Primal Claim (11 page)

The breath Mercury had been holding whooshed out. Air got sucked back in just as quickly when she began a languid rhythm, up and down, liiiicckkk, up and down, repeat. She felt him tense and relax, as if he didn’t know what to do with her. He was afraid she’d keep going, but terrified she’d quit. Dani kept up her suckling rhythm, stroking the base of his shaft with one hand, and cupping and massaging his sack with the other.

Mercury tunneled his hands carefully through her hair, allowing himself small thrusts into her, but careful not to tug or pull at her. His breathing was rougher and quicker, and somehow she knew he hadn’t taken his eyes off her for one second.

Low groans and grunts filled any silence between thunderclaps and his hands tightened on her hair.

“Sweet Mother Earth, Daniella. I’m going to come,” he rasped.

She locked on tighter, creating more suction with each movement. The hands abruptly left her hair and gripped the side of the bed. Mercury’s roar echoed through the cabin; she felt him pulse within her mouth, under her hands, and hot jets hit the back of her throat before she swallowed him down.

Left shaking and panting, Mercury was almost slumped over her when she let him go and sat back on her knees. Recovering quickly, he slid down to his knees in front of her, wrapped her up in his strong embrace and kissed the ever-loving hell out of her. Dani didn’t have any time to react before he picked her up and laid her back.

The cool wood floor was a nice contrast to his burning body above her. As soon as he settled her on the floor, he moved with kisses down her body stopping at each breast to lick and nuzzle only long enough for him to work her yoga pants down her legs and off her body.

Settling in between her knees, he kissed and moved his way down until his face was level with her core. Then...nothing.

Frowning slightly, Dani propped herself up on her elbows and looked down at him. His covetous look of reverence made her feel like the most special present that had ever been offered to the male. It was like he had never seen a woman like this, and she remembered he probably hadn’t, and what he saw he was in absolute awe of.

His dark, gleaming eyes flicked up to her. “This. Is. Mine.”

He pulled her against his mouth and gave her a long stroke with his tongue. Dani’s arms almost gave out, she dropped her head back and moaned. His inexperienced, yet extremely talented tongue found her pleasure center quickly and locked on.

Dani’s arms finally gave way and she was laid out flat on the floor while Mercury worked her center. Writhing against him, she let out a cry when he inserted one thick finger into her. The slide of his digit and the strokes from his tongue, were a superb combination building the need inside of her until she thought she would explode. Each cry she let out, in hope it would dull the impending heart-stopping release.

Then he quirked his finger within and she was done. Her cry turned into a wail, she shook and shuddered against Mercury but he didn’t let up. Pleasured overtook her mind, her body already surrendered to the exotic shifter; waves of ecstasy rolled over her, rendering her nearly catatonic.

“Enough,” she finally gasped, pushing at his mercury-tinted hair.

Wiping his mouth with the back of his hand he reared over her. Shadows danced off his tanned skin, highlighting the ridges of his heavily muscled torso. He was still hard, even after what Dani had done for him. Not contained by his athletic shorts, he appeared even harder and bigger than before.

This was it. She would finally be joined with the father of her baby. Finally feel like there was meaning, a connection to support the conception, to bring her healing for how it had happened.

She reached her arms out to beckon him into her embrace, when a panicked look crossed his face.

“I can’t do this to you.”

“Do what?” she asked, thoroughly confused.

“You’re so small. I’ll hurt you or the baby with my inexperience.” He jumped to his feet, covered himself with his shorts and slammed out the door into the pouring rain before she could utter a word of objection.

Mercury ran straight up the hill behind his cabin, noting with dismay that the rain was washing her scent off him. His mate. His mate he couldn’t trust, but wanted with every fiber of his being. The last couple of weeks had been torture. His only respite were the nights sleeping under the stars, with the door between them to mute her intoxicating orange blossom scent.

His bare feet pounded the worn path that led from his cabin to the shifter he sought out. He knew the way by heart.

