The Liger's Mark (12 page)

“The worst kind,” he whispered against her temple. “God, I’m so sorry, baby.”

“Meara wrote that I’m the only one who survived. The others were all stillborn. She said there was a group searching for us, and she and her husband were a part of it. By the time they found us, I was all that was left. Luckily, there was someone on the inside, someone who helped them. Through him, they were able to smuggle me out of the labs. I was only a few weeks old. ” She stared at him, knowing the horror inside her was reflected in her gaze. “All the rest died. I can’t wrap my head around that.”

“They’re cruel, vicious bastards,” Gabriel growled.

“I agree with Laramie, now. I don’t think there’s any mercy left in me. Those women and their babies. The lives and families destroyed by this. For what? Because we’re different?”

“Some people will never accept what they can’t understand,” Gabriel said. “This is why I do what I do, why I became the Angel. It’s for this very reason that I hunt the guilty down. You are why I am the hand of justice, the executioner. I swear to you, every one of them will pay for what was done to you.”

She nodded, knowing he meant every word.

“Meara was the one who took me once I was out. She was told not to keep me but to stay close enough to keep a careful eye on me. So she hid me in plain sight with the help of the woman I knew as my social worker, Ms. Karsey. They were never sure of exactly what had been done to me in that lab.”

“I skimmed the journal pages,” Gabriel said. “It sounds like they were trying to find a way to isolate and kill the beast before it emerged.”

She shook her head, anger and rage rising up to challenge the deep sorrow filling her.

“Meara warns me if the hunters figure out who I am, they won’t stop until they get me and when they do, I’ll wish I was dead.”

“Listen to me,” he said and tipped her face up until she met his gaze. “No one is going to get to you. You have no idea of the carnage I left in my wake the last time a group of hunters tried to take you. That was before we were mated. There is no limit to how far I’ll go to protect you. I think it might be best if we head home to the ranch. You’ll be safer there. No one gets in or out of Riverton without me knowing. I’ll make some calls in the meantime. See if any of my contacts have heard of this and might be able to help us figure it out,” he assured her. “Just know this. No matter what they tried to do or thought they did do, you survived. There’s purpose in that.”

“I need to find out who she was,” Kenzie said, glancing at the picture of the pregnant woman. “Meara said the man who helped them snuck her what he could. The pictures and a few pages from the journals they kept. She said he would get more to her but didn’t show up at their next meeting. She thinks he was discovered and killed.”

Gabriel picked up one of the photos of the woman. “She doesn’t look much like you. You must take after your father,” he said.

“Someone somewhere is missing her,” Kenzie said. “They’ll know who she is. We just have to find them.”

Kenzie wouldn’t rest until they did.

Chapter Ten

Gabriel woke the next morning to the soft touch of Kenzie’s hand stroking up and down his erection. He moaned in appreciation, flexing his hips into her wicked touch.

“Morning,” she whispered and began peppering kisses along his shoulder and chest.

“Mm-hmm,” he replied, lost in her touch. “You feel so good.”

“I can feel better,” she vowed and began licking her way down his chest and stomach while her hand continued to stimulate him.

Her tongue flicked out as she reached his groin and slid over the swollen head crowning his shaft. Her moan traveled down his dick and settled in his balls. God, she was amazing.

“Suck it,” he ordered but she merely placed sucking kisses over him instead. He reached down and gripped her hair in his fist. “Suck me,” he grunted, tightening his thighs and lifting his hips toward her.

She turned her face so his cock skimmed along her cheek, nuzzling his groin and nipping the inside of his hip joint instead. He groaned and tugged her back toward the tip.

“Kenzie,” he warned.

She laughed, the silky sound washing over him and making his heart swell. His. She was all his.

Her tongue swirled and licked as she caressed him again, and this time she opened her mouth wide and took the head inside, sucking greedily on it. Her tongue tapped and lashed, rubbing the slit on top and tasting the pre-cum spilling from it. She moaned again, and it seemed she was done teasing him. Her mouth whirled around him, meeting her fingers mid-shaft as she worked him into a frenzy.

He jerked back his hips, and she released him with a loud pop followed by a groan.

