by Milly Taiden
“What’s the package they have for you, Anton?” Aria asked, curling her hands at her sides into fists.
“I can explain—” Anton started.
“It’s blood.” Said the same shifter with the bright blue eyes as he stared at Aria. “Human blood to be exact. In the form of teenagers.”
Anton flung himself at Aria, grabbing her by the shoulders and slamming her against a wall of boxes. The sound of the falling boxes exploded along with the instant fighting.
Emma pulled her guns out and shot at the two vampires moving towards Aria and Anton. Not tonight. Those two were going to fight with no interference.
Mason lunged toward the others that had come in the van.
“Stop! We mean the kids no harm,” the shifter said.
“You were ready to hand them over to vampires!” Mason yelled, his features taking on the shift. He was close, so close to shifting she didn’t want to blink and miss it.
“We had to come,” another guy said. “To figure out who made the deal for the kids with Rahound.”
Mason stopped, growling at the men. Emma saw the wolf trying to come out, but he reined it in. She knew he could tell if the guys were lying. His inaction meant they had to be telling the truth.
“Watch it!” A third guy yelled and Emma lifted her guns, shooting at the same moment the guy shifted, attacking one of the vampires coming at Mason.
Mason and the blue-eyed shifter went after one of the vampires while the other two guys took on the second. Emma searched the room, searching for Aria and lost her breath watching Aria kick and punch the older vampire.
“I trusted you!” Aria screamed. They were on the metal beams hanging from the ceiling, fighting. She elbowed the guy in the gut.
“You stupid, little girl. Did you honestly think people stopped drinking human blood?” The guy wiped at the blood dripping from the cut Aria did to his face. He lifted his hand to his mouth and licked it.
“These are kids!” She flung herself at him, bringing them back down to the ground with a massive crash. The cement floor broke from the force of their fall. Another loud thump sounded from where Mason and the wolves fought the other two vampires.
Emma turned back to the shifters and took aim, shooting at the vampires and hoping to help Mason and the others. She glanced over her shoulder and saw Aria slicing the older vampire’s face with her nails.
Anton punched Aria in the face, shoving her off him. Emma aimed at him and took a few shots but he moved too fast for her to hit. Fuck! The bastard was damn fast and she worried about Aria. He hissed, as if noticing Emma for the first time. Oh, shit. His diversion was short lived. Aria flung herself at his back. She clutched at his throat, nails digging until blood oozed from the cuts. He shook her off, swinging his arm and tossing her across the room to land at Emma’s feet.
Aria jumped back on her feet, hair disheveled and wearing multiple cuts and tears to her clothes. She reached behind Emma and pulled, taking the katana Emma strapped to her back.
“I’m going to borrow this for a second.” She jumped away before Emma could say anything.
Aria flung around to face Anton. She lifted the blade and swung, slicing through Anton’s suit. The material from his clothes gaped to show a long, thin red line of blood from the cut.
“I’m not the only one breaking your rules,” Anton laughed.
Aria swung again. The blade hissed as it sliced through the air and Anton’s sleeve. Emma was caught off guard when she saw Mason and one of the other shifters dashing toward Anton.
They leapt through the air, taking Anton down. Mason bit down on one leg. The shifter who was a gray wolf with the bright blue eyes crunched down on Anton’s arm. He struggled to shake them off, but they had their jaws locked on him.
“You can kill me, Aria,” he hissed looking up at Aria from the ground. “That won’t stop the fact others in your family are breaking your rules.” He shook his head. “What are you going to do, kill us all?”
She lifted the katana and nodded. “Yes.”
The blade came down swiftly. Emma didn’t even hear it cut. All she saw was Anton’s head roll away from his body.
She turned around and shot at the vampire fighting a losing battle with the other two wolves. Aria joined them, slicing through the vampire in seconds. The pieces of the guy Mason and the blue-eyed shifter had torn apart lay around them.
Mason and the others shifted back to their human bodies, covered in blood. Aria pointed the katana at the shifters.
