Awakened Animals (A Shifter Novel Book 15)

by Jaden Sinclair

  “That client was worth a great deal of money,” Wycough stated. “More than what you are worth.”

  “I-I can find her,” Hayden stuttered, sweat starting to form on his brow.

  “I don’t give a damn about your sister,” Wycough hissed low. “That is your problem, not mine. What I care about is my organization and how the men who work for me don’t fuck things up.” He pointed his finger at Hayden. “You are fucking things up.”

  “There is nothing here that I can’t fix.” Hayden rushed out, the fear clearly in his voice. “I will get her back and deal with that animal.”

  “And how, might I ask, will you deal with the animal?” Wycough linked his fingers together and rested them on his stomach, staring at Hayden. “You have no idea what they are about. He pushed himself away from the desk and slowly stood up. “My partner, though, knew what she was dealing with. That mistake cost her her life. Will it cost you the same?”

  “I can fix this.”

  “Yes, you’ve said that.” Wycough closed the distance between them and slowly started to walk around Hayden, not looking at him. “But you also fail to understand that you work for me, and you went rogue.”

  Wycough acted fast. He brought forth the knife he kept hidden in his pants and stabbed the man standing next to Hayden in the middle of the back. A loud gush of air left his lungs before he dropped to the floor upon his knees. Wycough pulled the knife and wiped the blood on Hayden’s back.

  “Second chances are something I don’t give out too often, Hayden. If you don’t come back with them, and yes, I say them…I want the animal also.” He smiled and enjoyed the way Hayden shivered as well as the fear that filled his eyes. “If you don’t get me the animal as payment for this little mess, then I suggest you blow your brains out. For when my hands get on you again, you will wish you had.” More men joined them, two grabbed Hayden and pushed him from the office, and another two picked up the body on the floor. “When he has it, kill him,” he said to the last man. “And make sure the body is found with our message to the other animals.”

  8

  They were entwined together. Lovers in a heated embrace, rubbing, touching, kissing each other in the dead of the night.

  She on his lap, him with arms around her warm, naked body. Both swaying back and forth, her bending backward, arms out, giving her breasts to a hungry mouth.

  He sucked a perky nipple into his mouth, enjoying the moans that slipped from her lips. Her heated sex rubbed against the swelling of his cock, making him even hungrier to feel her flesh upon his flesh.

  So plump, so warm, so hard that he just couldn’t stop sucking on them, nibbling on them, flicking his tongue back and forth like one might do to a lollipop.

  Oh, he wanted her! Hungered for her! Needed her!

  Her arms closed around his head, pressing him into her chest. His hips rubbed her hot pussy back and forth, but he couldn’t enter her body no matter how much he tried. He couldn’t reach down between them and put his cock in the right position. Couldn’t get the right friction needed either.

  Fuck if he didn’t need to be inside her. He hurt so much from it, but it was like he couldn’t move his body, that she had all the control.

  Her whole upper body bent backward and he licked a slow trail up between her breasts to her throat. She moaned loudly, grinding herself even more on his lap. The fire between them only heated up. A blazing need unlike anything he ever felt washed over him, consumed him, and had him at a point that with just the right touch he would explode right there.

  Looking up, praying she would look down at him, give him a face to go with this heat. The grinding continued, and the buildup of pleasure so unlike anything he could have imagined started to reach a point he never felt before. And when that head started to lower, when the face came into view, he knew right then he was a goner.

  Kaley!

  Mika sat up in the bed, sweat covering his face, heat pounding hard in his chest, and didn’t he just fucking know it. He climaxed all over the bedding.

  Hands fisting into the sheet, hips bucking up on their own, his orgasm seemed to keep right on going, feeling like it might never end. He had to bite his lips to still the yell as well as the moans. He also prayed that it would be over soon. He didn’t need anyone to come walking in on her as he came all over the sheets from a fucking dream.

  Oh, that dream!

