Authorized: Mercenary Shifters (Mercenaries For Hire Book 4)

by Becca Vincenza

  If she wanted to stay and explore our mating, then I had plenty of safe houses I could take her to. Somewhere secluded where the Cajun couldn’t find us until she was truly mine. I was going to kill Asher and she would never have to worry about the fucker again. Even in the midst of danger we were still in my cock swelled in my fatigues, pressing hard against the zipper. The thought of really claiming her and destroying the shifter that hurt her made my wolf grumble with pleasure. Failure wasn’t an option.

  Fuck that shit.

  I was getting my mate.

  Chapter 8

  Mallory

  I clutched the pillow close to my chest. The even breathing next to me was the only comfort I had. The mattress underneath me might have been threaded from the clouds but it felt like a stiff board underneath me. My toes were twisted together as I kept myself as small as possible. Asher had climbed into the single bed in the suite and only wore a pair of boxer briefs. After a command, a tug on my arm, and various threats to my wellbeing and that of my sister’s, he finally got me to get in the bed. However, I refused to take off the clothes that I had been given.

  Asher had tried trailing his fingers against my skin, which crawled in return. The lounge pants and tight tank top did nothing to protect me from his advances. He gripped the hairs at the nape of my neck, and his sharp nails scraped at the back of my skull. He dragged my head back and I held in my cry of pain. Instead, a small grunt came from his torture. He would have to try harder than that to get a scream from me.

  “Tomorrow you will be mine.” Asher released me and rolled to his side of the bed. I remained silent, waiting for him to sleep. Once I thought he was and I slipped from the bed, but he woke immediately and told me to get my ass back in bed or it would be my sister that would receive the punishment.

  I twisted my torso around and glared at him. I had told him to go to hell, and I was just going to the bathroom. He didn’t buy my false truth. I did have to pee, but not enough that I had really needed to relieve myself. Either way, shifters could scent lies and mine was only partially the truth. He allowed me to go, but he waited until I was back in bed before he shut his eyes again.

  “You will understand soon that this is only for your own good.”

  The rage that burned through my veins circulated for a couple more hours before it dimmed down. Instead, I was left with the deep pain that had settled in my heart. A fine sheen of sweat beaded over my forehead and above my top lip. The fever I had been running earlier still hadn’t broke. The only relief I’d had been that the nausea was no longer my constant company. But my body felt like it weighed a thousand pounds.

  A restless sleep took me under.

  “Mallory! Malllllllorrryy!”

  My father’s voice. A deep timbre that reminded me of home. Snow crunched under my boots, the fluffy flakes fell on my head, sticking to my hair moments before it melted. I tilted my head back and stuck my tongue out.

  “Mallory!” His time his voice was a sharp command. Instinctively, I tilted my head to the side, exposing my neck, and tucked my hands together in front of me. Eyes to the ground. Alpha was calling, be submissive. Those were the rules drilled into me since I was a baby. But nothing inside of me demanded I do these things. Instead a small voice in the back of my head encouraged me to venture farther into the small woods next to our home and play in the snow.

  No, Daddy will only get more upset.

  It didn’t take long for him to find me. His coat blended in with the freshly fallen snow, his black-tipped nose and dark green eyes alerted me to his presence. I hated I couldn’t smell him coming like Mazy or hear his subtle movements like she swore she could hear. She stopped coming out on these adventures with me, making it harder to evade our parents. But Mazy started becoming more of a home-body, sticking close by and finding her fun there.

  I, on the other hand, wanted to explore the woods, go in deeper and farther than before. If only I had an animal like hers or my father’s, I could do so much more. I was limited by my human body. I sniffled loudly. My father rushed forward and pressed his nose to my neck, taking my scent.

  I tried to push him away, but he let out a quiet snarl, letting me know that his animal needed to make sure his pup was okay. I allowed him to check over me. Once he finished he walked behind me and nudged me with his head back to the house.

  At home my mom and sister stood in the doorway watching us. My mom helped me take off the clothes that were becoming rapidly wet and cold. I shivered hard and sneezed as my coat came off.

