Primal Claim (21 page)

Dani reached down and grabbed Mercury’s hair when he slowly inserted one finger into her snug warmth. He slowed his pace to keep her with him and slid in a second finger.

Feeling her release his hair to clench the blankets, her pants and moans as she rode out his strokes stoked his own fervor. Increasing the speed and friction of both his tongue and his hand, he carried Dani over the edge.

“Mercury!” she keened. Her body when taut for a millisecond before the tremors took over.

Her tight heat convulsed and rippled over his fingers, leaving Mercury wanting to feel that sensation over his painfully enlarged shaft. Withdrawing, he crawled up over her.

“My God, Mercury. That was just…just…”

The intensity in his face didn’t show the massive ego stroking he got from her spent reaction. Positioning himself at her hot, wet entrance, he thrust forward with no pause until he was buried to the hilt.

Growling at the feel of her surrounding him, her body clenching and drawing him in as far as he could go, he paused only to let her adjust to his size.

“I wanted to taste you, too,” she purred into his ear.

“Later. I need to be deep inside.”

Twining her legs around him and grabbing his face to bring him to her mouth, he thrust his tongue into her mouth with the same rhythm he set with his body.

Dani embraced him fully, hugging him even more tightly. There was no way they could be physically closer than they were now. He wanted every part of her.

Opening himself up, he gingerly cast out the depth of his love and pleasure to her.

With a gasp, she pulled back her head, awestruck. “I feel you.”

The connection was open and he could feel her pleasure, and how it increased with each stroke. He pumped harder, feeling the hitch in her chest when the ecstasy intensified in them both. With one final surge, he pulled her close and let himself go.

Their cries combined as orgasm hit them both, finally easing some of the pressure Mercury had built up waiting to take his mate again. Her walls clamped down onto him, intensifying the pleasure as her body milked him until they both could give no more.

Mercury collapsed on top of his love, both of them breathing heavily, enjoying the afterglow.

“I love you,” Dani murmured in his ear. “And I loved that.”

A chuckled rumbled through his chest. “Then you’ll love this.”

At her delighted giggle, he began thrusting again, stroking her with his thumb until she was ready for orgasm number three. Pounding into her willing body, he relished the feel of his woman taking his girth, moaning for more, and losing herself repeatedly.

Throwing his head back, roaring with the release, her legs wrapped around him tightly, they both peaked together. Easing himself down to his side, he snuggled her into him with her back pressed to his chest.

She reached for his hand, twining her fingers with his.

“Mercury? Again already?” she asked exasperated as he repositioned her leg so he could push into her from behind.

Using one arm to wrap around her and massage her supple breasts, he slid his other hand down between her moist heat. Pumping slowly, he only rested his finger on her swollen clit.

“Where do you think they coined the term ‘mating frenzy’?” Feeling her melt into him, he wanted to pound his chest with pride.

“After this, we shower.” Her breaths were coming quicker with his leisurely strokes. “Where I will suck you dry.”

Groaning at the image of her on her knees, the shower’s spray pounding at his back while she worked on him in front, he quickened his pace, his finger bumping on her most tender spot with each thrust. Within minutes, they were crying out together, his face buried in her neck, her face turned back toward him, as he filled her a third time.

Mercury gave Dani five minutes of afterglow and recuperation before he climbed off the bed, and grabbed her ankles to slide her down. Her surprised yelp switched to a jubilant laugh when he swept her up into his arms and carried her to the bathroom for their shower.

Her nose tickled.

Dani roused from her warm nest next to the furnace she was now officially mated to. They’d fallen asleep curled into each other after the mating frenzy passed. Swiping at her nose, she felt something warm and slick. Swinging her legs to the floor, she sat up, feeling the drip fall to the floor. What the –?

Heading to the bathroom with her head back and her finger under nose, she flipped on the light; a bloody nose.
Weird
, she thought. She’d only ever gotten her nose bloodied when she deserved it, like during training, not randomly.

She grabbed for a towel, when the cramps seized her middle. Dani gasped, doubling over, even looking down to see if there was a hot poker sticking out of her abdomen.

Before her knees hit the floor, Mercury was at her side, easing her down.

