Misha: Lanning's Leap (12 page)

Her fur wasn’t like Misha’s. It was white
, but the spots that he had were all over him. She looked like someone had splashed a little paint on her and missed for the most part. Her eyes were darker than her normal blue, but nothing like Misha’s were. He had the most gorgeous eyes she’d ever seen. The water turned off, and she turned to see him push the door back.

“Christ.” He stared at her for several seconds before he spoke again.
“How do you feel? I’m really sorry that—”

Han growled, feeling the vibration come all the way from her tail.
When he reached for the towel on the hanger, she growled again. He stepped back when she swiped her paw at him when he reached again.

“I have to dry off.” She didn’t move until he tried a third time.
“Look, I know that you’re pissed, but I’m at a great disadvantage here in that I’m fucking naked and you’re not. Unless you want me to shift and go with you.”

Sounded like a plan.
Leaping off the counter, she moved toward him, and Misha backed away. She liked this newfound power she had and nipped at his thigh. When he grabbed his cock, she licked his hands.

“You’re playing with fire, Hannah.
I’d like nothing better than to shift with you and run in the woods. But if you’re planning to bite my dick, we’re both going to be hurting.” She looked up at him, and she watched his face. “Do you have any idea how absolutely beautiful you are right now?”

She moved out of the room and to the bedroom door. Han was still sitting there when he came out with the towel around his waist.
As he moved toward her she stood up, and when he was close enough, she purred, rubbing her body over his legs. As soon as the door opened, she was out the door and down the stairs. Han heard him laughing as she slipped twice on the hallway rugs.

Han
didn’t think to expect others to be in the kitchen. And they were all there, too. Maribel was sitting at the table drinking tea, but the men, all six of them, including Jackson, were standing around her. Han stopped when one of them moved toward her.

“I’m only going to open the door.”
There were footsteps coming behind her, and she dashed to the door. She heard them laughing as she leapt off the deck and onto the ground below.

Han felt amazing.
Her entire body felt like it had been given a boost of something powerful. She ran as fast as she could and only stopped when she saw the fence line just in front of her. Turning hard to the right, she jumped over logs and big rocks. Each time, she came down on her paws, only to kick them up again in what seemed like flight. Han wanted to take on the world. When she finally stopped and lay down, she felt someone come up behind her and turned to look at Misha. His cat was walking slowly, as if he had not a care in the world.

You enjoying yourself
? She nodded as best she could.
We can speak this way, just like before; think of me and I’ll hear you
.

I’ve never
felt this wonderful in my life. I can jump over everything. Well, not everything, but I didn’t fall. And my body feels like I can take on anyone. I won’t, but Christ, I feel…I feel fantastic
. He laughed, and she felt embarrassed.
I’m sorry. You must think I’m an idiot. It’s just that I’ve never done anything like this before. To you it must be old news
.

No.
It’s wonderful to see this through your eyes. I’m glad you’re okay with this
. She stood up when he was closer to her, and her cat wanted him. Moving along his body, she purred deep in her throat while she walked around him twice more.
You’re going to make me want you more than I already do
.

You mean have sex this way
? He nipped at her shoulder when she walked by him.
How would that even work? I mean, I guess it happens. Do you mount me
?

Yes
. He stopped her this time by biting into her shoulder. Her cat, taking exception to it, she supposed, snarled at him, but he didn’t let her go.
I need you
.

Please
. He let her go long enough to order her to lie still. Turning so that her ass was under him, he moved up behind her, and she lifted her ass up. He pressed her into the dirt with his big paw, and she felt him nudging her from behind. As soon as he entered her, his cock filling her, she felt him bite her again, this time deep in her other shoulder.

Do you have any idea how you feel to me right now
? He took her hard, his cock pistoling in and out of her more quickly than he’d ever done before.
I’m going to fill you like this, fill your body with my cum. Then we’re going to shift, and I’m going to take you like you’ve never had me take you before
.

