by Sam Hall
“You’re not tempted?”
She laughed out loud at that.
“Mum’s been at me my whole life about that, trying to push me and coerce me into becoming the perfect alterna-heir.” Her smile grew wider. “Even tried outright dominance displays, thinking she can force me into it.” Her grin turned almost feral. “I’m a bloody null when it comes to dominance—no one can make me to do anything.”
“What?” I asked, looking my cousin over closer. How was I discovering all this shit now?
“This town, the whole system…” She paused, then charged on, “I’ve been to other towns, and it’s not like this there. You’ve got the right idea of it, getting out. Maybe it’s something I need to think about too. Let myself become something other than just the Spehr name.”
She went curiously still for a moment, just staring into space as if imagining that, but then shook her head, her mischievous grin returning.
“But then who would send Mum and Selma spare every day?” Her eyes flicked to the guys standing around in the lounge room. “Just promise to help me find a temporary harem if I ever come to visit you in the big smoke. Now, did you want a cup of tea or coffee?”
I didn’t and I was sure the guys didn’t either, but one didn’t turn down an offer of hospitality in Lupindorf. Saying no was akin to spitting on your mother’s grave, so we settled down around Bridget’s dining room table, and she piled up her university texts on one end before bringing out mugs of coffee and plates of biscuits. I filled her in on what had happened, the hospital, her mum’s antics. Mason stiffened at that, but right now, I was fairly convinced Bridget hadn’t played a role in that, especially when she rolled her eyes at what Nance had been up to.
“Don’t let the bastards in this town grind you down,” she said finally. “Reading between the lines, I think that’s what happened to your mum. I’m not sure you shouldn’t hightail it out of here now, let the cops sort out what happened with Uncle Adam.”
“I can’t,” I said, my fingers tightening around the warm mug. “They took him from me, Bridge. I can’t let that go.”
“Sorry, can I use your toilet?” Lorcan said, standing up. “All this coffee…”
Bridget smiled. “Just down the hall and second right.”
“Thanks.”
“Well, we probably better get going. You’ve been up and about for hours now. You must be getting tired,” Zack said.
“Dragging you back to bed already? Nice life if you can get it,” Bridge said to me with a wink. She rose to her feet as well, wrapping her arms around me and holding me in a long hug. “Stay strong, Paige. They’ve tried to take you down, just come back swinging.”
“Only way I know how to,” I replied.
We walked back to the car, Lorcan joining us not long afterwards.
“Those photos weren’t shot here,” he said in a low voice as we got inside. “I stuck my head in a few rooms before we left. The mouldings, the paint colours, they aren’t the same.”
“Nice work,” Mason said with a nod. “So she was filmed somewhere else.”
“You locals know anyone in the real estate game?” Zack asked. “Probably the person who’d be able to work out where they were shot.”
Micah and Declan looked at each other, but it was Declan who shook his head and answered. “We do, but you’re not gonna like it.”
“Who?” I asked, my eyes flicking from one man to the other.
“Aidan,” Micah replied, staring at me steadily.
Chapter 8
Lupindorf had a real estate cum stock agency, but it had been run by the Weber family for as long as I remembered, Dad taking many meetings with Mr Weber about the town and where it was going. We arrived the following morning, bright and early, but as we pulled up to the front, I saw the new façade, freshly painted and looking a helluva lot slicker than it used to. Evidently, the business had changed hands.
“This shouldn’t be a problem,” I said. “I’ve made my choice, so things should’ve settled down now.”
“The guys said that’s true,” Declan said, turning off the car. “The pull has eased for the other enforcers.”
So then why was the car thick with tension? Zack opened the door first, ushering me out, Mason carrying a sheaf of printouts from the files we’d found. We’d blacked out the faces in the ones we were going to show Aidan, not wanting to out my cousin to the town. A hand grabbed mine as soon as I got out of the car, the guys moving in close as we approached the door.
