Sienna closed her eyes. The fact that he was only worried about her safety because of her brother ate at her a little, but in all honesty, it would be helpful to have Brody as backup tonight. She didn’t know the lay of the land at this new club and, in all reality, it was likely going to be dangerous tonight.
Brody might be an idiot and he might have written her off for no good reason earlier today, but Sienna knew he was still good for one thing—protection.
Chapter Sixteen
She was pissed, that much was clear. Brody knew he’d majorly screwed up the moment the jumbled mess of incoherent words had tumbled out of his mouth. He hadn’t meant to hurt her. Hell, most likely, he hadn’t meant a single thing he had said about not wanting her to get attached to him. The moment he’d come back from his little tantrum walk through the casino and found her gone, he’d raged through his hotel room in a panic.
Her scent had been everywhere in his room—on his sheets, in his bathroom, on his couch and it pushed his wolf toward madness when she wasn’t around for him to touch, smell, or see. Brody had called Sage when Sienna went missing to see if she’d checked in and, much to his chagrin, he’d had to tell Sage most of what happened. A very G-rated version of what happened just so Sage would have a little context and offer clues as to where Sienna could be.
“You’re an idiot,” Sage had said. Brody didn’t deny it. “You two are custom built for each other, dude. It was apparent the first night she sang to you in her underwear. I just hope you didn’t shred her heart beyond repair—she’s got major trust issues when it comes to Alphas.”
It’d made Brody feel even worse because it was true. Sienna’s stepfather had tortured her and abused her trust when she was a teenager and what the hell had Brody gone and done? Pretty much headed down the same road.
He felt awful and Sage couldn’t help him.
“I haven’t talked to her,” he had told Brody. “She didn’t call me. She must be really mad.”
Great.
Eventually, Brody’s wolf took over the hunt because her scent was still in the air and he picked up on it in the hallway outside his room. Like Sienna had learned the day before, Brody was a master tracker. He’d walked up and down every floor, starting with the lobby, looking for a trace of her. Sure enough, just six floors below his, he’d come to stop right outside her door. And when she’d opened it? Looking at her in that sexy dress with her gorgeous eyes was like a gut punch. She was stunning.
And, so help him, she was his.
He was just going to have to show her—later.
For now, they were walking down another dirty Vegas alleyway into another underground shifter club to face another round of unknown dangers. He could hardly guess what Sienna saw in Vegas. Out in Boulder, his wolves ran free under clear mountain air with trees and sky as their witness. Vegas was oppressive with its dirty air and dirty vibes. He shuddered.
“You okay?” Sienna asked over her shoulder as they approached the door.
Brody grunted.
“Missing the mountains a little,” he admitted.
When the front door to the club was in view, Brody was surprised when Sienna led him down a side alleyway toward the back of the building.
“I thought you were on the list?”
She nodded and kept walking.
“I think I’m being set up,” she admitted as she led Brody to a delivery entrance that was unguarded. “I don’t trust Finn as far as I can throw his big ass and the more I dug into the Kodiaks, the more I realized Finn just always happens to be around wherever they are.”
The growl was out before Brody could suppress it. They’d dare try to harm Sienna while there was a pulse in Brody’s body? He’d rip them limb from limb.
Sienna stopped and put her hands on Brody’s shoulders.
“You need to keep a calm head right now, Grumpy Wolf,” she said. “We’re going to sneak in and see what they’re hiding. I have a feeling Finn wanted me to come through the front door so his bear buddies could finally get their hands on me once and for all. I also think we might be on the trail to finding your missing pack member.”
Brody’s wolf had his hackles raised, ready for war. Sienna must have sensed it because she ran her hand down his arm to calm him. And miracle of miracles, it worked.
“You gotta stay calm, Grumpy Wolf,” she said with a smile. “We can’t get her out tonight. Not by ourselves. You’ll need to call your pack for backup if we find what I think we’re going to find tonight. Do you think they could be here soon?”
Brody already had his phone out.
