I rolled my hips up to meet her questing fingers, pulling them deeper with each thrust. Then Hazel added a third finger, the stretch a combination of pain and pleasure that I couldn’t ignore.
“I want you to come for me, Marilee,” she whispered. “I want to see you break apart for me. I want you to soak my fingers with your cum.”
With her free hand she caught one of my nipples between her fingers, pinching down hard and pulling at the same time. I criedout, then she curled her fingers, reaching that spot that drove me crazy, and I was flying.
“Hazel! Mate!”
I shuddered beneath her, half out of my mind with the force of my orgasm. Hazel released my nipple, the movement causing the blood to rush back, creating another jolt of delicious pain that made me gasp. Meanwhile those fingers kept sliding against my inner walls, prolonging my pleasure.
When my body finally stilled she removed her fingers, meeting my eyes as she sucked my juices off her skin. I growled, the sound more animal than human, and pulled her up to my face so I could kiss her.
“That was… good,” I said, echoing her words from earlier.
“Just good?” She laughed. “I guess we’ll have to do better next time.”
Hazel
“We need another plan,” Marilee announced. “I’m not comfortable sending Hazel in there alone.”
“She won’t be alone, we’ll be with her,” my father reminded her.
“That’s even worse,” she said.
She wasn’t wrong, but we’d been over this multiple times since yesterday. As much as I assured her that I understood the danger, and despite the many times she’d seen me defend myself perfectly well, she was still acting like I was some damsel in distress.
Our time in the safe house last night had been incredible. We’d made love, had dinner with Martha and Allie, then made lovetwice more. Each time was better than the last one, but as Marilee finally fell asleep next to me, the panic set in.
I’d asked her about the mate thing. Practically insisted that she tell me where our relationship was going. And I was fine with it. Mostly. A little freaked out but coming around. But then I’d sat in that conference room and listened to my parents calmly explain all the alliances and double crossing and drama that was their lives, and it had all come rushing back to me. The way it felt to live that kind of life.
When you were a ‘princess’ of a crime family, a de facto member of the Irish mafia, there was only one way out. A wooden box. I’d thought I could escape and leave that world behind, but I was wrong.
My thoughts turned to my brother, Liam. He was the favorite child, the apple of my parents’ eyes. The heir to the criminal empire. He was my best friend, the person I loved most, and they’d gunned him down in cold blood. In our world, when you loved someone, you became vulnerable. Their lives became expendable.
The thought of someone taking out Marilee to get to me… it was too much to bear. I loved her. Loved her more than I’d loved anyone in my entire life, other than my brother. But even though she was a supernatural creature – much stronger than a human -- she could still be killed. I couldn’t lose her the way I’d lost my brother. That’s why after this was all over I needed to let her go. I’d rather not have her at all than have her torn away from me the next time someone had a vendetta against my family.
“We’re keeping the plan,” I told Marilee firmly, my voice carrying through the conference room. “And you’re not coming.”
“What?”
“I don’t want you there, Marilee. It’ll be too distracting.”
She marched over to me, her hands grasping my shoulders just hard enough for me to feel her grip. “Where you go, I go. I’m still your bodyguard, and more importantly, I’m your mate.”
“No Marilee, I’m sorry, but you can’t come to Donny’s. I’ve given this a lot of thought, and I don’t want you there.”
“I need to protect you,” she protested.
“Don’t you understand?” I said softly. “This is me protectingyou.”
Marilee frowned like she didn’t understand what I was saying or why I was saying it.
My gaze sought out Lois. “She needs to stay here. I don’t want her on the team. I’m the client, it should be my call.”
The wolf shifter gave me a long look, then she nodded once, somehow understanding me.
“Martin, you’re running comms from the command center. Wanda, you’ll take over the truck.”
“I’m going Lois,” Marilee said stubbornly. “I need to be there to protect my mate.”
