The Billionaire Shifter's Second Chance (Billionaire Shifters Club Book 3)

by Diana Seere

  “You have the Novo’s lift set up for a direct line to your executive suite?” Asher murmured in Gavin’s ear as Edward tried to stop the world from screaming in his bones.

  Molly Molly where was Molly? His animal brain fought his higher mind.

  “Of course.” Gavin’s clipped tone unnerved him, but not Asher, who just stared back, expecting more. “It would be imprudent not to,” Gavin added, giving Asher a meaningful look.

  “Huh.” Asher’s huff was a strange sound, one that came perilously close to acquiescence.

  “I had no idea,” Derry murmured. “But it’s smart.”

  Gavin rolled his eyes with impatience as the elevator took its time. “I need a private lift to get to the lab, apparently.” His face screwed tight with concentration. “It’s only five floors up.” He darted to the left and slipped through the door to the stairs, the sound of pounding footsteps filling Edward’s ears.

  They all followed. Edward welcomed the exertion, pumping his legs up, quickly eclipsing his brothers, his speed and agility superior to theirs. A small, satisfied smile tickled his lips.

  Not that it mattered.

  Not compared to Molly.

  But being the youngest meant never being on top.

  He yanked open the door to the floor and bounded through, Gavin on his heels, followed by Asher and a slower Derry, who grumbled under his breath.

  And then Gavin took the lead again, drawing them to a double set of white metal doors. He pressed his left index finger into a small scanner and aligned his eyeball with a red light.

  The doors opened.

  Derry shivered, breathing hard. “That wouldn’t be hard to break, security-wise, if you were cold-blooded enough.”

  Edward’s veins turned to ice.

  “The blood pressure is measured in the eye, Derry. My security team thought of that possibility.”

  “You sit around in meetings and talk about people who might cut off hands and gouge eyeballs to break into your lab? Father would be impressed,” Asher said with a sniff, clearly not impressed himself.

  “Protecting our way of life takes many forms, Asher,” Gavin snapped as he barreled through the doors, shoes slapping the tile, his body halting at a door he slammed open.

  Edward felt her before he saw her, Derry’s nose lifting, nostrils flared, relief flooding his features.

  Molly was warm and weeping, in his arms before he said a word, her vibration sad and happy, confused and thrilled, overwhelmed and livid.

  Too many emotions poured out of her.

  He didn’t care.

  The fact that any emotions poured out of her was all he wanted.

  “Oh shit,” Jess muttered, her voice muffled as Derry practically swallowed her with his whole body. “Busted.”

  “What were you thinking!” Gavin shouted at Lilah, hot-faced and frantic, alternating between embracing her and pulling her to arm’s length, yelling.

  She burst into tears and curled into Gavin, her cheek against his shirt, his hands helpless at his side. He reached up and soothed her, whispering something Edward couldn’t hear.

  “Edward,” Molly said into his chest, the words hard to hear, but his name from her lips was so easy. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  He stiffened, embarrassed and angry with himself, ashamed and protective. That she let him hold her at all was a good sign. That she was alive and safe was all he wanted.

  Forgiveness for his stupidity might be too much to ask.

  Before he could answer, before he could pour out his heart and explain and apologize and grovel, he was interrupted.

  “YOU!” Lilah shouted, suddenly shoving a startled Gavin away from her, eyes red-rimmed and blonde hair a tangled, unraveled mess. “I had a long plane ride to think about this. All of this going on behind the scenes in your company, Gavin, and you never told me? Never told me about Molly? Never told her? You know she’s my friend. She was in our wedding! And you put her in danger and—” Her face crumpled, and Jess pulled herself out of a bewildered Derry’s arms, reaching for her sister, standing strong beside her, eyes blazing.

  Both women were absolutely on fire, all of the burn aimed at Gavin.

  Who turned to stone.

  “Lilah,” Jess said in a low, pained voice. “Dr. Sam said he didn’t know—”

  Asher closed his eyes and took in an aggravated sigh, the sound cutting through the room like a battle axe.

  “Don’t even get me started on you!” Lilah hissed, turning on Asher with an impressive glare. Even Derry recoiled slightly, and under any other circumstances, Edward would have laughed.

