by Mia Taylor
Amber’s words echoed through his mind, the idea of opening the proverbial Pandora’s box, but before he could let himself delve into it with any real depth, there was a loud knock at the door.
August hurried to answer it and Melissa almost fell into his arms.
“You’re—” He didn’t have an opportunity to finish his thought, her lips crushing onto his as they fell back into the apartment. There was an urgency in her, almost a desperation which both alarmed and aroused him simultaneously.
But whatever wariness he was experiencing was overcome by the need to have her finally, his arms wrapping around her to sweep Melissa off her feet and bring her into the bedroom to lay her gently onto the bed, their mouths still locked.
When they finally parted, he opened his mouth to tell her how beautiful she looked but she shook her head wildly.
“Don’t speak,” she ordered him, her voice husky. “Just take me.”
A fire ignited in him and in seconds, he had her naked body arched up against him, his mouth meeting every crevice like he’d known it a thousand times. Melissa’s tiny cries fuelled the heat growing inside him and when he flipped her onto her stomach to sink his teeth into her shoulder, he knew she was exactly where she belonged—with him, flowing into his body.
They joined together in a sinful union, their bodies locking to meet one another as Melissa’s hands reached up toward the headboard, her face deep into the pillowcase.
Her skin was slick with sweat, her breath escaping in small gasps as she closed in around him, sucking him inside her like their flesh was that of one.
August’s lips quivered, his tongue jutting out to lick the salt from her, and it was all Melissa could take, the two of them reaching their point of no return in unison.
In harmony, they quivered and shook, his body flexing and spasming against hers and then, as quickly as it had started, they fell silent into a sopping, wet pile of limbs, still connected.
He swept a short, blonde strand of hair out of her face and studied her expression lovingly but when she looked back to him, the desperation he had seen in her before remained.
“Melissa,” he murmured. “What’s wrong?”
She closed her eyes, blocking him from her sight, but she didn’t respond. He placed a sweet kiss on her forehead and sighed, thinking he knew what was on her mind.
“Louis and Andrew Wayland won’t bother you again,” he swore. “I promise.”
She nodded, her lids still pressed together, and concern flooded him.
“Melissa,” he breathed, propping himself up to look at her more closely. “What happened? Are you worried about work? I’ll take care of everything.”
“It’s not work,” she choked, turning away. He slid out of her and she showed him her back but he wasn’t letting her shut him out, not again.
His strong arm snaked around her naked hip and he drew her close, nuzzling his nose into her neck.
“Talk to me,” he begged her quietly. “I thought we agreed that you would tell me anything now.”
“I… I don’t know what to tell you,” she muttered. “I… I just don’t.”
He turned her toward him, their eyes meeting.
“Why don’t you try, then? Do you see how easily I dealt with Louis? If you’d told me earlier, we could have saved a lot of time.”
“This is different,” she replied shortly, trying to shift her gaze, but he wouldn’t allow it.
“How?”
“Please, August… I really don’t know…”
He fought the desire to let her go, knowing that her stubbornness was going to be endless.
You best get used to it, he thought with grim amusement.
“Where were you today?” he asked gently. “And don’t forget, I can find out if I need to.”
He was only half-joking but it seemed to be the motivation she needed to open up.
Abruptly, she pulled herself up against the pillows and stared at him.
“You’re going to think I’m crazy,” she mumbled. “I don’t even understand it myself.”
“Try me,” August replied dryly. “I’ve heard a lot of stuff in my life.”
My very, very long life.
Melissa nibbled on the corner of her lip and exhaled deeply before starting.
“I think I told you before that my mom and I were always on the run,” she said quietly. “My mom never really talked about it but I got the impression my dad was abusive.”
August waited, his pulse quickening.
“I stopped thinking about my dad after my mom died,” she continued. “I just kinda forgot about him. I don’t know, I didn’t remember him and it seemed like disrespect to look for him, knowing that my mom…”
She inhaled sharply.
“Take your time,” August advised, pulling her closer. Her heartrate matched his and he knew that she was about to disclose something he already knew.
“He found me.”
That, I was not expecting.
He drew back and looked at her in shock. “Your father?” he gasped. “When? Where? Who is he?”
His flurry of questions stunned her and she cocked her head to the side to stare at him in confusion.
“D-does it matter?”
It was August’s turn to bite on his lower lip and look away.
“It might, Melissa. What happened?”
“He… he called me today. Just out of the blue, on my landline at home. It was just after I returned from the station and… well, I guess I was feeling vulnerable so I agreed to meet him.”
August’s body was so tense, he felt like one move might lead him to crack in half.
“What did he have to say?”
Melissa adjusted herself, pulling the sheets up to conceal her nakedness as if she was suddenly shy, but August knew that wasn’t the case.
She’s feeling exposed.
“I don’t really know,” she confessed. “I got out of there before he could explain it, like I didn’t really want to know.”
She looked at him with wide eyes.
