by Maia Dylan
“What!” Xanthe sat forward. “Why would she do that?”
“Obviously in an attempt to keep you safe, love,” Dane soothed as he gently pulled her back onto the couch and tucked her under his arm. “Sounds to me like your sister is making sure all roads lead directly to her, and making herself as much of a target as possible. If she’s heading here, then she’s either trying to get to you to warn you or hoping to meet up with whoever you believe is coming for you.”
“I reckon it’s a bit of both,” Ty said from where he sat with his mate in his lap on the armchair across the room. “She’s coming here to keep Xanthe safe, but she’s also hoping to eliminate any threat she might think Xanthe might be under at the same time. And speaking of the threats to this town and my pack, you wanna tell me about the link Xanthe’s sperm-donating father has with Baxter and the late great fuck-up Silas Williams?”
Hunter grinned as Faith smacked Ty lightly on the arm. “Tact, my love, it is something we are going to need you to get before our baby is born.”
“Don’t hold your breath, baby.” Trent leaned forward and grinned. “It’s gonna be up to his momma and me to make sure he doesn’t spend the rest of his life hopping because he has one foot permanently shoved down his own throat.” Laughter filled the room for a moment and Hunter was glad for the reprieve. Tension had been filling his mate over the past few moments and that little bit of levity had her relaxing.
“Christakos was a mad bastard who believed he could genetically build the perfect weapon. He spent millions bankrolling scientists and laboratories that worked on creating a chemical formula that would stimulate areas of the brain that most human beings cannot access. This would in turn enable them to be able to things psychically that would never normally have been possible.” Jack watched Xanthe carefully as he spoke. “Like being able to read a person’s mind. Not just down a link that may have formed due to a familial bond or mating, but anyone’s mind that they concentrated hard enough on.”
Hunter forced himself to wait to see what Xanthe would do. He had a sudden sick feeling that he knew what Aristos had subjected his mate too, and he wasn’t sure he wanted to hear it.
“He spent years trying to get the right formula.” Xanthe’s voice was flat. “I lost count of how many trials he ran before he got a positive result. He would have scientist after scientist come to the compound, all working on a section of the formula, but no one person having information on the entire thing. That way only he held the entire sequence for the formula. His aim was to have a weapon that any government, corporation, or cartel would pay millions for. He would of course then look to rule the world, as all crazy world-domination-seeking assholes tend to want to do.”
Hunter heard the pain in his mate’s voice and had to touch her to comfort her anyway he could. His lion paced within him, anxious to make their mate happy, and to stop her feeling sad. Hunter moved swiftly around the couch, scooped her up into his arms, and sat close to Dane, draping her legs across Dane’s lap so that they could surround her with love and comfort. The fact that Xanthe leaned into them both like a kitten seeking warmth told him he had made the right move and it had his lion purring.
“He tested all that shit on you and Melaina, didn’t he, baby?” Dane asked as he reached his hand up to cup her face where it lay against Hunter’s chest. Hunter took a calming breath when he felt her nod her head.
“I was sixteen when I finally got free of him.” Xanthe spoke softly and her hand clenched in the front of his shirt, anchoring herself to him. “His last trial had worked, to a point. Where he had always thought I would be able to hear the thoughts of the person I concentrated on, it didn’t quite work that way. I would get pictures, or images that would form telling me what that person was thinking. The day I escaped, he had me read Rico, a colleague of his, and—well, let’s just say his thoughts toward me were not ones I was interested in seeing come true in any way.”
Hunter tensed at that. The man had obviously wanted to harm their mate, and Hunter wanted nothing more than to shred the skin from whoever the man was who dared think that about a sixteen-year-old girl, let alone their mate. Xanthe uncurled her fist and patted him gently on the chest, seeking to soothe him even when she was distraught at the story she was sharing and Hunter felt his heart turn over.
