Merrily Mated (Ouachita Mountain Shifters 3) Page 7

  And hell, was she beautiful in the morning. Just as he always knew she would be. The harsh features that made her daily sarcasm so successful were softened by sleep. Her full lips didn’t smirk. Her hair was messy and spread out all over his pillows. It was a private view of her no one but him had the privilege of witnessing. Just like her tears last night, and it made his heart soar only to crash again.

  When would this loop of hope and reality stop? Ever?

  He should get up, find Doc for an exam. Get Layna water, food. Anything but lay there with her naked body so close and her scent on his hand and her damn endless eyes reading him.

  But he stayed exactly as he was. Bonding. Because he wanted it and she needed it.

  Treat her like a female cat. Doc’s word of advice came back to him, and the song What’s Love Got To Do With It flitted across his mind in an ironic jab.

  “How do you feel?”

  Ryan watched her throat work down a swallow. “Stronger.”

  “Does your back hurt?”

  Layna shook her head. “I suspect most of the damage won’t show in my human form. I won’t know how much I’ve healed until I shift.”

  “Doc says our bond might not be strong enough to fix the damage.”

  Her brow furrowed until a tiny line formed above her nose. In an instant, he could feel anger rolling off her, replacing the stillness between them. “You know what, fuck that. Doc doesn’t know shit about us. No one does. She can go fuck herself—”

  He pressed his lips against hers, stopping her tirade before she got even more riled. It did more than shut her up though. It took the wind right out of her sails and made her soft and pliable again. She was the Layna from last night but without the fog of the tranq. And it made him wonder, was this the female he’d admired all these years when her defenses were down? Was this what an exposed Layna was like, opening herself up to him? Or was this still just about recovering.

  Sweeping his tongue along the opening of her lips, he relished the plush feel, and when she opened, he dove inside, tasting every hot inch of her mouth. His heart pounded in his chest wanting out. He’d hand it right to her if he could. It was hers anyway. After this, he’d never kiss another.

  Her tongue danced with his this time, in a careful, searching waltz. As if she was memorizing every moment of the kiss, every move that kept them joined. As if she’d want to recreate it in the future.

  Ryan pulled back to stare into her eyes, shocked by what he saw there. Tears. Big, bulging tears that threatened to overspill her lids. He wanted to rage against them. Wipe them from her cheeks and learn where they came from so he could make sure they never surfaced again.

  His woman crying ripped a fucking hole in his chest.

  But this was Layna. She’d never want to seem weak. She’d want him to ignore the tears, pretend she hadn’t broke.

  “You have such a dirty mouth,” he murmured in appreciation.

  “You’ve always known that,” she defended, her bottom lip jutting in defiance. “You never seemed to mind.”

  “Yes, but I never got to taste it.”

  She eyed him, her teeth coming down on that lip. Damn it, she was sexy like that.

  “What’s it taste like?”

  “It’s downright filthy. Makes me want to lick it clean.”

  He watched as her eyes grew wide, the tears forgotten, and he swooped in for another hot kiss. Layna’s fingers tangled in his hair as their mouth’s clashed, urgent and needy and wet. Pushing her back against the bed, Ryan rose up to straddle her waist.

  Somehow, he broke away from her mouth long enough to rip his shirt over his head. Tossing it aside, he found her lips again, sucking the bottom one until she released a little moan.

  God, the sounds she made. They were the sweetest candy for his ears.

  “But Doc’s not wrong is she?” he breathed against her jaw between kisses. “Our connection is weak.”

  “It’s stronger now,” she defended.

  He nipped the curve between her neck and shoulder before licking a path up to her ear. Pulling the lobe between his lips, he sucked it. “And I know how to make it stronger.”

  Leaning back on his knees, he let his gaze roam her naked body. She seemed to like his perusal as he swept from her beautiful eyes to her mouth that drove him crazy, and lower until he landed on her full dark-tipped breasts. They were perfect. More than a handful, and needing his mouth on them so badly.

