Mated to War (11 page)

Without a second thought, she
answered his question. “No more running. I want everything you’re offering.”

Chapter Nineteen

As soon as the words left her
mouth, Judge whisked her out of the bathroom. Within a couple of steps she
found herself lying on the bed, looking up at Judge. He seemed to be reading
her, hesitation in his eyes.

“Are you sure about this,
kitten? We don’t have to rush.” He held himself stiffly over her.

She lifted her hand to his
cheek. “I’m sure, Judge. Please make love to me.”

His mouth slammed down onto
hers, ravishing and devouring her. This wasn’t the first time she had sampled
Judge’s unique taste, but even now she gained deeper insight into the man. Even
to her inexperienced body, he tasted like sex and sin, but hidden in amongst
the flavors lay so much more, promising to reveal itself in due course.

There was no dueling in this
kiss. Judge took control from the moment their lips meet. With each thrust of
his tongue, his denim-covered cock pounded against her sensitive pussy. Her
legs wound around his waist of their own accord, offering herself up to him.

He pulled away and moved off the
bed. His gaze never left her as his hands went to the shirt stretched across
his solid chest. “Are you sure?” he asked, making no further movement to
discard his clothing.

She reached for him. “Yes.
Please, Judge, I’m positive.”

Her heart held no fear of what
was about to happen, only anticipation. She held her breath, waiting for him to
move. Finally he did and boy was she rewarded. He yanked his t-shirt over his
head, revealing his slightly furry chest. Her fingers itched to delve into it.

Then came the jeans. Below them
lay a cock unhindered by underwear. Though she had seen it before in her
vision, she was still taken by how beautiful it was. And how huge! Its
purple-pink head looked angry, but her mouth watered for it, which shocked her.
Why would she want to put that in her mouth?

Judge had her forgetting that
dilemma when he stalked toward her, crawling over the bed. Dislodging her
fingers that were failing to unbutton her nightshirt, he went about undressing
her with precise actions. With each button that he undid, he sampled her skin,
kissing and using his rough tongue to lick every inch he revealed. By the time
her nipples were playing peek-a-boo, her nerves were frazzled by her impatient
hormones and his thorough attention.

Still he continued with his
slow, torturous pleasure, adding several bites and nips along the way. Each
time her skin was held prisoner between his teeth, her rapture grew, sending
her skyward. Then he would bathe the sensitive area, licking and soothing the sting
and pivoting her toward delirium. Her body didn’t know whether it was coming or
going, but still it basked in Judge’s ministrations.

Finally the barriers between
them were removed. But Judge’s worshiping of her body didn’t stop. He continued
to deliver his mind-blowing erotic treatment as he made his way down her
stomach.

He stopped at the junction of
her legs. Her pussy lifted off the bed, asking for something. What, Charli had
no idea. But what he did next had her legs clamped around his head.

“What is it, kitten?” he asked,
looking up from her pussy.

Trying to move further up the
bed, away from his mouth, she asked, “What are you doing?”

“What does it feel like I’m
doing?”

God, he was going to make her
say the words, she thought to herself. She lowered her gaze from his. “You had
your mouth on my p-pussy. It’s been leaking.”

Judge’s face visibly softened.
“Kitten, that’s exactly what I’m chasing. Did you like it?” She nodded. “Good,
because catching all your juices on my tongue has my mouth watering.”

She allowed her body to relax
slightly. His answer had given her the confidence to ask about her earlier
thought. “Will I do that to you too?”

“I would love to see you sucking
my cock, but I would never ask you to do something that made you uncomfortable.”
He began placing small kisses to her inner thighs. “Would you like to?”

The soft caress had her thighs
falling apart, inviting exploration while her brain tried to piece together a
better way to express her inexperience. Instead she blurted out her worries.
“I’ve never done it. What if I don’t like it or hurt you?”

