by Zoe Chant
Now how to make sure Cassie was ready?
Cassie, he thought. Cassie. Cassie. Cassie.
And miraculously, Cassie frowned and looked over at him—not turning her head, which Hendricks might have noticed, but just moving her eyes.
Get ready to duck, Seth thought. Come on, be ready to duck. Ready to duck. Soon. Be ready to duck.
He didn't know if the message was actually getting across. Cassie couldn't move a muscle without giving something away to Hendricks. So he would just have to trust that this would work.
He'd never thought that mates would be actually telepathic. But maybe that wasn’t what this was, exactly. He didn't know if Cassie was hearing his thoughts, or if she could just feel what he felt: the desire for her to be ready. Mates did have a...sense of each other. An understanding.
And he trusted that Cassie understood him.
Max was still talking. "Your goals have become impossible, Carl," he said calmly to Hendricks. "And you're about to lose everything. I'm afraid I don't understand how this could possibly have come about. Why didn't you do a more thorough job of concealing this lab's true purpose?"
"It was thorough." Hendricks glared at Max. "I buried the true financials. No one but Crews knew what the real numbers were—he sent completely sanitized versions to the company records."
"But the money was still going somewhere," Max noted. "And that's what I noticed first. You could also have assigned someone more creative to the task of making up a quarterly report for the lab's actual results."
Hendricks cursed under his breath. "Crews."
"Oh yes, Crews. That seems to have been a mistake all around. Did you know that the woman you currently have at gunpoint was his administrative assistant? He may have been corrupt enough to suborn to your...purposes," Max's disgusted glance around at the building they were in spoke volumes, "but that only meant that he couldn't be trusted to execute his work for you properly, either."
Hendricks made a snarling noise in his throat. "Max..."
"You know," Max said thoughtfully, "when I was young, I used to wonder why my father left Rowland Global Solutions to me, and not to you. I had thought for sure that you would be in charge of things until I had finished school, at the very least."
Max paused, and smiled. "I had all of these plans about how I would wrest power from you when it was my turn, since I was certain you wouldn't be willing to give it up."
The smile faded, and he looked Hendricks in the eye. "But he left everything to me, and you remained in the same job you'd had under him, with the same responsibilities. At first I was confused. You were older and more experienced, and you and my father had been friends for years. I eventually concluded that the Rowland name was the reason, that my father couldn't stomach having anyone outside of the family take over."
Max shook his head slightly, never taking his eyes off of Hendricks. "But now I know differently. It's become clear over the years that you simply have no creative faculties, no imagination. This," he waved a hand at the walls, "only proves it. You don't have the wherewithal to pull off a project of this size. You're only a number-cruncher, Carl."
Hendricks made a furious motion toward Max, who didn't twitch an eyelash.
Seth thought, Now, Cassie! Now!
And Cassie threw herself to the floor, while Seth raised the tranquilizer gun he'd taken from Benson, which he'd been holding casually concealed behind his leg, and fired directly into Hendricks' chest.
It didn't drop him immediately like it had Benson. Hendricks wasn't in shock or suffering from blood loss.
He raised his gun and pointed it at Seth, but Seth was already shifting. By the time Hendricks pulled the trigger, Seth was fully in his lion form and was leaping at him.
His lion roared at him to rend and tear Hendricks to pieces, but Seth reined the desire in. Whatever Hendricks and Benson thought, a shifter was more than an animal, and Seth wanted Hendricks to go to prison for a long, long time.
He landed with both paws on Hendricks' shoulders, Hendricks sprawled beneath him on the floor, well out of Cassie's way.
Hendricks' eyes were closed, but in resignation, not in unconsciousness yet. Seth snarled in his face.
"Please leave him alive, Seth," Max said calmly. "I have some questions I'll be needing to ask him."
Seth once again fought down the desire to tear out Hendricks' throat for threatening his mate. As he watched, though, Hendricks' body went slack. The tranquilizers had taken effect.
