“A man could dream,” he said.
“Grayson!” Georgina, Grayson’s mother, called as she and her new husband, Luke Lennox, approached them. “Don’t just run like that, okay sweetie? Your papa and I were worried.”
“Aww, I was just going to Auntie Kate!” he said. “I wanted to say hello.”
Kate ruffled the boy’s hair. “No harm, no foul.” They were surrounded by an entire town of shifters after all. Surely, Grayson was safe.
“You need to stay with us, Grayson,” Luke said, his golden eyes darting over to Petros. Jason and Christina had alerted the family about Milos, so of course he would be concerned about his young stepson. “Promise me you won’t run away like that again, okay?”
“I promise,” he said, then turned to his mother. “Mommy, mommy, Auntie Kate’s going to start a garden!”
“A what?” Georgina asked, sending Kate a confused look.
“Auntie Kate she and Uncle Petros were gonna have some ripe fruits!” Grayson exclaimed. “Are you gonna have apples? Or oranges?”
Kate slapped a hand on her forehead. “Uh, something like that.”
Georgina looked at Kate, then Petros, and it was like a lightbulb lit up in her head. “Grayson, sweetie! How about some funnel cake?”
“Really? I can have one now?” he asked, his mouth turning up into a big grin.
Luke bent down, picked him up, and put him on his shoulders. “You can have as much as you want.”
“Say bye to Auntie Kate and Uncle Petros,” Georgina said.
“Bye, Auntie Kate! Bye, Uncle Petros!” He waved at them as Luke and Georgina walked away.
Kate glared at Petros, who looked like he was trying his best not to laugh. “Don’t you dare say a word.”
Kate never thought about having children of her own. While she liked kids, the whole shebang seemed like a big bother. But with Petros … it sounded thrilling and exciting but scary at the same time. Was she even mom material? When she looked up at his handsome and hopeful face, her mind and her heart were screaming yes. Ugh. She didn’t want to think about it now.
“Is it time yet?” she asked, hoping to put the subject of babies aside.
“No,” he answered. “We just got here. We should at least get something to eat and then maybe do some shopping?”
She held onto his hand. “All right. Whatever the plan is, we’ll stick with it.”
And so they played the sweet and affectionate couple as they walked around, though that part wasn’t hard. Petros seemed extra attentive to her tonight, never letting her hand go and whispering in her ear or nuzzling her neck. If Milos was watching them, it would seem like their guard was down.
But the reality was quite different. Petros not only had a communication piece in his ear, but he was also wearing a GPS tracking device, just in case Milos tried to take him somewhere far away. There were also several agents surrounding the area, some on the rooftops, plus the Blackstone P.D. was well aware of what was happening. They had embedded some plain-clothes officers in the crowd just in case.
As they walked out of the Main Street Bookshop, Petros stopped in his tracks.
“Is it time?” she asked.
He discretely brushed his finger over his earpiece, then nodded. This was it. The plan was for them to start getting frisky, then pretend to find some dark corner far away from the crowd. They plotted out several possible hotspots around Main Street that might be good for an ambush, and they would move to different ones until Milos attacked.
He turned his body toward her and pulled her flush against him. Leaning down, he planted a soft, slow kiss on her mouth.
Kate moaned and slid her palms up his muscled chest. The kiss was sensual, and heat spread over her body as he continued to caress his mouth with hers. When he pulled away, she was dizzy.
“Wow,” she said. “Want to get out of here?”
Petros’ lips thinned into a straight line. “Kate-mine,” he said as he stared deep into her eyes. His gaze traced over her face as if he were memorizing it. “I hope you can forgive me for what I’m going to do,” he said.
“What are you saying? We should get out of here now and stop wasting time.”
“I can’t let you be in harm’s way again,” he said.
“Petros, stop this,” she hissed. “We have a plan. To trap Milos.”
“We do,” he said, his face turning grim. “But you won’t be part of it.”
“I—” Kate gasped when she felt something solid, and surprisingly soft, wrap around her wrist. She turned her head, and her gaze crashed against familiar silvery eyes.
