by Sam Crescent
She was afraid of him back at the cabin when he tore those men apart like they were nothing more than ragdolls, even more so when her advanced Taser had very little effect on him when it had easily dropped the other shifters. She had learned to move with her weapons like they were a part of her, infusing her training from her kickboxing classes, and the men, unsuspecting of the damage a mere human could do to them, were taken completely off guard.
None of her earlier fears, however, compared to the one she was having now—falling for the man who claimed ownership over her.
They arrived in Brooklyn—Park Slope—about an hour later and parked in front of a brownstone with a small, well-looked-after garden in the front. “Why are we here?” Thea asked.
“I live here,” he replied as he gently prodded her on the small of her back to walk in front of him. “I promised your father I’d deliver you safely to him, but they’ll be looking for you now. You’ll be safe here while I go search for Teresa.”
Thea whirled around on him. “She’s my sister.” Her voice broke on the last word and then she felt her ire stir. “If you think for one second that I am going to stay here like a good little girl and wait—”
He placed a finger gently over her lips, the move shocking her into silence. How dare he!
“I get it,” he said. “You’re going to be a complete pain in my ass until we find your sister and make me chase after you again unless I take you with me.” He stepped in closer, invading her space. She could feel his breath on her face as he next spoke. “And I find good little girls to be extremely boring, Thea. Now let’s go inside so you can tell me all about your little pink toy.”
She gulped loudly, making him chuckle, cursing herself again for her visceral reaction to him. She had never had this reaction to another man before, probably why she always easily walked away from her past relationships.
He led her inside. A large name plate on an apartment door on the first floor made her stop in her tracks. “Logan Munro,” she read aloud.
“That’s me … my office,” Logan replied. “I live upstairs.”
“So my dad was the highest bidder, I take it?” She folded her arms, waiting for a response.
“What the hell are you talking about?” he asked, appearing confused.
Thea wasn’t buying it, though. Instead, she kicked him in the shin, instantly regretting it as the pain shot up from her toes to her leg while her blow literally had zero effect on him.
“What the hell are you doing?” he snapped.
“Ow, ow,” was all she could muster in response at first as she began hopping on her uninjured foot. Finally, through gritted teeth she replied, “I was trying to kick you.” She felt like such a ninnyhammer.
“Are you always this violent?” He growled his displeasure.
She snorted. “Are you the pot or the kettle?”
Logan pursed his lips. With a roll of his eyes, followed by an exasperated sigh, he threw her over his shoulder and carried her upstairs, and deposited her, not so gently this time, on his couch after they entered his apartment. He left her alone for a minute and returned with an ice pack before sitting himself down in front of her on his coffee table. He handed her the ice pack. “For your cheek.” Thea heard him add in a mumble, “Fucker’s lucky he’s dead.”
He shocked the hell out of her, by lifting her injured foot, removing her four-inch heeled boot, and then gently rubbing her toes. “Nothing’s broken.”
She let out a long slow breath. “I’m sorry,” she finally said. He was being incredibly generous, given the fact her second injury was incurred trying to do him bodily harm. “I shouldn’t have kicked you.”
“No, you shouldn’t have,” he said matter-of-factly as he continued to massage her toes. “For starters, you could have really hurt yourself had you put just a little more pressure into your kick. And second of all, it wasn’t very nice. What the hell did you mean by your father being the highest bidder? For what exactly?”
“We knew that Leon had located Teresa a few weeks ago,” Thea began. “So we started digging into what he and his followers were up to.”
“Leon Kostastakis, you mean?” Logan asked.
“Yes,” she said, figuring that her dad must have already filled him in on the history between Leon’s pack and her sister. “Teresa and I came across your name in our findings. He was going to hire you to … retrieve us,” she concluded on a distasteful note.
Logan stopped his attentions to her foot, but he still kept hold of it on his thigh. “Let’s get two things straight right off the bat.” He looked angry, making her flinch. “Make that three. One, I would never hurt you, so stop being afraid of me.” He took her hand, the one she was holding the ice pack with, and gently placed it over her bruised cheek. He let his hand linger there for a moment before continuing. “Two, I would never deliver innocent women to a bunch of cultist criminals. And lastly, I take cases on a first come, first serve basis, and those I deem worthy of my time. I don’t drop a client because someone else offers me more money. It’s not how I operate, not to mention the fact it would ruin my reputation.”
Once again, she saw the sincerity of his words on his face, heard it in the tone of his voice. Her gut told her he meant every word. Teresa had told her once that not all shifters were bad, which wasn’t hard for Thea to believe since her sister was one of the kindest people she had ever met. Teresa had also spoken of her family many times, all of whom were nothing like Leon and his family. But Leon was an alpha, and so was Logan, based on not only the abilities he had displayed earlier in the cabin, but also from what she had read about him in Leon’s files. Alphas were uncommon, and extremely dominant.