  His erection pushed painfully against the zipper of his jeans.

  Ryan swallowed hard. He wanted them to be his. He wanted all of her to be his. And forever. But right now, this was about something else.

  “You’re beautiful, Layna. So fucking beautiful it’s hard to breathe.” Shit. Could he do this? Could he do it without losing a piece of his soul?

  She frowned, and it seemed out of place with the rest of her. The sex-kitten shouldn’t look so disturbed when he was about to make love to her.

  “Ryan?”

  “Yes, love.”

  The creases around her eyes softened a touch. “Why do you look so sad?”

  He tried to smile. “That obvious, huh?”

  This only made her mouth turn down more.

  “No worries,” he promised, bending to kiss her again. But she turned her face away.

  “You forget. The bond is growing. It means I can feel your emotions. And I can tell when you lie. You can’t hide from me.”

  He gazed at her, knowing it was true. He could feel her concern and suspicion almost as if it was his own. This was good. This meant they were making progress. He’d love to prove Doc wrong.

  Layna’s soft hand curved around his cheek and it felt so right, he leaned his face into it.

  “Tell me why you aren’t happy about our reunion. Is it because I’m damaged now? Or… or is it because I pushed you away too many times without explaining my reasons? Or… I don’t know, Ryan. What is it? I expected your anger. I expected that, but this despair? I don’t understand.”

  “It’s none of that.”

  “What then?”

  “This isn’t what I ever wanted for us.” He shook his head, finding the words to explain. “Forced together by circumstances beyond our control. I wanted the storybook romance for you and me. The kind that lasts forever and you spend Christmases telling grandchildren stories about it. The kind of love they make stupid sappy Facebook posts about. I thought if I was patient, if I gave you time… it could be that way for us. But it didn’t go down like that, and I couldn’t stick around and make you unhappy. It’s why I left. And now we have this thing between us that forces you to need me, when what I want…” He pulled his face away, frustrated with himself and the entire situation. “Goddamn it. What I want is for you to want me.”

  Shit. The words were out there again. And more plain than they’d ever been before. She had the power to crush him right now, but even if she did, he’d still make love to her. He’d still make their bond as solid as he possibly could. Because this was love, and whether she really loved him back didn’t make him feel it any less.

  He’d always do what he could to take care of her. He just would. Anything for his Layna.

  “I do,” she whispered, those fucking tears filling her eyes again. “Can’t you feel it? I always did, I just didn’t want to hurt my clan by breaking the pact. Instead, I hurt you, and it’s damn near unforgivable. I didn’t realize what a mistake I was making. Blame it on our people’s fucked up traditions or Magic or hell, blame it on me. I can own it. But things have changed now. Our clan is changing, and we can have all the things we’ve wanted. We can have the storybook romance, because damn it, mate, that sounds really fucking nice.”

  She reached up, gently guiding his face back to her. That shy look was in her eyes. The one reflected in her voice from the night before. So foreign, but something he was coming to like. This side of her felt like their little secret.

  He liked having secrets with her.

  “Remember what I said l
ast night?” Her words were only a breath between them. “I’d already decided to come to Memphis and find you when that trap got me. I love you. It’s right here.” Her palm landed carefully on his chest where his heart was. “Can’t you feel it? With our bond, can you feel it? I can feel yours. Your love feels like the kiss of sun on a cold December day, reminding me there’s always a warm place to come home to.”

  The confession, spoken with such conviction, such reverence… it threatened to bring him to his knees. Did his female really love him? His eyes darted away so she wouldn’t see the fear there.

  “Your love feels like strong arms wrapping me up tight to shield me from the world. It feels like a promise to never leave. It feels like a butterfly trapped in my belly, because it scares me a little, but excites me more. It’s always been that way. Scary but exciting.”

  He brought his gaze back to her, and saw nothing but truth in her eyes.

  “Yeah?” He fingered her cheek, loving the silky skin there.

  “Yeah.”

  Scary but exciting. Like an adventure waiting to happen.

