by T. A. Grey
“I dunno. Just saw you looking sad for a minute there.” His face twitched, before he sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.
Hanna watched this man carefully. Alex was always at arm’s length with her, even withstanding their rather brief moments of passion, which had ultimately not ended in coitus. But, and she could be wrong, it almost seemed like Alex was beginning to care for her in the same way she did for him. When someone else’s life was in danger and you become a part in protecting it, you couldn’t help but form a bond. And, maybe, if she admitted it, she’d always felt a connected to Alex. Maybe she hadn’t understood it or entirely welcomed it, but it had always been there. Lingering in the background like a string waiting to be taken hold of, waiting for her chance.
Her pathetically low self-esteem used to prohibit her from having those kinds of thoughts. Thoughts such as a man like Alex could be hers. But now? She’d changed so much.
“Rest assured I’m actually quite happy at the moment.” Her words rang true, seeing as she strictly removed all thoughts of Tom or Remi or anything else negative from her mind.
She didn’t want to ruin her plan for tonight. And boy did she have a plan. One which Alex was unaware and in which they’d likely fight about. Which left her wondering--just how far would he go to push her away? She saw the interest in his eyes, he couldn’t hide it, and she’d felt the passion with which he’d touched her and pleased her in ways other men had never done.
As she’d told Alex the other day, she’d had a taste of him and now she wanted the whole thing. Tonight she was going to try to get it.
The question then remained. At what lengths would Alex go to keep her at arm’s length? She supposed there was only one way to find out.
Hanna cleaned up the food from the table, putting dishes back in the kitchen. Alex remained in his seat, head drooping, probably lost in thought. But his dark gaze following her as she moved. His watchful eyes didn’t unnerve her as it might have in the past. She felt energized knowing he was watching her every movement. Every second that ticked by, her heartbeat pumped quicker and quicker.
The time was almost neigh.
Chapter THIRTY
Gavin MacKellen watched his mate give him the come-hither eyes.
He knew what that look meant. The way her eyes slowly dragged down his body in anticipation as she gingerly bit down on her fat bottom lip and tossed her long, dark hair over her shoulder. She strode away from him leaving him aching for her. His eyes following every single step she took. Goddamn was he a lucky son of a bitch. He was mated to the finest woman in the world. A lingerie designer, for fucks’ sakes. She was always creating sexy, new things and he got the lucky job of seeing her “testing” said lingerie.
Alicia had made him a promise before they left for this party tonight. She’d kissed him and told him, “I made a new pair of panties today and I’m wearing them. You should look into that later.” She didn’t need to so much as wink to give him the all-clear signal.
Tonight they were at Kaity MacKellen’s twenty-third birthday party being held at the Burly Bear Bar in the pack. His younger sister was one year older, and prettier, but Gavin noted even tonight the smile she put on for the world didn’t quite reach her eyes. Something had been holding his sister’s happiness back for a while now. Not just Hanna’s disappearance, This had been a long-going problem of Kaity’s. It’d been happening for a couple years in fact. And Gavin knew why. Though, Kaity had no idea that he knew. He’d had to find out, whether she liked it or not, and she wouldn’t so he kept that on the down low.
Gavin had hired investigators to follow Kaity a few years back. They’d found out that the cause of Kaity’s so-called “morose behavior” seemed to stem from a man.
Not any man, but a vampire.
The investigator had reported that Kaitlyn had portrayed “as having feelings towards the vampire male”. They’d learned this through reading diary entries and emails, and listening phone calls and others conversations. He’d felt rotten reading such things, but Gavin was the eldest MacKellen and it was his duty to keep his family together. Which meant sometimes he had to find out the dirty.
Whoever the vampire was, he appeared to be gone from his sister’s life. For the best, obviously. Vampires didn’t mix well with lykaens. It was rare to do so. Interspecies fraternization was a sketchy topic for most people who just wanted to live simple, uncomplicated lives. Gavin had learned that Kaity’s morose attitude stemmed from alliance with this vampire who had once briefly been in her life and nothing more serious. The vampire did not appear to be around anymore.