“I’m sorry, Kate,” Sybil said. She raised her arm, showing off the fuzzy handcuffs that now linked them.
“What? What’s going on?”
“Kate-mine,” Petros said, snaking a hand behind her head. “I love you. Now and forever.”
Petros pulled her in for a kiss. It felt too final for her tastes, but before she could protest, he was gone, disappearing into the crowd.
“No!” She stamped her feet and tried to walk away, but Sybil stood her ground, refusing to let her go. “You traitor!” she cried.
“I’m not going to let that lunatic near you.” Sybil's eyes blazed bright with the power of her dragon.
“I—” She looked back toward the direction Petros had gone. “Please Sybil! Let me go to him. Didn’t you hear what he said?” Oh God, Petros loved her. He loved her. And she didn’t even get a chance to say it back to him. Her wolf yowled in pain. It wanted to be with their mate, to be by his side and protect him.
“Why do you think he asked me to do this?” Sybil said. “Can’t you see Kate? If Milos even got anywhere near you, Petros would go ballistic. He can’t be distracted!”
“This is absurd! I’m not a distraction; I’m his mate!” She tugged at the handcuffs, but Sybil pulled right back. Her dragon was much stronger than her wolf, but Kate didn’t give a shit right now. “You know I can cut this down with a swipe of my claws, right?”
“You know I can singe your hair with a fireball from twenty-feet away, right?”
“I hate you!” Kate spat. “I hate you for doing this to me!”
“You’re so dramatic,” Sybil said with a roll of her eyes. “Kate, calm down and think about it this way: he doesn’t want to have to kill his best friend, but he would do it if you were in danger. What do you think would happen to Petros if he did ultimately make that choice? He would choose you, of course, but what would that do this mind and to his wolf if he killed his closest childhood friend?”
Kate opened her mouth but shut it quickly. Sybil was right. She would be a distraction, and Petros would have a better chance of taking Milos alive if he wasn’t distracted. And of course Sybil agreed to this. Her best friend would do the same if their positions were reversed. “I really do hate you and love you.”
Sybil grinned. “I know you do. Now,” she placed her free hand on Kate’s shoulder, “you know you don’t have to worry about him, right? Christina has a plan in place so they can quietly take Milos down and take him back to a holding cell.”
“And what are we supposed to do? Twiddle our thumbs and wait?”
Sybil touched her ear, showing Kate she was wearing an earpiece, too. “Once I’ve secured you, I’m supposed to bring you back to Blackstone Castle.”
Kate pouted. “Can’t we stay here, please?”
“No. Petros won’t make a move until he knows you’re far away.”
“Fine then,” she said, raising their cuffed hands. “Take me away—” Her eyes widened. “Hey, are these the furry handcuffs I gave you for Valentine’s Day?”
Sybil’s cheeks went pink. “I had to improvise when he asked me to detain you,” she said. “Now, c’mon. We gotta go.”
Kate let Sybil lead her away, her heart clenching at the thought of being away from Petros while he faced that monster. But her logical brain told her this was the best possible way to take Milos down without anyone getting hurt, including him. When she saw Petros agai
n, though, she was going to give him a piece of her mind, tell him she loved him, and then possibly lock him in a room and fuck his brains out.
Sybil led her to the parking lot behind the mini-mart. “I’m parked over there,” she said, nodding at the familiar silver Prius. “I—” The dragon shifter did not get to finish her sentence as a scream of pain escaped her mouth.
“Sybil!”
It happened so fast. There was a blur right behind Sybil one moment and then the next, she was on the ground, moaning in pain, bringing Kate down with her.
“Don’t try anything, bitch.” Milos was kneeling beside Sybil, a gun trained on her head.
“You!” she said. Her wolf howled in anger, rearing up to get ready to battle. But she calmed it, at least for now. “What did you do to her?”
Milos’ face twisted in anger, and his good eye glowed. “Just a little bloodsbane. It’ll wear off in a few hours,” he said, referring to the only substance that could fully knock out a shifter. He pressed the barrel of his gun to Sybil’s head. “But this is permanent.”
