Passions Recalled: Forbidden Passions, Book 2 (7 page)

“You will not blame yourself for something Michael did, Celeste,” he ordered.

She nodded her head in agreement but felt tears fill her eyes. She couldn’t believe she was so emotional. She seemed to be zinging all over the place. Maybe it was the way he’d come in and taken her in the kitchen. So familiar, so like old times.

He lifted her and carried her down the hall, had her stripped in one minute and screaming with desire in the next. Her last thought before she succumbed to the lure of sleep was she could never go back.

Chapter Four

Derek hunkered down in his truck. He was on a road that looked unused as near as he dared to get to the cabin where Jason had taken Celeste. It was time for a little recon. He’d have to be cautious to avoid Jason’s detection. When a lull came in the storm, he jumped out, stripped and shifted. Euphoria rushed through him—the game was on.

The wolf wanted to run, to hunt down its prey. Its instincts were primitive and bloody, and Derek had to fight with his other half for control. As much as the idea of ripping out the throats of his victims appealed, he knew the cat would never give in easily. Derek grinned. No, the cat would make one hell of an opponent. He’d make Derek work for victory. The wolf growled its willingness and lifted its muzzle. Derek barely restrained the howl of challenge welling in its throat and set off at an easy lope through the underbrush.

He studied the ground while keeping his nose alert for Jason. The last thing he wanted was to get caught before he had a chance to plan. The terrain had promise. It was marshy, the ground vegetation not as thick as it had been before the last hurricane blew through but more than enough to hide a couple of bodies. There was a sudden splash to his left, and he jerked his head around in time to see an alligator swimming away in the pond he skirted. If the wolf could have arched its eyebrows, it would have. Could this set-up get more perfect? Ready-made body disposal. He could use a gator back home.

He started to catch scents of the wereleopard the closer he got to Jason’s cabin, so he slowed his approach. It didn’t smell fresh, as if he had been here, but was now gone…out prowling the grounds. Derek’s relief was immediate. He’d come too close to getting caught on one of his earlier forays.

Derek could see a clearing up ahead through the trees and crouched low to the ground, taking his time to inch forward, careful to stay upwind and as quiet as he could manage. The wind aided him. While there was currently a break in the rain, the wind never seemed to slow. In fact, it seemed to be picking up.

He reached the line of trees at the front of the house and looked around for a hiding place. He found a small depression under the exposed roots of a cypress tree and worked his way under it, twisting and contorting his body until he found a comfortable position. He had a good view of the house but they wouldn’t be able to see him, or smell him as long as the wind direction didn’t change. It was foolish to get this close, but he’d always liked living on the edge. Making an enemy of the wereleopard was definitely one way to do that.

Jason’s scent was strong here, and he took a good look at his surroundings, noting the long scratch marks on the trees next to him. Did the cat mark its territory or was it simply to sharpen its claws? Derek couldn’t ignore the unease that thought invoked. His plan to ruin Michael had come too far to blow it all to hell by getting himself killed here. But he couldn’t let Celeste live after what she’d seen and now that Jason was involved, he had to die too. That was a cryin’ shame. Jason had been useful and rash, not asking the questions he should have, not behaving in the calculated manner he did with his other business ventures. When Derek approached him, the wereleopard had only been concerned with revenge.

The wolf snarled with contempt and disdain. While it understood the need for vengeance, the lengths males would go to over women were a mystery to it. Women were for sex, for breeding. Too many of them didn’t know their place in the natural order. They had been allowed too much freedom under Michael’s rule. No doubt due to Michael’s infatuation with his human mate. Things were going to change when Derek took over.

His rage rose again over the disruption of his plans. He’d wanted Jason to take the land from Michael. Losing such prime real estate would put the Alpha in a position to be challenged. Throw in the recent spurt of murders of women connected to the clan, and he was practically begging to be challenged. Derek had waited years for this time to come. His claws dug into the mud, a low growl welling up from his throat. Everything would have gone perfectly if Celeste hadn’t found out Jason didn’t know she was alive. Hadn’t seen him kill the blonde woman.

