"For what?"
"Sealing me up." She held out her wrist.
His diamond gaze shifted away. "No problem."
In the quiet, her eyelids drooped and she shook herself to wake up.
"Nan, let yourself go," Vishous murmured. "I'll watch him and as soon as he comes around, I'll let you know. Go on... lie down."
She stretched out, then curled on her side. She didn't expect to sleep, but shut her eyes anyway.
"Lift your head," Vishous said. When she did, he slid a rolled-up towel under her ear. "This is better for your neck."
"You're very kind."
"You kidding? Cop would kick my ass for letting you be uncomfortable."
She could have sworn Vishous brushed his hand down her hair, but then figured it was in her mind.
"What about you?" she said softly as he sat on the other bench. God, he had to be as tired as she was.
His smile was remote. "You don't worry about me, female. Just sleep."
Surprisingly, she did.
* * *
V watched Marissa pass out from exhaustion. Then he tilted his head and looked into the PT/first aid suite. From this angle he could see the soles of the cop's much larger feet. Man... Butch really was one of them now. A card-carrying, fanged-up, warrior male who looked like he was going to stand at about six-six, maybe six-seven. Wrath's bloodline was definitely in that boy - and V wondered if they were ever going to find out why.
The door to the Equipment Room swung open and Z walked in, with Phury right behind him.
"What happened?" the two of them asked in unison.
"Shhh." V nodded at Marissa. Then in a quiet voice he said, "See for yourself. He's in there."
The two went to the doorway. "Holy shit..." Phury breathed.
"That's a big one," Z muttered. Then he sniffed the air. "Why is Wrath's bonding scent all over this place - or is it me?"
V stood up. "Come outside to the gym, I don't want to wake either of them."
The three walked onto the blue mats and V shut the door most of the way behind them.
"So where is Wrath?" Phury asked as they sat down. "I thought he was here to witness the whole thing."
"He's busy." No doubt.
Z stared at the door. "That cop's big, V. That cop is really big."
"I know." V laid himself out flat on his back and took a drag. As he exhaled, he refused to look at his brothers.
"V, he's really big."
"Don't even go there. It's too early to know what he's going to be like."
Z rubbed over his skull trim. "I'm just saying. He's - "
"I know."
"And he's got Wrath's blood in him."
"I know, But look, it's too soon, Z. It's just too soon. Besides, his mother isn't a Chosen."
Z's yellow eyes grew annoyed. "Stupid f**king rule if you ask me."
Chapter Forty
Butch woke up on the gurney in the midst of taking a deep breath in through his nose. He was... smelling something. Something that pleased him greatly. Something that made him hum with power. Mine, a voice said in his head.
He tried to shake the word off, but it just got louder. With every breath he took, the single syllable repeated in his brain until it was like the beat of his heart: Involuntary. The source of his very life. The seat of his soul.
With a groan, he sat up on the table, only to lurch off balance and nearly fall onto the floor. As he caught himself, he looked down at his arms. What the - no, this was wrong. These were not his arms - or... shit, his legs either. His thighs were huge.
This is not me, he thought.
Mine, came the voice again.
He looked around. God, everything in the clinical room was crystal clear, like his eyes were windows that had been wiped clean. And his ears... he looked up at the fluorescent lights. He could actually hear the electricity going through the tubes.
Mine.
He inhaled again. Marissa. That scent was Marissa. She was close by -
His mouth opened of its own accord, and he let out a deep, rhythmic purr that ended in a growled word: Mine.
His heart pounded as he realized the control tower in his head had been completely overtaken. No longer logical, he was being ruled by a possessive instinct that made what he'd felt toward Marissa before look like a passing fancy.
Mine!
He glanced down at his hips and got a load of what was doing in his now way-too-small boxers. His c**k had grown along with the rest of him, and it was punching out at the stretched-thin cotton. The thing twitched as he looked at it as if to get his attention.
Oh... God. His body wanted to mate. With Marissa. Now.
As if he'd called her name, she appeared in the doorway. "Butch?"
With no warning, he became a torpedo, his body aiming itself at her and shooting across the room. He took her down to the floor and kissed her hard, mounting her while he grabbed the front of her slacks and wrenched the zipper down. Grunting, straining, he peeled her pants off her smooth legs, spread her thighs roughly, and buried his face in her core.
As if he were a split personality, he watched himself act from a distance, seeing his hands shove her shirt up and capture her br**sts while he tongued her. Then he was surging forward, baring fangs he somehow knew how to use and biting through the front of her bra. He kept trying to get himself to stop, but he was caught in some kind of centrifugal force, and Marissa... she was the axis he whirled around.
From the maelstrom, he groaned, "I'm sorry... oh, God... I can't stop..."
She grabbed on to his face... and stilled him completely. It was unbelievable and he didn't know how she did it, it was just... his body came to a total halt. Which made him realize she had the oddest control over him. If she said no, he would stop. On a dime. Period.
Except she wasn't putting the brakes on. Her eyes glowed with an erotic light. "Take me. Make me your female."
She tilted her hips to him, and his body shot right back into the frenzy. Rearing up, he ripped apart the waistband of his boxers and slammed into her with the things hanging open. He penetrated her so deep, stretched her so wide, he felt like she gloved every inch of him.
As she cried out and sank her nails into his ass, he went for it hard and fast. And while the sex raged, he felt the two halves of himself knitting together. While he pumped wildly, the voice he'd always known to be him and this new one that was talking at him became one.
He was looking into her face as he started to orgasm, and the ejaculations were like nothing he'd ever known. Sharper, more powerful, and they went on forever, as if he had an infinite supply of what he was filling her up with. And she was loving it, kicking her head back on the tile in pleasure, her legs tight around his hips, her core eating up everything he gave her.
When it was over, Butch collapsed, panting, sweating, dizzy. It was only then that he noticed they fit together differently; his head was higher up on her, his hips demanded more room between her legs, his hands were bigger next to her face.
She kissed his shoulder. Licked at his skin. "Mmmm... and you smell good, too."
Yeah, he did. The dark spice that had come out of him before was now a vibrant scent in the room. And the marking was all over Marissa's skin and hair... and it was inside of her, too.
Which was right. She was his.
He rolled off her. "Baby... I'm not sure why I had to do that." Well, half of him wasn't sure. The other half just wanted to do it to her again.
"I'm glad you did." The smile she gave him was radiant. As brilliant as the noonday sun.
And the sight of it made him realize with satisfaction that he was also her man: It was a two-way street here. They belonged to each other.
"I love you, baby."
She repeated the words, but then her smile slipped. "I was so afraid you would die."
"But I didn't. It's over and done with and I'm on the other side. I'm with you on the other side."
"I can't go through that again."
"You won't have to."
She relaxed some and stroked his face. Then frowned. "It's a little cold in here, isn't it?"
"Let's get you dressed and back to the main house." He reached out to bring her shirt together... and his eyes latched on to her br**sts with their perfect pink ni**les.
He grew hard again. Full to bursting. Desperate for another release.
That smile of hers reappeared. "Come back up on me, nallum. Let my body ease yours."
She didn't have to ask twice.
Outside the Equipment Room, V, Phury, and Zsadist stopped talking and listened. Going by the muted sounds, Butch was up and awake and... busy. As the brothers laughed, V shut the door all the way, thinking that he was very happy for that pair in there. Very... happy.