“I will be honored to teach you
when you’re ready. As for hurting, there are different kinds of pain. Like
this.” His fingers came up and pinched her nipples. Her chest thrust into his
hold. “I think you’ll agree exquisite pain like that belongs in our sex play,
don’t you?”

She moaned her response. It was
all she could do. The air had left her lungs, making it impossible to breathe
let alone talk. Pushing her breasts against his palms, she silently begged for
more while her pussy pulsated.

Without another word, Judge
obeyed her body’s demands. His fingers aptly pulled and twisted her nipples
while his tongue went back to playing with her clitoris. The world ceased to
exist to Charli outside of this man and his wicked actions. Her whole body felt
like it was going to explode. She was begging for it to happen. Begging for the
relief, but Judge had other ideas.

He pulled his fingers from her
nipples and his tongue from her pussy. She wanted to scream at him to continue
but failed to find the energy to do such a thing. Seconds later, she understood
why he had stopped.

Her eyes flew open when she felt
something blunt nudging at her entrance. It rubbed against her clit, then back
down to her opening. Judge’s face was above hers, his gaze asking something of
her.

“Are you sure?” he asked. His
voice was strained and the muscles in his necks were protruding.

She lifted her pussy to meet his
cock. “Yes.”

Judge seemed to relax above her
at her response, but it was only for a second. His arms on either side of her
head tensed as his cock slowly pushed into her. If she thought his actions had
been torturous before, then he was proving her wrong now.

Her body wanted something. No,
needed
would be a better word for it. As soon as he pushed into her opening he
stopped. He was pulling his cock almost all the way out, then pushing back into
her in small, jerky motions. She couldn’t stand it any longer. As he jerked
forward, she lifted her hips, taking his cock deeper into her body.

Frozen above her, Judge
reprimanded, “Let me do it. I’m trying not to hurt you.”

“Please, Judge. I’m not a china
doll. I need you inside of me now.”

She reiterated her point by
taking more of his cock into her. Her fingers played with his nipples, copying
what he had done to her not that long ago. Still he remained unmoving. Lifting
her head, she took one of them into her mouth, her teeth worrying the brown
nub.

His control broke. His body
jolted up, pulling his nipple away from her mouth. He grabbed her hips, his
fingers digging into her skin, and he slammed into her. Her scream got caught
in her throat as he continued his punishing thrusts. She tried to meet each
downward motion but his hands held her firm.

Finally she found her voice, but
the ability to form words had deserted her. A high-pitched keening left her
mouth. It was answered by her mate’s grunts. With each sound her orgasm
intensified and Judge’s rhythm faltered. He continued to push into her, harder
and faster, driving her closer to completion.

Suddenly her vision blackened as
her body flew. Tiny electric jolts ran through her system, awakening every
nerve ending. Then she was gently falling, floating back to earth.

Opening her eyes, she found
herself under the blankets, on her side, staring at Judge. “Hi,” she said,
smiling.

“Hi, yourself. Are you okay? I
didn’t hurt you, did I?” His hand came up to the side of her face.

Untangling herself from the
blanket, she uncovered her arm and placed her palm on top of his hand. “I’m
fine, Judge. In fact, I’m better than fine,” she replied, taking a mental note
of her body. “A few aches and totally exhausted, but other than that I feel
alive for the first time ever. That was something.”

Judge laughed. “I’m glad to be
of service. Now why don’t you sleep so tomorrow we can get this meeting out of
the way, and we can get on with the rest of our lives?”

“What’s happening tomorrow?” she
asked, finally remembering about the conference call between Judge and his
brothers.

“Gabby, Nikki, and Jewel will be
up here with Emily, watching her, while the rest of us are protecting her sexy
older sister.”

“You think I’m sexy?”

Leaning forward, Judge kissed
her gently on the lips. “I think you’re the sexiest woman in the world. And
you’re all mine.”

Lowering her eyes, she said
softly, “I think you’re sexy too.” Then a yawn escaped her.