“What’s wrong? I smell blood.”

Dani tried to say something, but her breath was stolen when another cramp hit. Crying out, she grabbed onto Mercury’s arm, leaving bloody fingerprints.

“The baby,” she managed to gasp.

Both she and Mercury looked down at the same time to see dark red staining the inside of her thighs.

Bennett!
Mercury roared mentally.
Dani needs Dr. Garreth!

Grabbing the towel and putting it between her legs, he swung her up into his arms, cradling her into his chest as she remained curled into the pain. Gasping between bouts of searing pain, tears fell hot onto Mercury’s chest, mixing with the blood still dripping from her nose.

Rushing out of the bedroom, Mercury grabbed a blanket to wrap around Dani’s naked body and snagged a pair of shorts and a shirt for himself off the nightstand by the door. Holding her tightly, Mercury sprinted out the door and down the trail to the lodge so they could head to the infirmary.

The doctor met them by the door to quickly assess Dani. “Take her to a hospital. We aren’t equipped for this.”

Commander’s got the car ready
. Bennett rounded past them to hold open the lodge’s back door so they could run through and out the front instead.

The black sedan was idling, with the commander holding the back door open. Bennett went around to slide into the driver’s seat while Mercury climbed in the back with Dani on his lap.

The commander’s face grim, he nodded to Bennett and shut the door. Dani didn’t need to look herself, affirmation was in the look of alarm fleeting across Bennett’s face as his eyes flicked down to the blanket. She could feel the wetness between her legs, dampening the blanket.

The ride to town at illegal speeds seemed both excruciatingly long and alarmingly fast. In between the stabbing, searing bursts of pain, a dull throb settled into her lower belly.

This is it
, she thought to herself.
I’m losing the baby
.

We’ll get through this
, Mercury soothed her, picking up her thoughts and Dani was grateful. The pain was too bad for her to speak, but they still had a way to communicate.

The lights of the city flashed by as they crossed over to Freemont and sped to the hospital. Mercury settled her next to him only briefly so he could get dressed and then nestled her back onto his lap, whispering soothingly in her ear.

Pulling into the emergency room’s garage, Mercury had the door open and was climbing out before the car was fully stopped. The little elderly gentlemen staffed to direct the garage’s traffic was pushing a wheelchair over for them, but Mercury blew by him, storming through the double doors.

An alarmed triage nurse looked as if she was going to try to stop them, but a quick look at the size of Mercury, and an even taller Bennett, had her hesitating. Then her eyes landed on the now bloodstained shirt on Mercury, Dani’s bloodied face, and the blood-soaked blanket around her.

“Follow me,” she said firmly and led them to a single room. When Bennett tried to follow, she hesitantly stopped him. “Are you related to the patient, sir?”

Bennett looked like he was going to push past her, but he glanced at Mercury instead. “I’ll park the car and wait out front.”

The nurse shut the door and began to gather information from Mercury and Dani, who was thankfully in the system due to her prenatal visits. Another young, male nurse entered, donned a pair of gloves, grabbed some supplies and began to unwrap Dani.

It was a sign how scared out of his ever-loving-mind Mercury was that he didn’t growl or lunge for the young man.

Dani tried to keep her breathing steady, concentrating on each inhale and exhale when the spasms hit. With each spasm, she felt a little more blood seep out between her legs and trickle out of her nose.

The visit went by in a blur. Mercury never left her side, holding her hand the entire time. They hooked her up to IVs, drew blood, checked her heart, performed an ultrasound, and pelvic exam while Dani was in bouts of pain. They offered her pain medication, but she declined, unwilling to risk a mental fog during such a critical event.

There was a female doctor, not much older than thirty, who introduced herself as the OB/GYN on-call and had been in asking her questions, but Dani hadn’t seen her since.

Almost as suddenly as the pain came on, it stopped. Just suddenly ceased. Some residual soreness remained, like she had done a killer ab workout, but no more searing, stabbing pain, nor throbbing or gushing blood.

Assuming it was over and their baby was gone, Dani and Mercury began the grim task of cleaning her up. The nurses had wiped quite a bit off her, but there was still dried blood and residue and she wanted it gone, if only to pretend their baby still had a chance.

