Primal Claim (7 page)

She went back to scanning from the cabin to the lodge from where they came. The shadows of the night cloaked her fatigue and paleness, giving her an almost ethereal glow. Her hair was falling out of her ponytail, wisps caressing her face like he couldn’t wait to do.

“Only my mom called me Daniella, until Madame G. I hated it coming from her lips.”

“And if I were to call you that?”

She spun to face him straight on, hands on her slender hips. He wondered what her belly would look like rounding with his child. His musings were cut short.

“Look, Mercury. Thanks for saving me tonight. Thanks for putting me up. I came to you to protect this baby and that’s it. Call me whatever you want.” Her words, along with her flat tone, did nothing to answer his question.

Okay. “You can head inside,” he inclined his head toward the door.

Lips pursed, she shuffled up the steps. Mercury waited for her to reach the top. That ass, sashaying up the stairs, mesmerized him. Reaching her hand to the door, it swung open before she could touch the knob. A light slowly illuminated the room inside.

“Did you do that?” she asked breathlessly, her shoulders tensed.

“Yeah. Telekinesis is my gift,” he answered, and watched her shoulders drop in relief before she hesitated, her brows knit together. Squaring her shoulders again she stepped inside.

He wouldn’t tell her his shitty skills at handling telekinesis, for now the less she knew of that the better. She was only a step up from a prisoner, and it was apparent enough that she would not be leading his fan club anytime soon.

“Why do you dislike me? Or is it all shifters in general?”

Her eyes narrowed on him, taking on a scrutinizing look.

“You mean, why do I not like finding out I’m supposed to be the mate of one of the biggest womanizing males I’ve ever heard of? And let’s see, how did I find out it was you?” She patted her chin with an index finger. “Hmmm, was it when I heard firsthand how spectacular you were in size and abundance from the most revolting, inhumane woman I’ve ever met?”

Mercury was at a loss for words against her assault. That’s just the way he was, it was always accepted, that’s how unmated Guardians acted.

“Oh well,” Dani continued, sarcasm dripping from her words, “at least she was legal, cuz I’m sure you had your fair share of underage bait in that club.”

Instant anger took over Mercury and he moved so his face was inches from hers. Dani clamped her mouth closed and swallowed hard, but didn’t back down from him.

“
None
,” he bit out from clenched teeth, “of those women were underage.
All
of them were over twenty-one.
All
of them were willing.”

“Willing, but forgettable? Do you even remember Janice? The skank who sucked you dry and took it all back to Sigma?”

Mercury winced at her words and backed off slightly. He regretted his outburst. Not what he said, he couldn’t let that go untold. Her scent calmed him, snaking in like a summer breeze, soothing his temper. Odd, since she was the one that utterly pissed him off in the first place.

“No. Just from what you said, her timing was one of the last times I blew off steam at the club.”

“Well don’t let me keep you from ‘blowing off steam.’” She gave the last phrase air quotes. “I’m sure you can’t go without sex for long and I’m not offering.”

“I haven’t had sex.”

Hands on her hips, she gave him a “you’re shitting me” look.

“I’m a virgin,” he repeated.

Dani snorted. It was the most unfeminine thing she could do and it made her entirely irresistible. He couldn’t help but love watching the expressions float across her strong, but delicate features. Even though most of those expressions had been negative and directed at him.

This time he made air quotes. “‘Suck me dry’ is all I would let them do. The less touching the better. I just needed to get off and I’m sorry if a warm mouth is better than my right hand, but I did that for the first century. And almost half of the next. It’s lonely.”

He was breathing heavily, not believing he was confessing these details to a woman he just met, especially his mate. He should have known a human mate would have trouble understanding shifters’ basest urges. And he should have known the mate he never thought was out there for him, might have known about the extra drives and stresses that Guardians face and had heard stories. Fuck, even met some of the participants in those stories. What he didn’t expect was the raging jealousy and anxiety coming off Dani in waves. Was this really all about him and his supposedly sordid past?

She’d gone quiet, but was still pinning him with a hard look.