“Okay, sleep time, kitten. And
then tomorrow you can tell me all the ways you think I’m sexy.” Judge then
turned her over and pulled her back into his body.

She closed her eyes and allowed
her head to sink into the pillow. As darkness moved in, she muttered, “Arrogant
much?” and fell asleep to his gentle laughter.

Chapter Twenty

Charli was jolted awake when an
unexpected weight landed on her. Without opening her eyes she reached out,
willing her arms to dislodge the squirming object. Tiny hands touched her
cheeks, gently patting them.

“Come on, Charli. Judge says
it’s time to get up,” Emily said in frustration. “The pancakes are nearly ready
and you’re gonna miss out if you don’t get up now. Judge and I will eat them
all and then there’ll be none left for you.”

“Okay, I’m up!” Charli replied
at the promise of pancakes. She sat up, grabbed her sister around her waist,
then dumped her in the middle of the bed. Finding Emily’s ticklish spot, she
tickled and said to the giggling girl, “So you think it’s okay to eat all of my
pancakes, do you? Nobody eats my pancakes!”

“Okay!” Giggle. “Okay, I won’t
eat them all. Just Judge’s share.” Giggle.

“What did you say?” Judge
demanded, standing in the doorway, holding a spatula. “Who’s going to eat my
pancakes?”

Giggle. “Me!”

Judge stalked toward the bed.
Standing behind Charli, he handed her the cooking implement and said, “Move
over, mate! I’ll deal with this cheeky monkey.”

Looking down at her sister,
Charli removed her hands and warned, “Now you’ve done it, honey!”

“No, Judge. I’m sorry!” Giggle.
“I won’t eat your pancakes, I promise.” Giggle.

“I don’t believe you, princess.
You’ll have to do better than that.” With that said, he began tickling Emily.

In between laughter Emily was
screaming for him to stop. Every time he did and asked whether she was going to
eat his breakfast more giggling ensued. Charli relished the sound. Neither of
them had many opportunities to relax and enjoy themselves like that.

It turned serious and all fun
stopped when Emily cried out, “I’m gonna pee myself!” Judge jumped back,
allowing Emily to scramble off the bed. When she reached the door, she turned
and shouted, “Tricked you!” before running out of the bedroom.

Judge fell to the bed and flung
his arm over his eyes. “That girl has worn me out,” he complained before
turning his gaze to her and smirking. “Or maybe it was her older sister. How
are you feeling, kitten?”

“Tired, but a good tired. If
that makes sense?”

“Perfect sense,” he agreed. “If
we didn’t have this meeting in an hour I would ask Nikki and Viper to take
Emily so we could have a lie-in.”

His words reminded her of the
job she had to do that day to ensure Emily’s safety. The image of her being
tied to the chair, frightened, sobered Charli quickly.

As if reading her thoughts,
Judge pulled her into his arms. “I won’t let anything happen to either of you.
We will get through today and allow the feds to do their stuff. Then there will
be no more looking over your shoulder. No more running!”

Nodding her head against his
shoulder, she said the one thing she wasn’t sure she had said yet. “Thank you,
Judge.”

She felt a kiss to her forehead.
“It’s me who should be thanking you.”

Before he could continue, a
little voice traveled through the bedroom door. “These pancakes are great. You
guys are missing out.”

A low rumble moved up Judge’s
chest. He helped her sit up and said with a smile, “I think we better get out
there before she makes herself sick.”

****

An hour later, Charli rubbed her
damp hands down her trousers as she exited the lift. Emily was safely ensconced
in Judge’s quarters with Nikki, Gabby, and Jewel, playing with her dolls while
Charli was currently surrounded by four large, imposing men as she walked
toward Iris’s room. To say she was nervous would be an understatement.

 
Suddenly the guys halted outside a door. Viper
and Chaos pushed in front of Charli. They stood just staring at the door. Both
held one finger up, indicated that only one life force was present within the
room.

