Wicked Surrender

Wicked Surrender
:
The Kategan Alphas 3

By T. A. Grey

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 qu
ick 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, Ma
ster 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
.
N
ow 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 cop
s
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 be
cause this is a family barbeque
and no matt
er 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 atm
osphere like a true leader, an A
lpha. When he spoke all eyes and ears turned to him. “He stays. This fight between y
ou and him has to stop sometime.
L
isten 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 e
yes 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.

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
hand
writing.
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 eno
ugh 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, “Mmmk
ay
, 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 har
d. “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.
Y
ou help my sister
—
” Vera snorted and didn’t bother to hide it. Rome and Jackson sent her a quic
k look before continuing their
evil plan. “
Y
ou 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.