  Instead, he just watched as Molly stood up straight and looked at a woman Edward now noticed, standing off to the side next to a desk, watching everything. She had long, wavy auburn hair and wore glasses, her eyes alert and sharp. Who the hell was she?

  “Me?” Asher barked. He rounded on Lilah as Gavin nudged in front of her, but she pivoted, eluding her husband, standing inches from Asher, finger in his face.

  “All of you,” Molly declared, her touch receding as she walked over to Jess, who now stood slightly behind Lilah, daggers shooting out of her eyes and landing on Gavin.

  “All of us?” Edward gasped, unable to stop the words.

  “You all lied to us. To me.” Molly’s words were breathy, the hurt evident as her gaze landed on him. His heart seized, and he stepped forward.

  “I should have told you, Molly,” he confessed. “I know I—”

  “I should have told you,” Gavin insisted, pinning Lilah in place with an inscrutable look, pointedly ignoring Asher as he walked around their older brother and faced Molly, looking down at her with a contrite expression. “I apologize.”

  “That’s a start,” Jess muttered.

  “It was for your own good,” Asher declared coldly, barely giving Molly a glance. “If this little reunion is over now, we have business to conduct.”

  “This little what?” Lilah shrieked, the sound like a knife in Edward’s eardrum.

  “Jesus, Asher, could you be any more condescending?” Derry stepped in his eldest brother’s shadow, standing next to Lilah. “That’s quite enough.”

  Jess gave Molly a side-eye that clearly conveyed victory.

  “I have hardly scratched the surface,” Asher replied in a calm, acid tone. “Gavin, where is the doctor who created the serum? We need him now.”

  Edward searched the room for him and frowned. Lilah and Gavin were locked in an angry glare that was nearly audible, while Derry stood firm, Jess by her sister’s side. Molly was unreadable, though he felt a whirling cyclone of confusion inside her, one that knocked their connection off course, though it constantly re-centered, like a radio seeking a signal.

  The redhead stepped forward, shoulders back, stance confident. “I am—”

  Asher waved her away like a gnat. “Go find your boss. We need an immediate emergency meeting with the man who developed this abomination.” He took in the woman with narrowed eyes, blinking suddenly, his pupils dilating slightly.

  She did not move.

  Jess made a strangling sound, a cough and a snicker fighting in her throat.

  Gavin’s eyes widened as the redhead looked at him, one eyebrow slowly rising.

  “My boss?” she said in a sickly sweet voice, her expression laden with deeper meaning that did not make sense to Edward.

  Lilah gave Asher a look of unfettered disgust.

  “Yes.”

  “Mr. Stanton is my boss,” the redhead said, hands migrating to her hips, the gesture one of challenge, her eyes on Gavin, who turned slightly red. “He owns LupiNex.”

  Edward watched as a smile played on Molly’s lips.

  The air in the room changed. What subtext was this? Who cared about the boss and—

  “I am well aware of who owns this company. I need you to find Dr. Sam, my dear,” Asher added, speaking to the woman as if she were stupid. “He is the director of the lab. The person who created the serum.”

>   “The person who created the serum is the one you wish for me to fetch?” The redhead blinked her eyes repeatedly, like a doe. “Would you like a cup of coffee as well? Or perhaps tea, given your accent?”

  Edward imagined she looked quite lovely when her smile actually reached her eyes. Right now, though, the woman looked like she was ready to flay Asher alive.

  And enjoy it.

  “Or fetch him some slippers,” Jess muttered under her breath, making Edward’s skin tighten. The women in the room fairly vibrated with outrage, all of it directed at Asher. And while Edward knew his eldest brother could be a condescending prat, he didn’t understand why Lilah, Molly, Jess, and this redhead were so angry.

  “Finally.” Asher gave her a cold smile. “You understand. And it only took two tries. Well done. Time is of the essence.”

  “Time is of the essence, yes,” she said, unfurling those angry arms, taking two confident steps toward Asher, her hand outstretched.

