Chapter 13

I looked up from the page in front of me. I was looking for more confirmed addresses. The next time I told someone to copy entire hard drives, I was going to explain how to dump the cache and useless files first. Some of our printouts were a mess of garble.

Leaning back, I held my fingers over my eyes. We’d been at it for six hours. The others had needed to get up and move around, so they’d gone to get coffee and food.

Dropping my hands, I looked over at the map. There were a lot of pins in it now. Many had been changed to red, meaning the team had been there. I sighed, we’d found twelve women so far, so it was worth every stiff muscle in my body from sitting here.

Moving forward, I rested my head on the desk. Just a few minutes, I thought.

“You can take breaks.”

I looked up to see Arius standing in the door, a concerned expression on his face. “I know. I just—the more time we let pass, the fewer we’ll find. We know they’re moving them, or the teams would find more.”

He came over and leaned on the edge of the desk. “The teams are on a constant rotation; we can’t move any faster than we are.”

I looked up at him. “I know, we’re only human.” I smirked, “well, some of us.”

With a grin, he knelt beside me, spinning the chair, he pulled it toward him. “I’m okay with being a sweet irresistible inhuman.”

I grinned. “It’s true, you are.”

Reaching, he pulled me to the edge of the chair and rested his forehead against mine. “You are the only one that thinks that.”

“I’m the only one that matters then.”

“You are.” His gaze caressed over my face, a tender light in his eyes. “I came here for a reason.”

“Oh, what reason?”

He looked at my mouth. “I can’t remember.”

I bit my lip. “Maybe you should kiss me instead.”

He grinned. “I think I should.”

Rising, he put his arm around me and cupped the back of my head. Brushing his mouth over mine, he paused and looked at me, his eyes were turning red as I watched.

Weaving my hands into his hair, I pulled his head closer.

“I want to share how you make me feel, through the bond.”

“Okay.” I dipped my tongue into his mouth and touched it against his fangs. He closed his eyes and sucked in a breath.

A heat edged with anticipation flooded into me. My breath caught in my throat.

With a soft noise, his hand flexed against the back of my head, then his mouth covered mine.

Our tongues moved against each other. The kiss deepened, became rougher, almost desperate to consume one another.

I didn’t know where my desire ended, and his dizzying need began.

He growled low in the back of his throat and then his mouth claimed mine with what I could only think of as primal need.

“I thought we established no sex in the girl cave.” Alona said loudly.

Arius broke the kiss and dropped his forehead to rest on my shoulder.

I tried to catch my breath and looked over to see Daxx, Alona and Bethany standing near the door holding trays. “It was just a kiss.”

Daxx snorted. “What your mouths were just doing to each other was a lot more than a kiss.”

Arius chuckled against my throat.

“I’ve never seen Arius out of his cells this much.” Bethany said. “Then again, I haven’t been here long, so I could be wrong.”

Daxx shook her head and walked to the table near the couches. “You’re not.”

Lifting his head, he gave me a heated look, then turned to look at them. “I actually came here to give you ladies an update, then Paisley distracted me.” He shrugged, “and I think my brothers wanted me out of the cells, so they could sit down and take a break.”

“Update?” Daxx put the tray on the table.

He stood up. “Last trap yielded a rat.”

I looked up at him. “You know who’s been leaking information?”

He nodded. “For this last one we only told three men, all in positions of leadership. We narrowed it down to two, by the third’s reaction to the false information when they arrived at the location.”

“So it’s two men?” Beth asked.

“We’re not positive just yet, but it’s at least one of them.”

Alona moved over and set the tray down. “So what do you do now?”

He rubbed the back of his neck. “With the island breach tomorrow, nothing—we’ll give them some menial assignment, keep them away from anything important until we have time to sort out what’s next.”

Daxx crossed her arms and nodded. “We’ll have a full team tomorrow?”

He nodded. “We cleared ten more guards today using Paisley’s idea.”

