by Eva Gordon
He narrowed his gaze at her. “This time, we stay together.”
She sniffed to determine how many alphas. “Yes, but…wait.”
“What?”
“I recognize their smell. It’s Rylee and Team Greywolf.” She nearly fainted from exhaustion, but Slade caught her.
Slade lifted her in his arms. “Our boss?”
Rylee and her pack rushed in. Their alpha boss shifted and commanded the team, “Clean up the garbage.”
Nik shifted and smirked. “I told you they’d be together.”
Rylee smiled at Slade. “I’m happy you took my orders to keep Cricket alive seriously.”
“Very seriously, ma’am,” assured Slade.
Boss lady rarely left headquarters. “Rylee, I had no idea you would be here.”
“What? And miss out on all the doomsday fun?” Her brows furrowed, and she sniffed. “Cricket, you’re injured.” She turned to Dr. Becker who had just parked his vehicle and stepped out. “Medic!”
“I’m good.”
“No, you are not,” said Slade.
“You don’t look so good yourself,” noted Rylee. “Dr. Becker, take care of them.”
“Yes, ma’am,” said the human doctor.
Cricket had known Dr. Becker since she moved to the LIA. Could he be the human mole Jack said had infiltrated their packs? Yet, he’d saved so many of their lives. Risked his own.
“Nothing a shower won’t heal,” said Slade.
Cricket smiled. “And a pizza.”
Becker nodded. “Rylee’s treat.” He gave Cricket an injection and dressed her wound.
She winced, but focused on warm cheesy pizza. “Thanks, Doc, I’m salivating instead of screaming.”
Rylee looked at Becker. “After you’re done, take them to the safe house.”
“Going after them, ma’am?” asked Cricket.
“Off to roundup the traitors at Wolf’s Lair Castle. Our helicopters are on their way to pick us up.”
“The boom earlier. You obliterated the lab facility and drones?”
“Yep. Nothing left but one giant crater.”
Slade straightened. “I’ll go.” His bruises and gashes already healing. Alpha blood advantage.
“And me, too,” said Cricket, ignoring the pain beneath the bandage. She meant her promise to stay together. At least on the mission. Once home, who knew?
Rylee glared. “No. I’m ordering you to the safe house. Disobey and I’ll lock the two of you up.” Her eyes softened. “Besides, you did more than enough. Saving mankind from the Ragnarok apocalypse earns you some R and R.”
Cricket lowered her head. “But, Henrik, the lycan who ran the amnesia brainwashing experiments is still out there.”
Slade snorted. “He won’t get far, Cricket hamstringed him.”
Rylee’s eyes widened. “You did?”
“Yes, he was about to cut Slade’s ear off.”
Slade’s eyes widened. “He was?”
“Yes, Prince Slade, I stopped him from maiming you. Not bad for an accident prone runt, eh?”
“You are no runt, but an amazing team member,” he said.
Nik addressed Rylee, interrupting their mutual admiration society. “We must find Saskia.”
“Don’t worry, if she’s an oath breaker, we’ll find her.”
Cricket cocked her head. “The mate Wolfstrom assigned to you?”
He swore in Russian. “The bitch should stand trial.”
Rylee sighed. “Since they’ve been brainwashed, we’ll work on returning them to normal.”
Nik’s lip curled. “She was Wolfstrom’s niece and devoted to his cause.” He stared toward the forest as if searching her out. “She believed in bathing in virgin girl’s blood to enhance her youth.”
Cricket swallowed. “Like Countess Elizabeth Bathory.”
Slade tilted his head. “Who?”
“A human woman in the 1600s also tortured and bathed in virgin girls’ blood, thinking it would make her immortal,” explained Cricket.
Nik scowled. “Yes, Saskia preferred torturing to make the blood more potent.”
“Why didn’t you waste her while you had the chance?” asked Cricket.
“When I heard you were to be sacrificed, I changed my plans.” He smirked, “After all, I killed Raulf, but I didn’t know you had his phone.”
Cricket lowered her head. “Oh, yeah, about that, thanks.”
