Chapter Twenty One
Mary ran through the forest, enjoying the earth beneath her paws. She listened to the birds in the trees. Her ears rotated as she tried to pinpoint them, but the sound was gone before she could get a grasp of what sort of bird they were. She let it go, relishing the freedom of being able to embrace her Wolf and forget about all the housework that needed to be done.
Suddenly she became aware of a shadow running next to her. Her heart leapt to her throat and she spun around. A huge grey Wolf stood before her, blue eyes narrowed at her, teeth curled back into a snarl.
Papa?
The Wolf howled, throwing back its head. Then a gunshot rang out and Mary felt the kickback in her ribcage. The gun was in her hands, black smoke billowing from it.
Her father lay on the ground, blood gushing from his wounds. His head lifted. His eyes met hers.
"Why, Chipmunk? Why?"
***
Mary jerked awake, her body shaking with sobs. Hands sought her out in the darkness and she pushed them away. Her throat felt raw like she had been screaming in her sleep, and she swung out of bed. He was going to kill Andre. I didn't have a choice.
Or had there been a choice? If she had tried to talk to him, explain the situation–What if he had come after them thinking that Andre had taken her as a prisoner? Who knew what he believed Andre had done to her before? What if he had come alone because he saw that she was gone? What if he had tracked her until he could scent the Bear with her and was so worried for her safety that he didn't go back for any help?
She stumbled over the clothes she had left on the floor when they had gone to bed. The tile in the bathroom was cool and smooth on her naked body as she lay down on it. Her stomach churned, threatening to expel its contents at any moment. Her forehead felt feverish, and she pressed it to the floor, closing her eyes.
A hand touched her shoulder and she looked up, gasping and choking back her tears. Andre knelt beside her, soundlessly taking her into his arms. Their skin pressed together, warming her.
She clung to him. His warmth, his solidness, it reminded her of why she had needed to act. If she had hesitated a moment longer than she had, he'd be dead.
Paul had fired three times. She should have acted before she did–maybe that was what scared her the most. She had killed her father, but she had almost let her father kill her soulmate before she did.
"Andre," she whispered, leaning against him.
She buried her face into his uninjured shoulder, inhaling the faint woodsy scent that still clung to his skin under the scent of cheap soap and hydrogen peroxide.
"When I was a little girl he would call me Chipmunk. I thought it was a cute nickname. Until I realized it meant he thought I was fat. Then I stopped letting him call me Chipmunk. That was around when Julia was born and Mother got so sick. Everything changed then."
His warm hand stroked her black hair. "You couldn’t have done anything else, Mary. He would have killed you, too."
Mary cringed from the words and shook her head. "No. He wouldn't have killed me. He still loved me."
There was such sorrow in Andre's eyes she wished she hadn't looked at him. He opened his mouth and a stab of panic seized her. Whatever he was going to say, she didn't want to hear it. She pushed herself to her knees, bringing her hand to his mouth, silencing him.
He was still for a moment, then his massive hand cupped her skull and brought her closer. It wasn't close enough, and she straddled his hips, squeezing his thighs with hers. Her Wolf demanded more, hungry for the taste of his skin and she moved her mouth to his neck, teeth scraping his throat and clavicle, careful to avoid the bandages. Heat simmered under her skin, a welcome distraction.
"Lie down," she ordered.
His black eyes gazed up at her tenderly as he obeyed. Mary ran her hands down his smooth, sculpted torso, letting herself get lost in the warmth of his skin and the feel of the strong muscles under her fingertips. This was what she needed, a distraction from her tormented thoughts and the memories of her father.
She found him with her hand while she bent over and took one of his nipples between her teeth. She closed her eyes, focusing on the warmth of his body; the familiar fireworks of skin on skin were missing, but she pressed on, imagining their coupling. She had to erase the day from her mind!
His body was all too willing to respond to her movements, responding rapidly as she ground against him. She pressed down on him, craving, needing more. Her core tightened as she did so, tremors starting to pool within her.
Andre groaned and she froze. Panic gripped her and she jerked back from him. His uninjured arm grasped her hip before she could roll off him, his fingers digging into her smooth, soft flesh. He shook his head rapidly.
"Don't stop."
"But I'm hurting you." Mary nearly choked. "I don't want to hurt you."
His hand moved to her face, pressing against her lips. His black eyes were tender and warm, his brown hair spread out over the floor like a halo. "You won't hurt me, Mary."
