by T. A. Grey
Wicked Surrender : The Kategan Alphas 3
By T. A. Grey
WARNING: The content in this book contains explicit sexual content. This book is intended for mature audiences only. It contains sexually explicit scenes that may be offensive. Please keep your file in a safe area on your computer and away from minors.
This book is not transferable. If it is sold, shared, or given away it is infringement of the copyright of this work and violators will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
This book is a work of fiction. All characters, names, places, and scenarios are solely the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, though reference to actual events or locations may be real.
Cover image by: Phillyphotog/www.bigstockphoto.com
Text design by: T. A. Grey
Wicked Surrender: The Kategan Alphas 3 © 2011, T. A. Grey
www.tagrey.com
All rights reserved
Also by T. A. Grey
Breeding Cycle: The Kategan Alphas 1
Dark Awakening: The Kategan Alphas 2
Evernight Anthology featuring “The Vampire’s Mate”
Capturing Jeron
Ecstasy Overload
Midnight Sex Shop
One Last Chance
Chapter One
Vera wanted nothing more than to be back on her couch with a book.
The atmosphere at the Kategan’s house was happy and bustling with excitement. Vane grilled on the outdoor barbeque while his pregnant mate Sarina sat nearby chatting with her best friend Alison. Rome, the youngest of the brothers, sipped a beer and talked over the grill to Vane.
The scene was nice, almost perfect, but Vera Kategan felt a grueling pain in her stomach. It wasn’t from anything physical though but something far deeper and emotional. Something that she didn’t want to think about but her mind wouldn’t let her forget.
Two of her three brothers were mated and disgustingly happy, but she wasn’t happy. Happy for them, yes. She could honestly say that. While she was concerned for her older brother Darien, she knew better than to be overly worried. If there was any man who could take care of himself, even in the worse of situations, it was Darien. He wasn’t just a rock, but a solid boulder of stability. His stomach probably wouldn’t get sick at the sight of Sarina’s rounded belly.
It was petty and stupid; she was petty. Why she couldn’t just be happy and content with her life was the agonizing question that had been driving her lonely nights. But now that was all going to change.
Vera shimmied her way into a lawn chair and crossed one leg over the other. “Big bro, we need to chat business.”
All conversation stymied to a stop. It was hard, but she barely managed to maintain her aloof smile. Vane flipped the burgers over before answering.
“What business is that?”
“The treaty with the vampire clan is coming up soon. With Sarina pregnant, I think it’d be a smart choice to send me so that you can stay here with her.” If she thought the atmosphere was still before she was wrong. It was absolutely suffocating now, and all those unnerving eyes were focused on her.
“Actually, I was just going to take Sarina with me.” Vera shot a quick glance to Sarina as if searching for confirmation that his mate was indeed very pregnant. Judging by the big round belly she had, going on she was pretty sure she was.
“Wait, wait. Are you telling me, Master Alpha, that you’re willing, and happy, to take your near-to-bursting-pregnant mate into possible enemy territory.” Her brother’s vicious growl was accompanied by the spatula in his hand snapping in half.
Vera shrugged and leaned back in her seat. “I prove my point. You can’t go. You’ll be beating every vamp’s face that even looks in her direction let alone raises a voice during the negotiations.” Sarina nodded at her with a smile. At least she had one person on her side; Sarina didn’t look like she enjoyed the idea of going either.
“She’s right Vane. Maybe you should let her go. Just send Darien with her,” Rome said and took a sip of his brew.
Vane’s shoulders stiffened. He was practically growling when he answered, “I can’t send Darien with her. He’s gone on a journey. Why don’t you go with her, Roman?”
Everyone started speaking at once. Vera’s half-shout was the only one to get through it all. “What the hell do you mean he’s gone on a journey? You’ve got to be kidding me. I just saw him back at Rome and Alison’s mating ceremony. He looked fine.”
Vane’s lips pressed flat. “Yeah, well apparently he’s not fine. And he needs time to himself. He told me he was leaving two weeks ago.”
