Gunnar's Game

Chapter Three

“I trust the mission went off without a hitch,” Mrs. Sharpe said as she handed him a cupcake.

Tersch looked at it with mistrust, wondering at the woman's game. She was usually all over his ass to eat healthy. He also didn't like the fact that the others had left him here alone with her while they cozied up to their mates upstairs. Even the psychics who normally bugged the shit out of him had disappeared.

That fucking Keegan. Bastard was always making eyes at Ava when he had work to do.

“What's up, Alicia?” He stared at the chocolate confection in front of him with suspicion.

The older woman laughed. “Honestly, Gunnar. You can eat it. It's not poisoned.”

“Yeah, right.” He gave it another sniff but could detect nothing but empty calories and cream. He ate it in one bite and sighed after he finished chewing.

“Damn, that's good.”

When she said nothing, he persisted. “What?”

“How are you feeling?”

The warmth in her gaze took him aback. He never liked this side of her. The softness confused him. Normally hard, unflappable, and commanding, when Mrs. Sharpe took him aside, away from the others, she turned all maternal on his ass. He much preferred her cold and imposing.

“I'm good.” He cleared his throat, wondering when the hell Ava would return.

Much as he needed to avoid the sharp-tongued little witch, he was never quite right without her. Besides, she made a strong buffer against her grandmother. Christ, he'd never seen that one coming.

“You seem stronger,” Mrs. Sharpe commented.

He shrugged.

“The power inside you has grown, boy.” Her eyes flashed to that funky red, making him feel both uncomfortable and strangely reassured. He'd have a hard time hurting her. The beast inside him respected her; the berserker sensed great power. To Tersch's surprise, he thought the monster might fear her. And that easily, she kept him in check.

“I don't feel any different. I'm the same.”

“Still angry with me and Ava?”

“What, for lying to all of us for a year? For not telling us your goddamn granddaughter is as much a Circ as the rest of us?” She smiled, annoying him. “Why, is that a problem?” Because if I’d known she was Circ from the beginning, I would have taken Ava and made her mine before my anger got so out of control. Now I change into my berserker even when I don’t mean to, and I’m afraid I might hurt her. A chip off the old block, like my fucking old man. “It's not, I just…” A strange sense of unease hit him hard.

“Gunnar?”

Tersch glanced around him but didn't scent, see, or hear anything amiss. He didn't know what the hell to think. “Ah, you think the compound is secured?”

“Yes. Why do you ask?”

“No reason.” He rubbed the back of his neck, his beast pushing at him to take a look around.

“Hold on.” She turned from him and found a phone. After making a call to security and reassuring herself all was well, she turned back to him. “I don't sense anything amiss either, but it never hurts to check. Now tell me about Raul LaGarda.”

“Fallon read him before I had to deal with him. Hey, he was going to kill Jules.

I had to stop him.”

Mrs. Sharpe just watched him, sighed, and shook her head. “Right. So tell me what happened.”

“Don't you already know?”

“Don't be flippant, dear. If I knew, I wouldn't need to ask, now would I?” The hell of it was, he didn't know what she knew. Half the time he felt like he was playing some kind of game with the older woman and losing. She always smiled at him, and Tersch knew he was far from pleasant, even on a good day. Now Ava, she never pulled her punches. The sexy woman called him an asshole right to his face. That he could respect. Ava didn't play games, not like her spooky relation.

Mrs. Sharpe grinned, and he did his best to guard his thoughts. He cleared his throat and took the next cupcake she handed him, feeling like a calf being fattened up for slaughter. “LaGarda was the same rogue Circ who helped Sheridan and Jules escape from that jungle prison a few months back. The bastard also admitted to helping Melissa Ramirez—that was her real name—pull one over on us.

“He didn't know who he was really working for other than her, but he thinks she knows. Said the woman always referred to the guy as Lonnie.” Mrs. Sharpe didn't react, but the absolute stillness in her petite frame reminded him of how Jules had reacted before. Her tension said what words did not.

The woman was seriously freaked.

“Mrs. Sharpe?”

“Lonnie?” she whispered. She paused in thought. “That can’t be right. No.” She closed her eyes, then opened them, her expression bleak. “But it makes a twisted kind of sense.”

Oh hell. The woman was blinking back tears. In the year Tersch had been working for her, he'd rarely seen anything upset her. An arched brow, a mocking smile, one or two sharp words, but nothing of panic or grief, even when Ava had been held at knifepoint in the woods outside the house, right before they'd killed Montaña.

