Savage Revenge

by Shelli Stevens

  “Why are you lying to me, Sage?”

  Fear—just as strong as it had been the night he’d taken her hostage—flashed in her eyes. She was afraid of him.

  “You carry your brother’s scent right now.”

  The color drained from her face and realization flickered in her eyes.

  “I…I didn’t want to tell you.”

  “Clearly. What happened?”

  Damn, but he wished he could read her mind. He could see it working. See her carefully choosing her words as her gaze slid to where the Donovans were listening, but trying to give the appearance that they weren’t.

  “I intercepted him out in the woods. He was on his way to see me,” she said slowly. “Because you obliterated my phones, he had to physically drive here to see me.”

  He smoothed his thumb over her wrist, felt the frantic pounding in there. “What did he want?”

  “He wanted to talk to me about…my mating.”

  Not exactly what he’d expected her to say, and he wasn’t sure how he felt about it.

  “So you are arranged to mate with someone. ”

  She gave a weary nod, and the unhappiness in her eyes clearly wasn’t feigned.

  “It’s happening a bit earlier than I expected,” she admitted huskily.

  “How much earlier?”

  “By the end of next week.”

  Her voice broke on the words, and his chest went tight with anger. With frustration. Sage was set to mate with someone next week. Literally in a matter of days.

  His mind struggled with that realization.

  But it wasn’t his right to protest, or his responsibility. He’d known sleeping with Sage was a short time deal.

  Unfortunately he hadn’t known he’d come to care for her so deeply. That she’d become his damn lifeline in everything.

  Shaking his head, he muttered, “Is there any way to avoid it—”

  “No.” Her reply was weary, but firm. “It’s pretty much a sealed deal.”

  “Do you love him?”

  “Love?” She gave a bitter laugh. “Love is irrelevant for me.” She paused. “As I’m sure it was for you. You know very well how this goes, Nate.”

  Yeah. He knew exactly how it went. If he hadn’t been an alpha—if aligning their packs hadn’t been such a good political move—then maybe he would’ve ended up marrying for something as novel as love.

  But now Alicia was dead, and by his hand. His future was in the air. His freedom. Possibly his life.

  “We’ve decided to catch a flight back to Seattle early.” Donovan approached, his expression sympathetic. “Look into that lead about the child.”

  “Wait, you’re leaving?” Sage’s voice rose, and she seemed more alert. “Now?”

  Sienna joined the group as she adjusted her purse over her shoulder. “We feel better leaving now to continue our investigation. Especially knowing he’s in good hands with you.”

  Something close to panic and guilt flickered across Sage’s face, and he wasn’t the only one who saw it.

  “Sage? Is something else going on?” Sienna prodded.

  “No.”

  But she answered too quickly. Nathan and Donovan exchanged a quick look, and Donovan gave a tiny nearly unperceivable shake of his head.

  Shit.

  “Maybe you should give us a moment,” Nathan agreed.

  Donovan nodded and caught Sienna’s hand, tugging her toward the door.

  Sage’s eyes rounded and her mouth opened, before she shut it and drew her bottom lip between her teeth. Her arms wrapped around her waist and she appeared almost ill.

  When the door closed behind them, her shoulders began to shake and liquid filled her eyes.

  “Are you crying?”

  She gave a fierce shake of her head, but a tear spilled down her cheek.

  “What the fuck aren’t you telling me, Sage?”

  Instead of answering, she disappeared to the window to glance outside as the couple left.

  Son of a bitch. She was clearly hiding something.

  “Answer me, Sage.”

  “They shouldn’t be out there.”

  The words were a whisper, and he almost didn’t hear them.

  “You’re lying,” he ground out and tightened his grip on her wrist when she tried to pull away. “This upcoming mating business, is it all a distraction? A lie?”

  “I’m mating next week. That’s not a lie. His name is Gus. He’s the beta in my pack—”

  “I don’t need to know who he is!”

