Chapter 20
Cricket
I shoot up out of bed, the stitches in my belly screaming in protest.
Where am I, and where is my mate?
Soft fingers brush across my back, instantly calming me and my cat.
“I saw you shift from a cougar into a man. Pretty crazy, to be honest. If I’d looked away, I would have missed it.”
Rolling onto my other hip, I look down at my mate, who stares up at me with dreamy eyes. “You’re here.”
“Where else would I be?”
“Have you slept? Eaten? Have they been taking care of you?” I throw the blanket back and take an inventory of her body, making sure there are no cuts or bruises on my mate. She’s wearing a PT shirt and shorts, her legs bare and skin scrubbed clean.
“I’ve catnapped beside you the last few hours.” Her lips curl into a devilish grin.
“Catnapped, huh?” I arch my brow, lie down, and pull her body closer to mine.
“What else would you call sleeping next to a giant cougar?”
Grinning, I press a kiss to her lips. “Were you this much of a smart ass before I got shot?”
“I was saving it.” She trails her fingers over my pecs, her eyes on mine.
“For?”
“Most men shy away from clever women, but since I’m your fated mate, you’re apparently stuck with me forever, and I can be as sassy as I want.”
“Forever is right, and I want you to be you every day for the rest of our lives.”
“Is that a proposal, or are we already married in your world because we’re mated?”
I pull back. “Who told you?”
“That I was your mate? Everyone.” She bites her lip. “But no one has told me what that means, and I didn’t ask. I want to hear it from you.”
Taking a deep breath, I caress her face and press another kiss against her lips.
“When I bit you, I injected my mating serum into your bloodstream. It’s harmless from your perspective, untraceable to humans, but to a shifter, it’s like I slipped a wedding band on your finger—only this one can’t be taken off.
It tells all other shifters that you belong to me, and I belong to you, but more importantly, it informs me when you or our children are in danger.
That's the whole reason I could find you after the auction.”
“So we’re mated,” she says simply.
“Yes, babe, we are.”
“What’s next for us?” Doralee trails her fingers over my shoulder, down my arm and over my hip before following the line back up to my neck. While she’s wearing a PT set, I’m naked and hardening with every passing second, especially as she gently touches me with her arousal filling my lungs.
Oh yes. My mate is turned on, but taking it easy on me because I’ve been shot. That would stop a normal man, but I am not a normal man.
Pushing down the thin sheet covering me, I glance down at the incision on my belly—staples holding the nasty wound closed—and pass it to my thickening cock.
Doralee sucks in her breath and shakes her head. “Cricket. No.”
She might say no, but the scent of her arousal grows along with what I’m betting is the wetness coating her pussy lips.
I flash her a cocky grin, slipping my hand inside her shorts to prove myself right.
“Babe, you’re not mated to some run-of-the-mill asshole who needs two weeks of downtime to recuperate after being shot.
These staples will push themselves out by nightfall, and if I have a scar, it’ll be barely noticeable. ”
She arches into my hand, her lips parting on a soft moan as I slip two fingers inside of her. “We shouldn’t.”
“We should.” I lean forward and suck her pert nipple into my mouth, biting through the cotton t-shirt while rubbing my palm against her clit.
“Cricket, I don’t want to hurt you.” She stills my hand.
“Babe, as my mate, the only way you can hurt me is by not letting me take care of you. You need to come; I can smell your arousal. Let me take care of my mate like only I can.”
She lets go of my hand and wraps her fingers around my length. “How often can you bite me?”
“As often as you want.”
“If I’m careful, can I ride you?” She bites her lip, her thumb massaging the ridge under the flared head of my cock.
Growling, I roll to my back. “Please.”
Doralee pulls off her shirt and shorts and straddles my waist, sinking down slowly on my length. I grip her hips, pleasure shooting through my legs and tightening my abdomen, which does hurt, but I’ll never tell her that. “Is this okay?”
“Yes, mate.” I close my eyes as she rolls her hips slowly, every movement delicious torture.
Sliding my hands up her back, I prompt her to come forward, her hands planted beside my head as she braces herself up from laying on top of me.
I suckle her nipples as she rides me and slip my thumb over her clit. “Can I mark your breast?”
“Considering I looked for the mark inside my thigh a few hours ago and found nothing more than two light bruises, you can mark me anywhere you like,” she moans, her pussy tightening around me as her orgasm builds.
“I love you, babe.”
She licks her lips and smiles down at me. “I love you too, Kitty.”