Even though Charli was helping
the woman out and Iris had abided by all of their requests, the guys didn’t
trust her completely. The truth was, neither did Charli where Delgado was
concerned. The man had enough money to buy anyone’s loyalty, even the staunch
FBI agent who, if Charli had read her correctly, had feelings for Jonah
Biesterman.

Hands turned her until she was
facing Judge. “Okay, kitten, remember the plan. We go in there, look over the
evidence the feds have on Delgado, you do your thing and we leave,” he reminded
for the fifth time since leaving the quarters. “And you do everything we tell
you. Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes, Judge, I know the plan,”
she said, fighting not to roll her eyes. “Can we just get this over and done
with? The sooner that man is out of Emily’s and my life the sooner we can get
on with our lives with you on the pride lands.”

He must have sensed her nerves.
His hands ran up and down her bare arms, trying to replace the chill in her
body with his warmth and touch. “I’ll be right there beside you. We do this
together.”

He turned toward his brothers,
nodded, and grabbed her hand. Devil knocked on the door, which was immediately
opened. Iris would have known they were out there. Her gift would have at least
picked up on Charli’s presence.

According to Judge, she probably
wouldn’t have been able to read himself or his brothers. They had had many
years roaming this earth, meeting all sorts of people. They’d built up their
walls around their minds, protecting their thoughts, many years ago. Judge
promised to show her how to do that too. Unfortunately he didn’t have enough
time to do that before their meeting with Iris.

As they entered the hotel room,
Charli took in the décor. It was a standard room, holding a large double bed, a
small table, and the usual television and bar fridge. A door beside the front
door probably hid the bathroom. Iris’s luggage sat by the door, closed and
seemingly ready to go. The only bag that remained unpacked was a large computer
bag. It sat open and empty by the bed. Its contents were strewn across the
small sitting table and bed. Papers covered every visible surface.

“I didn’t realize there would be
so many of you. I only have two chairs,” Iris said, looking nervously at the four
men from behind one of the chairs at the table. Charli felt Judge gently push
her toward the other. “As you can see, I did as you requested and pulled out
everything we had on Delgado.”

While Judge remained by Charli’s
side, standing next to the chair she had claimed and looking over the papers on
the table, the other three men were going through the files and papers on the
bed. Iris looked from Judge, back to the bed, then back to Judge, like she
wasn’t sure how to handle their inquisitive natures.

Charli’s heart and brain told
her to fix it. She didn’t want to be in this room any longer than she needed to
be. Knowing the guys would do as they please, she decided to turn Iris’s
attention to why Charli was there.

“So, Iris, why don’t you show me
the evidence that supports your belief Delgado’s going to meet the shipment
this week?” Charli asked, drawing the woman’s attention back on the situation
at hand. “I’m assuming you have a general idea of where the drop off will be
taking place.”

“Only that it’s going to be at
one of his properties,” Iris said, pushing papers to one side. She then placed
photos in front of Charli. “These top three are the likely points of contact,
but with the cutbacks recently we don’t have the manpower to cover all three
locations properly.”

“What about just covering the
man himself?” Judge asked.

“The only person who has been
successful in getting close to Delgado is Jonah. But that’s because nobody but
a few people know who he truly is.”

Chaos glanced up from the file
he held. Throwing it onto the bed, he moved over to stand behind Charli, still
ensuring she was safe. “You think you have a mole?”

“I know we have at least one,
but I suspect there’s more,” Iris replied, tapping her head. “I know who one of
them is, but I can’t seem to gather enough evidence. I’m thwarted at every
turn, which leads me to believe there’s more than one. I haven’t figured out
who the others are yet.”

“I take it that the FBI have no
knowledge of your ability?” Charli asked, already suspecting the truth.

Iris shook her head. “Only
Jonah. That’s usually how he passes on the information he has gathered. The
people he’s investigating aren’t even aware that we know one another because
we’re never seen together. I’m just another face in the crowd to them. And our
superiors never ask. As long as they get the evidence, and we get the job done
without being caught, they don’t care.”