  Something built in his chest. Something explosive and wonderful. The bond. And the more she talked, the more he could feel exactly what she described, even if it seemed impossible.

  “You love me.”

  She nodded, giving him a watery smile. “And you love me. I know because you were willing to sacrifice your feelings in order to make me better. Willing to help me heal whether or not you received anything in return.”

  Ryan pressed his forehead to hers and let their new reality sink in. This was happening. This was true.

  “I feel it,” he breathed. And it felt so good he had to bite his cheek to keep tears from his eyes. Because no fucking way were they both going to cry.

  Layna clung to him with her arms tight around his neck, and he pulled back to stare into her eyes. “You’re mine?”

  She nodded, letting the wetness roll down her cheeks. “I will be forever. Like you said. Christmases and grandchildren and Facebook posts.”

  “My Layna.” It sounded different now. Realer. And it made him want to fly. Climb a mountain and shout it from the top. He wanted everyone to know. His mama—he really should call her—his clan, the people of Weston, Santa fucking-Claus, anyone who would listen.

  “My Ryan.”

  And, oh. That sounded perfect too. He belonged to her, body, heart, mind, and soul.

  He bent, capturing her lips and kissed her hard, promising their future would be legendary. Brushing his mouth over her jaw, he worked his way lower, sucking the tender skin of her neck and leaving a trail of tortured pink along the column of her throat.

  His hands were callused and rough, but he hoped they weren’t too hard for her because he planned on touching her everywhere starting with the soft tits that pressed into his chest.

  Ryan swept his fingers up her hip, over her toned waist, finding home on one precious mound. He squeezed, her nipple pebbling against his palm while she let out a satisfied moan. He grinned against her other breast. Pulling these sounds from her would never grow old.

  With his tongue, he traced a circle around her nipple, looking up to see her watching him. Her eyes were pleasure-glazed and intent on his next move.

  Exactly how he wanted her.

  Eyes still locked on hers, he took the tightened bud into his mouth, sucking and rolling it against his tongue. She rewarded him with another gasp and her hands raking his hair.

  Fuck. He didn’t know if he could keep going slow.

  Desperately, her nails clawed a path down his neck and over his shoulder while he lapped at her sensitive nipples. He was lost in her body, loving her taste, her feel, her smell…

  So when she let out a violent hiss followed by a snarled, “What the fuck?” Ryan was completely thrown.

  His gaze flew to her face and what he saw there both turned him on and gave him pause.

  Layna’s cougar was close to the surface, her eyes flickering from cat to human, slightly glowing with the power of her shifter.

  Hot as fuck.

  But what had him worried was the way she glared at him accusingly. Fuming. Like she was about to eat him, and not in a good way.

  “Who marked you?”

  Chapter Eight

  Ryan’s lusty mouth frowned and he looked utterly confused, but Layna had no time for that. Not when her cougar was clawing her to shreds with jealousy. Someone had given her male a mating mark, and damn it, when she found out who, there was going to be a fight.

  He was hers. No one else’s. And no mark would change it.

  Her stomach curled and she shook with despair. He’d been with another in the clan. How could they come back from this? How could she trust him? Sure, it was before they were a couple, but… one of her clan. The idea that another of their females knew what it was like to be taken by him… it was unbearable.

  “What are you talking about?” He sat back on his knees, rubbing at his sternum. No doubt he could feel her panic and disappointment through their connection.

  The bond. At least there was no bond with another. There couldn’t be if his bond was with her.

  “Someone marked your shoulder,” she accused, the words tasting like bile.

  “Oh, that.” His shoulders sagged as if bleeding his tension. He looked so relieved she wanted to punch him.

  “Was it Doc? I will cut a bitch. Bailey? Who? You better tell me right now, Ryan, or so help me god, I’ll—”

  “Mason,” he rushed out. “It was Mason.”

  Layna’s jaw snapped shut in surprise. That wasn’t a name she anticipated coming out of his mouth.

  “Mason?”