“Hmmm,” I groan. “We’re going to have to talk about nicknames.”
“How about I only call you Kitty when you are cock-deep inside of me?”
“Deal.” My fangs descend and I show them to her this time, her eyes widening before I tilt my head and scrape them across her breasts.
An orgasm overcomes her almost immediately, and I sink them into the heavy tissue, cum shooting out of my cock seconds after her cunt spasms and milks me for every drop.
She collapses on top of me, and while it knocks the wind out of me, the pain quickly subsides as I hold my mate against my chest. “Thank you, Doralee, for mating and accepting us.”
Many hours later, a knock hits the door and wakes me and Doralee. I quickly make sure she’s covered and project to the intruders, “Go away.”
“It’s us,” Crash thinks back.
I roll my eyes. “No shit, sherlocks.”
“Crash, Erick, and Sly are outside,” I tell Doralee.
She frowns. “How do you know that?”
“Another fun fact about us. We can speak telepathically, and our hearing, eyesight, and sense of smell are phenomenal.”
Her jaw drops. “You can speak telepathically?”
Amused that she gloms onto that one factoid about us, I snort and say, “Come in.”
Crash opens the door and is followed by Erick and Sly. All three curl their lips at the stench that is my mating pheromones, and I graciously flip them off as my answer to their complaints.
Erick chuckles. “How are you feeling?”
“Fantastic.” I pull Doralee closer. “How’s it going out there?”
“Good. We think you should get off your lazy ass and check it out.” Sly leans against the far wall with his arms crossed over his chest.
“Give us ten minutes to get dressed.” I exchange a look with Crash, wondering what it’s been like for him with my family since I’ve been out of commission. There are no cuts or bruises, so I guess they haven’t kicked his ass.
Honestly, I’m grateful for that. He needs more friends and less adversaries.
Crash nods but says nothing, following Erick and Sly out of the room and closing the door behind him.
Doralee hops out of bed before I can stop her, as if she knows I was thinking about pinning her underneath me so I can get her off one more time before we start our day. “Hey, come back here.”
“Oh no, Kitty. Not right now,” she teases.
I narrow my eyes playfully. “The only time you’re allowed to call me Kitty is when I’m cock-deep inside of you, remember?”
Doralee bites her lip and pulls on a pair of PT sweatpants, her bra, and the same gray t-shirt she slept in. “True. I owe you one.”
“Yes, you do.” I roll out of bed and lean back, stretching the taut skin healing rapidly on my belly before I slip into my own pair of sweatpants and a matching t-shirt.
“Awwww. We’re twins.” She wraps her arms around my waist and presses a kiss to my pec.
Shaking my head, I smack her ass and open the door. “Let’s go.”
We follow Crash down to the war room where Colonel Packard, Junta, Juice, Pitch, Pixel, and Axis sit around a large round table with Erick and Sly. A giant screen shows live footage from the receiving bay where over a hundred people play games, eat snacks, and talk on the phone.
“We’ve identified eighteen shifters in this lot, more than have been called in.
” Colonel Packard starts without a preamble.
“We’ve called their families and we’ll take them home tomorrow.
As far as the rest of them, those who had a home to call have done so.
We’re arranging transportation out of Denver as soon as possible.
Those without a home, we’re looking for alternatives.
Some of them were runaways, a few with mental or physical impairments, so we’re going to have to reach out to a few government agencies to see how we can help them.
And then there are more than a few dozen who were sold by their families.
Those are the ones we’ll really need help with, as that is far outside of our normal mission.
Doralee raises her hand and grins at me. “I think I can help. Although I’m unsure about the corruption within ICE and DHS, I’ve worked with a lot of good people who run outreach programs across the country. I’m sure we can find these people soft places to land on their feet.”
Colonel Packard smiles. “We’re happy to have you on board, Ms. Baker.”
“Wait, what?” I glance between them, positive I missed something while knocked out.
She pats my hand. “I’ll tell you later.”
Crash pipes up. “Agents Castor and Caldwell will recover, although Caldwell will be out of commission for a while considering the bullet he took in his gut.”
“See, babe. I told you I’m not some run-of-the-mill asshole who needs two weeks to recover.” I flash her a shit-eating grin.
She rolls her eyes and looks at Crash. “Has he always been this cocky?”
“His whole life.” His eyes come to mine, and the difference is striking, the animosity he vibrated with two days ago gone.
I tilt my head in his direction and hide my smile behind Doralee’s hand, which I bring to my lips.