Kingpin Bear (A Paranormal Shape Shifter Romance) (The Agency Book 4) (10 page)

Nadia

She watched Jared as he moved outside, closing the door behind him so that they could converse in private. Her cheeks still burned from the shock of realizing not only had she been kissing him, but that someone had been watching! That was so embarrassing. She was not an exhibitionist by nature. She wasn’t shy about being with someone, but she preferred to keep it private.

The kiss in public earlier, while enjoyable, had not contained anywhere near the passion that she had felt—still felt—coursing through her veins right then. She hadn’t expected anyone to be a witness to this one, however, and her skin burned again as she realized they would have seen her hands digging into his back as well. His delicious, firmly muscled back…

“So, you and I haven’t had much of a chance to talk,” Madison said, slipping into the spot most recently occupied by Jared, though she did keep a bit more of a distance between them.

“Things have been a bit hectic,” she agreed.

“I’m Madison, the nominal head of the Underground,” she said, sticking her hand out.

“Nadia, human refugee,” she joked, though it wasn’t entirely inaccurate. “So you’re the boss of all of… of them?” she asked, not sure which terminology to use.

“Mostly,” Madison said. “I run—or ran, perhaps is the better term now with everything in disarray—the whole Underground. Field operations of any sort fell under Jared’s purview, as he has experience that I don’t. So for instance, he’s technically in command right now, though any big decisions will be approved by me first, if possible.”

Nadia’s head was moving up and down as the other woman talked, but she had one burning question that just sort of slipped out. “And they’re okay with that?” she asked.

“Okay with what?” Madison seemed confused.

“With you. Being their boss.”

“Of course. It wouldn’t work if they weren’t.”

“Even though you’re a human, and female?” Nadia asked, smacking herself internally for the lack of filter.

She had expected an outburst of some sort, something that would indicate Madison was angered at her question. But the other woman just smiled calmly.

“Do you consider yourself to be below men?” she asked instead.

“No,” Nadia answered immediately. “There are areas where men are proficient that I am not. And the reverse is also true. In those areas, perhaps, but I see that as due to skill or talent. Not sex. I do not see how me being a woman makes me naturally inferior to a man. I mean, yes, they are more naturally inclined to things such as muscle development, especially upper body strength, but that doesn’t make me less as a human being. I’m okay with us being different, but equal.”

Madison’s smile became a full-fledged grin. “I think we might get along okay, you and I,” she said. “I believe the same. There are differences in our sex, but I would not instantly submit myself to a man, nor would I expect him to do the same. So in that essence, the rest of the Underground is in agreement. They don’t care that I’m a woman, as long as I get the job done.”

Nadia felt a fierce rush of pride surge through her. She liked this woman. Madison was strong, confident. A natural leader, she could tell. Nadia knew she had her own strengths, but she didn’t find that they tended to run toward leading others in a command position. That wasn’t for everyone. Even commanders needed smart, able-bodied people around them to succeed.

“As for being human,” Madison said, looking very contemplative. “Well…” she reached out and hooked a finger under the nearby wooden coffee table.

“Oh,” Nadia said as she lifted it clear from the ground with ease, only her first knuckle underneath it. “I see.”

“The Extremis serum can work wonders,” Madison said. “I’m assuming Jared told you that much at least?”

“Yes. He even mentioned that he knew some people who had been injected with it. He neglected to mention you were one of them though.”

“I’m sure he did. The others usually leave it up to me to judge someone, to decide if I can trust them with my secret.”

“You decided to trust me?” she asked. “You just met me.”

Madison gave her a knowing smile. “Yes, I did. But Jared’s known you for a little bit now, and he’s not one prone to judgment mistakes in all the time I’ve known him. I trust his instincts.”

But his instincts are wrong. He has made a judgment mistake with me. I’m not trustworthy. Not after what I’ve done.

“Is something wrong, Nadia?” Madison asked.

“I’m flattered,” she said, trying to cover up the nervous flutter in her voice. How had Madison picked up on her thoughts? “I don’t know if I feel like I’m worthy of such a secret just yet, but I’ll do my best to prove that I am.”

That much, at least, she meant with the full conviction of her heart.

Madison’s eyes narrowed as she seemed to stare right through her.

“Yes, yes I do believe you will. Just make sure you come to a decision on your worthiness sooner rather than later.”

Translation: Own up for your sins now, before things get too serious with Jared. I understand. I will. I want to. But it’s going to be so hard…

“I will try,” she said seriously. “This is all new to me. It’s changed the way I see the world a lot. Jared has told me what you’re fighting for, and who you’re fighting. I never realized things were so serious before.”

Madison nodded. “Neither did I, until I got thrown into all of this. They came for my father, you know. Connor and the others, they saved him, and then me.” Her eyes unfocused briefly as she relieved the past.