Kate’s heart slammed into her rib cage. “Don’t hurt her!”
“I won’t. Not if you do as I say.”
“F-f-fine! What do you want?”
Milos grabbed Sybil’s limp arm and raised it. “Free yourself.”
Kate raised a hand, her fingers turning into razor-sharp claws. For a second, she considered using it on his face but wasn’t sure if she could disable him before he pulled the trigger. She brought her paw down, slicing the handcuffs in half.
“Good,” Milos said. He reached over and pulled something from Sybil’s neck. It was a syringe. “Fuck! I used all of it on her! Damn dragon shifter! No matter.” He turned back to Kate and pointed the gun at her. “Get up!”
Kate got to her feet slowly, trying to think of a way to disable Milos. She had done it before, but they weren’t in a vehicle now.
“Put your hands behind you,” he ordered.
She did as he said, and he moved behind her. Something clamped around her wrists and forced them together—plastic zip ties. Milos pointed the gun to her head. “You try to break those, I’ll pull the trigger.”
“You can’t possibly think you can get away with this!”
“Did you think I didn’t know what Petros and the Alpha’s daughter was planning?” he said in an eerily calm voice. “I was one of them. Did they forget? Of course I knew he would try to draw me out. And that he would protect you.” He spat. “Poor, pathetic, and unloved Petros. Of course, I did not anticipate the dragon shifter to be here.” He glanced down at Sybil, who was now fully unconscious. “I would have brought more bloodsbane had I known.”
“So, what’s the plan then? Kidnap me again and try to draw out Petros?”
He gave a cruel laugh. “We know how that turned out. No,” he said, cocking the gun. “I’m simply going to kill you in front of him and watch his world crumble.”
Kate swallowed a gulp. This was it. She would die by the hands of this madman tonight and all without Petros knowing how she truly felt about him.
No fucking way. She was Kate motherfucking Caldwell. There had to be a way out of this.
“Let her go!”
Oh no.
Petros came out of the shadows. His face was drawn into a mask of fury. “Milos! Your fight is with me. Let her go. Now.”
Milos laughed and pulled Kate by the arm. “Ah, good. You’re here,” he said. “It’ll save me the trouble of having to find you.”
“Let her go, and we can settle this one on one," Petros said as he advanced on them.
“Don’t come any closer!” Milos yelled and pressed the gun to Kate’s temple.
“Milos, please,” Petros began, his voice soothing. “I … I did not know you were still alive. We were making our retreat, and I thought we were safe. It was my fault.”
“It most definitely was!” Milos said.
“You went overboard, and we thought you were long gone,” Petros explained.
Milos grit his teeth. “They fished me out of the water and tossed me into a detention center. After I was ‘processed,’ I was sent to some kind of medical laboratory for testing.”
Kate gasped. She had heard of what The Organization had done to shifters in their labs. A visible shiver ran through her.
“Please, Milos,” Petros begged. “It is not too late. You have done nothing wrong yet. We can help. Please, let us take you home. Your mother—”
“Fuck you, Petros!” Milos spat. “Do you think I want to live after what they did to me? For my mother to see what I am now? I’m not going to live past tonight. I don’t deserve to live, not after what they did to me and what they made me do!” He cocked the gun pointed at Kate. “At least I get to see your face when your mate dies in front of you before I leave this Godforsaken earth.”
“No!”
“Say goodbye to—”
Milos’s voice was drowned out by the loud sounds of whistles and bangs. Overhead the sky lit up with fireworks, part of the festivities happening at the block party. Milos dropped the gun and howled in anguish.
Kate didn’t waste any time. She ducked out of the way and then head-butted Milos right in his abdomen. He toppled and fell back, and Kate rolled away just in time as a large wolf soared over her and landed on top of Milos.
Using her shifter strength, Kate tore through the zip ties around her wrists. She stood up and saw Petros’ wolf holding down Milos, snapping its jaws at the man cowering underneath him. Shit. The fireworks must have triggered something in Milos, probably something they did to him in those labs since he didn’t even try to fight back. When she saw Petros’ wolf open its jaws, ready to go for Milos’ throat, Kate couldn’t stop her scream.