“Mother fuck,” Rome cursed, “he’s been gone that long, and you haven’t even told us?” Alison stood and rushed over to her mate to wrap her body around his. The tension in his body relaxed instantly. Vera felt that hard pain in her gut again. Not again, dammit.
“He told me not to say anything if I didn’t have to. So I didn’t. I respected his wishes. Now get over it. All of you. Lumara, do you need anything?”
It was shocking how soft and sweet his voice got when he spoke to his mate. Her cheeks were high with color when she shook her head no at him.
The crunch of footsteps on gravel brought all conversation to a halt. Vera didn’t think this could get any harder, but at the sight of Jackson Marsh, she knew there was no hope of turning tonight into a good one.
“What the fuck is he doing here?” The dark threat coming from Rome was true enough that Vera went to stand between her brother and the human.
Though why she should even give a shit, she wasn’t sure. It was only because she didn’t want the cops called.
She watched Jackson’s jaw clench so hard she was surprised it didn’t snap. “I was invited.”
Rome couldn’t hide his surprised reaction. “By who?”
Jackson looked behind Rome and nodded to a pink-faced Alison. Rome looked down at his mate and back at Jackson before finally, stubbornly nodding. He turned towards his mate and grabbed her by the shoulders as if he wasn’t sure he wanted to pull her close or shake the hell out of her.
“Why did you bring him here? You know how I feel about this.”
“Baby, I asked him to come because this is a family barbeque and no matter how unhappy you are with him he still means a lot to you. I know it, and I think you do too. I don’t blame him for what happened, and you shouldn’t either. Sandra was put there to set him up; it was on purpose. It was Conlin’s fault, baby. He planned it all.”
Rome shook his head and pointed a hard finger at Jackson. “He should have known better. He does know better than to let some pussy sway him. He was a fucking soldier for Christ’s sake. He fought in a war, but couldn’t do his duty and protect my mate when she was in danger.”
“Fuck this—” Jackson muttered and spun around to leave.
“No, wait!” Vane’s hard voice broke through the atmosphere like a true leader, an Alpha. When he spoke all eyes and ears turned to him. “He stays. This fight between you and him has to stop sometime. Listen to your mate, Rome.”
Sarina stepped forward and held out her hand to Jackson who shook it, reluctantly. He looked like he was greatly regretting his decision to come here, and judging by the withering glare he sent Alison, he’d probably been misinformed about his welcome.
“Come on, take a seat, grab a beer,” Sarina said. Jackson nodded, but his eyes swung not to the beer but to her.
Her stomach clenched with an all new feeling now. Damn. She hated this man. She didn’t even know what it was. They’d hardly ever spoken and yet the man ground on her nerves like a pain in the ass. He grabbed a beer and took the seat closet to hers then scooted it another few inches closer.
He was seriously trying her patience.<
br />
The man had to be a mind reader, because he knew all the moves to piss her off. Purposely crossing her leg away from him, she turned away and pretended that the big, hunky human wasn’t sitting next to her. Hunky? Oh, God, she’d actually just thought that. Shoot me now, God, please.
“Vane, about what we were discussing, I really think I’d make the perfect liaison. I’ve gone with you all the times in the past; I know the treaty like I do my own handwriting. Plus it’s safer sending just me than risking your own mate.” She knew she’d hit the right mark when he sucked in a deep breath.
“Fine, you can go as ambassador but Rome will go with you.” Vera was saved from protesting by Rome.
“I can’t go. Alison and I have tickets for Italy. Remember, I told you about this? It’s our honeymoon, and I’m not going to have her miss out on it when I know Vera is more than capable of doing this.” Vera sent her brother a thank-you smile and he winked back at her.
Vane flipped off the grill, started plating the burgers, and grilled corn. The smells were good enough to have her stomach growling. Vane set the plates down and crossed his big arms as he turned to her. Uh oh. She knew that face. Whatever he had to say wasn’t going to bode well for her.
“All right. You can go but under my conditions.”
He seemed to be waiting for an answer so she hesitantly said, “Mmmkay, what?”
