Carter (8 page)

~~~

Carter knew she was scared. Not just scared, he supposed, but terrified. And when he’d seen her at the window, he looked at the man standing there and wondered if her father had any idea what he was fucking with when she flipped him off. Carter knew then that she was in deeper trouble than he’d first thought.

As they made their way into the house, he followed her up to Max’s room and kept back while she hugged him and told him that things were fine. They weren’t, and Carter thought perhaps Max knew it. When he asked to speak to her, she told him she would, but she needed to shower. Carter showed her which room she was using.

“You’re staying in here with me?” He shrugged and asked her if he could. “That’s a change. I would have thought you would have demanded.”

“I’m trying something new.” She nodded and wandered around the room. “Does he know…your dad, does he know what you can do? I’m betting he wants you dead about now. You do know that I’m going to kill him, right?”

“I don’t know about that, but no, I don’t think he has any idea what I can do any more.” She picked up a picture frame and put it back. He had no idea what the picture was, but she stared at it as she continued. “I knew he was coming. A man by the name of Victor Guy works for him. I felt his thoughts of us first. Then Dad’s. He was going to take me with the cop that was there. I think…he’s on his payroll. Something that has to stop.”

“He wouldn’t have gotten you.” She didn’t say anything but sat on the bed across from him. “We won’t give you up, Dane, not ever.”

“Will you have sex with me?” He felt his cock stretch in his pants like a punch in the groin. “I know it will be for all the wrong reasons, whatever they might be, but I could use it. Now. If you want.”

“I do. But if we have sex, I’m going to claim you. I can’t take you without needing to do that. Do you know what that means?” At her shrug, he stretched out his legs, trying to ease the tightness of his pants. “Dane, when I have sex with you it will bond us. And I know that I’m on fragile ground here, so I want no recriminations when we do this and you find out how permanent this is.”

“This is beyond my hands now. You’re involved with me. Not like I…do you have any idea how long I’ve worked at not having a relationship with anyone? Not even Max’s father was anyone that I would ever…he’s not even on his birth certificate. Max knows who he is, but he…I would not do a thing differently because I have him, but to think how stupid I was makes me mad at myself. But I have Max and that makes it all right.”

“Stupid or lonely?” She didn’t answer him, so he stood up to go to her. “I’ve been lonely before. A great deal since you’ve come into my life.”

“I make you lonely?” He nodded and touched his fingers to her cheeks. “If this is a come-on, you’re sort of wasting your breath. I’m willing to let you fuck me.”

“No, I don’t want to fuck you.” He kissed her throat, then her chin. “I want to make love to you. Make you mine.”

“I’m not ready for that. I’m not sure I ever will be.” He didn’t care. Right now she wasn’t running from him. She was touching him much like he was her. “Carter, I really need a shower.”

“We’ll get there.” He unbuttoned her shirt, one that Misha had given her when they boarded the plane. When it was completely undone, he reached his fingers inside and brushed them over her warm flesh. “I love the way you feel. The way your skin tightens when I touch you. The way you smell when you’re aroused.”

She stood up while he undressed her, unveiled her for him. When she let him pull the shirt off, she reached up and let her hair down, taking the ponytail holder out and dropping it next to her shirt. Standing behind her, he unclasped her bra in the front, watched in the mirror across from them as he moved his hands up under the white material and touched her heavy breasts.

“Are your nipples dark? I bet your nipples are thick too. Hard for me.” He ran his thumbs over her nubbins and moaned when they stiffened more. “Suckling them will be such a pleasure. The feel of them in my mouth when you come with me will be so delicious. I can’t wait to be inside of you.”

“Please.” He pulled her back to his chest as he removed her bra. She was so heavy, her breasts so full that he wanted to turn her then and taste them. But he slowed himself down and put his hands at her jeans, opening the button at the top only to discover there wasn’t a zipper. Opening them one at a time, he watched her face when she went from desire for him to need for him.

Standing in front of her when he had them undone, he was careful to slide her pants down her thighs to her knees. Her scent, her arousal was strong now, and he couldn’t help but to take a little bite of her belly, just enough to have him wanting more, as well as his cat.

Taking her pants off wasn’t as easy as he’d thought it would be. She was unsteady for several seconds, and he held her to him so she wouldn’t fall. But her body, nearly naked, had him pulling her to his body and her pussy at his cock. He rode her this way, slow, easy moves, until she moaned for him again.