“Mm-hmm, I was enjoying that.”

“Me, too,” he vowed, reaching for her and pulling her up before rolling over so he was on top. He used his knees to urge her thighs wider and growled as his cock slid along the plump folds of her sex. He loved how she was always wet and ready for him.

“Now,” she urged, undulating up into him. She gripped his upper arms, fingers curling around and holding tight while she rocked her pelvis into his.

He’d planned to wait, to tease her as she had him, but all thoughts other than getting inside her left as his cock lodged against her snug opening. He flexed his hips, closing his eyes on a moan of sheer pleasure as he slowly sank into her channel. She mewled in pleasure when he was as deep as he could go, balls resting against the lush swell of her ass. Perfection. Heaven. That was what the sensations washing through him brought to mind. He held completely still for a long moment, savoring the feeling.

“Gabriel.”

His name was a plea from her lips, and he knew just what she wanted. He slid back his hips, enjoying the friction as her pussy clung to his cock, rippling as he tugged free. Then he thrust back, surging inside once more and pulling a cry from his mate’s lips. Heaven. Definitely heaven.

He kept the pace slow and steady, despite the repeated pleas of his mate for faster and harder. He’d give in soon, the need for the same was tearing up his spine. First, he wanted to immerse himself in her, to indulge the desire to lavish in the sensation of her tight sheath sucking at his cock. His balls were so tightly drawn, he knew once he hit a certain pace, his control would shatter. So he drew it out, crooning as his mate whimpered and begged.

He dropped his lips to hers, giving her the fast and hard she desired in the conquering kiss he claimed her mouth with. She met him full on, tongues dueling as they took and gave. Only when she was mindless with pleasure did he give her what she wanted. He drove her into the bed with each thrust, and she screamed her satisfaction.

“Mine,” he growled at her neck, tongue licking over the bite he’d marked her with.

She skimmed one knee up along his side, opening herself wider for him and moaned in agreement. “Yours.”

“Who are you?” he demanded, and her gaze jerked up to meet his. He slammed his hips harder against her, wringing more cries and asked again. “Who are you?”

The whispered words of pain she’d spoken the previous day still haunted him.
I don’t know who I am.
He couldn’t get the image of her, looking so lost and broken as she spoke, out of his head.

“Mine,” he rumbled at her and scraped his teeth over her mark. “My woman. My mate.”

“Yes,” she agreed, leaning her head to the opposite side and offering her neck to him.

“Who are you?” he asked again. He felt the struggle inside her, and it was tearing him apart.

“Yours,” she answered softly.

“Who are you? Tell me!” he commanded as he fucked her mercilessly.

“Yours,” she cried. “Your woman. Your mate.”

The liger preened, more than satisfied with her vow, but the man wanted more. The man knew she needed more.

“Who are you?” he whispered, nuzzling her neck as he slowed his pace once more.

She blinked up at him, and a tear spilled from one eye. “I don’t know.”

“Bullshit,” he snarled, startling her, making her angry. “Tell me who you are.”

“I don’t know,” she yelled in his face.

“Tell me who you are, or I’m going to turn you over and spank your ass until you do,” he warned.

Her eyes flared, and he had to cling tightly to his control as desire flashed through the anger in her eyes.

“Your fucking mate, asshole,” she hollered. “I’m the woman who’s going to kick your ass if you don’t make me fucking come. I’m the woman who owns you. Your mate? Your woman? How about your fucking goddess!” She reached up and clenched both hands in his hair, using her grip to pull her up to his chest where her mark branded his flesh. She licked over it before snarling at him. “I’m the woman who will hunt you down and slice your balls off if you ever try to leave me again. I will not be abandoned.”

“What else?” he challenged, gritting his teeth as her clasp tightened. It was worth it, to see the fierce woman come alive in her eyes.

“I’m Kenzie Marshall. Woman, shifter, Marine and mate to the fucking Angel.” She gazed up at him, and another tear spilled from her eye. He bent to kiss it away.

“Who are you?” he asked again, softly this time.

She gave him a look of confusion as if she didn’t know what else to say.

