Savage Betrayal: Savage, Book 2 (34 page)

She nodded and started to slide away, but his arms came down on either side of her head and then he caught her mouth in another slow kiss.

“But before that shower, I’m thinking…one more time?”

Grace let her gaze slide down his body to his growing erection, felt that answering heat gather between her legs, and gave a quick nod.

“Yes.” She slid down his body, already ready to taste him. “One more time for sure.”

Chapter Twenty-Three

Being away from Grace had been hell.

Darrius had felt the twenty-four-hour separation in every inch of his body. His mind and soul had craved her. And now he knew why.

He’d never officially been mated to Jenny. The thought was still roaring through his mind with the excitement of a lottery win, when the call to the phone on the agency plane came in.

“I hope you got some good news, bro,” Donovan began, “because I sure as hell don’t.”

“The Elders handed me my life back. I’d call that amazing news.” Darrius stared out the window as the plane flew over Seattle in its descent into the private P.I.A. airfield. “What’s your bad news? It’s got to be pretty bad if you’re calling me on the agency plane.”

“You must’ve just taken off from Boston when shit hit the fan. Because the elders are all over this.” Donovan gave a wary sigh. “Andrew was found dead in his holding cell.”

Darrius stilled. “No way. Suicide again?”

“No. Murdered. Violently. Tore up to pieces, bro.”

“Holy shit. Who do they think did it?”

“I’m getting there, but now I’m getting to the bad news. Alicia and several members of her pack were found slaughtered not even an hour later.”

Darrius sucked in a breath, disbelief roaring through him. “Who the hell did it?”

“Fuck.” Donovan cursed and then gave an almost manic laugh. “They’re saying it was Larson, man.”

“No. I don’t believe it.”

“You think I want to? But there were witnesses. I was one of them. The P.I.A. got a tip that the alpha wanted to speak with us. Yorioka and I went out there, and when we arrived the whole place looked like a slaughterhouse. I fucking watched Larson rip Alicia’s throat out.”

Jesus. It couldn’t be true. “Alicia’s dad—the alpha—did he survive?”

“No. The alpha was dead. Larson took out half the pack it sounds like.”

Son of a bitch. This was bad. “Where is he now?”

“On the run, I guess. No one has seen him since he took off after we tried to corner him. The elders have put out a huge bounty on him. He pretty much signed his own death warrant, Hilliard. They can’t let this slaughter slide due to lack of numbers in our species. They’re going to want his blood.”

Darrius paused, vaguely aware of the plane descending to the runway. “You think he did it?”

“How do I deny what I saw? It just doesn’t make any sense. The man I saw today—he wasn’t our alpha.”

“You think he was drugged when he did it?”

“Hell, I don’t know. Maybe? It’d be the only reason I could see him losing it like this.”

Jocelyn.

“We’ll figure this out. We’ll clear him if he’s innocent, Donovan.”

“Shit. I need a fucking beer. Something.”

“Yeah you do. You need to go and be with Sienna, take some time to calm down.” He shook his head. “And, Donovan, you know we’ll find Larson first.”

“I sure as fuck hope so.” Donovan sighed. “Thanks, bro. When you get off that plane go enjoy your woman and call me later.”

“I will.” Darrius ended the call and found his hands shaking a little.

What the hell was going on? How had their alpha’s life gone to hell in a hand basket so quickly? The whole idea was insane. And yet Donovan had witnessed it.

The plane landed and began to slow on the runway, and that’s when he saw her. As impossible as it seemed, all thoughts of their alpha disappeared and Grace became his focus.

Even though it was pouring down rain, she stood outside the small terminal and with no jacket or umbrella.

When he was cleared to leave, Darrius barely let his feet touch each stair. He just ran. Ran to his mate and the woman he loved.

“Darrius!” She charged at him as well, nearly colliding into his chest, she had so much momentum.

He caught her with a small
oomph
and slid his hands into her drenched hair.

“I’ve missed you,” he muttered and pulled her head back just enough so he could easily claim her mouth.

She let out a moan and kissed him back hungrily, as if they’d been apart weeks rather than less than twenty-four hours.

When he lifted his head, his breathing was ragged and his heart had yet to slow from its rapid pace.

Grace buried her face against his shoulder. “I’ve missed you too. Darrius…so much has happened—”

“I know about Larson and the murders.”

She lifted her head and there was distress in her eyes. “It just doesn’t make any sense.”

“No, it doesn’t. And I promise you that we’ll get to the bottom of what happened.” He caught her arm and steered her toward the small terminal. “Come on, let’s get out of the rain.”

He led her under the overhang over the building, where they were out of the rain and hidden from the windows of the terminal.

“How is Aubree?”

Grace cracked a slight smile and pushed a wet strand of hair behind her ear. “She’s good. She and your brother have been inseparable, both claiming a couch in the den while your mother fusses over them as they heal.”

“Good. They could use some fussing over. Especially Aubree, it sounds like. We can visit them tonight.”

She gave a sheepish grin and glanced out at the tarmac. “I figured we would and already committed to dinner with everyone.”

“See, you’re already fitting in perfectly with me and my family, sugar.”

Her mouth tightened and he saw the flash of unhappiness in her eyes. It sent a chill of unease through him.

“I know you’re about to tell me what the Reader said.” Her words were soft and she didn’t quite meet his gaze. “But first let me just say that whatever you learned, Darrius, I’m okay with that. I understand and will really make an effort to accept that I’ll always be your second mate. That you may never feel that way about me that you did her—”

“She was never my mate.”