“I know this doesn’t make any sense to you, August but… there’s something not right about me, something that I’ve known for a long time.”
“Let me stop you right there,” he told her gruffly. “Whatever it is you’re going through, you’re right. Everything is exactly how it’s supposed to be, I promise.”
“You don’t understand,” she sighed, shaking her head. “It’s more than just a feeling and Paul… well, he confirmed it.”
“Paul is your father? Is Stark his last name too?”
She nodded, lowering her eyes again.
“I think he was going to explain why I always felt different and why my mom was so afraid of him. I don’t think he abused her in the traditional ways. I think something much darker was happening and I ran away even before he could tell me what was going on. What is wrong with me? Will I keep running? Is this just in my nature now?”
“No,” August sighed, yanking her back into his arms. “Your nature is exactly the opposite of that.”
“How can you say that when you’ve seen me do nothing but take off?” she demanded, resisting his embrace. “You don’t even really know me.”
“I know you better than you might think, Melissa.”
She eyed him without conviction.
“If you say so,” she sighed. “I think you might be wasting your energies on someone not worth it.”
“Hey!” he protested gruffly, seizing her arms and staring directly into her face. “Don’t you ever say that again. You’re my mate. I’ve known that all along and I think you have too.”
“Your mate?” she laughed but there was little mirth in her tone. “I wouldn’t have taken you as someone who believed in soulmates.”
“No, Melissa, you’re my mate. It’s different than what the mortals call soulmates.”
“The mortals?” A half-smile formed on her lips and she let a giggle escape but something in his eyes caused her beam to fade.
“W-what are you talking about, August?”
“I know what you’re feeling because I feel it too, Melissa,” he said, gauging her face for terror. “We’re the same.”
She shook her head again but August didn’t let her protest.
“The aching in your bones, the inherent desire to prowl and roam, particularly when the moon is full,” he started. “The constant yearning, the taste of blood lingering in your mouth for days sometimes?”
Her eyes widened to the point of popping.
“H-how do you know that?” she gasped but her words were barely audible.
“Because I’m just like you, Melissa. You, me, Amber, your father…”
“What?” she choked. “What am I, August?”
“You’re a bear, Melissa. You’re a bear shifter.”
Epilogue
“You about ready to go?” August asked, sneaking up behind her to place a kiss on the nape of her neck.
“Is that supposed to be a joke? How can you even ask that?” Melissa sighed, looking out toward the clear water of Des Plaines River. “How do come out here and then return to your life back in the city, pretending to be something you’re not?”
A crease appeared in his brow and he shook his head.
“I don’t pretend to be something I’m not,” he disagreed. “I’m the same being I always was.”
Melissa tipped her head to the side and studied his face pensively.
“You know what I mean,” she insisted. “You’re like a superhero. Bear shifter by night, low-paid detective by day. I mean, how can you leave this house and return to your crappy apartment?”
“Hey!” he growled jokingly. “I thought you liked my apartment!”
“Not as much as I like this estate!” she protested, laughing nervously. “I don’t mean any disrespect.”
“I know, and I know what you’re asking, but you have to think of it like this—we’re two different people at the core. Who we are in the sleuth and who we are among the mortals.”
“And what about me?” Melissa asked quietly. “How do I fit in?”
“Liss, you fit in everywhere,” he told her, gently wrapping his arms around her waist. “You’re a part of me in every aspect, aren’t you?”
“I don’t know,” she confessed, sighing. “God, you must think I’m an endless whiner but I can’t seem to get the hang of any of it. If anything, I’m more lost than before.”
She looked up in embarrassment.
“Oh… I sound like such an ungrateful—”
“You sound like someone who’s had your entire world view spun upside down,” he interjected, brushing the short strands of blonde out of her face. “It’s only been a couple months, Liss. A new, dangerous job, learning about your father, your background. It’s a lot to process, especially…”
He trailed off, knowing that it was a sore subject.
“Especially since I haven’t learned how to shift yet,” she finished.
“You’ll get there and when you do, everything will come together. In the meantime…”
He kissed her again, this time on the bridge of her nose.
“You’re not lost. You have an anchor in me. I am with you every step of the way.”
“I know,” she agreed quickly. “And I am so thankful for that. For everything you’ve done. I still have no idea how you managed to smooth things over with the Sarge.”
“Well, you technically didn’t put in your resignation and I used his own words to my advantage.”
“What words were those?”
August laughed. “I can’t remember verbatim but it was something to the effect of, ‘Rookies always get cold feet.’ Anyway, it worked out for us, didn’t it?”
Melissa smiled warmly at him. “How did I ever get by before you?” she asked honestly and he snickered.
“I don’t even want to know.”
“I don’t deserve you, August.”
“Yes,” he replied. “You do.”
They shared another kiss and he reluctantly pulled away.
“Now, go get your stuff. I’ve got to make a couple phone calls before we go but the car’s unlocked.”
