by Merel Pierce
“I am the closest thing to family that Donovan has left. There is nothing for anyone to use against him, he has been loyal to this family for far too long to have any secrets. It is why I chose him for this task. Come, open the panic room for me sweet one.” He beckoned, the curling of his fingers leading her towards him as he ventured across the room.
“It’s already open.” She murmured curiously as she watched her mate vanish into the closet. She followed, peeking around the corner of the open frame and spied him unlocking the small cabinet on the wall with a key from his pocket. When he revealed two guns on the peg board rack inside, December frowned. “I thought you said it was empty.”
“Yes, well. I could hardly tell you otherwise with the state you were in.” He removed the first weapon, checking the clip and inspecting its functions before lifting his jacket to tuck it in the back of his waistband. “You’ll have to forgive the lie, sweet one. I was only thinking of your safety.”
“You just didn’t want me to shoot you.” He sent her a lopsided smirk as he closed the cabinet, though she noticed he didn’t bother to lock it.
“True enough.”
December backed out of the closet, the male following her at a leisurely pace. “What now?” She asked uncertainty. The alpha curled a hand around the back of her neck, stopping her motion. “Now, I will get your lunch. Then, I must go back to work.” To her surprise, he lowered himself to his knees before her, hands sliding down to rest against her waist.
Now slightly less than eye level with her, the male tugged her closer and angled his head for her to kiss him. December lifted her own hands to frame his face, pressing her lips eagerly to his. For several moments she allowed herself to be lost in their kiss, melting into him as his tongue danced against her own in a possessive bid for her attention.
When he finally broke away, she followed his retreat, not ready to let him go. She dropped feather light kisses on his nose, cheeks, and forehead, finally drawing him against her chest and resting her chin atop his head. “I do love you, you know.” She murmured softly, rubbing her cheek against his hair and trying to keep from letting her worry ruin the moment.
“And I you, sweet girl. Do not worry. Everything will be fine.” He nuzzled at her throat briefly before using the leverage he held on her waist to force her back a step. Now given the space to do so, he pressed one palm gently to the space between her hip bones. Fingers splayed and flexed, the warmth of his hand seeping into the flesh above the place in which his child was developing in its mother’s womb. He glanced down between them, a soft smile forming as their bond vibrated with the evidence of his happiness. “I love you as well, little one.”
He rose to his feet and offered her another kiss. “I will be back soon, my love. Be strong for me?” She nodded mutely, watching in uncertain silence as the male got to his feet and blessed her with one final smile before leaving her to retrieve her lunch.
Chapter 35
December spent the rest of the day in the panic room, huddled in front of the monitor scrutinizing her mate and the alphas who surrounded him. Knowing that he’d sent the man he trusted most off to root out the threat did nothing to help her nerves. If anything, it made her feel worse. Yes, he was armed. But for all she knew Bulgras could have his hooks in more than one of Nikolai’s men. It wasn’t a risk she was comfortable taking, but he hadn’t exactly given her a choice.
The only time she left her perch was to use the restroom, and even those breaks were taken as infrequently as she could manage. She was terrified that something would happen while she was away from the screen. She had no idea what she’d do if he were attacked, but not being there to help wasn’t an option. There was too much at stake.
Around seven that evening, her alpha excused himself. Knowing this was his habit when it was time to bring her meals, she returned to the bedroom to wait for him. In the window seat she fidgeted, one leg shaking with the rapid bouncing of her foot as she tried to control her anxiety. The second she heard the door groan to life, she was on her feet. When the slab rolled back to reveal her tray laden mate, her shoulders slumped, and she breathed a sigh of relief.
December was quick to snatch the tray away when he turned to close the door, depositing it on the cushions she’d just abandoned before turning back to throw herself against the alpha’s middle. He “oomphed” in surprise, chuckling as she slid her hands beneath his jacket and pulled herself flush against him. The rich warmth of his purr rumbled to life beneath her ear, immediately soothing her frazzled nerves.