  “Come on, sweetie, I’ll make you some hot chocolate.” My mom took me by the hand into the kitchen while my father padded into their bedroom so he could get dressed. Mazy followed us in the kitchen. We lived in a small, two-bedroom house, with a tiny living room that could really only fit a love seat and the fireplace. Off to the left of it was the equally small kitchen. In the center was a small round table where I climbed onto the wooden chair. Mazy sat in her spot next to me.

  “Mallory, you shouldn’t have gone out that far without your sister.” Mom scowled. Mazy watched me with a sympatric eye. And then she sunk in her chair, knowing her own scowling was coming next.

  “And Mazy! You know better than to let your sister wander that far without you.” Mom turned around and placed hot chocolate in front of both of us. Mazy didn’t touch hers, but I wrapped my little red fingers around the hot mug. A silent sigh released as warm started to leech back into my frozen skin. As much as the cold hated me, I loved it. The snow, the cold, that was my home. I just couldn’t handle it as well as the rest of my family, but I tried to hide it. Mom must have heard my sigh and she turned to look at my hands.

  “Thomas!” Mom cried out for my dad as she reached for my fingers and pressed her own warm skin around them as well.

  My parents fought that night about staying here. Mom thought it was the best that we moved to a warmer climate. But my dad’s animal needed the cold. They told Mazy and I to go to bed, but we listened from our bedroom door. I started to cry when I heard that Mom wanted to leave here. This was home. I loved the cold. I loved watching Dad out in the snow.

  Mazy took me by the shoulders and led me to her bed. Together we laid together while she held me.

  Dad came in later that night to check on us. He pressed a kiss to my forehead, and one to Mazy’s. Mazy must have stirred and opened her eyes, I remained quiet.

  “Are we really leaving, Dad?”

  “I don’t know yet. little goose.”

  “Is it because Mal doesn’t have an animal to protect her?”

  “No, little goose. She doesn’t need an animal to protect her when she has us. Your mom, myself, and you, will always be there to protect her.”

  Mazy’s hold around me tightened for a second, and I felt her chin rub against my forehead as she silently agreed with my father. Yes, they would always protect me. I felt the burden of that weight for the rest of my life.

  My eyes slowly blinked open as the memory still lingered in the back of my head, and Asher’s hand had somehow found its way onto my hip. With my family, we protected each other. I would do anything to protect Mazy after all the sacrifices she made for me. But I had to be sure she was safe. As soon as Asher woke, I was going to make him take me to Mazy.

  Determined with a new plan, I took stock. The sickness that had been raging yesterday calmed to a dull roar. I hoped that it was just a twenty-four-hour thing. Not something that had to do with me just coming out of coma, and the fucker behind me taking me out of the hospital moments afterwards.

  It felt like hours, but it probably was only a half an hour later when Asher’s hand tightened around my hip and he tried to pull it flat. I refused to give even when his nails bit into my skin.

  “How long have you been awake, mate?”

  I hated when he called me that. A quiet part of me snarled, claiming he had no right. I felt the wrongness of it.

  “I want to see my sister.”

  No point in beating around the bush
. I made my decision.

  “You will see her when I allow it.” Asher’s grip got tighter; it felt like his hand was crushing against bone. I flinched but otherwise remained quiet about my pain.

  “I want to see my sister.” And I swore in my head those would be the only words he heard from me until I got to see her.

  Asher released a sharp hiss. His hand tightened, and his other arm wrapped around my waist. Before I could try to roll out of his hold, he forced me on my back. With quick movements of a shifter he threw his leg over my hips. His crotch rested above mine and his weight kept me immobile. Fear was a sour pit in the bottom of my stomach. His greasy black hair flopped over his eyes, shadowing his features. His weight sat heavily and restraining. If I wiggled and struggled, I feared it would only incite him further. I remained still, my chin lifted stubbornly.