Her pussy was aching
, she wanted him so badly. And when he came, she cried out in frustration as he growled at her to be still. Han snarled at him when he backed from her.

“Shift
, Hannah. I need you.” He was standing over her, naked now. His cock, thick and hard, was stretched out before him, and she felt her mouth water. When he told her again to shift, she closed her eyes and felt herself become human. Misha nearly fell atop her when she rolled to her back.

“I’m going to eat you.” She nodded as he lifted her legs up to his shoulder
s. “When you come, I’m going to drink you until I’ve had my fill. Then I’m going to fuck you. It’ll be hard. You’re going to love it.”

“
Because I’m a cat.” He didn’t answer her but lifted her pussy to his mouth. He watched her as he slid his tongue into her and fucked her.

He ate at her lips, her clit. Her
thighs were bitten, and she came twice before she could catch her breath. Lowering her to the ground, he continued to eat her until she felt as if she would never be able to walk. Then he lifted his head and sat back on his heels. She watched him as he fisted his cock.

“I want to lick you.
Could I taste you like you have me?” He nodded, and she moved to sit in front of him. When he stood up, she ran her fingers up his thighs to his cock and cupped him in her hands. “So hard and silky. I never thought of a man being so thick like you are. I never thought you’d fit.”

“You’re tight
, but you can handle me.” She licked just the tip to catch the pearl of cum that was there. “You’re going to have to either let me fuck you, love, or take me into your mouth. I can’t—”

She
wrapped her mouth around him, and he cried out. The taste of him, the heated sex, made her want more. When he curled his hand into her hair and showed her how to take him, she moaned at the flavor of his cum as more of it slid down the back of her throat.

“Swallow me.” She
didn’t understand at first, but when he pushed to the back of her throat and gagged her, she swallowed then and he cried out. “That’s it. Christ, I’m going to come. Baby, if you don’t want to drink my cum, stand back and I’ll release on you.”

She held him by his hips
and he came, his cock sliding in and out of the back of her throat. She cupped his balls in her hand and held them as they emptied. When Misha was finished, he staggered back from her. She was so needy that she reached for him again.

“I need to be
inside of you.” She nodded, not really caring how he took her so long as he did. “I want to mount you again, but I need to…do you have any idea how gorgeous you are? I can’t decide how to fuck you, only that I need to.”

Han
lay on her back and spread her legs open. As he stood over her, she ran her fingers down over her breasts to her belly. He never stopped watching her fingers as she danced them over each nipple before sliding back to her navel.

“Now spread your pussy for me. Play with your pretty clit while I watch you.”
His voice, smooth and deep, made her juices flow. Not even caring that she’d never done anything like this before, she spread herself open for him with one hand as she slid her finger over her sensitive nub. She moaned at the feeling and did it again and again.

His breath on her leg was the only warning she got before he suckled her clit into his mouth.
When she started to pull her fingers back, he told her no, not to stop. She played with herself while he licked and suckled at her until she was about to burst open.

Misha
moved up her body then, taking bites of her skin and licking the small wounds until they were better. He rolled his tongue into her navel several times before he moved up to her breasts and nibbled just on the tips. His cock slid in and out, just to the tip and back, while he played.

“Misha, please?” He looked down at her, his cock stilled.
“Please? I ache so much. I need to come.”

“Say it again.” She started to beg him again, anything to get to have the release that seemed right on the edge
, when he said for her to say his name.

“Take me
, Misha.” His cock took her breath away when he slammed home. And that was what it felt like, too; he was home. Then when he took her mouth, she wrapped her ankles around him and held him to her as he pounded hard, deep within her. His tongue ran along her shoulder to her neck, and she knew he was going to bite her. As soon as he sank his teeth into her, she screamed out his name, crying out her release over and over before biting him. His roar brought her again and again. Han held him while he came a second, then a third time, before she let him go. Her arms fell to the earth, and her legs dropped from his body. Han couldn’t move.