  Dropping back down on the bed, Mika worked hard at getting his breathing under control. It was some time before he could move, and thankfully his dick stopped. But he had one hell of a mess to clean up.

  “What a way to start the day,” he groaned, flinging the sheets off his body. “What a fucking day.”

  “Stray!” Vesper cried out when he walked into her shower. He got up real close behind her, hands going from her shoulders all the way down to cup her ass.

  “There is plenty of room for both of us,” he said, moving even closer.

  She gasped when she felt his hardness press up against her ass. “What are you doing?”

  “Oh, I’m thinking of a few things…” He started kissing her neck and it sent shards of pleasure and chills racing down her back. He began to massage the cheeks of her ass.

  One hand went between her ass, which had her up on her toes, and one hand beneath to cup her pussy. A gasp left her as he began to play with her, rubbing his hand back and forth.

  “Stray…” She sighed, leaning her head back to rest on his shoulder. She reached back with both hands, fisting into his hair.

  “You like?”

  “How do you know just how to touch me in the right spots?”

  Stray removed his hands from her body, and Vesper pouted over the loss, until he pulled her hands away and pressed them on the shower wall. He then pushed her over a little and stole her breath.

  One hard, fast thrust, and Stray buried everything he had as deep into her as he could get. Vesper cried out then and pushed back against him. He filled her, stretched to a burning pleasure.

  “You’ve unleashed the animal, mate,” Stray said, his voice sounding strained. “He has started his claiming of you.”

  Stray moved and Vesper had to not only work on holding on but at controlling her breathing.

  Hard and fast, that’s how Stray moved, and she loved it. She tried to match his thrusts but couldn’t as she held onto him tight.

  She got no warning from her body that an orgasm was coming. It hit and she cried out, almost falling in the shower. If it wasn’t for Stray holding her tight, she would have.

  He stilled for a second then withdrew from her. Vesper could barely think and didn’t know what to do when he turned her and hoisted him over one shoulder. Stray carried her from the bathroom, still wet, the shower still on.

  Stray walked back to the bed and dropped down onto it. Before she had a chance to get her senses back, Stray was upon her, pushing her legs wide apart and his head going right between them.

  A low rumbling growl left him and she swore she felt it touch her clit. That had Vesper jumping and then he began sucking on the tiny nub, moaning as he did.

  Holding her legs open, he licked and sucked, driving her nuts with the buildup of pleasure yet at the same time it felt as if he might be holding her back. Not letting her come again, she desperately wanted the release.

  “Stray…Stray…Stray!” Vesper cried out his name, and her whole back arched off the bed. The climax hit and it was powerful.

  Giving one last long lick, Stray sat up on his knees looking down at her. Vesper felt flushed, content, and didn’t think she could move an inch. Even her nipples and breasts had a heavy, ultra-sensitive feeling to them and he hadn’t even touched those yet.

  A lick to his lips and then that tongue touched her belly, sliding up, and then his lips closed on a nipple, pulling forth another gasp from her. Vesper arched into his mouth, closing her hands into his hair, holding them there.

  “The things…the things you can do with that mouth,” she panted out.
r />   Stray stopped on a low chuckle. He rose up again, onto his knees, looking down at her. “You saying you like my mouth better?”

  “No.” She shook her head, moving her legs up and putting both feet on his bare chest. “I love it all.”

  Stray took hold of her hips and she parted her legs around his. Hard and fast he surged into her, holding her hips up in place. Vesper reached overhead, grabbing onto the headboard and holding on for a ride she wouldn’t forget anytime soon.

  Stray slammed into her, rubbing her clit just the right way that she shivered with each thrust, wondering how long she might be able to hold on before another climax hit.

  Vesper closed her eyes to the exquisite pleasure he gave her, but she could only keep her eyes closed for so long. With the angle he held her hips up, she just had to see for herself how it was happening. And by doing that it only heightened the pleasure. It also triggered her release.

