Forever's Fight (17 page)

As his tongue explored her mouth, he thrust his finger into her, heat erupting at his touch, spreading through her like lava after a volcano eruption. She felt his lion come forward, moving within both of them as if they were one, purring within her as if she too was a shifter. Her legs weakened, but he braced her against the wall, keeping her on her feet, as he continued to pound into her until fierce desire poured through her.

“Take me,” she murmured against his mouth, holding onto him as wild delight streamed through her.

He grazed her lower lip with his teeth and pulled his hand away. She cried out in frustration and arched toward him, but he ignored her demands. Gripping her hips, he lifted her until she was off the tiled floor. The only thing keeping her upright was his body pressed against hers.

“Wrap your legs around my waist.”

Not that she needed to, but she used her hands on his shoulders to keep her balanced while she did as he asked. His body shielded her from most of the scalding spray of the shower, but he was warming her in other ways.

He leaned forward and claimed her mouth while he adjusted his shaft and drove into her with one powerful thrust. She moaned against his unrelenting kiss, her fingers tangled in his hair, as she pushed against him to meet his body. With every thrust, he increased his speed, slamming his shaft home with each pump. Her body arched toward him, propelling his shaft deeper and harder within her. All the while she could feel his lion purring within them, the vibrations from it sending a whole new wave of desire through her.

Where their last lovemaking had been sweet, this was hot and full of need. It sparked a new sensation inside of her that she had never experienced. She had grown in confidence and knew what to expect, so she was as eager as him, meeting each thrust and kiss with passion and need instead of hesitation.

He left her mouth, feathering kisses along her collarbone. She locked her arms around his neck as every pump of his hips sent pulses of pleasure exploding throughout her. She tightened her legs around him as he groaned and shoved himself deeper inside her. The pressure built within her until her body trembled and another orgasm rushed through her. She held onto him as he slammed home in a frenzy. A climax tour through her with such force her body shook. Her inner muscles clenched around him as he continued to drive into her. He bit the fleshy part of her shoulder, applying just enough pressure that there was pleasure to it, as he thrust into her one final time and he too climaxed.

She held onto him as they both tried to regain their bearings. Her head rested against his shoulder, and she realized how much she loved him. It wasn’t just the mating, it was so much more than that.

“My mate.” He growled. “I love you.”

She smirked, and he rose an eyebrow in question. “I was thinking the same thing.”

“Really, now? Maybe you just love me for my body.”

“That’s just a bonus.” She cupped the side of his face. “Oh, Patrick, I want you for more than just the amazing sex. I love you.”

Laughing, he kissed her once more and held her there for a long while until the water cooled.

Patrick stood by the picture window, looking out over the grounds. The sun hung low in the sky, casting a warm glow, as the wind blew the snow around, making it dance across the icy ground. At least there was no precipitation forecasted for the next twenty-four hours. Austin had a chance to give Andrew a training lesson. Like everyone else, Andrew would be expected to pull his weight now that he was at the castle. That included day to day activities as well as missions that required their attention.

He rolled his shoulder and tried to calm the rage coursing through him. The mission had gone better than he’d expected but now he was thankful to be home and back with his mate. He had looked over the file he found on the human child experiment, and it angered him enough that he wasn’t sure he could keep his beast in check.

“Patrick.” Clarissa called to him, her soft voice laced with sleep.

“I’m here. Go back to sleep.”

“Come back to bed.” She leaned up on her elbow and glanced toward him.

“I can’t sleep. I need to talk to Austin.”

“What’s wrong?”

He turned back to the window and tried to banish the images he conjured in his thoughts. He didn’t need to picture the little girl Hathaway Medical had used. Or the pictures of the girl’s mother as she held her daughter. The pleading letter she’d written to Doctor Songborn, begging him to spare her daughter.

“No.” She glared at him, begging him to deny it. The look in her eyes was enough to make him realized he hadn’t shielded her from their connection enough. She
knew
. While he automatically shielded his siblings from his thoughts, he hadn’t considered their connection and how she would pick up on it. The mating bond was still so unfamiliar to him. “Please tell me they didn’t. After I left? I could have stopped it.”

