Sergey: Love Me Harder (10 page)

“I feel fine. It didn’t hurt much.” Lorali replied.

“It tore the inside of your shoulder up.”

“It didn’t hurt until Sergey touched me. Then, fire raced down my arm. Strange thing, I wanted to scream at him to put me down, but I couldn’t bear to be separated from him.”

“Sorry, little one, I should’ve known.” Sergey said.

“It’s ok. I like that you call me little one. Am I fired? ‘

She smiled at him and closed her eyes. The pain medicine was making her feel nice and relaxed.

“What?” Sergey asked looking confused.

“I screwed up. I got us shot at. I should’ve never gone to the mall or had that tasty breakfast sandwich. That’s not for me anymore. I’m the hunted. Always on the run. Tell my new friends I’m sorry for screwing up. That’s not like me.”

Lorali passed out, never seeing the tenderness in Sergey’s eyes.

“She’ll be fine.” Nicolas spoke while he pulled the bullet out of her shoulder. “She’s different from the average human. Look, her body is already starting to mend itself. It would have done so earlier but the bullet kept it from closing the wound.”

Aran picked Rena up. “Sergey, we’ll meet at your house tonight.”

Sergey nodded before picking Lorali up.

***

“When did we come back to your house?” Lorali asked.

“After Nicolas finished pulling a bullet out of you.”

“About that.”

“I’m listening.”

“I should’ve never left the building. I didn’t think leaving in broad daylight would put Rena or Dee at risk. I understand if you no longer want me to work security.” Lorali looked around the room as she spoke not meeting his eyes.

“Rena and Dee weren’t the only ones at risk. None of you should have to be scared to go to the mall or to a coffee shop.”

“I should’ve known better. Those men. They wanted me. This isn’t the first time they have tried to kill me or abduct me. I should’ve never put their lives in danger.”

“You’re right.” He said.

Lorali deflated. She was right. She should have never come here in the first place. But she had to see him. She wanted nothing more than to be normal again. She wanted a moment in time when every nightmare was a dream that hadn’t come true. When she could love and be loved. When laughing and playing weren’t something she had to think about with a wistful smile. She’d been selfish.

“I’ll leave in the morning.”

“Alright. Where are we going?”

“What?” She looked at him with a frown marring her face.

“Where are we going? You don’t get to leave me behind. You can’t come into my life, infiltrate my heart and then think its ok to take the easy way out. Did you think you could shake me by playing the victim? No one thinks you put Rena and Dee’s lives in danger. They’re in danger because they chose to love and mate with one of my brothers. Your life is in danger because you chose to mate with me.”

“I didn’t mate with you.”

“Then who was it panting for breath and screaming, please Sergey harder, faster?”

Her cheeks were burning. Did he really have to do a high pitched voice and make his breath shudder in his throat? He sounded way too much like her for comfort.

“You’re horrible.” She bit her lip trying not to laugh.

“And you love me.”

“You can’t come with me.”

“Then it’s settled. You’re staying.” She jutted out her chin and squared her shoulders. Yeah, she wasn’t going anywhere.

“It wasn’t a created after me. It was the military. I know the way they operate and it was definitely them.”

“Good.”

“Good?”

“We chose to disarm your military of any information they had created or obtained illegally that would harm the inhabitants of earth in their quest to destroy us. We left the ones behind the experiment alone. Call it a show of good faith. Now that good faith has been broken. We can eliminate any and all who are behind the attacks on you.”

“What about the created with them?”

“He’s good, but we’re moving in on him. It’s only a matter of time before we uncover his identity.”

“How’s your shoulder?”

“It doesn’t hurt at all.”

Sergey smiled at her before he began to stalk her across the room.

Chapter Sixteen

“What are you doing?” Lorali asked

“We have time before the others will join us tonight. I want to kiss your wound and help make it all better.

“Who told you about that?”

“I saw it on television.”

“That’s what a mother does to a child to help her child feel better.”