Teresa had not been able to sense Leon as her mate from that young of an age, but he, being a teenager at the time, had sensed her. His family had groomed him for leadership, to take what he wanted, and now he would stop at nothing in order to keep Teresa, like she was nothing more than his possession. Her sister had felt the threat of this looming over her since the murder of her parents, never allowing herself to find someone of her choosing to be happy with. She was terrified of what Leon might do to a man she became involved with. Now Thea had her own reason to be terrified.
She cast her eyes down and whispered, “I told you before that I won’t be owned by anyone.”
And then Logan was on the couch next to her. She felt his fingers under her chin, gently prodding her to look over at him. “I do want to own you,” he said, his voice raspy. “I want to own you body and soul, as you will own me, but I want you to give yourself to me freely. Mates are a beautiful gift to be cherished and protected, Thea.”
She couldn’t help the shiver of excitement that ran through her body at his words. She had to press her legs together when she felt that same rush reach into her core. “And if I refuse?” she asked, her voice breathy.
“I won’t take you against your will, if that’s what you’re asking me,” he said firmly. And then she saw a sly smile forming at the corner of his lips. “But that doesn’t mean I’ll stop trying to convince you. I see how your body is reacting to me, Thea. You want me, but you’re trying to convince yourself you don’t. I can see how you are pressing your legs together and I can smell your desire. You may not be able to sense a mate like wolves do, but you can still recognize me as yours.”
“You’re arrogant, aren’t you?” she asked, but her voice quivered, losing its bite.
He only smiled wider at her words. “Confident, not arrogant. We were made for each other, you and me.” He stood up. “I need to make some phone calls to my outsourced contractors. I’m going to put some detail on all of Leon’s properties tonight, get some of their routines down.” He took out his phone and sent a text. “Your rental car will be taken care of shortly.”
“Thank you, Logan,” she said, “for everything.”
“You’re welcome.” His smile was breathtaking, revealing perfectly straight white teeth and making his eyes sparkle. “Thea…”
“A wolf always catches his prey.”
Thea got the feeling he wasn’t just referring to Leon and his demon pack.
Chapter Four
“Tell me about those Tasers,” Logan prompted Thea after they finished eating. He had quickly whipped up a bowl of spaghetti with sauce from a bottle when he had heard Thea’s stomach growl, to her utter embarrassment. She told him she hadn’t eaten since early that morning, and even then it was just a granola bar and coffee. He’d see about taking her out for a proper dinner date once her sister was rescued and Leon, along with his goons, were taken care of.
Thea walked over to the couch to grab her handbag and brought it over to the dining table. She took out the pink Taser and placed it on the table before reaching back into her bag and producing another one in black. She pressed her lips together, and then dug into her bag again. This time she produced what looked like a lipstick, followed by a perfume bottle, and several pens.
“These are all Tasers?” he asked incredulously.
She nodded.
“What, you don’t have any disguised as tampons?”
“Nope,” she said. “The tampon is just a tampon, I’m afraid.”
Logan was still shocked at what he had seen at the cabin earlier. “I’ve never heard of a Taser having any kind of effect on a shifter, let alone incapacitating them for quite a lengthy time.”
She took a seat opposite him. “That’s because it’s something Teresa and I have been developing together for years. We discovered that even after the twitching stops, the body feels weak from the extreme disruption of the dual nervous system … man and beast, if you will.” She paused, as if gauging his reaction. He nodded for her to continue. “My sister is an engineer. She works for a company that develops mechanical prostheses. I’m her research assistant and this”—she gestured toward her weapons on the table—“is our little side project.” She pointed to the pink Taser. “This one delivers the most power.” Pointing to the black one, she continued, “This one here is almost as strong as the pink one, but you can shoot it from up to fifteen feet away from your opponent.”
She then went on to explain that the lipstick Taser, which was also as powerful as the pink one, had to be used at close range, while the perfume-bottled one could be used at a distance. The benefit of them both was their discreetness. If she had been captured and searched, and the lipstick were in her pocket, it could have easily been overlooked and remained in her possession.
Fucking brilliant. “And the pens?”
“They mostly just stun. Come in handy if you need to question someone.”
Logan was thoughtful for a moment. “This kind of power … I’m guessing it can obliterate a human.”
“We’d never use it on one,” she said defensively.
“I know,” he said, holding up his hand in placation. “I’m not accusing you of that. I’m simply saying that to be able to figure out the right amount of power to bring down a wolf shifter, you’d need to test it on one.”
Logan could see that she understood what he was getting at. Thea bowed her head and bit her lip, clearly unhappy with how she and her sister had developed their technology. She finally met his eyes again, hers pooling with tears. “She was so scared all the time.” She paused and took a deep breath. “Teresa always knew he’d find her. She didn’t want them to take another family from her so she begged me to help her.” She paused again and turned her head to the side, a tear rolling down her cheek. Logan moved his chair closer to her and took her hand.
“The first few times after we started to get closer to the right strength were the worst,” she continued. “She’d scream and her body would convulse. God, I even fucking passed out with her a few times.” She closed her eyes, as if trying to blot out the painful memories.