“You will go, but you will go with a guardian.” Vera’s bubble of laughter had him glaring at her harder.
“Vane, I’m twenty-seven, not a child. I don’t need a parent to chaperone me to the dance.” The corner of his lips fought to hide a smile.
“No, but you’re going into what could potentially be enemy territory. I’m not sending my sister alone. You’ll have a guardian.”
She laughed loud and hard. “Who? Not you, not Rome. A sentry? You’d risk losing territory protection for this, this little negotiation.”
“You know it’s not a little negotiation, Vera. No, you’ll go and he will be your guardian.”
Vera followed the direction he was pointing at even knowing where it was going, but hoping that if she followed its path, she’d find the Cookie Monster, Hannibal Lector, hell, anybody, there besides Jackson. But as soon as her gaze landed on him, her stomach did a little flip, and her mouth fell open. No, no, no. She couldn’t go with Jackson.
“Absolutely not,” she said briskly. She was not going to negotiate a treaty with vampires when this stupid human didn’t even know they existed, well, probably anyways.
“Hear me out, Vera. This could be a prime opportunity for Jackson to prove the error of his ways in the past. This could be a chance for him to salvage his relationship with Rome.”
Oh, no. Rome was nodding gravely as if he’d already jumped on the let’s-torture-Vera bandwagon.
Rome met Jackson face to face. To give the human credit, he didn’t back down but actually looked strong and sturdy as if he’d stand a chance in a fight against a lykaen. Stupid human.
Sexy human too. He was tall with short, buzzed hair and a short growth of hair on his face. Vera felt her body growing hot and quickly staunched the flow of desire before she did something stupid like drool.
“Jacks, I know I’ve been pissed, but what do you think of this. You help my sister—” Vera snorted and didn’t bother to hide it. Rome and Jackson sent her a quick look before continuing their evil plan. “You take care of her and protect her on this trip, and I will forgive you of all past transgressions. It will be forgotten.”
The air grew absolutely silent. Everyone held their breath looking from one man to the other. Vera’s grip tightened on the lawn chair. Please say no, please say no.
Jackson nodded slowly as if coming to a realization. He stuck out his hand and it was met with a hard, vigorous shake, and then Rome clasped him into a hard, brutal hug. Vera was surprised the human’s ribs didn’t snap from the pressure. Rome must be going easy on him.
When they broke apart, they both were full of grins. The tension dissipated like it never happened. Vera grumbled and lounged back in her seat.
“I’d be happy and honored to take care of your sister. Anything for you, brother. Semper Fi.” Rome smiled and clapped him hard on the back. “Semper Fi,” Rome said.
“Just what is it I have to do? Where am I taking her? You mentioned an ambassador position. Is this lykaen politics with the government or something?”
Vera stiffened in her seat and waited to see Jackson’s reaction. Rome cleared his throat, then took a swallow of his beer, then when that wasn’t good enough he chugged the last half the bottle and tossed it away.
“Yeah, well, you’ll be Vera’s guardian when she goes to negotiate the Kategan’s peace treaty with the vampires.”
Jackson quirked his head to the side. “The Vam whos?” Vera was biting her lip so hard that she had to look away and cover her face to keep from showing her laughter.
“The vampires.”
“Please tell me that’s not what I think it is.”
Rome grinned from ear to ear. “Oh, it’s exactly what you think it is, brother.”
Chapter Two
This was all some joke. It had to be. It was payback organized by Rome, and this whole charade would end with a camera crew jumping out at him say “aha!” Yeah, that was closer to reality than vampires were.
Fuck, his head throbbed like a disco club, any harder and Vera would hear it in the seat next to him and start dancing. Nah, she didn’t look like the dancing type. Even in her soft, floral dress that teased her knees, he knew she wouldn’t be some hardcore clubber type. Ballroom, waltzing, spinning around on the tips of her little feet, that’s where she’d be, and she’d looked just as elegant and posed as she did driving.