He stepped away from the window and went to her. “No, angel, you’re not to blame.”

“I should have stopped them.”

“They had already begun testing on her when you were hired, and by the time you found out what Hathaway Medical was doing, they had already finished.”

“Is she…” She took a deep breath before finally finishing her question. “Dead?”

“I don’t know.” It angered him to admit it, but it was the truth. He’d have Luke search for them but until they found something it would be a question that clung to him. He couldn’t get the little girl out of his thoughts. Every time he closed his eyes, he could see her and those blue eyes that seemed to jump from the picture and pierce his heart.

“Then call Austin and Luke in here and get them started. If she’s alive, then we need to find her and her poor parents.”

“Mother. The father was the one who worked for Hathaway Medical, and when he threatened to expose them, they killed him and used his daughter for their twisted experiments.”

“All the more reason to find them now.” She slipped out of bed, pulling the sheet with her, to keep the chill from her naked body. “Go find them and get them started on the search. Then maybe you can get some sleep.”

“No sleep for the weary.” He pulled her into his arms and was tempted to tug the sheet away but stopped himself. “I’m going to look over your discoveries on LUNA, we’re going to test it, and then I’m going to help the others working through some of the files I brought back with us.”

“I thought we had the discussion about LUNA last night.”

“We did, but you’re stubborn and wouldn’t listen.” He ran his hand up her back. “I’m testing it, and there’s nothing more to say about it.”

“I can’t let you.”

“Why, because you doubt the counteragent you’ve come up with?” When she just looked at him, he shook his head. “I didn’t think so. You’re scared, and I understand that, but it’s my duty. You can fight me if you wish, but it won’t get you anywhere. I’ll have Austin help me with it, but I would prefer if you were there.”

“So I can see you die if I’m wrong?”

“There will be no dying.” He leaned back to look down at her. “Everything is going to be fine. I have complete faith in you and I don’t doubt for a minute that you’ve already checked the results under a microscope. This is the next phase, and we both know that.”

“Why does it have to be you?”

“Can you really see me standing aside while one of my siblings risks themselves?” He answered the question with his own. “I would not let Austin or one of the others do this in my place.”

She tucked a lock of hair behind her ear and shook her head. “I just don’t want anything to happen to you.”

“Nothing will.” Before she could argue, he leaned down and kissed her.

If Clarissa thought the day before had been long and stressful, it was nothing like the day she was having now. Patrick, Austin, and Luke had been locked away in Patrick’s upstairs office most of the day, searching for the child while she had been in the lab. Over and over she checked LUNA and the counteragent, but every time she came up with the same results.
It should work
. Even with the same test results each time, it didn’t ease the rising terror within her.

“It’s time.” Patrick leaned against the doorframe.

“I’m begging you to reconsider.”

“Everything is going to be fine.” He stepped farther into the lab, and Austin entered a second later.

“What’s Austin doing here?”

“To guarantee your safety.” Patrick came to stand next to her, brushing his hand along her arm. “It’s just a precaution. None of us have ever been shot with LUNA before, so we don’t know how our beast will react to it. If my beast becomes out of control, you’re to get out of here and he’ll administer the counteragent.”

“This just becomes more and more dangerous.” She placed the syringe she had prepared aside. “Austin, could you give us a few minutes?”

“I’ll be in the hall whenever you’re ready.” He stepped into the hallway and closed the door, giving them a little more privacy.

“I don’t want to argue with you about this again. It is what it is, and if you can’t do it then Austin will.”

She forced herself to take a deep breath. “That’s not why I asked him to give us a minute. Shit…” She rose from the chair and strolled toward the window. “I’m trying to be understanding, to accept the fact you’re used to ruling and having everyone just fall in line. But this…” She paused, trying to decide on the best word for what was between them. “This relationship…it’s more than just you ordering and me falling into line.”

“I never doubted you’d be a challenge far beyond anything I could imagine. You’re a feisty, free spirited woman and that’s part of why I love you. You’ll make sure all the years ahead of us are never dull.”