“You're not going to cry, are you?” he asked in a hoarse voice. Where the fuck was Ava? Olivia, hell, Sheridan?

Mrs. Sharpe blinked. “Of course not. I had something in my eye.”

“Right.” A part of him wanted to hug her, to reassure her that he'd protect her.

But he couldn't make that call, not when he feared hurting her in the process. If only he could keep a handle on that monster inside him. The raging chaos that wanted nothing more than to destroy.

She took a deep breath and exhaled a shaky sigh. “I have a few things I need to look into. I'll talk with the rest of you later. Let the others know to meet in my study after breakfast tomorrow. Nine o'clock.”

He started to really worry when she didn't make any “don't be late” comments before she left.

Not sure what the hell was going on, Tersch decided to grab a shower, then a late lunch and some rack time before dinner. While the others were no doubt screwing themselves silly, his libido had been sated by Jules and the guys yesterday. Maybe it had been a mating heat after all, because seeing the female Circs today hadn't aroused him at all. Normally, he felt at least a pull of attraction at remembrances of Olivia or Sheridan in their Circ forms.

But now all you can think of is Ava, normal or changed— and that is a sight worth seeing again. His beast purred his pleasure at the thought. The creature wouldn't leave well enough alone. Even his damned berserker wanted to mark and claim the female, and that wasn't happening. It would be one thing if Tersch could fuck Ava out of his system. He'd take her and forget her. Except he knew it wouldn't be that simple.

Not with Ava.

The man would make love to her; then his beast would push his way into claiming her, fucking, biting, petting, which would then lead to his berserker trying to break free from the tight hold he held on it. And that creature wanted nothing more than to possess Ava. No, not possess, own. As if Ava would allow that to happen. But when the time came, he'd just have to make her realize…

He started, aware he hadn't questioned the when of claiming her, but the how.

“Hell, this is not what I need right now,” he muttered and stomped up the stairs to his room.

Someone had cleaned it, because he'd left it a mess, as usual. Chaos made him feel at home. A clean room reminded him too much of his early years spent trying to please Eric Tersch, a time best forgotten.

He closed his bedroom door behind him and sighed as he finally relaxed.

Letting the tension ease from his tired muscles, he stripped off his boots, socks, and shirt. He walked into the bathroom and grinned at the stacked towels on the sink.

“Bet that burned her ass.”

Some twisted part of him got off on making Ava serve him. Probably because it annoyed her to no end, and he liked the strange relationship they had. He wanted her but wouldn't have her. She wanted him but didn't want to desire him. And they both knew how the other felt, so they dealt with their common frustration by pissing each other off. It worked for him.

He shifted on the balls of his feet when her scent hit him—the clean, pure smell of Ava Belle. Oddly enough, she didn't smell like a typical Circ. Nothing fruity or flowery about Ava. Hers was a feminine perfume uniquely her own.

And it was growing stronger.

He leaned closer to the towels. Not there. He turned around and followed his nose…to the slumped figure fighting to hold on to the bedspread. He hadn't seen her before since the bed canted to an angle, but she was now visible over its massive mattress.

“Shit.” He dashed to her side and easily lifted her in his arms. Gently lowering her to the bed, he looked her over, running his hands over her to make sure she hadn't broken anything. “What the hell, Ava? Baby, you okay?” He stemmed the guilt he felt as pleasure coursed through his veins just from the simple contact of touch. I’m not copping a feel; I’m trying to make sure she’s okay. So why am I so fucking hard right now?

She groaned.

“Ava, talk to me. You're freaking me out.” With one hand he felt for her pulse, relieved to feel the steady thrumming of her heartbeat. She didn't look injured, but he couldn't tell with her clothes on.

At the thought, he froze, one hand on her belly, the other on her neck.

She dragged a hand to the one he had plastered to her T-shirt and opened her eyes. He stared into orbs more green than brown. So clear, so goddamn beautiful.

Sooty lashes made a mystery of those eyes, and she blinked lazily, like a cat, as she watched him.

“You're hot,” she said in a throaty drawl.

Unconsciously, he spread his fingers over the flat plane of her stomach, feeling the muscle and warmth of the vibrant woman beneath him. “So are you.” Any pain he might have expected to see on her face didn't appear. Instead, hunger and a familiar feminine defiance looked up at him.

His beast responded with an eager growl, taking note of a prime female waiting to be claimed.

