Her Lion Guard - The Complete Series Box Set (BBW Shifter Romance) (23 page)

“How did you sleep?” Mary-Lou asked, shimmying down from where she had been resting against the headboard until she was fully in Jonas’ embrace. Jonas muttered something unrecognizable but happy, stretching contentedly. Mary-Lou smiled, carding a hand through Jonas’ sleep-mussed hair. The man sighed, pushed closer into the caress with a satisfied rumble as his own hands slid up Mary-Lou’s body.

Soft touches turned into gentle kisses, into heated words and muted moans. Jonas’ hands were hungry against Mary-Lou’s body, trembled with desire and something darker, a need that Mary-Lou was just beginning to understand. Mary-Lou pulled him toward her in response, arced in his touch and kissed his lips as Jonas panted and thrust against her, all finesse gone in favor of satisfying his body.

“Come on,” she urged, voice rasping – a growl of passion, of lust, “Let go, come on.”

Jonas groaned, low and pained, and bit her – clamped his teeth in the space where her neck curved into her shoulder. Mary-Lou moaned in pleasure so stark it tumbled into agony, prompted her to spread her legs and
give
beneath her mate’s touch. To let him take and take, until there was nothing left.

It was all a bit of a blur after that: Mary-Lou did not remember Jonas moving away, did not recall pulling away from her mate’s golden body long enough to remove clothing. Yet they were naked all the same, skin hot and giving beneath eager fingers. Jonas cupped Mary-Lou’s hips, slid his palms down to the soft mounds of her ass even as he bent to take one of her nipples in his mouth. Mary-Lou choked on a scream, the pleasure sharp and unforgiving after so long without such touches. She buried her head in Jonas’ shoulder, muffled pleasure-filled cries in sucking kisses against the man’s flesh. When large fingers slid beneath her ass to play with the soft, moist flesh there, Mary-Lou’s entire body lurched in an upward spasm and she tasted blood between her teeth.

“Now,” the human woman panted once she could breathe, once words had meaning once again, “In me,
now
.”

Jonas rumbled his agreement. He played with her a bit longer; indecent, slick-soaping sounds accompanied the movement of his thick fingers in her warmth. Mary-Lou was embarrassed by how much she wanted to hear more, how little she cared about who else could hear
them
.

A moment more, a minute of increasingly incoherent demands on Mary-Lou’s side and Jonas
finally
deemed her ready, trusted himself enough to do more than grind helplessly against his mate’s skin. He trailed hot hands to Mary-Lou’s soft thighs, parted them wider beneath his body. Mary-Lou moaned when he ground his cock against her – a teasing warmth, hardness wrapped in velvet softness – relaxing at the feel of the thick head finally breathing her body. Jonas groaned with her, hands leaving red imprints as they squeezed her pale flesh. He thrust shallowly, slowly – watching her body give and take him in inch by inch with a naked hunger in his gaze.

Moments, a small eternity later, Jonas was finally as far as he could go. The Lion paused, human brain urging him to check on his mate even as his primal instincts tightened the muscles in his back, his thighs – prepared him to thrust and take and
take
. It took strength, inordinate control for glazed blue eyes to move up to Mary-Lou’s face, to focus enough to discern the expression there.

Lust. Love.

A smirk.

Jonas groaned as Mary-Lou tightened about him, blue eyes rolling into his head as the human woman lifted her hips and
ground
. A second later, an answering grin curled his lips and he thrust back, powerful and deep. It was Mary-Lou’s turn to swallow a scream, to grasp the covers and
pull
as the tempo picked up, hard and unforgiving from the start. She moaned, growled, raked her nails down Jonas’ back. Her mate gave as good as he took, mouthing against Mary-Lou’s throat, shoulders, sucking at her heavy breasts. It was a meeting of passion, a show of strength and love and
life
–

It was theirs. This –
they
belonged to each other, and no one was going to make it otherwise.

Jonas felt the tell-tale burn, the tightness in his stomach and groin that foretold an oncoming end. He moved a hand down Mary-Lou’s side, curled large fingers to where they were joined. Felt Mary-Lou shudder, her body convulse and tighten as he rubbed gently against the slick hardness of her clit. She was coming, she was—

The Lion roared, muscles tightening as he thrust once, twice, three times more into his mate’s trembling body. He pulled out just as the first wave of orgasm bowled him over, watched with dazed eyes as thick whiteness streaked his lover’s belly and thighs.

“Jonas,” Mary-Lou gasped. She pulled him up with weak hands and he went – to kiss her, to bring her closer into his arms.

“I love you,” he whispered into her mouth, added
More than you can ever know
in his mind.

Mary-Lou nodded, thinking the very same thing.

CHAPTER TWO

“Is everything ready?”

Mary-Lou was met with a twin set of nods. The human woman bowed her own head briefly, eyes serious as they studied Cara and Sasha’s wary faces. Her pack was worried, agitated – and with good reason. The last time Mary-Lou had attempted to talk sense to Shifters had not been a disaster, but had not led  to any visible change, either. With the exception of a few dozen furtive phone-calls and  a couple of hooded Shifters pledging their loyalty throughout the month that followed, no one had truly taken a stand against the current Order. More importantly, no one had dared challenge Wiley when the Shifter – a convicted criminal – had waltzed back into Mary-Lou’s life and thrown it into an uproar.

Indecision. Fear. Basic animal need for survival. It was what guided most, human and Shifter alike – what prevented progress, impaired vision. It was all going to end tonight.