“They can be here in the morning,” he said as he punched Sage’s number in. “And we can probably have backup, too.”
Sienna nodded and waited while Brody made the phone call. Sage answered and it took him less than a minute to have his Beta up in arms and ready for a fight. He was going to call the Canyon pack, too. Sage said Grayson, their Alpha, would likely be more than willing to fight with them.
“When were you going to tell me all this?” Brody asked as his finger paused over the buttons. “Were you planning on doing this alone tonight?”
That Sienna would put herself in danger like that made him and his wolf crazy.
She just smiled.
“No,” she admitted. “I would have called you eventually—once I got over being mad. I didn’t feel like getting stuck in the neck again, honestly.”
Brody sucked in a long breath. He struggled with the words and Sienna must have seen the emotions warring on his face.
Brody closed his eyes, taking in the steadying scent of her. He’d make it right with her, there was no doubt of that now. But after they got through whatever hellacious night lay ahead of them.
“I owe you an explanation about how I acted earlier,” Brody said quietly his hands capturing Sienna’s wrists. “And I owe you a claiming mark, that much I know.”
Sienna’s eyebrows drew together and she opened her mouth to protest, but Brody cut her off.
“Don’t argue,” he said and she closed her mouth slowly. “I’ll make it right. And I’ll make you mine.”
He expected more of a fight than the got, but Sienna made his wolf happy when she bit her lower lip, narrowed her eyes slightly at him, and gave him a slight, sexy smile.
“We’ll see, Grumpy Wolf,” she purred. “We’ll see.”
Unable to help himself, he pulled her wrists down and toward him and caught her lips against his own as he slanted his mouth possessively over hers.
He got washed away by the sensations she created in him and with a groan, he finally forced himself to pull away.
“Don’t do anything stupid in there, Sienna,” Brody said as he pushed his forehead against hers and breathed her in. “I won’t be able to concentrate if you put yourself in danger. Promise me.”
He held her there until she nodded at him. Sighing, he released her.
“You’re going to have to trust me tonight, Brody,” she said as she reached for the handle of the door they stood in front of. “I won’t do anything stupid, but I do know what I’m doing tonight. Okay?”
Against his better judgement, he and his wolf gave over and made an agreement within themselves to trust this woman—this soul that was less than 12 hours away from being his mate for the rest of their long, supernatural lives. But he would claim her later. For now, he would trust her.
He followed Sienna inside the door where they found themselves in an abandoned industrial kitchen. He didn’t miss the fact that she grabbed an old chef knife from a pile of culinary equipment covered in cobwebs. He chuckled to himself when she checked the weight of it in her hands, looked for a place to hide it, and finding none, returned it to the counter. With her claws and strength, Sienna’s supernatural abilities made her more than efficient as a killer if her wolf was let out.
“You shift if you’re in danger,” he said quietly as they wound through the abandoned hall. He didn’t want her to hesitate if she was in danger this time.
<
br /> She didn’t speak, but he caught the nod of her head as she looked over her shoulder at him.
Sienna had done her homework, that much was obvious. She’d managed to study the layout of the building her contact had tried to lure her to and Brody was sure Sienna knew every exit available to them at every moment. His wolf’s hackles were raised at the thought of her being in immediate danger like this, but he’d given his word—he trusted her.
They moved toward a stairwell. Below, Brody heard the thumping sounds of club music and it surprised him when she went up instead of down.
“We’re not going down there?” He whispered as he stopped her ascent. She shook her head and turned to whisper in his ear.
“We know for a fact the missing women wouldn’t be in the club itself,” she said. “We just need to confirm where they are so your pack can come get them. The less we’re seen the better.”
“Sneaky wolf,” Brody growled in her ear and she gave a breathless laugh.
“Smart wolf,” she corrected.
Indeed, Brody thought, indeed.
Wordlessly they continued their search in the massive building. On the second floor, they found a common room with four bear shifters in various stages of drunkenness sprawled out in front of a giant big screen television on one wall and rows of security camera televisions on another wall—both incredibly out of place in such a rundown building.