“Oh, good.” Alona sat down. “I feel much better with more. That’s a huge area to cover.”

“With that being said, I’m here to steal my mate for a break.”

“Mate?” I stood up.

“Unofficially,” he smiled.

Daxx laughed. “From what we just saw—it won’t be unofficial for much longer.”

“I don’t know how she resists.” Bethany said quietly, sitting at her desk.

Arius grinned. “Neither do I.” he looked from one to the other. “Any and all tips are welcome—unlike my brothers, you ladies might have useful ones.”

Alona laughed. “You’re doing just fine on your own.”

Daxx nodded. “I can’t believe you’re even related to your caveman brother.”

Arius ran his hand over his jaw. “I’ve had to be much more disciplined than my brothers, the curse of my ability.”

“I think you have the most challenging job, too.” I said.

He looked down at me. “I chose that position.” He watched my face with a guarded look. “There was a time when even I was afraid of what I could do. So, I thought better to be surrounded by criminals than innocents.”

“Whatever the reason,” Daxx said, “no one could manage it the way you do. Troy has said that a hundred times.”

Arius turned and inclined his head to her. Holding out his hand to me, he gave me a soft look. “Now if you’ll excuse us, I’d like a demonstration of what the confusing devices I bought her can do.”

I covered my mouth. “I forgot all about that. How could I forget about the best gift I’ve ever gotten?”

~

I looked over my shoulder at Arius. “Ready?”

He opened his arms. “Show me.”

I pressed play, then backed up so I could hear how good the sound was.

The song was soft, not heavy, an instrumental opening that would put the speakers through the various chords. I used it whenever I was testing a sound system. I looked at him. “It sounds good.” Lifting my chin, I glanced to the ceiling, “I wasn’t sure how the acoustics would be in here. What do you think?” I closed my eyes and listened.

“I think you could be playing anything right now and I wouldn’t notice because I’m too busy seeing the joy on your face.”

I opened my eyes and turned to look at him. “I am very happy right now. Music is my escape, the way I express—everything. It’s always been my go-to.

He studied my face for a moment, then walked toward me. “I hope someday to be your go-to for everything.” He stopped in front of me. “But I’m willing to share you with your first love.” His grey eyes reflected sincerity and hope.

I tapped my head. “You’ve helped me so much in other ways. Several times today I had some shaky moments going through those files.”

He held my look in a steady gaze. “I know. I felt it.”

“Each time a calming warmth surrounded me, like a hug. I don’t know how you did it with everything going on with your maze and coordinating the teams…

Reaching out, he caressed my cheek with the back of his hand. “You have priority, above everything else going on around here. That’s how mates are. We may not be marked, but the instinct is there. The need to protect and care for each other. It’s there. It’s the only thing giving me the strength to not mark you.”

“I don’t feel it. This instinct.”

He gave me a soft smile. “Maybe not, but it’s there. The way you tore into those guards, the way you watch me, assessing if I’m all right, when you come to me if I’m upset. You can’t feel it, but you’re doing it.”

I bit my lip. It was true. I’d step into anything to protect him, regardless of his size and strength, I would. “It is.” I admitted softly. “I didn’t even notice.”

His eyes started to swirl like they did when we kissed or before he bit me. He closed them for a second.

“That’s the only sign I see of you struggling. Your eyes.”

He looked at me again. “Then I’m much better at hiding it than I thought.”

“What do you mean?”

“My eyes, are always on you, stalking you like prey. The urge to mark you is almost animal like.”

“What’s it like?”

Cupping the side of my face, his gaze rested on my mouth. “The constant need to taste you. Your mouth. Your essence. Your desire. Every time I kiss you or touch you it’s like a beast inside me screams for his mate, demanding that I mark you. That I claim you for the whole world to see, for them to know that if they cross you—they answer to me.”

I was breathless from his words. A side of me I’d never known wanted this. “And now? What do you feel right now?”