He’d been able to piece together some of what happened. Rumors flew quickly in the clan. Celeste had been called home and hadn’t been told her mate thought she was dead. Derek had stumbled on that knowledge accidentally a year ago and kept it to himself, saved for some time in the future when he might be able to use it. And it had worked, making it possible to maneuver both Jason and Michael into the land deal. No one seemed to know why Celeste was given that information after so long, and he’d kept his speculations to himself. He still couldn’t believe Michael told her. Derek had badly miscalculated, certain the werewolf would stand by and watch the land go before he confessed his deceit to his only daughter.

A new scent came to him on the wind, and he lifted his muzzle to take it in. Celeste, mixed with Jason and the heady, musky smell of sex. He growled. She’d have to pay for that. It hadn’t taken her long to forget him, had it? Derek had never bedded her. He wanted to. Wanted to possess her, own her, but he’d held back waiting for the right time. Forcing Michael to watch his rough treatment of her after he was removed as Alpha and unable to come to his daughter’s aid would only add to the other wolf’s humiliation. Derek had been looking forward to that humiliation, dreaming of it for years. All those plans were now shot to hell. He had to salvage whatever he could.

Jason and Celeste had to die. Here. Tonight. No one would be able to pin the murders on him, and his little side hobby would return to be a more secret, safer pastime. In a few days he’d approach one of Jason’s brothers about buying the land from them. He would at least still be able to challenge Michael, demoralize and ruin him. Then maybe he could finally put his father’s spirit to rest. But for now, he had to figure out how to take out Jason.

He’d seen the wereleopard fight once, and he was formidable. In a fair contest, Derek knew he couldn’t take him. Good thing he didn’t care about fighting fair. He kept a hunting rifle in his truck, the better to fit in with his human yokel neighbors. Maybe he’d use it to kill Jason, quick and easy, then he could take his time with Celeste. He couldn’t let her faithlessness slide with no punishment. He wished he could keep her alive a little while, take her home and use her the way he used other women, but he doubted even the trauma of seeing her mate murdered would keep her in line for long. No, eventually she’d rebel, and he’d have to kill her anyway. Too risky. It would be much easier to dispose of the bodies here.

The rain started up again, and he wiggled his way up from under the shelter of the tree. He stared at the house a minute, allowing his excitement to rise. It would all be over soon. Turning, he let the wolf loose and ran back to the truck. It was time to put his plan into action.

When he was sure she was asleep, Jason rolled out of bed. He stood and watched her a few minutes, grinning like a fool. A woman so well pleasured she passed out was a beautiful thing.

My woman.

Leaning over, he pushed a strand of hair out of her face and brushed a kiss over her lips. Then he walked out to his truck.

The only way to keep her safe was to get information. Celeste was so upset over dealing with her family’s betrayal that he was afraid to push her for the reason for her sudden appearance. But the storm was roaring closer to land, and he needed answers quick. The phone in the house was dead. He hoped to God the satellite phone would still work.

He retrieved it from the glove box of his truck, ran back inside through the pouring rain and turned the phone on. It had a dial tone. He exhaled a gusty sigh of relief he hadn’t been aware he was holding and punched in Michael’s number. Tomas, the brother he remembered as Celeste’s favorite, answered and quickly handed the phone off to his father.

“Is Celeste with you?” he demanded gruffly. Did he actually think Jason was going to let him control the conversation? He snorted. Not in this lifetime.

“Now that was a stupid question,” he drawled. “The smart question is why you sent her to me after all this time and in a fucking hurricane.”

“She didn’t tell you? It’s about the land, of course—getting an extension on the balloon payment. Why else would I send her?” Michael’s tone was all arrogant bravado and all Alpha. It made Jason’s teeth itch. The werewolf needed Jason’s help but still couldn’t bring himself to tone down the attitude. Like most of the old school werekind leaders, Michael was autocratic. Abrasive. Was certain he knew what was best for everyone. Look what he’d done to Celeste.

