by Laina Kenney
“You are a courageous woman, Maressa. You moved quickly to save your sister from a terrible situation. Your quick thinking and determination saved her life.”
“I don’t know if I did save her life. The man might not have killed her, or even wanted to kill her. Maybe she would have been safe. Maybe we didn’t need to run, but I didn’t know for sure.” Her voice was shaking. “I didn’t know.”
“He would have had to kill you both, and I think you know it. You saw something you shouldn’t have seen, and if you were in the house, your life was in great danger. Your instinct about that saved her and yourself.”
Maressa blinked and fought back the sick feeling of panic crowding her at his blunt assessment. She had never told another living soul what she had just told Ives and dredging it all up brought back the gut-twisting fear she had felt. The feeling of being so connected to him, so safe with him, kept tripping her up, causing her to reveal things she had no intention of ever mentioning.
But he had taken it well, very well. And if he was her mate, and this crazy thing worked out, he would have to know that the danger to him had increased by his association with her. His society might be in danger if the secret of their existence was revealed to the world at large, but she had a murderer on her trail.
She thought of the brief fight she had witnessed and considered how he had handled himself. Maybe he wouldn’t mind the danger so much. Or perhaps he was in danger all the time, so it didn’t register. For sure, she would never ask any normal man to share her life, so maybe it was for the best.
”I need a break,” she said and rubbed at her burning eyes. “I need some time.”
Ives stood and walked out of the room.
Maressa watched him go, bemused. She didn’t mean that he had to leave her alone. Maybe she didn’t know what she wanted, but she didn’t want to be alone.
He walked back in a moment later with a large white bakery box and two forks. A carton of milk was tucked under his arm.
“Dessert. You will need fuel for your thinking,” he said and handed her the box and a fork.
She opened the box and stared. Smiled.
“Cheesecake?”
He held up a finger. “Butter Pecan Cheesecake with caramel drizzle. It is a specialty of the house at the bakery two blocks over. They also make an excellent croissant. As a Frenchman, I should not admit, but their croissants are as good as any you would find in Paris.”
She looked him up and down, admiring his washboard abs.
“You don’t eat baked goods often.”
“On the contrary, I have an incurable sweet tooth.” He leered comically at her and she surprised them both with a giggle. “As you well know.”
She thought of his mouth and the way his tongue had swirled as he tasted her skin. A shiver tickled up her spine. He really was too much, too gorgeous, too male, too everything. And he was with her, Miss Average USA. They really must be mates, she thought, because no other explanation could make sense of that.
She disassembled the bakery box and laid it flat on the little end table he brought over. They sat cross-legged on the rug where they had made love and they ate. The first bite melted on her tongue and she moaned in enjoyment at the rich flavors of the dessert.
They ate cheesecake and Maressa drank milk straight out of the carton for the first time in her life.
She savored another incredible bite and when she looked up Ives was watching her with an intense focus. Heat pooled inside her. She curled her legs under her and pressed her thighs together to try to ease the ache he created so effortlessly.
He was leaning toward her when her cell phone rang from across the room. He backed off and she muttered, “Great.”
What a time for a phone call.
But he seemed to expect her to answer, so she retrieved the phone and clicked it on.
“Hello?”
Chapter 7
Ives watched as Maressa’s face went white.
“No, I didn’t know about it.”
She listened for a moment more while her lips tightened down to thin pale lines, and Ives’s worry spiked.
“Ok, thanks,” she said and dropped her phone. When she picked it up to end the call, her hands shook so violently that he took the phone from her and did it himself. Then he took her hands and pulled them against his chest to stop their wild shaking.
“Tell me,” was all he said.
“It was Don. Officer O’Brien.” She cleared her throat and the sound was so high and tight that he winced.
“Biff—I’ve been thinking of the biggest one as Biff but his real name is Frank—made a lot of threats against me, so he was denied bail, but some mistake happened and he and his friend were released together. Based on the things he said, Don thinks they’ll come after me.”
Ives felt his claws spring out as the rage took hold. If those two men came after his mate a second time, he would turn them into sushi. He would make them wish for death long before the wish was granted. It would be a pleasure.
“Quit it.” Maressa elbowed him. “Your claws are poking my arms. Settle down, for God’s sake. This is bad. We have to think and when you go wolfy I know you’re not thinking clearly.”
“I am thinking about killing them. The image is very clear,” he corrected. And tempting in a way that a human might not be able to understand. He tried to control his reaction, but his wolf was pushing and pulling against his control.
“Well, don’t.” Her tone was snippy, but he heard the fear underneath and tried to discipline the flash of rage.
Ives stopped growling and snatched her into a hard embrace. He was careful not to let his claws nick her skin as he pressed her head against his chest. She wrapped her arms around his waist and held on.
“I cannot apologize for my nature, my love. I cannot. I will protect you to the last drop of blood in my body. If they run they may live, but if they come for you a second time, I will not be able to permit it. They will die by my hand.”