Three combat helicopters landed nearby and the wolves shifted to human forms and climbed onboard.
Rylee turned to Nik. “Come then.”
Cricket gave Nik thumbs up and then she and Slade climbed in Becker’s SUV.
Chapter 20
Slade glanced out the window of their safe house, a rented vacation home behind a once working lighthouse. He waited patiently outside the bedroom while Dr. Becker treated Cricket’s wounds. Henrik better pray Team Greywolf found him before he did.
Becker walked out and closed his medical kit.
“How is she?”
“Great. I closed the wounds and gave her an antibiotic shot. By tomorrow, it won’t be more than a scar.” He shook his head. “Werewolf blood never stops amazing me.”
Cricket came out, wearing a blue robe. “Thanks, Doc.”
Slade frowned. “Shouldn’t you be in bed?”
“I need food, but I doubt we can order pizza out here.”
Becker smiled. “The refrigerator is stocked with meals and drinks.”
“What? No frozen pizza? Some room service.” She walked into the kitchen, her sweet ass swaying. Slade sighed. Mine.
Becker donned his coat. “I’m off.”
Cricket turned. “Where are you going?”
“There are two other werewolf doctors out in the field, but considering how many crazy lycans we deal with my services might be needed.”
“Just watch your ass so the brainwashed whelps don’t take a bite,” she snarked.
“I plan to. Take care of each other.” Becker winked and then left.
At last. Alone. Abella.
She opened the refrigerator.
The strong awareness of his beating heart and arousal overwhelmed him. Mine.
“Cold cuts. Pastrami, salami, turkey and hamburger patties. I say we eat them raw.”
That’s not all I want to eat raw. He reined back his hunger for her. She needed to eat food. “Any beer?”
“Yep.” She took out a local brew and handed it to him. “Oh, wine!”
Her enthusiasm for the food and drink dampened his mood. Was she not turned on to be alone with him? Or had she gone back to the Team Greywolf buddy shit? Damn it. Wasn’t that for the best? “I’ll take three raw patties.” He sat on the bar stool, gazing at her. She had to be the prettiest creature on earth.
“You’ve got it.” She slapped them on a plate. “Sure beats Wolfstrom’s menu.”
He chuckled and drank his beer. “Damn right.”
She opened the bottle of white Chilean wine, poured herself a glass and raised it. “To your first successful mission for Team Greywolf.”
He smiled. “I owe it to my team leader.” Shit. That sounded cold. What he really wanted to do was fuck her until someone hosed them down.
They clanked their drinks together then ate, both famished after their dramatic escape.
She wiped her luscious lips. “You really had me convinced you lost your memory.”
“You are not the only team member with acting talent.”
“Apparently not.”
“To be honest, the first four days after they drugged me, I did lose my memories, and I believed I really was Wolfstrom’s son.”
“So what brought back it back?”
“I had visions of Lunara in my sleep, but your scent brought back all my memories.”
Her lips parted, and her big amber eyes shined in bewilderment. “After travelling together, I was the only residual smell that seemed familiar.”
“They told me Agrippa, or rather the former patient, was my mate.”
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“The way you two kissed was quite convincing.” She frowned. “But anyway, when did my smell bring back your memories?”
“When Wolfstrom told me my mate would be coming, I closed my eyes to the scent of sweet warm honey imbued with wild rose blossoms. Your aroma.”
Cricket bit her lower lip. “Really?”
Slade smiled. “Yes, really.”
Her eyes dilated into large orbs. She suddenly gasped. “Smells! That’s how we can awaken the brainwashed werewolves.”
He scowled. “Damn it, Cricket.” He drew her in and kissed her, feeding from her honeyed mouth. She melted into him, responding with her hungry demanding probing tongue.
Slade ripped her robe off, released her swollen lips and swooped her into his arms. “Mine!”
She moaned. “Yes.”
Cricket had longed for this moment. In his arms. Safe. Forbidden or not, she wanted her alpha and he wanted her. “Oh, Slade.” He set her on the sheepskin rug and she lay on her back, her legs parted for him.
“My sweet naughty Abella.”
