Act of Command: An Immortal Ops World Novel (PSI-Ops / Immortal Ops Book 4) (13 page)

“I swear to you, I will spend eternity making up for that with you,” he said, inching closer to her. “For now, will you just let me hold you a moment? I need to know you’re okay and then I’m getting you out of here.”

“You can’t get me out. Not yet,” she said, wanting to be held, but refusing to go to him fully. She was still angry he’d bailed on her. It was childish considering the man had somehow managed to find her after she’d been taken by crazy people, but still, her pride was wounded. “People are working to get me out, but they need to coordinate it so no one else being held gets hurt or killed.”

Corbin eyed her and then tensed, touching his side lightly.

Mae’s anger with him faded quickly. “That looks bad. We should clean it or something.”

“It will heal. Whatever they gave me is slowing my natural ability to heal, and I can’t be certain, but I feel much warmer than normal.” His blue gaze zeroed in on her, raking over her slowly. “And other things.”

She felt the heat rising off him and knew what it was. Drug-induced desire. “Corbin, the one guard said they shot you full of the same stuff they’ve been using on all of us. But that they had to give you a whole lot of it. I don’t know a ton about it, but from what I do know, it makes you desire certain things.”

His nostrils flared. “I desire you.”

She yelped.

His eyelids fluttered. “Your smell, Mae, it drives me mad.”

She didn’t feel like herself either, but she wasn’t sniffing the air like a wild man. He was. She held up her hands. “Okay, take it easy there, big guy.”

He blatantly adjusted his cock and she realized just how big a guy he really was. She also became very aware of the fact the drugs were still in her system. Her mouth watered and she found it hard to tear her gaze from his hand. As she did, she couldn’t look away from the start of sandy blond hair that poked out from the top of his waistline. The deep V-cut of his hip muscles made her feel a little weak in the knees. She touched the back of her neck, positive she’d burst into flames if she kept staring at the man.

Corbin sniffed the air louder this time. “Mae, I can smell your desire.”

“Yes.” It wasn’t the most brilliant response she’d ever had, but it was all she could manage. Didn’t anyone have a shirt they could cover the man with? Maybe a cardboard box? Something? Anything? She was going to burn up if he didn’t cover his upper body and soon. His lower body too at this rate.

He eased closer, coming into focus more for her without her glasses on. That only served to make her want him more. Heat thrummed through her, centering in her groin. She half feared her lady parts would attack the man. If they were able to separate from her, they might very well have done just that.

He put his fingers into her hair, his palms on her cheeks. His lips were so close that she wanted to sample them. His lips met hers and her mind shut off. The moment his tongue found hers, she whimpered and began to rub her body against his as they kissed. She’d been kissed before, but it hadn’t been like this.

This was amazing.

Moaning, she ran her hand down him and stopped when she touched his injured side. The idea of making out with him in a place they were being held prisoner, while he was injured, seemed wrong. She broke the kiss and he tried to continue it.

“Corbin,” she said softly. “You’re hurt and we need to be ready to go when the extraction thing happens.”

“Extraction thing?” he questioned, his lips looking entirely too kissable for her willpower at the moment.

“Yes,” she said, staring at his mouth.

He pushed her hair behind her ears. “If you know how much I wanted to be buried deep in you right now, you’d run to the other side of the room.”

She nearly sighed at the sound of his accented voice. It only increased his hotness factor. Not that he needed any help. As she thought harder on what he’d said, she swallowed hard, pink staining her upper neck and cheeks. “Oh.”

He cupped her cheek and she closed her eyes, happy for the contact with him. She tipped her head, resting her face on his palm as she squeezed his other hand. Mae couldn’t stop herself as she started to cry, so happy to no longer be alone in the ordeal that she couldn’t contain herself.

Corbin held her against his very hard frame, his long, powerful arms wrapping around her as he held her to him, her head on his shoulder. He rocked her in place, rubbing her arms. “You’re warm. Too warm.”

“Ezra brought me in here to help stop it,” she said through her tears. “When I woke up, I felt better. But when I touch you there is heat again. I didn’t know shifters could do that.”

