by Natalie Shaw
“Come on.” He grabbed my arm. “Let's get out of here.”
As we walked back up the stairs, I heard one of them shout, “You're dead!”
Chapter 19
“What happens now?” I asked as we reached the car.
“We wait.”
“That's it? That's the plan?”
“Have faith.”
Craven sounded confident, but then he always did. It seemed to me we'd shaken the beehive, and could expect a swarm of angry bees to come after us. Two against three hadn't been too much of a problem although I did have a few cuts and bruises to show for the encounter. If the whole pack came looking for us, that would be a whole different ball game.
“You did well today,” he said.
“Thanks.” I hesitated. “Craven?”
“Yes?”
“Nothing. It doesn't matter.”
“What doesn't matter?”
“Why did you pick me as your mate? Why didn't you pick someone from your own pack?”
“I did.”
“Oh?” I suddenly felt sick in the pit of my stomach. “I don't understand.”
“Her name was Jarline. She was the daughter of the Beta in my pack. We'd grown up together, and it was always assumed I'd take her for my mate. And I did, but within less than a year, she was dead. A vampire. He'd been struck down with the plague, and lost his mind. Before his own people found him, he'd attacked several shifters including Jarline. In normal circumstances the bite wouldn't have been fatal.”
“The plague?”
“Yeah. It wasn't contagious for shifters, but it was toxic enough to kill her.”
“I'm sorry.”
“That's one of the reasons I began to travel. I needed to get away—needed to forget. That's when I bumped into you in the airport.”
“You said I was your fated mate. What about Jarline?”
“I loved Jarline and, if she hadn't died, I'd still be with her today. But for every wolf, there is only ever one fated mate, and for me, that's you. Even though I loved Jarline, I never felt the connection I have with you.”
*********
“There!” Craven pointed towards the club entrance. The two men who we'd left lying on the floor had just staggered out of the front door.
“What are they doing?” For some reason, I was whispering even though we were parked almost a hundred metres from the club entrance.
“Looks like they're waiting for someone.”
“Who?”
“Jeez Louise. Do you always ask so many questions?”
I thumped Craven's arm.
“Look! There!” He pointed to a black 4 x 4 which had pulled up in front of the club.
The two men climbed into the car which set off at a lick. Craven pulled out straight in front of a taxi. The driver hit his horn to let us know what he thought of our manoeuvre.
“What if they spot us?”
“They won't be expecting us to hang around. Anyone with even an ounce of sense would have high-tailed it out of the city.”
Which sounded like a good idea to me, but I bit my lip and said nothing.
The 4 x 4 had gone no more than a few blocks when it took a left down a ramp into a basement car park. The steel gates were unmanned and slid open as soon as it approached.
“Quick!” Craven parked at the roadside in a no parking zone.
“We'll get towed!” I said.
He was already racing towards the car park. I leapt out of the car and ran after him. The gates were glacially slow which gave Craven time to slip in between them. I didn't think I was going to make it.
“Come on!” He grabbed my arm and pulled me through the gap just in time. The gates clanked closed behind us.
I couldn't see the 4 x 4, so gave Craven a 'where did they go' shrug. He gestured to the far side of the basement where another ramp led to a lower level. Hugging the walls, we made our way towards the second ramp. There were raised voices, but I couldn't make out what was being said. From behind a pillar, we could see only the near section of the floor below. Craven started to walk down the ramp, but then doubled back. Footsteps—sounded like several people—echoed below us. Two, three, four men came into sight. The two men we'd encountered earlier plus another two. For a moment I thought they might walk back up the ramp, but they headed for a doorway at the far side of the lower floor. As soon as they were through the door we headed down the ramp.
“Stay close.” Craven tried the door. It was unlocked.
“Which way?” I whispered once we were inside.
He looked left and right, and then sniffed the air.
“This way.”
My heart was pounding so loudly I felt sure it would give us away. At the end of the corridor, Craven peered around the corner and indicated the coast was clear. He stopped in front of a lift, and watched the buttons illuminate one after another: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
“Fifth floor,” Craven said. He was already heading for the staircase next to the lift. Much to my relief, we met no one on the stairs.
“Ready?” He had one hand on the door marked only with the number '5'.
I nodded, although I felt anything but.
“Sir?” the woman behind the reception desk said. “You can't come in here. These are private offices.”
Craven walked past her without a word. I saw her reach under the desk, and assumed she was summoning help.
I was right. Three shifters burst through another set of double doors in front of Craven.
“Get out of my way,” Craven said without a hint of fear in his voice.
“You have no business here,” the shortest of the three men said.
“We're here to see Zema.” Craven stood his ground.
“Really?” Shorty laughed. All three of them seemed to find this amusing. “Zema doesn't waste his time with lone wolves. You've picked the wrong territory.”
“He can tell me that himself.” Craven stood his ground.
“Are you hard of hearing? I just told you that lone wolves have no business here. You have ten seconds to turn around and leave. Make sure you're out of our territory within the hour.”
“We aren't leaving until we've seen Zema.”