Tersch had to force himself not to accept the challenge she presented. He slowly withdrew his hands and sat next to her on the bed. He coughed to clear his throat and hoped his position, sitting with his side to her, hid his erection.

“So, uh, Ava. You going to tell me why you were dozing on my floor?” When she flushed, he smiled. “Looking under my bed for something? All my nudie magazines are in the nightstand, if you're interested.” And the ones he used for inspiration all featured women who looked like her.

“Ass.” She tried to sit up, but he put his hand on her chest and forced her back down.

He quickly pulled his hand back from the pillowy feel of her soft breasts. “Spill, or I'm telling Grandma.”

She glared at him, relieving him that whatever had befallen her had been temporary. Ava seemed well on her way to recovery if she could stare holes through him.

“I tripped, must have hit my head.”

He raised a brow, knowing how much the gesture aggravated her. “Oh?” He ignored her protests and ran a hand over her soft brown hair, taken with the silken strands. Ava's light brown skin tone and straight hair hinted at European ancestry somewhere in her family tree. The woman fascinated him on every level. He loved everything about her. Small, curvy, pretty. Mine, his beast had to add.

Unfortunately, it was getting harder and harder to ignore that inner voice. Too easily, he could imagine taking her hard, uncaring of her concerns as long as he could bend her to his will. Pain and pleasure, a heady offering only a monster would need…

But the disgust wouldn't come, buried under a desire so deep, he could no longer ignored its call.

“Funny, but I don't feel any lumps,” he murmured in a thick voice and turned to add another hand, stroking her scalp with pleasure.

She moaned and twisted under his touch as if seeking more. “You're a real jerk, but you have such good hands.” She relaxed under him and closed her eyes.

“That feels good. Yeah, get the lower part behind my head, just above my neck. A tension headache.”

He rolled his eyes. Somehow he'd gone from interrogator to masseuse. The woman had a way of wrapping him around her finger with little effort. God help him if she learned she had so much power. “Ava, tell me what happened.” He stopped his ministrations.

She blinked her eyes open. “It's no big deal.”

“Ava,” he warned in a soft voice.

“Okay, okay.” She glanced up at him, her lips parted, her eyes becoming more brown. The damned things changed color with her moods, and he could see her worry. “I need your help.”

“Oh?”

“It's only happened to me once before. A searing pain in my head. But it's Grayson's fault.”

He grimaced. “The psychic? The same one you told me you were sleeping with but who denied it like crazy? That Grayson?”

She scowled up at him. “I did no such thing, you pervert. He's my brother.” He blinked. “Like hell.”

“No, he is. I'm not lying.”

“Who the hell knows with you? You told me before that you were sleeping with one of the psychics. Now you're not, and he's your brother?”

“We have the same eyes.”

“Yeah, but you're brown. He's white.”

She sighed. “I'm black, not brown.”

He tried not to be taken in by her wide eyes and that soft, creamy skin. But where Ava was concerned, Tersch was weak. He'd made so many mental comparisons of that sweet flesh, he could tick them off on the fingers of both hands.

“No, baby. That skin is nowhere near black. A rich coffee, a dark caramel, a milk chocolate, something sweet I'd like to eat up one bite at a time.” His hands tingled where they touched her. He leaned closer, unable to help himself.

“We…we were talking about my brother.”

“Were we?” His brain seemed to have shut off. He'd been wondering for an entire fucking year what it would be like to feel her mouth under his. And she was so close. In his room. On his bed…

Don’t do it. Keep the monster away from her. You’ll put her in danger. In the back of his mind, he heard his sister's cry, Susanna's plea for life, an enraged roar.

But Ava surrounded him with pure, sweet need. He couldn't resist the temptation, not any longer.

He planted his hands on either side of her head and lowered himself so that his bare chest pressed against her thinly clad breasts. Fuck, he could feel her nipples against him, his body overly sensitized to her nearness.

“Gunnar—”

“Ava,” he whispered back and kissed her.

She tasted like everything he'd dreamed. Womanly, sweet, and so sexy, it was all he could do not to rip her clothes off, mount her, and fuck her like the animal he was. He licked at her lips and thrust his tongue inside when she opened for him on a moan. He invaded, taking as much as giving.

Tersch gripped the mattress on either side of her head with fingers quickly turning into claws. He shivered, so under her spell, he could barely remember his own name. Ava, finally his. The mate he'd been longing for, the answer to his hopes and dreams. So soft, so feminine, desirable…

Her hands crept up to his shoulders, and the feel of her palms on his flesh made him rock hard in seconds. She stroked his shoulders, then his neck, and pulled him closer into the kiss.