Mary-Lou felt the weight of Fate, the cold focus of certainty as she readied to face, once again, those who raised their hands and voices against her family. Gloria had been the catalysis, but the knowledge had always been within Mary-Lou. She knew what had to be done, what she had to do. It was, after all, the very reason why the current Order still stood even as it choked the life out of those who followed it.

Living beings detested chaos.

Human history was littered with examples of what happens when disorder shakes a nation, when turmoil poisons the mind and hardens the heart against others’ suffering. Horrors and misery that should have never come to pass did so with terrifying efficiency, with unrepentant boldness that has  people scratching their heads and turning their eyes in disgust decades later. Who could ever believe genocide just, torture moral, murder kind?

No one. Not unless, of course, it was all hidden behind a thin veil of “necessity.”

Order was necessary. Law was necessary. Blind obedience and unquestioning loyalty – all necessary, all good, and just,  and needed if society was to survive: The end justifies the means.

But what could the end ever be, when the means carve the future to the bone?

Mary-Lou knew fear, knew the terror of having her whole life turn upside down. She knew, too, what had helped her – what could pull others onto the side of goodness, right their worlds without sacrificing their souls. Lines were to be drawn today: Clear-cut definitions and straight-forward explanations of what was happening, what had happened, to bring it all to a head. The Old Order was obsolete, was cruel and brutal beyond tolerance. Those who enacted it did not do so out of any love for their people, but out of desire to keep their own power. Mary-Lou would tell those willing to listen that disintegration of the Order will not lead to chaos, that all will thrive under a kinder system of Law. Those who do not – the many (and they will be many, Mary-Lou was not naïve) who will remain silent, choose to lurk in the shadows and observe instead of taking up one side or the other – well. Mary-Lou would just have to
show them
, wouldn’t she?

“The car is ready,” Sasha told her, voice steady, eyes expectant. Mary-Lou felt Jonas’ presence at her back, felt the unshakable support of her pack surround her and fill her with hope.

“Lead the way,” she said.

Irma had wasted neither time nor resources when she had taken charge of calling together this meeting.

Mary-Lou had given herself three days –seventy-two hours, to reassure family and friends of her health, think over her actions at the length and depth the occasion deserved. She told Irma of her decision to speak to all Shifters willing to listen on day two, asking her mother for help in spreading the message.

Irma had received two-hundred and twenty positive replies within twenty-four hours. Mary-Lou had been exhilarated by the response, becoming even more determined to do all she could to set things on the path of rightness. Not all who would attend would be supportive, not many would  be convinced outright, but the magnitude of the reaction was telling: The current Order was not well-received. Not anymore. Mary-Lou would have to convince those who mattered that a new system of governance was possible, that tolerance among Shifters and eventual integration within the larger society would benefit rather than hurt the dwindling Shifter tribes.

A tall order indeed.

The car stopped before a large, red-bricked building. An elementary school, its halls and classrooms empty for whole two weeks due to Spring break and associated holidays. It was a busy time down at the Center, with Easter decorations and other seasonal exhibits bringing in visitors around the clock. A spike of melancholy broke through Mary-Lou’s concentration; how long had it been, since she last stepped foot in her old workplace? How long since sticky-handed children and disruptive patrons were her greatest concerns? In that moment, Mary-Lou was shocked to realize how much time had passed – how quickly and thoroughly her life had changed.

She was even more surprised by the knowledge that she would do it all over again, had she the chance to choose.

Jonas helped Mary-Lou out of the car, not letting go of her arm even after Mary-Lou had straightened next to him on the sidewalk. Mary-Lou smiled up at Jonas, a soft upturn of her lips. She pushed up on her toes to kiss him, a brief touch meant to reassure and provide connection.

“Let’s go,” she said and did not comment when Jonas failed to let her go, instead linking a large arm securely around her waist. His closeness would not cause harm – those who disproved of their relationship were not worthy of Mary-Lou’s time in the first place.

Their steps were loud against gray linoleum, echoed heavily in the enclosed emptiness. Mary-Lou caught sight of Irma further down the hall, nodding as the older woman motioned for them to follow.

Around a corner and a hallway down, the doors of the school’s auditorium were thrown wide open. There were people crowded around the entrance – about twenty hooded figures. Mary-Lou threw a quick glance at Irma, wondering why they remained outside.

“No more space,” Irma mouthed. Mary-Lou refused to be intimidated; this was what she had wanted, what they all needed: A show of support. Strength in numbers. She followed Irma down another short hallway, to a side door that would place them in the back of the stage.

Jonathon waited for them inside. He took command of the situation quickly, ordering Sasha and Cara to monitor duty on the opposite end of the stage – just behind the heavy black curtains that framed the podium. He and Irma were to remain on the side by the door, and Jonas – well. Nothing could remove Jonas from Mary-Lou’s side.

“Katy and Jenna are on the floor,” Irma whispered, “ keeping an eye out for any troublemakers.”

“Is it time?” Mary-Lou asked. Irma rolled her eyes, face serious even as her lips twitched upward.

“You call the shots here, Mary-Lou. Don’t forget that.”

Mary-Lou nodded. A capable, confident leader did not wonder, did not hesitate. She would not forget again.

Mary-Lou climbed the stage, walked the foot and a half that placed her in the very center of over four hundred hungry eyes. Jonas remained a step behind her, a watchful shadow and silent support in one.

Not a whisper broke the heavy, expectant silence in the room.