Chest heaving, need and regret pounding through him, rain running in rivulets down his chest, he pounded on the door.

It swung open and the attractive blond female that answered stepped aside for Mercury, who stopped on the welcome mat and went no further.

She shut the door behind him, concern on her face. “Let me get you a towel, Wildling.” Striding away with her unhurried gentle sway, her bare feet under her simple shift barely made a sound.

Relieved, he could sense they were alone. This was not something he wanted another pair of sensitive ears to overhear.

Handing him the towel, she stood back with her arms crossed, giving him time to dry off. Her eyes took in his disheveled form from head to toe. He could imagine what her intuitive gaze picked up on: distrust, fear, sexual frustration, and worst of all – insecurity.

“Come. Let’s have some tea and talk.”

Irina Bellamy was like a surrogate mother to him. When Master Bellamy rescued Mercury all those generations ago, he brought the wild-eyed Mercury to his home where his formidable, patient wife taught Mercury the beginnings of how to live like a human who can shift into a wolf, not like he’d been living – a wolf that can turn human.

They formed a close bond during those first few years and although it felt it like he never saw her anymore, despite their relatively close living arrangement, she was the only one he wanted to go to with personal troubles. His most trusted advisor on all things female.

Smelling dandelion tea, Mercury was taken back to his early days with the older female. When he first came to the Guardian pack, she was a maternal figure for many of the shifters in the pack. Guardians were the only family to each other, entering training after puberty, and with their way of life, tragedy had often struck. It created a strong bond of brotherhood and mates were often a part of the connection.

Master Bellamy had brought Mercury back to Guardian camp and Irina immediately opened her heart to embrace the wild shifter and help him adapt to the human world. From there, he formed his own connections with the other shifters, the strongest with his partner of almost a century, Bennett. Things were good, he was learning, they weathered some hard times, and then tragedy struck the Bellamys eventually causing Master Bellamy to hand over commander reins to Fitzsimmons, and Irina to withdraw slowly over time.

The move to West Creek seemed to be the final straw. Becoming a recluse in her own cabin, she no longer cooked for them or encouraged drop-in visits. The Guardians moved on, dealing with the world in their own way. Mercury doubted even Irina and Master Bellamy's paths crossed much, and that was highly unusual for a previously closely-mated couple. A couple that had weathered centuries together and mentored young shifters through tragic events, they were devastated by a tragedy that not even their love for each other could repair.

"Are you well, Wilding?" Irina asked, maternal concern highlighting her words.

Mercury shook his head. "It's her."

"Ah," she nodded slowly, staring blankly at her hands wrapped around her mug. "How do you feel about her?"

Lifting one muscled shoulder in a half shrug, Mercury didn't know where to start. "Crazy."

A small smile lifted the corner of Irina's mouth. "That's a start."

"I want her. So bad. I almost took her tonight. I've wanted to claim her since I laid eyes on her, since before I scented my young within her. But I was afraid I would hurt her and the baby."

Irina pursed her lips and gave Mercury a considering look, then chuckled softly, "Unless you're picking her up and throwing her across the room, you're not going to hurt her. You've seen enough sexual encounters to know that human women don't break. But that's not really the problem, is it?"

"No."

A stretch of silence followed, the rain continued to pour outside. Irina waited.

"You don't trust her."

Mercury shook his head, staring dismally at the cabin floor.

"For many that wouldn't matter," Irina prodded gently.

"No. It wouldn't."

They sat again in silence.

"She's hiding something. From me and from the others. I can barely keep myself away from her. Her scent drives me crazy. If I claim her it won't matter what's she's hiding. I'd destroy anyone who tried to hurt her. No matter who it is. She'd own me."

Irina wouldn’t need him to go into specifics, he was confident she picked up on the unspoken truth. He'd turn against his own pack even as she was knifing him in the back.

“Have more faith in yourself, and your brothers. They will protect you, even if it’s from yourself.”

Mercury mulled her words over. Irina was right. If only it was the only fear that drove him from his mate’s warm and willing body.