He slanted his mouth to angle for deeper penetration. She met his tongue stroke for stroke, allowing him to plunder, to take what he'd been wanting for so long.

Breathe. Have to…breathe. He pulled away, gasping, but couldn't stop planting kisses over her smooth skin.

“Mmm, yes,” she murmured and ran her hands over his shoulders to his chest.

“So strong.”

He made the mistake of leaning back to look into her eyes and saw her beast staring out at him through slit pupils, daring him to take what they both knew to be his. Take her. Mine, ours. Now. If it were only his beast, he might have succumbed.

But his berserker wanted more, and a sudden flash of the recent past intruded.

He’d been so angry, so furious at not being able to help Jules. So he took it out on the nearest opponent. Fallon. He’d pummeled the bastard, enjoying the outlet, excited to exercise so much anger. Then someone tried to stop him. He turned and would have smashed Ava in the face if Fallon hadn’t knocked him out of the way.

Ava—beautiful, intelligent, sexy Ava, a victim to a brutal monster’s rage.

Scenes of violence against women inevitably drew him to the fateful night he'd spent a lifetime trying to forget. His father's manic shrieks, his mother's screams, his sister's tearful pleas before his father choked the life from her. And then, the stark sound of his girlfriend's neck snapping in the sudden silence broken only by grunts and sobs…

Tersch pulled back from Ava as if scalded and leaped from the bed. He ignored the aching need in his body and paced until he could control, if not will away, his arousal. The past is the past. Not the here, not the now. I won’t hurt Ava. Not ever.

Let it fucking go.

Ava sat up, grumbling. “I'd call you a cock tease, but we both know you give them what they need.”

He flushed at her referral to his teammates. He couldn't help it. She was right.

But he knew they could take care of themselves. Even though he'd seen Ava as a Circ, he couldn't help stop thinking of her as a smaller, frailer woman. The thought of hurting her made him sick.

“Tell me about Grayson,” he said, his voice rough with frustration.

She grunted. “Well, that killed the mood. Sure, whatever. Grayson is my brother, you know. He's not exactly white, either. We have a nice little mix of ancestry in the Belle family. Grayson likes to say he's the light end of the spectrum.

I look like Mom; he takes after Dad.”

“Your parents are still living?” Just about all the Circs in residence were the last of their lines. Well, except for Morgan, but Tersch didn't count him because he'd mated into the Dawn Endeavor family.

She nodded. “Mom and Dad are still kicking. And they'd be pissed as hell to know Grayson's sending messages when he shouldn't be. I'm not a telepath.”

“Thank God.”

“And I don't want to be one.” She glared at Tersch. “I can't imagine what goes on in what you call a brain.”

His fear of hurting her slowly receded under her irritation. Ah. There was the Ava he knew and lo—liked. He grinned; he couldn't help it. She was so cute when annoyed.

“Grayson is in trouble. He's in DC working on something for a friend of ours.

And the shit just hit the fan.”

“How so?”

Ava frowned. “I'm not sure. He sent a ton of images and words into my head that I'm still trying to piece together. But he needs my help. He never would have sent me the info, knowing it would hurt me, if he hadn't been desperate.”

“Well, hell. We're going to need to talk to your grandmother about this.” She sighed. “I know.” Ava didn't look like she had plans to move from his bed, though. “Can I ask you something?”

He answered, wary. “Sure.”

“Do you like games?”

He blinked. “Games?”

“Yeah. Do you?”

“I guess so. I like to have fun.” Though normally his idea of fun involved beating the shit out of some dickhead deserving it.

“I do too.” The sly look that passed over his body and centered on the bulge under his jeans unnerved him. “Let's play a game, Gunnar.”

“Ava…” His voice left him when she trailed her fingers down her body, past her breasts and belly to her crotch. Her hand hovered there before she slowly unbuttoned and unzipped her shorts. It’s like the woman is reading my fantasies.

Holy shit. Am I awake?

“You see, you got me all worked up and left me high and dry. You claim to have perfect control. Let's test that, hmm?”

“Not a good idea,” he rasped, his gaze glued to her fingers delving beneath her panties visible underneath her zipper. “Oh, fuck.” He could see the outline of her fingers under the cotton, and the corresponding pleasure on her face clearly showed him what she was doing.

