Indy sucked in a deep breath. Beneath his fierce gaze she felt beautiful.
Releasing a soft groan, Angel was hastily wrenching off his clothes, his movements oddly jerky as he revealed the sculpted perfection of his chest that tapered to a lean waist. His legs were long, with heavy muscles, and his erection…
The air was wrenched from her lungs at the sight of the thick cock that curled toward the flat plane of his stomach, the heavy length fully aroused.
He was truly spectacular.
Her hand reached to stroke him, but with a muttered curse he was grabbing her wrists and yanking her arms over her head.
“Hey…”
Her protest was cut short as he lowered his head and kissed her with a growing urgency.
Still holding her arms pinned to the bed he allowed his mouth to begin to explore her body with frustrating leisure. He lingered at the base of her throat, planting teasing kisses over the line of her collarbone and then, at last, he found the straining tip of her breast.
Indy released a shaky sigh, her toes curling as pleasure blistered through her. Good god. She’d enjoyed a few one-night stands. Why not? She was a young, healthy woman with needs. But nothing had prepared her for the wicked excitement his touch sent jolting through her.
The heat of his lips as they sucked her, the rough caress of his tongue, and even the less-than-gentle bite of his teeth. It was all enough to make her arch upward in a shuddering bliss.
“This is just the beginning, Indy,” he murmured against her skin. “You belong to me.”
Indy barely heard his harsh words. She was lost in a daze of sensual need.
There could surely be nothing better than this?
He proved her wrong as his hands loosened their grip on her arms and skimmed down the planes of her body. Wherever they traveled they left behind a buzz of electric sensations, like tiny sparklers flaring over her skin.
Her breath caught in surprise as his hands reached her legs and jerked them apart.
“I can smell your sweet honey,” he muttered, his mouth moving to tease the hollow between her breasts. “I need to taste it.”
Ever so slowly he kissed his way down her body, stopping to inspect the small heart tattooed on her hipbone.
“Angel?” she murmured in confusion.
“You were injured,” he growled.
She blinked in surprise. How did he know the heart covered one of the cigarette burns that’d been left by her mother?
“It’s nothing,” she assured him.
A low growl rumbled in his chest. “Never again, Indy,” he swore softly. “No one will ever hurt you again.”
Warmth flooded through her at his fierce promise, but before she could respond, Angel returned to determined exploration of her body.
Indy clenched the blanket beneath her as the roaming lips at last found her moist center, his tongue stroking between the tender folds.
“Yes,” she gasped.
His head lifted to study her with eyes that held a very cat-like satisfaction.
“You smell like wildflowers and taste like honey.”
Indy blushed as he held her gaze. She was an idiot, but Angel made her feel like a giddy teenager. It was intoxicating.
Slowly he lowered his head, his tongue creating all sorts of sinful havoc as he continued to stroke and tease her. Her head fell back against the pillow as tension clutched her body.
She was close.
“Now, Angel,” she rasped, unwilling to climax before she felt him buried deep inside her.
Heat prickled in the air as he surged up her body, his mouth claiming her parted lips as he settled between her thighs. Indy lifted her arms, shoving her fingers into the soft silk of his hair.
She made a sound of pleasure as she felt the brush of his hard cock press against her entrance.
At last…
She had time to grasp his shoulders before he was surging into her dampness with a ruthless shove.
Lost in the savage pleasure, Indy dug her nails into his back and gave a muffled gasp. He was large enough to stretch her to the edge of pain, but damn, nothing had ever felt so good.
Angel moaned, his hands skimming down to grasp her hips, angling her up to receive his deepening thrusts.
“I thought this could never happen to me,” he said in husky tones, burying his face in the curve of her neck.
Her legs wrapped around his waist, her hips lifting to meet each surge of his cock.
Bliss. Sheer bliss.
“What couldn’t happen?” she managed to whisper.
“You.” He lightly kissed her lips before pulling back to regard her with a somber expression. “Us.”
“Why?”
Angel kept his gaze locked on hers as he increased the pace, the heady scent of his musk clinging to her skin.
“My life was supposed to be dedicated to duty.” He lowered his head to nuzzle at her throat. “A mate was never part of the equation.”
Indy dug her nails into his shoulders as her breaths came in short gasps, the pleasure coalescing into a burst of shocking waves.
Above her, Angel’s features sharpened as he gave one last forceful thrust and then, with a wrenching groan, he collapsed on top of her.
In a rather dazed wonderment Indy held onto him with weak arms.
Mate.
Good. God.
CHAPTER 6
Angel kept his arms locked tight around Indy as they snuggled in the center of the bed.
His death grip had more than one purpose. Number one was the simple pleasure in feeling this female pressed against his body. He was confident this was as close to paradise as he’d ever been. And number two was ensuring she didn’t run from him in horror.
His lips pressed to her temple as his gaze skimmed down her naked body to the curve of her hip where the silvery claw marks glistened in the late afternoon sunlight.