“Fine,” she sighed miserably. “Ruin my buzz.”
“I had no idea you’d been drinking.”
“It’s not a buzz from alcohol. It’s a buzz from living like the other half.”
August chuckled and they headed up the pier toward the sprawling manor house which had been August’s home for over two centuries.
They parted ways at the French doors, Melissa heading up to their suite while August ducked into the study.
He closed the door behind him and moved toward his desk to pick up a burner phone inside the top drawer.
You there? the only text read and he exhaled, noting the time was less than half an hour earlier.
Yeah. What did you find?
He waited edgily, drumming his fingers on the desk. One minute later, another text came in.
I sent you an email.
He opened the laptop and signed in without responding, quickly locating his emails.
Instantly, he saw what it was he was looking for.
The “for your eyes only” encryption told him everything he needed to know and August felt a whoosh of air escape his lungs.
Did you get it?
He picked the burner back up again and messaged back.
I did. Thanks.
I don’t like doing this, August.
I know. But it’s for her benefit.
Still…
I won’t bother you again for a while.
All right.
He stared at the phone, waiting for another message, but one didn’t come.
He grunted and typed out a parting response.
Thank you, Cara.
Flipping off the phone, he turned his eyes back toward the screen and read the information Cara had found on Paul Stark.
Oh shit, August thought, gritting his teeth. This is not good.
“Babe? You ready?” Melissa popped her head inside the office and he nodded, rising to close the computer as he did.
“Let’s get back to reality,” he said brightly, linking his arm through hers, but his mind was whirling with what he had just learned.
Not only was Paul Stark Melissa’s father, he was the leader of one of the most powerful sleuths on the west coast.
And if he comes this way again, it will mean certain war.
Undercover Shift
Bears in Blue
Book 2
Mia Taylor
Prologue
It was stifling hot—much too hot for human exposure in Mia’s opinion but she was hardly in any position to argue. She knew the temperature rise was mostly in her own head.
She shifted uncomfortably in the backseat of the Cadillac and glanced at the two men sweating on either side of her.
Do they feel bad about this at all? They don’t seem nonplussed in the least.
“We’re almost there, sweetheart,” Big Earl muttered as if he could sense her impatience. “Your time of reckoning is coming.”
He snickered and shot Carmen an ugly grin which the other henchman returned.
She bit on her full lower lip to keep from retorting something scathing.
You’re in a lot of shit here, she reminded herself. I don’t recommend you make a fuss.
It was much easier said than done when she was both cramped and irritated, but what choice did she really have when her life was quite literally on the line?
Or was it?
The truth was, Mia had no idea what was going on. She’d been approached by Big Earl outside her work and ordered into the car. Mia knew the gorillas well enough to know that refusing wasn’t an option, not if she wanted to get where she was going unscathed.
Of course, whatever happens when I get there is another matter entirely.
She wondered how she was going to get herself out of this one but she’d been lucky so far. Too lucky.
How long were you going to be able to do this? Two years is a long time to act.
Finally, she could take no more and she grunted at Big Earl.
“Can’t we crack a window in here?” she demanded, trying to keep her voice wavering. “It’s a hundred degrees!”
The massive mobster eyed her with ugly, yellow teeth and sneered.
“It’s only getting hotter where you’re going, baby.”
Hell. He means Hell.
“Does Theo know about this?” she asked sharply, trying to sound like the spoiled princess she’d adjusted herself to become.
“Who do you think asked us to pick you up, hon?”
Her jaw locked and she craned her neck to look out the window but Carmen shoved her back and she was stuck staring up at the roof of the car with dull, blue eyes.
It was only then that the sense of foreboding hit her for the first time in two years.
How could they have possibly found out? What had she done to screw up this badly?
For the most part, Mia had forgotten she was a cop at all. She’d been working undercover for so long, she’d simply become Stephanie Rizzo, girlfriend to the youngest son of Victor Susi. The line had been blurred so badly that she wasn’t even sure that the intel she’d collected could be used in a court of law, not when she’d done so many illegal things to gather it.
Maybe I can use that to my advantage, she reasoned. Maybe I can tell them that my heart isn’t even in the force anymore or maybe I can—
The car screeched to a halt and Mia was thrust forward, her slender body almost landing in the front seat’s center console, but again, Carmen brought her back.
She looked out the window again and blinked several times at the strange surroundings. It was not what she’d been expecting—at all.
Lake Michigan shone just beyond in a dazzling array of diamonds, and Carmen, the silent goon, grabbed her arm with little force to lead her out of the Caddy and onto the lot.
“W-what are we doing here?” Mia demanded in sheer confusion. Nothing made sense and her fear was mounting even though she logically knew that she had misread the situation.
“You really ain’t in a position to be asking questions,” Big Earl growled but suddenly, Mia wasn’t afraid anymore.
They were at the Saddle and Cycle Club. If Victor was going to have her killed, he wouldn’t have brought her to a country club… would he?