Brody shook his head and pulled Sienna back to the stairwell. They’d have to tread lightly now and be ready for a fight should the guards discover them.
Two more flights of stairs up and Brody heard the first signs of distress. A woman crying, and as they got closer, he heard more women moaning and crying. The Alpha in him wanted to rage and destroy the bears downstairs with his own hands, but he knew better. He was outnumbered and bears weren’t easy to take down without a strategy.
Sienna and Brody moved to the middle of a darkened hallway that was nothing more than a wall of chained doors on both sides. It didn’t take a genius to figure out this was where the women were being held.
“There are so many of them,” Sienna whispered, the heartbreak evident in her voice. Brody pressed a finger to her lip, but it was too late.
“Is someone there?” A voice behind the door closest to them cried out. Sienna’s eyes widened as more voices began crying out, shrieking for help. Their cover was blown and in no time, heavy footsteps started up the stairs they’d just come from.
“Fuck,” Brody bit, preparing to shift. He’d fight as long as he could to give Sienna a chance.
“No,” she grabbed his arm and darted down the hallway. Oh, sexy, smart girl. She had an alternate escape planned.
“God, your brain is sexy,” he whisper-yelled as they ran. Sure enough, there was a door with a fire exit at the far end of the hall. Brody and Sienna pushed through and noiselessly shut the door behind them just as flashlights danced down the dark hallway.
Sienna had to ditch her stilettos halfway down the rusted ladder, lest she stumble and fall four stories to the pavement below. Brody dropped to the street first and reached up to catch her when she let go. With Sienna in his arms, he checked her over once before stalking off toward his truck with her in his arms. She protested, but Brody would have none of it.
He was sure he wasn’t going to be able to draw a complete breath until he got her safe back at the hotel. Once inside the truck, he started the engine and tore away from the warehouse. He pulled out his phone and scrolled through his contacts, looking for something specific.
“Adams,” he said when a voice answered. “You got plans tomorrow morning at the ass crack of dawn? No? Good. I’ve got a war scheduled and I need you and your wolves.”
***
Brody hadn’t been lying about the ass crack of dawn part. The sun was hardly making a dent in the gray sky when she found herself back at the edge of the same neighborhood they’d found the women in the night before. She and Brody, who’d only managed to get a couple hours of good sleep thanks to all the planning, strategizing, and ally-building they’d had to do, waited on the Boulder and Aurora packs to arrive. They’d been driving all night and were probably itching for a fight.
The Sin City pack was already there, nearly 15 members strong.
“I hope Liesel’s in there,” Sienna said as she wrapped her arms around Brody’s waist. He nodded.
“I caught her scent,” he said grimly. “At least she’s alive. Probably gonna take her a while to recover, though.”
Sienna didn’t have an answer to that and only hummed an affirmation.
“I know this isn’t the best time or place,” Brody began. “But I want you to come back with me to Boulder. Be my mate. Be my wife. Help me keep my wild pack of hooligans under control with your shifty, smartass ways.”
Sienna could hardly hear over the roaring of her heart. Prior to meeting Brody, an offer like that, from an Alpha no less, would have sent her screaming for the hills. But after spending time with Brody, and with the prospect of being with Sage again, her heart pulled for her to accept him and his glorious offer.
“I’ll think about it,” she whispered and felt Brody stiffen.
“You’ll think about it—"he started to protest but stopped when she whispered in his ear again.
“I’ll think about the dirtiest, sexiest, naughtiest way to tell you that I’d follow you to the ends of the earth, Grumpy Wolf.”
She felt the rumble of his laugh against her chest and reluctantly disengaged when the Colorado wolves finally pulled into the parking lot of the abandoned bank they waited in.
Sage and Dane were out of the cars first and practically ran to them. Sage, in an unusual show of affection, scooped Sienna up in a crushing hug. Beside them, Brody’s wolf let loose a low, threatening growl.
