Rough It Up Read Online Free Page A

lioness. He let his Alpha tendencies come to the surface and added, “I’ll take care of you. You have my word.”
    That seemed to do the trick. She quieted down, and he watched as Alexa’s body lay still once more.
    He leaned down, parted her thighs, and took a deep breath. There was only one way to find out if what the lioness had said was true...
    * * * *
    “Can you get Nathan here?” he snapped as soon as he heard his father’s voice on the line.
    “What’s wrong? Is she getting worse?”
    “Yes. The lioness spoke to me again. She told me to take out the thing the bad man had put in her womb.”
    “What the hell does that mean?”
    “I looked for it, Dad. There’s some kind of implant, like an IUD type of thing, inside her.”
    “O’Shea’s a surgeon.”
    “I know. I’ve thought about it, and I’m wondering whether he didn’t implant it on her so she wouldn’t be able to shift. That’s why her lioness is so strong. And why the mating urge is slowly driving her crazy. She’s been denying it for so long, she’s going to explode if no one helps her.”
    “I’ll tell your brother to fly right out. But, son, it might already be too late. You know that, right?”
    Jay stared at the woman he’d had to tie to her own bed for her protection. She’d appeared so strong that day at the airport, acting as if she didn’t need him, or anyone else for that matter. She was no longer that person, and his heart ached at the thought. “I know but…I have to try. I have to.” He wouldn’t give up on her. He couldn’t.
    “Did you mate with her, Jay?”
    He ignored his father’s question and instead told him to call Nathan and urge him to hurry. He hung up the phone and grabbed his head in both hands. He only had two things left to do now: wait and pray.
    * * * *
    He nearly decked his brother. One step into the room and Nathan was already whistling in open admiration. “Good catch, man! Dad would be pleased.”
    “For fuck’s sake, Nate. She’s dying!”
    His brother’s lion appeared in his eyes. “Not on my watch.”
    Jay watched as the mischievous little boy of his past became the doctor he was now renowned for. He trusted Nathan implicitly and knew that if there was something to be done, he’d do it. He’d keep her alive. He had to.
    And, once his brother learned they’d mated, that the woman whose curves he’d found so enticing was his, nothing would stop him. She would become the Alpha’s mate and stand by his side at all times.
    He couldn’t wait.
    Closing his eyes for a second, Jay let himself hope for that future with her. He barely knew her. He didn’t even know what she did for a living or how she was as a child, and yet he couldn’t care less. She was his now. Forever.
     
     

 
     
     
     
    Chapter Six
     
     
    The implant fell into the metal basin with a sharp ping. Jay looked at the small and remarkably innocent-looking object…and fought the urge to smash it to pieces. Nathan wanted to take it back to his lab so he could study it; that was the only reason why he hadn’t already grabbed for it.
    Alexa moaned in her drug-induced sleep. She was already becoming restless, her head moving from side to side as if she was running in her dreams.
    “Is she going to be okay?” he asked his brother, who was tugging the covers back down over her.
    “Time will tell. Until we’re sure what... What the hell?”
    Jay saw something move out of the corner of his eye. He whirled around only to find her body bowed, the sheet slipping to the floor without a sound. Then she emitted a low growl and flopped back down, only to move and flip over in the next second. Her face now mashed against the pillows, she moved onto all fours and shook her hair down her back.
    He knew that sign. He knew it well. “Nate…”
    “I know.”
    They both watched in silence as she shifted for the first time. Her limbs lengthened. Her nails grew out. Her body slowly became covered with a golden fur. The bed creaked