“Had I known the idea of my death could inspire such enthusiasm for my company, I might have concocted a ‘threat’ to tell you of before.”
With a frown, she drew back to glare up at him. “That’s not even remotely funny, you ass!” The alpha only smiled, bending forward to sweep her off her feet and up into his arms. December squeaked in surprise, arms closing around his neck as he toted her towards the bed nearby. “What are you doing?”
He smirked as he deposited her on the mattress and promptly started to shed his clothes. “Soothing my mate, as she has been a nervous wreck for the better part of the day and is greatly impairing my ability to focus.” December leaned back on her elbows, pouting as she watched him strip out of his clothes and lay them over the corner of the bed. The gun, he placed on the floor.
“I’m worried, I can’t help it.” She muttered distractedly as her eyes trailed down the male’s beautifully muscled torso to the impressive erection hanging between his legs. Unable to stand at full attention due to sheer girth and length, his cock bobbed and swayed under its own weight with each movement he made, like the sexiest kind of pendulum. She licked her lips.
He crawled over her, a leisurely motion of one hand on her leg pushing her dress up as he lowered his head to tuck his nose beneath her ear. A broad chest expanded slowly as he drew in her scent, palm pausing against the swell of her hip as he groaned in pleasure at what he found. It made December shiver, goosebumps raising along her skin as he nuzzled against her throat. “Your concern is pleasing to me, sweet one. It serves as a reminder that my mate loves me, and longs for me to be with her.”
She folded her arms around his neck, drawing her legs back against her belly and pointing her feet up over his hips. Heels now planted against the backs of his thighs, she tried to pull him closer.
“Don’t get too cocky.” The male chuckled again as he pivoted his hips, the length of his shaft grinding back and forth against her mound and lower belly in a teasing motion that had her squirming and leaking enough slick to promptly soak her panties. The low growl of approval that sounded against her ear had December shivering and twitching, her nervous system buzzing to life under his attention. “It’s really not an attractive trait in a man.”
When he bucked his hips again she gasped, only to have the male take advantage of her parted lips by covering her mouth with his own. She feigned a noise of annoyance, but the huff she gave was swallowed greedily by the man whose tongue was currently dancing against her own. It was pointless to pretend she didn’t want him, but he did seem to enjoy proving her wrong when she tried.
Once she was sufficiently subdued to his liking, the male broke their kiss. She grunted in protest, which only resulted in a lopsided grin from the alpha with the blown pupils hovering above her. “I don’t believe you mean that, little wolf.” He teased, his tone thick with the husky sort of seduction only an alpha like him was capable of summoning with words alone.
He pulled her arms from his neck, sitting back on his heels to gaze down on her with blatant appreciation. Dazed and drunk on her growing arousal, she watched as the predator within her alpha slowly took control, obviously feeding off the sight of her flushed cheeks and the quick rise and fall of her chest. “Panties off.”
She briefly considered disobeying him, but instinct wouldn’t allow it. She was suddenly desperate to have him inside her, and there wasn’t time for games. She released the hold her knees had on his waist, drawing them
back against her belly once more. The action allowed helping hands to glide her underwear down over her hips, dragging the scrap of fabric slowly towards her ankles. Once he’d tossed them aside, his fingers quickly returned to her body to retrace the path her underwear had just taken. Up her calves, the backs of her knees, the outsides of her thighs. Her skin heated and tingled in the wake of his touch, so that she was biting her lip by the time his hands settled on her knees and parted her thighs. She allowed her legs to fall open willingly, reaching for him even as he settled over her body.
This time, they came together in a violent clash of lips and limbs, neither having the patience left to be gentle. Her hands tangled in his hair, mimicking the action of his own thick fingers knotting around silken strands against her skull. His mouth was bruising, the possessiveness of his kiss matched equally in its passion by her own desire to be claimed by him. She had only the briefest warning nudge of his bulbous head against her sex before the male surged forward, burying his cock into a sheath that quivered and pulsed as it strained to accept him.