Savage satisfaction raced through him along with a belated stab of guilt.
“Are you okay?” he demanded.
She tilted her head back, her cheeks still flushed and her eyes smoldering with a remembered pleasure.
“I’m tougher than I look,” she said.
Angel couldn’t argue. For such a tiny thing she had the heart and courage of a warrior. She was also an intensely independent woman.
Which was what troubled him.
“I mean…” His fingers drifted down her body to the shallow claw marks. “Are you freaking out at the thought of being my mate?”
Her lips twisted with wry amusement. “Would it change anything if I did?”
“No,” he admitted without hesitation. “It’s far too late.”
Belatedly glancing to where his fingers traced the silvery lines on her hip, she made a sound of surprise.
“What’s that?”
He tried to hide his smug smile. “My mark.”
“Mark?” She tilted back her head to study him in confusion.
His hand cupped her hip in blatant possession. He should no doubt have resisted the urge to slice his claws through her flesh as he’d felt her climax gripping his cock, but the overpowering instinct had simply taken over before he could rationally consider the consequences.
“My claim as your mate.”
“Yeesh,” she muttered. “Couldn’t you have just bought me a diamond ring?”
Relief jolted through him at her teasing tone. She had every right to be annoyed. He was a Pantera, which meant he’d known without a doubt they were meant to be together. His cat had chosen her as his mate. End of story.
But she was human.
Which meant her emotions could be far more murky.
But there was no mistaking the warm, profound contentment that settled on her pale face.
“I would buy you a hundred rings if I thought they would make you happy, but I have a feeling you would prefer a new dagger,” he told her, glancing toward the chair near the door where he’d left her leather jacket.
He’d found two daggers
and a dart gun filled with malachite in various pockets.
Her fingers drew aimless patterns over his chest, the light caress sending a raging inferno through him. He shuddered. He’d heard males say that nothing could compare to being intimate with a true mate, but he’d assumed they were exaggerating.
Now he realized their words hadn’t even begun to capture the extraordinary sensations of feeling Indy’s hands stroking over his skin.
“A girl has to protect herself,” she teased.
His possessive urge to guard and care for the female he had claimed as his own roared through him.
“No more,” he growled. “Now that’s my job.”
Instantly she stiffened, her hands pressing against his chest.”
“Hold on.”
Realizing his mistake, Angel dipped his head down to press a swift kiss to her lips.
“I know, you’re a warrior,” he assured her. Indy would be miserable if he tried to wrap her in a protective bubble. She’d already been held hostage by Locke. He wasn’t going to use their mating to cage her. “I will never try to make you less, Indy, but from now on we work as a team.”
He felt her tension ease, her fingers resuming their distracting exploration over his chest and down to his stomach.
“You said you never expected to mate,” she abruptly said. “It can’t just be because of your dedication to duty.”
He swallowed a groan. How the hell was he supposed to think when her hand was just an inch from his straining cock?
“My father died in an accident when I was just a cub,” he managed to mutter, his hand cupping her ass to press her against the hard thrust of his erection. “I was raised by my mother.”
He scented the sweet honey of her arousal, but she studied him with blatant curiosity.
“You were close to your mother?”
A familiar pain clenched his heart, but this time it was tempered by the newfound emotions the female in his arms had stirred to life.
He would always mourn the loss of his parents, but Indy had helped to fill the hole in his heart.
“Yes.” He brushed his lips over the top of her head, deeply regretting that Indy’s mother had been a worthless bitch. Thankfully Indy now had a family who would love her without question. “Then the Wildlands started to fade and she was infected with a rare Pantera disease.”
She frowned in confusion. “I thought you were immune?”
“To human diseases, but there have been a few Pantera that were vulnerable to the evil that the disciples of Shakpi used to infect our homelands.”
“Oh.” Clearly aware of the goddess who’d done her best to destroy the Pantera, Indy leaned forward to press a soft kiss just below his ear. “I’m sorry. It must have been very painful.”
“It was. That’s when I swore I would devote my life to my responsibility as a Healer.”
“And now?”
His lips skimmed over her brow and down the length of her nose. “Now I realize that I need more than duty. I need you.” Placing a lingering kiss on her lips, he pulled back to regard her with a gaze of pure longing. “Will you stay with me and be my mate, Indy?”
She didn’t make him wait.
“Yes, Angel,” she breathed. “I’ll be your mate.”
He buried his face in the curve of her neck, breathing deep of her scent of wildflowers.
“Thank the Goddess.”
“But…”
He growled, giving her skin a light nip before he lifting his head to study her with a wry smile.
“Why did I know there was going to be a but?”
“I can’t stop my mission until every lab has been found and destroyed,” she said, her expression settling into stubborn lines.
“I know,” he said. And he did. This woman had been held captive, tortured, and experimented on. The only way she would be able to make sense of her life was to bring an end to the bastards who’d treated her as an animal. “As long as you accept that you don’t have to be Wonder Woman anymore.”