“I want to eat you like this. Have you stand here, half naked, while I drink from your wet pussy.” She nodded, and he dropped to his knees. She was so wet that he touched his finger to her juices as they smeared on her thigh. Carter leaned in and licked the path they had taken all the way to her cloth covered heat.

Curling his hands into the small strings at her hips, he looked up at her. She was panting, her breasts swaying back and forth with her need. When she cupped them, tugging at her nipples, Carter said her name.

“Tell me you want this. Not me but us. Tell me, Dane, or we stop now.” She growled at him. “I’ll give you relief, let you come hard, but I won’t touch you sexually until you say yes.”

He wasn’t playing fair. He knew this, and Carter was pretty sure she knew it as well. When she curled her fingers into his hair and pulled him to her pussy, he nearly took her, but he looked up at her again.

“Take me.” He tore her panties off as soon as the words left her mouth. Carter buried his mouth over her pussy and sucked hard and brought her to what he hoped was the first of many climaxes they’d have tonight. Sucking her clit into his mouth, he nibbled on it, sliding his finger into her sheath even as she came a second and then a third time. Her cum filled his mouth as he drank her. Her body rode his mouth even as he pulled her closer to him and fucked her with his tongue. When she cried out again, her body nearly bowing back in his hands, he stood up and lifted her to him.

Carter was still dressed, but she made short work of his shirt. When she took his nipple in her mouth and bit him, Carter nearly came in his pants. As he made his way to the bed, her hands everywhere on his body, he tried to undo his own pants with one hand and touch her too.

“I need you.” He nodded, needing her as well. “Please, hurry. I need to feel you inside of me. I need to come all over your cock.”

He laid her on the bed. His cat was snarling at him for a bite of their female, but he couldn’t do it. Not yet. He needed her too. Stripping out of his pants and boxers, he nearly came again when she reached out and wrapped her hand around him and brought him to her mouth.

“Christ.”

Dane sucked him. No licking, no biting, but she sucked his crown so hard that he had to hang onto something or fall. When he was fucking her mouth, moving in and out of her like he wanted to her pussy, he felt his balls tighten and his climax race up his spine. As she pulled back, his body hurting with the release of her sucking him, he had to have her. Dane lay back, her legs wide, and Carter made his way up her body slowly.

“I’m going to let my cat have you soon. He wants to taste what I’ve had.” Carter nipped at her hip, licking the tiny wound closed as he swirled his tongue into her belly button. “Then I’m going to take you again, fuck you hard enough that neither of us can move for a week. And then I’m going to take you again and again until there is never any doubt that I want you forever.”

He was on his arms, holding his body from hers, when she wrapped her legs over his. He watched her face as he guided his cock into her, slowly, gently. Dane rode him, her body lifting up off the bed even as she pulled him deeper inside of her. When Carter was buried to the root, his cock touching her as deeply as he could go, she reached up and pulled him down over her, his body not just on top of her but a part of her. Carter felt like his entire world, his life, was now complete.

Carter took her slowly to peak, bringing her up and over the threshold, then letting her drop over the edge while he watched her come. She was beautiful before, gorgeous. But to watch her come like this, so close to his own release, was a sight that he knew that he’d never grow tired of seeing. Not ever.

“Take me, Carter. Please? Fill me, please.” He lifted her ass up and brought her tighter to him. His cock was aching now, his balls tight against his body with a need to empty that was painful. When she bit him, sank her teeth deeply into his arm, Carter felt his climax rush up from the soles of his feet to empty inside of her.

Pounding her now, fucking her hard, he came twice more, filling her with everything he had and then some. When she cried out again, her climax screaming from her body, he leaned into her throat and bit her, marking her as his forever. Even as he emptied himself in her again, his cat seemed to be pleased with the results, so much so that Carter could calm him. He had a mate, they had a mate, and Carter was as happy as he’d ever been.

Carter dropped on her, not even having the strength to move to his back, but lay there like he’d been drained. He was pretty sure that he had been. And when she laughed, a sound that he’d never heard from her, he lifted his head just enough to look down at her.

“I think the house knows that we had sex.” He grinned. “You don’t mind? I mean…it felt amazing, but what will they think about it since we’ve done nothing but fight since we met?”