“Ten seconds.” Shorty took a step forward. “One, two—”
“Ten,” Craven said, as he swivelled on the spot, and kicked Shorty in the chest. The impact knocked Shorty off his feet, and back towards his two companions. Before the other two could react, Craven leapt onto one of them. That was my cue—I charged at the third man, but he side-stepped me with ease. As I turned back to face him, he leapt at me, sending the two of us to the floor. I was winded, and found myself pinned beneath his body as he knelt astride me.
“Time to die, pretty one.” His foul breath filled my nostrils. His claw pierced my neck. I had only seconds before he slit my throat. Craven was on his feet, but too far away to get to me in time. I called upon the strength of my inner wolf, and the response was immediate and decisive. I raised my leg with as much force as I could muster, and caught my assailant squarely in the balls. It gave me only a few seconds, but it was enough. My claws extended, and I went straight for his eyes. His screams filled the room. Now I had the initiative. I rocked to the side, and unseated him just enough to free one leg. A quick kick to the side of his head sent him spiralling to the floor. Craven lifted one of the men by the throat before propelling him across the room. His head hit the wall with a sickening thud as his skull shattered. My assailant was back on his feet, and headed straight for me, guided by his sense of smell alone. I blocked first one fist and then the other. When I saw my chance, I plunged a claw into his throat, and drew it swiftly across his windpipe. His hands went instinctively to his neck as he tried to stem the flow of blood gushing from his throat. His gargled words were indecipherable. Moments later, he collapsed to the floor.
Craven nodded his approval. He'd just despatched Shorty in a similar manner. I raised a hand in a high-five gesture, but Craven just shrugged. “No time for pat-a-
cake. Come on.”
The secretary was still at her desk. She was talking to someone on the phone.
We'd no sooner walked through the double doors than there was a metallic thud behind us. A solid metal barrier had descended from the ceiling, and was now blocking the doors we'd just come through. We'd taken only a few steps up the corridor when an identical metal barrier dropped down in front of us. There was no way out. We were in a space no more than twenty feet by ten feet with walls either side, and metal barriers in front and behind.
The hissing sound came from a small vent high in the ceiling. A white gas poured into the space, and moments later, everything went black.
Chapter 20
My head felt as though there was a pneumatic hammer at work inside it. I had to blink several times to clear my vision. I could hear something—was it voices? My mind couldn't slot the pieces into place. My throat was dry and I felt nauseous.
“Louise? Are you okay?”
I moved my head to one side. Craven was in a padded seat which resembled a dentist's chair. His wrists and ankles were clamped by metal fastenings.
“I'm okay.” I coughed to clear my throat. When I tried to raise my hand to wipe my eyes, it wouldn't move. A quick glance told me I'd been fastened into an identical chair. “Where are we?”
“No idea.” Craven shrugged. “I haven't seen anyone since I came around.”
We were in a circular room which was empty except for the two chairs in which we were imprisoned, and a metal trolley which had a white cloth draped across the top.
“Do you think they're watching?” I nodded towards a huge window which wrapped around one quarter of the room's circumference.
“I can't tell. I haven't seen any movement.”
“What is this place?”
Craven shrugged, but I suspected he'd had the same thoughts as me. It felt like some kind of operating theatre with the observation gallery behind the windows.
“Louise. If things don't work out—”
Craven was interrupted by the sound of a door sliding open. A man-mountain, wearing what appeared to be a doctor's white coat, stepped into the room. The door slid closed behind him. Extraordinarily handsome, with a shock of blond hair, the man's face displayed no emotion.
He walked slowly, yet deliberately around my chair. His gaze wandered up and down my body, but he never once made eye contact. After a few moments, he moved across the room to Craven. Once again he made a couple of circuits of the chair—once again there was no eye contact. Finally, he walked over to the trolley which was in the very centre of the room between the two chairs. With a deliberate flourish, he pulled the cloth away, and allowed it to fall to the floor. Laid out on the trolley was all manner of surgical instruments.
“Your arrogance is breathtaking,” he said in a voice as cold as his visage. “How dare you come into our territory and kill our brethren?”
Craven strained to free his hands, but it was hopeless. The steel was much too strong. “Let her go. She's only here because of me.”
“She's going nowhere.” The man moved towards my chair. “As your mate, she should die by your side—wouldn't you agree?” I winced as his claw scraped down my bare arm. “Still, I'm a reasonable man.” He turned back to face Craven. “So I'm going to give you a choice. You can choose to watch your mate die before I kill you. Or, you can choose to die first. Which is it to be?”
“Fuck you!” Craven's face was full of hate.
“How very ungrateful.” The man managed a cold smile, but it was gone as quickly as it appeared. “In that case, I will have to decide for you.”
He took a coin from his pocket, and tossed it into the air.
“Heads you die first, tails your mate does.”
He caught the coin and slapped it down onto the back of his hand. Another brief smile, and then he showed the coin to Craven. “You get to watch your mate die. Don't worry, I'll make it nice and slow so you can savour each cut.”
