by Alisa Woods
“I hope you were dead.” The frost was still in negative temperatures. “That would be an acceptable excuse.”
“Well, if you called my alpha to expose my little secret, you would know that wasn’t far off.”
“Oh?” She was warming a little. “Did you boys get a little over excited with the full moon and nip each other to death?”
So she hadn’t called Gage. Jak blew out a silent sigh of relief. Not that it mattered if she spilled his secret to his alpha—ex-alpha—but he didn’t want Gage to know about his connection to the witches. It might get back to Mace and make for trouble with his plan. Which was a terrible plan, but it was the only one he had. And making sure Arianna was forever free of Mace was still more important to him than keeping her for himself.
“No, little witch, we’re not quite that stupid,” Jak said, putting more of the sexy in his voice. He needed to get this witch to play nice if his plan was going to work. “However, I did do a rather stupid thing last night that almost cost me my life. Otherwise, I would have returned your calls.”
“Hm,” she said, and she was definitely warming up now. “What flavor of stupid were you?”
“I tried to kill an alpha.”
“And that didn’t go well? I’m shocked.” Then she paused. “Wait… this was the alpha of your little pet, wasn’t it?”
“Yes.” He sucked in a breath through his teeth. This was the hard part. “And that didn’t work out. So I’m back to needing your help, Circe.”
“Are you, now?” She was warming up to a full purr.
“I need to know if you were serious about Arianna’s family sending the bounty hunters after her.”
“Your wolfy affairs don’t interest me enough to lie about them, Jak,” she said with disdain.
“How did you know it was them?” he asked.
“Well, that’s for me to know and for you not to worry your pretty little head about.”
“I need to know, Circe,” he said. “All deals are off otherwise.” He had his suspicions: the bounty hunters knew exactly where to find him and Arianna. When pressed, they squawked Hecca’s name. And now Circe knew who really hired the bounty hunters. That was way too much circling for the bounty hunters and the witches not to be connected. Which mean Circe was somehow connected to Arianna’s family.
Circe was quiet on the phone. “And what do I get in exchange for this information?”
“I’m willing to make you a very happy witch for a very brief period of time.” Jak swallowed down the choking in his throat. This was a trade. A barter. And he didn’t have many other options.
“I like the sound of that.”
“I thought you might,” he said. “Now tell me: how do you know that Arianna’s family hired the bounty hunters?”
“Because, my sexy little plaything,” she said, “I hired the bounty hunters for them.”
Jak stopped his pacing and braced a hand against his car. “You hired them.”
“Well, they were offering quite a bit of money to get their beloved sister back.”
The gears clicked fast through Jak’s head. “You used Hecca’s name to make some easy money while ratting out your sister’s favorite pack.” What he didn’t understand was why? If he could figure that out, maybe he could use that—
“When you put it that way, it sounds so underhanded.” But Circe’s voice was smug, not worried.
“Maybe this is something Hecca might want to know,” he said. If the sisters were fighting, maybe he could pit them against each other, rather than having to get down and dirty with Circe.
“Nice try, little wolf.” Now she was irritated. “But once you left the office, I made sure Hecca was aware of my little arrangement.”
Dammit.
“And I disposed of the bounty hunters,” she sniffed.
He choked. “You what?” Jesus. How did he forget that witches were not to be messed with? But again: short on options.
“Oh, it’s wasn’t that bad,” she said with a sneer. “A simple forgetting spell and a bus ticket did the trick. I don’t need the inconvenience of bodies floating in the bay.”
“Glad to hear that.” But he still didn’t understand what her motivation was in this. “So if this isn’t some kind of sister-spat, then why? Why help out Arianna’s family when it might jeopardize Morgan Media’s contract with Red Wolf?”
She sighed into the phone. “Let’s just say I don’t like wolves who kidnap women. You’re tremendously hot, little wolf, but your kind can be so barbaric. Helping to liberate a sister, even of the wolf flavor, has its satisfactions, even if Hecca can’t see the merits of getting involved.”