Maressa pulled back and eyed him.
“You can’t just kill people because they do something you don’t like.”
“Something I don’t like? Yes, having men attack my mate, try to rape or kill my mate, is something I don’t like.”
His voice echoed in the big room and she crossed her arms over her chest. The mutinous tilt to her chin made him want to shake her so he shoved his hands in his pockets and heard the fabric tear where his claws pierced.
Damn it. Didn’t she understand that she was the center of his world? If she was harmed, he would exact a bloody vengeance for her and tear apart anyone who stood in his way. He was a predator first and she was his precious mate. Could she not see by the appearance of fang and claw that her mate would keep her safe?
He wanted to tell her all of that, to explain, but what came out was, “I would kill for you.”
“Well, get over it. I don’t want anyone murdered because of me.”
A film of red passed over his vision and he was about to shout when her quiet words stopped him.
“I’ve seen one murder already.”
It took the fire out of his anger and replaced it with pity for that young woman, watching in silent horror while her beloved stepfather had his life stolen from him in an act of extreme violence. He could feel a deep sorrow for the girl and still he wanted the woman to understand him.
He was a warrior first, a protector. He was not a man who would permit anything or anyone to become a threat to her. In his culture it would be seen as the ultimate weakness, to have one bruise, one scratch on his mate’s fair skin while he was still standing. For her, for the girl she once was, he would try to find a compromise, perhaps call in his friends in the Cadre to assist, but no harm would be allowed to come to her.
Hard choices would have to be made, but if she could not bear to see the result, then he was happy to bear witness in her stead. It suited him anyway. His best friend was an assassin after all. And he and Matsij trained together nearly every day, s
talking each other in silence through the dense woods and fighting in brutal hand-to-hand bouts.
“I have to check on my sister. What if they found out where I live? My sister and Todd’s aunt are both there.”
Maressa scrambled for her scattered clothing. She caught her toe on the leg of a chair and almost fell when she bent over to grab her pants.
“It’s well after midnight.”
Even as he spoke, Ives pulled on his shirt. He reached for his cell and sent an alarm with Maressa’s address to two of his friends in the Cadre. The message came back received with a quick ETA. They were probably near that neighborhood already.
“Don said they were both released at eight, but he didn’t get back to the station until almost twelve. That’s when he found out, and then he had to get my number from Todd. They’ve been out for hours and I’ve been—we’ve been.” She gestured helplessly then stopped to untangle her bra and drag her pants on. “Do you see my shirt anywhere?”
Ives found it lying in a heap by the front door and Maressa wriggled into it.
“You drive,” she said. “You’ve got good hands, great reflexes.”
He raised an eyebrow and she blushed and swatted at his arm.
“Stop that,” she said and he grinned.
“We will check on your sister and aunt, and then I will see that a guard is posted until Biff is back in police custody. They are searching for him, are they not?”
He stopped at the door and waited for her answer.
“Yes, Don said the police are trying to find him to take him back to jail. Don said he was very vocal about all the ways he wanted to punish me and he should never have been set free while he was still making threats.”
Ives bared bright white fangs and pulled her close to his side.
“He will not get near you. I give you my promise on that.”
Maressa leaned against him and let him support her weight. She slid one arm around his narrow waist, tucked her face in against his throat, and inhaled his wonderful male scent.
She didn’t always feel comfortable relying on another person, not even Bliss. She was used to taking the protector’s role, but she had to admit, it felt good to know that she wasn’t alone.
And she didn’t worry about Ives. He could more than handle himself. She had seen it with her own eyes, and though it had all happened faster than her eye could follow, he had clearly emerged the victor. Both of his opponents had been on the ground moaning and barely conscious within seconds. It was hardly a fair fight, but she wasn’t about to complain.
Chapter 8
The drive through the darkened streets of Boston was quiet, and Maressa’s neck ached with tension.
In her judgment, Ives pushed it through two lights just turning red, but at the third, he stopped and waited. She wanted to scream at him to keep going, but she held the words inside. He was doing better than she could in the same circumstances, she acknowledged, but that didn’t take the edge off her extreme worry for Bliss and Aunt Belle.
He glanced over at Maressa then covered her twisting hands with his, stilling the restless motion.
“Try to relax, Maressa. We will be there soon. Just a few minutes more.”
“If something happens, it’s my fault.”
“I think you know that’s bullshit. If something has happened, it’s on the heads of those committing the crime, not on you.”
Ives whipped the car into a tiny parking spot about a block from her house and turned the car off.
Maressa started to protest but he put a finger over her lips.
“We must be silent. Until we know the situation, we must assume the worst and act accordingly. My friends are coming, but they won’t get here for another few minutes. For now, it’s just you and I. We must be silent in our approach. Nod if you understand.”
She nodded while her stomach twisted and rolled. He meant that Biff could be there already, could have Bliss or Aunt Belle already. Her mind stalled on that awful thought.