“I’m sure that they’ve been taking bets on how long it would take us.” Laying back down now and rolling over, he pulled her body over his. “Now lay still, woman, so I can recuperate. I want to take you again soon.” Carter closed his eyes and let sleep, something that hadn’t been easy to come by for a long while, take him.

Chapter 8

Max wasn’t sure what to think about his mom and Carter. She was relaxed, something he was sure he’d never seen on her before. In fact, it had taken him nearly ten minutes to figure out what was different about her. There were no lines of strain around her eyes and mouth. Carter sat down across from him. Max wasn’t sure about him at all.

“I’d like to have a word or two with you.” He nodded, wondering what sort of stuff he was going to try and make him do. Not that he had a lot of experience with men—none actually—but he knew that people in general always wanted something for nothing. “We’re going to be staying here for a while, and I wanted to know what you might need in the way of stuff for school. Dane said that you were a senior in college with a few majors.”

“Yes, sir.” Carter nodded but said nothing more. For the first time in his life, Max had no idea what to do. “My mom is happy, so you don’t have to butter me up too. We’re doing just fine.”

“She said the same thing about her a few hours ago. I mean about buttering her up. But I want to do this for you. Mom said—” Max asked him why he was calling her mom. “I meant my mom. I’m sorry, I should have been clear. But my mom said that you were using Misha’s computer, and I’d like to get you one of your own. There are things on his that could be…we take pictures sometimes at a scene, and they’re not something I think you should see.”

“You mean the files.” Carter nodded. “I didn’t look at them, but I know what it is you guys do. I looked inside of you. I don’t need a computer for that.”

“I see. And you have any questions about what you’re seeing there? And for the record, I’d really like if you didn’t do that too much. I have nightmares enough with my own memories. I don’t need you having them as well.” Max waited for him to say something to him, like it was none of his business, but he only nodded once. “Be careful what you see there, too. There are memories in my mind that I hate looking at. What we do is…sometimes it’s a messy business.”

Max knew better than to let his guard down. He wasn’t trusting anyone anymore, and least of all this man. Connie had hurt him and nearly gotten him taken from his mom. There were things in their minds, the men who had come into the apartment that day, which still confused and frightened him. But he knew not to tell anyone about what was there.

“You remember the day that Linyah came and told you to bring your power down?” Here it is, Max thought, he wanted him to do something for him, like a dog with a new trick. “Can you tell me what that was? I’m trying to understand what you and Dane are.”

“So you can use us? I’m not going to kill anyone for you. And I’m not going to show you what all I can do. Trust me, you’d be terrified if I did.”

Instead of saying anything, Carter reached around to his back and pulled out a gun. Then he took a knife from his pocket and laid it with the gun. Another knife, this one small but lethal, was put there too. A rolled up wire that looked like piano wire was set there as well. When he’d emptied what seemed to be all his pockets, he put his hand over them all and let it go into a large paw.

“I don’t need you to kill anyone for me. If I have a desire to have someone die, I can do it myself. I understand that you have no reason to trust me when I tell you all I want from you is that you meet me partway in this relationship that is going on.” Max asked him if he meant with his mom. “No, I mean all three of us. And so you know, I’m going to try my very best not to be a prick and asshole anymore to you, but I need your help. I need to know what you can do so that I can feel safer when you’re alone or here with my mom and sisters-in-law.”

Max looked around the kitchen. There was no one there but the two of them. He looked at Carter, trying to gauge how far he could go, how much to show him, when he decided that just enough was enough. But when he put up his hand and brought the jar to him, he thought that Carter might not want them if he realized what a mess Max was.

The cookie jar landed on the table with a soft puff of air. Max put his hands in his lap and made the dishes in the dish drainer swim around the room. The weapons on the table between them were moved out of the way as Max set the table for them. The refrigerator opened and food came out. The microwave opened and leftover chicken was put inside it. As he did this, he watched Carter’s face, waiting for him to run screaming from the room. But when he looked at him, Max saw something that he’d not expected. A smile.