Jak wholeheartedly agreed, but he was honestly surprised that she cared. Maybe she was lying, but it didn’t seem so—her voice had lost that haughtiness it carried most of the time. And if she meant it, if she was telling the truth, then getting her to help might not be as difficult as he thought.
Time for the big ask. “Circe, I need to meet the family.”
“And I need a little hot wolf action in my office.” Her temper was rising.
“I think we can both get what we want,” he said carefully. “Call up the family. Have them come to your office. I get to check them out, and you get to put your desk to a use for which it was never intended.”
He could practically hear her licking her lips. “Getting them here may be a bit difficult.”
“Make it happen, Circe.” He couldn’t keep the anger out of his voice. If he was going to have to pay up in witch-on-wolf sex, she better not fight him on the details.
“Why exactly do you want to meet the family, little wolf?” Suspicion was creeping into her tone.
“That’s for me to know, and for you to not care about while I’m fucking you in your office.”
She laughed softly. “All right, then. Give me an hour.”
“I’ll be at your office in half that.” He had no idea how long it would take Mace to start looking for them. He could already be on the hunt, for all Jak knew. “We can take care of our bargain, then I want to meet the family.”
“Fine.” Her voice was tense again. “Half an hour.”
Jak tapped off the phone and ran the back of his hand across his mouth. He could still taste Arianna on his skin… and he was about to trade sex for favors with a witch. The thought made his stomach turn, but he needed to make sure her family understood the stakes. And would be able to take care of Arianna.
After he was gone.
He took a deep breath and tapped the phone on again. He dialed Sarra’s number. She answered on the first ring.
“Hey,” she said. “What’s taking you so long? We made you tea, and it’s getting cold.”
“I have to run an errand, Sarra.”
His good friend and ex-lover snarled into the phone. “The hell you do.”
“Please, Sarra, just watch over her for a little bit longer. I need to do something, and Arianna can’t be part of it. When it’s safe for her, I’ll call you. Then you need to bring her to me.”
“What are you up to?” Her voice was a whisper now and muffled. She must be hiding her concern from Arianna. Jak smiled: he knew he could count on her.
“I’m going to break her mating bond. She deserves to be free. But don’t tell her yet. I will. At the right time.”
“I don’t like the sound of this.” Her voice was a little louder now.
“Please, Sarra, I’m begging you.”
She sighed. “All right. How long?”
“An hour. Maybe more. I’ll keep it as short as I can.”
“All right. We’ll be waiting.”
“I love you, Sarrabear.”
“Yeah, shut up with that already. I’ve got a reputation as a badass, and you’re ruining it.”
He smiled so hard his cheeks hurt. “Thanks,” he choked out. Dammit, he couldn’t afford to get emotional right now. There would be time for that later.
“Don’t be stupid.” She hung up.
He click
ed the phone off, took a deep breath, and climbed into the car.
The drive into downtown to where the Morgan Media offices were didn’t take the full half-hour, so Jak stopped at a coffee shop nearby. He started and then deleted, unsent, a half dozen text messages for Arianna. She didn’t have her phone, of course, so it would have to go through Sarra, and he just couldn’t bring himself to say the things he wanted to. The things he needed to say before all of this went down.
He would just have to find the right time to do it later.
With about five minutes left, he strolled out of the coffee shop and into the underground parking garage next door. There wasn’t much parking downtown, but he knew this area fairly well. A large, familiar-looking van was parked next to his car that hadn’t been there before. As he rounded the back of it, his shoes screeched on the concrete flooring of the garage.
Gage. His alpha leaned against Jak’s car, waiting for him.
Jak held very still, wishing now that he’d brought the gun… although he couldn’t imagine pulling it on his alpha. Ex-alpha. Jak reminded himself that his bond had been wiped away with the passing of the full moon.
Gage unfolded his arms and stepped toward Jak with his hands in the air. “I just want to talk, Jak.”
