She kissed him back, her body rioting, feeling more than filled.
He gripped her hands and pressed them above her head, entwining her fingers with his. Holding her in place. “Wrap your legs around me.” Even gentle, even sweet, Jax was all control.
She obeyed, arching against him, groaning at the contact. Not only did she not have to be in control, but as usual, he wasn’t giving her the choice. That lit her on fire in a way she never would’ve imagined. He started to move, slowly at first and then with speed. Magma boiled up, sharpening her nipples, igniting a craving only he could satisfy. She lifted her hips, meeting him, taking all he could give.
A tear fell from her eye and rolled down her cheek. He kissed it away, murmuring her name.
Her breath caught and she held it in, fighting to reach the pinnacle, so much emotion bombarding her that she closed her eyes.
He altered his thrust, pounding her clit, and she detonated.
Whispering his name, she held on to his hands, her thighs gripping his hips hard enough to hurt. Passion took her over in powerful waves, crashing into her, destroying any protective walls she’d tried to keep up. He ground against her as he came. His body vibrated against hers, and his lips settled over her shoulder, his teeth digging in.
The bite shot pain through her, and she climbed again, orgasming so hard her eyelids flew back open. She gasped, taken over, and finally slumped to the floor.
He stayed inside her and leaned back, his gaze on her pounding wound. “I bit you.” Not an ounce of doubt or surprise filled his face. Only pure, definite, male satisfaction. He met her gaze. “Mine.”
Chapter Thirty-One
Human nature will triumph—we must believe it to be so.
—Dr. Franklin Xavier Harmony
They’d waited until dawn to take back roads to headquarters, and the tension in Jax’s shoulders still formed knots as he finished giving orders for his crew to unpack the two trucks. After dawn had arrived, he and Lynne had searched the entire neighborhood, finding some canned goods, bathroom necessities, and even medicine folks had left behind before fleeing or dying.
Now Lynne tried to keep a stoic face, but the woman nearly hopped around with joy at all the lab equipment they’d taken from Myriad. Even though most of it wouldn’t work unless they used a generator, she was almost giddy.
He’d gone and fallen for a complete geek. A sexy one, but nerdy nonetheless.
“Why are you smiling?” Raze asked, rubbing an impressive black eye.
“I’m not.” Jax heaved out a breath, turning toward the war room. “Let’s go update, and you can fill me in on that face of yours.”
“It’s from my mama’s side. They were the good-looking ones.”
Jax almost stumbled. “Did you just tell a joke?” he asked over his shoulder.
“I’m funny,” Raze said. Even walking through the rec room, in the midst of allies, the guy didn’t make a sound.
“Most special ops guys are hilarious,” Jax returned, striding into the war room.
Tace frowned. “What happened to your face?”
“Bat wielded by a member of Twenty. Well, a former member. Had to kill three of them,” Raze said easily. “Did we miss anything here?”
Tace shook his head, his eyes unfocused. “Vice President Greg Lake called on the ham, and when Jax wasn’t here, he got pissed. Said for Jax to call him if he was serious about meeting the president.”
Jax lifted an eyebrow. “I’d rather wait and call once we know what we have with the Myriad research. Lake and the president can wait a few hours. Anything else?”
“Yeah. Sami’s a shitty shot. Did you know that?” Tace took the chair next to Jax. “We tried out a couple of the guns stolen from Twenty to make sure they worked, and she couldn’t hit shit.”
Jax frowned. “No. I’ve seen her shoot, but not in practice, so I haven’t watched. She was LAPD, right?”
“A rookie,” Raze said. “Maybe she just sucked at shooting.”
Sami stormed into the room. “I heard that.”
Jax kicked a chair her way. “Were you or were you not with the LAPD?”
“I was.” Pink rose over her high cheekbones as she sat. “You’ve seen me grapple.”
He had. The woman was tough as Justice in hand-to-hand. Better than some soldiers he’d served with. Apparently she hadn’t had the time to get good at shooting, although it was surprising she’d become a rookie. “You start practicing target shooting every day until Tace says you’re perfect.”
“We can’t spare the bullets,” Sami returned.
Shit. Good point. “Figure something else out, then.” Jax rubbed his chin. “You’re one of my top soldiers, and you need to be able to shoot.” Just how well did he know the woman, anyway? Lynne was right that he needed to get to know his people better. “Tace? You crazy yet?”
Tace blew out air. “Well, maybe? I’m not feeling much, including concern over whether or not I’m becoming a Ripper. That’s probably not a good sign.” His white-knuckle hold on his weapon belied the casual nature of his statement.
“I saw a Ripper bark like a dog yesterday, so I’m thinking you’re all right so far.” Jax waited until Tace relaxed his hold. “Seriously. Talk.”
Tace set his gun on the table and sat back. “I just feel different. Not better and not worse but different.” He chewed on the inside of his cheek. “I miss Wyatt, and I’m cut up that he’s gone, but it’s more fury than sadness, you know?”
“That’s normal,” Raze said. “I’m always pissed.”
Tace lifted an eyebrow, and Sami swung toward him. “You never look mad,” Sami said slowly.
“If they see your emotions, they win,” Raze said. He jerked his chin at Tace. “Maybe you just got stronger. It’s possible.”
“I’m not sure lack of emotion is a mental strength,” Tace said slowly. “But I like that idea better than my becoming a cannibal.”
Sami leaned away from him. “Do you, I mean, wanna eat people?”
Tace snorted. “No. Not at all.”
Jax shook his head. He didn’t have time to worry about Tace’s mental state. “If you get urges, tell us. Other than that, let’s keep going the way we are.” He really couldn’t afford to lose his head medic. Lynne knew anatomy, but she was no medical doctor.
“Just put me down before I hurt anybody,” Tace said.
“No problem,” Jax returned. The fact that Tace worried about harming other people said more than any brain scan ever would. “We have information about a manufacturing plant of cereal and granola bars that might be far enough off the grid to still hold food.” He grabbed an old map from his back pocket and stuck it to the whiteboard. “We’ll have to send a team out, but I want to wait until we call the president and his Elite Force. Raze and I will meet them.” He hated using that much fuel, but there wasn’t a choice.
“I want to go,” Tace said.
“Sorry, no.” Jax shook his head. “I need you here, Doc. You’re the best doctor I have—the only one with combat experience.”
Sami sat up. “What about me? I missed the last mission.”
Jax lifted an eyebrow. “You’re not going anywhere until you shoot decently.” He softened his voice. “Plus, I need you to continue with the hand-to-hand lessons and grappling practice. At some point, we’re gonna run out of bullets and will need both knives and combat skills to survive.”
She sat back, mollified. “Fair enough.”
Tace turned toward her. “You never talk about your life before Scorpius, which is fine, because neither does Raze. But no way did you learn to fight like that just training with the police.”
She swallowed, her dark eyes turning hollow. “No. My dad owned a kenpo studio, and my uncle owned an inner-city boxing club.” She shrugged and smiled. “I trained both places. When I went to college, I studied wrestling to round out my knowledge.” Silver glinted when she pulled a serrated blade from her back pocket. “Dad wanted boys and he got two girls. So he trained us, and it was actually a lot of fun. I’m still learning blade fighting.”
“What happened to your sister?” Raze asked.