Perhaps there was no vampire in her life at all. She could have moved on a long time ago from when all that occurred. Perhaps his younger sister simply wasn’t the spry, ever-smiling child she used to be. Perhaps...she was becoming a woman.
A low whistle caught his ears. His mate’s whistle--a sound he’d recognize on his deathbed. Catching his attention, he spotted Alicia giving him those seductive eyes once more, before she exited the rear of the bar to slip quietly into the shadows.
Alicia had been trying more and more to distract him from his worries of Hanna and Alex. No easy task. He’d rarely been home, rarely even got to sleep in his own bed the last week. This was the first time he’d been in the same room with his mate for longer than thirty minutes.
Gavin made his way through the birthday crowd, blood pumping, breaths charging as he grew amped.
Fuck. His mate drove him crazy. He loved her viciously, fiercely. Like none other. He’d kill for her. He’d die for her. Everything he did was for her.
He was experiencing a whirlwind of emotions when he found his mate out back, walking across an uneven parking lot hurriedly towards his truck parked at the far end of the lot. The night air was crisp and chilly--yet she’d worn a short skirt.
“We’re going to a party, Gavin! I’m not wearing sweatpants,” she’d said earlier in response to his suggestion that she change.
He was glad she hadn’t gone with his idea after all. Her legs looked incredible. He didn’t even mind when other men looked. Let them. She was all his, every single incredible inch of her. She’d accepted him and his scarred face, and all his fucked up problems. She still wanted him and still loved him. She was his angel.
He caught up to her with his much longer steps as she cornered around the back of his big pick-up truck. She turned into him, arms already open and reaching. Her mouth came up to his and a groan escaped him as he deepened the kiss, pressing her back against the truck.
His cock was already hard, but the pressure of her hips rubbing against his groin made him even hotter. Alicia sucked on his tongue and ran her hands under his shirt to touch his chest. She made soft, purring sounds in the back of her throat. This was getting hot, quickly.
“Touch me,” she moaned in his ear.
He knew exactly what she meant, knew what she wanted.
Gavin let his hands caress her upper thighs, then he went under her short skirt and touched the bare skin of her ass. He ended the kiss. His heavy-lidded gave memorizing her sexy body.
“Let me see what you made.” He lifted the skirt up to her waist and took a good long look. Alicia panted, small tits rising rapidly, straining against the tight material of her blouse. His mate knew how to torture him. God, he loved her.
Hot pink, a lace thong covered her sexy mons. Two long legs standing atop sexy high heels. And this from a woman who couldn’t stop touching him, was already cupping his groin and rubbing him. His legs spread open a little further to make room for her touch. He rubbed the lace between her thighs. It made a rosebud pattern, and the most interesting thing was the strings sitting on her small, delicate hipbones. He rubbed his thumbs over them, loving her tender shivers as he touched her. He could smell her arousal already--her creamy heat growing hotter for him.
He wanted to sink inside her. His mouth watered for a taste of her skin.
The string at her hipbones formed a little pink bow. Like a presen
t.
His voice was hoarse like he’d been chewing on nails. “Can I unwrap it?” He fingered the string there, listening to her breath catch.
“Y-yes,” she breathed.
Thank god. He pulled the string slowly, first on her left side. It gingerly came undone, then flopped over as he released it, baring more of her sweet, sweet sex to him. He licked his lips.
“Last one,” he warned.
Alicia tossed her head back and closed her eyes, her long hair whipping in the breeze. God, he loved how wild she was. She would let him take her anywhere, encouraged it even, as she did now, inciting this meeting.
He pulled the second string. Her panties drifted to the ground. He stepped on the scant material with the edge of his boot to keep it from drifting away. His mate was panting, the pulse at her neck calling to him. He bit her there, kissing and licking her warm skin, inhaling her incredible fragrance.
