Blood hit Toni’s starved cells like a bullet. Rich, dark, warm, life-giving blood. It coated her throat and she eagerly latched on, clamping her hands around and drinking from the source. The scarlet ambrosia surged rhythmically. Like a drum. Or a heartbeat.

Caught in the wasteland between life and death, Toni focused on that heartbeat. Strong and powerful, it called to her and she used it like a beacon. Dragging herself toward it, farther and farther out of the clinging quicksand of the true death. The flow of rich fluid stopped, the source removed, and she pouted for a second before she realized she could still hear the heartbeat. It was part of her now, prowling through her blood with the aggression and protectiveness of a guardian angel as sleep wrapped itself around her and pulled her down into another type of darkness.

The next time she woke, it was by degrees. She was warm and comfortable, but her body ached with the echoes of violence. Memory teased her with snippets. Of being dragged from Fitz’s office by McCoy and his henchmen. There, life had become a fight for survival from one breath to the next while the pack of bloods took advantage of her drugged state, free with their fists and feet. Just like Brent had been with his words before she’d beaten the snot out of him in the barracks. No claws though, and no teeth. They’d wanted to keep her alive for something. But what?

Her body resisted her push to bring herself back to full consciousness, arguing the point warmth and comfort were good. Nothing hurt. Yet. If she woke up, those echoes would turn into bruises and worse. She’d felt at least three ribs crack during the beating as she tried to keep herself between the bloods and the unfortunate aide, and her left ankle was at best broken, at worst shattered, which would hurt like a bitch when she woke up.

Still, she couldn’t stay here hiding in sleep like a damn coward. With a groan, she stopped fighting the pull of consciousness and let her mind drag her up a few layers out of the darkness. She tensed every cell, sinew and muscle and waited for the pain to hit like a tidal wave hitting the shore.

Nothing happened.

Her senses expanded and fed her more information of her surroundings. She lay on a comfortable surface, cushioned and springy—a mattress, maybe—covered with something warm and cozy. She sighed in contentment and a sheet rustled, the scent of clean linen surrounding her. A bed then.

But that realization was ignored under another. She wasn’t alone in the bed. A large, warm, male body wrapped around and over hers. A powerful heartbeat echoed the one in her head, the one that had pulled her from the wastelands. Her sense of smell kicking in, she opened her eyes and met warm brown ones ringed with amber.

Foster. Darce. Her Darce.

Relief stole her breath for a moment and she smiled, realizing her comfortable pillow was his arm. “You often watch women while they sleep?”

“Just you, sweetness. You do it so well, I didn’t want to miss a second of the show.”

His voice was low and gruff from his beast but she didn’t care. It hit her low down, sparking off a latent heat in the pit of her belly that then spiraled out through her body, infusing her limbs with warmth and heaviness. She could stay here all day in his arms.

“Am I naked under this sheet?”

“Hmmm, can I plead the fifth?”

She knew from the smell of the room they hadn’t escaped the Project—the anti-bacterial floor cleanser was annoyingly distinctive—and only an idiot would have expected to get away after the going over she’d gotten from McCoy and his gang. She didn’t care. She was alive, he was alive, and they didn’t appear to be in any immediate danger. She’d take that for now.

Sliding her leg along his, she reveled in the feeling of his hair-roughened skin against hers. His nostrils flared at the contact and her smile widened.

“No, I don’t think you can.”

She shifted closer and spread her hand over his broad chest. His human frame was solidly built, powerful even without the strength of the lycan within. She liked that.

“In fact, soldier, I think you need to fess up, right now. That’s an order.”

His eyes darkened another notch, the ring of amber thicker for a moment before it receded.

“Oh, an order now, is it?”

He’d moved before she registered the movement, stretching out over her lazily. One of his knees slid between hers, gently parting them, but he didn’t settle. Just held himself over her.

“So…ma’am. What would you like to know? How I stripped each item of clothing from your luscious body, piece by piece? Or how I carried you naked to the bed? Lowered you between these fine sheets?” He smiled and stroked the hair back from her face, looking down at her. “Or shall I tell you I watched an angel sleep in my arms and kept her safe from harm? How I’d give everything, over and over again…blood and body, my life even, for just one smile from your sweet lips?”

Her heart melted, a little pile of mush right there in the center of her chest. Unable to resist, she reached up and brushed her lips over his. She gasped as electricity arced between them, and she kissed him again.