“Your father was a shifter?” Nadia asked.

“Is a shifter,” Madison stressed. “Living safely in Genesis Valley now.”

Nadia frowned. “That’s the second time I’ve heard of that place. I asked Jared about it before, but now that I think over that conversation, he deftly steered me away from answering it. What is Genesis Valley?”

“It’s a shifter haven,” Madison answered. “A safe place for our kind to be, without fear of persecution by human or otherwise.”

“Otherwise?”

The leader of the Underground smiled humorlessly. “Not all shifters are as united as you might think. There are certain groups that think they are better than others. It is no different than the way humans treat each other.”

Nadia looked ashamed. “It’s true. We really do.”

“It’s not so long ago that I was human,” Madison told her with a wry smile. “So I know full well. It’s weird now, trying to find my place. I’m no longer human, but I’m so new to being a shifter that I don’t feel I fit in there either. It’s like I’m caught in no-man’s land.”

“It sounds like you need to go to Genesis Valley yourself.”

A dreamy looked crossed her face. “One day, after we’ve managed to defeat the Agency, I hope to do just that. To live out my life with Connor by my side—or me by his side, as he’d like you to believe.”

The two women shared a giggle. Even as they did though, Nadia pictured herself and Jared, finding a place where they could just be. Where she wouldn’t need to be scared of who or what she was, or had done, and where he wouldn’t always have to be worried about his team. She wanted that, for herself, but also for him. He deserved it after all that he had been through.

“How do we do that though?” she asked after a moment.

“Do what?”

“Defeat the Agency.”

Madison looked contemplative. “Unfortunately, we’ll probably have to kill them all. If we can get their leader, it should hopefully fall apart after that.”

“Jared said the same thing.” Her features narrowed. “When do we start?”

“You’re going to help us?”

She nodded. “However I can. I’m good with computers and data. Any need for that?”

Madison looked thoughtful. “Possibly. Not at the moment though. For now, stay close to Jared, and help him out as need be.”

“That’s the plan,” she said, trying to keep the smile off her face.

“I bet,” Madison teased, standing up as the men came back inside.

“Ready?” Jared asked, catching her completely off guard.

“Ready for?” she trailed off.
Was he really asking if she was ready to finish what they started earlier, in front of everyone?

Connor snorted softly and moved to Madison’s side. She saw their fingers link automatically, without effort.

I want that.

“We have to go,” he told her.

“Go where?”

“Outskirts of town. Motel. We can’t stay here. The four of us here will draw too much attention. We need to split up until plans can be finalized for what to do next.”

“Are there any plans?” she asked, getting up from the couch and walking with him to the door. The other couple followed along behind.

“They’re being discussed,” he said with a look at the other two. “Nothing finalized just yet though.”

She nodded. “Okay. I just feel like we’ve been on the run a lot, without much sign of the Agency, except when we fucked up and went out in public.”

“True, but we don’t want to take chances. All it takes is one moment of carelessness and they’ll be all over us. We need to keep moving. Connor and Madison are going to do the same thing, heading out tomorrow, as are the rest of the Underground. Staying put is bad news.”

They said their goodbyes and headed out into the city. Night had begun to fall.

Without thinking, she took his hand as they walked. To her delight, he gripped it tight.

***

“Well, I don’t think they’ll be looking for us in here,” she said dryly as they walked up the last set of steps from the path and onto the sidewalk.

A car whizzed by closely, causing her to tug lightly at Jared, who draped an arm around her and pulled her tight.

“What’s wrong with it?” he asked, though his voice told her he was joking.

“It’s a little dilapidated.”

“Don’t let the exterior fool you. The owner is a friend, and the rooms themselves, while basic, are actually kept quite clean. For instance, he actually washes all the sheets regularly.”

“High-class,” she said, leaning her head on his shoulder as he escorted her across the road.

“Oh hush.”

She giggled.

True to his word, Jared did know the man behind the counter, who quickly set them up with a room, accepting the cash the shifter slid across the counter without so much as a blink.

“Second floor, how posh,” she said as Jared opened the door and gestured for her to go in ahead of him.

“The penthouse suite was unavailable,” he replied without missing a beat. “Royalty in town or something.”

The room was, as he had said, plain but clean-looking. A bed occupied the wall to their left. At its foot was a couch, and a TV on the right-hand wall. There was a kitchenette in the back right, and a washroom off to the back left, each in their own little rooms. Along the wall as she entered were two equal-sized dressers.

“It’ll be perfect. And it actually smells nice in here,” she commented, taking a whiff of the air as she took off her hoodie, tossing it on a hook.

“It’s the water. Helps to make it feel more airy.”

