Chapter Eleven
Roni came awake, bathed in perspiration, her flesh feeling irritated and achy.
Her breasts were swollen, her nipples throbbing. Between her thighs her pussy clenched, wept, as she remembered the hard driving thrusts of Taber’s cock inside the narrow channel.
It hadn’t been the romantic interlude she had always fantasized about. There had been no candlelight, no Taber on his knees begging for forgiveness. Instead, there had been blistering heat, intensity, and some unnamed desperation clawing between both of them that refused to be ignored. The orgasm that ended it had blown all her preconceived notions of what an orgasm could be right out the window. Now, if she could just get him to do it again.
She would have to find him first, though. She looked around the room. Night must have finally fallen. The room was dimmer than before, lit only by the soft glow of the lamp beside the bed. The heavy dark wood of the furniture gave the room a safe feeling. Sturdy, uncluttered, and yet uniquely Taber’s.
On the far side of the room hung a large photo of him standing in front of the garage he had owned in Sandy Hook. Several trophies he had won in shooting contests were displayed on the dresser beneath it. Taber hadn’t been an excessively public person, but he had been well known. Well known and well trusted.
She tried to get her bearings, to fight the insidious arousal building in her.
He had said she was in heat. That she would be unable to deny him. Unable to deny his touch. This went beyond denial; this was a beast clawing at her womb, screaming out in demand for the explosive orgasm he had given her before.
She moaned weakly as she turned to her side, wondering at the tight cramps in her lower abdomen. With each spasm her vagina pulsed and throbbed in accompaniment. With each twisting contraction her anger grew. Taber had done this to her. Where before her arousal and need for him had been only a hypersensitive irritation, it had now become an agony.
“God, it could only happen to me,” she whispered into the silent room as she stared at the wall across from her.
“Not exactly.” A sympathetic female voice spoke behind her, and Roni whipped around, clutching the comforter to her bare breasts as her eyes widened.
She remembered meeting Merinus the day before, though only vaguely. Her mind was consumed with the memory of the heat, the driving need that had tormented her.
And Taber. Fierce, savage, determined to claim her, despite the fact that he had been the one to walk away, months before.
The other woman watched her with deep brown eyes filled with compassion. She was slender, about Roni’s height, with long, light brown hair. Her expression was calm, sympathetic, and brought a lump to Roni’s throat.
She had never truly had friends, at least not once they met her father, and this woman’s gentle manner made her realize all she had given up over the years.
Despite the luxurious surroundings of the estate and what Roni remembered of this house, Merinus didn’t appear to adopt a “lady of the manor” attitude. She was dressed in faded jeans, a loose cream-colored cotton shirt, and sneakers. She seemed the type to be more at home camping in the great outdoors than supervising a mansion.
“Where’s Taber?” She looked around the room to be certain he wasn’t there.
“He’s with Callan at the moment. He’s head of security here at the estate, and some of the new measures they’re putting in place required his attention.”
Merinus stood up from the chair she had been sitting in and padded over to the bed.
“I have some clothes that should fit you laid out in the bathroom if you would like to wash up and get dressed. I’d suggest a bath for now. It seems to ease the worst of the mating effects for a short while.”
Roni felt heat rise in her face as the other woman mentioned the insane desire that held her in its grip. She could handle wanting the man until she ached, but this was ridiculous.
“For a short while?” she asked her fiercely. “No.” She shook her head. “Something has to stop this. Now.” She couldn’t accept anything else.
She could feel the heat rising in her body once again. Her skin felt irritated, sensitive, her breasts swollen, her clit throbbing in demand. She couldn’t handle this. It had been bad before, but this was worse than she could have imagined.
She wondered if Taber was even suffering from it. More than likely not. And if any man deserved to, it was he.
Merinus sighed. “The effects are temporary, Roni, but not without a certain price. Take your bath while I call down and have your dinner brought up. We’ll talk when you’re done.”
She turned to leave the room, leaving Roni with too many damned questions and no answers.
“Wait.” Roni wrapped the comforter around her as she slid from the high bed.
Dammit, did Taber think everyone was as damned tall as he was? “Tell me how to stop this now.”
The look on Merinus’ face when she turned back was somber.
“You can’t stop it now, it has to run its course. Now go bathe. The time you can stand to wait for Taber is limited. I know you have questions, and some of them I can answer. But not until you’re more comfortable.”
Roni drew in a rough breath, staring at the other woman’s implacable expression.
She looked more than determined, and Roni had a feeling she was used to getting her own way.
“This bites,” she snapped, turning away from Merinus. “If I wanted to bathe first I would have asked.” But she stomped to the bathroom anyway, determined to get it over with and get her questions answered as soon as possible.
