The Protectors Series Bundle (A superhero romance anthology) (39 page)

She changed their position by bringing her hands up to the headboard and wrapping around the wood slats.

“Shit, baby, you feel go good,” he growled in her ear.

He tugged on her hair again, and she cursed.

Moving his hand from her hip, he stroked her lower back and the curve of her ass. He slid his thumb into the cleft of her ass, and her breath hitched.

“Garrett.”

“Yeah, baby?” He slid in deep and paused, his thumb just above the sensitive nerve bundle.

“Please. I need to—”

“Come?” His thumb slid over the tight rosette.

“Oh, God. Oh, God, Oh, God…”

Garrett pumped and retreated, knowing there was no coming back from the edge. He was going to come, and he was going to take her with him. He circled the rosette again, and her inner walls pulsed around his cock.

“Come for me baby. Give me all of you.” He pressed his thumb against the puckered bud, and she dissolved in his arms. He pumped once, twice, and a third time, then followed her into oblivion.

While she slept, he held her. Every inch of him craved her again, but he’d be damned if he would ruin this. He’d suffer a million nights of torture if it meant he could see her respond like that again. Forcing his mind to relax, he drifted off to sleep.

As he slept, his mind took him back to the Lair, to when Symone had wrapped her lips around him and given him a taste of heaven. The way he wished her tongue had caressed the length of him, stopping just short of the most sensitive spot at the underside of the tip, and then gently flicking that spot with her dexterous tongue.

The way he’d wanted her to take all of him into her mouth and suck until his eyes rolled into the back of his head. Dreamed about how she’d used her delicate hands to heighten his pleasure, one working the base of his shaft, the other gently working his balls. God damn, imagination was a great thing.

As he felt his muscles bunch and his blood rushed, his eyes jerked open as he recognized the impending orgasm. His eyes met directly with hazel ones as Symone once again bathed the length of him. She smiled up at him. “What—Did you think I was going to let you have all the fun?”

Hell. He had to get inside her. He couldn’t take much more of this. Gently, he tugged her away from her ministrations and rolled her over so he lay between her legs. He smiled down at her. “I thought you were resting.”

Her return smile was full of feminine power. “Who said I needed rest? Besides I wanted to taste you.”

“Anything to make the lady happy, but right now, I think I may actually die if I don’t get inside you.”

Her only response was to raise her hips to his. He groaned out a curse as the tip of his dick grazed her dewy core. She moved her hips again and this time, the whole head was surrounded with warm, slick, tight female. Fuck. He almost came, gritting his teeth against the onslaught of pleasure.

“Baby, oh Jesus.” He groaned and nudged the tip of his cock inside her. The muscles of her inner walls tried to draw him in.

Slowly, he inched forward, watching Symone carefully for a reaction. He concentrated every bit of energy he had on not moving too fast. She met his gaze directly. Her pupils dilated, smoldering and completely focused on him. When he was finally sheathed inside her, she squeezed around him, and he knew he was lost. Being inside her warmth felt like a homecoming.

He rocked his hips forward slowly and was rewarded with another contraction. “You’re…so…God…tight.”

“Mm, I think it’s a perfect fit.” Symone met each of his strokes in time. He pulled back almost to the point that he was out all the way and surged forward again.

Deftly, he rolled them so that she lay on top of him, not only giving her all the control, but also giving him better access to her breasts. His hands settled comfortably on her hips as she rotated them. He couldn’t last long. But now that he was finally buried inside of her, he never wanted to leave.

He raised his head to suckle first one distended nipple, then the other. Their bodies rocked to a beat only they could hear. When Garrett knew he wouldn’t be able to hold on much longer, he reached around to her hips again and held tight. He massaged and kneaded her ass, separating the cheeks and molding them back together. Each time, Symone gave a low moan.

Her gasping breaths drove him over the edge. His balls tightened in response to her movements. As she quickened her pace, he dug his hands into her flesh.