Jak darted his gaze all around the parking garage, realizing now that the dark van looked familiar because it was a pack van. But there didn’t seem to be anyone else nearby. Gage had come alone. Jak’s heart thudded as he realized how: the GPS in Jak’s car.
Gage had tracked him.
Which meant Mace could as well.
Jak turned and strode away. He would have to take a taxi from here on out. He looked at his phone and shoved it in his pocket, making a mental note to ditch that as well and get a burn phone.
“Jak, wait!” Gage was hurrying up behind him.
He wasn’t using a command voice, and Jak wasn’t under any obligation to stop, but years of habit, and the fact that he actually loved Gage like a brother, had him stopping in his tracks anyway.
He turned to face Gage. “No talking can fix this.” He was acutely aware of time ticking past. He had to wrap this up and somehow get to Morgan Media without Gage in tow.
“Jak, what are you doing?” The pain on Gage’s face ripped a hole right through him. “We can fix this. Just bring her back, we’ll make it all right.”
“Bring her back,” Jak repeated, disbelieving. Then he saw something with a sudden clarity: something he should have known all along. Gage let this happen: he knew what kind of alpha his brother was. He knew what happened in that house. And he let it happen.
Every. Damn. Day.
“Mace is out for blood,” Gage continued. “If he finds you, I won’t be able to stop him. You have come back now, right now. Bring the girl in, and I can make it right with him.”
Jak’s rage was building to a frothy peak. “Do you know what I’m doing here, Gage?”
Gage gave him a hard look. He obviously wasn’t used to back-talk from his beta.
“I’m doing what an alpha should. What any decent alpha would.”
Gage’s face turned red, and his fists clenched. Suddenly Jak didn’t fear having to fight him anymore. Because Gage was wrong. Dead wrong.
“You saved my life,” Jak said through his teeth. “All those years ago, you risked your life to stop something that was wrong. What happened to the alpha who pulled me out of the forest?”
Gage’s jaw worked. “You may not want to be my beta anymore, Jak. But that doesn’t mean you can steal my brother’s mate.”
Jak curled a lip in disgust. “You know what he does to her.”
Gage’s cheek twitched, and he had the decency to drop his gaze to the floor.
Jak wasn’t letting him off that easy. “When did you become the kind of alpha who looks the other way?”
Gage kept his focus on the floor. “He’s my brother, Jak.”
“He’s an asshole. And he’ll have to kill me to get her back.”
Gage winced but looked up again. “He will, Jak. He’s coming for you.”
“He can fucking try.” Jak pointed to the garage exit. “I’m walking out of here. Right now. Don’t try to stop me.”
Gage’s brow wrinkled, but he didn’t say anything. Jak turned on his heel and marched out. His heart pounded like a jackhammer in his chest as he broke out into the sunshine. He checked the time on his phone before dumping it in the trash can and walking on. Morgan Media was a good couple blocks away, and he was already late.
He picked up the pace and ran the entire way there.
He was so winded when he arrived, he had to bend over double during the elevator ride up, trying to get his heart to stop pounding out of his chest. Leaving Gage and his pack was going to be hard—Jak knew that going in. But somehow this was worse. This knowledge that Gage had let all this happen. It was his duty as an alpha to stop things like this, where it was within his power. And even sometimes when it wasn’t. There were some things that were worth dying for… and protecting the innocents of the world, people like Arianna, was one of the things.
It was everything that being alpha meant.
The magic of Arianna’s submission bond pulsed through his blood, and his inner wolf howled agreement. How could Mace feel that and ever harm her? How could Gage, powered by the submission bonds of his entire pack, not do everything in his power to right the wrongs happening in his own estate?
Jak braced his hand against the edge of the elevator as it arrived, and the doors opened. The run had flushed his face, but the thing that truly stole his breath was the knowledge that he had to go pleasure a witch to save the woman he loved. There were few things he wanted to do less. But it was just one of the sacrifices he would make to keep her safe. To right the wrongs that had gone on too long. It started with his mother. It would end with Arianna.
