“I’m not going to stop. Never, ever, mi ja.”
“Good. Good.”
Diego thrust, his body warm and heavy on hers. Cassidy lifted her hips to meet his. Loving him felt so good, so damn good, an explosion of pleasure as he pushed inside again and again.
Cassidy moved under him, loving the hardness of him. His body was as hard as his cock, tight and fine, his kisses rough. Diego braced himself on the bed, the mattress dipping as he loved her. His breath came fast, and sweat dripped from his face.
Cassidy’s head rocked back as the pleasure went mindless. She felt the fiery point where they joined, which spread waves of erotic joy. No smooth and sweet loving—Diego was making it wild and fierce.
Fierce. Cassidy liked that. She wanted more. His hard loving seared her, awakening secret needs she hadn’t known she had. She wanted Diego in all ways, wanted to touch him, taste him, feel him becoming part of her.
Need. Mate. Love. Joy. Simple words for the feelings that lifted her and dropped her into an abyss of wildness.
She heard her voice ring out, crying his name, and his answer.
“Cass. Amorcita, you make me come so hard.” His words turned to groans, and his eyes darkened as he went over the top. Cassidy wasn’t quite there yet.
“Diego,” she begged. “Please.”
He reached between them, fingers finding and stroking her. That did it.
Cassidy heard nothing, saw nothing but his beautiful eyes, felt nothing but the glory of him inside her. She’d found a place where she would never hurt, never fear, never worry—a place she never wanted to leave.
Cassidy felt tears trickle from her eyes as they collapsed together, both of them breathing hard, both sweating, neither wanting to stop.
“Diego,” she said. “My Diego.”
He just looked at her, his eyes so dark and warm, before he stopped her words with his kiss.
Holy mother of God. Diego fell next to Cassidy on her bed, breathless, staring at the sunlight slicing across the ceiling.
That was…
Shit.
Cassidy rolled to him, curling around him, resting her head on his shoulder. The fall of her hair was like silk on his skin. Cassidy smiled once at him then closed her eyes and dropped into an instant and untroubled sleep.
Diego kissed the top of her head and rested his gaze on her now-serene face.
What a woman. She’d back-talked to that very scary feral bear, and instead of running away the instant the path was clear, she’d run back to rescue the cubs. And then she’d smiled at Diego like it was no big deal.
She’d stayed up the rest of the day and all night to settle the kids and their mothers in, and then she made love to Diego like a wild thing.
Damn, I love her.
“What am I going to do with you, mi ja?” he whispered, touching her face.
Diego could lose his job if he had a long-term relationship with Cassidy, lose everything he’d fought to gain since he signed on the dotted line that took him and his family out of their crap neighborhood. If he threw in his lot with the Shifters, Diego might end up as shunned as they were.
At the moment, he couldn’t decide whether he cared.
Diego felt Cassidy’s eyes on him. Deep green eyes, beautiful like a sunlit pond. “Sorry,” she said. “I didn’t mean to fall asleep. I guess I’m more tired than I thought.”
“You battled Shifters, flew a thousand miles, and then helped calm down five terrified women and a bunch of kids. You’re supposed to sleep.”
“Not when I’m making love to you.” Cassidy slid her hot, beautiful body on top of his, closing her hand around his already rising cock.
“Are you making love to me?” Diego asked.
“I am now.”
She moved onto him, her body easily connecting with his. Diego cupped her breasts as he slid into her, loving the disparate feel of firm flesh and soft skin.
She rocked her hips, driving Diego deep inside her. Where I belong.
He loved looking at her—at her lush breasts, the dark tightness of her nipples, the curve of her hips, and the brush of gold between her legs. She was beautiful, sexy, full of fire.
And sexy. Wait, had he thought that already? Didn’t matter. It bore repeating.
“Damn, querida. What you do to me.”
Cassidy was beyond speech. She made sounds of passion as she rode him, and the hands that braced on his chest sprouted the tiniest bit of claw.
The small bite as she scratched him excited him. She was trying for control and losing the battle.
