Her Guardian Angel (Fire and Snow) (24 page)

As if he'd heard her thoughts, she felt the familiar tingle that meant he was near. Moments later, he appeared in the doorway. She sat mesmerized by his powerful stride as he strode to her. He had completely healed from the bullet wound and wasn't even limping any more. He had told her shifters recovered at a faster rate than humans. He bent down over her, stroked her face and gave her a breath-stealing kiss before whispering against her lips.

"Good morning, love. You ready to run away with me?" He kissed her again before she could respond. A cough from the doorway broke them apart. Blushing, she looked up at Clint who was grinning at them.

"Got your paperwork all here, Adele. I just need to check that left wrist. I think we should be able to take the splint off. You'll still have to wear a soft brace for a while, but it will be easier to get dressed and move around than with the splint."

After a thorough examination, Adele now had a soft bandage brace on her left wrist, which meant she now had use of her hand.

"You'll need to be careful with that right wrist and hand. You might want to have it in a sling for a while so you don't accidentally bump it. You have two fractured knuckles and a few broken bones in your wrist. It's going to take time for it to heal enough to stop hurting."

"It's okay, Doc, I'll make sure she doesn't do anything too strenuous." Dominic gave her his cheeky lopsided grin and a wink which sent the butterflies dancing in her belly, like it did every time.

"Well, okay then. I'll just get Dominic to sign your release, Adele. I think it'll be a while before your right hand is up to writing. Although, you should get pretty good at writing left handed."

~ * ~

Dominic felt a wave of relief as he helped Adele out of his car and into her house. His mate was healing and out of the hospital. His leopard felt much better knowing she would be in his arms where he could protect her. He settled her on the couch before he went back out to collect her bags and lock up the car. While he was in her room putting her bags down, he retrieved the ring out of his pocket and held it enclosed in his hand as he returned to Adele. He just about jumped for joy when Clint had removed Adele's sprint, leaving her left hand unencumbered. She could wear his ring now.

He came through the door to see Adele staring up at him with absolute adoration shining from her eyes.

"Is it because you're a shifter or because we're mates that whenever you're close, I feel a tingle up my spine?" He smiled like a fool at her question as he approached her. He knelt in front of her before he offered her an answer.

"It's because we're mates, love. I feel it too." He leaned in and gave her a slow gentle kiss.

"I know you already said yes, but I didn't do it properly before." He rearranged his legs so he was kneeling on one knee then captured her left hand in his and as he slipped his ring on her finger, he asked...

"Adele, will you do me the honor of being my wife? Be mine forever?"

He watched with his heart in his throat as her eyes misted over and a tear leaked from the corner of her right eye. He began to worry--for about two seconds--before her face broke out into a huge smile and she finally responded.

"Yes, Dominic. I will be yours and you mine. Forever." He moved his hands up to her face, holding her as he devoured her mouth. He trailed kisses down her jaw and neck before he sat back from her. He had something else to ask her, something that couldn't wait any longer. His cat was pushing him hard to mark her and he was having increasing difficulty restraining himself.

"There's something else I need to explain." He moved so he sat next to her on the couch, and she twisted so she was facing him with her eyebrow raised.

"Is this a shifter something?"

"Yeah, it's a shifter something." He couldn't stop his chuckle; she really was handling the whole shifter thing a lot better than he'd feared she would.

"As well as getting married, I want us to be mated."

"And what exactly does getting mated entail? We don't have to have witnesses in the bedroom or anything, do we?" The slight panic in Adele's eyes had him chuckling again; trust a female to draw that conclusion.

"No, love, nothing like that. No one other than us will
ever
be in the bedroom with us." He couldn't resist giving her a quick kiss before he continued; she was so sweet and naive.

"Shifters mate for life. When we mate, I'll leave my mark on you and you on me. Others then know we belong to each other, and they also know to keep their paws to themselves."

"What do you mean 'mark'?"

"We will make love and when we climax together, claws will sprout from the fingers on my right hand and when they do, I'll scratch you. Don't worry, it doesn't hurt because it's magic, I'm not really cutting into you. You'll be left with my mark. It will look like four wide scratches that reveal leopard spots beneath. People who see it will think it's a tattoo."

"But how do I mark you? I'm not a shifter? This mating thing, it won't change me, will it?" Adele's forehead was all creased up as she was obviously getting herself all tied up in knots. He'd better finish explaining this before he totally lost her to her mind's randomness.

"After I mark you, the magic flowing from me to you will allow you to grow claws, just this once, enabling you to mark me. It won't change you. You need the right DNA to be able to shift. It's not like the movies where a bite or scratch is going to convert you."

He sat silently watching the emotions flicker over Adele's face as she processed everything he had told her.

"One last question. Where will you mark me? And where do I mark you?"

"We can leave our marks wherever we want to, but traditionally the male leaves it just above the inside of his mate's right hip bone. The female leaves it over the male's heart on his left pectoral."

He watched her straighten her shoulders and raise her eyes so she held his gaze with her warm chocolate colored eyes.

"I love you, and I don't ever want to be without you, Dominic. Yes, I will mate with you." As she spoke those words, he felt like his heart had just exploded from the sheer happiness he simply couldn't contain. Then she wrapped her left arm around his neck and pulled him in for a scorching kiss he felt all the way to his blissfully happy soul.

~ * ~

Jake sat down with a sigh as Sophie curled up next to him on the couch. They'd just settled Kelly into bed and were now enjoying a glass of port together. Jake had spent the afternoon going over the lists of Lost Ones, starting his own list of all the ones that were suspected of being in Australia. He'd also looked back over Choden's advice and decided it meant he didn't need to worry about the whole next Alpha thing at the moment. So he wasn't going to. The Lost Ones search would keep him plenty busy enough, especially while he was back on Captain duties down at the station.