Her lips stayed parted and her eyes grew round with disbelief. She didn’t utter a word.

“Not technically,” he continued. “Jenny and I met a club. I remember being attracted to her and dancing with her, and that was it. The Reader told me Jennie was pregnant with a married, human man’s child before we ‘mated’. And that she needed a shifter mate quickly to avoid suspicion and punishment for getting pregnant with a human’s child.”

“But you marked her, didn’t you?”

“Not in the way I needed to, I guess. When I woke up the next day, my teeth marks were on her neck. But my heart didn’t make the choice to claim her; there was no awareness in it. So maybe she was able to make me bite her, I don’t know how, but it was null. I just never realized it until I was able to claim you.”

Her eyes filled with tears and she shook her head. “Darrius…”

“It wasn’t that I couldn’t claim a woman, it was just that the right one hadn’t come along. I have
never
felt the way about another woman the way I feel about you.” He slid his hands around her small waist and pulled her closer again, so that her body was flush against his. “Even before we mated, Grace, I was more possessive and protective of you than I ever was of Jenny. She was a fraud and maybe I should’ve realized it earlier.”

“How could you? I would’ve assumed the same thing.”

“Maybe. But now we’re exactly where we’re meant to be. As fate intended. You’re mine, Grace, and I will love you and protect you as long as there is breath in this body.”

Tears spilled from her eyes and she nodded, cupping his face and tracing her fingers over his jaw.

“And I will do the same. I love you so much.” She stood on her tiptoes and pressed her mouth to his

“I want everything with you. I want a wedding, kids, the whole deal.”

“Yes.” Her gaze was wistful before it clouded and her lashes fluttered down. “I want all that more than you realize, but…we should wait on a wedding. It wouldn’t feel right with what’s going on.”

“With Larson?”

She nodded.

“Agreed.” He kissed her again, slowly, tenderly, a clear promise that they would marry someday when the time was right. “But for now, are you ready to head over to my parents and see everyone? Maybe officially announce we’re mated?”

“I like that idea.” She gave him a slow smile and traced her thumb over his mouth. “Though I might make a suggestion we stop by your apartment first… it’s on the way.”

“Is that so?” He nipped at her finger, liking the way she was thinking.

“Mmm.” She gave a breathy laugh. “I think a quick reminder of your duties to me as a mate could be in order.”

“Oh, sugar, I like those kind of reminders.” He slid his hand down to swat her bottom. “In fact, the sooner I can start proving my worth, the better.”

Her squeal of delight as they ran to her car was just the cherry on the top of his mounting happiness…

Oh, the big bad wolf…look at him run.

Jocelyn lifted her martini and took a sip, satisfaction coursing through her as smoothly as the vodka. She closed out of the email and set her laptop on the bed beside her.

That chilling message had gone out to the entire shifter community not only in the United States, but all over the world.

Wanted for murder.

The email had been the equivalent of an old west Wanted poster—and Agent Larson’s picture was plastered all over it.

Everyone in the shifter community was in a tizzy that such an upstanding citizen—a highly respected alpha—could be responsible for such a heinous, horrific slaughter of innocent people.

Though some were more innocent than others… Jocelyn took another sip of her martini and smiled. Perhaps Agent Larson had been driven over the edge after he’d learned the truth about his fiancée.

Alicia had come to Jocelyn months ago offering an alliance and help in anyway possible to help find a cure for the shifter gene. Even though she was the daughter of an alpha, she’d never been able to merge her wolf side with her socialite side. In the end she’d chosen to fight for humanity, and the price, it seemed, was her life. She’d been an invaluable ally. It really was too bad she was dead now—leaving the earth looking as if she’d come out the business end of a meat grinder.

But who could’ve expected that Alicia would go behind her back and pair up with Andrew? The two had assaulted her niece in a bathroom, and that simply couldn’t be tolerated.

You didn’t mess with family. Jocelyn lifted her gaze to the framed picture on the far end of her dresser. Her sister Mitsy and husband Teddy—the parents of Grace and Aubree.

Jocelyn experienced a pinch of regret, but she pushed it aside. She’d made her choices in life, and she would have to live with them. Her family was either dead or had now shunned her.

She was alone. Again. This time thanks to Agent Larson’s command.

Bitterness and hatred swirled through her blood, making a toxic thirst for revenge. And she
would
have it some day.

She’d realized after the experiments that she’d been aiming too high in trying to eradicate the shifter gene. The task was too massive—too expensive, at the very least. She needed to start small and grow. Eradicate the fucking mutants with slow thoroughness. Her plan had gone into action weeks ago and the consequences were already being felt.

Yes, the best way to eliminate the shifters was to start with the people who protected them. The P.I.A.

And Agent Larson would be the first to fall.

About the Author

Shelli is a New York Times Bestselling Author who read her first romance novel when she snatched it off her mother’s bookshelf at the age of eleven. One taste and she was forever hooked. It wasn’t until many years later that she decided to pursue writing stories of her own. By then she’d acknowledged the voices in her head didn’t make her crazy, they made her a writer.

Shelli currently lives in the Pacific Northwest with her daughter. She writes various genres of romance, is a compulsive volunteer, and has been known to spontaneously burst into song. You can visit her at
www.shellistevens.com
and join her newsletter at
www.shellistevens.com/contact/
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