Now she was coming. Crying his name. The claws extended, Cassidy’s wildcat wanting to join the fun. Diego drove up into her as he kept coming, and coming… never wanting to stop.
Cassidy collapsed on top of him, claws vanishing. Diego gathered her tightly against him as everything went still once more.
There were too many people in the house, Cassidy thought as she came out later that afternoon, yawning.
Eric, Jace, Shane. Marlo, for some reason. Xavier.
What was Xav doing here? He’d gone to the hospital, hadn’t he?
The five men seemed to be deep in conversation in the kitchen. Jace looked up and saw Cassidy, went to her, and drew her into a hug. Cassidy held him tightly. Jace was so tall now, as tall as Eric. It was criminal that Kirsten hadn’t lived to see Jace become such a fine man.
Jace let Cassidy go and gave her shoulder a loving squeeze. “Do me a favor, Cass,” he said as he moved back to the kitchen counter to pour her some coffee. “Either buy me some earplugs or soundproof your room.”
Xavier burst out laughing. His left arm was in a splint, and bandages decorated his right arm, neck, and the back of his scalp. “My brother, the yeller.”
Cassidy felt herself blushing. “You all could have left the house.”
“It was four in the morning,” Jace said, handing her the cup. “And five. And six. Let a guy sleep sometime.”
“I take it Diego’s OK, then,” Xavier said, still grinning.
“He’s sleeping.” Deeply, on his stomach, hugging a pillow, sunshine highlighting the jagged tattoo across his back.
“He deserves it,” Shane said from the table. “That was a hell of a fight.”
“Fun stuff,” Marlo added, hands around a beer instead of coffee.
“Trust Diego to make a dramatic entrance to save his girl,” Xavier said. “The big show-off.”
Cassidy sipped coffee—rich, good, and hot, as only Jace could make it—as she sat down at the table. “Diego came for you, Xav. He knew I was protecting you.”
Xavier laughed. “No, he came for you, chiquita. He only got me out because he knew Mamita would kill him if he didn’t.”
Shane nodded. “I have a mother like that.”
“Tell Nell I appreciate her help,” Cassidy said. “How do you feel about all those women in your house, Shane?”
Shane actually blushed. “I don’t mind. One or two honeys I’d like to get to know better. Of course, Eric’s claimed them all, and I’m sure not Challenging him.”
They all looked at Eric, who lounged back against the kitchen counter, sipping coffee. He’d kept quiet until now.
“I’ll release them soon,” Eric said. “They need someone they can lean on while they take the Collar, but once they’re stronger and more confident, they can choose who they want to be with.”
“You’re really going to make them wear Collars?” Marlo asked. “It will hurt them bad when they put them on, won’t it?”
Eric stared into his coffee. “I have no choice.”
Cassidy came alert while pretending not to. Eric usually announced his decisions with his head up, daring anyone to question him. Not bowed, without looking at anyone. Something was up.
Her attention moved instantly from Eric to Diego walking out of the back, fully dressed. Diego went for the coffee while Marlo lifted his beer in salute.
Xavier laughed. “Hey, hermano, I’m surprised you can still walk.�
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“Funny.” Diego got coffee, put his arm lightly around Cassidy’s shoulders, and gave her a kiss. No embarrassment, no regrets. Diego did things and wasn’t ashamed of them.
“Where’s Reid?” he asked.
“At my house.” Shane wrinkled his nose. “I think my mom wants to keep him.”
“Good. I need to talk to him. And then take care of some things.” He kissed the top of Cassidy’s head. “Job things.”
Xavier lost his smile. “Want me to come with you?”
“No, I want you to heal. And I want Cass to rest.” He squeezed her shoulder.
“Then you’d better leave,” Xavier said. “She doesn’t stand a chance of resting with you here.”
Marlo laughed, and even Shane grinned. Cassidy found herself blushing, and Cassidy never blushed. Diego kissed her lips again and whispered, “See you later?”
Cassidy nodded. Diego, ignoring Xav’s and Marlo’s teasing whoops and laughter, left the house.