He pulled her to him, rolling to his back so that she was on top of him. Closing her eyes, she let herself drift off.
Right now, she had not a care in the world, and anyone who wanted her could fuck off. She had never felt better.

Chapter
12

The phone ringing nearly made him snarl. But when Hannah giggled behind him and reached over him to answer it, he lay there enjoying her body spread over his. When she handed him the phone, he wanted to tell whoever it was to leave them alone, but he knew that duty called.

He took
down the information while she got up from the bed. It was dark in the room, but he could still see that she was wonderfully naked. As she pulled a shirt over her head, he finished up the call and looked at her sitting in the chair.

“I have to go away.” She nodded and smiled at him.
“You could at least put up a little fight over it.”

“If you leave now, you’ll be back all the sooner.” He stood up and put his hand around his cock. “If you come near me with that, you
aren’t going anywhere.”

He stood there fisting his cock until he heard her heart rate pick up. But he knew as well as she did that he had to go now
, not after a quickie. She slid off the chair and, on her knees, came toward him.

“I
could help you out if you promise to do the same for me when you get back.” Before he could tell her yay or nay, she’d taken him into her mouth and swallowed him down. He didn’t want it to be quick; he wanted her to take her time, all damned day if she wanted. But when she cupped his balls and gave them a slight twist, he felt his body react as if she’d commanded him to come. He shouted out her name as he came hard and fast. Sitting back on the bed, he reached for her.

“You should know that I
can’t leave you hanging.” He slid his fingers into her pussy and felt her heat. “You’re so wet I could take you now and slide deep.”

“I need to come.” He nodded and leaned over her.
Biting her clit just hard enough to have her cry out, he slid his finger into her pussy, then one into her tight little hole. She screamed this time, her body bowing up off the bed when she came screaming his name. Leaving her now was going to be the hardest thing he’d ever done. Standing up, he smacked her gently on the thigh and told her to behave.

“Do you need to pack?” He leaned his head out of the
shower to tell her no, they were always packed and ready to go. “I went down to the kitchen to tell Jackson you were leaving and he’s making coffee and rolls for you to take. He said that normally no one wakes him. Should I have let him sleep? He really seems excited to help you out.”

“If he bitches too much, next time we’ll let him sleep.” He
took the tea from her as he finished his shower and thought he could really get used to this. By the time he came out of the bathroom, dressed and ready to go, she’d left the room.

When he got to the kitchen, Rider and Phillip were having some warm rolls and coffee.
While he was scarfing down his own, the other three showed up, too. Hannah had called them and said to meet there for something to eat. By the time they were ready to roll out the door, she’d packed them a bag of the rolls and two thermoses of drinks: one coffee and one tea. Rider said he’d bring his own thermos next time.

Fifty-
three minutes after the call came in, they were in the car to go. Misha stopped the car, then ran to the house. Han asked him if he’d forgotten anything. He told her he had.

Pulling her into his arms
, he put as much passion and need into the kiss as he could. Her body went limp against his, and he felt his cock thicken. Oh, to be in bed again with this woman. When he lifted his head, she smacked him softly and smiled.

“Hurry back.” He nodded and ran back to the car.
Misha had never felt better in his life. That’s when he realized that not one of his brothers had teased him about the kiss.

“She’s good for you. And damn
, she can make a cup of tea!” Rider leaned back on the seat as he continued. “I think that if I ever get a mate, I want one just like her. Quiet and reserved and good in bed.”

Misha wasn’t sure about the quiet and reserved part. When they’d gotten back
into the house last night, she’d torn into him like she was going to murder him about changing her. Christ, he’d been so afraid at one point that he’d nearly called his brothers to protect him. He now had a list of rules he had to follow, or she told him she’d make him regret breaking them for the rest of his lonely, no sex life. He had them memorized.

