Chapter 15
Chapter Fifteen
The vampire took them to the edge of the swamp. A cabin waited. One that looked abandoned from the outside, but inside, the place was stocked with bandages, antibiotics, and…bags of blood.
Marna turned away when Riley pulled one of those bags from the extra-large refrigerator and began to drink.
Cody was in the back of the cabin. A woman had rushed out to meet them as soon as they’d arrived. A doctor? A nurse? Marna wasn’t sure, but the woman with warm brown eyes and flawless, golden brown skin sure seemed to know what she was doing. Tanner was back there with the woman, trying to force his brother to live.
And Marna was grappling with her own desire— to kill.
“You gave me freedom.”
Riley’s words had her glancing over at him He tossed away the empty bag. A little bit of blood stained his lips. Marna forced a shrug. “I gave a blood donation.” The least she could do.
“Is my family…are they safe?” Riley’s question was halting, and it seemed to be pulled from him.
She nodded. This much, she did know. “The instant they left you, they didn’t know any more pain.”
His breath eased out as he crossed toward her. His steps were slow. His eyes watchful. “Do they know what I became?” There was no missing the pain in his eyes.
She could give him this release, as well. “They only remember what you were.” Not what you are.
Monster.
Wasn’t that what she was now, too?
His hands came up and curled around her shoulders. “We can both be more.” His head lowered toward hers.
“And you can get your fucking fangs and hands away from her!” Tanner’s lethal voice cut through the room better than any knife ever could.
Riley’s hands didn’t drop, but his head didn’t lower toward her any more, either.
“Want to lose them?” Tanner asked. “Because I can accommodate you.”
Marna peered toward Tanner. Sure enough, his claws were out.
Riley’s hands dropped. “I wasn’t—” he began.
“No, you weren’t.” Blood stained Tanner’s shirt and hands. He looked tired and pissed. “With her, you’re not doing anything.”
Marna’s eyes narrowed on him. “That’s not your call to make.”
Tanner’s stare focused completely on her. “It’s not?” How could a man’s voice be so cold and yet so furious at the same time? What an interesting blend, and very chilling. “I thought when you gave yourself to me, it sure made things like this jerk coming on to you my call. ”
Men—humans or paranormals—could all be idiots. Marna exhaled. There was a room upstairs for her. Riley had showed it to her earlier. Right then, she just wanted to crash. The men could attack each other if they wanted. More bruises, scrapes, and busted ribs would serve them right.
She headed for the stairs. “He wasn’t coming on to me. He was talking. Maybe that’s something you should try more of.”
But all she got in response to that was silence. She was learning that Tanner could say more with his silence than most men could with their words.
She pulled at her shirt as she climbed the stairs. She was tired of smelling like blood. Tired of feeling like hell. And tired of her shoulders itching. Because on top of everything else, her scars had been bugging her for hours.
This day really did just suck.
A knife to the heart—okay, from the back to the heart—could sure put a woman in what she knew Tanner would call a piss-poor mood.
But, jeez, at this rate, what else could happen?
The scent of flowers teased her nose. Her eyes squeezed closed. “Bastion, if that’s you…” Marna exhaled. “Stay away from me right now.”
Because she was in the mood to fight. Anyone. Anything. Even an angel. Or a shifter.
Tanner watched Marna head up the stairs. Her shoulders were slumped. Her steps slow. He could feel the tiredness pouring off her, and it infuriated him.
Attacked. Stabbed with that big ass knife.
While he just watched.
“You need to do a better job of keeping her safe.” Riley’s cold, drawling voice informed him.
What? Advice from the vamp? Sonofabitch. Tanner tossed the vamp against the nearest wall. “What I don’t need is some undead jerk telling me how to handle my angel.” He bared his own fangs. “And what you need to do…you need to learn to keep those hands off her.”
Riley smirked. Smirked? Really? Could he have begged more for an ass beating? Apparently, he could because the vamp asked, “What if she likes my hands? Maybe she’s in the mood for some variety. Not every woman likes to sleep with an animal.”
Tanner slammed his forehead into Riley’s nose. Bones crunched. Riley howled. Ah, that was one of Tanner’s favorite moves. Why didn’t more people ever see that hit coming?
Tanner smiled, then growled, “Trust me, she likes my animal side.” He’d been worried that he might scare her, but he hadn’t. Marna had been just as wild and fierce as he’d been when they came together.
His gaze lifted to the stairs. He heard the roar of water and knew that she’d turned on the shower. She’d be up there now, naked.
Wet.
He dropped his hold on Riley and walked straight for the stairs.