  She cried out, reached overhead, and fisted both hands into the pillow as her body ricocheted with one hell of an orgasm. She was forced to ride it out, thanks to Stray not yet there it seemed. He kept thrusting into her, kept increasing the power of the pleasure until she knew she couldn’t take any more.

  And just when she was about to beg him to stop, he did. So deep inside her, so thick. He held her hips up still, arched his back and bellowed his release. Vesper was shocked at the intense expression on his face as well as all the emotions as he slammed into her body.

  She loved him right then. Loved him so much that it scared her.

  Stray took a few seconds before lowering her hips down. He rested his head on her stomach, breathing hard. Vesper struggled to catch her breath and she couldn’t move.

  “I think we are going to need another shower,” Stray finally said after some time. Vesper busted out laughing, covering her face with both hands. “What’s so funny?” he asked, looking up at her. But all she could do was shake her head, still laughing. “Fine, don’t tell me.” He withdrew and moved away and she couldn’t hold back the hissing. That had him stilling. “You all right? I didn’t hurt you, did I?”

  Again, Vesper shook her head, only this time she answered him. “I’m just super sensitive at the moment.”

  “Just you wait until full moon night. You’ll be damn lucky if you can walk the next morning.” Taking her hand, Stray pulled hard until she flew off the bed right into his arms. “And I will admit, I’m looking forward to that night very much. Now, let’s get cleaned up and go eat. I’m starving.”

  “Where are you going?” Margret asked Mika. “I’m going to start breakfast.”

  “Just got a call from Jim Stockton,” Mika answered. “He wants to have a meeting. Asked me if I could meet him at the Country Club for breakfast.”

  “And you’re going?” Margret’s eyes widened.

  “Why not?” Mika shrugged.

  “Mika, that man is a snake, and so is his boy. You shouldn’t trust him.”

  “I don’t, and I’ve got a good idea what he wants to meet about.” This time Margret frowned. “The mine, Margret. He’s been making offers like crazy to buy it from Kaley, only she’s been ignoring them just like all the bills. I’m sure he’s going to make an offer to buy it.”

  “You’re not going to sell it, are you?”

  “Not that stupid,” Mika snorted.

  “Then why are you going?”

  “To see the bullshit firsthand.” Mika smiled. Margret sighed and shook her head as she turned for the fridge. “Look, I know what I’m doing here. He wants to play this game, I’ll play it. I need to know what his edge is anyway, and also let him know that this other game his son is playing is going to stop.”

  “Good luck with that one.” She brought out a carton of eggs, followed by some milk and cheese.

  “Kaley still sleeping?”

  “Yes.” Margret nodded. “I heard her up late last night. Think she even took a swim. She does that when she can’t sleep.”

  “That happen a lot?” Margret stopped taking things from the fridge to look at him. “The sleepless stuff.”

  “On and off. Started few months after her father kind of turned on her.”

  “Brian sure did do a number on her, didn’t he?”

  “Everyone did.” She slapped the package of bacon on the counter, then went to the flour bin, meaning he was going to miss out on one of her big breakfasts. Damn! “She loved to cook, did you know that?” Mika shook his head. “Oh, she would spend hours in here with me. They didn’t mind. She was out of their hair as they worked on grooming Lora. She makes bread like a dream. Better than mine. But like everything else around here, she just lost that drive. Didn’t care anymore.”

  “How long has this dating of Kurt Stockton been going on?”

  “Not that long that I know of. She did her own shutting the world out after Brian died. One night she came up here and locked herself in her room for three days. I didn’t see her, hear a thing from her. She didn’t eat, just sat up there. Then with no word to anyone, she came out with her arms full of the rest of her clothes and back out to the pool house she went.” Margret stopped what she was doing and faced Mika. “I went into that room. Found bottles of everything they kept in the liquor cabinet. All empty. It all went to hell then.”

  “And that is when Kurt started coming around.”

  “I think so,” she said and nodded. “He never came to the house, she always went to him. I watched that girl grow up looking for something that was missing in her life, her world. I thought when you came into our lives you were it. She lit up then. But the light went out fast.”