“You know he’s not gonna attack me in his office,” I muttered to them as Declan’s hand went to the door.
“He won’t while we’re still breathing,” Declan growled out.
And with that, we went in.
“Hi, my name’s Angie,” the receptionist said, getting to her feet, bright, professional smile spread across her face. “Are you looking to buy a property or stock today?”
“We need to see Aidan Peters when he’s free,” Declan replied.
“Mr Peters?” She frowned slightly. “Um…he’s in a meeting right—”
Her spiel was cut short by the opening of an internal door, then the man himself strode across the office floor towards us. But his eyes, they zeroed in on me.
“Paige…” he said, brushing the receptionist aside, not even recognising the other guys, which drew growls from them.
“We’re after some information,” Mason said, stepping in front of me. “Did you have somewhere we could talk?”
“Of course,” he replied, then turned to Angie. “Can you let the Schuberts know that something’s come up?”
“Sure. I could ask Bill to look after them.”
“Good, good. Do that. Now unfortunately, I won’t be able to fit everyone into my office,” he said to us. “Perhaps if you could select one of your bodyguards to come through—”
“My mates,” I corrected. “They’re not my bodyguards, they’re my mates.”
I watched Angie and Aidan stand there, trying to keep their professional façades up and kind of succeeding, but the muted reactions I got from them were very different. Angie started to back away, ostensibly to get Bill, but mostly because she was feeling really uncomfortable. Aidan, however, took a step forward, moving as close as he could without going past the counter, his eyes shining silver.
“Of course,” he said, trying to recover himself. “Well, bring one of your mates through, and we’ll see what I can do to help you.”
I turned around, all of them shuffling slightly closer, as if to make sure they were seen, but it was Micah I held my hand out to. Zack would have been a perfect candidate, as no one was getting past his wall of muscle. He’d have Aidan down on the ground, painfully pinned, if he tried anything, and Mason had a lot of pull in the town. But Micah was the one I knew the least, and if I didn’t give him the opportunity, I never would. Mason passed me the pile of photos as Micah smiled, bringing my knuckles to his lips for a second before drawing us through the gap in the front counter, following Aidan’s lead to the empty office.
For a long moment, Aidan just stared with hungry eyes as we sat down, eyes flicking from me to Micah, to where he still held my hand, watching that broad thumb brush against the back of my hand. Did he sense how my skin burned? A sidelong look at Micah stopped him from caressing me, but I was still exquisitely attuned to his touch, which still had the sting of strange to it. I squeezed his fingers, then pulled away, my focus and theirs not returning until I did.
“So can I get you a tea or coffee?” Aidan asked, recovering his composure.
“No, thank you. What we’re going to ask is a little unorthodox,” I said.
“Oh?” Professional Aidan was fighting with personal Aidan, and personal was winning right now. His eyes grew heavily lidded, and he inspected the two of us slowly, thoroughly. “Looking for somewhere new? A place that will be a better fit for your growing…family?”
“In a way, yeah.” I placed the photos on the table, and it took a few seconds for Aidan
to drop his eyes and look at them, but when he did, personal Aidan came rushing forward.
“What are…?” When he looked up, his gaze was pure silver, his beast looking at me, transposing the woman he saw before him into those salacious images. A slow smile spread across his face, then he went to look at them closer, picking up one photo, then another, his eyes following all the delicious contortions of the girls in the images.
“They aren’t me.” A single eye appeared around the side of the print out. “I haven’t brought you a pile of porn shots of me getting it on with a bunch of girls.” He just stared, all trace of humanity lost right now in the face of what he saw. It took Micah’s hand landing on the back of my chair, his fingers tangling with my hair, making me shiver, for Aidan’s human side to shoulder forward.
“Sorry,” Aidan said belatedly, but his eyes followed every move Micah made. “I shouldn’t have assumed. They… You…” He swallowed and then smiled, that golden boy smile that had slayed all the girls at school. “It’s hitting me kind of hard. So how can I help?”