She pushed the curtains of his hair back from his face and explored his lips. They were warm and firm, with a sensuous curve that just begged her to nibble. She did, taking care to keep her fangs out of the way, and was rewarded with a sharp gasp and a shudder, which rolled from his head to his toes.

“Teasing now, sweets,” he warned, his voice dropping into a near growl.

At one point the evidence of his other nature would have disgusted her. Now it just turned her on all the more. She wanted to bait him, make him lose control. What was the worst that could happen? He could bite her?

God yes, please.

The thought of his teeth in her skin sent a wave of heat through her so intense she trembled with it. What was wrong with her? She’d never found biting even the slightest bit sexy, but now all she wanted to do was part her legs and let him sink into her as his teeth found her neck. Held her still while he took her over and over.

Blood and body. His words hit her with the force of a truck. The memory of her fangs in his wrist, his hot blood gushing down her throat, filled her. He’d fed her. Given her his blood when she needed it. She pulled back to search his eyes, the trust in that act and the amber-ringed orbs rocking her to the core.

Then she shuddered and smiled.

“Yeah. You got a problem with that?”

She nipped him again, stroking her tongue over the hurt and was rewarded with a deep shudder that rocked his shoulders.

“Fuck…no. But at zoos, they tell you not to feed the animals for a reason.”

He shoved her thighs wider apart and dropped his hips. Just enough to brush against her. She bit her lip at the feel of his aroused body against hers. Not pressing hard, not brash or overwhelming. Gentle, and not. Forceful, but tempered. In her weakened state he could have forced the issue but she knew he wouldn’t. She knew she’d never been so safe as she was in his arms.

“Perhaps I like teasing the animals…or just one animal,” she whispered against his lips and then kissed him again.

This time there was no teasing. Heat and need flared between them, a potent combination. He groaned when she parted his lips with a sweep of her tongue and drove it inside, seeking his. His taste exploded through her. Feral. Wild. Unique.

He dropped his hips farther and pressed against her as he wound his tongue around hers. The slick slide of moist flesh. Wet brushes tempered with hot kisses. Open-mouthed, wild…bordering on frantic. Tension and need surged through her body, dragging a gasp from her lips. A gasp he swallowed before he took control. The kiss was long and hard. He drove his hands into the hair either side of her head to hold her still and made love to her with his mouth. Used the surge and thrust of his tongue into the soft recesses past her lips to tease and tantalize her. Let her know what he planned to do to her body.

She whimpered, clinging to him as all her defenses were swept away. Defenses? Ha, who was she kidding? When it came to him, she had none. He’d staked a claim with that first kiss in the forest and she hadn’t been able to get him out of her head since.

Guilt hit her and she broke away, her breathing ragged. Leaning her forehead against his shoulder, she felt their hearts beat in perfect time. “Oh god, I’m so sorry. I should never have brought y—”

He moved, forcing her to look up at him.

“No. No recriminations, no apologies.” He smiled, but his expression was firm. “Not between us. Not ever. Darlin’, I’d have followed you anyway, so you did us both a favor by bringing me in. Besides, I think I’ll always have a fondness for truck beds now.”

His lips quirked and she couldn’t help smiling in response. His eyes darkened and the smile disappeared. Her breathing caught as, in the space between one heartbeat and the next, the tension between them tightened to breaking point.

“I want to kiss you again.”

“Yes.”

She answered his question before he’d asked it, lifting her lips and offering him everything that she was.

A growl of triumph rolled from his chest as he claimed her lips again, all but crushing them under his. He swept the sheet away and dropped it on the floor. She gasped when he pressed fully against her, the sound lost under his kiss. He was tall, hard and gloriously naked. Fully aroused, the thick, hard bar of his cock pressed into her stomach and she reveled in the proof of his masculinity.

He broke away from her lips, leaving a trail of hard, biting kisses along her jaw and down her throat. She wasn’t naked, clad in underwear that was soon gone—whether by her hands or his, she didn’t know. Didn’t care. All she cared about was touching him and getting more of her skin on his. He moved over her, the contact playing shivers over her skin while her pussy clenched in an empty ache.

“Darce,” she whispered, the sound perilously close to a plea.

“I got you, sweets,” he promised and cupped her breast in a large, warm hand. The calluses on his palms abraded her skin and she mewled, arching her back to offer him more. She wanted more. She wanted everything. Wanted to give him everything she had.