  “Because of Lora,” he breathed out.

  “Mika, you need to understand that Lora wasn’t what you think she was. She was her mother’s daughter to the bone. Cold, old-fashioned. I think if Grace would have taken her to a Gathering then Lora would have been mated instantly.”

  “Brian didn’t want that.”

  “No, not for either one. She’s still looking, Mika. Still looking for what’s missing in her life.”

  “Please tell me that you are about to fix some amazing food.” Stray and Vesper came in, holding hands, Stray with a big smile on his face and Vesper looking a little flushed. “I’m starving!”

  Margret smiled. “I’m just getting started. And it’s going to be the works. Bacon, gravy with biscuits, scrambled eggs, hash browns, you get it all!”

  “Oh, music to my ears,” Stray groaned.

  “And I’m going to miss it all,” Mika stated.

  “Where are you going?” Stray asked.

  “Meeting with Jim Stockton,” Mika answered. “At the club.”

  Stray whistled. “Impressive. Order the loaded omelet. You’ll love it.”

  “Would rather stay here and have this.” Mika sighed, looking around as Margret got the rest of her stuff out. “Save me at least a biscuit?”

  “I’ll make sure there are plenty for you when you get back,” Margret said, patting him on the face. “You better get going or you’re going to be late.”

  “Here, let me help,” Vesper said. “I can do a batch of biscuits.”

  “Well, come on over, girl,” Margret said motioning with her hand. “Feeding these males at times takes a lot of food.”

  Mika headed for the door but stopped when he got close to Stray. “I’m happy that things are working out for you two.”

  Stray grinned. “Thanks, man.”

  Mika left and walked to his truck. When he reached the driver’s door he stopped and looked up at Kaley’s bedroom window. She stood there looking down at him and again he felt this flutter in his stomach. Something was happening and he wasn’t sure if he was ready yet to see it or not.

  Lowering his eyes, he got in, started the truck, and backed up. He didn’t look at the house again, just drove down the drive.

  The drive to the club took about twenty minutes. It wasn’t the kind of place he normally would go to, even if he had the money—which he did now. He pulled up to the front
door and a boy opened the door for him. Mika nodded to the kid and walked in, taking the small paper for the parking and slipping it in his jean pocket.

  When he walked into the club everyone stopped to look at him. They were all dressed in slacks, nice shirts, and he had a T-shirt on with jeans. The color of the room was red with velvet-looking drapes and old wood trim. Mika didn’t look too closely. He already felt out of place and was more than ready to get this meeting over with.

  “May I help you?” a man in a full blown head-to-toe tux asked.

  “I’m here to see Jim Stockton,” Mika said. “Name’s Mika.”

  The man looked him up and down. “Yes, follow me please.”

  Mika kept his head up high as he walked behind the guy. The first thought that came to mind is that he must have a broomstick shoved high up his ass to be able to walk that straight.

  “Mika!” Jim Stockton stood up with a big smile across his way-too-perfect face. He extended his hand and Mika shook it. “Glad you could join me. Please have a seat.”

  Jim Stockton dressed in a suit and fit in, his salt-and-pepper hair slicked back, face cleanly shaven, shoes shining and suit pressed. Yep, the kind of guy that spent his life behind a desk, never out getting dirty.

  A waiter came over, both ordered, Mika the omelet that Stray suggested. As they sat across from each other a waitress appeared and poured them coffee and orange juice.

  “So, what can I do for you?” Mika asked.

  “Right down to it,” Jim said and smiled. “Like that.”

  “Well, why beat around the bush?” Mika smiled back picking up the cup of coffee and taking a sip. “Nice.”

  “I’m sure by now you know that my son and Kaley are dating.”

  “Is that what you’re calling it?”

  “Well, what other word is there?”

  “How about using her?” Jim squirmed in his seat. “I know she’s been footing the bill for everything. What I don’t understand is why? Have you cut him off? Is that why he’s sponging off her?”