“You really think she’s just gonna turn and greet you with open arms?” Riley’s voice mocked him. “That was one very angry angel who stalked up those stairs.”
Tanner tossed a glare over his shoulder. “Don’t worry about what happens between us.”
Riley laughed. “You are one clueless asshole. Go on up there. She’ll toss you right back down.”
Jaw clenching, Tanner grabbed for the thin stair railing. The day he needed romantic advice from a vamp?—
I’ll be cold in the ground.
He took the steps three at a time. There was no lock on the door to Marna’s room, so he pushed it open and hurried inside. Steam came from the small room near the bed. She’d left the bathroom door ajar.
But Tanner didn’t rush inside. He stopped. Shut the bedroom door behind him, and took a deep breath.
I could have lost her.
He understood the game that the killer was playing now. The sick prick. The SOB had set things up perfectly, and Tanner had been the one forced to choose.
Save the angel or save the demon.
Bastard.
Tanner had managed, just barely, to save them both. But what would happen next time? He couldn’t just let his own brother die.
And he wouldn’t let Marna slip away from him.
So next time…he reached for the edge of his bloody shirt and tossed the garment aside. Next time, Tanner would make sure he was the one hunting—and the one killing.
He’d keep both Marna and Cody safe. He had to. There just wasn’t any other option for him.
He kicked off his shoes. Finished stripping. The water continued to pour from inside the shower. The steam rose and drifted into the room like smoke.
Tanner glanced down at his arms. He’d shifted a few more times, trying to push his body’s natural healing powers into overdrive. The burns and blisters had all but faded. Now there were just faint lines left to remind him of how close he’d come to death.
More attacks. More pain. At this point, his body was a mess of memories. Most days, he just wanted to forget them. But these new marks…the ones that reminded him that he’d gotten Marna out of that blaze, that she was safe…
He wouldn’t be forgetting them anytime soon.
Tanner stalked toward the bathroom. The old hardwood creaked beneath his feet. A few more steps, and his hand pushed the faded bathroom door open all the way. Marna stood behind a thin, clear shower curtain. He could see a perfect outline of her body. Water dripped down her curves. Such a gorgeous body. He’d touched and kissed every part of her.
I want to do it again.
“I was wondering if you would come in.” Her voice drifted to him, but Marna didn’t turn to face Tanner. “You sure took your time about it.”
He swallowed and realized he could already taste her.
“How’s your brother?” she asked. Still under the water. Still so perfect she made him ache. His cock couldn’t swell any bigger.
In her. That’s where he wanted to be.
He was almost drooling. Right. Way to be in control. Tanner cleared his throat. “He’s stable.” For now. The doc, a lady who’d barely looked twenty—but then paranormals were good at hiding their real ages—had patched Cody up the best she could. He was resting. And as for surviving? He’d better.
Marna faced him. Finally. She pushed the curtain aside and stared at him through the steam and pouring water. Her gaze dropped to his chest. Lingered. “You’ve got blood on you.”
He’d always had blood on his hands. It would never wash off. He took another step toward her.
She lifted a hand. “You were an ass.”
His angel and her dirty mouth. He rather liked that aspect of her. When she cursed at him, he always got turned on. How screwed up was that? “I was…” Tanner cleared his throat and managed to drag his gaze off her breasts. Want them in my mouth. “Jealous.”
Her brows rose.
Did she really think they were just gonna stand there, naked, and talk? If so, Marna didn’t understand a whole lot about shifters.
He was managing to keep his claws in and his beast on a leash, and that was pretty much all he could handle.
Tanner climbed into the too-small shower with her. Deliberately, he let his body brush against hers. “Yeah, jealous.” The water crashed over him. “As in…if that vamp touches you again…” He’d been able to all but smell the vamp’s lust, and it hadn’t just been lust for her blood. “He’ll lose those fingers.” Not an idle threat.
And, unlike a few other paranormals that Tanner knew, the vamp wouldn’t regrow those appendages.
“I don’t want him to touch me.” Her gaze met his. “I don’t want him.”
His hands rose. Sank into the heavy weight of her damp hair. “You want me.” Not a question.
Her chin lifted. “As much as you want me.”
Enough talking. He couldn’t handle any more. Tanner’s mouth took hers. The kiss was deep and hot and just made the shower steam more. He’d never be able to get enough of her taste. Sweet but rich. Flowing right on his tongue. Making him insane with need.
Her body, so slick and warm, pressed against his. His fingers skimmed across her back and over the scars that he’d learned could bring her pleasure and not just more pain.