Jackson rubbed a hand over his face. There had to be something wrong with him. Since when did he go comparing women’s clothing and dance styles? Yeah, never was the fucking answer. There must have been something in that barbeque. Damn if there wasn’t something about Vera Kategan that just tweaked his ass. The woman had the uncanny ability to make him feel like nothing more than scum on the bottom of her strappy little heels.
He really didn’t like that feeling. It was the same feeling he’d had when he’d first entered the military when he hit eighteen. The drill sergeant shouted in his face spraying spit with ever “sir” and “at attention” he said. He’d stood up to him, stared him back in the eyes, and screamed his part right back. He’d shown his drill sergeant he did indeed have a pair of balls—big ones in fact. Even as he stood up his in sergeant’s face, he’d felt the cruel stabs of insecurity. Could he get through this? What if he wasn’t strong enough? What if he tripped over his fucking feet while doing PT and sent the whole line tumbling down the fucking hill?
Christ that woman had barely said ten words to him since they arrived in St. Louis and already he was anxious as a busybody old lady. He should be happy, hell, thrilled even. He wasn’t one for idle conversation. But dammit, women talked to him, loved talking to him, even if it was only to pull his cock out eventually. He used to hate it. His face was square and hard, his body strong and lithe. He had to keep it that way for his job.
When he was younger, he hated that he didn’t have to work to get laid. It was too easy. He almost felt like a cad taking it when it was offered.
Shit, he wasn’t any better now. He’d almost fucked Rome’s ex Sandra when he should have been on guard. God did he fuck up. He strove for perfection in his job. The instance with Sandra was the fuck up of his career. He still couldn’t believe he did that. Just thinking about it didn’t make sense; it must have been someone else who betrayed his friend to try to get some quick tail.
And what defense did he have? A pathetic one, that’s for sure. He hadn’t known Sandra was his ex fling, and he sure as shit didn’t know she was working with Conlin, and even if he had, it was no excuse. He never should have left his post. He’d fucked up royally, but he was 100% on board with fixing Rome and his’ relationsh
ip. The man had helped him when he’d still been in the darkest part of his life.
“God dammit, will you say something already?” Wow, smooth move Jacks. She glared at him, but whatever. It was basically her fault anyways. “Well?” he prompted, when she remained quiet.
“I didn’t have anything to talk about before, and I still don’t. Unless that is you want to talk about how much of a jerk you are.”
Jacks didn’t even try to hide it, he grinned big. Why the thought of pissing her off made him happy, he didn’t know, but that must be a very bad sign. “Why am I jerk?”
She looked at him, astonished. “Seriously? ‘God dammit, blah blah blah blah.’ You don’t remember just saying that to me. It was a borderline growl and shout, by the way.”
He turned to look out the window so she wouldn’t see the laugh he was fighting. If only she wasn’t her then maybe he could stand her. But all it took was one look at her fancy dress, shiny shoes, and pearl necklace to know she was so not for him. He needed a woman who could comfortably eat at a burger shack, not five-star dining. She'd probably eat five filet mignons in one night and clean him out of the bank in a week.
“Oh come on, saying that one line automatically makes me a dick?” A heavy, soft sigh followed his question. It made him wonder, no, no, couldn’t think about that.
“I didn’t say you were a dick, just a jerk, and yes, growling at me does automatically make you a jerk. Besides, I’ve been around you enough to know that you are in fact nothing but a jerk—and that’s putting it lightly. You should be thankful.” She didn’t quite mutter the words, but it was close.
“And what in your prissy little book has qualified me as a jerk exactly? It’s not like we’ve had deep conversations. I’ve seen you all of a handful of times, and lady, you’ve had your panties in a twist each time.” Her fingers dug so hard into the steering wheel he was surprised it didn’t bend.
She worked her jaw side to side before answering in a measured, quiet voice. “First off, you have no right to say something like that. I do not have my panties in a twist, and if they were then it’s none of your business—ever. Secondly, I know enough about you to know you’re a jerk. My God, you left my sister-in-law helpless to a crazy psychopath while you went and fucked my brother’s ex-girlfriend! How’s that not being a jerk?” Her words rose and rose until she was nearly shouting in the small confines of the car.