“Oh my gods, Sienna,” Sage laughed. “You have his scent all over you. I never thought I’d see the day!”
Sienna brushed away the lewd comment and took in the Boulder pack as they surrounded them. They were all massive and brawny and smiling.
“Why is everyone happy?” She whispered as Sage set her down and Brody put a possessive arm around her waist. “You’d think you guys were headed to a theme park, not a brawl with a bunch of bears.”
Dane let out a whoop and gave Sienna a hug.
“We’re getting our pack member back and we get to beat some bear ass, too? It’s a win/win for us!”
Adams, the Sin City Alpha Brody called the night before approached the group with the phone on his ear.
“The bears are starting to move,” he told Brody. “My men posted as lookout called with an update. It’s time to go.”
Sienna followed Brody to his truck and as he helped her inside, he leaned across her body and stole a slow, sensuous kiss.
“Stay near me in the fight, you got it?”
She gave him a smirk but agreed. He leaned back for another kiss before whispering.
“After the fight, I’m going to want to fuck. And claim you,” he said as he nibbled her bottom lip. “You think you can handle that?”
“Hell yes, Broody Brody,” she teased. “Can you?”
Smirking, he closed the door and walked to the driver’s seat. Sienna watched as a small army of almost 50 shifters headed into battle to retrieve their own.
Chapter Seventeen
For all the buildup, the fight to get Liesel and the other missing women hadn’t been nearly as bloody or drawn out as Sienna expected. Much like Adams had planned, the wolves had taken the fifteen bears mostly by surprise and were easily able to flank the ones who had made it outside and incapacitate the ones still inside.
In all, it’d been done within an hour.
They’d held 18 women on the fourth floor and local law enforcement had come to help them find their ways back home and take statements.
Liesel had cried when Sage carried her outside and Sienna struggled not to cry, too. Brody made hasty introductions and promised Sienna she could meet the entire Boulder pack
the correct way once they made it back to Colorado. With that, Brody sent Sage and the rest of the pack ahead of them back to pack territory.
They checked Sienna out of her room and carried her things back to Brody’s. Once inside his suite, Sienna watched him as he packed his things up and set the suitcases aside.
“Are we leaving tonight?” She asked. She told Brody she’d need a few days to untangle her condo and car business, but Brody made a quick call to his lawyer who was handling all the messy details for her, stating matter-of-factly that she was his to take care of now and if he wanted to waste money on obscenely expensive lawyers, it was his right as a mate to do that.
“Nearly mate,” Sienna corrected him.
“Only a matter of minutes, love,” he said with a wicked grin. “And to answer your earlier question, no, we’ll leave first thing in the morning. I have plans for that body of yours and they don’t include sitting all the way across from me in the passenger’s seat for the long ride home. The only riding you’ll be doing tonight is me.”
Her cheeks flamed at the desirous thoughts his words inspired in her. They were showered. They’d eaten. Nothing left to do now but to make it official—werewolf style.
“You do know we’ll need to do a mating ceremony back in Colorado, right?” Brody’s voice was just above a whisper as he walked to stand between Sienna’s legs as she perched on the edge of the couch. “The pack will want to formally welcome its Alpha female.”
“I’m not sure I’m going to make a great Alpha female,” Sienna said between kisses that Brody was raining down her neck. “What if I let them down?”
Brody growled in protest at her words and nipped harder as his mouth traveled south to the swell at the top of her breasts.
“What’s not to love? You’re fierce, you’re loyal, and you’re smart as hell,” he murmured as his claws shredded her tank top to ribbons, freeing her breasts to his hungry gaze.
Sienna shot her fingers through his hair as he leaned forward and pulled a taut nipple into his mouth and sucked. Hard. She gasped and pulled him harder against her before he moved to bestow the same treatment on the other one. His free hand was already ripping her running shorts off her bottom and Sienna laughed in protest.
Her Dragon Professor Page 46