She clung to his shoulders, nails scoring his back as his hand slid down. He flirted with the curve of her waist and smoothed over the slight swell of her stomach, the soft curve one that she’d never been able to totally eradicate.

“Your skin is so soft. Delicate,” he murmured against her ear, stroking a single fingertip down the crease between her hip and thigh. “I could touch you forever and be a happy man.”

She laughed, a sound between amusement and torture. “Only if you want to drive me insane.”

“Challenge accepted.”

His chuckle vibrated against the skin of her throat as he kissed behind her ear. The soft spot turned her knees to jelly. But he didn’t stop there, sliding a thick finger between her folds while his lips caressed her throat.

“You’re hot, and wet. All for me.” He groaned, his finger rubbing against her flesh and smoothing the slickness further over her.

With pinpoint accuracy he found her clit. Circled and rubbed. Pleasure radiated outward from the tiny button buried deep in the folds. She gasped, clutching at his arms while he drove her higher and higher. Tension snapped into a familiar pattern, albeit one she’d thought lost with her humanity. Her body woke under his hands, climbing higher and higher as he played it with a deft touch. Like his blood in her veins was the catalyst for unlocking the side of her she’d thought lost

Not lost. Asleep. Slumbering. Waiting for him. And now it was back. Hot, hard, more intense than it had been. Hot prickles swept over her skin, bringing tears to her eyes. Her hips rocked, seeking more sensation, more pleasure, more…everything.

“That’s it, sweets.” His deep voice soft in her ear as he cradled her. Protected her from the outside world with his body while his hand moved between her thighs. Darce took nothing for himself as he taught her how to fly. “Come for me. Just let go and come for me.”

He turned his hand, pressing hard against her clit with his thumb and sliding two fingers deep inside her slick channel. The penetration was smooth but unexpected. A cry broke from her lips. Everything crumpled around her. Her body clamped hard around his fingers, and her hips rocked as he finger-fucked her. Short, hard thrusts to get her body ready for his. Then he curled his fingers back to press against the inner wall up behind her pelvis and she lost it.

His lips crashed down on hers when she came, her body shuddering under the force of it. Long, hot waves of pleasure crashed through her in an unstoppable tide. A whole body experience she felt from her center outward, right to the top of her head and down to her toes. He claimed her with his kiss, thrusting his tongue deep in the same rhythm as his fingers until she didn’t know where he ended and she began.

He broke away, his breathing ragged, and pulled his hand free. She pouted in disappointment, still shuddering from the force of her release. But even though she’d just come, harder than she ever had before, it wasn’t enough. A soul deep ache rolled through her, her body demanding to be filled by more than his fingers. She needed him. Filling her, claiming her, taking her and making her his.

“Darce…please.” She was begging now, but she didn’t care. She just wanted him. “Now!”

“Yes, ma’am.” He chuckled, the sound shaky, and moved over her. “Hell yes.”

She parted her thighs to welcome him, a hiss escaping her lips when he settled into the cradle of her hips. The hiss became a moan as the thick, blunt head of his cock pressed against the entrance to her pussy. Bracing himself over her on strong arms, he held her gaze and started to push into her. Her eyelids fluttered closed but he growled a warning.

“No, I want to see you. Want you to see me as I take you and make you mine.”

She nodded, her heart melting. He fisted a hand in the bedding by her head and pressed forward again. A long, slow ride of pressure and fullness and heat. Her body relaxed under his possession. He was big, long and thick…so much so she wasn’t sure she’d be able to take all of him. But before she knew it, his hips met hers. One arm slid under her to grasp the nape of her neck, holding her to him, under him when he paused and looked down to check she was okay. That little consideration did it. If she hadn’t already been head over heels for him, she’d have fallen for him right there and then, and damn the consequences.

She nodded and the worry eased from his expression to be replaced by something far hotter and more feral. He pulled back, the slide of his cock in her pussy, stroking nerve endings she hadn’t known existed, almost sent her over the edge once more. But then he thrust back in and all bets were off. Pleasure hit her again and again, with each heavy thrust and sharp retreat. He built a hard and fast rhythm driven by the wildness and tension mounting between them.

She gasped and held on, which was all she could do. She clung to him and trusted in his strength as he directed their pleasure, moving with him to wherever he wanted to take them. Trusting him to guide them to heaven and back in an erotic ride that took her breath away.