“Petros! No!” She ran to him, pushing her body forward like she’d never done before. “Petros, don’t kill him.”
The wolf looked up at her, its eyes crazed and glowing with anger. Milos remained prone, his face ashen and frozen in fright. He must have been going through some serious PTSD because he wasn’t even fighting. Instead, his head was turned to one side, neck exposed and ready.
“Petros, don’t.” She sank to her knees next to him. “You’ll regret it. You can’t kill your best friend.” Her fingers sank into his soft fur, and she called on her own wolf to try to soothe their mate. Her wolf whimpered an answer, yowling in pain as they both felt their mate’s anguish.
The wolf pressed its snout against her face, and slowly it began to ebb away until Petros was kneeling right next to her.
“Petros,” she choked. “Thank God.”
A flurry of movement made both of them turn their heads. Christina, Jason, and three agents were running toward them. Jason reached them first and hauled Milos to his feet as the three agents worked to secure him in handcuffs. It wasn’t difficult as Milos didn’t put up a struggle at all. Despite what he had done, Kate couldn’t help the ache she felt in her heart as she looked at his cold, lifeless expression.
“They … must have done … something terrible,” Petros rasped.
She wanted to answer, but she didn’t know what to say. Instead, she wrapped her arms around Petros and squeezed tight.
“Are you all right?” Christina asked as she approached. “We lost contact with Sybil, and we knew something must have happened.”
“Sybil!” She looked over to her fallen friend. Jason was already kneeling beside her, trying to revive his sister. “It’s bloodsbane. He gave her a whole syringe full. She’ll probably be out for hours, but she’ll be fine.”
“Thank God,” Christina said. “What happened?”
Kate quickly told her the events that had transpired. “The fireworks or the noises somehow made him catatonic. Probably PTSD from all those—” She stopped herself, not wanting Petros to hurt any more than he probably already was.
“It’s okay,” he said as he held onto Kate to get to his feet. “What they did to him … unacceptable. And my fault.”
“No!” Kate
protested. “We all know the people running The Organization are complete bastards! If anyone is to blame, it’s them!” She turned to Christina. “It’s not too late, right? He wasn’t fully feral. You can still save him, right?”
“We can try,” Christina said, but the expression on her face was tight.
“That’s all we need to know,” Kate said. “We will do what we can for him. Get him the best psychologist, treatments, rehab—whatever it takes to get him back.”
Christina nodded. “Of course. Now, I have things to take care of.” She looked over at Jason, who was carrying Sybil away. “You guys should go home. One of the agents can drive you back.”
“Thanks,” Kate said. “We’ll do that.”
Both of them remained silent for the rest of the evening. One of the agents had brought Petros some fresh clothes, and he dressed without saying a word. When they got into the car, he was stony and didn’t make a sound. Kate sat next to him, unable to speak. Even when they were alone after they got dropped off at the loft, neither of them tried to talk.
When the front door shut behind her, she finally broke the silence. “Petros, talk to me, please. I—” She stopped when he turned and wrapped his arms around her in a tight embrace.
“I thought I had lost you,” he murmured against her neck. “When they told me that Sybil wasn’t answering her comm, I knew something was wrong. And when I saw him with the gun to your head—”
“Shh.” She ran a hand down his back. “I’m here. It’s fine. Nothing happened to me.”
“You could have died." His voice broke with grief. "And when my wolf came out of me, it was blinded by hate. I nearly killed him.”
“But you didn’t.”
“You stopped me.”
“I made you see reason, but you stopped all by yourself,” she said. “What happened to Milos was terrible, but you can’t blame yourself for that. You didn’t do any of those things to him.”
“I know, but I am still partly to blame. I was the leader of the team. I chose to leave him behind.”
“You were making what you thought was the right choice at that moment. But I promise we will make it right.” She pulled away and looked up into the ocean-colored depths of his eyes. “I meant what I said. Whatever needs to be done, we’ll do it.”
The Blackstone She-Wolf: Blackstone Mountain 6 Page 13