Fury rolled through Jason at Michael for sending her into danger during a hurricane, and at Celeste for agreeing to it—for coming to him over her precious land. Jason’s thoughts bounced back and forth, and he stood poised on the balls of his feet, ready to pounce at an enemy he couldn’t see before reason started to return. Celeste could not have changed so much. Whatever had sent her running to Florida—to him—it wasn’t the land. Michael’s explanation didn’t fit with the evidence of her attack, her amnesia, but he was certain Michael knew a hell of a lot more than he was saying.

“Why else would you send her? That’s a very good question, isn’t it?” He let the silence drag a moment. “Because she didn’t get to me before someone attacked her, and now she doesn’t remember anything that’s happened over the past twenty-four hours or so.”

He heard a muffled gasp in the background on Michael’s end and knew her mother was listening in. He felt a brief pang of sympathy for her and wondered what the fuck Michael was up to.

“She’s fine by the way,” he said sarcastically when the other man didn’t respond. “I take care of my own. And let’s get that clear right from the start, Michael. She’s
mine.
You won’t take her from me again.”

Michael huffed, and Jason could imagine his grip on the phone turning white knuckled. He grinned. He could really learn to love one-upping Michael.

“So why don’t you tell me what’s really going on? You sent her here. Why? To protect her or because you need help? And don’t give me some bull about the land.”

Michael’s growl turned into a groan, and Jason muttered, “Shit.”

“We could have easily made that payment.” Michael sighed. “Except things kept going wrong. Broken equipment, late deliveries, personnel problems.”

“Sabotage?”

Michael’s laugh was short and harsh. “We didn’t think so at first, but then Celeste got close to someone who helped her recover. Emotionally started to rebound, I mean, and he—Derek—started offering to help us out of the mess. With a hefty percentage of the business going to him, of course. Even that didn’t make me really suspicious. Not at first.”

Jason gripped the phone so hard the plastic casing cracked in his hand. Derek was the mysterious boyfriend? Like hell that was just a coincidence.

“It was the women,” Michael said.

What the fuck was he going on about now?

“Come again?”

“A suspicious number of women have gone missing recently. There wasn’t any kind of pattern, no connections between them—except they were all humans from this area.”

“Until?”

“The last three have all been connected to my family in some way.”

Fuck, and Celeste had almost been the fourth. How close had it been? How had she escaped? He remembered the truck that had almost run him off the road at the beach.

“Do you know anyone who drives a white F150?”

He heard movement in the hallway and turned to meet Celeste’s gaze. She was pale and shaking, and he immediately stepped toward her. She and Michael answered his question at the same time, Michael by swearing and Celeste with a shiver.

“Derek,” she whispered. “It’s Derek’s truck. I saw him kill someone.”

Jason set the phone on an end table and pulled her into his arms.

“It’s okay, baby. You’re safe here.”

She pressed her head against his chest and shook it.

“I’m not. He’ll keep coming. He’s relentless in everything else he does, and what choice does he have now?”

Jason’s chest rumbled in response. “Let him come. I protect my own. You have to trust me to take care of you, Celeste.”

She leaned back, tilting her head to smile up at him.

“For some crazy reason I do.”

They heard yelling through the phone receiver, Michael trying to get his attention. Releasing her, he stretched an arm out and picked the phone up.
My dad?
she mouthed. He smiled in response.

“What else, Michael? I can see him wanting to cover up what he’s doing, but why target women important to your family? Why the business arrangement?”

Wind gusted against the house, banging debris against an outside wall, and Michael’s answer was garbled. The phone lost its signal before Jason could ask him to repeat himself. Frustrated, he turned it off and tossed it to the couch where it fell between the back and a cushion.

“Fuck,” Jason muttered.

Celeste had backed away and huddled in the entry to the hallway, instinctively going for the interior walls when the wind picked up. She bit her lower lip and tried to hurry her mind through the last few minutes’ revelations. First, there was the dream recounting her family’s deceit and Derek killing the blonde woman, and now what little she’d overheard of the phone conversation.

“What women?” she finally asked.

She felt a sense of urgency, knew they needed to work it all out quickly. Celeste felt watched, stalked. Goose bumps broke out across her arms, and the back of her neck tingled. They couldn’t hear much over the wind and rain, but she knew Derek was out there somewhere. Watching. Waiting.