  Asher wrapped his hand around my neck and squeezed. I tried not to react. He bent, his small dime roll dick pressed against me. Dread swirled in my stomach, threatening to rise.

  “Your fear is intoxicating, mate.”

  “The only thing I fear is how you plan to mate me with a teeny, tiny―”

  There was a sharp crack before the pain registered. My cheek burned with his handprint. Blood pooled in my mouth. I must have caught my cheek between my teeth. The pain was sharp and shooting, but kept me grounded. My father’s words still echoed around my head. My family would always be there to protect me, but now it was my turn to protect Mazy.

  “I want to see my sister.”

  “You will see her when I damn well please. You, my mate, need to learn manners.”

  “I have followed every goddamn rule you’ve made since you took me out of the hospital! Don’t I deserve to see her,” I swallowed the bile down that built in my throat as I considered what I was going to add, “mate?”

  Asher released a quiet stream of a hiss. His eyes shut as if he was savoring me calling him mate. My body protested everything about it. My insides felt like they were being torn apart and the pain almost made me black out.

  “Get ready, we leave in ten.” Asher released his hold around my neck that had loosened the more we talked. He slipped off my hips and left the room. I simply breathed for a few minutes. I’d calmed him by calling him mate, but I had destroyed something inside of me. I didn’t think I would be able to call him that ever again. The title belonged solely to my mate, who was still a foggy image and scent in my head.

  I wanted to believe he was a figment of my imagination, because then I wouldn’t get my hopes up, but … how was I awake? Finding him would have to wait though. My sister was the most important person to me. I rolled out of the bed. The suite was large, the bedroom separated from the living room by glass French doors.

  The bathroom was attached to the bedroom, and since I had spent so much time in there already, I dreaded going back in. Just the thought of seeing the toilet had another roll of bile pooling under my tongue. I shook my head and swallowed hard.

  Mazy. She was my focus.

  Chapter 9

  Apollo

  I gathered my black canvas bag over my shoulder. The strap of the heavy bag cut on the underside of my arm, pinching where my hostler sat. My boots clomped heavily on the old hardwood floors that lead to the back entrance of the Leviathan. A rare few knew about the back entrance, just as Moss wanted it. I had used it many times in my youth when living here, slipping in and out of the bar without alerting other patrons.

  Determination steeled through me. The directions and address to the hotel that we suspected Mallory was being held at was imprinted on my mind. But the later the night got, the more worry crept in. I had to get moving before I lost them.

  My truck sat outside in the back, away from other patrons. Moss’s own truck sat next to it, quiet and sure just like him. Moss had been a guardian for me, a mentor and more. After I left tonight the chances of me seeing him again felt slim.

  If my Mallory wanted to live a quiet life, then that is what I would do. I had been living a solitary life since my accident. The one that put me indebted to the Cajun in the first place. An echo of pain filtered through my scar ridden leg. The scar ran from the middle of my back all the way down my left leg.

  I had accepted a job to take out a corporate yuppie that had pissed off another. Easy enough job. Unfortunately, the one I was after hired two parts of the triple threat―the Cajun and the dragon. I didn’t know what went wrong on their end, but Dominic’s dragon ended up letting his fire loose. The entire floor where the CEO I was having a meeting with, to kill the CEO Dominic and the Cajun were hired by, went into the flames before we could even blink.

  My employer was killed almost instantly. I made my way out of the building, but the floor we were on was unstable. A large, metal support beam fell down from the ceiling and pinned me from my left leg to lower back. I couldn’t get up, and I couldn’t shift to try to wiggle my way out. It was one of my first hires and I was going to die out on the job. I remember thinking how Moss would be so proud. After all, he had been the one to train me, but he also firmly believed I shouldn’t use my skills to be a hired gun.

  Smoke filled my lungs and my wolf was struggling against my skin to shift. Nothing was working and the metal beam at my back was heating with the licking flames.