He only wanted her pleasure. Always.
She moaned into his mouth, and his fingers trailed lightly over the marks on her back. Raised ridges and the ghosts of wings that were gone. Except he could almost feel those wings. So soft and silken beneath his touch.
But her hands rose and pushed against his chest. She shook her head at him, and Tanner’s gut clenched.
That damn vamp was right. And Tanner had been wrong. Marna didn’t want to have sex with him. She was still angry.
Not every woman likes to sleep with an animal.
His breath seemed cold in his chest. Strange, when the water was so warm.
“This time,” Marna told him, and her voice had become a husky rumble that skated right over his skin, “it’s my way.”
Uh, her way? He’d take her any way.
The water poured over them, and she gave him a smile of pure sin. Not an angel.
Then she stepped out of the shower. Naked, body glistening, she was the sexiest thing he’d ever seen.
Compared to her, he was big, rough, and scarred.
But her eyes were hot as they tracked over him, and Marna licked her lips as she stared at his cock. “If you want me,” she murmured, “come and get me.”
Just the kind of game that the beast inside liked. Nothing was better than a hunt for your mate.
Mate.
The word had slipped through his mind again, but as she disappeared through the open doorway, he knew that was exactly what she was. Did she realize it?
Tanner yanked the shower knob and turned off the blasting water. The drip, drip, drip of the water followed him as he stalked after her, nice and slow. No need to rush. He’d get her in his bed.
Sooner, not later.
Tanner didn’t bother drying off. What was the point? She had him so hot that steam was rising from his own skin.
The bedroom was dark. The bed was empty. His gaze scanned to the left. The right?—
“Get in bed,” Marna told him.
His eyebrows rose. Since when was Marna into giving orders?
But he’d keep playing, for now.
He climbed into the bed. Still naked, she crept from the shadows. Did she know how well he could see in the dark? She should. Marna seemed to know all the secrets that shifters carried.
She stared down at him, then she climbed onto the bed. The mattress dipped beneath her weight. Her hands pressed against his legs. “I’ve been wondering…” Her breath blew lightly over his aroused dick. “Just how you’d taste.”
Then she put her mouth on him, and Tanner couldn’t think about anything else.
Hot. Wet.
She kissed him. Sucked the head of his cock. Took him deep into her mouth.
Too damn good.
His eager dick stretched even more. His balls tightened. Her mouth and tongue were hesitant at first, as if she was unsure, but she was so sensual and her mouth felt fucking great.
His hips arched toward her. He wanted to bury his hands in her hair and push her to a faster, harder rhythm. Instead, his claws sank into the mattress on either side of him. He wouldn’t push her.
Pleasure.
He’d take what she gave him, and they’d both burn with pleasure.
His claws dug deeper. Her tongue licked over him.
Tanner’s eyes squeezed closed. Her mouth…Marna was one fast learner. But he didn’t want this to be just about him. “Stop,” he growled out, “before I come.”
Another lick. Another silken caress of lips and tongue, but then she pulled back. His eyes opened.
“I like the way you taste,” she whispered.
He lunged off the bed. Tumbled her back onto the mattress. In one move, Tanner parted her legs and drove into her in a thrust so deep they both shuddered.
Not enough.
He withdrew. Thrust again. Her legs wrapped around him, and her hips arched. Harder. Faster. Their pants filled the air. His orgasm pushed down on him. So close.
Her first. The thought that he was the first man to know her sweet body still staggered him. The first, the only.
He pushed into her again. Again . She was wet and hot, and he took her nipple into his mouth. Licked. Sucked.
She gasped his name. Her sex clenched around him. Almost there. Almost.
He drove into her once more. Felt the climax that shook her whole body. When she opened her mouth to cry out, he caught the sound with his own lips. Then he came. So long and hard that his body felt hollowed out and utterly empty when he was done. Pleasure. So intense that it left him wondering…
How the hell did I go without her for so long?
Nothing had ever been this good. No one else ever would be.
He was so fucked.
His claws had retracted. He lifted his hand and brushed back the hair from her cheek. Her lashes rose as she stared at him. Hell, he had to be crushing her. Tanner eased his cock from her silken heaven, hating to take his body from hers, and it was right then that he realized?—
No protection.
His heart stopped. Shifters didn’t generally have to worry about condoms. They couldn’t catch the diseases humans spread and as for pregnancy—well, most shifters wanted to be able to have kids. Only they couldn’t have a child with just anyone. Their partner had to be a perfect genetic match. One strong enough to carry a shifter child.
One strong enough to be a… mate.
Like Marna was.