“Truth be told,” he continued in a quieter tone, “it was just as lonely and I’ve been trying to cope other ways. Just know, there is no one truer than a bonded Guardian.”

The hard look had been softening until the last sentence. And it was back.

“Well, we’re not bonded.”

“Not yet.”

Dani had the audacity to roll her eyes, but let the topic of conversation drop. The only emotion he could sense from her was extreme fatigue.

“You need to rest. The kitchen is to the left. We’ll stock it tomorrow, but there’s water. The bed’s in that room.” Mercury pointed to the right. “You can use anything of mine you need. The gun safe and ammo bin only open for me, so don’t bother trying. I’ll get my roll and sleep on the porch.”

Too tired to argue anymore, Dani nodded numbly and headed toward his room. He followed because he had to get his bedroll off the floor and he wasn’t missing another opportunity to see her tightly-clad bottom. But mostly, he felt driven to see her in his room, surrounded by his things, his scent thoroughly surrounding her. He found he could barely wait to see her in the morning after her shower, when the stink of the Agent she killed was off her and he could fill his lungs with who Dani really was.

Books. That was his only decoration. Hell, his only possession besides blankets and clothes.

Mercury had rolled up his bedroll – from the floor? – while she stood watching his muscles bunching and flexing, then true to his word, left her alone in the cabin. From there she shuffled into the small, but surprisingly adequate bathroom, then shuffled back out.

What was she going to wear after her shower? Not the blood-tinged shirt and pants that she had carried around a severed finger in. That left naked. No. Or his clothes. Shit. It was practical and he told her to help herself. It just seemed so intimate. Especially after their conversation.

With no other choice, she rifled through his drawers coming up with a black t-shirt that would be like a nightgown on her, and a pair of athletic shorts she could roll down and drawstring to fit. What she didn’t find left a slow burn in her belly. No underwear. Made sense, less to remove after shifting and find again later. But knowing he was commando, twenty-four seven, ready for anything, anytime, anywhere…

Gah! Was she a dude now, filled with lust finding out a girl didn’t have any panties on? And it didn’t matter for guys, whether they wore undies or not, they were always ready anytime, anywhere, and hoped for anything.

Virgin? Dani snorted. Could he really claim that when so many mouths had been closed around him? Jealously threatened to blow her head off. What was going on? Was this the pregnancy emotional roller coaster? But it was only related to Mercury when she couldn’t keep her cool, and unfortunately the throat punching was before she even met him.

X called him weird, but seemed to respect the hell out of him as someone she’d come up against. Dani sifted through her mind for any little detail she’d heard over the years as she stripped down and climbed into the bathtub/shower combo still wearing her clothes. She’d rather wash those while she was dirty then have to deal with them later and feel like she needed another shower.

While she worked on scrubbing her duds and her body with the lone bar of soap in the shower, she tried to filter out any specific Guardian from the snippets of gossip passing through the training gym and cafeteria. Sigma had tried to remain under the radar in this location for years while they built up their base and conducted their research. Dani was often out of the area, back where she originated, hunting the rogues who ruined her life, and maybe a couple of others who were real assholes needing to be put down. The Guardians themselves, the police of their species, were busy with their own interspecies issues.

Let’s see…she’d heard of the twins. Could’ve been worse, she shuddered. She could be dealing with future matedom with one of them. Would they share their mate, too? The commander was a formidable male, and she could believe it after meeting the quiet, intimidating Guardian. But not much was known about him other than his field work. He didn’t do much that was gossip worthy. Most of the salacious, hushed conversations were about the three who frequented Pale Moonlight, and that was all she heard about them.

The latest she found interesting was that they had added to their pack; a woman, rumored to be Guardian-born, and another male that Sigma had an unsuccessful mission with. It was uncommon for Guardians to be recruited instead of a member by birthright. But with so many more shifters filtering into the human population, increasing numbers of rogue and feral instances, they probably needed more manpower.