“Then it stands to reason that when one mate kisses the other’s wounds, they will get better also.” Sergey said with a wicked smile.

“Not sure it works that way.” She replied.

“Only one way to find out.”

He caught her as she tried to make a dash for the bathroom door. He picked her up as she laughed saying ‘no fair.’

“All is fair in love and war.”

“No more television for you. You’re cut off.”

“Then I’ll need something else to do.” He laid her on the bed. “You’re so beautiful.”

“You need glasses, but I’ll take it.”

“The created don’t need glasses.” He caressed her cheek with his thumb letting it slide over her silky skin. “You’re so smooth.”

“Glad you like it.” Her voice was low and husky.

Lowering his head, he kissed her. It was a light teasing of the lips followed by playful nips on her bottom lip. She opened her mouth and he slipped his tongue in. The caress he gave her tongue was nice and gentle; slow and seductive.

He pulled her in slowly, sucking on her tongue, using his to simulate the slow taking of her body.

He pulled away and cradled his head in the side of her neck. His nose sniffed behind her ear, taking in the heady smell of her fragrance.

“You make me want to fall to my knees and worship you. You’re just right.”

Her hands were in his hair, stroking his scalp. “I don’t know about worshipping me, but I’m sure I could find a use for you on your knees.”

He lowered his head down to the curve where her neck and shoulders met. He licked the spot several times making her shiver.

“I’m going to bite you right here.” She gave him a small moan of pleasure as he continued to nuzzle her there. “That will seal our mating.”

“Say what?”

He looked down at her. “I’m going to finish the bond between us.”

“You can’t do that. That’s taking away my right to choose what I want to do with my life. The minute you do that, you’re no better than the military who did this to me.” She indicated her shoulder, her hands, and then her whole body before slipping from under him.

“You can’t decide my fate for me.” She walked into the bathroom and closed the door.

What gave him the right to think he could just take over her life? Bite her indeed. Had she presented herself as some quivering female looking for a big strong male to protect her? No. She was capable of protecting herself. She’d done it for years. Sergey thought he was her protector. He wanted to marry her, but not because he loved her.

How could he love her? It had been two days. Everyone knew it took more time than that. He was good in bed. No one got married because the sex was good. If there was no Sergey, there would be no sex. Still, that wasn’t a good enough reason to make a permanent commitment.

Males. Why did they have to mess everything up? Why couldn’t he just rock her world? She stepped into the shower.

She turned her head to find him looking at her. She jumped, then clutched her chest.

“You scared me.”

“Sorry. How long will it take you to choose? Hours? Days? Weeks or months, years?”

“I don’t know.”

“If I don’t know and you don’t know, then who knows?”

He turned and walked away leaving her standing under the water.

The words to ‘who wrote the book of love’ were going through her head. Who said two days wasn’t enough to know what you wanted. Had it been her parents? They had been in love, she was sure of that. How long had it taken for them to know? She often wondered that. They had died long before she was old enough to ask that question.

She’d waited years for her fiancé. In the end, she’d been wrong. She may not know the answer, but she was sure of one thing.

Stepping out of the shower, she grabbed a towel and walked into the other room.

“Sergey, I don’t know how many days is enough to fall in love, but I do know one thing. I have to be in on the decision. It can’t just be you.”

“I know. It killed me to come back here after I met you, but I knew I couldn’t force you to come. So I enticed you. Offered you a job. Every day I woke up hoping I’d see you and every night I prepared for the next day. Then you were here and I was determined not to lose you again. I thought, erroneously, that once I had you in my house, my space, it would be easy to wait. Then I saw you with blood dripping from your wound, taking all the responsibility for the actions of your military. I knew I needed to make you mine before you ran, even though I knew better.”

Lorali dropped the towel as she walked over to him. Climbing onto his lap, she laid her head on his shoulder.

“I’ve a feeling that it won’t even take a whole week to fall deeply in love with you. Do we still have time?”

She lowered her head and kissed him. She forgot about the appropriate time it took to fall in love and concentrated on loving the male beneath her.