“I need to know that you will keep this conversation strictly confidential,” I said, leaning back into Micah’s caress, his hand spanning the back of my neck, stroking the muscles there. It seemed to keep Aidan off balance, which I needed. “These images were found in a secret location and seem to have been taken either clandestinely or via surveillance. They weren’t taken at the property we assumed they would have been, and I figured—”
“This is your cousin Selma,” Aidan said, placing the photos flat on the table, running a finger along one figure, then another.
“How did you know?”
“It’s someone connected to you, obviously. At a stretch, I’d say it’s something connected to your father.” Aidan’s smirk was cocky as he leaned back in his chair. “But mainly because I know this property. I rented it to her.”
I leaned forward, Micah’s hand trailing down my spine when I did so.
“Can you tell me the address?”
“No.” He shook his head, that professional cool finally returning. “It’s strictly against real estate ethics and is illegal as far as I…”
His voice trailed away as Micah pushed the strap of my tank top aside, his mouth falling open, his breath coming in noisy gasps as the other man’s lips connected with my skin. Aidan’s lust clouded eyes were locked with mine, catching the moment Micah lit a fire inside me with his little glancing kisses. I went to pull back, to reach for him, but his hand slid out, holding me where I was by his grip on my neck. Micah did nothing indecent, just kissed his way across the skin he revealed, but the room was suddenly thick with desire and need. I watched Aidan’s hand slip down, pressing hard on the lump inside his pants.
“Jesus fucking Christ…” he hissed. “This was supposed to be done, over.”
“You still knot for Paige,” Micah said in a flat tone. “It didn’t ease for you.”
Aidan gave us a sharp nod.
“Every day, every night, you fucking burn for her. Feel the ache for her deep in your bones. It’s killing you not to reach for her, to drag her onto that big bloody desk, strip her bare, and then make her scream so loud, the whole street hears her.”
“Yes…” Aidan’s response was more wolf than human, a powerful, throbbing growl I felt all the way down to my toes. “You reek of her, had her bathe your face with her slick. I can fucking taste it in my mouth.”
“So much better from the source,” Micah said with a chuckle. “She dripped all over me, smothered me with her slick. I was in fucking heaven, eating her out in the showers. She was so hot, so responsive, but mostly because I’d been dying to taste her since she got into town, and finally, finally, I did. She came around my fingers, snatching so tight, I could barely move them, which of course made me wonder what that would feel like on my cock.”
“You play a dangerous game,” I said to him as I watched Aidan’s fingers bury themselves in the desk. The laminate cracked, the soft MDF going to powder beneath them.
“I like dangerous games,” Micah replied. “You have no idea how much.” He pulled me backwards, then ran a proprietorial hand down my body as Aidan forced himself to watch.
“I know what you want,” he ground out, and talking seemed to lessen the tension in him slightly. “You want me to throw my values and my job aside and just show you the property.”
Micah picked up one of my legs and placed my ankle on the desk, spreading me open by default, Aidan’s eyes arrowing into the crotch of my jeans.
“I didn’t want to do this,” Aidan said with a shake of his head. “Didn’t want to force shit. That never works with women, and I’ve never had to. Before you, they came to me.”
I jumped as Micah went for broke, sliding his hand down my crotch and cupping it through the denim.
“And now?” Micah prompted with a dark smile.
“And now it’s exactly how you say. I feel like I can feel every breath she takes on my skin, that when she looks at me, it stabs inside me, into my heart. Single friends of mine who’ve been caught up in this, they rang me and said the heat was off, that they felt like themselves again, so I waited and waited, thinking the same would happen to me.”
“But it didn’t,” Micah said.
“But it didn’t.”
“What are you doing?” I asked in alarm as Aidan got to his feet. I dropped my ankle and stiffened in the chair, getting ready, but for what? Not this, evidently. He unzipped his pants with the practised swiftness of a bloke about to have a piss, fishing his dick out, but kept the thick shaft mostly hidden by his hand. Well, all but this part.
