by Olivia Arran
“He’s mine.” I owed it to Mandy. Owen was liable to cause bodily harm, while just thinking of my mate and who this man had been to her, allowed me to hold my wolf back.
Making my way out to the hallway, I positioned myself behind the door. Light footsteps sounded on the steps. The door handle twisted, metal jiggling in the lock.
“It’s unlocked, you idiot,” I muttered.
A harrumph of surprise whispered through the air when the door sprung open, then a body slipped inside.
I stepped out of my hiding place, closing the door behind me with a click and flicking the latch. “Surprise.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Mandy
We walked into the living room to find two trussed up turkeys parked on the floor, sitting back to back. Hands and legs bound and duct tape in place.
I wanted to vomit.
Up until this moment, I’d been in denial, and looking at my squad’s faces, so had they.
A muscle ticked in Kel’s jaw as he squared his shoulders before marching up to the traitor, ripping the duct tape free without mercy. “Why?” he growled.
Chris wouldn’t even look at us. Stress lines gathered around his eyes, the only sign of his discomfort as he gazed out into nothing.
It was anticlimactic. And it pissed me off.
I was in his face before I knew it. “Your Lieutenant asked you a question, Chris. Why did you betray us?” He didn’t answer. “Why are you working for them? They hate humans! They think we’re inferior! To them, you’re nothing more than the shit they scrape off their shoe.”
“The other one’s mighty quiet,” Don observed. “Maybe he’ll talk?”
“We’ll be taking him back with us to Heartsridge,” Owen interjected with a shrug. “Sorry, but there’s no way you’ll be able to hold him and he’s got information in his head we’re going to need to ferret out.”
“I’m going to enjoy torturing you.”
Daryl slapped a hand over his face. “Dante, we’re not allowed to call it torturing anymore.” It was good to see him up and about, even if he did look a little pale.
“Torture, interrogation, flaying someone’s skin.” Dante tilted his head. “I don’t see the difference.”
The shifter on the floor widened his eyes and stared at Dante, showing the first visible sign of fear.
The dragon shifter grinned. “I am going enjoy bathing in your fear.”
“You mean blood, don’t you?” Don looked unsure, and like he wished he hadn’t spoken.
“Blood, fear, I don’t see the dif—”
“Seriously, dude, there’s something wrong with you,” Sarah muttered, shaking her head.
Owen scowled. “Fine, Dante. You can have first dibs on the prisoner.”
“We want in.” Talon and Ridge moved as one to stare down at the Purist shifter, who swallowed hard, hyperventilating behind the tape.
Owen rolled his eyes. “Fine. Everyone who wants to have a chat, will get one.”
“I want to play with Chris.” Bree crouched down next to Mandy, letting out a puff of smoke. “I remember you saying, right back when we first met, that you knew some shifters. I bet you know more than the one behind you.” She hummed under her breath. “Did I ever mention that I have impeccable aim. And excellent control of my fire ability. It comes in useful when removing unwanted parts of someone’s body.” She extended a finger, nail sharpened into a claw and dragged it down Chris’ chest. “Hmmmm, what do you think, do you want to play?” She tapped his crotch and he whimpered.
Chris cut the sound off, raising his chin. “You can’t touch me. I’m human and I want to speak my lawyer.”
Bree pouted.
I sighed. “Well, that just sucks.”
“Part and parcel of arresting a cop.” Kel patted me on the shoulder. “Good work, kid.”
I grinned. “Aw, am I your kid person?”
Kel just rolled his eyes. “Right, let’s get them both back to the station. We’ll figure it out from there.” He turned to Chris, narrowing his eyes, then started reading him his rights, adding, “We have evidence of your hacks at the station and in Heartsridge. We also have you for illegal phone taps and tampering. Plus accomplice for attempted murder of myself and Daryl Sett. Then there’s impersonating a Chief of Police and using his ID to commit fraud, not to mention when you uploaded a key stroke logger onto my laptop the other day.” He smirked. “You think I didn’t know? I’m not a dinosaur.” Giving the shifters a nod, he walked out of the room, letting them carry the prisoners out of the house.
