without you, Lisa. But it has to be your choice. I don’t want to push you into something you don’t want.”

She almost laughed at that. “Silly man, I’ve never wanted anyone else. All the time you were away, don’t you think I had other chances? But I knew you were the only man for me. And now here you are, back to prove me right.”

Sitting up on the bed, she leaned in to kiss him gently on the cheek. “I wanted you from the moment I saw you. I may not have known what that meant, I didn’t know that you were my, my mate. I just knew that I was yours. When I said I’d marry you, did you think I was joking?”

He shook his head, grinning. “It was kind of a special circumstance. I wouldn’t hold you to something said in the heat of the moment.”

“You can hold me to this, then. Marcus, I love you, I want to be with you always, I want to be your wife and give you a family. Now, come and take what’s yours.”

She leaned back, her heart pounding, and reached up to undo the top button of her blouse. He
growled
an animal need that made her shiver, her fingers trembling with desire as she undid the next button and then, losing patience, she pulled off the blouse and threw it off the bed.

His eyes watched her closely, carefully. She felt his desire matching hers as she undid her bra and dropped it. There was no self-consciousness to her now - she felt so wanted, needed, loved that her imperfections didn’t bother her at all. So what if she was a bit too plump, if her legs were short? This man, this gorgeous man, wanted her. Needed her. He stared at her as though she was perfect, and nothing could have made her wetter.

She unzipped her jeans, and started to squirm out of them. Marcus reached down to help, pulling them off her, his fingers brushing down her thighs as he slid them down. She shuddered at the gentle touch, and heard his breathing deepen. Casting the jeans aside, he slid his hands back up her bare legs, over her tummy, across her breasts, making her arch and gasp.

His lips found hers, his body pressing down on top of her, bare skin against skin. His towel fell away, and she could feel him, all of him, pressing against her with a wild and raw desire. Her fingers dug into him as they kissed each other, their tongues meeting and dancing against each other.

She felt his eager need for her, and felt her own body mirroring it. Breaking the kiss, she licked her lips, looking up at him.

“Marcus,” she whispered. “Oh, Marcus!”

His hand slid down between her legs, and with one swift motion, he tore off her panties. She gasped at the power of that movement, and the realization that there was nothing between the two of them. His body pressed down on hers, and she writhed against him, running fingers through his wet hair. His eyes sparkled, and his fingers moved over her again, tracing their way up the inside of her thighs, teasingly gentle compared to his rough kiss.

“I can’t wait to be inside you,” he growled, and she threw her head back, the mere thought overwhelming her. He buried his face in her neck, kissing and biting gently, making her squirm and pant for air.

“Then don’t,” she whimpered back. “Don’t wait! Please, Marcus.”

With a satisfied growl, he moved forwards, parting her legs as he slid between them. There was a brief moment of shock as he entered her, filling her with one smooth hard thrust that drove her down into the firm mattress. She felt so tight around him, and he was so hard inside her. The feeling was indescribable, an explosion of delight.

It felt even better than before. Like he was completing her in a way that she couldn’t have imagined. She bit down on a cry of joy, and he growled into her ear as he slowly pushed deeper into her.

Lisa moaned, wrapping her arms around him, drawing him down to her. It felt as though an emptiness she hadn’t known she had was being filled. When he stopped, deep in her, she sighed with a deep and boundless pleasure. Her body relaxed, accepting him, and they rested, their bodies pressed together.

“That’s it, sweetheart,” he said, voice low and hungry. “You’re mine.”

“I’m yours,” she agreed, the words making her heart swell with joy. “Forever, Marcus. I love you.”

Slowly, he began to move. Withdrawing gently, raising his head so that he could look into her eyes. “I love you too, Lisa. Forever.”

He thrust back into her, and the friction between them made her gasp. His eyes, so intense, so serious, looked down into hers as he slid back into her, sending a lightning-shock of pleasure shooting through her. Her fingers tightened on his shoulder, urging him onward, and he smiled.

His next thrust came faster, harder, deeper. It rocked her backwards and made her bite her lip, waves of pleasure rocking her as he slowly slid out a little again. This time, she drew him down as he thrust, squeezing him inside her as he slammed into her again. Her legs wrapped around him tightly, pulling him into her, and they moved faster and faster as they found their rhythm.