Warrior Invasion: A Science Fiction Alien Mail Order Bride Romance (TerraMates Book 10) (31 page)

She reared back and flung her knife forward with a primal yell, releasing it and watching it flip end over end, until it struck home.

The blade slid between the lion's ribs, and stayed.

Bella held her breath, waiting to see if it was just one more wound, or if her aim for the heart was true.

The lion stayed put, but with it on its side, underbelly facing her, she couldn't see if it still had life in its eyes. She tried to focus on the chest, to see if it still rose and fell, but her own adrenaline was making her shake, so she couldn't tell if the movement she was seeing was the lion's ragged breath, or her own shaking.

She heard thunder crashing, powerful and close, and looked to the sky, but the sky was bright. Confused, put her hand against the tree trunk she leaned on, and felt it rumble. The earth was rumbling under her feet and she was wondering if she was going to have to deal with an earthquake on top of everything else, when the trees seemed to part and Mac's huge bear dug in his claws, sliding between her and the still downed cat.

It took a minute for her to realize that the thunder, and the shaking ground, had just been Mac, running at her full speed. She stared at his massive bear ass as he investigated the cat, and then turned to face her.

She never realized before that love, fear and relief could all be read so plainly on an animal's face before that very second, but the look he gave her as he stood between her and the cat broke down every wall she had, and she found herself starting to sob.

He shifted as she let her emotions out, and he wrapped his human arms around her, holding her against his heart. He enfolded her against his human form, which was not near as big as his bear, but still big enough to be a wall between her and the rest of the world.

He cooed things against her as she let it all out, and once she was spent and silent, she leaned back and up to look at him.

"Did I kill it?"

"Damn straight. Fuck, Bella. When I heard you yell, I thought..."

"I saw it coming at me, your claw marks deep in its flesh. Bites, too. I thought that if it was here, and it got away from all of you, that things had gone really bad. How did one lion get away from all of you?"

"I don't know how much you know about shifters..."

"Next to nothing."

"Wolf packs like Bane's, and I guess lion prides as well, they have this mental connection. They communicate in animal form, sometimes in words, sometimes in images, depending. Anyway, as far as we can figure, when Ivy killed the other lion either it sent a message as it died, or maybe the other lion found its body, we're not sure, but somehow the ones that were sent here called for reinforcements.

When David and Ryker got to the house Naythan, Sandra and Ash were all outside. Something about your mom not letting them in..."

"What? What do you mean she wouldn't let them in?" Bella interrupted, her anger flaring quickly since all of her other emotions were still so raw, the adrenaline dump still coursing through her.

"That's a conversation for later. Anyway, they were attacked shortly after David and Ryker got there. There were a bunch of them, thankfully Naythan wasn't alone at that point. That was the roar we all heard. The three of them had already taken out half of the lions by the time we got there, and boy were they all surprised at Ivy. No one expected a lion that hadn't arrived with them. I was the last one into the fray, since I got there after everyone else, but I grabbed the first one I could get my paws on.

But then I heard Ash yelp, and I had to let go of your lion to kill the other one. I figured yours was wounded enough that he wouldn't get very far and I could finish him after I took care of Ash's attacker. You know, he is still very young, but that kid is going to make for a hell of a wolf. I think he already prefers wolf form to his baby form. Although I don't blame him. Human babies are so helpless, whereas wolves don't take nearly as long to be mobile."

"Is Ash OK?"

"Oh yeah, he got bit, but it's already healing. I ran after your lion, but it seems she had already run across you. Nice work, by the way. Although you were supposed to stay in the tree."

"You know cats climb trees, right?"

"Yeah, but we only planned on one lion, not damn near all of them. That was the only one to get past us. Plus, I highly doubt this one would have been able to get up to you, as wounded as she was."

"I'm grateful you already wounded it, I never would have been able to kill it if you hadn't."

"You underestimate yourself. Although, she never would have been out here for you to kill if she hadn't been wounded so bad. Otherwise she would have been there, still fighting."

As Mac spoke, still holding her tight, Bella felt his erection nudging her stomach. It wasn't until then that she realized he was naked, and that she suddenly felt the need to put his hardness to use.

Maybe it was the after effects of the battle, even though she'd really only had a small part in it. Maybe it was the relief of knowing that he was still alive. Better than just still alive, he seemed to be mostly unscathed. Maybe it was the same drive that she'd always heard made people have sex after funerals. Either way, she was very aware of his nakedness right now, and very aware of her own need, growing by the second.

"Mac, I know this is going to sound odd, but..."

"But what? Tell me. You can tell me anything, Bell. Always."

"I need you."

She tried to say the rest with her eyes, begging him to understand, even though she didn't fully understand herself. Too many needs were flooding her system. She needed to expel the rest of the adrenaline, she needed to release pent up energy, she needed to either fight or fuck, and until recently, experiencing neither, she didn't know how to get her point across and get her needs met.

Her mind flashed back, to the time Mac pinned her down on the swing, driven with his own need. She'd screamed then, not understanding. But she understood now, even more than she had last night. She needed out-of-control Mac now, to show her how to let go. How to...well how to lose all control.

She did the only thing she could think of to get her point across. She gripped his shaft, squeezing it as it pressed between them.

She watched as his jaw clenched and his eyes changed.

She stroked him, like he'd showed her, and she reveled in the power she had to make his breathing erratic and his cock harden even more in her palm.

He kept himself reined in though, and it made her want him even more, knowing that he was controlling himself for her.