“Rico and my father came to an agreement of sorts in that moment, but before they were able to put it into action, all hell broke loose in that compound. Gunshots and explosions rocked the room and I scrambled behind a large armchair. Men speaking a language I had never heard before, but I now suspect may have been Spanish, stormed the building and then my father’s office. They killed everyone they encountered looking for Rico, including Aristos. Once they had killed Rico they left. I went looking for Melaina, but when I got to her room, she was gone. Whoever had stormed that compound looking for Rico had taken her.” Xanthe sniffed and Hunter could feel the heat of her tears soaking through the material of his shirt.
“Over the years, she has been able to send me images of where she was, the fact that she was being held with other girls and even who took her. But those images always told me that she was safe, and I lost that when I lost my ability. I haven’t been able to get anything from her since Baxter threw me through that display unit. She would often show me images of the people who took her and one man in particular stood out. He was always wearing a white lab coat, and I call him the Chemist. He is the one who took Melaina that day. I have no idea why or for what, but I know that he wants the two of us. He must have been one of the men my father used to perfect his formula, to genetically alter Melaina and me, and now he wants both pieces of the weapon.”
“That ain’t gonna happen, baby,” Hunter growled in her ear, as he squeezed her in his arms. “Fuck, with the number of shifters in this town at your back, no one is going to get close enough to you to hurt you. Add to that the fact that Ty and Trent are now heading the Shifter Council, and you have the entire Enforcer payroll ready and willing to protect you from harm.”
“That still doesn’t tell us where Baxter’s father and Williams fit into this,” Noah asked and Hunter was beginning to feel that there was a pretty large piece of the puzzle missing in the story so far and it had a lot to do with the answer to that question.
“Baxter’s father was a chemist, but from what I can tell, not the chemist.” Jack frowned as he spoke, obviously placing the pieces of the puzzle Xanthe had just shared next to what he had uncovered in his investigations. “He was almost certainly the one who came up with the lovely concoction we all love to hate, Jax. He was most certainly one of the scientists Aristos used. My bet is that Aristos knew nothing of shifters at that stage, but Baxter’s father did because he was one. A latent bear shifter who passed the gene on to his son, who turned out to be batshit crazy, but I don’t think that had anything to do with Aristos.
“That would also explain how Baxter’s father kept the bastard alive and away from the Shifter Council, I guess,” Faith said from her place on Ty’s lap. They had often wondered how Baxter had managed to avoid sentencing from the Council and he certainly got a lighter sentence than he should have. If his father was working for Williams then that would explain it.
“Baxter’s father then went to work for Silas Williams, who was trying to genetically enhance his pack to take over the shifter world. Yet another hairy egotistical bastard hell bent on world domination.” Jack turned to look at Xanthe with a grimace. “Somehow, sweetheart, your father had a hand to play in the creation of some pretty serious evil, hell bent on hurting people in this town.”
Hunter felt Xanthe flinch in his arms and he leveled a glare at Jack. “Jack doesn’t mean that you are to blame for Baxter or Williams, or any of the other shit that has come this way in the past few months, baby.” Hunter squeezed his mate gently.
“Hell, no, he didn’t,” Dane snarled, “because if he did, I would have to take him outside and introduce him to his spleen.”
Jack paled slight
ly. “No, I definitely did not mean it that way,” he said apologetically, “I simply meant that this is a small world. And it looks like one of the chemists Aristos used to perfect the formula he used on you, was the one who took Melaina. And she is on her way her to protect you from him.”
The group sat there for a moment, processing everything they had learned. Hunter couldn’t believe how many lives Aristos Christakos had fucked over with his crazy scheme. He knew he should hate the fucker with everything in him, and to be fair, if Aristos happened to walk into the room in that moment, he wouldn’t hesitate in opening a lion-sized can of instant death on his ass. But he had brought Xanthe into this world, and because of what he did to her, he’d also brought her into his life. In a sick fucked-up way, he was thankful to the bastard.
“Right, then!” Ty stood with his mate still in his arms which must have been a typical move because Faith didn’t even flinch. “We know that we have a sister hell bent on protection and some fucking crazy chemist heading our way. With a whole team of Enforcers and my pack standing in their way, it sounds to me like one hell of a party. Come on, my baby mama, let’s get you home to bed.”
