Thomas (17 page)

She had no idea and told him so. “But
you got in. How did you manage that? You didn’t get past the guard.
Had you tried, they would have put you in irons and you’d still be
there. What did you do?”

“
I told them that if
anything happened to your sister, you’d be in charge. What did they
think was going to happen when you were queen and I was your king?”
She nodded and laughed. “I think that doctor you have there is more
afraid of you than he is of Kendra. He nearly begged me to see you
when I told him why I was there.”

“
More than likely. I was…I
don’t do well when I’m in pain and he was making me hurt in ways
that made the original wounds hurt more.” She watched him as he
stood over her. “You’re very far away. I thought you were going to
eat me.”

“
I am. I’m just trying to
figure out how to do this. Do I let my cat have you first, or do I
take you and let him have you second?” Her body heated at his
words. “You’re very wet, aren’t you? I can smell you, and there’s a
thick blanket between you and my nose. Show me, Linyah, show me how
wet you are.”

She pulled the sheet off her body. As
soon as she was able, she had taken a shower and was glad now that
she’d used some of the pretty smelling creams that she’d bought at
the mall that day. She was also glad that she’d not bothered with
dressing after. As the sheet fell off her breasts, she watched his
face. Thomas looked hungry.

“
I’ve been thinking about
you eating me.” He nodded but didn’t take his eyes from the sheet
as it moved down her body and over her. “I thought if you ate at my
pussy until I came, then I would be ready for your cock. But if you
want your cat to take me first, I know that I’ll come hard and my
body will be ready for you anyway. Either of you taking me is going
to have me screaming, and I can hardly wait.”

“
He wants to drink from
you. Fuck you with his tongue, lapping at your pussy until he gets
his fill.” She pulled the sheet off her hips and let it fall to the
floor. He growled low at her when she opened her thighs for him to
see how wet she was. His shift from human to cat was breathtaking,
and she watched as he leapt onto the bed with her.

Burying his big head between her legs
had her crying out. It hardly registered in her mind that he was an
enormous cat and her a simple person. But when he licked her from
gate to clit, she curled her fingers into his fur and held on, sure
she was going to fly away. Linyah felt her juices flow as he slid
his tongue into her and fucked her quickly, his tongue darting in
and out of her like she wanted his cock to do. She came three times
before she begged him to take her. Looking down her body, she
watched as the cat was seemingly swallowed up by Thomas as he lay
there.

“
Come again.” Thomas
spread her nether lips open and told her again to come. She wasn’t
sure she could do it, but he blew over her sensitive clit and she
came hard, screaming loudly over and over. As she felt her body
relax a little, Thomas pulled her clit into his mouth and bit her.
This climax took her breath away.

He ate her over and over as he fucked
first her pussy with his fingers then entered her ass, curling his
fingers around to stretch her for him. He never stopped lapping at
her until she didn’t think she’d be able to take much more. Then he
sat up, his body hard and glistening with his sweat. As he fisted
his cock, a pearl of his cum dripped from the tip, and she licked
her lips.

“
I’m going to fuck you.”
Nodding, she started to pant, the thought of him taking her making
her dizzy with need. “Turn over. I want to fuck you from behind,
take you like my cat would, then mark you.”

Scrambling over the bed, she was on
her knees when he slapped her ass. The pain seemed to go right to
her pussy and she nearly came. As he spanked her twice more, her
body heated as she waited for him to do it again. Then suddenly, he
lifted her up by her hips and slammed his cock deep into
her.

Thomas stilled for just a moment.
Linyah wanted to beg him to fuck her, tell him she’d do anything,
anything at all for him to move deep within her. But he leaned over
her, his cock digging deeper into her pussy as he did so. When he
braced his arms on either side of her shoulders, he began to move,
slowly at first. His cock moved as if he had all the time in the
world.

Her body screamed for relief. Her need
to come was just at the edge, blurring her vision and making her
heart pound in her chest. When he licked a path from her shoulder
to her neck, she tensed up, ready for whatever he gave her, needing
everything he was willing to let her have. The bite was more than
she could have hoped for. She knew for as long as she lived, she’d
see the mark and know that he was hers.

Linyah knew that he’d let a little of
his cat go. The teeth that tore into her skin were sharper, longer
than his human teeth. As he jerked his head, tearing open her
flesh, Linyah felt that this mark would be different than any he’d
given her before. This one would never disappear, never fade. It
was his mark of ownership, a mark that meant more than a simple
taking, but something that would be theirs forever. She would
forever belong to Thomas Lanning.