"Bella, be careful. If you don't stop, this will be no sweet lovemaking, and you will be neither on top nor in charge."

"I don't want to be either. I only want two things."

"Name them."

"I want to be away from this lion, and I want to lose all control."

She watched his eyes squeeze shut, and felt his cock jerk and swell in her hand as he held the last bits of his restraint in check.

"Are you sure?"

He asked the question with his eyes still squeezed shut, and her heart swelled with love for him, as her body roared with need.

She took her hand from his cock, stood on tiptoe, wrapped her arms and then her legs around him as he helped her basically climb him enough to whisper in his ear.

"I'm positive," she whispered, in the heartbeat before she angled her mouth away from his ear and toward that spot on his neck she knew would drive him past all reason.

She licked him there first, and then bit down, holding on tight as he carried her away from the sight of the lion's body and towards wherever else he wanted to claim her, body and soul.

Chapter 19

Mac carried Bella deeper into the woods, the pants she was wearing the only thing keeping him from lowering her onto his cock as he went.

He knew she could no longer see the lion, but he carried her until he could no longer smell it, either. He didn't want the smell of death to mix with the scent of Bella, even though he knew the battle was part of what triggered her need.

He wanted this to be about them, about them finding release in each other, about them turning to each other in everything, from here on out.

He wanted to show her that lovemaking and sex and pure animal fucking all had a place in their new relationship, and he also selfishly wanted to drive any remnant of Sam from her again, body, mind and soul.

She was his and he was hers, and he wanted to cement that in them both.

He backed her against a tree, pressing her against the bark as his hand burrowed in her hair. He pulled her mouth from his neck and found her lips with his.

Their kiss was explosive, tongues battling and teeth scraping as he ground himself against the damp crotch of her pants.

"We have to be quick. We need to get back to the others."

He moaned the words against her mouth, making sure again that she knew this would be no long, leisurely session.

"Then you might want to let me down so I can get these damn pants off, don't you think?"

He growled in response, pulling away from her just enough to let her unwind her legs from his body and stand on her own two feet.

He spun her then, making her face the tree. His hands had her pants down around her knees before she could fully catch her footing.

His fingers slid into her wetness, pulling her ass against his cock even as he teased her lips, parting them and diving deeply into her center.

She braced herself against the tree as she spread her legs as far as she could with her pants still around her knees.

His one arm wrapped around her waist, his hand sliding under her shirt to grip her breast as his other hand pressed and circled her clit. He bent her forward a bit more, bending his knees. His eyes rolled back in his head as his cock slid between her ass cheeks, dipping lower and then sliding in her wetness as he aimed for the tight sheath he was dying to bury himself in.

He slid home, filling her full in one quick thrust of his hips and she moaned as she pressed back against him, using the tree for leverage.

He knew it wouldn't take him long, not like this. He needed her orgasm to come first though, and he was willing to stay still, fingering her as he filled her, but she seemed to be as needy for release as he was.

Her hips rocked as she rubbed herself against his fingers and fill herself with his cock.

He was afraid that he'd lose it if he moved any more than he was, if he buried himself deeper than he already was.

Their flesh slid and slapped together, both of them chasing a release only the other could give them.

He leaned forward and kissed her neck as she started to come.

"Make me yours, Mac."

"You've been mine since I saw you."

"I mean, mark me. Claim me. I want to wear the mark Sandra and Keelyn wear. I want the world to know I belong to you. It's the same, right? With wolves and bears?"

"Yes. I can't turn you, like you asked before. Shifting is genetic, but marking you is forever."

"Love me forever, Mac. Fuck me forever. Please."

Her words, and her frantic thrusting, filling herself with his cock and slapping her ass back against him, made his balls tighten up, preparing to fill her with his seed as well as his length, and he knew he'd never deny her anything she asked for.

He scraped the tender skin on her neck with his teeth, and then he bit down, claiming her as his as her pussy clenched around his shaft and her orgasm pulled the last of his control from him.

Her waves milked him dry as he spilled every bit of himself inside her. He gave her all that he was, and she took it, giving him her body, her trust and her future, linking them forever.

* * *

L
ater
, at the house, Keelyn organized the collection of lion hearts and hides, then buried the bodies, figuring they might was as well collect the bounties.

"No use letting them go to waste when we could always use more money," she said. "Besides, we could use the cash when we head to the castle to take out the source of whatever has decided to come after us. After you."

Mac grinned to himself as he watched Bane try to tell her that as his mate, her family would never want for anything again, let alone money, but he guessed that old habits died hard. Eventually Bane agreed to help Keelyn, since she seemed determined not to let them be buried whole, but cashed in on instead.

Naythan and Sandra seemed to take everything they learned, from Ivy shifting lion to Patty's question of her sister's rape in stride.

Enid though, was another story.

She didn't come out of the house until all the fighting was done, and she didn't appreciate Bella questioning her about why Naythan, Sandra and Ash were all made to stay outside from the moment everyone had left the day before until now.

"What about Ivy? Now that you know she's a shifter, will you let your own daughter inside? Or Keelyn? Or me?"

Bella grilled her mother, seeming to Mac oddly angry for someone who probably would have taken the same stand just twenty-four hours ago.

Mac looked at Enid, wondering how she'd answer. Would her children be welcomed in her house, or would their shifter-ness, in Ivy's case, and shifter's mate status, in both Keelyn and Bella's, tear this family apart from the inside out?