"What else is bothering you, Mercury?" It was a tense question, as if she knew the direction this conversation was going to was a dark place she didn't want to ever visit again.

Irina could read him all those years ago when he struggled to learn words, and even worse, pair them with human emotion. She was astute enough to read into a sudden, frantic visit about his pregnant mate.

"What if we do mate and all that, but something happens to the baby?"

Irina's face turned to stone, color leeching slowly from her features. Mercury would agree when those close to him claimed he was dense when it came to feelings, but even he knew this topic was devastating. But there was no one else he could turn to.

"Well," Irina said flatly, "if you mate and she's not a traitor and the babe is yours and..." she paused for a deep, cleansing breath, "and the child is ripped away,” her voice cracked, “then by whatever is holy in your life, don't abandon her to deal with the emptiness alone."

"I would never do that," Mercury said, horrified at the thought of leaving Dani to suffer the loss of a child on her own.

"A male's need for vengeance can override good sense. Remember that." Irina abruptly stood up, walked to the door and opened it, looking expectantly at Mercury, an obvious sign it was time for him to go.

He stepped out, the porch overhang protecting him from the downpour. The hair on his arms stood up and his sensitive ears honed in on sounds he could make out between the thunderclaps.

Dani! Leaving his shorts in a pile on the Bellamy's porch, he let his beast break free. The giant black wolf tore into the night.

Completely taken aback, Dani scrambled for her clothes as soon as the door swung shut. She knew he didn't stop at the porch to turn in for the night. He was gone.

Realistically, she knew she shouldn’t go after him. It was storming and she didn't have the enhanced senses or speed of the shifter she was searching for. But fuck it, she couldn't just sit in the cabin waiting for him to return at his leisure. And when he did, it would be most likely to
not
explain what made him run, after giving her the most earth-shattering orgasm a human body could tolerate.

Getting her clothes right side out and back on, she paused only to grab one of his black waterproof jackets from the tiny coat closet by the front door and throw on her running shoes. She headed out into the rain, the hood from the too big coat giving her ample protection, for her head at least. Her shoes and lower legs would quickly be soaked.

Carefully running to the back door of the lodge, she peeked in without opening the door. It would draw too much attention and Mason the asshole always seemed to be lurking around the corner waiting to get a shot at insulting her when Mercury wasn't close enough to hear. She never said anything, just ignored the disturbed shifter. But damned if she'd be to blame for causing tension between two Guardians. It would just cast doubt on her intentions.

Turning to face the dark surrounding woods in the pouring rain, she stopped to think. She always saw Bennett head off to the right and that was the most logical place Mercury would go. They had that bromance thing going on so who else would he talk about girl troubles with?

Dani had never been to Bennett's cabin. It was tucked so far back into their surroundings, she could barely make it out on a clear day. The cabins were meant to be individual dwellings for Guardians and their families, so they weren't built on top of each other. Making her way in the dark, she headed back in the direction of Mercury's cabin, and then veered off in the dark in her best guess of the direction of Bennett's residence.

Her feet squished through the grass and dirt between the trees. She could only see as far as the next flash of lightening, which helped ensure she didn't smack face first into any trees or low hanging branches.

Several minutes passed and Dani was breathing hard, slipping and sliding along the upward slant of the landscape. She had to be almost there. Frustrated, she stopped, waiting for several lightning flashes to sight the area around her. It all the looked the same. Dark tree after dark tree. Fuck! Was she lost?

Officially soaked from the knees down, water streaming off the edge of her hood, a chill was starting to work its way into her that had little to do with being out in the rain and more to do with being lost while Sigma was out looking for her. She should've asked Cassie to pick up a flashlight because she'd rather have that then fresh underwear right now.

"Mercury!" She'd rather have all the Guardians clued in to their couple drama than have any Agents find her out here, alone and unarmed.

"Mercury!" Should she turn around and head back? How did she know she went in a straight line in the first place? Was she even close to a cabin?