“She doesn’t want children. Not right away anyway. She’s afraid.”
Carter asked him why, and he looked at his brother in the rearview mirror. “She thinks she’ll be a mother like hers. She doesn’t want to fuck up a child of her own.”

“I doubt she would
, and she’s not her mother.” They all looked at Andrew when he spoke. “She stole her, I think. There is no record of anyone ever being born named Hannah Marie Oliver. And as far as I can tell, there is no such person as Belladonna Oliver either. And trust me, I looked hard. There was a child born in the hospital where she told Carter she was from, but it died in childbirth. I think that’s our Hannah.”

“And her
parents? Didn’t they look into it?” Rider looked at him as he continued. “You know anything about this?”

“Nope.”

In a general sort of there
-is-no-fucking-way-that’s-her-mother kind of way, Misha had wondered about their relationship, but he had only been thinking that they were so different. He looked at Andrew as they spilled out of the car and hurried to the waiting plane. As soon as they were in the air, he asked him what he knew.

“Nothing much yet. Carter asked me to look into it about the
time we figured out she was your mate. I’d already started the process and decided that I’d not find anything and moved on. But the first thing I got back said that she didn’t exist. Even her Social isn’t right. She’s been using a dead woman’s since she’s been working. And before you ask, I did mention it to Han, but only in that I had paperwork to fill out for the hospital. She gave it to me again and said her mother had applied for it for her when she was in high school.” Andrew got his briefcase and took out a few sheets of paper. “I did find this just last night. There was a huge accident just about eight miles from the hospital. Nineteen people were killed when a bus collided with a van. There were so many people coming in from it that somehow her birth got missed. The only thing I can figure is that her mother was on the bus when it crashed, gave birth, and died. No one filed anything, and the baby came up missing because they either didn’t know or simply didn’t care.”

“And Mrs. Oliver took her
, you think?” Andrew nodded. “How is this even possible? I mean, didn’t anyone know that she was pregnant? Didn’t her family wonder what had happened to the child?”

“Best I can piece together, and this is still something that we’re working on, is that
Han’s mother was a runaway and on the bus from somewhere else but died here. Her name was…let me see.” Andrew looked over another file of papers as Misha waited. “Deidra Summer. I have someone looking into where she might have come from, but she was riding the bus out of town when it occurred. She’s the only one whose body was never claimed. I don’t think that was her real name either.”

“Where are you looking now?” He told him every place the bus stopped until they found where she got on.
“And no one thought to do this before?”

“As I said, it was a huge accident. There were bodies everywhere.
According to the police report—and you have to remember this was over twenty-five years ago—several of the men working it had been brought in from the local police academy. Two of the young men dropped out so they’d never have to encounter that again.” Andrew handed him a picture. “Then there is this.”

The picture was of a young woman that was obviously deceased.
Her face looked beautiful, but there was damage done to her torso. Nothing else showed on the picture but the chest to just above her breasts and her face. She looked so much like Hannah that it was breathtaking. Misha wished he knew the color of her eyes, because he knew without a doubt this was Hannah’s mom.

“That, in case you don’t know, is the woman that no one claimed.
I’ve made inquiries, but no one took a blood sample from her, so I’ve been trying…I’ve called in a few favors and I’m having her body exhumed. I sort of told a big fib about why I needed it. I said your wife…she will be soon, right?” Misha nodded without taking his eyes from the picture. “I told them that your wife was wondering about having children and if there was anything in her past. I said we already assumed this woman was her mom. They’re going to do it next week.”