An aid came in to check on her and brought clean linens. Once Dani was clean, the bedding and her gown changed, her and her beloved sat to await the grim news.

“I still sense him,” Mercury said, finishing bitterly, “but I can’t tell if he’s okay.”

She remembered when Mercury asked her if she sensed their baby’s gender and her delight when he told her they were having a boy. Tears poured down Dani’s face when she thought she couldn’t produce anymore. Mercury hugged her close, saying nothing.

A quick knock and the door opened. The young doctor gave them a small smile, carrying a little device in her hand. “I just want to check the heart rate again and then we’ll go over the results.”

Dani nodded despondently, dreading the anticipation of hearing nothing.

“Now, you’re pretty early in your pregnancy yet so we may need to do another ultrasound, but let’s give this a shot first. Just don’t be alarmed if I’m not successful,” she smiled reassuringly.

Dani squeezed Mercury’s hand and stared at the tiled ceiling. The cold gel was a pleasant sensation after the heat of her painful episodes. As the little wand slid over her belly, she heard staticy sounds that were of no consequence and a beat that matched her own heart so it wasn’t from the baby. The doctor’s brow furrowed, but she pressed on, making sure she thoroughly scanned both sides of Dani’s belly.

The sound of a strong, steady rhythm filled the room with its rapid beat.

Smiling triumphantly, the doctor listened for a few seconds before removing the wand.

Unshed tears shimmered in Dani’s eyes and she looked at Mercury, terrified to be ecstatic. His own brow creased, silver gleaming through his eyes, not clear on what the sound was.

“Is that –?” Dani’s voice caught.

“Your baby.” The doctor was still smiling, relieved not to be delivering devastating news to the terrified parents.

“I don’t understand.”

“To be honest, I don’t either.” The woman pulled up a chair on the other side of the bed so she could talk to them both. “Other than being a little anemic, but nothing critical, you seem to be perfectly healthy. As for the baby, the heart rate was lower than normal when you first came in, but now it’s sitting at a strong hundred and fifty-two beats per minute, which is perfect. All our other tests – perfectly normal.”

She stood up. “My only instructions are to make sure you’re taking prenatal vitamins, so you’re getting enough iron, and to eat a healthy diet. Include a little more red meat and leafy greens until your hemoglobin level returns to normal. You’ll need to have your doctor recheck your levels at your next OB visit. Otherwise, come right back if you start cramping or spotting at all.”

“So, what happened?” Mercury looked as dumbfounded as Dani felt.

She gave a little shrug. “We’re doing some coagulation tests to see if you have a clotting disorder, but I don’t think they’ll be abnormal. Before she left, she turned and joked, “Maybe you didn’t need all that blood.”

Eyes wide, Dani turned to Mercury. Something Agent X said in the bookstore came back to her,
Madame G will be pissed she wasted all that blood
. The evil monster may have only needed a drop to bind her to a future baby, but months of growth would have increased the amount.

“Do you think our mating overrode Madame G’s claim on me and our baby? Like our blood bond is stronger than hers?” She grabbed Mercury’s hand and placed it over her barely rounded belly. “Do you sense her taint at all?”

Mercury closed his eyes, concentrating. When he opened them, relief and disbelief showed through the glowing, swirling dark silver depths. Slowly, a grin began to spread across his handsome face, showing off sharp white teeth, his fangs retreating.

Dani bit her lip, afraid to be happy. “Do you think it’s the same for me? I’m not bound to Madame G anymore?”

“I never sensed her taint on you, but you swore a blood oath to her. Do you feel different?”

This time, Dani was the one who closed her eyes for some inner reflection. Imagining that she was searching every corner of her consciousness, she floated through her own mind.

Disbelief touched her voice, “I feel free. I didn’t realize how shackled I felt, feeling that little bit of her inside me.”

Mercury dropped his head onto her chest, expressed a sigh, with his hand still placed on her belly. “You two might be all right, but I don’t think I will be after tonight.”

Dani ran her hand through his short hair, watching the light reflect silver off the dark strands.