“Who are you?” Aria asked.
“I’m Trevan,” the blue-eyed guy said. “This is Roen and Alain.”
“Why were you bringing the teens to the vampires?” Mason asked, tugging Emma to his side.
Emma tried to avert her gaze. It was weird as hell talking to naked men she didn’t know. Not that anyone else seemed to mind or care.
“We were passing through when we were approached about a job,” Trevan said. His friends nodded at his sides. “Apparently Rahound needed people to bring people to the vampires to feed.”
“And what is he getting in return for these blood gifts?” Emma asked.
Trevan shook his head. “I don’t know. We never got that part of the information. We were only paid to bring the girls. But we knew we couldn’t allow them to be bled for some war between packs.”
Aria frowned. “What do you mean war between packs?”
“The war between Rahound and the Wolfes,” Trevan said. “We heard that’s what he is preparing for.”
Mason glanced at Emma. “He must be thinking that because we’re backing Caleb we’re going to call on him as well.”
Emma nodded, her gut clenching. The fight for Caleb’s land was only growing by the day.
“What now?” Emma asked Trevan. “How do they contact you if they want you to do another job?”
Trevan sighed. “We show up at this little hole in the wall bar mostly visited by humans. They send someone there and then we’re told what they want. This was our first official job.” He glanced around. “There’s nobody around to say we didn’t do what we were asked to do.”
“I need to know who else in my clan is seeking blood slaves,” Aria hissed, her fangs fully extended and her eyes flashing with anger.
Trevan’s eyes brightened with his wolf. “We’ll go back. Make ourselves available in case they have a second delivery.”
Mason nodded. He gave them his information so they could contact him with what they found out. Aria did the same.
Emma glanced at the too quiet van. “Are the girls really in there?”
Trevan shook his head. “We didn’t want to run the risk of something happening and them ending up in the vampire’s hands so we left them in the cabin we’ve been staying at.
Mason pulled out his cell phone and dialed for back up. “I’ll send my enforcer to get them.”
Trevan gave Mason details and Aria pulled Emma to the side.
“I have to go,” she said, anger pulling her features tight. “I need to go back before any of the others return to the mansion.”
Aria glanced back at the men, staring at Trevan for a second before glancing back at Emma. “I’ll be in contact if I find out anything different. You do the same?”
Emma nodded. “Are you sure you’re okay? Do you need help getting back to your bike?”
The anger in Aria’s face fell and a smile broke across her lips, showing her fangs. The smile made her eyes sparkle beautiful violet. “You mean that, don’t you?” She laughed. “You are a sweetheart, Emma. I’m fine. I’ll be in touch.”
Emma watched her jump over a wall of crates and disappear. She turned back to the naked group of shifters and frowned. One bad guy down and a billion more to go. Too bad she still had no news on Maria, but she felt oddly comforted that soon she’d find the girl. She refused to believe Maria had been bled out or killed.
FIFTEEN
Emma stood under the spray for a while, letting the hot water hit her, draining the
tension out of her stiff muscles. She didn’t know how Mason had been able to shower and head into the kitchen when all she’d done was shoot and stress and her body ached like she’d done a killer cardio class.
After toweling off and heading for her bedroom, she smiled when the first thing she saw was Mason holding a glass of wine out to her.
“Here, I bet this will make you relax a little faster.” He tugged on her robe, pulling her into his arms. “You doing okay?”
She sipped her wine, curling a hand around his neck and sighed. “Yeah.”
He guided her backwards, to the leather seat next to the bed. He sat down and drew her into his arms to sit on his lap. “I can hear your brain working.”
She grinned and glanced at his too handsome face. Mason wasn’t typical pretty boy, handsome. He was too harsh, too rugged for that. With his dark eyes and short spiky hair, he was cute. But adding his firm, chiseled jaw and strong dominating looks, he was fucking gorgeous. Not to mention the nipple piercings and the tattoos. They all added to give him a dangerous, bad-boy image that drove most women wild. Including Emma.