  Asher held his ground, anger roiling through his face as he began to object, tired of being disobeyed. “This is a waste of—”

  “Allow me to introduce you,” Gavin said. “Asher Stanton, this is Dr. Samantha Baird. She’s my product line director for this shifter project.”

  The room… tilted. Edward felt Asher’s shock, absorbed the doctor’s indignation, soaked in Lilah, Jess and Molly’s secret fears.

  The doctor reached for Asher’s hand, which lay rigid by his side, though his muscles sprang into action as soon as her touch triggered what looked to be an involuntary reaction. As they shook hands, Edward watched Asher’s face transform from angry to bewildered.

  Then back to angry again.

  “Dr. Sam,” she said slowly, dishing out what Asher had just given to her. “My associates call me Dr. Sam.” She dropped his hand like it was a flaming bag of dog excrement.

  Any other man would have fallen over himself with apologies, but not Asher. Edward knew what came next.

  Aggression.

  “My deepest congratulations for creating a biological weapon that will be responsible for hundreds—if not thousands—of deaths worldwide and for putting my family in lethal danger. You must be so proud.” Not only did Asher’s voice drip with contempt, but his eyes roamed over the doctor, taking her in, the cold ice of challenge changing to a decidedly different look, one that turned appreciative, even evaluative, until Edward forced himself to look away.

  Dr. Sam turned to Lilah, whose right hand was visibly gripped by her sister, and asked dryly, “Is he always this charming?”

  Chapter 21

  Molly reluctantly unwrapped herself from Edward’s embrace. Throughout the entire heated discussion between Asher and, well, everyone, Edward had been gently stroking her hair. Leaving the comfort of his arms wasn’t easy, but she was too angry to sit passively by while Sam was insulted by this monster of a big brother. She straightened to her full height and steeled her spine.

  “You—” Molly began to say to Asher, a stream of potential insults flowing through her mind.

  “Our brother Asher begs your forgiveness, Dr. Sam.” Edward spoke more loudly and more quickly than Molly. Everyone turned to him in surprise. “His intolerable rudeness is matched only by his limitless concern and love for most of us in the room. The two are often intertwined and, unfortunately, as in this case, indistinguishable from one another.”

  Nobody spoke. For a long moment the only sound was the periodic beeping of some electronic machine in a lab down the hall.

  “I beg your pardon?” Asher asked quietly, each word as sharp and deadly as a dagger’s thrust.

  “Well done, Edward,” Derry said. For once, his voice wasn’t mocking.

  Edward didn’t look away from Sam. He didn’t flinch, he didn’t pause, he didn’t lower his voice. “He fears a loss as great or greater than ones he’s already endured,” he said. “In the heat of the moment, he’s perhaps forgotten that you were acting on Gavin’s orders. No doubt brilliantly, you were only doing what your employer asked of you.”

  Molly’s heart began pounding in the slow, steady rhythm of the Beat. Only Edward could make her think kindly of Asher, of all people. It couldn’t be easy to stand up to him here in front of the other brothers and to do it for a woman he’d never met.

  Molly reached out for him and curled her arm around his waist, savoring the warm strength of his body. This is my man. This man is mine.

  He looked down at her and smiled tenderly. Their hearts thrummed in unison, echoing in both of their minds.

  I love you, she heard him say, although his lips didn’t move.

  I love you too, she told him silently, and marveled at the way he seemed to hear her. First his eyes widened, then they shone with emotion.

  Sam’s voice knocked her out of the delicious trance she shared with Edward. “The drug has benefits as great as its risks,” the doctor said.

  “Precisely,” Gavin said quickly. “Else I would not have pursued it. Let us not forget our original mission was successful. We have a serum that can prevent unwilling shifts into animal form.”

  “A power which no shifter but you, Gavin, has ever wanted in the history of our kind,” Asher snapped. “Your mad desire for this unnecessary, dangerous, and unnatural power has risked our lives and our world. I regret to agree that our youngest sibling is correct, Doctor. I did indeed misplace my anger. It is my brother Gavin that deserves censure. If only he would listen.” His tone was barely contained fury.