Craven's face was red with anger. His whole body was straining to break free. I couldn't stop trembling as I watched the man walk back towards the trolley.
“She has such beautiful eyes don't you think?” He picked up a scalpel.
“No!” Craven shouted. “Take mine!”
“That would spoil all of the fun. I want you to see everything. After I've taken out her eyes, I'll take out her tongue.”
I squeezed my hand to try to make it small enough to pull through the restraint, but it was hopeless—the metal bands were too tight. As he bent over me, I tried to move my head to one side, but he put his hand on my forehead to hold it still. The blade glinted as it came closer to my eye.
Lights flicked on in the observation gallery.
“Heston!” A voice boomed through a loudspeaker.
“Sir?” The man, scalpel still in his hand, looked up at the observation room.
“Move away from her,” the voice boomed. “I'm coming down.”
“Yes sir.”
The man with the scalpel's cool exterior had been replaced by a look of apprehension as he waited. Moments later, an older man, greying at the temples, walked into the room.
“I did not authorise this,” the older man said.
“I didn't want to trouble you.”
The older man glanced at me and then at Craven.
“Leave, Heston.”
“But Zema, they killed our brethren.”
“I said leave.”
Heston threw me a look of pure hate before walking away. Once he'd left, the older man walked across to Craven.
“You must be Craven.”
“How do you know my name?”
“Your reputation precedes you. There aren't many Alphas who abandon their pack, and live the life of a lone wolf for decades. Word soon spreads. What brings you here?”
“We're looking for a pack to join.”
“We? She's your mate? I thought you travelled alone?”
“The reason I travelled alone for all of those years was in search of her. Louise is my fated mate.”
The old man glanced at me. “To have searched for so long, you must truly be a fated pair. So, now you've found your mate, you want to challenge me?”
“No. That's not why we're here. We want to raise a family and need the security of a pack. I'm no longer an Alpha—I have no intention of challenging you. We just want acceptance into the pack.”
“You've already met Heston—my Beta. I'm not sure he would welcome you with open arms.”
“If you'll give us a chance, we'll prove ourselves worthy members of your pack. I'm no threat to Heston. He's your Beta, so he'll have my respect.”
“Even after he tried to tear out your mate's eyes?”
“Yes, unless he tries to do it again.”
Zema laughed. “After the events of today, it seems my security could do with an overhaul. Would you be prepared to oversee that?”
“Of course. I'd be happy to.”
“I've heard many stories about you Craven. Most of them good. I'm willing to give you a chance, but only one. If either of you step out of line, I'll let Heston do his worst. Is that understood?”
“Perfectly.”
*********
“I'm Tamara, and I'll be overseeing your induction into the pack,” the pretty young brunette said. She was smiling at Craven, but seemed not to notice me. Craven was head and shoulders taller than Tamara, and he could see me scowling. That only seemed to encourage him.
“How very nice to meet you Tamara.” Craven took her hand and held it to his lips. She giggled uncontrollably.
“This way,” she said.
“I'll cut your balls off,” I whispered to him as we followed.
He blew me a kiss which I brushed away.
“These are your papers. You shouldn't need them, but just in case. We wouldn't want any misunderstandings.”
She handed an ID card to each of us. “We have arranged a small apartment on the west side of the city. It isn't anything speci
al I'm afraid, but it should meet your needs.”
“Does it have room for children?” Craven asked.
“You have children?”
“Not yet, but we plan to.” Craven put an arm around me.
Tamara's smile evaporated. “We may have to relocate you when and if that happens. She glanced at me, and then back to Craven. “It's good to have you in the pack.”
“Thank you,” I said.
Tamara scowled.
Did you have to flirt with her?” I said.
We, or rather I, had declined Tamara's offer to show us around the apartment. Instead, we took a taxi across town. Tamara had given us a temporary cash loan until Craven received his first salary.
“I didn't flirt with her,” Craven said, unable to hide a huge grin.
“She was undressing you with her eyes.”
“You can undress me with your hands once we get to our new home.”
Chapter 21
“Why do you need a job,” Craven shouted from the bathroom.
“If I don't get one, I'll die of boredom sitting around here all day waiting for you to come home.”
“There's plenty for you to do around the house.”
“Plenty for me to do around the house? I may be your mate, but I'm not your skivvy.”
“I never said you were.”
“I need something a little more challenging than a broom and duster.”
He strolled into the bedroom—stark naked.
“Cover yourself up!” I said.
“You know you love it.” He touched his crotch provocatively.
“Stop it. I'm trying to have a sensible discussion.”
“Are you sure that's what you want to do right now?”
“What I want to do is to fuck your brains out, but if you're late for work they will fire your arse.” I pushed past him. “I'm going for a shower.”
It had taken all of my willpower not to grab hold of him and fuck him where he stood.
“You decided to dress then?” I said in between mouthfuls of cereal.
Craven was wearing a black suit, white shirt and red tie.
“What do you have planned for today?” He took a bite of toast.
“I told you. I'm going to find a job.”