“But,” Faith spluttered, “I’m not tired!”
“I do believe that Ty never mentioned the word sleep, baby,” Trent said with an exaggerated eyebrow waggle that had Faith giggling. They left and took Jack, Maurice, and the Enforcers with them, making plans to coordinate surveillance teams and share any information they found.
“I’m gonna head out, too.” Noah stood to leave, but paused at the door. “You know, I nearly walked away from the best thing that has ever happened to me. I know what it is like to do something purely because you feel it is for the best. Sometimes, though, Xanthe, to listen to your heart and keep the ones that love you closest to you is what is for the best. And all that other shit just gets in the way.”
Hunter blinked and shook his head as Noah walked out of the house, leaving him there with just his mates. Jesus, that was the most he’d ever heard Noah say at any one time.
“It’s funny,” Xanthe said with a grin as she turned to look first at him and then at Dane. “But I had been thinking that very same thing.”
“What?” Hunter felt his anger rise as his lion roared within him. “You were still thinking about leaving?”
Xanthe’s eyes widened. “No! Not at all! I was thinking that it would be best to keep the ones I love most close to me. And that’s you and Dane.” A beguiling blush rose in Xanthe’s cheeks and her hands twisted together in a sure sign that she was nervous. “Well, and Melaina and I have already placed our fate in your hands. Hopefully by the end of this, I will have my sister back and that would be great, but what I need is to know that I belong to you and you belong to me.”
Every dominant gene in Hunter’s body roared to life at Xanthe’s words, and he felt his cock fill with need to claim this woman in truth. Something of what he felt must have been reflected in his eyes, because when her gaze rose to his he saw an answering heat surge to shimmer there.
“Our job in life is to give you what you need,” Hunter held completely still. Not allowing himself to move an inch. Knowing that if he did, his control would shatter and he would have both her and Dane beneath him in seconds. “That having been said, it is fortuitous that what you need damn well mirrors what we want more than anything else.”
“Hell, baby.” Dane’s lion must have been riding him hard because Hunter could hear it clearly in his voice. “You want to belong to us? And have us belong to you? Shit, I want that so damn bad.” Dane paused and looked at Hunter, desire and need burning in his gaze. “I want it for three of us. A true triad. Bound together in truth, by claim, by bite, and by blood. If that’s what you want, Hunter.”
The moment was so emotionally heavy Hunter felt it like a physical weight pressing down on him. Was that what he wanted? Xanthe and Dane bound to him in all ways for all time?
“Fuck yeah, that’s exactly what I want,” Hunter growled as he stalked forward.
Chapter 10
Xanthe shivered at the possessive look in Hunter’s eyes as he stalked toward her and Dane. She didn’t think twice about claiming these men as hers and allowing them to claim her. Hell, as far as she was concerned they had been working toward this for the past four months. Granted, she had been unconscious for some of that, but Xanthe didn’t give a rat’s ass. These two hulking Enforcers were hers, and by the end of that night, they would all wear a claiming bite that proclaimed that fact to the world.
Hunter stepped up to her and dragged her body to his, and lifted her against him so that her feet barely reached her living room floor. She managed a gasp of surprise before Hunter claimed her mouth in a kiss that had her head spinning. With each thrust of his tongue into her mouth she felt her nipples tighten further. Every time he licked into her mouth, swirling his tongue against hers, she felt her pussy clench. And each time Hunter pulled her bottom lip into his mouth and gently pressed it between his teeth, her pussy flooded with cream.
“Jesus, baby, I can smell your sweet pussy,” Dane groaned against her neck and she became aware for the first time that he had stepped up behind her. His hands rested on her hips, and he gently rolled his hips against her ass and she shivered at the feel of him. “Hunter kisses like no other, right? The way he sucks your bottom lip into his mouth makes you want to drop to your knees and thank him the only way you know will have him losing that steely control that is so fucking hot it’s almost criminal.”