  A slow pounding started in his head, and he clenched his jaw as the wave of angry dismay slammed into him.

  On the tip of his tongue was the urge to snarl out a violent rejection to her words. That hell no was she mating with another guy next week.

  Next. Fucking. Week.

  Beneath his fingers the pulse in her wrist was racing. The faint thundering of her heart reached his hyper sensitive ears.

  She wasn’t supposed to end up mated yet. He’d only barely had a chance to spend time with her. Dammit, he’d been the first to make love to her. He’d gained her trust and something close to love.

  And now she was supposed to calmly hand her life, body and soul over to some beta named Gus? Maybe it was stereotyping, but he could damn well imagine what a guy named Gus looked like.

  She deserved more than a fucking beta. She deserved an alpha who could appreciate the sweetness in her that was diffused with a respectable boldness. An integrity that you just didn’t expect from the curvy little bombshell who wrote love stories for a living.

  Like a magnet, his gaze was drawn to the pulse in her neck. Watching as the skin that covered it stretch with each pounding beat.

  Wrapping his free hand around her loose ponytail, he tugged her head back and crushed her mouth with his.

  Her cry was almost a mix of relief and despair, before she pressed herself against him and kissed him back. Her tongue lashing against his, almost in anger.

  There was rage in her kiss, and it made sense. Because the visual of another man claiming her evoked a rage more potent than he could ever remember.

  Suddenly she shoved at his shoulders, trying to free herself.

  “Enough. I belong to another man now, Nate.” Her voice broke. “This solves nothing.”

  “You don’t belong to him. Not yet.” Dammit. With his hand still clutching her hair, he tugged her head back another half inch. The pulse that had been frantic before was almost bouncing now.

  With each pulse, the mantra began in his head.

  Mine. Mine. Mine.

  His canines slid down, and his ability to think became tunnel vision on one purpose.

  “Actually, not fucking ever, Sage.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  Sage’s eyes widened with realization. With fear. “No, Nate. No—”

  Her words ended on a started cry as he closed his teeth over the pulse in her neck. Biting her hard enough to mark her, but not break skin.

  Mine. Mine. Mine.

  The mantra reverberated in his head as he claimed a woman he had absolutely no right to claim.

  And then, like a brick wall hit by a missile, the thoughts she’d kept hidden began to filter into his mind with rapid-fire speed.

  I can’t believe he just did that. They’re going to kill him.

  The thought stunned him so much, he lifted his head and stared down at her.

  “Who’s going to kill me, Sage?”

  “You marked me.” She slugged him in the shoulder. “What the hell are you thinking? You just claimed me!” Her mouth gaped in alarm. “Wait. Oh God, can you read my mind now?”

  I didn’t think it could happen this fast. He can’t know. He can’t–

  He caught her by the upper arms. “I can’t know what?”

  They’re out there waiting—don’t think it. He can hear it. Oh God he heard it.

  Son of a bitch, someone was outside? Waiting out in the woods where Sienna and Donovan had just disappeared into?
/>   A trap. She’d set a fucking trap for him.

  “Damn you. If you’ve killed them, it’s on your conscience.” He thrust her aside and ran toward the door.

  “Nate, if you go out there alone he will kill you.” Genuine fear tinged on her words now, and she rushed after him, clinging to his arm.

  “Tell me everything.”

  “I was supposed to lead you outside later,” she admitted, not even trying to hide her thoughts anymore. “My brother and members of his pack will be waiting, but right now it’s just Gus who was supposed to watch over me. If he sees you he’ll ignore orders and probably kill you on the spot. He knows we’re involved.”

  Loving the idea of a confrontation with her supposed mate, he bared his teeth and gave a harsh laugh. “Yeah, well now he’s about to figure out you belong to me.”

  Shrugging off her arm, he threw open the door and sprinted outside.

  He’d claimed her. Nathan Larson had just claimed her as his mate. The shock, which had held her immobile, finally faded enough for her to come to her senses and run after him.

