Jaguars' Reward [Impulse 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (10 page)

“Vadim has only one purpose in life, and that’s not to make the same mistake his father did and allow anyone to attack Impulse.” Zayd shrugged. “Even he can’t stop the attacks, but he can anticipate them and ward them off.”

“I see.”

Zayd lowered his head and brushed his lips against hers. “No you don’t, sweetheart. There’s a lot of stuff going on inside Vadim’s head, a lot of guilt he can’t expunge. It didn’t help matters when one of the kids Mikael healed a while back left here with something that led a journalist to Impulse. Vadim blames himself, even though it was the duty of one of the beta jaguars to ensure that the kid and his parents left with nothing that would indicate they’d been in Impulse.”

“The buck stops with him.”

“Exactly. Anyway, it worked out okay. Mikael and Philo are mated with that journalist now and have Vadim to thank for that.”

“Why is Vadim’s head so screwed up?”

“He’s had a lot to deal with. His mother was killed in a raid when Vadim was small. His father never mated again, didn’t seem interested, until just before that fateful raid when he met a human who blew his mind and seemed to make him forget everything else.”

“My God!” She sat up, a shocked expression on her face, and covered her mouth with her hand. “He thinks that’s happening again. It’s why I’ve been sent here.”

“The idea did cross both our minds.”

“But I’m not—”

“We know it isn’t you, babe. You’re being used, but you can see the similarities, can’t you?”

She nodded. “I guess.”

“His father was with the lady on that night of the raid when he should have been on duty. If he had been paying proper attention, the raid would probably have been averted. Lives wouldn’t have been lost, and Vadim wouldn’t have spent the intervening years trying to prove that he isn’t derelict in his duty like some still say his father was.”

“That’s not fair! It sounds as if his father was set up.”

“He was, no question. But he should have recognized the signs, just as we do now with you.”

She shot him a confused glance. “What do you mean?”

Zayd looked at her askance. “You don’t know?”

“I don’t have a clue what you’re talking about.”

“Vadim and I need a mate—a human mate. The moment we saw you we knew you could be the one for us.”

“Humph, you could have fooled me.”

Zayd was lost. “What do you mean by that?”

“Last night. You had me at your mercy, but you didn’t…er—”

“Fuck you?” She nodded, causing Zayd to flash a knowing smile. “Babe, couldn’t you tell how much we wanted to?”

“I didn’t exactly put up too many objections.”

“Darlin’, you still don’t get it, do you?”

“Enlighten me.”

Zayd sighed. “We told you before that our powers are waning. Every other generation of alpha shifters has to mate with either another shifter or with a human. Vadim and I need a human to restore our powers.”

“What, just one between you?” She moistened her lips and treated him to a winsome smile. “Can anyone apply for the job?”

Zayd laughed. “I suspect it was the same for your grandfather, if he had aspiration to become an alpha. That’s why he didn’t risk telling your grandmother what he was and take the chance of losing her. That was cowardly, but understandable. With Vadim, you see, his determination to prove himself overcomes everything. We weren’t even supposed to be on duty yesterday when we found you. We just went out to check on the patrols and to enjoy being out on the water. It took every ounce of ingenuity I possess to get him to fuck me while we were out there. And trust me, Vadim enjoys fucking and being fucked. Well, you saw that for yourself last night. Not many men could withstand the beating and the half choking I gave him, but if you hadn’t have been there, he’d have asked for it even harder.”

“Then with me…why—”

“You have shifter blood, sweetheart, and we need a pure human, otherwise our powers will be history. It’s killing us both, having you here but not being able to have you, if you see what I mean.”

It was apparent that she did. She reached up and traced his face with her forefinger. “You poor guys,” she said softly.

Zayd was lost. All it took was the touch of her fingers for his resolve to crumble. He cursed beneath his breath and kissed her savagely, nipping at her lips in his desperation. She rose to the occasion, threw her arms round his neck, sank her fingers into his hair, and kissed him right back. He pulled her onto his lap. Her knees spanned his thighs as she sat across him, his bulging cock pressing against her clit. She rode against it as he deepened the kiss and gouged the cheeks of her butt through the denim of her jeans. Thank Christ she was wearing them, otherwise Zayd wasn’t sure if he’d be able to resist going the distance. His need for her transcended everything else to such an extent that he feared for his sanity.

“Looks to me like you need some help with that,” she said when he broke the kiss, flicking a finger across his erection.

“You volunteering?”

“I could be persuaded, especially since I appear to be the cause of it.”

Zayd folded his arms behind his head and sat back. “Be my guest, babe.”

She mangled her lower lip between her teeth, tilted her head, and smiled at him. “Let’s see if I remember how this goes.”

She unfastened the snap to his jeans, unzipped him, and caught his cock as it sprang free, pulsating with need. Her eyes widened and she did that cute thing with her tongue, running it along her lower lip. Then she bent her head and sucked him deep into her mouth. Unable to remain passive, Zayd slipped both hands beneath her top and sought out her unfettered tits. Her nipples were rock hard and Zayd was filled with the desire to have them rubbing against his chest.

“Take your top off,” he said in an urgent whisper.

It flew over her head and landed on the floor. Zayd removed his shirt and cast it aside.

“If you shaved the hairs off your balls it would feel better when I suck them,” she said.

“Honey, nothing could feel better than what you’re doing right now.”

Zayd grabbed one of her tits and rubbed the nipple against his own, the friction thrilling enough to make his cock expand even more. Her soft curves thumped in thrilling contrast against the hard planes of his chest. They both sighed, but before he got carried away, Zayd dropped her breast again, not prepared to risk escalating his need. He pushed her head toward his throbbing prick.

“Eat it for me, babe,” he said on a hoarse whisper.