“Right now?” He searched my face, “rage. Right now, if anyone were to come between us, I could crush their throat with my bare hands. There’s nothing but rage inside me, Paisley. A rage born of the seclusion of having to cut myself off from others to carry my burden and protect them from me. I didn’t ask to control minds with a mere thought.” His eyes were red again. “But you—you touch me without hesitation, you hold my gaze with no fear like no other has, and you make the rage fade.”

My heart was beating so fast listening to the emotion in his voice.

“Right now.” He continued. “I want to lay you on the bed and make you mine. I want to feel your mind so consumed with me, your body tremble beneath me—I want to put my mark on you more than I want my next breath.” He inhaled slowly, “I can lay with you and hold you and feed other needs long denied, but I know my limits and that you’re not ready.”

I felt mesmerized by his words, I couldn’t have moved or spoke if I’d wanted to.

He stared at my mouth. “I can barely feed now. When I bite into another and they don’t taste like you, I want to tear their throat out.”

I didn’t even know how often he should feed.

“Tomorrow, I don’t want you to go. But I can’t stop you from going. I know you need to be there—that you need to have a hand in stopping this. In freeing those women so you can find peace again.” He touched my lip softly with his thumb. “Just know that if anything happens to you, the man you see now will become the beast everyone fears. Living so long on the idea of you was one thing. Having seen and held you, and know that your real and then to lose you—” His jaw tensed as his eyes went a brighter red.

I reached up and touched his face. “Nothing will happen to me. I’m not there to fight men, I’m there to find those women and get them to safety. I’ll leave the fighting to you brutes.” I stood on my toes and kissed his mouth. “I want to exchange blood again. I may not be able to work this damn bond, but I can feel your presence in me fading and it’s a lonely feeling.”

His red eyes held mine.

“And I think that’s why you’re struggling more right now—because you’re losing that tether telling you I’m right here and I’m all right.”

He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “That’s part of it.”

I waited for him to tell me the rest, but he didn’t say anything? “How often do you have to feed?”

“Varies,” he whispered, “depending on how much energy I use, how often I use my ability…”

“Okay, so a guesstimate since the first time you fed from me.”

“Not as often as I should.”

I gave him a stern look. “Why didn’t you say something?”

He sighed, “Because I’m trying not to push you.”

“You haven’t been.”

“No, but I have hit more prisoners since meeting you then in the last twenty years.”

I shrugged. “The ones I saw you manhandle deserved it.”

Shaking his head, he went over and sat on the big chair. “Feeding from you—and by the way you taste like fucking heaven and my favorite dessert I never knew existed all rolled into one,” he turned and looked at me, “it’s too hard to stop at just that.”

I smirked. “Your favorite dessert? What do others taste like?”

He made a sound of exasperation. “Don’t ask.”

“I don’t know much about this, but I get the impression that it’s not something you can go on a diet with.”

“It’s not.” He leaned his head back and looked at the ceiling.

“Arius, I’m okay with you feeding from me. I know I said it was vampy—but now I know what it’s like and I won’t object.” I walked over and leaned over his face, looking down at him. “You’ve been inside my mind when you fed from me, you know how it makes me feel.”

He looked at me. “Yes, and it doesn’t help in preventing me from pushing you before you are ready.” He pointed to the bed.

“I feel like this disagreement is backwards.” Moving around to the front of the chair, I bent down, pulled up his cuff and got his knife. Straightening, I pointed it at him and waved it around a few times. “Here’s the deal. We exchange blood, you feed—when needed—we keep our clothes on and you don’t touch my hands.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Been getting some coaching?” His eyes moved from my face to the knife in my hand.

“No, they just told me what I need to know.” Stepping closer, I climbed on the chair and straddled him. “Deal?”

“I don’t want to lose control and possibly hurt you.”

“Then don’t” I held the knife blade toward him. “Take off your shirt.”

He gave me a heated look for a moment, then leaned forward.

I moved the knife.

