Taber Read online

  Christ, she was so tight, hot and wet. He almost lost it there. She dug her nails into the back of his neck and he felt her internal muscles clench around him.

  “Mine,” he growled.

  “Shut up.”

  He looked at her. Lainey’s face was contorted with harsh, sexual pleasure and he grinned, well aware that despite the anger between them, the passion still flowed strong. Holding her gaze, he powered into her. Her pupils dilated and she captured her lower lip in her white teeth.

  “Mine.”

  She snapped her teeth at him and he slammed with in harder. Pleasure rocketed through him at the response she gave. Her hold in his hair tightened and she locked their mouths together with the same primal wildness he was taking her with.

  Their tongues duelled as he continued to drive hard and fast into her. His larger body kept her pinned to the wall as he refused to relent with his strokes.

  Harder. Faster. Deeper. He wanted it all from her and even more. Sweat dripped from his skin to hers yet he continued to fuck her. Almost angrily, for he still harboured his jealously of her going out with another man. As well as anger that Sean knew more about her, in some ways, than he did.

  But he wasn’t able to do this forever and the way her tight slit gripped him he knew he wouldn’t last much longer. He was right and he came deep within her, a roar escaping. Her pussy clenched around him, drenching his length with her own release. Her cry echoed in the room, mingling with his own.

  Her face was buried in his neck and he loved the sharp exhalations of breath he felt there. The beast in him had been tamed and he was content. A smile turned up the corner of his mouth and for that reason, when she pushed at him he allowed her to drop. Glad the animosity was over.

  He’d never been so wrong. She jerked up her pants, grabbed her torn underwear and shoved them in a pocket and stomped to the door, anger evident in every step she took.

  “Lainey.”

  Anger lingered in her gaze, rapidly replacing the pleasure he’d seen there moments ago. “Really not wanting to talk to you right now, Taber. I don’t like being followed and I despise being lied too. So take all your goddamn powers and go use them on a woman who will be impressed, because as far as I’m concerned, all it’s done is turned you into one gigantic asshole.”

  Those words were said seconds before the door slammed behind her, leaving him alone in the room, pants still around his ankles and his contented, sexually satisfied feeling gone with her.

  What the hell had just happened? Why hadn’t that solved things between them? He had assumed it would. Problem was—as he’d forgotten—Lainey was extremely unwilling to cooperate with his assumption on how things should go.

  Chapter Six

  She stood at her office window, staring out at Kali’s enclosure. The lynx wasn’t in view and yet Lainey remained there. Waiting, hoping to see her. It had been a while. Finally, Kali slipped from the shade and stepped into the sun, which gleamed off her brightly reddish brown coat with black spots and made it look even softer. Her short, bobbed tail flicked from side to side as she took in her surroundings.

  Lainey watched as her ears twitched, searching for something—what, she didn’t know. It warmed her to know that her cat had settled in so well. Honestly, she didn’t think she could make it there much longer. It was hell being near Taber Ellis and yet so far away.

  She still hurt from his obvious disregard for her privacy and wondered more about just how far would a god go to get what he wanted? She pressed a hand against the warm glass and sighed. If this didn’t end up working out for her, she sure would miss Kali. They’d been together for so long. But it was comforting that she was there, and it would make it easier knowing that her friend was well cared for.

  Kali lifted her head and stared at her, as if sensing she was there. She’d left the glass on one way as opposed to two. Just recently, she’d figured it would be easier on the cat if she wasn’t able to see her all of the time. The first few days, Kali hadn’t seemed to want to settle down, but she had soon gone right back to her new routine.

  The lynx yawned as if bored with the entire situation and padded off to get a drink. Slowly Lainey lowered her hand from the glass and sighed. There was just too much to think about right now. Ignoring the pain in her chest where her heart sat, she returned to her desk and reached for the next file, on a person who had a big cat they hoped to surrender to the reserve.

  Taking a drink of her water, she flipped the file open. In the left hand corner was a picture of the feline. Her heart lurched and fury sliced through her veins. Damn it!

  The picture showed that it was actually two cats. A liger and a tigon, named Chet and Allie. Her heart went out to them. Chet was the liger, the result of breeding a lion to a tigress. Allie was the tigon, the creation of a tiger and a lioness. It was done by humans, normally those who wanted to create a freak that would draw money to them. Carnivals and small places. It was an ill-advised and frowned upon act by most reputable people.

  Tigers and lions wouldn’t breed in the wild and more often than not, the offspring would suffer from a myriad of birth defects, which often ended in early death. Ligers are larger than either parents and tend to put the tigress at risk as well—usually requiring a C-section delivery, or killing the mother in the process, as had happened to Chet’s mother.

  According to Dr Dillon Mitchem who’d saved them, he’d fixed Allie so she wouldn’t be able to breed, however he didn’t have the space for them. She and Chet had been born within weeks of one another and had grown up together with Allie’s mom.

  Dr Mitchem had a small wildlife vet practice and sometimes kept animals if needed. He’d had these two for a few months and knew they needed more room to grow and live out hopefully long lives.