The bathroom was a dream. Italian marble floors, a porcelain sink set in a cherry cabinet. In the center of the room was a large sunken tub big enough for three grown people. A shower was set in a far corner.
Against the wall opposite the door was a sky-blue print Queen Anne chair, and beside it, an antique cherry table. Cabinets were set within the walls, and decorative nooks held a variety of expensive knick-knacks. It was opulent and comfortable at the same time. And unlike anything Roni had ever experienced.
Merinus had been right, though. The bath did seem to ease the building heat that had already begun tormenting her. Of course, Roni opted for a cold bath, shivering in the coolest water she could stand on her skin and gradually adding more until it became tolerable. When she felt as though she could stand to walk without being fucked first, she got out of the large tub, dried her hair and hurriedly dressed in the long gown and robe the other woman had provided. There were no panties, but she didn’t want to tempt her luck at this point by allowing anything to touch her overly sensitive cunt.
Dinner came next. It was waiting on her in the sitting room, on the small glass table positioned beside the sliding balcony doors. It was a light meal and Merinus stood guard over her every second, making certain she finished it before covering the tray and then sitting back in the chair and watching her silently.
“Okay, answers,” Roni reminded her. “What did he do to me and how do I get rid of it?”
The answers better come fast too, she thought, because the small contractions in her womb were about to drive her crazy.
“Conception.” Roni froze at the other woman’s words. “It’s the only thing that stills the heat. But you won’t be free of Taber, even then. Nature is a little smarter than we’ve given her credit for. You and Taber will never be able to separate. You’ll always be a part of him, through the child you conceive as well as the hormone that will never completely leave your body. You’re his mate. Forever.”
Roni stared at the other woman for a long, silent minute. If Merinus didn’t look so serious, Roni would have laughed in her face. Unfortunately, this just didn’t feel like a good time to find amusement in a situation rapidly becoming a nightmare.
“Like hell I am.” Roni jumped to her feet, paying little attention to the chair that fell over behind her.
This was not good. She stared at Merinus’s calm expression, feeling panic well inside her as the other woman watched her almost pityingly.
“Roni, you need to understand . . . ”
“No, you need to understand,” she retorted as she pushed her fingers desperately though her hair. “I did not ask for this. I didn’t ask him to leave this stupid mark on me and I sure as hell didn’t ask him to kiss me. I won’t accept this.”
A child? She had to get pregnant first? Bring a baby into the world that would have every mercenary and low life criminal looking to steal it. To take it from her arms and turn it over to a group of monsters who would do only God knew what to it.
Horror welled up within her as her hands pressed against her stomach in denial. She couldn’t do it. God help her, she wouldn’t survive it.
“Roni, denying it won’t help.” Merinus came slowly to her feet. “I’ve been where you are. I know how confused you are and how pissed you are. But they didn’t ask for this, either. Not in any way. You can work this out with Taber.”
Roni stared up at her, unblinking. She could feel hysteria building inside her mind as she fought to accept what she considered the unacceptable.
“Work what out with him?” she finally snarled furiously. “Spread my legs so he can knock me up and leave again? Oh yeah, let’s talk about that one. His track record sucks, Merinus, and I’m not willing to face the consequences of this alone. And sure as hell not with a child, whose very existence will be in danger from the moment it’s conceived.”
Merinus frowned. “Taber would never leave you, Roni.”
She laughed. She couldn’t help it. Merinus looked so sincere, so very certain of Taber’s honor, that it was all she could do. “So, tell me, Merinus, how did I get this mark? Where the hell has he been the last year or so?”
“Taber didn’t know about the mark . . . ”
“So, they can mark whoever they want to and then like any old tomcat just jump and run to the next.” Roni clenched her fists as her fury nearly overwhelmed her.
“Roni, you have to understand . . . ” Merinus tried again.
“Wrong.” Roni’s hand slashed through the air as she rejected Merinus’ plea. “I don’t have to understand shit, Merinus. This is my life. Any child conceived will be mine. I won’t let him do this to me. And I sure as hell won’t let him get me pregnant and then decide again that he needs someone who is more woman than I am.”
The thought of Taber touching another woman made her insane with grief.
“Roni, Taber wouldn’t do that,” Merinus protested. “You will be protected and your child even more so.”
Roni snorted in disbelief.
“Callan might be more of a man than that, Merinus, but I’ve seen Taber’s work first hand. No thanks. No babies. No Taber. Where the hell am I and how do I get home?”
“What home?” Taber’s voice, pitched low and furious, growled from the doorway.
“It was burned to the ground before we ever landed here at the estate. Looks like you’re stuck with the tomcat, baby.”