The name, only to be used by her true mate ruined the moment. “Please, don’t call me that, unless…”
“Shh. You will be my Abella.”
“No. You must mate an alpha.”
“I only want you.”
“You can’t…”
“Oh, I can and I will.” He licked and bit her hard nipples. His finger dipped into her moist mound and circled her clit. Faster and harder.
“I mean…oooh, yesss.” Lost in one soul shattering orgasm after another, she no longer cared if she was his fuck buddy or beloved mistress. She was his, no matter who he mated. No other man, wolf or human could ever claim her.
Slade lowered himself and rubbed his hard shaft on her belly, while still rubbing her clit and she convulsed into a chain of spasms. “Slade…mine…oh…”
He stood.
Boneless, she stared at him. He smiled. His fangs extended, his furred ears perked. Behind him, his long white tail slowly wagged. Not man, not wolf. The classic werewolf hybrid. An un-stoppable supernatural force. Yet, this state meant only for claiming a true mate. “Slade, what are you doing?”
He half-growled. “Sweet Abella, my turn.”
That’s it; he wanted her to suck his cock. Gladly. She got on her knees, facing his magnificent erection.
Instead, he picked her up and set her over the armrest of the sofa, and gently positioned her ass up. “I’ve been thinking of taking you wolf style since the moment I met you or rather caught your scent.”
“But only mates do it…”
His voice husky, he said, “Should I leave and jump in the nearest cold body of water?” He took a few loud breaths. “Or claim you?”
“Please, yes.” She wiggled her bottom. No longer caring what they were doing was forbidden and perhaps because it was, the claim wouldn’t be real. No matter. For now the claim would be real and for her, forever.
His clawed hands held her ass still, and he entered her slippery pulsing core. Immediately, she convulsed into orgasm as he thrust his hips.
“Abella!” He bucked into her. Together they rode a frenzy of simultaneous orgasmic explosions of pleasure. No longer in a cabin, they travelled to a forest of greenery, blue skies and triumphant bird songs. As one soul wrapped together.
In unison, they howled until the cry became one.
He gently pulled out and licked his claw marks embedded in her ass. Claiming marks would soon fade. Until they were only a distant memory of how he claimed her without a care for lycan law.
Finished with his gentle licking, he cradled her in his arms. “Abella, I almost lost you.”
Tears welled. “Prince Slade, don’t tease me with what cannot be.”
“Fuck status.”
“We can’t. I mean, you are the last alpha of the Yukon pack.”
Slade sighed and then kissed her messed hair. “Is duty so important?”
“I’m a member of Team Greywolf. Duty is all I can offer.”
His voice saddened. “Tonight, let’s forget duty, lycan law and Team Greywolf.”
She braved a smile. “I can do that.”
He kissed her and carried her to the bed. They made love, not in the frenzy as they did earlier, but a sweet romantic way. The way couples did when they knew they would soon part.
Slade poured a warm cup of coffee for his sleeping beauty and opened the door. He sat by her side. She lay curled in a fetal position, the same position she’d fallen asleep in as he spooned her. Holding her all night, he’d felt complete. She’d slept. But he had not. Happy to stay awake all night, touching her, sniffing her aroma and listening to her heartbeat.
Yet, team Greywolf duty called.
How the hell would they return without announcing to the world she was his and he hers? “Abella, sweetie, wake up.”
She protested and covered her head with the blanket. “Too early.” She mumbled. “And stop calling me Abella.”
His heartbeat slowed. Destined to be apart, why argue on their last day alone, he braved a laugh. “It’s almost nine. We’re being airlifted in an hour.”
“Can’t we call in sick?”
Sick of a broken heart.
Becker’s SUV rolled in on the rocky driveway followed by an incoming helicopter.
Slade frowned. “Why’s he coming back?”
She sat and grabbed her coffee. “Us, of course.”
“No, something is not right.”
She threw off the blanket. “I think you’re right.”
Slade left her to open the door. “Hey Doc, the mission couldn’t be over so soon.”
Becker nodded. “Before Team Greywolf entered Wolf's Lair castle, Rylee rounded up as many of the unchanged as possible.”