  She flipped through the rest of what he’d put down, not really paying attention, for her mind had already been made up. They would come here. It wasn’t their fault some unscrupulous human had done what they had.

  Lifting the phone, she placed a call.

  “Dr Mitchem’s office.”

  “Hi, this is Lainey Mercer calling from Ellis Animal Sanctuaries and Wildlife Reserve. May I speak to Dr Mitchem please?”

  “Hold please.”

  Maybe fifteen seconds later a man came on the line. “Ms Mercer, thank you so much for calling me back.” She heard birds squawking before a door closed and there was just silence.

  “I just got finished reading over your file.”

  “And? What do you think? Is it possible for them to relocate to your reserve? I know it's a bit odd having a tigon with only three legs but she really doesn’t let it bother her. It’s just her back leg, so she moves really well. And Chet protects her.”

  Wait. Only three legs? Shit. She should have finished reading it all.

  “That’s not a problem, Dr Mitchem. We’ll take them. Can you have them for another month while we get a habitat ready for them? Or would you prefer we come now, keep them in a temporary home here and just move them once their new place is ready?”

  “The sooner the better but I don’t want to put you out. When I had to remove her leg, I had to take her out of the enclosure with the other lions. It wasn’t safe for her. Chet went crazy so I took him out too, but I really don’t have the room to keep them much longer. I could manage a month though.”

  She pulled up her calendar on her computer and stared at it. “I’ll be there for them personally in four days, Dr Mitchem.”

  His sigh of relief told her just how much he cared for the animals. “Thank you so much. I’ll make sure to have them and their records ready.”

  “I’m glad we could help out, Dr Mitchem.”

  “You have no idea, Ms Mercer, how much I am too. I really hated the alternative.”

  “That’s not necessary anymore. I’ll see you in a few days.”

  “Have a good day, and thank you, again.”

  “Goodbye, Dr Mitchem.”

  She ended the call and stared at the fil
e by her hand. Grabbing it up, she shoved back from the desk and left her office. She didn’t have to go far, really. Not for whom she needed to see. She knocked and waited for the deep voice to say ‘enter’. Then she walked in. Taber sat at his desk, frowning at something before him. She brushed that away, not allowing herself to care.

  He looked up and she melted a bit at the heat in his eyes. God, it would be so easy to run to him and press her lips to his. She swallowed and walked up to the desk and dropped the file on it.

  “They’re coming here. I’m going to get their new enclosure ready. They’ll have to be kept over in holding for a few days if I can’t get it done. I’m picking them up in four days and taking the plane to do so.”

  She waited for him to say something. He opened the file and stared at the picture before returning his gaze to her. “Okay.”

  Honestly she’d expected a bit more reaction from him, but she took it. Giving him a nod of thanks, she spun on her heel and headed out of the door.

  “Lainey,” he said.

  She turned back. “Yes?”

  The expression on his face scared her. She wasn’t in a place right now to deal with feelings, emotions—or anything like that.

  “I have to go get this rolling.” She turned and left, hurrying out of the building and into the bright sunlight. After calling over two of the men, she gave them instructions on where they needed to start working and advised them of the deadline.

  “I don’t know if we can do that by then,” one said. Not in a complaining tone, just matter-of-factly.

  “I know,” she replied. “We just need to do the best we can. If necessary they can go in the holding area for a short time until it’s finished.”

  “We’ll do our best.”

  She smiled gratefully at them. “I know. I’ll be out here too, as long as I can be.” She gestured over her shoulder. “Let’s get to it. I’ll meet you there after I send someone to fix up holding.”

  “Right.”

  They separated and it didn’t take long for her to be back with them working away in the hot sun. Sweat dripped from her and she paused to wipe it away. The moment she had known they were coming, this was the enclosure she had envisioned for the duo. It was only amplified when Dr Mitchem had made mention of Allie only having three legs.

  With a sigh she got back to work. At the end of the day, she said farewell to the others and kept working. Tall lights illuminated her space as she continued going over each inch, ensuring that there was nothing there that would hurt them. It was past ten at night when she called it quits. She left and made her way home where she collapsed, exhausted, in her bed.

  * * * *

  That was how her next three and a half days went. They were close, but as she got ready to board the plane, it hadn’t been finished. She thanked the guys and told them to take the rest of the day.

  “We’ll get it again later. The holding area is ready and it won’t take that much more to fix it up.” She waved and hopped in the Jeep with Sean, who was taking her down to the airstrip.

  “How’s it going?” she asked, grateful to feel the wind on her skin.

  “Good,” he said. “You look exhausted.”

  She gave him a tired smile. “Kind of am. But it’s a good tired, you know?”

  He nodded and pulled up along the plane. “Have a safe flight!” he hollered over the noise.

  Shouldering her pack, she jumped out. “I will, thanks!”

  * * * *

  She slept on the way back. She was totally exhausted and had finally succumbed to the need her body told her it could no longer ignore. It had been a rush, there and back. But, thankfully it had all gone well. The two cats were sedated and in their cages, Dr Mitchem had been a dear, and now she could just sleep.

