Page 14 of Hers to Love
“There’s the little bitch now,” Zac snarled in her direction. “Shoot the fucking ape, and grab the girl. That’s not the real her, but she’s nearby. Bring her to me, and then let’s get the hell out of here.”
“Nice to see you, Mason,” Ata said with a wide smile. “You’ve come a long way for nothing.”
Mason winced as he shot a quick look at his father. “Look, Ata, if you’ll just stop running and come help my dad out, all of this will go better for everyone involved. Hell, you and I can even go back to dating! As long as you understand that you won’t be the only one in my bed, I don’t see any reason why we can’t continue to be together.”
Taika snarled so loud it was almost deafening, and stepped forward, smacking the ground with both fists.
“Yeah, that would be a no,” Ata said with disdain. “And from my mate here, I am guessing that’s ahell no. Get off our lands, and leave me the fuck alone, or face the consequences. And by consequences, I mean face my mate the badass, silverback gorilla who is about to rip you all a new one while I watch.”
The man on the far left lifted his hand, and she moved quickly to put a bullet in his shoulder and watched the taser he’d been carrying drop to the ground. She might only be in hertaruaform, but she was just as deadly, and thanks to her ability, so was the duplicate weapon she had in her hand.
Zac’s expression turned positively gleeful. “My God, woman, the things I am going to be able to do with you.”
Ata sneered at him. “Hard pass.”
“You say that like you’ll have a choice.” Zac’s expression was too smug, like he knew something she didn’t. That’s when she saw someone sneaking up on her from the right, and on the real her, not hertarua.
Without a word, she pulled back into herself. She heard Taika’s roar of anger, and then the sounds of men screaming, sounds of horror that echoed from back toward the house, too, and knew that they were being attacked simultaneously. Just as she settled back into her own skin, she was hit from the side. Someone had tackled her to the ground, hard, and she’d lost the Glock on her way down. Ata lay for a moment in shock, the wind completely knocked out of her.
“Come on, bitch,” her attacked snarled in her ear. “I wanna get you back to the boss and outta these fucking woods before those monkeys turn in my direction.”
Ata cried out when the man pulled her up by her hair. She lifted her hands to hold onto his wrists in order to try to alleviate the pain. She froze as she heard something moving in their direction, fast, and from the vibrations on the ground, whatever it was, it was huge. Like, say, a gorilla hellbent on protecting her.
“Wow, dude,” she panted. “Your night is about to get real shitty, real quick. You ever see an eight-hundred-pound gorilla up close and personal like?”
The man shook her. “Shut the fuck up, bitch!” She felt the cold hard steel of a gun barrel pressed to her temple. “You want the whore, shifter, you’d better let me leave, or I’ll shoot her in the head, I fucking swear I will.”
Ata moved with him, looking into the forest, knowing that her mate was there, watching. She thought he would simply burst out of the bushes and come save her, but he held back, and she realized he was waiting for her to save herself, and give him the best opportunity to take the man out without hurting her.
Filled with love for the man who had such faith in her, she took a deep breath, turned into herself, and then pushed hertaruaout from her. Not far, just to the space behind the man who held a gun to her head. She struck hard and fast, pushing the gun up and away from her own head, even as she kicked hard against the back of his left knee, driving him to the ground. In the next heartbeat, she and hertaruawere diving to the ground to the left as Taika came out of the forest, roaring his rage and intent. She didn’t have to see to know Taika killed the man swiftly. She knew that by the fact that he had her in his very human arms only moments after she settled back into her own skin.
She wrapped her arms around him, not knowing how to tell him just how much she loved him. He meant everything to her and—
White-hot, sharp pain struck within her, so fierce it took her breath for a moment. From the way Taika’s hold on her jerked, she knew he’d felt it, too.
Oh, God, had they both been shot? What the hell? But just as soon as that thought formed, she dismissed it as the pain slid away to a heat that dropped to a warmth that settled in her heart. The mating bond had formed.
“About fucking time. Damn, sweetness, way to keep a guy hanging.”
Ata grinned as she hugged him tighter to her. He was hers. They were bonded. And life couldn’t get much better than this.
****
“Oh, fuck!”
She’d been wrong. Life could get better. Every time Taika made love to her, life was better. She groaned as he rolled his hips against her and slid balls deep into her.
“I am going to stay inside you for the rest of my life.”
Taika breathed against her ear, making her shiver. She was lying on their bed on her stomach, gripping Taika’s pillow close to her chest as Taika fucked her with delicious force from behind. He lay completely over her, his legs on either side of hers, and in this position, he controlled every aspect of their lovemaking. The speed, the depth at which he took her, and how hard she had to take it.
“That way I know you’ll be safe,” Taika continued, moving constantly against her. “If I am right here, then no one can get a gun to your head.”
Ata laughed breathlessly, but the sound morphed into a moan as Taika slammed into her. “Oh, that felt good. Do that again!”
Taika laughed. “Demanding little thing, aren’t you? But no, I think I want this to last a lot longer, so I am going to take this slow.”
Ata growled. Then came up with a plan. He thought he had the upper hand? Well, she was going to show him just how wrong he was. She gritted her teeth against the pleasure and pulled into herself, then pushed hertaruaout from her. She didn’t need it to be completely corporeal, just a little. Then, using her other self, she reached between Taika’s legs and cupped his balls.