“We can’t,” he said. “But I’ve been told it happens between mates.”

She jerked. “I’m not Denis’s mate!”

“Denis?” he asked, his voice deepening.

“The guy I burned. I didn’t mean to burn him. I don’t even think I did it, but he said I did,” she muttered, lowering her gaze.

Corbin exhaled slowly. “Was this Denis trying to hurt you?”

She nodded.

“Then I’m glad you burned him, Mae.”

“But I didn’t. Did I?”

“My guess is you did.”

She eyed him. “Then am
I
making it hot between us?”

“I think it has more to do with mates than that,” he said. He’d mentioned mates before. She knew what mates were. Any self-respecting supernatural did. What she couldn’t understand was why touching Corbin would cause the heat?

As she thought harder on it, she gasped, her eyes widening. “No!”

He kept hold of her. Had he not, she might very well have leapt away from him and run. “Yes.”

“No,” she repeated.

“I’m close to taking offense,” he mocked.

“No way. No.”

“This is because I stood you up, isn’t it?” he asked, humor in his voice.

Mae stared up at him. “No way.”

He touched her lower lip. “Love, I’m going to get you out of here and then I’m going to prove to you that I’m right.”

Her mind raced with the implications and she gasped. “I sculpted you before I ever even saw you.”

“Because we’re mates,” he said softly.

“You’re saying my mother set me up on a blind date with a guy who just happened to be my mate?” she asked, lifting a brow but staying close to him. He felt too good to move away from.

Corbin groaned. “Trust me when I say, my mother will tell me she knew it all along and I’ll never hear the end of it.”

She couldn’t help but giggle. “Your mother is amazing, but I can picture her saying it.”

“That’s right, you’ve met her. I forgot she told me that,” he said. “I should apologize for her then. I’m sure she overstepped her bounds. It’s what she does.”

“She’s lovely,” said Mae. “She is always so encouraging of my art. I even sent her a piece and a picture of my current one. She’s great. But she is hoping for grandchildren.”

Corbin jerked her against him. His long, thick erection was pressed against her low stomach. “I very much want to give her them.”

Mae nearly bolted from his grasp.

He laughed. “Mae, I’m not going to tear your clothes off. I want to, but I won’t.”

She thought about him doing just that and found her body heating at the idea.

He sniffed the air. “I can smell your desire. If you want me to stay true to my word, please try to control your lust. One of us needs to, and ever since you came into my life, I’ve had no control whatsoever.”

She looked him over, her mouth watering.

He touched her chin, lifting her gaze to his handsome face. “Mae.”

“You look like a male model.”

He sighed.

She squinted and lifted his long hair. “Is it me or is there light pink on your tips?”

Groaning, he rubbed his forehead. “It’s not you.”

“My mate has pink tips?”

His gaze locked on her and she realized that she’d just acknowledged him as her mate. Gulping, she released his hair and tried to step away. He shook his head, invading her space, causing cream to flood the apex of her thighs. He yanked her to him and suddenly his mouth was on hers and she was powerless to stop him.

Not that she wanted to.

As she realized how much she was willing to hand herself over to the man with her, she found herself humming softly as their kiss continued. The more she hummed, the more intense the kiss became.

Chapter Eleven

Struggling to keep hold of his lion, Corbin broke the kiss with Mae, his entire body wanting to devour her. She bit at her lower lip, the softest of hums coming from her. She reached for him, her hum intensifying—the sound the single most beautiful thing he’d ever heard.

His lion roared deep inside him, wanting out. It wanted him to bite the woman, sink his teeth into her and forever mark her as his. Corbin wanted it too, but he wouldn’t do that. He wouldn’t just take her choices from her and thrust himself upon her in such a manner. He’d always been in control of every situation. Always able to hold it together no matter. This would be no different.

He’d simply stop desiring her to such a degree.

The idea was almost laughable. Simply being near her intensified his burning ache for her. Each time their skin-connected, heat raced through him, centering in his groin. She had asked if it was a shifter thing. It was not. It was a mated-pair thing.