“Oh, God.” Symone came in a rush, quickening around him. Her inner muscles succeeded in squeezing him to the plummeting depth of release.

Chapter Twenty-three

Jansen’s face was stern when they joined him and Michael in the other room. He didn’t look Symone in the eye, and she flushed. He had to have heard them. Even with the television sound up, Garrett had all but shouted when he’d come.

She didn’t want to hurt Jansen, but she had to live her life. She tilted her chin up. She was making her choice. If Jansen didn’t like it, tough. Though they were long overdue for that conversation. Even if there hadn’t been the risk of his electrocution, she never felt for him the same way she felt for Garrett.

Her body shivered as she slipped Garrett a sideways glance. He kept his eyes on the television as the newscaster rambled on about the latest string of bank robberies in a nearby city. But he grinned broadly. He had to smell her. Michael also smiled as he looked between her and his brother. The kid looked a little better, though his eyes still had a glassy quality.

Jansen’s voice was tense. “If you two love birds are done with the googly eyes, Cassie’s on the phone.” He put her on speaker, and her steady voice immediately calmed Symone.

“Hey, Symone, you doing okay?”

“Yeah, fine. Alex and Morgan?” She hesitated before adding, “I’m really sorry about the reverb. I didn’t even know I could do that. I—”

“Symone, it wasn’t your fault. You were trying to protect us. You’re getting stronger every day, so we just need to figure out how to channel it. Alex and Morgan are both conscious and nearly back at full power, so no harm done. We’ll have full power back up at the compound by tonight, I’m hoping.” She paused. “Jansen, can you guys get to the egress route? From where you are, it should only take an hour. Alex should be at full steam then to bring you all home.”

“Roger that. Wheels rolling in twenty.” Forever the soldier.

“Good. Garrett, are you there?”

Garrett looked confused as to why he’d been addressed.

“Jansen mentioned you’d be leaving with your brother. I hope you choose to stay for a little longer until we determine how Peter’s finding our team. We could really use your help here.”

Garrett frowned. “Well, actually, I’ll be staying a while if I’m welcome.”

Jansen frowned but kept his head down, supposedly staring at the laptop monitor.

“I’m willing to share all I’ve got,” Garrett continued.

“Good. If it’s okay with you, we’d like to talk to Michael too.”

Garrett raised his eyebrows in his brother’s direction, and the teenager bobbed his head up and down and shrugged. “Yeah, we can make that happen.”

The conversation was matter of fact, but there was an underlying tension that worried Symone. “Cassie, what am I missing here? Did something else happen?”

There was a beat of silence before she spoke. “Peter’s men went after Alex’s twin brother, Adam.”

Dread curled itself around Symone’s spine like a smoky mist. “Did they—” She couldn’t force herself to finish.

“No. Lucky for the kid, he’s in juvie, so they had a little trouble getting in.”

Symone stared at Garrett. “What the fuck is going on? What are we missing?”

As Garrett and Michael loaded the car, Symone went with Jansen to check out. The knot forming in her stomach twisted around her internal organs and made her feel ill. “Jansen, I wanted to talk to you before we got on the road. You know I appreciate and will never forget what you’ve done for me. And I do—”

Jansen tugged her elbow and stopped their progression as he interrupted her. “Stop right there, sweetheart.” He shoved his hands in his pockets. “Look. I know what I see in front of me. You don’t love me.”

“Jansen. I don’t want to hurt you.”

He puffed out a breath. “I guess I’ve always known it wouldn’t work between us. Anytime I thought any different, it only took seeing your gloved hands to remind me. I don’t know why you can touch that asshole.”

“He’s not an asshole.”

Jansen held up his hands. “Okay. Whatever you say. My point is, I wish things were different, but they aren’t. But just so you know, if that asshole screws up, even Cassie won’t be able to save him. You hear me?”

He’d given her an out of sorts. “Thank you.”

He stiffened in response. “Now that we’re done with the touchy feely stuff, can we get home? Lisa’s cooking tonight, and I don’t want to miss it.”