And Seth couldn't kill an unconscious, helpless man in cold blood, no matter what he'd done. He backed off and shifted back to human.
"Thank you," Max said, but Seth barely heard him, because he was turning to Cassie.
She'd stood up already, and she threw herself at Seth, hugging him tightly. He kissed her cheek, her ear, her temple, the little flyaway hairs that had escaped her braid and were framing her face. He wanted to kiss her everywhere.
But they'd have to wait for that.
"Thank God you're safe," he whispered into her ear.
"You too," she said. "When he fired at you, I thought for sure..."
"Did he fire at me?" Seth frowned, trying to remember.
Hendricks had raised the gun, and...oh, yes. Seth pulled back for just a moment, and looked down. There was a bloody scrape along one side of his ribcage, and as he noticed it, it started to throb and sting.
"You are hurt!" Cassie reached for him, then jerked her hand back. "We need to get you a doctor."
Seth shook his head. "It's nothing. Shifter healing will take care of it in a few hours. There's no need to worry about me, Cassie, I'm fine."
Cassie's eyes widened. "I forgot that you heal faster. That's amazing." Her face twisted. "I can't believe Hendricks...and the doctor...who would do something like that?"
"There are terrible people in the world," Max said, coming over to contemplate Hendricks' unconscious form. "But I have to say, it seems like you're well-equipped to deal with them. Congratulations, Seth."
"Thanks." Seth wasn't quite sure how to respond to that. Max's affection was always distant and a little strange, though, and he'd had plenty of time to get used to that over the years.
Max touched his earpiece and spoke briefly to someone on the other side; the security team Cassie had mentioned earlier, Seth guessed.
He ordered them to call for a medical team and converge on their location, then glanced into the office. "Who are they?"
Kevin and Shoshanna still lay unconscious, one on either side of Benson's body. "Prisoners," Seth said. "They're both shifters."
Max nodded, walking into the office to check their pulses. He touched his fingers briefly to Kevin's neck and said, "He's fine." Then he walked over to Shoshanna, crouched down, and suddenly rocked back, almost falling backwards.
"What?" Seth asked. "What is it?"
"Nothing," Max said quickly. "I tripped."
It must have been a really hard day for Max, Seth thought incredulously, if he was tripping over his own feet. Max had always been the most graceful and poised of the entire family...which was saying something compared to their father and their sister Alexandra.
Though he supposed that for Max to have gotten here so quickly, he must have spent all of last night on a plane from New York, planning the attack on the lab. So a little clumsiness was understandable.
Max touched Shoshanna's neck even more briefly than he had Kevin's, just a brush of his fingers. "She's fine," he said, and stood up and retreated immediately to the hallway.
Max, Seth thought, wasn't used to messy physical problems like unconscious people and blood-soaked doctors. He probably wanted to get back to his boardroom.
That was confirmed when Max turned to the approaching security men and told them to take care of everything. "I'll be outside," he said, and beat a quick retreat.
Seth shook his head, and then turned to Cassie. “Ready to get out of here?”
“I was going to ask you that,” she said with a smile. “
I bet you can’t wait to get out of this place.”
Seth nodded fervently. “And then maybe we can just burn it to the ground.”
“I was thinking the same thing.”
Seth kissed. “All right. Just one second.”
He went back into the office and said, “Listen, these two,” he pointed at Kevin and Shoshanna, “should be well taken care of, all right? They’ve been through a lot and they deserve whatever help they can get. Make sure Max sees to anything they might need, and tell him to call me when they wake up.”
“Yes, sir,” said one of the guards.
“Thanks.”
Seth turned back to Cassie. “Okay, now let’s get out of here.”
***
The last twelve hours had probably been the worst of Cassie’s life.
Knowing that Seth had been captured, knowing he was in danger and being hurt—not just in her head, but deep in her soul where the mate bond lived—had been the most painful thing that had ever happened to her.
It was crazy to come out of that deep well of fear, that tight grip on her heart when she’d thought that Seth might die...into the happiest she’d ever been.