December yelped, pain and pleasure taking turns on her overly sensitive flesh when he withdrew far enough to birth a second, brutal thrust. She bit his lip in result, and the misplaced attempt at a warning earned a debilitating growl that had her writhing and moaning mindlessly beneath the continued onslaught of her mate in no time.
He took her hard and fast, his determination to see them knotted obvious by the urgency with which he worked her body and the frequency with which he growled. There was nothing to do but ride out the storm and give broken voice to her pleasure any time his mouth wasn’t smothering her ability to do so.
Perhaps their shortest coupling, the male was spreading the lips of her sex to make way for his root in under five minutes. As she lay panting and squirming beneath him, he sank deep and hooked the inflating knot behind her pubic bone with a groan of relief. The male quivered and huffed under the intensity of his orgasm, the rolling waves of pleasure he felt setting fire to her own climax. She clung to his shoulders, cursing and whining as she mindlessly set teeth to her mark on his throat.
The male bucked, giving a violent shudder as she felt his cock swell with a second orgasm, bursting forward to coat her insides in another wave of sticky heat before he’d had a chance to come down from the first. Her jaw tightened instinctively, a possessive growl unexpectedly breeching her throat as she continued to cling to the mountain of a man. To her surprise, he made no move to dislodge her. As he continued to pump stream after stream of cum into her trembling body, his knot grew larger still.
When a previously unnoticed thumb descended on the sensitive nub of her clitoris, December shrieked a mixture of surprise and pleasure, finally releasing her hold on his throat. Primed and ready, it took the circling pad of his finger only two motions to bring her back to the edge and have her panting and wild, desperate for what only he could give her.
Several minutes more he forced her to bear it, despite her pitiful mixture of pleas and demands. It was only when she began to sob for relief that he took pity and switched tactics, blessedly tipping her over the edge into another mind-numbing orgasm.
She groaned in protest when the male rolled them over, upsetting her world as he changed their position. The instant she was spread across his chest with his heart thrumming loudly against her ear however, December quieted. When he began to stroke her hair, she closed her eyes and basked in the hazy afterglow of their lovemaking. Her mate continued his petting with a contented sigh, purring lazily as they waited for his knot to recede.
“I know things have been difficult for you,” the male murmured quietly, the gentleness of his tone suggesting he didn’t wish to upset their calm. December angled her head back, brow furrowing slightly as she looked up the length of his chest to meet the alpha's gaze.
Affection bloomed there, and with it, the sense of warmth his bond birthed in her chest. Thick fingers grazed her cheek, brushing damp hair away from her eyes as he smiled down at her. “When this is done, sweet one, I will make certain that you and our child have everything you could possibly desire for the rest of your days, along with more love and adoration than you are capable of standing.” December felt her cheeks flush at his declaration, both embarrassed and painfully hopeful that it was a promise he would live to see fulfilled. Too flustered to return the sentiment, she wrinkled her nose and tucked her chin.
“You know I hate it when you talk too much.”
The male snorted. They both knew it was a lie.
***
The peace didn’t last. But as he so patiently reminded her, he had a traitor to root out and an adversary to best. It was made worse by the alpha’s admission that he was to attend a dinner meeting downstairs and would be out of range of the panic room cameras for several hours. He apologized profusely when her tears came unbidden, swearing there was no cause for concern, and he would be careful. With a dozen kisses, half as many desperate hugs, she’d handed him his gun and finally allowed him to leave. As she watched the bedroom door close behind him, her anxiety returned.
With little other recourse, she returned to her post at the monitors. She tracked the male’s descent as best she was able, eyes flickering from one camera to the next as he vanished and appeared on another screen. The panic room cameras didn’t cover the entire house, only the exits, hallways on both floors, and the office. It was woefully inadequate for her current needs, or to stem the tide of her rising fear. Each time he disappeared, her heart skipped a beat, a whoosh of relief leaving her lungs each time he reappeared.