He pulled his shirt over his head and tossed it to the floor, then looked at the knife again. “Blood, I feed from you, the rest of the clothes stay on and I don’t hold your hands?”

I nodded.

“Deal.” He said barely above a whisper.

I held out the knife.

He shook his head. “You keep it, in case you need to use it. I have to feed now or I won’t be in anyway controlled.”

I looked at the way his chest rose and fell, he was fighting the urge. I set the knife on the arm of the chair. “After what you told me, I feel like I’m torturing you by not just saying let’s go for it, mark me. Am I being terrible?”

He shook his head and closed his eyes for a second. “No. I understand. I saw what Troy and Daxx went through, I honestly wasn’t sure they were going to make it. I’ve seen forced mating’s that didn’t work out because lines were crossed.” His gaze moved over my throat. “I’ll wait ten years if I have to, so it’s right for us.” His expression sobered, his eyes flicking back to mine. “Please don’t make me wait ten years. I’m not that strong.”

I shook my head. “Sometimes I don’t think I can wait ten minutes.”

He grinned. “Okay. I can work with that—not the ten minutes, but that you’re not denying me completely.”

I looked down at our laps. “I’m sitting on you, telling you to bite me and asking for a blood bond—I am so far from any form of denying you that it’s insane.” I held his look.

“That right there. That’s what will get me through this.”

With a quick move, he grasped the back of my head and pulled me closer. His hand was so large, he was able to tilt my jaw up and expose my throat to his mouth before I could take a breath. His hold gentled, his breath brushing over my skin, then he bit into me.

I clung to his head, encouraging him to continue, to sate himself properly. In moments like this I wanted to be joined to him in all ways, I just didn’t know if I could live with it after. “Arius, don’t take my blood yet.” I whispered.

With a soft growl, he lifted his head and licked over the mark. Then he pulled me back, so he could look at me. Even with his eyes red, I could see the doubt on his face.

I touched his mouth. “I said yet.” Leaning forward, I kissed his fanged mouth. “I have a sexy idea.” My stomach filled with heat from the very notion of it.

He looked at my mouth then back to my eyes. “What idea?” There was no mistaking the lust in his rough voice.

Leaning forward, I rubbed my face into his bare throat, he tipped his head back giving me access. Kissing his skin softly, I whispered, “what if you took blood from somewhere else, somewhere only you and I would know about and you left a temporary mark—would that appease the beast?” I nipped the muscle in his neck, he growled. I wished for a startling moment that I had fangs to bite him with. I lifted my head and looked at him.

His eyes locked on mine, his brows moving as he tried to puzzle out what I was saying.

“When you sucked on my neck last time, you left a small bruise…”

“I tried to be gentle.”

I covered his mouth. “You were. I’m not complaining, and I don’t want to hide what we did—before you even think that.” I took a deep breath, my nerves starting to question what I was thinking. Where had this woman come from, I thought. “I just want something private, that’s just for us.”

He took a shaky breath. “What are you asking me to do?” He shook his head, “I’m drowning in lust for you right now and I can’t think straight.”

I smiled at his confession. “It’s mutual. I want you to take blood from another bite, and not heal it completely, so it’s there and only we’ll know. Is that possible?”

He sat there breathing slowly, just looking at me. I couldn’t read the emotions going through his eyes. “I’ve only ever fed—women in my past only wanted to fuck the beast for bragging rights, they never…”

I put my hand over his mouth again. “I’m not them. I’m not embarrassed by you, and I don’t see you as a beast.” I bit my lip feeling nervous, “will it help your struggle, knowing you’ve marked me in that way? Knowing that I am with you and yours, even if it’s not the mate mark?”

His eyes caressed my face slowly, “Yes. I think it might.” His voice was gravelly. “Where?”

I hadn’t thought that far ahead in this hormone-driven plan. Straightening, I looked down my body, then lifting my gaze back to his I touched the side of my breast.

His nostrils flared. “And how are we managing that without taking clothes off?” His voice was strained.