“Don’t you see? You’re exactly who you’ve always been.” He brushed kisses over her lips and cheek. “I understand wanting to know where you came from, who you came from. Those things don’t define you. Only you get to define you.”

She seemed to pause as she let his words sink in.

“You’re right,” she agreed. “I know who I am. I still want to find answers.”

“We won’t stop until we do,” he promised.

She smiled. “You might be nice to have around. Good thing I’m forgiving and took your sorry ass back despite your lack of intelligence.”

“Lack of intelligence?”

“You did bite me and leave me,” she reminded him.

He opened his mouth to remind her Laura’s life had been in the balance, but he saw the laughter in her gaze. She was teasing him, and he found that he liked this side of his mate.

“Might be nice to have around?” he asked and thrust deep, making her close her eyes and arch her neck as a moan spilled from her lips.

“Might,” she agreed and whimpered when he did it again. “I think…ahhh…I might need…mm-hmm…more persuasion!”

The last word rose on a sharp cry as he resumed the frantic pace they both craved. He loved how vocal she was in her passion and when her inner walls rippled around him, he knew her orgasm was close. He went to his elbows, bringing his chest closer and slid one hand into the hair at her nape, urging her to do his bidding.

“Bite me,” he ordered.

She attacked him with a roar, teeth sinking deep and sending exquisite pleasure firing through him. He clasped her to him, binding her hair in his fist as he gritted his teeth, forcing back the release building inside him. She tugged against his grip, turning her head and offering him her neck. He struck, teeth piercing and bringing the metallic taste of her blood to his tongue as he gave in to the need tightening his balls.

When they were both able to breathe again, he held her firmly at his side, her head cushioned on his chest. Their fingers were woven together, resting beside his chin, and he rubbed it across the back of her knuckles. He ran his other hand along her side and knew there would never be a time when he didn’t crave the feel of her skin against him.

It was disconcerting to realize how much she’d come to mean to him so quickly. He knew he was damn lucky she’d forgiven him. In a thousand lifetimes, he knew he would still be undeserving of her. For so long, anger and a need for vengeance had been all that fueled him. The desire to avenge his mother, to avenge all the senseless murders of shifters.

It sickened him to know the lengths and measures hunters were willing to go to. Enticing shifters caught alone and uninformed. The thought of what could have happened to Laura, and knowing he’d had to spill the blood of one of his own because the drugs in the male shifters system had been too much for the other man to fight.

“What are you thinking?” Kenzie asked, placing a kiss on his chest. “You tensed up on me.”

“My mother died when I was just a boy,” he said. “My brother and I were visiting a friend and came home to find her in the yard. My father was gone a lot, having secret meetings that kept him away for days at a time.”

“What happened?”

“Hunters. She was alone. They…” A shudder went through him, and he swallowed the bile that rose in his throat. “She’d been dragged into the flower garden she loved so much. I was afraid to send Daniel for help. We had no idea where they might have been. So we checked the house then locked ourselves inside.”

“How old were you?”

“I was seven. Daniel was four. That was the first day my mother let us walk to our neighbors by ourselves. She told me I was a big boy, and she trusted me. She told me it was my job to watch out for my brother, made me promise.”

“She knew they were there,” Kenzie said with the same stunned surprise he’d experienced when he’d come to the same conclusion.

“I think so. They left a note pinned to her.” He spat the words out. “When my father came home, he read it and burned it. We buried my mother, and he never left again.”

“How long did you wait for him?”

“Three days. I called Adrian’s house as soon as the numb wore off. His dad and uncles came to stay with us until my father returned.” He still remembered when the coyotes had come in one by one, shifting into men only when they were satisfied it was safe.

“Why didn’t they go after you dad and bring him home?”

“We didn’t know where he was,” Gabriel stated. “I still have no idea where he was or what he was involved in. He’s never spoken of it or the letter.”

“God, Gabriel, I’m so sorry.”

“My father was consumed with hate, and he set a fire going inside Daniel and I. When I was twelve, he began telling me the story of the avenging angel, and I knew that was who I wanted to be. It was easy to tell him I’d never take a mate. Easy to agree to every limitation my father told me would be required. My life is not my own. I am the hand of justice, the executioner,” he quoted.