“I need it. I don't have mating heats, but sometimes the desire for sex is there all the same.” She bit her lower lip as she worked her fingers over her clit.

He could smell her desire, and it was all he could do not to rip her shorts off and shove his face in her pussy.

“I'm so wet,” she said on a breath as she rubbed herself. “I'm close to coming already.”

“Me too,” he admitted, mesmerized by what he couldn't exactly see. The hint of movement under her pink panties, over her cunt, tantalized. She was so sexy, not showing him skin while giving him an erotic tease he'd never forget.

He wasn't sure when he'd unbuttoned his trousers. He shoved his hand down his pants and grabbed his shaft. It was either that or let her do it, and he wouldn't touch her again. He couldn't without completely losing it.

“Mmm, you smell so good.” She moaned and increased the motion of her hand between her legs. “Like cedar and sex. I bet you could slide right up into me right now. No pain, only a full, throbbing stretch as you take me.”

“Yeah, full.” He pulled on his cock, jerking up and down, faster and faster. The oil over his dick made it too easy to bring himself off. The more excited he was, the more lube. And Tersch could have poked a hole through a steel wall with his erection.

“That's it. One finger inside me,” she said softly as she angled her hips up.

“Now two.”

“Put another in. Stretch yourself wide. For me,” his beast demanded.

She licked her lips and groaned, and he could see himself guiding his cock to her wet folds, could imagine the heat and the scent of her as he finally claimed her.

He widened his stance and rubbed so hard and so fast he neared his climax too soon. But Ava beat him to it. She threw back her head and cried out as she drenched the room in her scent. So fucking beautiful.

Tersch lost it.

He groaned as he spewed, coming hard all over his belly and hand. Loads of cum that should have been in the slight female writhing on his bed. Instead, he made do with his hand, squeezing his orgasm from his ruddy shaft.

“You're so pretty,” Ava growled, her beast there in the depth of her voice and the hint of fangs touching her lower lip. “So big. I wonder what you'll feel like inside me.”

“Not gonna happen.” His hoarse response caused her to smile.

She rose from the bed and straightened her shorts. Ava stared at his half-hard cock now covered with cum and nodded. “Oh yeah, we're going to happen soon, Gunnar. I'll play your games now, but in the end, I intend to win.” He had the strangest sense she meant what she said. A woman stalking Frederik Gunnar Tersch? “Baby, I can eat you for breakfast.”

She approached until she stood right in front of him. “Why wait for breakfast?” She lifted a finger and rimmed his mouth.

The scent and taste of her cream turned him inside out. Before she could draw her hand away, he grabbed it and took her finger into his mouth. He closed his eyes and sucked, his beast and berserker both rolling in delight as they absorbed the scent of his mate. When he couldn't take another taste without fucking her good and hard, Tersch pulled her finger from his mouth.

“You keep pushing, you won't like what you find.”

“Baby, you don't know the meaning of the word 'push.'” Ava chuckled and had the nerve to tuck him back into his trousers. The feel of her hand on his cock brought out his berserker.

In a flash, he put his hand to her throat and squeezed, warning his mate to understand her place. “Let me go before I hurt you. Because I want nothing more than to hear you scream,” he warned, shaky and trying to tamp down his hormones.

He forced himself to let her go but didn't step away. Neither did she, and his berserker smiled at her fearlessness.

“Promises, promises,” she said and drew her hand from his cock. She licked his cum from her fingers and winked. “I'll see you later, big guy. Try to get some rest and dream of me.” Ava pranced away, flaunting that tight, round ass at him, like waving a red flag at an angry bull.

He took a step in her direction.

Fortunately, Ava left his room and closed the door behind her. He missed her the moment she left. But aside from pining for the woman he couldn't have, he felt a huge wave of unease. Ava had sounded as if she expected to have him in the end.

And that would spell disaster.

The uncanny woman had a knack for getting under his skin. His eyes nearly crossed at the thought of tasting more than her arousal off her fingertips. He could too easily imagine going down on her, eating her out until she cried his name, then fucking her so hard they saw stars.

He grimaced down at his painful erection and stripped. Heading for his shower—which was what he'd initially come back to the room to do—he stepped into the stall and let the cold water flow. But it did nothing to stem his arousal, especially when he heard a few hoarse shouts from his team caught up in their mates.

Gunnar jerked himself off twice more before he found a measure of peace. He fell asleep in his bed, awash in her scent.

For the first time in a long time, he slept like the dead. But he dreamed of Ava, all the same.