"I can feel your worry, Jake. Tell me what's troubling you." Sophie could always read him so clearly.

"I've been going over the Lost Ones lists. There are so many, and there are a lot that they suspect are in Australia. I'm going to have to send out a search party I think. There's only so much you can do on the net and by correspondence."

"Which Leaps suspect their Lost Ones have come to Australia?"

"The Chilean Leap suspects that a pregnant widow-mate whose mate was murdered by the Caravan of Death in the military coup of 1973 escaped the country on a boat bound for Sydney. Unfortunately, the Leap was caught up trying to save the remaining shifters in Chile. By the time things settled down and the Leap could start looking, they couldn't find any trace of the widow-mate.

"The French Leap have a pregnant future-mate that went missing back in 1989. They have no idea where she's gone, so we're all looking for her.

"Then the African Leap are still searching for four families who were in Rwanda around the time of the genocide in 1994. They might have been killed but they might have managed to get away. Being able to turn into a leopard has its benefits in Africa, the only place where it actually makes hiding easier. There are more, all similar stories."

Sophie hugged him tightly and nuzzled her face into his neck.

"The Leap will help you find them. Send a small group of the unmated males out. They may even find their mates while they are off on their travels."

"Hmmm, you have a good point. I know the twins are starting to suffer for not having their mates. Xander even more so; poor man has been dreaming for years now."

Chapter Sixteen

Adele had never been so happy as Dominic scooped her up off the couch and headed to her bedroom. She traced her fingers lightly over his dark eyebrow, down his straight nose, over his soft lips. The man was so handsome. She couldn't quite believe he was going to be hers alone for the rest of their lives. By the time they made it to the bed, her cheeks were aching from the massive grin that was plastered over her face. As he sat down on the bed with her, she caught sight of the print above her bed.

"That print--it's a photo of you, isn't it?" Now she knew he was her
chaton
so many things were making sense, little things that had been niggling at her--all the things he'd done that had seemed familiar or feline-ish.

"Yeah, beautiful, it's me in our field. Conner came with me and took the photo." He was looking a little sheepish.

"This is going to sound silly, but can you please shift for me? I want to feel you nuzzle my neck in the real world." She felt like a ditz for asking, but she needed to know his leopard outside of her dreams.

"Love, there is nothing silly about it. And sure, I can shift for you." He stood up with her in his arms before he gently placed her back on the bed with a kiss.

"I need to strip before I shift, or I'll shred my clothes. Hmm, I think it's only fair you strip too." He followed up the request with that cheeky lopsided grin he knew she couldn't resist. She really needed to build up a resistance to that grin.

"You'll need to help please, I can't do much with this cast on." She didn't need to ask twice, and within moments he had her naked and back on the bed. She shuffled over so she sat in the middle. When she looked up, it was to see a very naked, very sexy Dominic staring at her.

"You ready, beautiful?" She couldn't find words, her mouth suddenly dry at the sight of all that muscular flesh before her so she just nodded. His body was engulfed in that same bubble of blue electric energy she had seen in the basement room before his body shifted to that of her
chaton
. She smiled as she took in the beautiful creature standing before her bed.

"You are more beautiful in reality,
chaton
." In one lazy leap he pounced on the mattress before her. He landed lightly on his feet, the bed barely making a groan at the added weight. He padded around her, rubbing his soft fur all over her skin. It felt so good and tickled like nothing else. She started giggling. He nuzzled against her cheek and into her neck before the cheeky boy licked her from shoulder to ear with his rough tongue.

"Oh, now, you know how much that tickles!" She sunk her hands into his fur on either side of his massive head. Oh wow, it was so soft. She rested her forehead against his while she closed her eyes and rubbed behind his ears, just how he liked it in her dreams.

"This can't be real, it's just so...it's too much." As if he sensed she needed something to focus on, he shifted his head down, touching his cold nose on her nipple, then he really sent her head reeling by licking up the underside of her breast and over her nipple with his rough feline tongue.

"Ohh, okay, if you're going to start getting me all hot and bothered, you better shift back to Dominic. I don't think I'm ready to be fooling around with a snow leopard--that's a little too much for me to cope with just at the moment."

Moments later Dominic--the man--sat before her. His eyes were hooded and dark with desire.

"You know, I can shift just my tongue. Did you like the feel of my rough tongue, beautiful?"

"Uh-huh" That was about all she could manage to say. He already had her wet and hot. Her mind had gone fuzzy from the hormone overload. He chuckled as he prowled over to her and gently laid her back against the bed. Using his rough feline tongue, he licked, nipped and kissed his way from her mouth down to between her thighs where he settled in and proceeded to show her the best use for such a wonderfully rough tongue.

When he had her boneless and totally spent, he worked his way back up her body to kiss her. He pulled back slightly and whispered a plea.

"Will you let me in your body, my love, with no condom? For the mating, will you let me feel all of you?"

She didn't have to think about that one. She wanted to feel him inside her and wanted to feel claimed by him...and if she got pregnant? Wouldn't that be something, to have this wonderful man's baby growing inside her?

"Yes, Dominic. Claim me completely."

He gave her the most reverent, most powerful kiss he'd ever given her. He pulled back and rolled her over on her tummy; she looked over her shoulder with an eyebrow raised.

"This is how shifters mate, from behind. Normally I'd get you up on all fours but with your wrists, that won't be happening for a while." He pulled a couple of pillows down and tucked them under her tummy so her bottom was raised in the air. She felt so vulnerable and open to him--which she guessed was the point. She was showing him she trusted him.