She snorted, a wicked smile teasing at her lips. “I would never fill out Wonder Woman’s outfit.”
His gaze lowered to the rounded globes of her breasts that were tipped with rosy nipples. His mouth instantly watered.
He hadn’t devoted nearly enough time tasting those tempting buds.
“You’re perfect. You’re beautiful and courageous and loyal and…” His words trailed away with a husky groan as her fingers at last closed around his aching cock.
“And?” she teased, scattering kisses over his chest.
“Mine,” he rasped, grasping her leg to tug it over his hip, leaving her exposed for his cock to slide into her with one steady thrust.
***
Stanton polished off the last of the gumbo he’d sent the guard to pick up from Chelsea’s favorite restaurant. In the back of his mind he knew it was a mistake to prolong this encounter. Not only because it made the inevitable parting even more painful, but because every minute he was in her presence he risked exposing her to his master.
But when had he ever allowed logic and common sense to clutter his mind when it came to this woman?
It was at last Chelsea who brought an end to his afternoon of insanity.
Collecting their plates, she moved to place them in the sink before turning to watch as he rose from the table.
“You haven’t told me why you’re here.”
He allowed his gaze to drink in the beauty of her fiery curls surrounding the perfect oval of her face. A face only made more beautiful by the scars that proved she was a survivor.
“New Orleans has become too dangerous to continue our research here,” he said, grimacing at the enormous loss of property they’d suffered over the past week. In total he’d been forced to burn four labs and two homes.
This one would be next.
Chelsea arched a brow. “You’re afraid the Pantera might at last hunt you down and rip out your heart?”
Stanton shrugged. He wasn’t stupid. He knew the beast-men would shred him to tiny, bloody pieces if they ever managed to get their hands on him. Thankfully, the Pantera had been happy to remain hidden in their swamps so long he’d been able to create several layers of security around his various businesses, including emergency evacuation plans.
Still, the fact that they now had him on their radar meant he could no longer take unnecessary risks.
“They have become a…” He searched for the appropriate word. “Complication.”
Chelsea gave a sharp laugh. Unlike Stanton, she’d developed an inability to dismiss the Pantera as mere test subjects. And that, of course, had been her problem.
Once she saw them as people with feelings and dreams instead of just creatures, she’d been unable to continue with her research.
“A very dangerous complication,” Chelsea taunted.
“They won’t be able to stop us,” Stanton said with genuine confidence. The animals were dangerous, but they weren’t nearly as tech savvy as he was. “But for now we’ve transferred our patients to our other labs.”
She frowned. “I thought your master was convinced that Hiss would be the answer to all his troubles.”
Stanton hesitated, abruptly knowing where the conversation was headed.
“That’s his hope.”
“So why do you insist on keeping the other prisoners?”
“The research they provide is invaluable,” he said in offhand tones.
She clutched the counter behind her, a profound disappointment making her shoulders droop.
“So it’s true,” she muttered.
“What?” Stanton tried to bluff.
“You’re selling the technology we discovered.” She pushed away from the counter, moving to stand directly in front of him. “Locke, how could you?”
He wrenched his gaze from her pained expression, forcing himself to glance out the window where he could see the sky being painted in shades of lavender and pink as dusk began to spread over the city.
 
; He didn’t want to try and explain why he’d allowed his master to convince him they should use the experimental drugs they’d created as a way to fund further research.
Not when Chelsea was well aware that nothing could excuse the blatant greed of the older man.
It was one thing to try and discover technology to keep yourself alive. It was another to sell the pain of others for profit.
“I won’t be returning to New Orleans.” He abruptly changed the conversation.
It was time to walk away.
Before she ended up resenting him even more.
She sucked in a sharp breath. “What happens to me?”
He glanced down at her pale face, memorizing each line and curve. As if her image hadn’t already been branded into his brain.
“You’re free,” he told her.
She seemed to freeze, her eyes wide. “What?”
He grimly ignored the agony that pulsed through him. For once in his miserable life he was going to do the right thing.
Even if it killed him.
“The doors are unlocked and when I leave I’ll take the guard with me,” he forced himself to say.
She blinked, staring at him with wary hope. “Are you serious?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Barely aware of what he was doing, he lifted his hand to brush a stray curl behind her ear.
“I realize I was wrong to hold you as my prisoner.” His lips twisted, his fingers tingling at the feel of her warm skin. “At first my only concern was ensuring that no one discovered you were still alive. I couldn’t bear the thought of you being hurt.”
“And then?” she prompted.
He gave a humorless laugh. “Then I kept you here because I hoped we could be together again. Stupid. Holding you captive isn’t exactly the way to win your heart.”
Regret darkened her eyes, her hand lifting to cup his face. “I’ve told you what you needed to do if you want to be together.”
She had. All he had to do was betray the man who’d saved his life and turned him into a success.
“I…can’t,” he ground out.
Her jaw hardened with disappointment. Good lord. Even after all this time she still cared?
The knowledge was oddly painful.