Cricket stood by the door wrapped in her robe. “Why?”
“Humans nuked the castle.” His eyes tightened. “An unidentified plane dropped it.”
“Fuck.” They almost got nuked if not for their escape. Slade lifted a brow. “Which government?”
Cricket sighed. “The Keep. Jack or rather Robert must have sent his father the coordinates after all.”
How convenient, so many weres in one place, Slade thought.
Becker shrugged. “Rylee agrees it was The Keep as well. Her sources in the White House claimed they didn’t launch. Nor did any other known government we are on good terms with.”
Cricket shuddered, and Slade protectively draped an arm over her. “Henrik might have gotten away.”
Slade scowled. “He won’t get far, and he shouldn't have any friends to help him.”
“Odds are, he returned to the castle,” said Cricket. “With his messed up leg, he'd need medical treatment.” Even with his alpha blood’s quick healing properties, he won’t heal immediately.
“I bet you’re right. Apparently, when they caught wind of our team’s scent, they ran back to the castle, and then wiped off the face of the earth,” said Becker.
Slade cocked his head as the helicopter drew closer. “Let’s dress.”
Cricket nodded. “Roger.”
Cricket gave a final look as Slade boarded the second Team Greywolf plane. No time, nor privacy for a final farewell kiss. Not goodbye as team members, but goodbye to their fleeting moments of pretending they were mates.
Apparently, King Conan demanded Slade's presence. Would he force him to leave the LIA and return to the Yukon with a mate?
Cricket slept most of the flight back. Exhaustion or depression had done her in. How could she be happy heading back home without Slade?
They finally landed at headquarters. Home. Safe. The human apocalypse stopped. Rylee ordered she take a long well-deserved vacation. Rest and maybe go on a long ride on her mare. Not without Slade by her side.
Cricket walked off the plane and approached Rylee. “Ma’am, what about Slade?”
“The king invited him to stay with him while the royal European and British royals join him for a long investigation on Wolfstro
m and Raulf. And about The Keep. Naturally, they’re worried.”
“I could have helped.”
“You will. I have a million questions for you.”
Cricket bit her lower lip. “Right.”
“Don’t worry, he’ll be back in a couple weeks for the grand ball. In fact, Mia is anxious to talk to you about it.”
As much as she wanted to see her BFF, life without Slade, her arrogant bossy alpha, felt empty. Mia, a human, had her alpha mate, why couldn’t she? “I suppose, Prince Slade will be the centerpiece as he is the most available bachelor.”
“Along with a few others. From what I’ve heard, every available alpha she-wolf is coming, including your two bitchy sisters.”
Rylee hated them as much as she did. Nice to have one of the most powerful lycans in her corner. She imagined they’d scoff at the modern idea that Rylee had made her an honorary beta. “I can’t claim Slade, but no way in hell will I let my sisters lay a claw on him.”
“Cricket, I know you and Slade have strong feelings for one another, but he’s under strong pressure from the king and his family’s legacy not to act on his feelings for you.”
“For me? Nah. We had sex and it was hot, but we know the score.”
Rylee smiled. “Don’t lie. Trust me, you’ll eventually get used to his absence.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“I don’t believe in this royal crap, but the kingdoms keep our werewolf packs in line and secret from human society.”
“I understand.” Cricket forced a smile and left. As she walked back to her room, her heart warmed. Slade and her spent precious time together and on their last night, they broke their laws by claiming each other. Naturally, their mating was null and void, but she could at least go on knowing that in a different world, one where she was born an alpha and not a runt or maybe one where he was born an omega or even a runt they’d be together for all eternity.
Slade had spent three fucking weeks away from Cricket. Abella. He’d been stuck at King Conan’s castle. The royals, a bunch of entitled alphas complained about the lack of good alpha mates and how the change killed more and more of their kind. With all the inbreeding, not a big surprise. Each alpha princess who introduced herself, though beautiful and holding powerful status had annoyed the hell out of him. None prettier or braver than Cricket. Their aroma, though pleasant, left him longing for Cricket’s sweet honeyed scent.