“As much as I don’t want you to do this, I understand why you must, but if anything happens to you…”

He cupped the side of her face while his thumb traced the curve of her cheekbone. “My sweet angel, I love you and everything is going to be fine.”

“You say it, but I can feel the undercurrent of concern. Your beast is on edge, pacing within you. You’re as nervous about this as I am.”

“I’ve looked over everything you have and I don’t see any reason this shouldn’t work. I have confidence in it, and in you. This is going to work.” He pressed her tight against his body and held her. “I realize this is all still new to you. It’s a learning curve, but we’re going to get through it. You’ll come to accept and love my dominant ways.”

She couldn’t stop the rumbling in her chest as it quickly blossomed into full-fledged laughter. “I don’t know about that.”

“What do you mean?”

She tipped her head back to look at him. “A relationship is supposed to be give and take. If you’re thinking you can control me like one of the members of your pride, you’re delusional. You’re going to need to learn how to take my feelings, my wants, and my needs into consideration.”

“Angel, I already do. Part of being an Alpha is doing that. Anything I do is always in the best interest of you and our pride.”

She tried not to think there might be times when her wants came second to the pride. He’d have to please the majority, and hopefully she wouldn’t get tossed to the side in the process. Every relationship had sacrifices. Maybe this one was hers, but as long as he tried to balance things between his duty to the pride and to her, she’d accept him. There were always other ways he could make it up to her.

Before her thoughts started to turn erotic, she nodded toward the door. “Go get him and let’s get this over with.”

“Tonight I’ll reward you for being brave and for your work in finding this.” With a quick kiss to the top of her head, he stepped away.

She’d hold him to his promise…if they managed to make it through this in one piece. He’d be spending a lot of time making her forget the fear that had settled into her shoulder muscles since he announced that he’d test the counteragent. He’d have to show her just how much she meant to him, and then maybe she could put this behind them. At least, that was the reason she’d use to get some quality alone time with him. Just the two of them.

Clarissa was right about one thing, Patrick was concerned about the testing—more than he’d let on. His beast wouldn’t settle and had been restless since he’d made the decision. Now he just wanted to get it over with, and quickly. The doctor side of him knew things would be fine, that the trials she’d done and the figures were all as good as they could get. Unlike a new drug, there wasn’t a lab rat they could test it on, so he had to be the test subject.

“What do you need from me?” Austin leaned against the corner of a desk.

“Clarissa’s got LUNA in a syringe.” He placed his hand over hers. “The announcement about LUNA says that it will force a shifter to transition within sixty seconds of the dart. So, I’ll have the second syringe with the counteragent in hand. I’m going to do my best to wait as long as possible to inject myself so we can determine how long we’d have in order to do it.”

“If this was happening in public and we were being given LUNA by the military, police, or everyday citizens, we’re not going to be able to give ourselves an injection to hold off the effects,” Austin pointed out.

She nodded. “Good point, but I believe this will work for approximately twenty-four hours from the time of injection. Patrick wants to test it this way so that we’ll know how long you’d have before you would have to take the counteragent.”

“Also, since none of us are sure how LUNA will affect us, we’ll test it completely. Once we know it works, we can test it at different intervals after we’ve taken the counteragent.”

Austin nodded. “There’s no way you can put your beast through all of this. You’ll have to let us help.”

“We’ll see.” When Austin continued to stare at him, Patrick nodded. “Once we know this works and there’s no danger to anyone else, we can test on you, Luke, Blake, or Chase to see how long the drug would withstand the effects from LUNA. However, Jade will have no part in this, and until we know how well this works, it stays within the family. Not a word to Nolan or Andrew.”

“She won’t like that you’re protecting her and not allowing her to do her duty for the family.”

He nodded, knowing Austin was right, but it didn’t change anything. “I’ll deal with her if need be. She’s been through enough. I won’t put her though anything more. We won’t use her to test this, end of story.”

“I agree. I’m only saying that she’s going to be livid.” Austin rubbed his hands together. “Well, let’s do this.”