He grunted, and the soft sounds of sex filled the room. The slide of skin on skin, the slap of his hips against hers. The liquid melody of pleasure under light feminine gasps and deeper, masculine groans.

Just when she thought it couldn’t get better, he rolled his hips to press against something deep inside her and she was there all over again. His name falling from her lips, she paused right on the precipice. Perfect tension and pleasure poised on a knife edge while she waited for him. Opening her eyes, she looked into his and smiled. His nostrils flared, the ring of amber bright in the dark brown but she didn’t care. She wanted him all, beast and man.

He nodded, and drove forward again. Pleasure shattered over her and she screamed his name. Wave after wave of bliss assaulted her, and for a moment she was almost swept away by it. He threw back his head, chords standing out in his neck as her body tightened around his. She trembled, moving with him. She searched for control. Gained it and surfed the pleasure coursing through her body while he chased his own release. His thrusts were harder and stronger, the force slamming the bed against the wall. She clung to him and reveled in the power and his loss of control when he faltered. He thrust once, twice, and then roared her name as he came deep inside her.

 

 

The guards came for them early, crashing through the door to train rifles on them.

Darce snarled, on his feet and in front of his mate with his claws extended before he was fully awake. They’d get to Toni over his dead body. He flexed his fingers, the claws glinting dully in the low light as he turned his head, picking his targets among the men in the room. Mentally, he tracked a path of devastation through them, a swathe of amputated limbs and organ removal until they were all dead and he was covered in blood.

“Back down, gentlemen. Give the lieutenant some space.”

Doc Happy breezed through the door, the same smile on his face that he’d had when he’d locked Toni and Darce in the room hours ago. He flicked a glance over them, taking in Darce’s protective stance and Toni curled up in the sheet and huddled at the top of the bed. His heart raced, surging with adrenaline, man and wolf in perfect accord. Protection of their mate at all costs.

She was still pale, too pale, but a lot stronger than she had been hours ago. Another snarl rumbled up from the center of Darce’s chest. She wasn’t up to exchanging blows with this lot though. That was his job.

The guards backed off a few steps, one glancing sideways at the doctor as if to say, “Really? There’s a cocked and ready werewolf ready to go off in the room and you want us to back down?” At least, that’s what Darce would have been thinking had he been in the same situation. There was nothing more dangerous than a cornered wolf, unless it was a cornered wolf with his mate.

“Excellent,” the doctor proclaimed and rubbed his hands together, forcing Darce to wonder if he was actually on the same level of reality as the rest of them. “Protective behavior. He’s beginning to bond with her. We’d thought this would happen eventually.”

Darce lifted an eyebrow. They’d suspected the lycans would bond? Boy, were they behind with current affairs…

“And how are you feeling, my dear? Better now?” Doc Happy addressed Toni directly, moving to step around Darce.

“Stay away from her.” The growl of warning slipped from his throat before he could stop it, his hands up and central in a threatening gesture while the claws on his toes scratched deep gouges in the flooring.

“Yes, yes, of course.” The doctor finally looked discomfited and backed down, clearing his throat. “Right, give them some room. If she can’t walk, you’ll need to carry her. And you might want to put on some clothes. Sergeant, if you would.”

One of the men threw a pile of garments on the floor in front of Darce. Keeping an eye on the armed guards, he dragged on fatigues and boots quickly, adding a T-shirt as an afterthought. Made no difference. If he shifted, anything he wore would get trashed just the same.

Without a word he turned and gathered Toni in his arms. They hadn’t brought new clothes for her, but she had on her underwear at the least. As an added protection, he wrapped the sheet around her. Trust shone in her dark eyes, a silent message passing between them. Softly, softly.

He’d fed her again during the night, twice, both times leading to the most earth-shattering sex he’d ever experienced. She wasn’t completely recovered, but near to it. And that element of surprise could be the edge they needed when their chance came. Darce nodded at the doctor as he headed for the door, the guards parting like water.

“Lead the way.”

 

 

“And this is the main holding area.”

Toni woke from her light doze at the sound of Fitzgerald’s voice. Ignoring the slight edge of nausea that had been present since she woke in Darce’s arms, she struggled to sit up. Darce grunted and pulled her closer, wrapping his larger body protectively around her. A smile curved her lips for a second. When the bloods had worked her over, she’d thought that was it. Do not pass go, do not collect two hundred dollars. Cats might have nine lives, but no cat DNA was used to create the bloods, so she’d be shit out of luck.

