Page 6 of Hers to Love
“Well, when I checked out the place you hired the ATV from, I got a look at your license.” Taika shrugged self-consciously. “To me it read At-a-hoo-ah, but ‘cos I only speak bad English, I am pretty sure I butchered the fuck out of that, and I want to get it right.”
Charmed when she didn’t think she could be, she found herself saying, “It’s pronounced Ah-tah-hoo-a.” This time it was her turn to shrug. “Ataahua is Maori, from New Zealand.”
Taika gave her a smile that seemed to light up the room. “Ataahua, it’s beautiful. Now that I know how to say it, I’ll be sure to use it. A lot. I’m here because you’re my mate and you’re in danger. I want to know who those men were out at the farm, and why they wanted to capture you.”
Ata frowned. “How do you know they wanted to capture me and not just shoot me dead then and there?”
All signs of the smile that had warmed his beautiful features just moments before disappeared. “They weren’t aiming to kill, and two of them had tranq guns. No, they wanted to take you from me.”
Ata scowled at him. “Wow. Isn’t it interesting that everything comes back around to you? It must suck to have the entire world revolve around you, huh?”
Taika crossed his arms over his chest, and Ata refused to be distracted by the way his shoulders seemed to swell at the move. “It’s not as bad as you think, sweetness. You’ll come to understand that when you see what it is like to be the center of attention for an Alpha like me. Now, are you going to tell me about those fuckers, or should we skip straight to the more pleasurable portion of our first day together?”
Ata’s body warmed at the thought of what those more pleasurable pursuits might be, but she kept her face completely blank. “Do all monkeys have an over-inflated ego like you? Or is it just you?”
Taika’s smile turned decidedly wicked. “Oh, trust me, baby, it ain’t ego when you can back it up with the real thing.”
Both hands landed on her hips as she squared off with him. “Look, ape-man, this has been a very difficult day. I’d—eek!”
The door to her motel room flew across the room. Ata screamed in surprise and threw her hands over her head. Over the sound of her heart pounding in her chest and the blood roaring in her ears, she could hear Taika’s animal growling, a formidable sound that would send shafts of fear down anyone’s spine. Then came the distinctivezzzptttttt-ta-ta-ta-ta-taof a taser being fired, a grunt, and then the room seemed to shake as something heavy cashed to the floor.
Turning, she saw Taika’s body convulsing on the floor as one of the bastards stood gleefully over him, forcing God knew how many volts of electricity into his body.
“Hey, asshole!” The man took his finger off the trigger to turn and face her. “Glad to hear you know your name. I was afraid if I yelled ‘hey, dickless’ all three of y’all would turn around. Now, that man there, the one you are frying the shit out of? He can turn into a gorilla the locals call Kong, and it’s not because he’s from that part of the world, you get me? He’s a monster, and he is not going to be too happy with you. So, I suggest if you don’t want a gorilla sized problem ripping the shit out of you all, then you deal with me. I’m the one Zac wants anyway, so let’s get to it.”
The three men looked at each other, shrugged, then headed in her direction. Ata hadn’t really thought this through. She dropped her right foot back to a more defensible position, and waited. She wasn’t stupid. She knew they were going to come at her hard, and they were going to win. If she used hertarua, it would take too much energy, and she wouldn’t be able to hold it for too long. They were going to take her, and her best chance at escape or rescue was currently drooling on the floor. But Ataahua knew that Taika would get up, and he would move heaven and earth to get her back. She was his mate after all, and from the way her own body reacted to the man, she figured that had to be true. At least it had better be. She was about to risk her life on it.