"But what if I do?"
"I'll let you know if it's too much." His hand moved to her breast. "I need this, Mary. I need to know…"
She leaned into his touch. "Know what?"
"That you forgive me."
"For what?"
Andre's expression was ancient. "Your father. He treated your terribly and he didn't deserve your love, but I know you loved him anyway. Your heart is just so good. I hate that I'm the one that made this happen."
Tears threatened, but Mary shook her head. "You weren't the one who made this happen. It was him. It was only him."
She began moving again. His fingers were strong and probing as she leaned into him, her breast pressing itself into his palm. The second hand, the one with the injured shoulder, brushed her mouth, moving sluggishly. She took the fingers into her mouth and sucked gently while she guided him to enter her.
Something desperate moved between them, something animal. Mary grabbed both Andre's wrists, digging her nails into his skin as she pinned them to the floor above his head. Her mouth crushed against his, demanding entrance. When his lips parted, her tongue darted in, claiming the space as her own. Heat burned between them. His Bear called her Wolf and she threw herself in with reckless abandon.
Their bodies pulsed together, and Andre suddenly ripped his arms from her grasp. He wound his arms around her and they were spinning. They rolled twice until she was beneath him and he thrust hard, bringing her knees high onto his hips. She clung to him, letting the flood of pleasure drown her thoughts.
***
"I knew we shouldn't have been so rough last night." Mary frowned at the slight bruises on her hips and then the bandages on Andre's abdomen, which were showing spots of blood.
Andre shrugged his uninjured shoulder, smiling at her. Perhaps it had been a little hard on his injuries–his knee throbbed, and whenever he tried to move his injured arm, bolts of white-hot pain blinded him, but Mary's eyes were not so haunted this morning. They were still full of grief and sorrow, but both Bear and Wolf had reaffirmed that they were alive, and she had slept with no more nightmares after they had made love. That was enough for now.
"I think it was worth it," he said, then winced as a jolt went down his arm. "Besides, getting the blood pumping only means I'll heal faster, right?"
"No, it means that you've reopened all your wounds." Mary shook her head. "I don't even want to think what you've done to that knee! You'll never walk again."
"I'll walk well enough." The truth was he didn't know. When he took the bullet out, he'd had to remove several bone chips as well. Bears healed quickly. The wound in his abdomen should be gone in a couple days. But did they regrow bone? "And how's your neck?"
"I wasn't the one thrashing around."
Andre smirked. "You did some pretty good thrashing."
Mary shook her head as she dressed in the tight shirt and blanket skirt. "I'm going to the store to get you some pain killers."
"I’ll come too. Then we can get out of here faster."
He made to push himself off the bed. Agony shot through his body and he fell back, groaning. Mary put a hand on his forehead, brow crinkled, her long green eyes narrowed in worry. Andre wanted to reassure her that it wasn't that bad, but she was far too clever to believe such an obvious lie. Instead, he offered her a weak smile.
"You are going to lay here and rest until I get back." She swooped down and seized his clothes. "Here! Get dressed if you can, so that you're ready to leave when I get back."
"Very well," he sighed.
Mary pressed a kiss to his lips. Fireworks shimmered under his skin and it took far more strength to let the kiss break than it did to raise himself to follow the kiss as she backed away.
"I'll be back quickly," she promised.
Andre sighed as he looked at his clothes. He was not looking forward to trying to manipulate his limbs into them. It would be so much easier if he could just embrace his Bear and not worry about clothes! But there wasn't room in the tiny two-door car for the grizzly he would become if he did that. Besides, they would draw too much attention.
A soft, jazzy sort of music filled the room. Instantly his gaze fell upon Zoe's cell phone, sitting on the nightstand. A sharp jolt made him grit his teeth as he lunged for it, but he pushed the pain aside. He scrambled for the phone, stabbing the tiny buttons with his huge finger. The call connected.
"There is a possibility that the Locke family Wolves have gotten the information about Andre Mitchel's next place of contact with more Bears," he said at once. He didn't want anybody else to be killed by walking into a trap. In a slightly slower voice, he added, "I'm Andre Mitchel. We were attacked by Paul Locke when we were meeting Zoe. Locke is dead but he killed Zoe. We need to know where we can go next. The Wolves will be hunting us."
There was a moment's silence, and then a click. The buzz of an empty phone line echoed around the motel room.