The drive back to her apartment was full of silly smiles and hand-holding. Seth made a point of looking around at the beautiful scenery of the Rockies and saying, “It’s good to see it in daylight, but I want to really experience it. Without any secret ninja missions or horrible torture labs. Do you think we can go hiking out here sometime soon?”
Cassie grinned. “I’d love that,” she said. “Though I want to spend a day or two in bed first.”
Seth’s eyebrows shot up.
“Not like that!” she defended herself quickly. Then she had to admit, “...okay, yes, like that. I want to make love until neither of us can move.”
“That sounds like a plan,” Seth said.
“But I also want to sleep. I didn’t really last night.”
Seth sobered. “Me, neither.”
Cassie thought of him in his cell...in that awful dentist’s chair. “Are you sure you don’t need to go to the hospital? Or get a...shifter doctor, or something?”
Seth shook his head. “The drugs have totally worn off, and my side is healing, I promise.” He lifted up his shirt to show her. It was already entirely scabbed over.
“Okay,” Cassie said, although she secretly resolved to keep a close eye on him for the next few days to make sure no surprise drug side effects or infections or anything showed up to cause him trouble.
Pulling into her apartment complex felt amazing. She was home.
Although she had to park in a guest spot, since she was still driving Dave’s car.
“What’s going to happen to Dave, do you think?” she asked as they got out of the car.
Seth shrugged. “Max will make sure he’s punished appropriately. He’s guilty of the same things Hendricks is, so you can bet he’s not going to see the light of day for a long, long time.”
Cassie smiled, satisfied. “Good.”
When they got inside her door, Seth closed it and immediately pushed her up against it in a long, passionate kiss.
“Mmmm,” Cassie said on a long sigh, drinking in the taste of him, his warm skin, the delicious tingling scrape of his stubble.
He kissed her again, and then pulled back. “Do you want to sleep? I know you must be exhausted.”
“Not as exhausted as you!” she protested. “And I don’t think I can right now. I’m too full of adrenaline.”
“Me too.” He smiled. “But I think I know a way we can work that off.”
Cassie went up on her tiptoes to kiss him again.
His arms wrapped around her—and then suddenly her feet left the ground.
She squeaked in surprise. Seth had done this once before, so maybe she shouldn’t be surprised, but no other man had ever picked her up like this. She wasn’t a petite skinny little girl, she had some heft to her, so she’d never expected to be lifted right up by anyone.
But Seth showed no sign that it was even the slightest bit of effort for him. His hands were placed securely—and tantalizingly—under her butt, and, still kissing her, he pressed her back against the wall.
Tentatively, Cassie wrapped her legs around Seth’s waist. That position pressed her pussy right up against him, and all tentative feelings vanished under the wave of pleasure.
Seth kissed down her neck, making these deep, rumbling, growly noises in his chest. The sound and the feeling of his stubble against her sensitive skin made Cassie flush from her cheeks down her chest, her nipples tightening. Her hips were grinding against his without any input from her.
From one breath to the next, their movements turned frantic. Seth hiked her up, holding her with one solid arm around her waist, and used the other to drag her shirt up. Cassie lifted her arms and let him yank it off over her head, and then tipped her head back and moaned as he buried his face between her breasts.
His rough chin against the sensitive skin there sent shivers down to her core. She was making these high-pitched, breathy noises that could probably be heard all down the hall, and she didn’t care. She was making love to her mate and it was the best she’d ever felt in her life.
“Bed,” she said. It came out breathy and high-pitched, but clear enough. Seth lifted his head, kissed her deeply, and then carried her effortlessly down the hall to her bedroom.
He laid her out on the bed like she was something precious, his hands stroking down her body to the waistband of her jeans. She lifted her hips to let him tug them off...and then they both started laughing when he reached her ankles and they realized she still had her shoes on.