“Is there anything you can tell me that would help me to navigate inside the house?”
She tried to gather her scattered thoughts.
“The third stair from the top squeaks. It’s really loud. Aunt Belle is a heavy sleeper, and she snores a bit, so you probably won’t wake her. Her bedroom is on the east side at the front. And the door that joins the two sections of the house is never locked.”
She couldn’t think of anything else that might be important. She had never broken into her own apartment before.
Ives considered for a moment, then got out of the car and came around to her side. He opened her door for her and pecked her on the cheek when she stood.
Maressa didn’t quite know what to make of his actions when he took her hand and started down the sidewalk.
His eyes were restless, scanning, and before they got to the corner, he pulled her sharply into a stand of forsythia bushes. From there they made their way, still holding hands, through several backyards and up to her backdoor.
She tugged at his hand.
“Sensor light at the side by Aunt Belle’s door,” she whispered in his ear, and he nodded.
His lips touched the shell of her ear.
“A human male has been here recently,” he said. He wasn’t whispering exactly, but the sound barely reached her. “Not Biff. The other one. He stood just there for some time.” Ives indicated a spot by the shed, where he would have been well concealed if anyone had looked out the back window from either floor.
Her heart tripped and sped up.
Ives tapped the back of her clenched fist and took the key from her. The lock didn’t make a sound under his careful handling, and they were inside. He sniffed cautiously and put his lips to her ear again.
“No male scent inside. You go up and check your sister. I will go through and check your Aunt. If you are not back here in five minutes, I am coming up.”
She grabbed his hand and squeezed.
“If I am not back here in five minutes,” he continued, “get your sister out, go next door, and call the police. I mean it. Five minutes.”
She wanted to roll her eyes, but thought maybe his night vision would catch it. She settled for a quick nod and it seemed to satisfy him.
They separated and Maressa climbed the stairs with slow precision, almost holding her breath in fear of a squeak as she carefully bypassed the third to the top step on her way to Bliss’s room.
* * * *
Out in the cool dark night, after checking on Aunt Belle and finding her snoring softly with no indication that anyone had been in the house who shouldn’t be, Ives moved toward Balke and his trainee.
He was almost to them when Brax whistled under his breath. Ives looked up and saw Maressa silhouetted against the curtains upstairs in what he assumed was her sister’s room. Her curvaceous woman’s figure was prominently displayed, and he was torn between licking his lips and beating some sense into a young man who was being too forward in his appreciation of another’s mate.
Ives bared his teeth but before he could even move, Balke slapped back of Brax’s head.
“Be more careful,” Balke instructed quietly. “You do not want to offer challenge to one of our Enforcers.”
“I don’t think she’s been marked and Ives isn’t even here.”
Ives would have growled but Balke snorted. He stood back and waited to see how Balke would handle it.
“Ives could be standing directly behind you and you would not even know it. He came to us from another Clan but he is a full member of the Cadre. In challenge, he would defeat you in a matter of seconds. And that is if he decides to have some pity on your mother and not to kill you as is his right.” Balke emphasized the word kill with a finger poking into Brax’s chest.
Brax drew himself up. “I’m getting better. I train every day.”
“And if you want to live to train again tomorrow, you will be more intelligent tonight.” Balke’s words were firm and final. “Have some respect for another man’s
mate.”
Ives stepped up right beside Brax and bared his teeth, showing his gleaming fangs. It was nothing like a smile. The younger male stiffened in surprise as Balke’s low laugh sounded.
“I wondered when you would show your face,” Balke said and he and Ives shook hands like humans. Brax looked from one to the other, but both males had grown up easy with human customs.
“Humans do that,” Brax said with a little curl to his lip.
“You must blend in, Brax. It is the first rule of our people. You must be able to keep our existence a secret and fitting in with humans is the best way to accomplish that,” Ives said.
“But we’re better than humans. We’re stronger, smarter, and faster than they are.” His tone said he believed it, but Ives shook his head.
“Not in your case,” Balke said. His tone was dismissive. “Prejudice like that will keep you out of the Cadre. If you can’t learn to broaden your mind to ways other than ours, to the strengths of a people you judge though you know little of them, you will never be a warrior. Remember, you are trying to impress our Alpha, and his mate was fully human.”
“As is my mate,” Ives said.
Brax swallowed, and Ives could see that he had forgotten that little fact. Ives slapped him on the back.
“Brace yourself,” he said. “As my father says, it is a long road without a turn. As you spend more time around humans, I think you will find that they make mistakes, but they build and create. There is much to admire about them as a people. And becoming a warrior is not all about the strength of your arm.”
Brax bowed his head respectfully.
“We will stand guard outside the house,” Balke said, and Ives nodded his thanks. “The silence of this quiet neighborhood will give my companion a chance to consider your words, and perhaps to rethink his own. If the human with the scent of lust and anger returns here, I will let you know.”
“Before or after you play with him?” Ives wanted to know.
Balke grimaced. “Before, if you insist.”