She nodded, looking around. They didn’t have anything to unpack. The couple of meager possessions they’d had, had been left at the first safe house.

“So, we stay here for a few days?” she asked, not moving from his side as he closed and locked the door behind them.

“Yes, I think so,” he said, looking at her.

She swallowed, her throat suddenly dry from the way his glacier-blue eyes bore into her, full of emotion and feeling.

“I wanted to tell you something,” he said, just a little awkwardly, stepping closer to her.

Nadia didn’t step away. She couldn’t if she’d wanted to.

“You did?” It took a monumental effort for her to get just those words out, forcing them past the mental block that seemed to have slid into place.

“I did.” He stepped even closer, and she noticed his shoes were already off.

“What was it?”

His hands reached out, his long fingers curling around hers, holding them tight and infusing them with the warmth that seemed to be a part of his natural state of being.

“I really enjoyed kissing you earlier.”

“M-Me too,” she managed to get out with a shaky nod of her head.

“I didn’t like that we had to stop.”

His voice had dropped an octave now, thick with passion and desire as he used his grip on her hands to bring her a little closer.

“Me neither,” she said, finding her voice at last.

Him moving her seemed to unlock the floodgates of her courage. Before he could react she pulled him closer to her, inhaling his taste deeply as his lips burned hot and bright against hers, searing heat into her as he picked her up effortlessly from the ground. Her legs automatically wrapped around him.

Her fingers tugged his shirt up and over him, revealing an array of large and defined muscles that she was going to explore one by one as soon as she could.

For now she settled for running her fingers up and across his chest, her fingers splayed wide. His lips found hers once more and stars exploded behind her eyes at the sheer power of the connection she felt with him. It threatened to take her breath away, but she was too involved now for that to happen. Her breathing did increase as things got hotter. It took her a moment to come to the conclusion that it wasn’t simply warm because of her blood flowing faster.

No, it was getting
hot.

The heat was just pouring off of Jared now as their touches became more frantic, more searching. Her skin absorbed as much as it could, warming her down to the core. An inferno rose within her to match, centered firmly between her legs but burning so brightly it threatened to spill out into the rest of her.

“Jared,” she whispered, her voice sounding loud in the empty room.

He didn’t respond with words. Instead he emitted that deep, masculine growl, the one that no matter how hard shifters tried to replicate outside of sex, they never could. The one that sent tingles through her body and made her nipples stand on end as he spun, pressing her up against the wall as he continued to kiss her with all the restrained force of a wild animal.

Which after all, is exactly what he was.

He hoisted her up a little higher on the wall with a quick flex of her muscles, causing Nadia to bite her lip at the sheer sexiness of the power contained within him. She’d seen it when he fought, when he was forced to use violence. But to have it turned on her in a sinful display of salivating strength was almost more than she could take.

“My shirt,” she said between kisses, tugging at it with her fingers until she could get it up and over her head.

The instant it was past her chin, she felt the scruff of his unshaven beard rasp gently against her neck. His lips branded her with their heat, trailing a line of fire from near her ear down across her collarbone until he encountered the first hints of her breasts. He paused there for a moment as she brought her arms—still entangled in her shirt—down over his head and pulled him tight.

Hot breath washed across her skin, igniting her nerve endings with a flame-fueled desire to be touched. As if he could read her mind, Jared shifted slightly, using his insane strength to hold her against the wall with one hand under her ass. His other dragged up her side and across her chest, before dipping back under to remove her bra.

“Don’t rip it off,” she commanded gently, nipping at his ear as his head came close. “It’s the only one I have right now.”

His body shook gently with laughter, but he never stopped his motion, and a moment later her bra fell away, revealing her breasts to him. Nadia hoped he would like them. She wasn’t huge, but she had always been happy with her proportions.

Jared put any worries to rest as his lips closed around one of her nipples, alternating between gently sucking on it and giving it a light nibble and flick with his tongue. This action brought a soft moan from between her lips as she allowed herself to succumb to his touch.

After the perfect amount of time he switched attention to her other side, but not before his free hand came up to cup and caress her, ensuring both her breasts were attended to. Nadia pulled him to her chest, making soft noises of pleasure.

As the pulsing between her legs threatened to become a full-fledged throb, Jared seemed to pick up on this. He swung her around from the wall and lowered her onto the bed, where he could use both hands to strip her of all her remaining clothing. She tried to return the favor, both to be polite and to get a peek at the bulge she could see in his pants, but he wasn’t ready to let her do that yet.

As soon as her underwear went flying, he ran his hands down her legs, hooked himself under, and pulled himself between them.

Nadia flinched visibly in surprise as his lips softly kissed her all over, until he finally dragged it up and across her clit in a move that was far too gentle and delicate to have come from a big bear shifter. It nonetheless felt amazing, and as he continued to work, her cries began to fill the room.