Inhaling a sharp breath, I reached behind me and undid my bra through my shirt. Pulling the straps over my arms through the sleeves, I pulled it out the neck of my top and dropped it to the floor.

His gaze left my face and moved over the front of me. His hands moved to grip the arms of the chair. “That is not enforcing the clothes-on rule.” He said in a choppy tone.

“My deal. My rules.” I mimicked what he’d said to me about his cells and weapons.

“You take my blood first, or my mark will heal immediately.” His red eyes moved to my face again. “You’re inviting the beast to come out and play.”

I picked up the knife. “It’s your choice, if you want to do it or not.”

He took the knife and cut into his chest, not once by two slices one above the other. Dropping it to the floor, he looked at me. “I can’t touch you right now.” He gripped the chair again.

I looked at the blood running down his skin and leaned over, cleaning it with my tongue. He hissed in a breath. Closing my mouth over the wounds, I sucked harder than I had before. He growled in his throat. My body responded to the sensual sound. When the marks closed, I sat up and looked at him.

His jaw was clenched, his eyes locked on my face. He shook his head slightly.

It was the first time I’d ever witnessed the battle going on inside him. “You’re not a beast.” I whispered. “You’re my mate. You won’t hurt me.” It was the first time I believed that this connection was some ancient, fated match. “Arius.” I whispered.

His red eyes flicked to my face. With shaking hands, he released the chair and put one hand behind me, pulling me closer to him. Inhaling a deep breath, he leaned into me and rubbed his face along my chest. I could feel how tense his whole body was. His other hand gripped my waist, clenching with indecision as he lifted his head.

Reaching between us, I pulled the hem of my top up slowly revealing skin. I held his eyes with mine as I moved, so he would see I had no fear of him.

Sucking in a breath, his hand released my waist and slid up my ribs to rest just under my breast. Pushing the shirt out of the way, he leaned closer and hesitantly licked over my nipple. I sucked in a breath, then he bit into the flesh beside it.

A soft moan escaped my mouth when he lifted his head and closed his lips around the mark and sucked on it gently. When his mouth released my flesh, I could feel his breath against my skin. “Don’t heal it,” I reminded him.

With a groan, he pulled his head away and grasped mine to pull my mouth down to his. His kiss was hard and brutal. Jerking his head up, he lifted his hands from me. “You have to get off me.” He squeezed his eyes shut. “Babe,” he implored in an unsteady voice.

With my own legs shaking, I slowly got off him and stood in front of the chair. My breathing was uneven, and I had my own inner battle taking place. I wanted to climb back on his lap. His head was resting against the back of the chair, his muscled neck and chest on display…

“Don’t look at me like that.” He warned.

I moved my eyes to his.

Leaning forward, he grasped my hips and stood up, pushing me back. He dropped his hands away. “I have to go, now or I won’t.” His gaze moved to my chest, he nodded. “Yeah I have to go.” He started for the door.

I bent down and picked up his things. “Arius.”

He stopped and turned, I held up his knife and shirt.

With a growl, he came over and took them from me.

“Go command your inmates to heel to your demands.” I smirked.

He pulled his shirt on and then looked at me. Leaning down, he kissed me quickly. “You are incredible.” He went back to the door, then looked at me with his hand on the handle. “I have to go.”

When the door shut, I picked up my bra and worked it on, pausing to look at the punctures and red mark on my breast. Just knowing it was there, sent heat through me. Who knew I was into something like that, I thought as I adjusted it to put my arms back in the straps.

Huffing out a breath I went over and picked up my phone and tucked it into my pocket. I should get back to help search. I stopped and looked at the system sitting there, my hard drive beside it with thousands of songs on it. One song.

Quickly scrolling through the screen on the console, I selected one that had always been my victory song. My sound for when I’d had a moment where I prevailed against all odds. I hit play and adjusted the balance, then turned up the volume.

With a smile, I closed my eyes, raised my hands to the ceiling and started dancing.