Cassidy missed him already, but she too had things to take care of. She touched Eric’s shoulder as she went. Her brother, his expression still troubled, nodded, and Cassidy left the house.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
“I remember me telling you not to go after those drug runners.” Captain Max was on his feet in his office, his face dark with rage. “Do you remember, Escobar? Do you know why I told you that?”
Diego had all kinds of answers, but he decided to keep quiet.
“Because the courts will have a field day, that’s why!” Captain Max finished for him. “Everyone knows you have a vendetta against this gang, that they killed your partner. And then I hear stories that you turned vigilante in Mexico, shot up a factory or something going after those guys. How is that going to look when you take the stand?”
“I won’t be taking the stand, sir,” Diego said, fixing his captain with an unblinking gaze. “I never made the bust.”
Captain Max stopped in mid-breath. “What the hell are you talking about? I have two men in my lockup looking scared to death, and their public defender’s not looking much better. Don’t bullshit me, Escobar.”
“No bullshit, sir. I didn’t arrest them. Lieutenant Reid did. He saw the two remaining gang members in a cantina while he was vacationing in Mexico, and he arrested them. I had nothing to do with it. It’s all in Reid’s report.”
The report lay on Captain Max’s desk, the file unopened. “I don’t know what the hell game you’re playing, Diego. I’ll bust you back down to uniform, I swear to God.”
“Reid made the arrest, sir. I promise you.”
Reid had arrested the men at the airfield while Diego and Xavier kept out of the way. They’d all agreed not to alert the Mexican police and to quietly fly the guys back to the States. Less paperwork, fewer questions, and they would have had to search awhile to find police out there anyway. The drug runners had capitulated easily enough, wanting to get out of there as fast as they could.
Once they’d landed back in Nevada, Reid had gotten stuck with the paperwork, and Diego had taken his brother to the hospital then gone to Shiftertown, found Cassidy, and… had a night he’d never forget.
“You know I’ll be questioning Reid pretty closely,” Captain Max said. “Your brother too.”
Diego nodded. “Reid is willing. Xavier wants to come back to work tomorrow, by the way. He’s feeling better and has energy to spare.”
“I’ll see.” Captain Max gave Diego a stern look. “If we get away with this, I might not kick your ass. But then again, I might. Remember that.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“Don’t fuck with me, Diego.”
“No, sir.”
The captain scowled over the desk. “Aren’t you still on leave?”
“Yes, sir. I wanted to come in and write up the last of my notes on Jobe’s case. Finish it.”
Captain Max sighed, becoming human for a moment. “It’s been a long time coming, hasn’t it?”
“Yes, it has.”
“You talk to Jobe’s family yet?”
“Plan to do that tonight.” Diego would take Cassidy with him. That seemed right.
“All right,” Captain Max said. “Get out of here, Escobar.”
“Yes, sir.” Diego grinned at his captain and left him.
* * *
Stuart Reid hated Shifters, and now he was surrounded by them.
Hate was the wrong word, maybe. Uncomfortable, definitely. He’d grown up trained to believe certain things, most notably that dokk alfar were superior creatures, and that he was damn lucky to have been born one. Hoch alfar were evil and should be slain on sight.
The hoch alfar had hated Reid, not only because they’d wanted his lands deep in the mountains, but because Reid could manipulate iron. He could make iron behave how he wanted it to, and weren’t the hoch alfar afraid of that? That was another reason the hoch alfar had exiled Stuart to this overbright and overheated place, full of humans who constantly fought among themselves. The hoch alfar had fully believed they’d handed Reid a fate worse than death. And they weren’t far from wrong.
Another of Reid’s deep-seated beliefs was that Shifters, the fighting slaves of the hoch alfar, were not to be trusted. They were Fae bred, and though they’d had the cunning to break free of the Fae, Shifters had shunned Faerie and chosen to live solely in the human world. Anyone not wanting to live in Faerie had to be insane. The Shifters’ own fault they’d been dying out and had to accept human restrictions.
In his years in Shifter Division, Reid had learned much about Shifters—how they pretended to be pathetic captives but seemed to survive just fine on subsistence-level jobs. They had resources somewhere, he was certain of it, and they were gathering strength. Reid didn’t miss how Eric Warden manipulated the humans to remain top cat while seeming to give in to human demands.