I moved with Kel, catching his eyes. “Key stroke logger?”
He winced. “That’s what IT told me it was. I hope I said it right.”
“How many times did you practice?”
The corner of his mouth twitched, but he managed to keep a straight face. “About fifty. We weren’t sure if it was Don or Chris, though.”
My hands clenched at my sides. “I know. I wish we’d been wrong.”
He squeezed my shoulder. “Yeah, me too, kid. Me too.”
The station was quiet, subdued. It was never a good day when one of your own changed sides. Chris still wasn’t talking, but it wasn’t looking good for him. We had his phone, his laptop, and a team had been sent to his apartment to tear it apart.
It had been a long night and I had only just finished up my report. Sarah had disappeared a while ago, saying she’d see me at home. I’d caught her earlier giving Dante a sidelong look that—to be honest—kind of freaked me out. I’d promised to find Sarah a decent guy, one who’d think the world of her and chase away the shadows.
But, yeah, I had my reservations about Dante being that guy.
Luckily, she hadn’t hung around to see the guys off, so maybe everything would work out fine. I was crossing my fingers, and my toes. And I was going to cross Grant’s too, the second he got out of his meeting with Kel and the Chief.
Talon and Ridge had gone with Dante back to Heartsridge, following Owen, Bree, Nita, Brent, and Emma, with Fergus crammed in the trunk. On one of those little fold out cargo seats—hey, they were shifters, not animals! Or that’s what Bree had said when I’d raised an eyebrow about her stuffing him in the trunk.
When I’d first heard they were leaving straight away, I’d panicked. Grant had pulled me close and repeated his promise. Then repeated it again: he would never leave me. What that actually meant, who knew? Long distance relationship? Asking me to move to Heartsridge with him? He hadn’t actually asked me to be his mate, so that couldn’t be it. I shut down my laptop and closed the lid, eying Kel’s office which I could just about see if I stretched out to the side, just down the corridor. Nothing yet.
I drummed my fingers on the table. I loved my job. Being a cop wasn’t a career choice for me, it was my life. The thought of walking away from it all … it hurt. Leaving Kel and Sarah? I’d rather stab myself in the eye.
But I couldn’t live without Grant.
For some people they might view that admission as a weakness. You should be able to live without someone, it should always be a choice. It wasn’t healthy to be so dependent on someone for your happiness.
Well, bullshit. I never said I was capable of having healthy relationships, but I’d done just fine up until now. I couldn’t live without him because he couldn’t live without me, and that wasn’t my ego talking.
I was his fated mate, which meant we were soulmates.
Soulmates shouldn’t want to be able to live without one another, right?
In the middle of my healthy/not healthy relationship debate with myself, which I was starting to believe wasn’t worth having, since I wasn’t about to change my own mind, Kel’s door opened and Grant and Daryl spilled out. They each turned to shake the Chief of Police’s hand, the Chief reaching out and slapping both men on the shoulder, before striding away. Probably going back to bed, since we had dragged him out in the middle of the night. Damn, I could do with some mattress time…
A muscular thigh set
tled in front of me, covering my desk. “Hey, pretty lady.”
Following the sound of the low, husky voice, I stood up, maneuvering my way between his legs. Sliding my arms around Grant’s neck, I pressed a kiss to his lips, just enjoying the fact that I could kiss him whenever the hell I wanted to. “Hey, caveman.” I kissed him again, enjoying the slow, sensual slide of his lips against mine. “What’cha doing?”
He chuckled at my playful tone, leaning in to nip at my lips. “I’m just about to give my lady some good news.” He tugged at one of my curls, winding it around his finger.
“Hmmmm?”
“The Chief offered us a job. On a trial basis at the moment, until the amendments to the treaty are finalized. We’re to continue with the training and pick up some patrols.”
I blinked at him.
He squeezed my hip, looking worried for the first time. “Say something.”
