Page 9 of Hers to Love
Chapter Six
“Oh, my God.” Ataahua shook her head and crossed her arms over her chest. “Did you two seriously just high five each other because Taika ripped a man’s throat out?”
The two of them turned back to grin at her. “Hell yeah!” There was no missing the pride in Remy’s tone. “When Taika gets his rage on, it’s a thing of beauty. I’ll let you two get settled and let the family know you’re back. Nice meeting you, disappearing lady!”
Ata realized then that she hadn’t told Remy her name, but even that ridiculous nickname he had for her was said with respect and affection.
“Must be a shifter thing.” Ataahua used her haughtiest tone.
“Damn right it is, sweetness,” Taika said in a voice that had dropped an octave, and he stepped toward her with purposeful strides that had her heart thudding a little faster within her chest. “Itisa shifter thing to want to protect our mate, and to avenge her if needed. That is non-negotiable. I will stand beside you when you need me to, but in front of you if I have to, too. There is no situation where I will not be able to move to protect you if I can. That’s who I am. It’s ingrained in every cell of my being. Is that something you can come to terms with?”
Ata felt herself drowning in his dark eyes. Taika didn’t wear his heart on his sleeve, but his emotions were definitely visible in his eyes, and right now they were telling her that he hoped like hell her answer was yes. She thought about what he had said for a moment before answering.
“It’s not that I don’t want you to protect me, Taika,” she said quietly. “It’s more that I want you to recognize that I am strong, that I can protect those that I love just as you can. I can accept that about you, if you can accept my need to contribute to a relationship, to be a partner to the man I choose as my own. If you can, then perhaps we can explore what this is between us and see where it goes.”
Taika stepped closer to her, taking up a lot of space around her, but she refused to step back. “I can do that, sweetness, but I’m a man and an Alpha. I will fuck up, and probably more than once. I might need a little help and a lot of forgiveness.”
Ata stared at him for a moment and wondered if he could actually hear the sound of her heart. “I thought you were the one who killed my grandmother,” Ata blurted out, and watched as Taika frowned slightly in confusion. Hell, she couldn’t blame him. Here he was speaking to her from the heart, asking for her help, and admitting that he would make mistakes, and she was admitting that she’d thought him capable of cold-blooded murder.
Taika nodded slowly. “I know that, Ataahua, you told me. Or rather, you yelled it at me.”
Ata winced. “Yeah, I did. Sorry about that. I guess the forgiveness thing goes both ways, huh? My grandmother came to me in a waking dream, a—a vision I guess you could say, and she told me exactly where to find you. I was hellbent on finding the man who took her from me, so I assumed that she was leading me to her killer. But she wasn’t, and you’re not.” Hell, now she wasn’t even talking in full sentences. “What I’m trying to say is—”
Taika pressed a soft, quick kiss to her lips. “Settle, sweetness,” he murmured when he pulled back slightly, his hand going up under her hair to hold the nape of her neck, a very protective and dominant move that had her body softening and heat pooling low in her body. “I get what you were trying to say. I need you to hear whatI’msaying. You are my mate. I know it, I feel it, and I think you are starting to as well. As soon as you make that decision, that I am the man worthy of your love, then you will feel what I feel down our mating bond. You will be in no doubt how much you mean to me. But for now, will you let me show you?”
Ataahua swallowed a sudden lump in her throat. “Show me?” Her voice was only slightly more than a whisper.
Taika nodded, lifting his other hand to cup her jaw. “Yes. Remember earlier when I told you that you would come to understand what it is like to be the center of attention for an Alpha like me? Well, I want the chance to show you. Now. Thoroughly and repeatedly.”
Ataahua inhaled sharply at the desire she could clearly see on Taika’s face. He wanted her, and there was no mistaking that. She wanted him, too, so much so she was sure it was written just as clearly on her face. Ataahua wanted this. She needed this. She needed him.
“Yes.”
Taika’s grin was beautiful and full of promise. She was mesmerized by it for the two point one seconds it took for him to move, and then she was being lifted up against him, urged to wrap her legs around his waist and carried further into the house. Ataahua lost herself in Taika’s all-consuming kiss. His lips, his tongue, and his teeth were all employed on a mission to drive her insane, and they did their jobs admirably.
When he pulled back to allow them both a minute to breathe, she realized she was sitting astride him on a large couch.
“Fuck, you’re gorgeous.” The look in Taika’s eyes had her blushing. “Everything about you is beautiful.”
Ata smiled shyly. “That’s my name.” Taika frowned, and she gave a little giggle. “Ataahua translates to ‘beautiful’ in English. Apparently, my father thought I was the most beautiful baby ever to be born and he would not consider any other name but that.”
Taika smiled, cupping her face and pressing a short but sweet kiss to her lips. “I have to agree with the man, but, sweetness, can we not talk or think about your dad at the moment? I would really like to get back to that moment when it was just the two of us, and things were getting a little hot in here.”
Ataahua laughed. “I think I can do that.”
She reached for the clip that held her hair up, released it and let it fall down behind her. From the way Taika followed the fall with his gaze, and the way his hands tightened on her hips, she had a feeling he more than appreciated the move. Something that was confirmed when he pulled her closer toward him, and the strong proof of his arousal pressed against her in the most intimate of ways. Biting her lip, and channeling her inner vixen, she pulled her shirt from her jeans, and pulled it up, not stopping until she had it completely off. She let it fall to the floor.
The look on Taika’s face was not what she had been expecting—more anger than desire. “Look at this,” his voice was low, rough, and she had an idea that perhaps his gorilla was closer to the surface than he had been before, and she knew his gaze swept over the bruises that marked her ribs, and the bandage she wore on her arm. “I want to go back to that damn hotel room and kill those bastards again, but much slower this time.”
Ata smiled slowly as she reached out to gently cup his face. “They don’t hurt as much now, I promise. And when I feel your hands on me, pain is the last thing on my mind.”
Taika held her gaze, no doubt searching for any sign that she might be misleading him, but she held steady. The wounds were there, and if she moved suddenly then she felt the tightness in her skin, and body, that came with such wounds, but she wasn’t going to let that stop her from taking this next step with her mate.
Her mate.How quickly she had come to see Taika as exactly that. Hers.
“Sweetness, stand up so I can get you outta these jeans.” Taika’s voice sounded a little breathless, and Ataahua was glad that it wasn’t just her caught up in the moment.
Standing on legs that shook, she kicked off her shoes then reached for the buttons on her jeans. “Wait.” Ata froze at Taika’s strained words, and moved back when he gently pushed her so she could stand up in front of her. “Let me.”