Logan pulled her to him and wrapped his arms around her. “We’re going to get her back,” he whispered in her ear. “I promise you.”
Her eyes were still watery when their gazes met and she stated, “The Taser wouldn’t have worked on him.”
“It fucking hurt, Thea, but no.” His voice sounded raspy and tortured to his own ears when he added, “If you had found Leon before I found you, he would have killed you. I would have lost my destiny before even realizing I had one.”
She gave him a shaky smile just as another thought occurred to him. “What were you and your sister planning on doing if your weapon did end up working on Leon like the others?”
Thea hesitated for a few beats before responding. “There’s no way Teresa could win a fight against an alpha, but with him down, she was going to…”
Logan hugged her close. He didn’t need for her to finish her sentence. Teresa was going to take him out. There was no other way. The rest of his cultist pack would disband without their alpha. “Once I take care of Leon, his pack will no longer be a threat,” he told Thea. “Teresa was just a child when they killed her parents. She had no alpha in her corner, but I can assure you that she does now.” He’d make damn sure the survivors of the Kostastakis family and pack members would know that he’d end them as well should they ever fuck with any member of the Petridis family again.
“You’ll stay here with me tonight,” he told her. “Tomorrow night, after my men gather enough information and they get Teresa’s location, we’ll go get her.”
Surprisingly she didn’t protest, especially after he told her that he had people watching her parents as well, making sure they were safe. He had heard the relief in her father’s voice when she had spoken to him on the phone earlier and he pretty much commanded her to do as Logan ordered when she said she wasn’t going to sit out. Logan suspected her father had plenty of experience with the stubbornness of his own daughter and it was easier to let her do her thing while keeping her safe than to try and stop her.
“Do you have more of these?” he asked inclining his head toward the assortment of Tasers.
She nodded. “We keep them locked up at work.”
“Good to know in case we need more. In the meantime, you should go get some rest.” He stood up and offered her his hand, pleased that this time she took it instead of swatting him away. He stood close to her, towering over her five-foot-four frame, and ran his knuckles gently over her non-bruised cheek. “You can sleep in my room,” he said, pointing it out to her. “It’s bigger and has its own bathroom. I’ll take the guest room.”
“I don’t want to impose,” she began, but he stopped her with a gentle kiss to her lips. It was chaste, and nothing like the way he actually wanted to kiss her, but once again he feared scaring her off.
He pulled back and saw that her eyes were still closed, and her expression conveyed that she had been just as lost in the kiss as he was despite their quick meeting of lips. He smiled at her when she finally opened her eyes. “You’re not imposing, Thea. I like having you here.” He’d like it even more if she moved in, but he wasn’t going to tell her that … yet.
She cleared her throat and took a few steps back. “I’m just going to take a quick shower before I turn in.”
“There are clean towels in the cabinet,” he said, expecting her to turn and go, but she just stood there, staring at him.
Finally, after a few more moments, she cleared her throat again and said, “Good night,” before heading for his room.
He was going to need a cold shower himself if he had any hopes of falling asleep tonight, especially since now his mind was conjuring up all kinds of delicious images of his naked mate in the shower.
“Oh, my God!”
He heard her squeal from his bedroom, quickly dousing out his erotic images of her. He ran to his room and threw open his bedroom door, ready to dismember whoever was threatening his mate, but he found her safe and sound, gawking at the guitar in a display case on the wall. “Was that really signed by Slash?”
“Jesus, fuck! You scared me.” He didn’t scare easily, but this woman could bring him to his knees, and without any enhanced fancy gadget
ry. Once his heart rate returned to normal, he answered, “It was actually his guitar that he signed and gave me.”
She turned to him, awestruck. “Wow! How’d you manage that?”
Logan shrugged. “Payment for my services. You’re a Guns N’ Roses fan?”
“Hell, yeah! My father loves them and it sort of spilled over onto Teresa and me.” She turned back to the display case. “So … um … what did he hire you to do?”
“I can’t tell you that,” he replied.
She turned to face him again and rolled her eyes. “Or you’ll have to kill me?”
Logan barked out a laugh. “No, honey. Client confidentiality and all.”
She smiled back at him. “Oh. Well, okay then.”
As much as he wanted to stay and talk more with her, or even better, to rip all of her clothes away from her luscious body and devour every inch of her skin before sinking his cock deep inside of her, he turned to go. There was only so much torture he could endure and the sweet smell of her arousal was only adding to his inferno.
When he reached the door, he turned around and said, “By the way, Slash isn’t human.” He chuckled as her jaw dropped before turning to leave again.
“Well that explains his inhuman guitar-playing skills,” he heard her say after he had already left the room.
Logan’s pocket vibrated with a text from one of his contacts. He found Teresa in upstate New York and was sending him live feed of her location and would be sending periodic updates of the goings-on there. After he powered up his laptop, Logan studied the surveillance. His cold shower would have to wait for now, he decided, but he thought perhaps his favorite pastime would help him relax and get his mind off of a certain naked woman in his bathroom while he stared at the computer screen.
Chapter Five