“I’m sorry.” He couldn’t look at her eyes. He pulled her back up to the head of the bed. Arranged her on the pillows and made sure to tuck the covers around her.
But she laughed. “You don’t have anything to be sorry about. Trust me, Tanner, I think I was the rough one, not you.” Her little nails had dug into his back, and her legs had squeezed him so perfectly.
He liked it rough.
He shook his head. She didn’t understand. “I didn’t…use anything.” Not any of the times he’d been with her.
Fucking blind. That’s what he’d been. Desperate. Crazy or?—
His jaw clenched. Or maybe he’d been trying to hedge his bets. Had he done that? Unconsciously? Had the beast wanted a chance to take her— all of her?
“Use anything?” she repeated and Tanner forced himself to meet her stare. Her eyes widened. “You mean?—”
“I mean you could be pregnant right now.” Angels could get pregnant, just like any other fertile being. Since Brandt’s mother had been an angel, Brandt had certainly been proof of that.
It didn’t happen often, so maybe they’d have luck on their side, but it could happen. “I’ll get condoms,” he swore. “We’ll be safe from now on.” He wouldn’t make this mistake again.
She simply gazed back at him. Uh, yeah, why wasn’t she freaking out on him? He’d just told her she could have a shifter hybrid in her belly. And she was just…staring at him.
“A child?” Marna bit her lower lip and tilted her head to the right. “I’ve never thought about having someone of my own like that.”
Well, it wasn’t like the hypothetical kid would just be hers. He’d never walk away from his child. “I wouldn’t be like my father.” His voice came out rough. Too gravelly. Tanner cleared his throat and tried again. “I promise, if something…if we have…” Could he screw this up more? Probably not. He exhaled. “I would never hurt our baby.” She had to believe that. He would never hurt any child he had.
Voice soft, she said, “I never thought you would.”
What?
“You’ve never hurt me. Why would you hurt your baby?”
Because he was the product of one screwed-up family tree. Because he was violent inside. Dangerous. “I wouldn’t. ” He’d sooner cut off his own hands than ever lay one on a child. No matter what else happened in this world, he’d never hurt an innocent.
He could still hear his own cries in his nightmares. It had taken the child he’d been a while to learn that the tears only made his father hit more. Hit harder.
He took another deep breath and just pulled in more of her scent. Marna would never hurt a kid. She’d love the child. Protect the baby. Always keep the kid safe.
What the hell? Was he starting to picture her carrying his child now? “It might not happen.” He rolled away from her. Headed to the desk of drawers near the wall and found an extra pair of jeans inside. Kali—the doctor with the dark brown eyes and sad smile—had told him that she kept extra clothes upstairs for her patients.
If he asked, Tanner knew Marna would conjure new clothes for him. But in this instance, he’d just count himself as a patient. A few more moments of searching, and he found all the clothing that he needed. After dressing, he glanced back at Marna. “I’ll be careful from here on out.” Shouldn’t she be yelling at him? Telling him how he’d messed things up for her? It wasn’t like she could actually want to be saddled with his kid.
Hybrids weren’t exactly the easiest of the supernaturals to raise. They both knew how the last shifter and angel mix had turned out. Brandt had been more devil than savior. “You can yell if you want,” he offered cautiously.
Her brows rose. “Why?”
Because I fucked up. Because I didn’t take good enough care of you. “Because I put you at risk! I could have gotten you pregnant.”
She shrugged. Shrugged.
She might just make him lose his mind.
Then she mused, “I think I’d like to have a baby.”
Her words almost broke him.
Careful now, he asked, “A baby…or my baby?” Because if any other dumbass came around her…
She might want a child with another angel. A pureblood. And Bastion had sure been sniffing around her.
Bastion could screw off.
Tanner took a nice, long count to five. The red faded from his vision. He could actually stay sane. He could. “I didn’t mean?—”
“Yours.”
The panther roared inside as pride filled him. Tanner advanced toward her. “Marna, I?—”
Footsteps raced up the stairs. Heavy. Hard. Tanner’s head whipped up and around to the door just as a fist pounded on the wood. “Kali needs you downstairs, shifter!” Riley yelled. “Now!”
Marna jumped from the bed. For a moment, her bare back was to Tanner, and he glimpsed her old wounds. He frowned. The red scars looked like they’d risen higher, and when he’d touched them before, the ridges had actually felt more solid, too. He hadn’t really thought much about it then because he’d been too lost in the best orgasm of his life, but?—
They look different. They felt different.
“Your brother’s dying!” Riley shouted.
He forgot about her scars and leapt for the door.