Cassie was still giggling as Seth carefully took hold of one foot and pulled off the shoe, and then the sock. But the giggles trailed off as he pressed a careful kiss to her instep before turning to the next one. It got the same treatment: shoe, sock, then a soft, almost reverent kiss.
Then, he pressed another kiss to her ankle. Cassie shivered, and Seth started moving up her body. He kissed her calf, and the sensitive underside of her knee. She gasped. He moved slowly, so slowly, up her inner thigh, until he was almost at the elastic of her panties.
Cassie’s thighs had fallen open as he moved, and even though she was still wearing underwear, she could feel his breath caressing her through the thin fabric. She squirmed, wanting to be touched. “Seth...”
He looked up at her, smiled, and then pressed a final kiss right in the center of her panties, breathing out through the cloth so her whole pussy was engulfed in a warm wave of pleasure.
Then he sat back and pulled her panties off, almost in one swift motion, tossing them on the floor. He stripped off his own clothes with quick, economic movements, revealing his whole naked golden body in a matter of seconds.
And then he leaned back in.
Cassie back arched as she felt his tongue separating her folds and caressing her clit, sending sharp waves of sensation through her body. Seth licked her with a fast, intense rhythm, bringing her to the edge of orgasm more quickly than she’d ever experienced. His big, warm fingers toyed with her entrance, rubbing around the opening of her pussy in a teasing circle.
When he finally thrust two fingers inside, Cassie barely stifled a shriek. Seth sucked hard on her clit as his fingers stroked over the perfect spot inside, and she clenched around him hard as she came.
The second she caught her breath, she reached for him. “Inside me,” she demanded, pulling him up to her level. “Now.”
“Yes.” His eyes were intent on her face, watching what she looked like as he slid inside at last.
Cassie moaned, long and low, at the feeling of him pushing into her. It felt like she’d been empty and aching for days, and was only now getting relief. She wrapped her arms around Seth’s neck and pulled him down into a kiss.
He made a low, satisfied noise into her mouth as he seated himself fully inside of her. “I love you,” he murmured.
“I love you,” Cassie murmured back, and
then gasped as he started to move.
Seth started out slowly, going as deep inside her as he could and then pulling back in a long, luscious drag that had Cassie biting her lip in pleasure. Then he’d push back inside, just as slow and deep.
But his own pleasure took its toll on him. His face was set with concentration, and sweat was beading along his hairline as he moved, until finally, finally, he started to speed up.
“Harder,” Cassie whispered.
Seth smiled. He wrapped his big hands around her hips and pulled her to him as he thrust in again, hard. The pleasure slammed through her like a blow, and she heard herself yell out loud.
After that it was a panting, clutching race to the finish line, Seth keeping up the quick, hard rhythm that had Cassie wailing and clawing at his back, her pussy shivering and twitching around him until one final, hard, deep thrust tipped her over the edge into ecstasy.
When she came back to herself, Seth was lying beside her, stroking her cheek gently with the back of his fingers.
“Wow,” she said, and then had to clear her throat and say it again. “I didn’t know I could come so hard I blacked out.”
Seth smiled his smug smile. She smiled fondly back.
“I’m looking forward to helping you discover all sorts of new things about how good I can make you feel,” Seth said.
Cassie grinned. “Me, too.”
He laughed. “Think you can sleep now?”
As if on cue, Cassie yawned. “Yeah, I think so. But first...”
“Hm?” Seth brushed his lips against her cheekbone, then leaned back again so he could meet her eyes.
Cassie held his gaze. His eyes were such a warm, content gold. “I love you,” she said. “More than anything. I’m so sorry you were caught in that place. I’m so glad we got you out.”
“Hey,” he said, and pulled her close. “It’s okay. It was terrible there, but I was fine because I knew you were safe. And I knew you wouldn’t leave me in there.”
She traced her fingers over his shoulder. “Just like I knew you wouldn’t let Hendricks hurt me.”
He kissed her. “We make a pretty good team.”
She smiled against his mouth. “We do.”