He kept the picture and asked to be kept informed. Misha felt both excited and afraid for Hannah. To know that the woman wasn’t her mother was going to go a long way to making her feel better
, but to not know where she came from was something else altogether. She might have a family out there that had mourned her passing all these years. By the time the plane landed, he’d come to a decision. He would tell Hannah, of course, and he’d do it face to face. This was something that had to be done when he could see her, not through their link or on the phone.

~~~

Han waited in the line with Maribel. She’d really wanted to go to this interview on her own, but she didn’t know how to drive. As they stood in line—a cattle line, Maribel had called it—Han saw someone out of the corner of her eye that made her stiffen.

“Who is it?” Maribel stood in front of her
, and Han felt her cat stir. She didn’t know what do to when her fingers started to tingle. Maribel took her chin and had her look at her. “Calm her by talking to her. Tell her it’s fine, you have a handle on it. And breathe. That’s what has her nervous. And a nervous cat wants to protect you. Breathe, Hannah. Just breathe.”

“It’s my mother.
She’s just over there.” Maribel turned her so that her back was to her, and Han took a deep breath. “She’s with two men I’ve never seen before. I don’t want to go back to her.”

“And you won’t
, either. I see her now. What a piece of trash. That woman needs to take a serious look at herself when she leaves the house.” Han laughed, and Maribel smiled. “There’s my girl. Now, tell me what you want to do. If we have to kick her ass, I need to find some more comfortable shoes. These heels are not made for that.”

“Are you always this nice?” Han flushed at what she’d said. “I’m sorry. That was very rude of me.”

“No, it was you. And I hope to see more and more of you coming out. You’re a very wonderful woman, and I’m looking forward to having you do more things with me. Having a woman around will be nice for them as well.”

“I don’t know about that. I like Carter and Phillip. Andrew is very…he’s a sweetheart and so funny.
Thomas is quiet and we can sit and play chess for hours without saying a word.” She moved up in the line as she thought how to talk about Rider. “I don’t think he likes me. Rider, I mean. He’s very hard to get to know.”

“I noticed that you left out Misha.” Han flushed hotter.
“He’s a good man, too. A little on the jaded side at times. That’s my fault. I leaned on him a great deal, as I’ve said before. But Rider doesn’t hate you. I think he’s in awe of you.” She shook her head. “He is. The other morning he told me that if he had to have a mate, he hoped she’d be like you.”

“Why on earth
would he want someone like me?” Maribel laughed, and Han joined her. “I’m strange, backward, and I don’t know a thing about anything.”

“Not true. I understand you speak fluent French, play a hell of a game of chess
, and you are good at crossword puzzles, all the things that make me think you’re a great deal smarter than anyone has ever given you credit for.” Han looked away as she moved to be next in line. “Why on earth are you going to take this job? It’s well beneath you, and you could do anything. This is not for you.”

“I need to work. I
can’t sit at Misha’s house all day and do nothing.” Maribel huffed. “Well, I can’t live off him either. He may have money, but I’m not going to sponge off him. I have to work to pay for what I want.”

“Okay, I can see that. But you must know that he’d give you whatever you wanted.
As for sponging off him? I don’t know if you realize just how wealthy they are, all my boys. They’ve done very well with their money and have a lovely nest egg.” Han’s number was called, and she looked at Maribel.

“What do I do then?
Be a woman that I hate? The kind that comes through the airport as if she owns the world and has nothing to show for it? Do I pop out a kid every few years and hope that Misha never gets tired of me?” Han looked around the room. “There are people in here that need this job more than me, but I need something.”

“Work for the Lanning
Rescue.” Han looked at her then. “Answer the phones during the day. File those reports that sit on their desks for days at a time because no one wants to go to the office downtown. Make coffee and let Misha chase you around the desk.”

“
And the rest?” Maribel huffed again. “You do that well. Does it work with the others? I just find it to be annoying.”

A quick kiss on her cheek and
Maribel was leading her from the building. “One, Misha won’t tire of you. He loves you very much and will never tire of you. Two. Popping out children? That would be lovely for all of us. But try to have a girl. I’d love a little girl to spoil just once. Three. Yes, it annoys them to no end, but unlike you, they’re afraid of me. I’ll have to work harder on making you fear me. As for the job, please take it. I hate it. I want to go to flower clubs, join a book of the month group, and have time to knit. I don’t know how, but I could learn.”