“Just what I thought,” Micah muttered, but not so happily now. Because there, at the base of Aidan’s dick, was a swollen, angry-looking knot.
I looked at Micah for a second, seeing all the devilry had leached out of him. He stared at the man with a look of pure resignation, his jaw tightening, something that only softened when I took his hand. For some reason, he looked a little haunted when I did so, something I needed to chase away when we were out of here.
“So what do you want for this information? We need to know where that place is. We need to get inside it and take a look around. Someone gave my father medicine he shouldn’t have had, which is what killed him,” I said with a boldness I didn’t feel.
“Go to the police. Get a warrant,” Aidan said, almost pleading with me, tucking his dick back into his pants and sitting down. “But that’s not what you want, is it?”
“He died, Aidan, before I got a chance to…” The lump that always threatened to close off my throat but I managed to keep back rose, Micah’s hand tightening around mine. “I need to know. I need to pursue this, and I need to bring whoever the fuck did this to justice. If I’ve gotta get down on my knees—”
“Don’t. Fuck, please do not finish that sentence,” Aidan said, taking a long, shuddering breath. “My wolf wants all of it, every single thing you’re thinking right now, because he thinks that’s the only way he’s gonna get next to his mate. I can feel it, your mouth, your fingers… You kneeling down on the carpet—”
“You don’t want her this way. It’d be a death sentence to any hope you’ve got,” Micah said in a deadly tone. “She’ll hate you, and I won’t let you do that to her.”
“I don’t,” Aidan agreed finally, forcing one long breath, then another. “I won’t even push for a date or anything out of this.”
“What a gentleman,” Micah muttered.
“I hope you fucking realise what you’ve got,” Aidan shot back, his amber eyes spearing into my packmate’s. “You sleep with her, smell her, see her in the morning.”
Micah lifted our hands, pressing his mouth to the back of my hand, then just held it there, breathing me in. My eyes slid sideways, catching him staring at me over the top of them.
“And I thank the goddess for every damn moment. I’m not a religious man. Always thought the Mother Moon stuff was just some superstitious crap brought over from the old countr
y, but now? Every breath I take is for her. I want her so much, my hands cramp from holding myself back, but the need, the desire you feel?” He shook his head. “That’s just the tip of the iceberg. If you ever get beyond that initial pull, if she decides to consider your suit…” Micah’s short bark of laughter sounded more desperate than amused. “It gets worse, so much worse. You stop wanting, and you start…” Micah’s eyes returned to me, blazing so bright a silver as to appear molten. “It stops being about her sweet little cunt and that fucking banging body, and it just becomes her.”
I saw the moment when he drew back, packed everything back behind his hot eyed façade. Micah let my hand go, straightened in his chair, and looked at Aidan head-on.
“Someone tried to kill her for this information,” Micah said, tapping the photos. “They tried to beat her fucking brains out and left her for dead. When we woke up, when I saw her lying there, still, in a pool of her own blood? I’ve been in some tough fucking fights before, faced down blokes three times my size, but nothing scared the shit out of me like that did. She nearly slipped away, the woman who you knot for.”
“Fuck it…” Aidan cursed, ripping open a drawer and dragging a massive bunch of keys out. “I have to take you there, just you two. I can’t have the street seeing your whole pack going into this property.” He watched us stiffen. “Micah’s known in town as a damn fine fighter, he could put me on my arse if I tried anything untoward.”
“So could I,” I replied.
“Yeah?” Aidan’s grin was shocking in its immediacy. “I think I’d like to see that.” Then he nodded and said, “I’ll take you and Micah to Selma’s place. There’s an empty place next to it that we’re looking to rent out, so it’ll look like we’re showing that to you. If we go in through the backdoor, no one should see us.”
“Thanks, Aidan,” I said, feeling a pang of guilt now. Nothing I’d said wasn’t true, but the way we were getting what we needed was now not sitting so well with me.