She wanted so badly for her relationship with him to work. He’d not done anything recently to try and control her actions, which she had expected. She hadn’t seen any of his usual overbearing jerk personality traits recently and that gave her hope. Maybe now that he saw she wasn’t an irresponsible woman with a death wish, he’d stop trying to control her comings and goings.
“Do you trust me?” She asked suddenly, surprising even herself with the question.
He cupped her chin and turned her face to meet his gaze. “Do I need to answer that?”
“I want to know if you have realized I’m not putting myself in unnecessary danger and trust me to do what I have to do without you having to babysit me.”
He pushed a strand of hair behind her ear and took a deep breath. “I trust you. I’ve never not trusted you.”
She shifted on his lap, trying not to think about the hard-on pressing on her ass. “But?”
“There are no buts. I trust you. I worry about you. I will do whatever I need to in order to protect you and keep you safe. No buts.”
Dammit. It had been too good to be true. “Mason, you still think I’m reckless and put myself in danger for no reason, don’t you?”
“No. I think that because you are surrounded by shifters, you forget you’re human and don’t have the same healing strength we have.” He raised his brows. “Those cuts my mother suffered could have killed a human, but she was up on her feet like nothing a few hours later.”
Emma bit her lip. She understood what he meant. Seeing Barbara laying in a pool of blood had scared her. Not for herself, but for the people she loved. She didn’t want to see anyone else in the same position, so it made sense Mason didn’t want to see Emma that way either.
“You have to understand,” she said softly, “I was raised to be independent. To do whatever I felt needed doing for myself and others.” She caressed a hand over his scruffy day’s old beard. “Fear shouldn’t hold a person back from doing the right thing. That’s what my dad taught me.”
He grabbed the hand she’d placed on his face, brought it to his lips and kissed it. “I understand that, love. You have to understand that because I care about you, I won’t let any harm come to you. Ever. That means I protect you. Understand?”
A small smile flirted over her lips. “I understand. We are just not going to see eye to eye on this.”
“No. I think we have it figured out. You do what you have to do and I’ll have your back.” He said, taking the wine glass out of her hand. “And right now, I want to have your back literally.”
She laughed at his words. “You’re such a romantic.”
He lifted her in his arms and deposited her on the center of the bed. “You want romance? I can do romance.” He shrugged out of his clothes and hopped on the bed, pulling on the tie holding her robe closed until it came undone. “I want to lick your pussy and watch you come all over my mouth.” He pushed her back on the bed, peeling the robe from her body. “Then I want to fuck your pussy and your ass. Until I fill both holes with my cum.”
She gulped. “I like this romantic side of you.”
He grinned. “Just wait. I’ve got a lot more in store.”
She scooted up the bed, giving him space to join her. He hopped off the bed and opened her toy drawer on her bedside table. He pulled out one of her vibes and a bottle of lube.
“You got something in mind, Mr. Wolfe?”
He winked and dropped the toy and lube beside her on the bed. “I have more than something in mind. I’m going to eat your pussy, make you come and then I’m taking your ass for a ride.”
Shudders raced down her back with how rough and growly he said that. Like he’d been counting the hours until he could do that to her. Hell, okay. Maybe she’d been counting until she could have his face between her legs again. Not that she would admit to that.
He crawled back on the bed, pushing her legs wide and inhaling deep. “Fuck, Emma. You smell delicious. Like the ripest berries in summer.”
She gulped, watching him and moved her hands to rake her nails into his short, spiky hair.
“That sounds good. But how do I taste?” She grinned, hoping he’d hurry up and put his mouth on her.
It worked. Thank goodness! He pushed the back of her legs up to the point her knees were up by her chest and her ass and pussy were on display wide open.
She gasped. He ran his nose on her inner thigh, licking her softly with his cool tongue. “Right here, you taste like summer. Fresh. Clean. Delicious.”