Satisfied she and her belongings were adequate, Dani wrung out her only possessions and strung them up, then reluctantly climbed into Mercury’s clothes. As soon as the shirt slid overhead, caressing its way down her sensitive skin, she was enveloped in his scent, like a fresh spring day in the great outdoors.

There were no barriers between her and his items, like the shifter sleeping on the porch, she was also commando. Agent’s shirts usually doubled as their bra support and Dani didn’t need a whole lot in that area, always having been a lean girl, and her panties were strung up to dry. At least she could yank them down in the morning, the other items would take longer to dry.

Deciding to get one more drink of water, Dani made her way to the sparse kitchen. Not much different than his bedroom and bathroom, the kitchen contained little, only what was necessary, if that. On the way back to the bedroom, she glanced out the window to see the large sleeping form stretched out on his side in front of the door. His back to the door, his front facing out, ready to take on any danger that might threaten his place. If Mercury knew what filled in the blanks in her backstory, he would be facing the door instead.

Ignoring the anxiety at the when, not if, scenario of the Guardians learning she hadn’t been a prisoner, Dani crawled into bed glad she didn’t know where the light switch was. They dimmed slightly once she settled under the minimal bedding. Freaky. Mercury must’ve done that mind magic that his kind could perform. What would it be like to manipulate things with her mind? Recalling the two events from earlier in the evening when her wishes came true, maybe she already had an idea.

Before she could get much farther, sleep claimed her.

“
Dad!” Dani screamed.

Deep, male laughter that left an evil taint in the air came from the brute to her left. Another one, dressed similar, like homeless thugs with lank, greasy hair stood to her right. She clutched her mother as they huddled together.

A third male, similar looking, was beating her dad. A constant dinging could be heard from the family’s car where the door had been left open when her father had gotten out to check their suddenly flat tire. Her dad had been shot in the leg as soon as he stepped out, and while Dani and her mom screamed, they were all dragged onto the road where the women were forced to watch, with terrified incomprehension, as a fanged male with what looked like clawed fingers beat her father.

Dani was glad her mother got 9-1-1 dialed as soon as they had car trouble in the middle of nowhere. Now Dani just prayed for cell reception and a thorough cop who would decide to follow up on the dropped call.

When her father’s body went completely limp, the creature pulled out his gun and pointed it as her dad’s head. Seeing the writing on the wall and taking advantage of the other two’s rapt fascination with impending death, Dani’s mom spun, taking Dani with her and ducked between the two males.

“
Run!” she cried.

And they did. Darting around the car to gain a distance advantage on their captors, they flew down the ditch into the surrounding trees. Relief flooded Dani when she heard distant sirens wailing, though they were still a ways off on the desolate highway.

“
Kill ‘em if we can’t play with ‘em,” one snarled not far behind her.

Bullets started hitting dirt around her. One male, baring his fangs was fast approaching on her side, his gun, pointed at her torso. He was so close, there was no way he’d miss.

Dani was shoved to the side, her mom turning her body to cover as much of her daughter as she could when the next shot rang out.

Dani was taken down to into the brush with her mother’s falling body weight.

“
Mom!”

“Fuck! Daniella!”

She came to in the stark, white room. A breeze wafting over her skin. Looking down the length of her naked torso, she found her feet in stirrups, and Agent T between her knees.

“Ow! Shit, Daniella!”

He had her pinned, her wrists manacled in his hand, she couldn’t move. His weight was crushing her. Agent T came back to finish what he had started.

“Daniella! Wake up!”

With a gasp, Dani’s eyes flew open. Her wrists were caught up in Mercury’s hands, his grip already loosening as he gauged her alertness. But he still held on, from the red claw marks on his cheeks, he didn’t want to be struck again.

Breathing heavily, Dani glanced around at the unfamiliar surroundings, her panic not yet receding. Soft light filtered in through the windows so she must’ve gotten some sleep before the nightmares set in. A mountain of muscle rested solidly, but somehow lightly, on top of her. His face was close to hers since he was using the bed to help restrain her flailing arms.

The bewilderment and concern in his swirling, mercury eyes was her undoing. One of those nightmares would torment her all day, but three consecutive?