  At the descent, she woke and checked on both animals before buckling herself in. It was a smooth landing and she released a sigh of relief. The ramp lowered and she felt the warm wind of New Mexico flow up and over her. She made her way down and paused a foot from the bottom when she saw Taber striding towards her.

  A flash back to the first time she had seen him hit her, and just like that day her body responded. Even in the area lit by harsh electric lights, she still was in awe of the power he exuded. It amazed her how much she’d missed him and she’d barely been gone a full day.

  He stopped before her. “Everything go okay?”

  “Like clockwork. Dr Mitchem had them all ready. They should be sedated for another hour. Enough time to get them into the holding pen.”

  “They don’t have to go there. Their enclosure is ready.”

  She shook her head. “No. It wasn’t finished. We have about another day’s work to get it ready.”

  “Look at me.”

  She couldn’t refuse the command and lifted her gaze to his. “What?”

  He reached out as if to touch her cheek, only to pull back at the last moment. “It’s finished.”

  “You…did…whatever you do?”

  “Yes.”

  She licked her lips. “Why?”

  “Because it was important to you to not have them in holding.” He stepped around her and waved for the men to come up with the lifts to move the cages into the backs of trucks and drive them up.

  She rode along on the door of the truck that carried Allie. Taber rode in Chet’s. At the enclosure, she stood off to the side and watched him work with the men to get the cages in and pull the cats out. He did that for me? There was even a small pool of water in one corner for them to lie in, if it got too hot.

  Her gaze drifted back to Taber. He knelt over one cat, then the other. She swore he was communicating with them. The others left and soon it was just her and Taber, along with the cats.

  She didn’t know what to say. This gesture was more than she could have asked for. Swallowing, she pushed through the door and let herself in the enclosure. Chet twitched and Taber looked at her.

  “Get out of here, Lainey.”

  “No.”

  “They’re waking up.”

  “I know.”

  “I don’t want you to get injured.”

  “I won’t.”

  He rose, turning his back on the cats. “How do you know?”

  “You’ll protect me.”

  Taber wasn’t sure what to make of her statement. Was he reading more into it than she meant? Of course he’d protect her. These past few days had been hell for him. He didn’t know what to do—how to fix it. Any time he’d tried to say anything to Lainey she’d claimed something needed to be done and had ran—like the hounds of hell had been after her.

  He’d even gone to Candace and asked her. All she had done was cluck at him disapprovingly and had said, “She hates being lied to, Taber. And following her, spying on her implies you don’t trust her.”

  “Why?” he’d asked. Not talking about the trusting, but why did she feel this way? What happened to make it so? And how did he fix it?

  “It’s not my place to tell you what happened in her past, Taber. You need to ask her. And I do mean ask her.”

  Hard as hell to ask a woman anything if she treated you like the plague. He’d watched her night after night and day after day as she had sweated beside the men trying to get the enclosure ready for the arrival of Chet and Allie. So when he’d seen the disappointment on her face at the realisation it wouldn’t be finished, he’d fixed it for her.

  When his employees had asked him, he’d lied and said Talios and Candace had helped him through the night. All of it had been worth seeing the absolute joy on her face when she’d viewed it.

  Now, she stood in there with him and two cats that were waking up from being drugged. She wasn’t scared. If anything she looked excited. Wondrous. That was a look he wanted to keep on her face, forever. Shelter her from the things that would want to hurt her and share joy with her at the things she did. Until Lainey, he’d never truly lived. Sure there had been women, but he was old and had been around for a while—he was no monk.


  “This is a bad idea,” he said.

  “Why is that? I’ve seen you shift, I’ve seen you do a lot of things. Why is keeping me safe from them a bad idea, if the need arises?”

  He snorted and shook his head. “You don’t like my powers. I thought you said you wanted me to find a woman who would be impressed by them.”

  “Go find her then. I’m not stopping you. But I’m not leaving until they wake and I know they’re okay.”

  “Damn you and your stubbornness.” He didn’t get a response and he sighed. Looking at her, he paused at the rapt focus on her face as she stared beyond him.

  “Oh, Taber, look.”

  He spun around and watched as Chet lurched to his feet. The liger shook his head a few times and chuffed. When he saw Allie lying a few steps away, he lumbered over to her and nosed her. When Lainey moved up beside Taber and rested her hand upon his arm, all of his senses went haywire.

  When Chet looked in their direction he sent soothing thoughts to the cat, who lay down protectively beside Allie. Lainey’s fingers tightened on his arm and he felt it straight through to his cock.

  He had no idea what he would have to do to keep her but he swore he would do just that. Her touch revitalised a part of him that had died the day she had pushed him away.

  “Come on, girl, you can do it,” Lainey whispered soft encouragement and he again put his attention on the cats.

  Never before had he been so distracted with the new arrivals. Allie stirred. It took her a bit more to get up but she eventually managed to do so and with Chet beside her they headed off to explore their new surroundings.

  Taber knew the moment Lainey realised they were all alone. She dropped her hand immediately and tried to step away from him. He grabbed her hand, refusing to let her go.

  “We talk now, Lainey. Now.”

  “I’m tired, Taber. It’s been a long day.”

  “What I have to say won’t take long. You can hear me out.”