When she’d awoken in his arms, she thought she’d died and gone to heaven. That her dying brain had granted the one thing she wanted most in the world, him, and given her a glimpse of Utopia. His kisses, his body over hers. All sublime. She hadn’t thought it could get better and then he’d cradled her in his lap and offered her his throat. The sight of the blood pulsing under the skin while his arms wrapped around her had set her mouth to watering. Then he’d cupped the back of her head and brought her lips to his neck and she’d been lost.

“Darce, wake up.” She shook his shoulder as the sound of footsteps and voices got closer.

“I understand you had some issues recently? Last night’s feed was cut abruptly and let me tell you, our investors were not happy. Not happy at all. Can you give us some assurances that the same thing won’t happen again?”

“Huh? Wh—” Darce came awake sharply.

She put her fingers to his lips, cutting him off. “Shhh. We got company.”

He sat up, eyes wide and tension coiled in every line of his body. After hauling them both to their feet, he shoved her behind him when a group came into view at the front of the cage. Led by Fitz in full uniform, it was comprised mostly of men, with only one woman in a power suit, which looked like it had come right out of the eighties. All wore badges with the initials VIP emblazoned on them in large blue letters. She knew the system. Each badge had a chip in it that allowed the visitor to certain areas, and lord help any of them if they lost their badge.

“Oh yes.” Fitzgerald nodded. His expression was calm but a betraying wash of red was at his neck. “We shut that down quickly and dealt with the instigators. Seemed one of our staff was less than careful when dealing with the stock. One got loose…” He shrugged and spread his hands. “This business is dangerous. Some losses are to be expected.”

The woman’s heels rang out as she approached the bars, peering into the darkness. Darce snarled, claws already out and ready to use. Toni put a hand on his arm and locked eyes with the woman. Slender and blonde, her ice-blue eyes swept over the pair with utter lack of compassion. Toni shivered. She’d never seen such coldness on a human before.

“I see. And this pair?”

Fitz looked past her. “A blood and a lycan. Part of the breeding phase. The lycan has bonded so we have high hopes of conception.”

The woman nodded, but her eyes lingered on Darce’s broad shoulders. “This one has been in the ring?”

Not liking the gleam in the other woman’s eyes, or the purely feminine interest, Toni slid in front of Darce, baring her fangs. Strange, they dropped easier into her mouth than they had before, as though they hadn’t fully retracted. Darce’s hand closed around her wrist and stopped her from rushing the bars. One swipe—that’s all she needed—and she’d open a second smile right along the bitch’s throat. Teach her to ogle Toni’s man.

“He has indeed. One of our more successful fighters.”

“I want to see him fight. If he comes up to scratch, I’ll take him off your hands. He’ll be a valuable addition to our stable.” The blonde smiled and straightened up. “Unless of course, your breeding experiment precludes a sale. At our previously agreed rate of course.”

Toni’s heart lurched as Darce’s hand tightened around her wrist. Stable? Sale? Shit, they were going to take him away before they got a chance at escape. Ice washed through her veins and she assessed the guards with the little group. Darce caught her looking and shook his head. There were too many guards. If they tried anything, especially with VIPs in here, they’d be dead before they took another breath.

Fitz’s eyes gleamed for a second but he was quick to mask the expression. He shrugged, expression blank.

“Double it. He’s a very popular subject.”

Blondie wrinkled her nose, but Toni already knew what her answer was going to be. “Done. But I want to see him fight first.”

Fitz nodded and clicked his fingers. “Get him out.”

“No!” The cry escaped Toni’s lips before she could stop it. Whirling around, she wrapped herself around Darce, fear pounding through her system like a battalion in hobnail boots. The worry that if he went out there he wouldn’t come back to her drove its claws deep into her gut and wouldn’t let go.

“Shhh…it’s okay, babe.” He cupped her face, thumb stroking over her cheek while the guards unlocked the cage. Darce leaned in and stole her breath with the softest, sweetest kiss she’d ever been given. “No matter what, I’ll be coming back for you. Don’t you worry.”

She couldn’t do anything but nod, holding back tears as they dragged him from the cage. He snarled, about to lash out until one of the guards to the side turned and aimed his rifle directly at Toni. She swallowed and raised her hands.

“I’m calm, I’m calm.” Darce put his hands out to the side, not responding when two guards moved in and cuffed him. “Just don’t hurt her.”