Come.
His command echoed in her mind. Her body, belonging to him as
surely as it did her, obeyed. Screaming out her release, she felt
the darkness slide over her as he tore at her once again, ripping
open her shoulder once again. His roar, loud and piercing, bounced
around the room, then settled gently almost over her until she was
blanketed in it.

~~~

The thought of leaving her made him
delay leaving the house. He should have left over five minutes ago,
but he’d enjoyed watching her sleep so soundly that he only made a
half effort to pack. When Misha asked him for the third time if he
was coming, Thomas finally told him he was going out the door now.
Leaning down, he kissed her on his mark and left the note for
her.

“
Contact me when you
wake,” was all it said. Then he’d signed it, “I love you very
much.” Thomas was out of the house and into his car before he
thought about what she’d think about him telling her he loved her.
He did, but the feeling had been so fresh, so new to him that he’d
written it before thinking that she might not welcome his love just
yet. But he didn’t start over with the note as he’d thought about
doing. He’d left it for her so she’d know.

As they boarded the plane, Rider sat
next to him. He and Rider normally sat at opposite ends of the
plane, but today…well, today, it was almost comforting to have him
there. They were cleared of the ground and above the clouds when
Rider spoke to him.

“
Do you take back what you
said about me finding a mate?” It took him several seconds to
remember what he was talking about. “I’m thinking that you’ve not
just changed your mind, but you now want the world to find their
mates. Is that true, little brother?”

“
That would be about
right.” Rider nodded and Thomas continued. “I told her this
morning. In a note. I told her that I loved her. I know that it’s
lame to tell someone you love them in a note like a teenager, but
she looked so peaceful laying there sleeping that I didn’t want to
wake her.”

“
And the way she is a
slob, a messy slob? You can live with that too?” Thomas smiled and
nodded. He’d left his own mess this morning. Their clothing was in
shreds all over their bedroom and he found that he kind of liked
it. “I can see this spoiling a great deal of our fun with you. If
you become a slob too, what will we do for entertainment? Moving
things around has been the best time we’ve had as a
family.”

“
Find someone else to pick
on? Or I know, just grow up?” Thomas laughed and knew that for the
first time in a very long time, he really was happy. “I’d say pick
on Carter, but he’s not nice when he’s picked on. Payback to him is
painful.”

“
You know it.” Rider sat
there for a little bit longer before he spoke again. “Kendra asked
me to tell you something. She said…she wants to know if you could
find your way to come to their home. Not right away, but
often…visit often. She wants to mend the bond between her and
Linyah.”

“
I don’t know why not. I
want them to get along better too. It’s difficult when you’re mad
at the one person in the world who can be there for you no matter
what.” Misha stood up and started handing out files as Rider nodded
his agreement. It was going to be a sticky mess they were going
into today. The building that had been used for storage of plastics
caught fire while over two hundred employees were inside. They were
still missing about thirty, five of which were board members as
there had been a meeting. They’d been called as soon as the alarm
was set and on their way to the fire within thirty minutes of the
fire stations being rolled out.

“
It’s not a simple case of
rescue here. The building is still hot they think, and this is from
the aerial shot that they took as of ten minutes ago. At that time,
of the twenty-eight that are missing, seventeen of them are in this
one area. By the time we land, those first ones should be
out.”

The picture that Thomas was looking at
was marked by a large arrow. He could see that something was there,
but to him it just looked like a blob.

You need to close your
eyes and look at the front of the building.
He told Linyah that he wasn’t there.
But you have a photograph. Look at it and then close your
eyes. I can help you find them.

He did as she asked and when he closed
his eyes, he could see what she meant. Not only could he see the
building on the inside, but he also seemed to move along the
corridors as well. He asked her how she was doing that.

I’m not, you are. I’m only
showing you how to move.
He saw a door and
started to open it but looked on the other side. There was nothing
there. Linyah laughed.
See, you’re very
good at this. Keep moving toward where you know the place is. You
should be able to make your way through the debris without getting
lost.

He moved in and out of halls. He knew
that the place that Misha was talking about was on the second
floor, and when he found the staircase, he slowly opened the door
and moved into the opening. Thomas felt someone touch his hand but
didn’t move. Moving up the stairs to the second floor, he paused.
That’s when someone spoke next to him.

“
This is fucking amazing.”
Turning, he looked at Misha. “Nic told me to touch you but not to
speak until I got where you are. Christ, this is going to be so
helpful.”

“
Can you lead?” Misha
shook his head. “Then you have to let me do this. No being the big
brother, okay? Just let me lead us through this.”

Misha nodded and Thomas reached beyond
the door and could see the flames licking at the walls. He knew
that whatever was going on in this reality couldn’t hurt him, but
it was a little disconcerting.

When you open the door,
make a left, not a right. I know that the pictures say to go that
way, but I think someone fucked the pictures up.
He told Linyah he would. Once they cleared the
doorway, he and Misha made their way to the door at the end of the
hall. There were flames here as well, wires falling from the
ceiling, as well as water flooding everything from the sprinklers.
As they made it to the door, Misha told him to stop.

“
This door. What’s wrong
with it?” Thomas looked at it. To him it looked like a
smoke-stained door, a door like any other door they’d come across
in situations like this. But then he looked closer. There was
something…odd about it. Then it hit him.

It was blocked. There were chairs all
up and down the hall, some of them turned over, others in front of
doors too. But this chair had been put in front of it to keep
whatever was inside where it was. They couldn’t do anything about
it at the moment, but Thomas looked into the room.

“
They’re all here.” Misha
nodded. “Someone wanted us to go the wrong way and not to find them
when we figured it out. Whoever did this wanted them to
die.”

Your plane is landing. Nic
and I are here now. Don’t…under no circumstances are you to say
anything about what you’ve seen.
Misha
asked Linyah why.
Because I have a feeling
that whoever wanted this to go down this way is not going to take
it well when you fuck up their plans. Nic and I will meet you in
the building. Once we’re there, we’ll go the way the map told you.
You and your brothers will rescue the people. I have a feeling that
they’re going to be watching to see that you go the way they want
you to.

As they were taken to the still
burning building, things were not like they had expected them to
be. The firemen were to stand down until they arrived and were
hosing down the building even as they approached. It was a mess,
and Misha said so.

Thomas just tried his best to not look
at everyone as a murderer. As they geared up to enter, he reached
for Linyah again and she told him she was on the second floor where
he’d come out of the stairs. As they made their way up, Misha
leading the way, Thomas asked Linyah if she was all
right.

Yes. I’ve never slept so
well in my life.
He wanted to ask her
about the note but was afraid to. But she answered his unspoken
question before he could move on to something else.
I don’t know what to say to you about loving me.
I’ve never been in love before. I like you…very much, but I don’t
know if I love you. Is that all right?