  It was in my last moments of consciousness that the Cajun’s voice came out loud and clear. He shifted to his brawler of a bear and knocked the molten hot beam off my body, but the damage had been done. Even shifters could scar, and it took months of recovery. I contacted the Cajun and told him I owed him for saving my life. If there was one thing that Moss taught me that stuck was repaying debts.

  Years I waited for his phone call, dreading it, hating that I was in his debt. And now it had led me to my mate. Uncertainty warred through me. My mate was a gift, but I’d forever be connected to the shifter who had to save me like a little pup. I owed Moss my life and for that I would never be upset, but the Cajun had to save me while on a job. It had tarnished my reputation.

  My wolf snarled at the thought. Some things were better left in the past. I had fulfilled my debt to the Cajun. Or I had mostly. It was a gray area now that I would have to worry about once I got my mate back.

  I stepped over to my truck, opening the back door to throw my pack on the bench seat. I shut the door and a hand landed heavily on my shoulder. Only one shifter I knew could move that stealthy as if he had appeared out of thin air.

  Turning on my heel, my gaze met Moss’s brightly lit one. He had a scowl on his face that had become very familiar to me, especially in my younger years. A couple years back when I had left to live my solitary life I had not said good-bye to Moss; my wolf saw him as his only pack member. It wasn’t good-bye, but it also made it very hard for me to leave. It was why I had left without a word to him. Looked like this time he wouldn’t accept that.

  I wasn’t going to pussy foot around it. I had planned on leaving without telling him good-bye again, I didn’t know where my life would lead me this time. When I left those years ago, I always saw myself coming back to the Leviathan. But what would happen when I got Mallory back?

  Moss pulled me in, with his grip on my shoulder, and wrapped his arm around my shoulders. It was a quick hug that was over before I realized it happened. Moss stood a few feet from me once again and looked at me with pride shining through his eyes. He rarely smiled in the time that I lived with him. His lips were tipped upwards, not quite a smile. I nodded and climbed into my truck.

  Moss was gone by the time I started my truck and backed out of my spot next to his.

  The drive to the city was quiet; the stereo in my car had long stopped working. Normally I would use a separate speaker hooked up to my phone to play music, but my wolf was restless. Silence was better and would allow me to hear any possible threat before it happened. The address to the hotel was branded in my mind. The map that I had studied before I left was imprinted.

  It took an hour and then some to arrive outside the hotel. It
was on a busy city street, and I busted the parking meter as I waited. I stalked the hotel, lying in wait for any hint of my mate. I had already checked around the building for any back entrance that they might use but the building was backed up another tall structure. There were two exits―the front, and a side that would force anyone to come to the front anyways.

  My eyes burned bright as my wolf surged to the surface.

  My mate. Soon.

  Chapter 10

  Mallory

  Asher had clothes bought for me which I had refused to touch until now. I had been wearing the outfit I first changed into since arriving to the hotel a couple nights beforehand. I dug through the clothes hoping for something, anything really. Mostly it was filled with frilly summer dresses. My nose scrunched up at the thought of wearing one. No thanks.

  At the bottom I found a sturdy pair of jeans; they were a little big around the waist and a little long, but they were still better than the dresses. Most of the shirts showed a lot of skin, but I found one that would do. The neck was so big that it draped over one of my shoulders. I tugged the sleeve up over my shoulder. The shirt itself was white, with small holes that made it look like a moth had gotten a hold of it, but was probably some fashion thing I didn’t understand. I wore the tank top I had on underneath.

  The doors to the suite opened, and I sat on the couch. I glanced over at who entered but it wasn’t much of a guess. Asher was wearing sleek black pants, and a dark green button-up. Much different than his just briefs this morning. I had avoided looking at his pale skin above me, but flashes of those moments attacked me.

  A shiver of disgust scraped down my spine, like icy fingernails tearing up my skin. My only comfort had been of Mazy. I needed to make sure she was safe, because I truly didn’t think the quiet part in me that had been tearing myself apart would allow anything else. My insides already felt like they had been torn to ribbons, that if I went any further with Asher without solid evidence that he had Mazy, there wouldn’t be anything left inside of me.