  “I cannot be the only shifter now or in the past who has sought to control this aspect of our natures,” Gavin said. “It is medieval to cling to the superstitions of the past. I am a scientist. Not of Dr. Sam’s level, of course, but I aspire to the ideals of the discipline. Knowledge is better than ignorance. I will always believe this. I know this.”

  “You know nothing,” Asher said tightly. “Like an infant playing with his father’s firearms, you are beyond your depth! You barge into danger without thinking. The dangers of this serum will never justify its theoretical benefits.”

  “I disagree,” Sam said.

  Asher spun to face her, his face hardening. “What did you say?”

  “There are possible benefits,” Sam continued, frowning. “Especially for women. I was waiting to announce them until I was certain—”

  “Dr. Sam,” Gavin said firmly. “Let me. My brother is correct to aim his foul mood in my direction, not yours. Let’s not confuse him again, I beg.”

  “For women?” Lilah asked. “What do you mean?”

  Flushing a pale pink, Sam regarded her. “I believe I’ve found a way to avoid the high mortality of human women mating with shifter males.” She lifted her chin. “It would be an obvious application of the drug I developed. The power to activate and deactivate the shifter DNA could be used during childbirth, avoiding the risk to both mother and child until they were stronger.”

  A silence fell over the room. Gavin and Lilah shared a quick, emotional look and then rushed into each other’s arms. A moment later, Derry did the same with Jess. And Edward turned to Molly with such a raw, intense expression that she sucked in her breath.

  “Childbirth can be dangerous?” Molly wondered just how high a risk it was, knowing it didn’t matter.

  Edward nodded slowly. Lilah smiled through her tears, still cradled in Gavin’s arms. Derry’s face, buried in Jess’s hair, was unreadable. “Yes,” Edward whispered, his voice so faint she almost missed the words. “I’ll explain later.”

  Asher began to speak, but his voice caught in his throat and he turned his back to them, his shoulders as rigid as steel beams.

  They all waited for him to regain his composure, saying nothing, swept up in their own thoughts and feelings. Molly wondered why the Stanton men kept looking at Asher with deep concern, the cumulative effect making the hair on her arms stand up.

  Why was this such a big deal?

  Finally he turned, his blank face betrayed by the tears shining in his eyes. “That is quite
a claim, Dr. Sam,” he said softly. “But you had better pray you are not raising false hopes. And creating truer tragedies.”

  The air between Asher and Sam shimmered with unspoken, flammable emotion.

  Gavin turned to Lilah and held out a hand. After a slight pause, she took it, and Gavin gestured toward the door. “We’ve found what we came here to find. The doctor has had enough of our company for now. We’ll return to the, ah, club. For further discussion.”

  Derry let out a grumbly sigh. “Excellent idea. I much prefer the décor, not to mention the refreshments.” He pulled Jess against his side and gave her an inappropriately long kiss. “Although I have no complaints about the company. Not a one.”

  “Me neither, big guy,” Jess said, sighing up at him.

  “I’ll be in my office around noon,” Gavin said to Sam. “We’ll need to discuss—”

  “How I’m resigning,” Sam said. “I told them, I’m telling you. I can’t continue here after what I’ve done.”

  “And now you plan on running away from your responsibilities?” Asher asked coldly.

  “You can’t go!” Molly cried. She’d been furious with the doctor a few minutes ago, but now she couldn’t bear to see Sam end her career because of this. Not because of her. Molly wasn’t the type to hold a grudge. Maybe it was a fault to be so nice, but she didn’t want to bear that burden for the rest of her life. Molly knew better than anyone how complicated life got when you lived and worked with shifters. “You have to stay. You have to.”

  Sam was the only one who really seemed to understand. She’d already told Molly more about her biological family than anyone ever had.

  Her eyes darted to Lilah and Jess.

  Sisters. She had sisters. A thrill shot through her.

  Edward tightened his hold.

  “I agree,” Gavin said. “I refuse to accept your resignation.”

  “Nevertheless, I’m giving it,” Sam said.

  “At least agree to wait until we’ve figured out who broke into the lab,” Molly said. “You can’t leave now. I need you to stay. You owe me that at least.”

  Sam looked confused. “Molly, you heard what I did. How can you—”