  As much as she wanted to, she couldn’t stop to think about this now.

  If she didn’t try to stop Gus, Nate was as good as dead. She hadn’t been exaggerating when she’d made that statement.

  No time to think about what it all meant. About what had just happened.

  But weren’t you supposed to be claimed during sex? It was a kiss. A damn kiss, and then he’d bit her—marked her. How the hell could she have seen that coming?

  She shouldn’t have told him about her arranged mating. She’d thought that by using the mating as an excuse for her obvious distress, he might not suspect he was about to be captured.

  She’d been so stupid to think she could return to the house and act like everything was normal.

  Leaping off her porch, she didn’t allow herself to shift. She would need her human voice to try and reason with Gus.

  But he was an oversized oaf who tended to use little reason and act on emotion alone. And that was being generous to his personality.

  She charged through the woods and prayed it wasn’t too late, but a few steps into the forest revealed the situation was far worse than her worse case scenario.

  The color leeched from her face and her steps faltered.

  Her gaze swung to her brother who was currently circling Nate.

  “You promised,” she cried out hoarsely.

  “I didn’t trust you, sis. Sorry.” Her brother’s tone lacked the apology he uttered. “Though apparently I was right not to trust you.”

  He wasn’t sorry. Capturing Nate with as little drama as possible had never been part of his plan. He’d just been indulging her.

  Nate didn’t seem intimidated, and his gaze stayed on her brother. “Go back to the house, Sage.”

  “Or better yet, don’t.” Gus came up from behind her and wrapped two beefy arms around her.

  “Let me go, dammit!” She kicked back at him, but he swung her into the air so that her legs thrust helplessly in front of her.

  “Don’t bother trying to protect your boyfriend.” Gus chuckled in her ear. “He’s as good as dead.”

  In an instant Nate sent a leg into her brother’s stomach, sending Jim flying backward and into a tree.

  With her brother still struggling to his feet, Nate finally glanced their way. His gaze was so cold and full of violence that cold sweat broke out on the back of her neck.

  “Boyfriend?” A chilling smile slid across Nate’s face. “You’re holding my mate right now, asshole, and you’ve got about three seconds to let her go.”

  Oh God, that had been a mistake. She felt the growl of rage in Gus’s chest, before he shouted, “I’ll sooner see her dead, than be mated to a murdering alpha asshole like you, Larson.”

  He tossed her to the side like a twig, and she didn’t have time to get her balance before her head connected against a rock. Pain exploded in her head and she had the vision of Jim tackling Nate before everything went black.

  Ouch. Her head hurt like a mother—

  “You’re awake.”

  Even though her eyelids felt heavy, Sage struggled to open them as the concerned male voice registered.

  Finally her lashes lifted enough for her to get a glimpse of Nate behind the wheel of a car.

  They were moving quickly, smoothly, and it took a moment to realize they were driving. Everything that had happened before getting knocked out flitted through her mind.

  “Where are we?” she croaked out, and struggled to sit up. “And you’re okay? I thought—”

  “I’m fine. I regained control of the…” he paused. “Situation. And before you can ask, yes your brother and formerly intended mate are fine. Or, well, they’re alive.”

  The hard set of his jaw, and the way his gaze never left the road hinted at the anger brewing just below the surface. Fear rippled through her.

  “Did you hurt them?”

  “I sure as fuck didn’t ask them nicely to leave me alone, Sage.”

  Meaning they’d probably gotten roughed up a bit. How the hell had Nate alone taken on two large men and come out ahead?

  And, actually, another thorough glance over Nathan showed the jeans he now wore were probably her brother’s.

  She swung her gaze around the car, but they were completely alone.

  “What happened to the Donovans? Is this their car?”

  He didn’t answer immediately, instead maneuvered the car onto the highway.

  “This is a car, that’s all you need to know. That, and the Donovans are safe.”

  Ambiguous answers. He didn’t trust her. Not like he should’ve after she’d led him straight into a trap. The realization slammed into her and her heart clenched. God, she wished she could get into his head right now.