“That’s wonderful. I mean really amazing.” When the microwave signaled it was done, Carter got up to get the lunch from it as he continued. “This is great, but can you protect yourself? Dane told me that you two manipulated minds to hide. What could you do should someone come into the room right now for you?”

“You mean other than disappear?” Carter nodded, and he divided up the hot meal. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“Can you hurt someone? I mean, incapacitate them should there be others that you need to deal with that might hurt someone with you?” He nodded and bit into the chicken. “Good. You don’t need to show me that, but we’ll practice so I can know what it is. How about…Dane touched my hand, and I was able to disappear as well. Can you do that too?”

“You can.” Carter stared at him with his bite of food nearly to his mouth. “Since this morning I guess, but you can.”

“Nah, not me. That was your mom’s doing.” Max shook his head and told him how to do it. “Just reach into a mind and tell them that they can’t see me?”

“No. It’s sort of like…you do reach into their mind, but you sort of erase yourself.”

Max tried to think how to show him when Misha came into the room. He thought for sure that Carter was going to tell him what was going on, but Misha only got a glass of tea, then stood near the counter staring at him.

“I thought Carter was in here. I thought I heard his voice.” Max shook his head, afraid to look at Carter in case he laughed or something. “Okay. Weird. But when you see him, could you tell him I need to talk to him about something? It’s not important, but I have some questions about the last assignment, and he might be able to help me.”

When Misha left, Max looked at Carter.

“That was fucking amazing. Christ, he never knew. He just never knew.” Carter leaned back in his chair and smiled at him. “You and your mom, you’ve not had a great deal to smile about, have you?”

“I’ve had her.” Carter nodded like he understood. “You and her, I guess you’re a done deal now. She’s going to stay here.”

“No. This isn’t my home but my brother’s.” He picked up his weapons and put them back where they’d been. “And if you mean we’re okay with each other, I think we’re doing better, but not completely. But it’s not just her that I’m hoping to have in my life, but the two of you. And I do want that, Max. Both of you.”

Max nodded and was surprised when Carter said his name. He didn’t look at him as he spoke…he was too overwhelmed by it all. “We’ve done all right on our own. I know that Connie and Rachel are both dead now because they were with me when he came for me, but we’ve been doing all right, I think.”

“You have. Both of you have. And I can’t imagine what you might have gone through to make it this far. I’m thinking…do you know if your grandda knew about you from the start?” Max shook his head. “I didn’t think so. He’s been trying about half assed to find your mom, but it’s you he really wants now, I think. Do you know why?”

He did. Both of them did. But he wasn’t ready to tell Carter that, and Carter seemed to understand. When he stood up and started clearing the lunch up, Max got up to help him. When it was all finished, he looked at Carter.

“I don’t know if I like you.” Carter told him that was fair enough, so long as he didn’t hate him. “Mom said that hating someone is a waste of time. That revenge is much better.”

Carter laughed. “You know what I am, I know this, but you should know that as a leopard, our kind falls in love but once in our lives. I’ve heard of shifters having another love in their life come along when their mates die, but not often. Most of the time, when one dies, that’s it for them until the afterlife.” Max knew this. He’d found a book on the subject in Misha’s office. “I’m in love with Dane. I didn’t ever expect it to happen, and it might be a while before she loves me. But with that love for her, I love you as well. As my own. But I won’t…I’m not going to be what I was before; or at least I’m going to try not to be. Dane told me she’d let me know when I was out of line, but I need for you to help me as well. I might…I’m going to try and be a father to you. The best that I can be. But my own was a bastard, so I might need some help now and then.”

“Why are you being nice to me?” Carter asked him what he meant. “I mean, why do you care if I like you or not? Why are you telling me all this? I have nothing to do with your being with my mom.”

“Oh Max, you are so wrong about that. So very wrong. You have everything to do with us being a family. Everything. You’re a part of her. And I want to be a part of you, in your life. You…I know you don’t believe this, but you’re as important to me as she is.”

“I don’t believe you.” Carter nodded, and Max knew that he’d hurt him somehow, but had to keep himself safe. Liking someone, trusting them, could get him or his mom killed.

They talked for a little while longer. Carter never brought up what he’d said to him, and he didn’t mention that he loved him anymore. Max felt better around the big man—not safe, but better—and when he told him that he had to see his brother, Max went to his room. Things were just too weird now.