“Gavin.” His mate slid down his zipper--the sound loud in the night. The button that barely kept him contained flung open a moment later. Then he felt the fingers of his mate wrap around his cock, and it was his head falling back, his charged breaths so loud in the night.
Soft, silky hands touched him. Mere fingertips trailing up and down, barely touching him. She nibbled at his neck, maddening him further.
“Alicia!” It felt like a warning. His control slipping the longer she stroked him.
His hands cupped her ass, squeezing the tight globes. He grunted in satisfaction at their pliancy. His hands had a mind of their own, cupping her sex softly, easing around to find her wet for him and so very hot. She scalded him. Hissing, Gavin kissed his mate. A hard, wet kiss, the angle changing swiftly as they ate at each other. Her hand squeezed his shaft, making him groan, and then she began pumping him. Slow pumps, not too tight, up and down, driving him crazy, giving him a taste of what he really wanted to be pumping inside.
He worked her soft bud in a gentle rhythm, making passing circles. Her breath caught, hips began to rock in that all-too familiar pattern. Yes! He wanted to shout.
He made her come quickly using his hand. He kept her locked against him, one hand squeezing her ass, the other rubbing her bud in that undeniable way that had her eyes flying wide-open, her mouth gaping as she tried to breathe through it all.
She was going to scream. He could see it. He shook his head at her once and warned her to keep quiet.
And then as she almost reached her pinnacle, he rubbed her faster and faster, her body flushed, ready for orgasm—then Gavin released her.
Alicia’s eyes snapped open. “Why’d you stop?!”
Gavin readied her, hiked her up against the back of his pick-up. Alicia “aahed” as she figured out what he meant to do, by that point she began cooing at him, encouraging him to enter her.
Gavin leaned back and grabbed his cock by the root, slathering the tip of him up and down her soft, wet nether lips. His mate made incredible, erotic sounds that never failed to entice him. He didn’t rush but took his time to rub her wetness all around and coat his cock in her creaminess.
Then, he slowly began pushing inside. He felt her tight muscles easing to give way around him--the most incredible gripping sensation.
Gavin never got tired of his mate. Not this amazing woman who’d lit up his life in unchangeable ways. She was his everything and every day with her reminded him of what a gift she was.
He pumped, sliding all the way inside, where he held himself still until she began to rock against him.
“Oh, Gavin!” she whispered near his ear, quiet words at odds to the passion in her body. She rocked and rolled her pelvis against him, doing all the work, so long as he remained poised inside her--and that he did exceptionally well.
“Ah baby,” he growled. Her sweet, tight sheathe gripped him and stroked him, bring his body to the breaking point.
A noise nearby, loud enough to distract. They both stilled, locking wide-eyed with each other. Gavin looked around and flinched. A nearby couple was stumbling out of the bar and headed their way. Fuck, he was too close to coming and judging by his mate’s quivering pussy, she was too.
He had to finish this. Gavin sent his mate a look--one with a question in it--to which she smiled at him and nodded. That was all the permission he needed to end this.
The giggling, drunk couple kicked up gravel and dirt, stopping in their brief progression when the man fell to the ground and began laughing at himself.
He didn’t care that their bodies made slapping noises. If the couple investigated such an obvious sound, then they’d feel the wrath of their alpha. And that was that.
Alicia pulled him low by the collar. Every little breath she took, every little gasp she made he heard perfectly in his ear. Her breathy, wispy voice made his balls ache and his seed draw near. He pumped inside her and she rocked against him. They made some sweet, sweet music together. Until she shook her head in frustration and finally told him, “Harder”.
Christ, he could only give it to her so much harder without drawing the notice of the drunk couple. But he’d once made a pledge to his lumara and would keep it.
So he grabbed hold of her ass cheeks and took her, giving her everything she asked for her. He felt her sheathe tighten around him, little impulses squeezing him tighter and snugger. Her hands gripped him, little breaths urging him on. Gavin’s eyes fell closed, lost in the pleasure of his mate’s body and touch. Nothing could consume him like this did. Nothing.