  Wait. Maybe she could. He’d certainly been able to do it to her easily enough. They were mated now—which was another completely oh shit notion.

  She tried to silence her thoughts and reached out with her mind, trying to reach his, and encountered the equivalent of a big brick wall.

  “Why can’t I hear your thoughts?”

  “Because I’m blocking them.”

  “How do you even do that?” she demanded with frustration. “You can hear mine.”

  “You were always terrible at hiding your thoughts, Sage. Now that we’re mated you’re like a movie screen in my head.”

  Oh, wasn’t that reassuring. A growl of irritation built in her throat and she turned to stare out the window.

  “I didn’t ask for this. I didn’t ask you to mate with me,” she ranted. “What the hell were you thinking? Did you do it to specifically get into my head? Was that the whole reason you marked me?”

  He gave a harsh laugh. “Of course not. I was driven to. You can’t deny that we have a connection. We figured that out pretty quick.”

  “It’s irrelevant. I was never yours to decide to mate with. You know how it works. I was promised to—”

  “A beta.” He cast her another coolly appraising glance. “And because I’m an alpha I can overrule that decision and claim you for myself.”

  “But my brother ordered—”

  “He’s not your alpha anymore.” His words were hard, cold and deliberate. “I’m your alpha. Your mate. And you’d better start wrapping your mind around that, Sage.”

  “Wrap my mind around it? It’s not like you gave me a choice in any of this.” She trembled with anger.

  “You never were going to have a choice. Whether you were mated with me or that guy built like a semi. And you can’t deny you felt the pull to mate with me as much as I did to you. It first became apparent when we slept together. Can you deny it?”

  She couldn’t at all and wouldn’t even try. Yes, she’d felt it in the moment where she’d wanted him to bite her neck. She’d lost her heart to him ridiculously quick. Which wasn’t fair. Sometimes fate deserved to be kicked in the crotch.

  “You’re right,” she agreed after
a moment. “I did begin to suspect you were my mate. Suspected what was between us went beyond lust, but how could I acknowledge it? Believe it? Because now I’m mated to a man wanted for murder. Several murders.”

  His gaze swung to her. “So you’ve changed your mind again and believe I’m guilty now? Why?”

  She held his gaze. “Surveillance video. I saw you.”

  For a moment longer he stared at her, and then swung his attention back to the road.

  Silence. Until he swerved the car off to the shoulder and threw it in park.

  “What video?”

  “I don’t know,” she said uneasily. “It looked like some kind of street camera or something. It was shot from probably twenty feet in the air. They said it was surveillance.”

  He shook his head. “No. There’s no Goddamn security cameras in that neighborhood.”

  “But there had to be—”

  “Someone was there. Somebody filmed the whole damn thing and didn’t lift a finger to help. Did the video move at all? Pan out over the town? Or was it shot straight on?”

  “I really can’t remember. I just remember…”

  “What did you see? Did you see me killing people, Sage?”

  “I saw you—it was you, Nate.” Her voice broke. “Running through the village in wolf form as those terrified people fled screaming.”

  Unease flickered in his eyes. As if he might be doubting his own innocence now.

  “And you saw me kill them?”

  She paused, reflecting back on the video. “Well no. Not on screen, I didn’t see you catch any of them. Or kill them. Except—”

  “Except what?”

  “Alicia.” She glanced at him through her lashes, almost sick with the violence of the killing. “The video shows you killing her.”

  He didn’t say anything. Made no attempt to deny it. Her stomach roiled and she pressed her knuckles to her mouth.

  “You told me you didn’t kill anyone.”

  “No.” He gave a vehement shake of his head. “You asked me if I killed all those people, and I said no.”

  “So you skirted around the truth,” she muttered bitterly. “But you did kill your fiancée.”

  “Yes.”

  She’d seen the video, but hearing him admit it so calmly doubled her nausea.