If there was anything decent in the world, anything like fates smiling down on him, Arianna would never have to know. If not, he prayed she would understand.
He stormed past the receptionist and through the frosted glass doors of Morgan Media. He knew exactly which office was Circe’s. A wave of witch heads turned to follow him as he strode toward it. He threw open the door, and there she was: leaning against her desk, arms crossed, looking disgruntled at his tardiness.
But her eyes lit up when she saw him. “Little wolf,” she breathed, a smile on her face.
He closed the door behind him.
Chapter Twenty-One
Jak hesitated at the door of the witch’s office, now closed behind him.
He was trading sex for her cooperation—with Arianna’s family, with the spell to break Mace’s hold on her, and with everything that was going down in the next hour. He had to leave Circe more than satisfied to get the things he needed. His chest was still heaving from the run over to Morgan Media, but that wasn’t what cinched it tight: it was the idea of fucking a witch to save the woman he loved. A woman who had just strengthened him to the core with her submission, giving herself completely to him. It wasn’t the fact that the witch could kill him with a touch of her dark-magic fingers—it was breaking his heart that Arianna might find out. If not now, if not right away… eventually.
He prayed she would forgive him for all of it.
He swallowed down the sourness in the back of his throat and tried to picture Circe as just another hookup at the club. Sex with her didn’t mean anything. He’d get it up, get it done, and get out. And wash away any trace afterward, hoping to God Arianna wouldn’t scent the witch on him before he could carry out the rest of his plan.
Jak strode across Circe’s office to where she stood, leaning against her desk and licking her lips. Her blue eyes were lit up, and she was checking out his package like she had x-ray vision that could see right through his jeans. Her eyes grew wider as he approached. He didn’t waste any time, simply grabbed hold of her hips and lifted her up on the desk. Her legs spread, and her filmy red dress rode up her bare thighs. He shoved his crotch
against hers, hoping to jump-start things there. Getting it up might not be as easy as it normally was.
Circe let out a little squeak of surprise, but he figured that’s what she wanted: she had a hunger for sex with a wolf for a reason, and it wasn’t because she wanted gentle. He held her tight against him, crushing her ample chest to his, and started feasting on her neck. A strangled moan and pricks of daggered nails clawing at his back told him he was headed in the right direction. He slid a hand up her thigh, shoving aside the silky fabric and going right for the heat between her legs. She was bare—either witches went commando all the time, or she had already discarded her panties, knowing he was on the way. She arched her back and gasped as his fingers found her nub.
He lifted his head from nipping at her neck. Her eyes were already hooded with lust, lips parted, and a flush was creeping across her cheeks. She was actually insanely beautiful—all witches were. If they weren’t so deadly, and generally would prefer castrating wolves to fucking them, he probably would have slept with one already. As it was, he had to work to convince his cock to pay attention to the scent of her arousal, which was quickly filling the room. He palmed her breast, hoping the heavy weight of it in his hand might help. Her head dropped back as he worked her stiffened nipple through the thin sheath of her dress. She was definitely curvy in all the places that would normally gain his cock’s attention: full, perky breasts, begging for his lips; ample hips for a good grip while he slammed into her. Her face was beautiful and harsh, like a terrible angel—all angled lines, high cheeks, and perfect skin that was now flushed a delicate pink. Gasps came through her parted lips. He was a little relieved to find his cock straining against his jeans, finally responding to her obvious lust.
He gave her a moment more of pleasure, teasing her entrance with his fingers until she was bucking against them, then pulled back: he needed to make sure they were clear on their agreement before they got too far. He took one of her hands from where it was digging into his shoulder and pressed it against his cock, through his jeans. The contact was enough to make it twitch in response. He rubbed her hand up and down the length to make sure he could deliver… and to make a not-so-subtle promise. She moaned, and her eyes drifted closed.