She sucked him into her mouth slowly, her lips firm and moist. Then she released him again and her tongue tantalized the underside of one of his balls, causing sensation to streak through him like a bolt of lightning.

“Hmm, that’s so good. Vadim and I didn’t fuck this morning because we didn’t want to wake you. The truth is, we probably wouldn’t have been able to resist fucking you as well, which is a damned sorry state of affairs.” She choked on his cock, as though trying to speak. He pushed her head down again to prevent her. There was nothing anyone could say that would help. Sometimes being an alpha shifter was a shit job from which it wasn’t possible to resign. “Nip at it, darlin’. You know I enjoy pain.”

Her teeth were the most exquisite agony. This wasn’t going to last long, which was probably just as well. Zayd had never had sex with a woman in his entire life, but he’d played games like this with enough of them to know he’d reached his limit. He’d never been tempted to take it any further with his previous partners, but Talia was the exception to that rule. He ached to be inside her, was desperate to feel her sweet cunt closing round his cock, and didn’t dare to remove her jeans for that precise reason. Perhaps he could screw her ass? That wouldn’t count as fucking, would it? He dismissed the idea before it could take hold, having been told since he was old enough to understand these things that it was a definite no-no.

“That’s it, babe, you’ve got me now.” Zayd moved his hips, thrusting himself deeper into her tight mouth. “I’m gonna come for you. Suck it harder, darlin’. I’m almost there.”

Talia flicked her tongue across his glans and Zayd exploded. Gasping and swearing, he shot his load deep into the back of her throat, an endless stream of seed he could never risk implanting inside her. When he stopped pulsating and she’d swallowed it all down, he pulled out of her mouth and kissed her, tasting himself on her lips.

“Thanks, sweet thing. You’re damned good at that.”

“Isn’t she just.”

They turned to see Vadim leaning against the doorjamb, watching them.

“How long have you been there?” Zayd asked.

“Long enough to enjoy the show.”

“You should have joined us.”

Vadim’s smile faded. “Now that I have your attention, I have news to impart,” he said.

Vadim watched Talia as she athletically pushed herself to her feet and pulled her top back over her head.

“What have you found out?” she asked anxiously.

“Do you know a guy called Chuck Wilson?”

“Yes,” she said without hesitation. “He’s a karate brown belt and came to the gym for a few private bouts.”

“With you?”

“Yes. He said he was out of practice—”

“But?” Vadim prompted when she paused.

“I don’t know, really, but I never took to him. There was just something about him. He was very superior, thought he knew it all, even though he didn’t. Well, not about karate anyway. I landed him on his ass on more than one occasion.”

“But there’s more to it than that?” Vadim suggested.

Zayd frowned. “He hit on you?”

“I guess you could call it that. He kept asking me out for a drink, said there was something he needed to talk to me about. But I never mix business with pleasure, didn’t like him much anyway, and so I turned him down.”

“How did he take that?” Vadim asked.

“Not well.” She wrinkled her nose. “He had this way of looking at me that gave me the creeps. He had these really intense eyes and it was like they could see right inside my head and read my thoughts. He actually said to me once that he knew more about me than I knew about myself. It really freaked me out.”

“Did he quit harassing you when you blew him off?”

Vadim strode about the room as he asked the question, propelled by the tide of his own seething emotions. Seeing Talia servicing Zayd had affected Vadim in a negative way, reinforcing the way he’d reacted to her since first setting eyes on her, which was anything but negative. The natural draw he’d felt toward her probably explained why he’d been so devastated when he thought she was dead. He’d found the mate he’d spent all these years searching for—he knew that in his human soul and its jaguar equivalent—but there were unacceptable conditions attached. He couldn’t have her unless he gave up everything he’d striven to achieve these past decades. That included trying to make up for his father’s one mistake.

But this wasn’t just about him. The entire colony relied upon Vadim to keep a tight hold on security. To do that he needed to find a human mate who would rejuvenate his powers, but no one said anything about having to love her. There were plenty of candidates out there who’d fit the bill if only Vadim could muster enough enthusiasm to charm the right one into mating with him for life.

The only problem was that Vadim was a one-woman guy, and he’d found that woman. She was standing in front of him right now, looking endearingly concerned about the disgruntled state of mind he wasn’t doing much to conceal. Now all he had to do was keep her at arm’s length. It was the only way he could be sure that he wouldn’t yield to temptation at a time when Impulse needed him the most—just like his father had before him. Never had history been in more danger of repeating itself.

“Are you okay, Vadim?” Talia asked. “You look kind of stressed.”

Much you know.

“Yeah, I’m good, but we don’t have a lot of time to waste. You were telling me about Wilson.”

“Is he the guy who was behind my abduction?”

“Looks that way. Kane traced the names behind the bank account that pays
Odyssey
’s
mooring fees. It’s an offshore account that hides behind a dummy corporation, but Kane managed to follow the trail back to Wilson.”

“Is he a shifter?”

“Yeah,” Zayd said, grinding his teeth. “He’s an alpha wolf with a pack that hangs out near Venice. We’ve had run-ins with them before, but not since Wilson became alpha. We have a file on him and we’ve always been concerned about him one day flexing his muscles. He’s more intelligent than his predecessors and obviously not above resorting to devious means to get what he wants.”

“His son Brad came for lessons after his dad quit,” Talia said. “He tried real hard to get me to go out on a date with him. He even followed me home a couple of times and got quite nasty when I told him to take a hike.”

“Did he hurt you?” Zayd snarled.

She smiled. “I can take care of myself, remember.”

“Just as well,” Vadim said. “Because his type don’t fight fair. Still, when the chips are down that works both ways and the wolves might just have taken on more than they bargained for.”