At one point, she felt him slip a finger inside her. Now the pleasure he was inflicting upon her was coming from two sources, and she felt the familiar buildup of pressure.

“Just like that,” she commanded, fingers scrunching into fists as she grabbed onto the comforter for dear life. “Don’t you dare stop. Holy shit this feels so good.”

Her words seemed to spur him on, and Jared did just as he was instructed to. Not long after, Nadia’s back and core locked up and she lost all control as an orgasm washed over her, thundering its way through her body. Toes flexed, fingers splayed, her back arched up off the bed as she shuddered through one of the most intense climaxes she’d ever felt.

She expected Jared to pull back, to let her relax until she could return the favor. But that didn’t happen. He continued to work his finger inside of her as his tongue moved across her clit. Nadia wasn’t sure she could take it.

“It’s too—”

She fell back on the bed, the pleasure beginning to outweigh the pain as he kept pleasuring her, forcing her to accept his tongue. She writhed in his grip, but his free hand kept her pinned down, pressing just hard enough that she couldn’t move unless she really tried. Part of her wanted to roll away, but she liked letting him be in charge, and for that to be fun, both parties had to agree to it.

So she lay there, letting herself be helpless until another screaming orgasm gushed through her, overwhelming her senses. Nadia’s eyes slammed shut and she allowed her body to do its thing as she basked in the fleeting, momentary bliss that was the height of an orgasm.

“Wow,” she said a minute or two later as air returned to her lungs.

Jared was still buried between her legs, but he was just resting, not actively trying to do anything more, giving her time to recover in peace. He simply smiled in response to her words.

Nadia gave him a faux-stern look and crooked a finger at him. “Come here,” she ordered.

He came up over her legs, and she grabbed him by the shoulders and twisted, pushing at the same time, until he was on his back next to her.

“Help me with this,” she said in mild irritation as his belt refused to come undone.

“Sorry,” he chuckled, releasing the auto-tightening belt swiftly, so that she could then undo his pants and begin to tug them down.

Nadia had meant to keep his boxers on until she was done removing everything else, but it all came down together, revealing to her a large, thick cock that was well on its way to being as hard as steel. It practically leapt into her hand, straining to grow harder as she gently stroked it.

“Not today,” he told her as she went to take it into her mouth. “I have other things in mind.”

She arched an eyebrow, her tongue still flicking across the underside of his head, pressing against the soft skin there. “Do you now?” she said after a minute.

He responded by picking her up and setting her down on top of him, so her legs straddled his sides. She could feel the tip of his cock pressing up against her from the rear. Without consciously deciding to, she moved her hips backward, rubbing herself along his shaft, coating him in the wetness he had caused with his tongue.

At one point, he just slid inside of her before she had been expecting it. Nadia sat upright abruptly as the air sped from her lungs.

Strong hands gripped her hips, lifting her up slightly, and then slowly let her settle down until she was completely filled by his length. Her walls protested slightly as they stretched to fit him, but it was much more pleasurable than it was painful.

Her hands rested comfortably on his chest, and she took the time to trace outlines of his muscles along his pecs, arms, and as many of his abs as she could see.

To her delight, Jared didn’t rush her. Instead, he stroked her legs with his hands, dragging the tips of his fingers across her skin so lightly she could barely feel it, and yet hard enough that the grip of his nails made her shiver.

“Oh I like that,” he said as the involuntary muscle spasm made her clamp tight around him.

She grinned, and without saying a word pushed herself up and off him, and then settled slowly back down.

“What about that?” she asked, biting her lip at the way his face glassed over with arousal.

“I think you’re making it very difficult for me not to roll over and have my way with you,” he said in a deep, throaty growl.

“Good,” she replied lustily, moving her hips up and down rhythmically now, not stopping at any point.

His cock felt amazing as it slid in and out of her at her control. She hated as it slid out, but the sensations as it filled her up once more were unbeatable. The heat continued to pour off his body, and in just a few minutes she was beginning to sweat as well. The hair on the back of her neck became matted down and she felt a glistening sheen cover her body.

Part of her was nervous of his reaction, but the moment her pores burst open, Jared let loose with a deep snarl of delight, pulling her down so that he could vigorously kiss her. He kept his own hips moving so that he didn’t stop fucking her. The close proximity to him ensured she wasn’t able to cool down any time soon, and so she quickly stopped caring.

After staying on top of him until her legs quivered and she could barely move herself up and down, Jared followed through on his earlier words and rolled her over. His hips thrust deep into her immediately, eliciting a sharp gasp of surprised delight at the extra depth he managed to gain from that position. He lay draped atop her as she dragged her nails down his back roughly, feeling the muscles slide underneath her touch.