He held out for as long as he could, but her wet, soft draws were too much for him. Gavin plunged deeply and held himself there as he grunted softly--filling his mate up. She bit down hard on his neck and started coming. It was hot and incredible, rocking him down to the bones. Long seconds it took, until she stopped trembling in his arms, her orgasm fading while he filled her with his seed.
He kissed her long and slow, basking her in presence.
“My mate....” he grumbled. “I love you.” She smiled at him, nipping at his mouth. Her body had that supple weight to it that said she’d just come. He loved her like this too.
When he looked out over the truck bed, he saw the drunk couple had moved along to go back into the party.
He didn’t have long to bask in the glory of his mate as shouts broke through the night. Immediately, he stiffened at the sounds. Quickly, he rectified his clothing. He didn’t need to speak a word to his mate, she understood his duties as alpha, and he then he sprinted towards the front of the bar.
A crowd was quickly gathering. A woman screamed in terror. Pack guards looked to be carrying something. Dozens of partygoers emptied out of the bar, further blocking his view.
“Who’s that?” someone whispered.
“What’s happened to him?” a man gasped.
“Make way!” Gavin shouted to be heard.
The crowd scattered once they realized it was he and Gavin pushed his way through. What he saw nearly made his knees buckle. Like a punch to the gut, he was physically stopped by what he saw.
Jo.
Naked, battered and bruised, and barely conscious. Gavin dropped to his knees by his cousin, feeling a fear he’d never quite felt before.
“What happened to you?”
Jo eyes twitched and rolled into the back of his head, unable to respond.
The crowd had grown quiet, watching in horror.
“What happened to him? Where’s Hanna?” someone else shouted.
Gavin felt Alicia’s presence at his side which helped to calm his nerves.
His brother Hart appeared at his side a moment later. All he did was share a look with him, and Hart left to get answers. He was a detective. The man could get answers from a rock he was that good.
“Some car drove by the front gates and dumped the body,” someone said. “I saw it all! They drove a black van.”
“We have to move him. Let’s go.” Gavin bent down and lifted the big beast up. No easy task. Jo spent about as much time in the gym lifting weights as he did working. He was dedicated,
an over-worker.
To see the big man limp, cut up and bruised with needle marks in his neck, was a nasty sight.
What happened to him and who did it?
Chapter THIRTY-ONE
“I want you to tell me what your problem is.”
Hanna decided being blunt and to the point would work best for this particular situation. It was hours after they’d eaten. They’d spread out their sleeping bags before the hearth, weapons nearby. Hanna got her very own knife, and Alex kept the gun and a small hatchet. Their backpacks were prepared and ready to go in case they needed to leave at a moment’s notice. They were ready for anything.
Alex set another chopped log on the fire. “What problem is that?”
At least he’d begun talking to her again. Baby steps.
“You act weird about your body, like you’re hiding something. Out with it, then. We could very well die together out here in this cold. We’re practically hopeless, and I’m done waiting around to find out the things I want to know. That’s no way to die, Alex. I refuse to die that way to be perfectly frank. So, tell me what your problem is.”
Alex’s body stiffened. He didn’t even blink. Hanna was rather impressed actually. Eventually he did blink, and he did turn to look at her. An expression on his face she’d never seen before: anger combined with something else. Something more sinister.
“What are you talking about?” he asked carefully.
“You know what I mean.” She didn’t have much to go on, but based on how dodgy he was about anything involving sex raised flags in her mind. And now she was finished waiting. She wanted answers. Demanded them. Now was the time to tell-all. Before she lost this chance and died without ever knowing the secrets of the most mysterious man she’d ever know.
He stood and started pulling on his camo overalls before heading for the front door. His movements were jerky, visibly frustrated.
Hanna sat up in her sleeping bag. It was late, the night deep. “Where do you think you’re going?” The idea of being alone out here in the wilderness scared her more than she could admit.