“And you’ve only been able to
pick up on one person’s association with Delgado?” Chaos asked. Iris nodded.
“Surely you have your suspicions.”

“Yes, but I’ve never been close
enough to them to figure out who is working both sides,” Iris explained before
looking down at her hands. “Jonah’s safety must come first, so I usually stick
close to him rather than in the office where the other agents are working.”

“Are you involved?” Charli
asked.

Iris looked up between Charli
and Judge and nodded. “He’s my mate. After Delgado has been taken down and
Jonah can find the list of people on his uncle’s payroll, he has promised me
that he will retire from the undercover work. Our boss has even organized for
him to work out of one of the field offices as an investigator.”

Charli watched as Judge shared a
look with Devil. It suggested to her that they might know something about this
list, but she kept quiet. She knew enough about these men to know that they
usually had their reasons for the things they did. They never did anything
lightheartedly. She would trust them to do the right thing, whatever that was.

Instead of lingering on the
shared look, Charli picked up the photos Iris had placed in front of her. The
first three were all of warehouses, but they all seemed wrong somehow. She
discarded them and moved to the pile below. They showed various properties, all
large farming blocks. That was when the tingling began and her sight blurred,
warning her of the impending vision.

She
felt as if she were floating, and as soon as she opened her eyes she realized
that she was doing exactly that. She was in the back of a small plane,
surrounded by crates of coffee, a man reading a newspaper, and young women. She
ignored the boxes, already suspecting they didn’t contain coffee.

Taking
in the women, she noticed their hands were tied and their gazes held nothing
but fear. There were five of them, all with Mexican backgrounds if she had to
guess. They all looked so young, no older than late teens. They reminded her of
herself at that age. Delgado had her in constant fear for her life. She felt
helpless.

It
was then that she noticed her hands were bound as well. Hands that didn’t
belong to her. Delgado wasn’t just smuggling drugs, but six young girls. It was
time to pay forward her technology teacher’s good deed. She wouldn’t let these
girls fall into the hands of that monster.

Scrambling
to her knees, she brought her bound hands up against the side of the tiny metal
plane. Pulling herself up, she peered out the window, trying to get a handle of
where she was. Pain sliced through the back of her legs as she crumpled into a
ball.

The
man who had been reading the paper stood over her with a baton in his hands. He
was saying something to her, but she couldn’t understand the words. She did,
however, understand the danger the raised hands posed. Covering her head, she
tried to protect herself and the girl whose body she was in from any further
punishment. It didn’t work.

She came to, screaming, trying
to shake the hands from her shoulders. “Kitten, it’s me. You’re safe. Come back
to me.”

Judge’s voice finally broke
through her distress. Her gaze found his where he was crouching down in front
of the chair. Throwing herself into his arms, she held on to the only thing
that gave her any semblance of safety. She wept. Wept for the girls and the
cruelty in their future if she couldn’t find their location. It was there in
the safety of Judge’s arms that she knew what she had to do. It was something
that she knew she wouldn’t have had the courage to do if it weren’t for the man
holding her.

Looking up at Iris, she said,
“I’m coming back to Atlanta with you.”

“What? No.”

“Judge, I have to. The drop off
is happening sooner than anyone thought. I saw a newspaper with tomorrow’s date
on it. A plane is going to land on one of those farming properties. But it
doesn’t just have drugs on it. Delgado’s bringing in some young girls as well,”
she explained, her eyes pleading for him to understand.

“Then we will go together,”
Judge challenged, pulling gently on her hair. “Remember, no more running.”

“But what about Emily?”

“Nikki and I can take her to the
pride lands and wait for you,” Viper offered, worry evident in his gaze.

“And Gabby and I will go too,
for added security,” Devil put in, his usually dark eyes full of concern.
Concern for her, it would seem.