The humans were fools if they thought they had Shifters under control. The only thing that stopped Shifters now were their Collars, and one day, Stuart was sure, they’d figure out a way to break that power.
Because of his ingrained mistrust of Shifters, Stuart had convinced himself that killing one un-Collared Shifter and taking its blood to get him back home would be justifiable. But when he’d seen Cassidy grieve, he’d realized what he’d done. I, who thought myself so superior to the hoch alfar, have become just like them. I thought nothing of taking Donovan Grady’s life—husband, brother, son, potential father. I did that. And I can never pay enough.
So, when Eric had gotten the call from Marlo that Cassidy was in trouble, Stuart had been the first one out the door. With his talent for teleporting—something he hadn’t been able to do in Faerie—he could get in and save her. He’d been happy to save Xavier too, while he was at it.
Helping Shifters and their friends maybe could atone for what Reid had done. His guilt had made him come over to Nell’s this morning to see if he could do anything further for the women and cubs they’d rescued.
Nell put him outside on the patio to watch the kids play and make sure they didn’t hurt themselves. The cubs, tiny things, not sure about their change in scene but more willing to accept it than the adults, ran about in wonder.
Nell, on the other hand, scared the hell out of Reid. She was crazy, that one, violence with a smile.
The younger woman who now wandered out the back door worried Stuart far less. She was the mate of the dead Miguel, and the look in her eyes was dead too.
Not dead, Reid thought as she sat down on the patio chair next to his. Empty. She was free and safe but had no idea what to do.
The Shifter looked over at Reid with dark blue eyes and sniffed. Her hands curled on her lap. “I thought I smelled Fae.”
“I’m dokk alfar,” Reid said. “Not the same as the bastards who made Shifters.”
A spark of curiosity touched her eyes. “Dokk alfar? What’s that?”
“Dokk alfar are the true, and first, Fae. We dwell in the deepest woods, in the earth itself. Our magic is the magic of
nature. We don’t have to build glittery castles and hunt unicorns and all that shit.”
More curiosity. “So why are you here and not in the woods in Faerie?”
Bitterness lodged in his throat. “Because the hoch alfar decided to kill family and throw me out here. For fun. They thought I’d die in the human world, slowly and painfully. They’re idiots. But they made it so I couldn’t get back.”
“Oh.” The woman reached across the small space between their chairs with the Shifter instinct to touch. Her hand rested on Reid’s, her fingers warm. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know. No one’s even told me your name.”
“Stuart. Stuart Reid. That’s as close to my real name as I can manage here. Humans can’t pronounce anything.”
The corners of her mouth lifted the slightest bit. “Tell me about it.”
“Do you have name?”
“I used to. I haven’t heard it in a while.” She hesitated as though having to think hard to remember it. “Peigi. It’s Scottish.”
It was pretty. “How did you end up in Mexico with a bunch of un-Collared Shifters?” Reid asked her.
Peigi shrugged and withdrew her hand. “I believed in Miguel. I thought he was right when he refused the Collar and formed his own community of Collarless Shifters. I’d lost my family and no longer had a clan, so I decided to accept his mate-claim. I didn’t want the Collar either.” She touched her bare throat. “I guess I don’t have a choice now.”
The sad gesture stirred his sympathy. “So what happened? When did Miguel decide he’d take over the Mexican town and become an evil villain?”
“He went feral. I realize now that Miguel wasn’t the most stable of males to begin with, and then his beast took over. His idea of having his own Shiftertown, where Shifters ruled, made sense to me when we started. We’d be free of human restrictions but have the advantages that Shiftertowns are giving the Collared Shifters—peace, stability, a better chance of having cubs that survive. It worked at first, but then…” Peigi shrugged, looking tired. “It all fell apart. Lots of fighting between species, even within species, and Miguel decided that females should be sequestered. For their own safety.” Peigi’s smile was wry. “Really, so he could have first pick, and we couldn’t run away.”