I opened my mouth, and this time something came out other than thin air. “You’re moving here? Permanently?”
“I’d like to go back to Heartsridge on weekends, so I can go for a run with the pack, but … yeah. What do you think?” A shy smile danced on his lips as he searched my face.
A thud sounded somewhere behind me, then, “You’re doing what?” My head whipped up at the sound of Kel’s yell.
“Ah, yeah, Daryl’s decided to stay for the trial run, too.”
I whistled, wishing I could see through walls. “Damn. That’s going to be interesting.”
Grant nudged me, stealing my attention back. “I know I’m moving fast and you might not be ready, but you’re my mate and I need to be with you. When you’re ready, I hope that we can be together properly. Mated,” he blurted out, sounding nothing like the self-assured man I knew.
I cupped his cheeks and kissed him gently. “Grant, I’d already decided that I’d go with you.”
He looked shocked. “You would have?”
“Mmm hmm.” I kissed him again. “But I would have found it really, really hard to leave this place.” Understatement.
He hugged me, his hands sliding down and taking advantage, cupping my ass as he let out a groan. At my playful smack, he nuzzled my cheek. “I know. And I never want you to have to leave anyone you love behind.”
“Including you?”
“Including me. So, weekends at Heartsridge?”
“Sounds like a plan.” I twirled my fingers through his hair, gently tugging. “You going to take me home to Montana to meet your family?”
“Yep.”
“Good. I like acquiring new family.”
He smirked. “I know. They’re going to love you.”
I snorted. “Of course they will.”
Pushing away from the desk, he took my hand. “Pretty lady?”
We wound our way through the desks toward the exit. “Yes, caveman?” Pushing the doors open, we spilled out into a street drenched in the soft glow of morning breaking.
“Love you.”
I tugged on his hand, rising up onto my tiptoes, pressing us together from hip to lips. “I’ve got three little words for you.” When he grinned, I pressed my lips against his. “Be my mate?”
We shushed each other as we crept up the stairs, stealing kisses, our hands wandering, eager to grab and hold. Twisting in his arms, I pushed open my bedroom door, backing into the room with a smile.
He’d said yes.
He’d said yes, spun me around, kissed me until my knees were weak, then reminded me that there had never been a chance he’d have said no. He was a shifter, I was his mate, he loved me and wanted to spend his whole live loving me. No matter how many times he explained it to me, I still couldn’t quite bring myself to believe it, waiting for the other shoe to drop.
I paused at the foot of the bed as he walked over to my dresser, retrieving the scrap of red fabric and hanging it on the door. When he turned to face me, my legs almost buckled at the expression on his face, the same intense need reflected back at me.
We moved together, meeting in the middle of the room, our hands tugging and pulling at clothes, fingers plucking at buttons and tugging at zippers while we kissed until we ran out of air, until we fell onto the bed completely naked. He rolled me underneath him, his hands covering my breasts, his thumbs moving to rub over my nipples. A sharp pinch to the sensitive skin had my hips arching, pushing up against his hard body, seeking to release the coil of tension building up inside me.
I needed. Desperately. An ache had started inside of me, a hollow emptiness that I knew only he could sate.
Hot breath dusted my breast as his tongue lapped at my skin, open mouthed kisses interspersed with playful bites that had me biting back a groan. His hand slid between us, fingers tracing a path across my stomach, toying with me as he worked his way down. Pressure built as he slid his finger through me, pushing deep inside with enough force for me to arch beneath him, my gasp captured by his mouth as he surged against me.
“This,” he murmured against my lips, his hand thrusting between my legs, his thigh pushing me open as he used my slickness against me, increasing the delicious torture. “This is what I want. Every single day for the rest of my life.”
My body didn’t know which way to go; arch into him, go into full blown retreat, the pleasure too great to survive? Nipping at his mouth, I stifled a scream as he pressed against my center, increasing the pace. “You have me.”
“And I will follow you anywhere. Home is where you are.” He pushed me over the edge with his words, with his hands, his mouth capturing my scream as he groaned, the sound deep with need.