December’s visions almost always came within hours of the actual event. Finding it hard to believe that it wouldn’t follow its normal pattern, his being gone affected her even worse now than it had that afternoon. The clock was ticking on Bulgras’ plan, and Nikolai’s life.
When the male finally entered the dining room downstairs, she blew out a sigh of frustration and sat back. Glowering at the two figures guarding the door, she couldn’t help wondering if one of them might be the ‘assassin’ sent to take out their boss. When her imagination started concocting every awful, gory scenario she could think of, she abandoned her perch, unable to watch any longer without dissolving into a hysteric mess.
She returned to the bedroom, fully intending to take up pacing the perimeter in hopes of distracting herself. The idea of a bath might have been more soothing, had she not been afraid of being caught unprepared. As it turned out, she’d get to do neither.
No sooner than she’d crossed the floor toward the window, her steps began to slow without her permission. A foreign ringing invaded her ears, deafening her to any other noise as her vision grew fuzzy and her field of vision inexplicably narrowed. “What the…” The sound of her own voice was muffled beyond recognition, and when she blinked it seemed to happen in slow motion.
She realized too late what was happening, and by the time it occurred to her that she should sit down, her legs were already giving way beneath her. Her fall to the carpet wasn’t graceful, and the jolt of landing on her side only furthered a growing stupor. Suddenly exhausted, now wide and unseeing eyes gave a final blink at the sideways world before she unwillingly surrendered to darkness.
Chapter 36
He cursed, fanning the smoking pan with a pot holder as he moved it to an unused burner. Coughing, he reached above the stove and turned on the exhaust fan. The man blew out a frustrated sigh, ruffling his hair nervously with one hand as he scratched the back of his head. “Less than an hour. You’ve got less than an hour.” He chastised himself anxiously. “Get it together!”
The text from an unfamiliar number would have seemed innocuous to anyone else, a wrong number perhaps. But the cold sense of dread that stole over him as he read it told him exactly who’d sent it. ‘One hour’ was all it said. Considering they had always come to him in person when he was away from the estate, receiving the message was distressing. He’d known he was running short on time, but for them to grow so brazen was a b
ad sign.
He’d been trying to buy time. He knew his boss was planning to move against the man blackmailing him and had been hoping Petrovski would act before he was forced to. But a week had passed, and despite the constant meetings being held upstairs, nothing had changed. Now, he only had an hour left to carry out the task Bulgras had given him or his brother's family would pay the price.
He wasn’t a criminal. Violence and murder weren’t part of his world. His boss, sure. But not his. He’d been an employee of the Petrovski family for eight years and served in no other capacity than that of his job title, “Chef.” In that time, he’d been treated very well and enjoyed a sense of job security and compensation that came from taking pride one’s work and having it recognized by your employer. That only made this whole situation worse.
He had no personal connection to “the business." Not until the moment Bulgras’ man had shown up at his door in the middle of the night to inform him that his brother and family had been taken hostage, thousands of miles away. The price for their freedom? Petrovski’s life. Proof of capture was given in the form of a live stream video feed, viewed on the cell phone of the messenger. An angry, desperate man, a terrified wife and sobbing children. All bound and gagged, huddled together in the corner of a cement room. If that hadn’t been proof enough, the messenger had his brother’s ring. Only three had been made, passed down through the generations of his family before him. One was buried with his father, one he wore himself, and the other never left his brother’s hand. Until now.
He blew out a ragged sigh, scrubbing his face with his hands before turning away from the stove. On the counter behind him, a tidy line of warming trays held the already completed dishes that were waiting to be served. In addition to his boss, six alphas would be in attendance tonight. He now had less than forty-five minutes to kill the alpha who would be seated at the head of the table, surrounded by men who were just as dangerous as Petrovski.