~~~

Hannah had to go to the doctor, and she wasn’t allowed to go alone. But the men were out helping Carter, and she was here with Max. He looked up at her when she entered the living room. Max was a really great kid, but….

“I can protect you.” She sat down across from him as he put the little computer away that Carter had given him today. “I’m very resourceful.”

She laughed. “I’m a cat so…I have to go to the doctor today. They just changed my appointment for some reason. Then I have to—” When he stood up, she did as well.

“Did you call them back to confirm?” She shook her head. “Please do so now. I think you’re being had.”

Nervous now, she got up to use the phone. The baby kicked her, and she felt tears fill her eyes. Being a mom was going to be huge, but she had to get him first. When the nurse put her on hold, Max sat beside her at the table. She thought he knew what was going on.

“No, Mrs. Lanning, we didn’t call you. Did you say it was someone from this office?” She nodded, and Max touched his fingers to his mouth and she realized that the nurse couldn’t see her.

“Yes. I thought so. I might have…I think I might have messed things up a bit. New mom and all.” Max got up and started to brew a cup of tea. She watched him as she confirmed her appointment for tomorrow and hung up. He sat a cup of the brew in front of her that Sina had made for her to keep her belly from being sick.

“My grandda is up to this. You must have it on a calendar somewhere, like on a device.” Hannah nodded and handed him her cell phone when he asked. Taking it apart, he broke the phone and then put the battery and a few other pieces in the sink to run the garbage disposal. “You’ll need to replace that. Keep things like that off the computer for now. All right?”

“How did you know?” He shrugged and sat down again. “You knew when I came into the living room that something was wrong. How?”

“I can feel him. My grandda. I didn’t know what he was up to, but I knew it was something to do with this house. He can’t get in, and that bothers him something terrible.” Max looked so sad that she wanted to hug him. “I’m sorry that Mom and I are bringing this to your doorstep. We should have stayed away, I guess.”

“Nonsense.” Sina came into the room with Kendra, her daughter and the queen, as she continued, like she knew what they’d been talking about. Hannah supposed that she did. “You’re a bright spot here and everyone knows it. I’ve come on a mission. I was wondering if you’ve been fitted for your tux yet.”

Max looked at her with a look of pure terror on his face. Hannah laughed and told him she would take care of it for him. But Sina and Kendra had it under control as well.

“I’ve brought the tailors from the castle. And your mother has a few dresses in her room to try on. The crowning is tonight, and I’m so nervous.” Max still looked afraid. “You’ll need to be fitted today. It’s tonight. Can you believe it?”

Sina sat down with them as Max went into the other room with the two men. He looked at her like he needed help, but she wasn’t worried for him. Hannah told her about the call.

“Good for him. He’s a good boy. His mother did an amazing job keeping him smart and safe. There…I have another matter that I wanted to talk to with his mother. A woman is going to be at the crowning, and I would like for Murph to meet her. She’s a Doran as well.” Hannah had heard someone mention the race of beings, but not how it related to Murph and Max. “I’m hoping that Leila can shed some light into how they’re here, and are so powerful. And they are powerful. I think you know that.”

“He knew. Max knew that something was wrong. But he was willing to go with me. I just…why would anyone want to hurt me, or them for that matter? What have they done to this man that he would take me in hopes of getting them?”

“First of all, you are a wonderful person. I don’t think you’re told that nearly enough. Secondly, he wouldn’t have just taken you to get to them, but killed you. He’s that evil. I’ve been…peeking, I guess you can say, on his behaviors a lot lately. I think this man has met his match in his daughter and grandson should he ever cross them. But to answer your question, he wants them not for them, but what they can bring him. He has no idea of what they can do, only how it will affect his bank accounts.” Sina got up and pulled down the tin of scones that was always in the cupboard. Jackson made them nearly every day for her and Mom. And when Hannah’s grandmother came for a visit, there were other sweets as well. “This man, do you think that Misha and the others are aware of what he’s been doing?”