***

Garrett watched Symone as they drove to the egress point in the woods in silence. Michael had slipped back in to his stupor. He was afraid the drugs were taking a toll on Michael’s immune system and he wouldn’t recover.

As they drove into the clearing, Jansen kept his eyes on the road and his gun in his lap. Symone sat bolt upright with her gloves off. Garrett double-fisted semi-automatic weapons. None of them spoke.

He slid another glance at his brother. Clearly the kid had something to do with Reaper, they just had to figure out what. Before it killed his brother.

As they drove, Jansen shut off the lights. Pulling into the clearing slowly, he looked around and let the engine idle for a moment, then shut it down.

Before their eyes, the clearing began to shimmer as if someone were bouncing light off of a pond. The ripple widened enough to fit a car. Garrett had seen it before. Hell he’d even walked through it before. But the idea of driving a car through the unstable wormhole gave him a case of the heebie-jeebies. “Maybe we should get out and walk?”

Jansen smirked and raised an eyebrow in the rear view mirror as he looked at Garret. “What’s the matter, you afraid of being crushed into a million particles if something goes wrong with this car and the wormhole?” He shrugged. “Or maybe of it exploding on us like last time?”

Symone sat shock still, and Garrett wished Jansen would have kept his mouth shut. She already felt bad enough about what had happened to her friends. That reverb hadn’t been meant to hurt anyone but the Trackers.

Jansen started the engine again, and the hairs on the back of Garrett’s neck stood up. He felt like he was being watched. From all angles. Like their ET phone home attempt was anticipated and being waited for. “Maybe it’s time to get a move on, Jansen. I think enquiring minds are doing more than just reading about us.”

Symone’s voice was soft but steely. “He’s right. There’s someone out there. It’s sending shivers down my spine.”

“Roger that, I’m just waiting for the signal, then—”

As if on cue, a flashlight seemed to flash from inside the black hole three times. Symone turned back to look at Garrett. “We always wait for the signal to move forward from Alex. We walked into a fire fight more than once. And this other time, he wasn’t even thinking and sent me and Morgan to a topless beach in San Diego.”

Jansen mustered something about it being by design, then kicked the engine to life to bridge the hundred yard distance. The moment they picked up momentum to more than five miles an hour, gunshots pierced the air.

Garrett covered Michael’s body with his own as bullets shattered glass. Symone stood through the moon roof and blazed lightning bolts so fierce they struck small fires where they landed. Even as he drove, Jansen fired out his window. He clipped two Trackers and downed another. Gunning the engine, he didn’t hesitate as one Tracker put himself between their SUV and the portal. He just kept it moving and didn’t seem to mind the thumping as they rolled over the Tracker’s body.

“Symone, get down,” Garrett shouted.

She didn’t listen. Instead, she kept hurling electro bombs and screaming at Jansen to haul his ass. If Garrett didn’t already love her, he certainly would have started now. She looked like a warrior.

Behind them, another vehicle joined their flank, and he cursed. Rising up from his protective covering of his brother, he fired out the shattered back window, sending the car that attempted to follow into an unrecoverable spin.

The front for the SUV disappeared into the portal, and worried for her, Garrett yanked Symone’s leg down so she slithered through the narrow opening.

She wasn’t pleased. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” I could have fired one more.”

He leveled a gaze at her. He knew who she was, understood that she was in essence a soldier like him. But she’d made him some promises, and he intended to hold her to them. First and foremost, she wouldn’t take years off his life by taking unnecessary risks. “At what cost? We don’t need another reverb.”

The SUV landed safely on the other side of the divide, and immediately they all turned to face their hidden enemy. Garrett glanced over at Alex. “Shut it down, man. They’re coming.”

Alex frowned, sweat dripping on his brow. “I’m working on it.”

Hopping out of the car with Symone and Jansen, Garrett joined Cassie and her band of misfits on the front lawn of the compound. Like something out of a cheap horror show, an arm appeared through the portal, just as Alex had reduced it to the size of a beach ball.