“Good to know. What about lower?”
He winked and kissed her pussy lips, swiping his tongue over her swollen center and dipping it straight into her channel. “Here, you taste like heaven. Sweet like caramel with a flavor that’s uniquely you.”
Her. He liked how she tasted. That brought a smile to her face and an extra dose of frantic need into her blood.
He licked her again. This time he followed the lick with a groan and continued dips of his tongue into her pussy, drawing out her essence with his touch. “Scrumptious.”
She moaned, tugging on his hair for him to push his mouth on her clit. She held her breath as he grazed the tiny bundle with his teeth. Her muscles locked and a wave of heat pounded in her belly.
He slid a finger into her pussy, then a second. He fucked her with his finger and sucked her clit into his mouth. With his other hand, he tweaked at one of her nipples. The combination of sensations proved too much to bear.
She clawed at his hair, her hips rocking on his mouth, looking for traction. Finally, all broke. Her hips flew off the bed. She dove from the cliff of need into a sea of bliss.
“Oh!” She tried to hang on, but her body shook. Pleasure flooded her system. Endorphins swamped her muscles with joy. There was no fighting it. Only letting it happen and riding the wave.
Mason turned her on her tummy while she was still coming down from her orgasmic high.
She started out on all four and lowered her front to lay on the bed, leaving her on her knees in a submissive position.
“You don’t know how much I like seeing you this way,” he breathed.
She licked her lips and glanced over her shoulder. “With my ass up in the air?”
“Oh, yeah. Offering it to me.”
He was sick. And worse than that, so was she because she loved the things he said. Obviously they were meant to be with their perverted minds.
A cool trail of lube landed on her ass and traveled down, between her cheeks to her hole.
“Let me get the toy,” she said, holding her hand out under her body.
He placed the vibe into her hand. It had a curved body and flat head, ideal for clitoral stimulation.
Mason inserted a finger into her ass, pushing in and out. She tensed at first, not liking the invasion back there. Unlike some people, Emma wasn’t in love with the idea of anal sex when they started, bu
t once she got into it, she enjoyed it. It was the getting her there that was the hardest.
“Relax, baby. I promise to make this good for you.”
She knew he would. He always did. Her pleasure was his top priority and she loved that about him. That didn’t take away from the fact she tensed up at the first sign of pain from something in her ass.
A second finger went in and he scissored them, stretching her and adding more lube into the mix. Once she was greased up, he placed the head of his cock at the entrance of her asshole. Mason always lubed himself up well to lower the discomfort level for her.
She pressed a button on the toy and rubbed it up and down her pussy. The soft buzzing helped shoot up her pleasure and take her mind away from his driving into her ass.
“Push out, sweetheart,” he grunted. “Make it easier for me to slide into you.”
He gripped her ass cheeks open, sliding his cock slowly into her ass with tiny see-saw motions. She pressed another button on the toy and the buzzing increasing. The vibration of the toy on her pussy sent her closer to the edge.
Before she knew it, he was inside her. He pulled back and thrust deep and fast.
“Ah, hell! Your ass is tight!”
She gasped. Darkness burned at the edges of her vision. Her muscles tensed, readying for her impending climax.
She pressed her face into the sheets. Her hand holding the toy shook. She didn’t hold back any longer. She placed the toy directly on her clit, allowing the vibration to take her to heaven. Her ass squeezed at Mason’s cock.
He growled, pumping faster into her. Pleasure engulfed her in sheer bliss, blanketing away any thought other than how good she felt. Her pussy grasped at nothing, looking for penetration. The tension ebbed away, leaving her filled with delight. Mini explosions rocked her core. God, that felt amazing.
He grunted, slowing his thrusts. His cock felt like a steel beam sliding into her. He bit his fingers into her hips and held her wiggling hips steady. Then he roared a howl. His hips jerked into her, his dick still pounding her from behind. He squeezed at her ass, pushing deep into her and filling her with his cum.