Her deep brown eyes stared up at him and he sensed the drain the entire ordeal had taken upon her. Dark circles were under her eyes and he knew she’d not had the sleep she needed. She’d lost weight since he’d last seen her and that was simply unacceptable to him. He’d get her free from the facility and he’d see to her needs.

All of them.

Then he’d claim her.

Right now he needed to assess the situation. Get the lay of the room. Prepare his defenses. He needed to get her out of the place and to safety.

“Mae,” he said, whatever meds were in him making him feel as if he might catch fire without her. “Please, love. I have to get you out of here.”

Her hum turned into the softest of songs. He smelled hints of Fae then and something else. Something so alluring that he nearly whipped his cock out and started to jerk off then and there. He knew then he wasn’t going to win the battle on being a gentleman.
 

“Corbin, please,” begged Mae, coming closer to him, the smell of Fae stronger than before. “I hurt and I know you hurt. We could make the hurt stop. Together.”

He’d been so on edge since she’d come into his life. Every second a struggle with his beast. He couldn’t hurt her. That was the one thing he would never permit to happen, and taking her in this state, with the drugs in his system, he could harm her. “Love, once we’re free, I will know every inch of you. Mark my words.”

Her bottom lip trembled and he was positive Fae magik was around them. At first he wondered if one was near, on the payroll for the enemy, and then it hit him—the magik was leaking off Mae. She seemed unaware of it. “I can feel how much you hurt. Let me help you.”

She was attuned to him, as a mate should be.
 

He backed away from her more as his body tensed, the urge to seize hold of her and fuck her until she understood she was his was strong. For a split second, everything around him blurred as the drugs in his system nearly claimed him. He staggered back, his fear of harming her winning out over the needs of his dick. She was precious. He would not take her like this. He would not risk her.

She swayed and touched her upper chest, her cheeks flushing. “Corbin,” she whispered, and then began to sing softly again. It wasn’t words so much as it was perfectly placed notes. Each one increased the desire in him, making him want to do the unthinkable and tear her dress from her before he thrust her against the wall and rammed himself into her. He wanted to sink his teeth into her flesh as he emptied himself in her, leaving no room for error—she was his.

The things he wanted to do to her.

His cock twitched with excitement at the idea of not only claiming her pussy but at knowing what her ass would feel like around him too. He could almost feel it, holding him there as he released and his body shook.

He growled, the sound of her song washing over him more. It clouded his ability to think of anything beyond taking her any way he could, and maybe some ways he couldn’t.

Focus, Jones.

His ears rang as his cock jerked painfully. Reaching up, Corbin held his head, trying to reason out what was happening. What was sending him over the edge of reason and into the abyss of a mindless fucking machine? Whatever they’d given him was slowing his natural healing ability, but he was still healing and that meant he was also cycling through the meds. Why was the urge to fuck a hole clean through his mate growing to epic proportions when it should have been cooling to some degree? What had changed?

Mae.

She was singing.

He sniffed the air again, the smell of Fae still strong. He concentrated on the other scent. The one he couldn’t identify. His mind raced with possibilities and when he landed on siren, he froze.

It couldn’t be.

Could it?

Was his mate part siren?

Lifting his hands, Corbin watched in horror as he yet again lost control and fur began to sprout on them. He shook and fell as he tried to back away from her. His body wasn’t healed from his injury and was already in a weakened state. The drugs in his system and now Mae’s song were too much.

Chapter Twelve

Mae blinked, her head feeling a bit foggy as she focused on the room around her as best she could without her glasses on. What had happened? She spotted Corbin’s form on the floor. His blue eyes were wide and his upper body seemed even bigger than it had been.

She realized she was singing and snapped her mouth shut at once, fearful she’d done something to harm him. Had she driven him mad too? Was he now a broken man?

“Oh gods, no! Corbin.” She moved to him fast against his protests.

His skin was on fire, sweat beading on it. Something was wrong with him. Very wrong.

“N-no,” he managed. “Don’t touch me.”

“You’re hurt.”

“Run,” he said barely above a harsh whisper. “Not safe to be around.”

She touched his brow, wiping away sweat that was about to go into his eyes. “You won’t hurt me, Corbin. Deep down I know that.”