Xanthe whimpered at the image Dane painted, and Hunter tore his mouth from hers with a groan. “Fuck, Dane, that sounds like the perfect start to this night.” Hunter gently placed her back on her feet and Xanthe grinned at the hungry look on his face. She stepped back so that she could see both Dane and Hunter at the same time, then calling on her inner vixen, she started walking backward toward her bedroom, slowly sliding the buttons of her blouse through the button holes.
“I think you’re right, Hunter.” Xanthe’s voice was huskier than she had ever heard it before. Hunter and Dane shared a quick grin, then began to follow her, pulling the T-shirts over their heads with one hand, a move that Xanthe had always appreciated and loved the play of the muscles across their shoulders and chests that rippled with the move. “But I want all three of us naked as we start this journey because I don’t want anything in our way.”
Xanthe pulled her blouse from her shoulders and loved the hungry shock on her men’s faces when they saw the barely there lacy black demi bra she wore. Biting her lip, she slid her hands into the yoga pants she wore and stooped to slide them down her legs. Now, she could have taken her panties along with them, but then Hunter and Dane would have missed her entire lingerie ensemble in all its barely-there glory.
Slowly standing as tall as she could, she let them see the front of the panties that matched the bra that had them both salivating moments before. She had to fight back a grin as their eyes locked to the round white pearls that nestled over her clit. “So why don’t you boys strip and leave those jeans here, and follow me into the bedroom, hmm?”
Then she turned.
“Holy—”
“Fuck!”
Apparently they liked her pearl string thong that she knew disappeared between the globes of her ass, and lay over the generous curves of her hips. Not the most comfortable item of clothing she had ever worn, but with reactions like theirs she was tempted to only ever wear them. Grinning and maintaining the exaggerated hip movements in her walk, Xanthe let out a short giggle at the sound of growling and clothing been torn behind her, as her mates hurried to comply with her suggestion.
Xanthe was under no illusion that she would be the one calling the shots in the bedroom very often. But she knew that the few times she would be allowed, she was sure as hell going to make the most of it. Walking into the bedroom, Xanthe pulled a cushion from the love seat she had beneath her bedroom window. She paused for a moment, then grabbed a second one.
Turning, she st
epped into the middle of the room as Dane and Hunter came striding through the door. Xanthe caught her breath at how hot they looked. Both of them exuded power and dominance, their entire bodies rippling with muscle. Their erections were both impressive and mouthwatering.
Xanthe dropped the pillows side by side at Hunter’s feet and slowly lowered herself to kneel on one of them. When she leaned forward and pressed her cheek to his thigh, she heard Hunter’s sigh of satisfaction as he gently cupped the back of her head with his hand.
“Dane, my love,” Xanthe said softly, and looked up at her mate from beneath her lashes. “Haven’t you ever wanted to take Hunter’s big hard cock in your mouth, and enjoy the feel of him sliding along your tongue and nudging up against the back of your throat?”
“Fuck me,” Hunter growled through gritted teeth and Xanthe watched as Dane’s beautiful blue eyes darkened and he licked his lips. Xanthe guessed that that would be a hell of a yes, then. Dane’s gaze flew to Hunter and Xanthe bit her lip at the look that passed between her men.
“You don’t have to, D. Not if it’s—” Hunter started to say.
“Shut up, Hunter,” Dane said with a grin. “You and I have both had our fair share of male lovers in the past. But this is something I have dreamed about for so fucking long.”
“Then get on your knees, mate,” Hunter said through gritted teeth and Xanthe frowned to see his eyes had narrowed. “And I find that I am a possessive and jealous mate, Dane, so it would be best for you to never mention any lovers you had before us.”
Dane rolled his eyes as he dropped to his knees beside Xanthe. “Sure, Hunter. Consider me a virgin before we fucked our Xanthe last night and you took my ass. Better?”
“Infinitely. Now, suck me, my mates,” Hunter’s voice was little more than a growl and Xanthe turned to grin at Dane before she swooped in and gently swiped her tongue over the crown of Hunter’s cock, moaning as his taste exploded over her tongue. Her heartbeat accelerated as Dane leaned forwarded, and mirrored her move.