“Yes.” I shook beneath his hands, his steady weight holding me down the only thing preventing me from floating away, anchoring me in reality. Grant was my anchor, a certainty I had never had before, never dreamed I would find. He would always be there—always—even if I messed up or we had an argument. He might walk away, but he’d never leave.
He had my back, my heart, and my love.
I wrapped my arms around his neck and hugged him tight, then cradled his face to mine, staring into those gray eyes that I had grown to adore. “I love you. Now take me as your mate, claim me with your soul.”
His eyes filled with happiness, then his mouth crashed down on mine, drugging kisses filled with joy and hope. “You’re definitely sure?” He growled, the kisses heating up, his hips grinding against mine and sliding his thick shaft against my stomach.
I grabbed onto his ass, urging him on and tilting my hips. My legs wrapped around his waist as I peppered his cheeks and jaw with kisses. “Yes. I need you. I want you. Forever.”
He slid inside me, slow and steady as he held eye contact, jaw clenching as he fought for control. Once he could go no further, he exhaled, nostrils flaring. “You make me the happiest man alive.” He shifted his weight slightly, rising up onto his elbows and rocking gently in a slow grind that had my eyes almost crossing. “I love you, Mandy. My mate. My pretty lady,” he whispered, punctuating each word with a twist of his hips that left me gasping and writhing. “I’m going to make love to you nice and slow until you come. Until all you can think about is how your body feels, how I feel moving inside of you. How good we feel together.”
“Sounds good to me,” I managed to say between sucking in air. Geez, the things this man could do with his body. All I could say is thank God for sit-ups, because he was putting that beautiful eight-pack to work with every flex of his hips. Smooth and controlled, he worked every inch of his cock into me, sparking fire inside of me with every thrust.
I was panting now, gripping onto his shoulders as I moved to meet him, his buttocks flexing and undulating where I dug my heels in. Tremors prickled inside me, a pulsing heat starting in my stomach, the tension building with every slow stroke he bombarded me with. “Please…” I wasn’t above begging, my teeth tugging at my bottom lip and sweat slicking my back.
He growled, his eyes flashing silver, but he didn’t up the pace. Didn’t deviate from his plan, just continued to move above me, i
mpaling me on his long, thick cock, until all I could think about was him moving inside me, my whole world narrowed down to the drag of skin against skin. I arched, chasing him on his retreat, chasing the high.
His hand brushed my neck. “Come for me and then I’ll flip you over and give you what you really need.”
I groaned, my hands sliding from his shoulders to cup his jaw. “Yeah?”
“I’ll always give you what you need.”
“And what do I need?” I strained against him.
“You need me to love you like this.” He turned his head and pressed a kiss to my hand. “And then you need me to fuck you hard. Because that’s who you are, pretty lady. A strong, unbreakable woman with a heart that needs loving.”
His words sent me over the edge, his breath catching in his throat on a rumble as he greedily watched me come undone. Large hands scooped under me as his body retreated and the world tilted, then I was on my knees, my upper body pressed into the mattress as he thrust back inside me.
He didn’t give me chance to catch my breath, setting a punishing pace that splintered the last bit of control I had over myself. I was aware of grasping the sheets, desperately crying out with every slam of his hips meeting mine, mewling noises coming out of my mouth as I begged him to fuck me harder. Faster. To give me more. More. When he’d made love to me, I’d felt it from the tips of my ears to the ends of my toes, an ever-growing wave of love that swept me up and carried me away.
Now, as he moved above me ravaging and conquering, claiming my body completely, I felt it everywhere. Felt him joining with me, in every cell of my body. I was numb from overload, my core pulsing with every snap of his hips, every punishing stroke deep inside me. My ass was in the air, his fingers digging into my hips, smoothing over my buttocks, locking me in place to receive him.
And I loved it. Loved how he didn’t hold back, how savage he felt moving above me. How, from this day forward, I would be the only woman who would ever know him like this.