“They can wait.”

She laughed as he turned her over. Her laugh quickly turned into sighs and moans as he nipped a nipple before sucking it into his mouth.

She arched up, allowing the pleasure to flow through her. She closed her eyes as she felt him tugging on her. She’d never felt this good before. She’d known that sex, no, making love, could be this good, but knowing and experiencing were two different things.

She opened her eyes to find his animal was back. She smiled, not scared of him.

“I love you.” The voice was so different from Sergey’s, but still the same.

“Sergey?” His head nodded.

“I love you.”

His animal was talking to her, that part that she wanted to classify as beast, something to be scared of, but also not human. How could she have forgotten that Sergey was alien and what lived in him was also alien?

“You’re sentient.” Not just some animal to run and hide from, but a sentient humanoid.

He nodded his head.

“You love me?”

He nodded again.

“How?”

“Mate.”

“How do you know I’m your mate? Is it the way I smell? My hair or eye color? The color of my skin? What makes you think we’re meant to be together?” She asked.

His chocolate eyes pierced hers. Then he raised his hand and placed it slightly to his right. “Heart.”

He lifted a finger with a claw on the end tracing the tracks of her tears. When had she become afraid to trust her heart?

She lifted her hand and patted his chest, enjoying the feel of him on her fingertips. She shifted slightly, encouraging her male to take her. The feel of his hardness as he touched her brought a smile to her lips, along with a moan of need.

“Yes.” She whispered, encouraging him to slide home.

With one shift of his hips he impaled her, driving the breath out of her lungs. She thrust up, as he pulled back allowing his hips to swing. Her legs circled him as she hung on.

He moved and she took it all in. Oh it was good, but it was so much more than physical. She felt like she was coming home. Her heart was opening. The wider it opened, the more he invaded it, filling her with his warmth, love and caring.

She could still feel tears on her face. Not tears of heartache or pain, but tears of joy. When was the last time she cried over something because it made her happy?

He thrust deeper and she cried out. That’s when she saw it. A vision. A dream. Who cared what it was called?

She saw herself with a large belly sitting in a rocking chair. She had a smile on her lips and she was looking at someone. There on the rug before her was Sergey tussling with a little boy. They both looked up at her with grins on their faces.

The little boy ran to her crying, momma. She gave him a big hug before his father came over and lifted him high on his shoulders. ‘Careful of mommy’s belly.’ Sergey leaned down and kissed her.

“You’re my heart.” He said.

Her body came apart and she screamed in pleasure.

Chapter Seventeen

The scene in front of Lorali was chaos. The kind that made you want to dive right into all of the fun. The women were teasing the males, their brothers, then encouraging their mates to defend their honor.

Their clueless mates were taking up their battles and everyone had a smile or laughter on their lips.

Lorali watched as they played, knowing that soon they would be getting down to the business of what had happened earlier.

Aran lifted his hand, a silent command to calm down. Everyone settled back. Lorali found herself leaning against Sergey, allowing his warmth and strength to calm her.

“Lorali, tell us what happened today.” Aran spoke, his voice never raising, but the command clearly heard.

She almost felt the need to stand and salute. Looking around the room, she realized he commanded respect because he gave respect. He hadn’t addressed her as subservient. She knew that tone of voice. He’d addressed her as an equal who could add valuable info to the conversation.

“We went to SB to have a quiet place to talk, drink coffee and eat a good breakfast sandwich.” She took a minute to look at Sergey as she mentioned the last part. His face had flushed just a little as he looked at her.

“Rena and Dee told me about what has been going on. The longer we sat there, the more uncomfortable I became. I knew we were being watched and wanted to get back as soon as possible. I noticed that Rena and Dee were looking around also.”

She stopped to look at Sergey who was gripping her arm tighter. “We got back to the car with no problems. I thought everything would be ok. Then a gun metal gray car pulled up behind us, something that was fast, but would blend in.”

“It was a charger.” Dee spoke. “I remember comparing it to my baby. It came up short.”