  A slow smile curved Ryan’s lips, and he looked like he wanted to laugh. “Yeah, Mason.”

  Layna narrowed her eyes. “He gave you his mating mark?”

  That wiped the grin from his face faster than a windshield wiper and a squashed bug.

  “What? No. God, no. This was an accident,” he said, gesturing to the mostly healed claw mark on his arm.

  Layna sat up, raking her hands through her hair. “An accident? Explain.”

  “We were sparring and he couldn’t handle my trash talk. His claws slipped out, and he got my arm.” Ryan shrugged. “It was no big deal.”

  She shook her head. This didn’t make any sense. Mason was the most controlled of all the Ouachita cats. He never lost his temper. He was zen to the nth degree. His claws didn’t slip out.

  “No way,” she argued. “First, we don’t just accidently claw people. Not that deep and not in the place where mating marks are usually found. And second, are you telling me Mason lost his temper? Mason? The calmest of us all?”

  Ryan frowned, crossing his arms and making his biceps bulge. Damn, her man was built.

  “If it wasn’t an accident, then why?”

  “I don’t know. It doesn’t make sense.”

  Layna rose up on her knees and leaned forward, bracing her hands on his arms. Bringing her nose to the claw marks, she pulled in a deep breath. There was nothing but Ryan’s scent and their mixed arousal.

  “That’s really fucking hot, you know. You smelling me.”

  She rubbed her nose on the smooth, taut skin that covered well-cut muscle. And then her cheek, letting the feel of him calm her cat.

  The mark wasn’t what she thought. She didn’t know what it meant, but it wasn’t a claiming.

  “So… just to be clear, you weren’t with any other females?”

  His face softened and the corner of his mouth turned upward. “No, baby. There’s only been you since I moved to the lodge. You got in my heart and the idea of being with anyone else just wasn’t right.”

  “Yeah?” She was so relieved she felt like a leaf shaking in the breeze.

  “Yeah,” he husked, reaching forward and catching her chin between his thumb and finger.

  Closing the distance between them, his lips had barely grazed hers when a knock on the door had them jerking apart.


  Ryan groaned, resting his forehead to hers, and she mirrored his frustration.

  “Not now,” he growled.

  “It can’t wait.” Magic’s voice rumbled through the thick wood of the door.

  “Shit,” Ryan cursed, dragging a hand through his hair.

  “Go away, Magic,” she called over her shoulder.

  “I should probably talk to him.” The guilty look on Ryan’s face caught Layna’s attention. “We… uh… I kind of… punched him when I got here.”

  Her eyebrows shot up. “You did?”

  His shoulders jacked up and his chin jutted stubbornly. “I had to. He wouldn’t let me see you.”

  “You punched our leader because he wouldn’t let you see me?”

  “Yeah. I did. And I’m not sorry. So if you’re gonna be mad at me—”

  She cut him off with a hard kiss.

  She wasn’t mad. And chances were Magic wasn’t either. It might seem like a small thing, but Ryan fighting to see her was exactly the perfect reaction. No dominant male would let anyone stand between him and his female. Even if that meant going head to head with the alpha.

  Magic’s muffled voice interrupted their kiss. “Look, it isn’t about the damn scuffle in the parking lot okay? Gash is here with me and we have some important information you both need to hear.”

  Ryan sighed. “Yeah, okay. Give us a minute.”

  Crawling from the bed, he jerked his t-shirt back over his head and then looked at Layna, his eyes combing over her bare body.

  “Shit,” he muttered. “No clothes. I left all my stuff in Memphis.” He looked around the room and retrieved his sweatshirt from the floor, tossing it to her. “Put this on.”

  She stood and slipped it over her head, pulling it down to try and cover her ass. Ryan eyed her hips where the shirt fell just below her cheeks, and he shook his head, his nostrils flaring.

  “Hell nope. Not even close to good enough. Climb back in bed.”

  She did as he said, pulling the sheet over her legs. He started for the door, but then doubled back, yanking the thick quilt up over the sheet and tucking it around her hips.