Sanibel Seduction - Vampire Werewolf Menage (Fanged Romance Series Book Four) (6 page)

Sylvia patted her shoulder sympathetically and went back inside. “I’m ready to get back to work,” Azure said, figuring she should keep busy so the tears would stay at bay. She needed this job desperately, and they still hadn’t offered her a full-time position.

“Onward then,” he said with faux enthusiasm. “Did it help you at all to get away, baby?” Nick worried aloud. “Vacations are meant to replenish the body, not exhaust it.” He tugged her up, leading them to follow Sylvia.

“That’s hard to say.” Her Scottish trip was originally intended for her to take with Will as a couple’s getaway. They’d planned it more than a year ago, and after they had broken up, Will refused the travel agency’s offer of a partial refund and insisted that Azure go anyway. Alone. She closed the door behind her and allowed the scent of industrial grade disinfectant to bring her to the present. “In a weird sense, going to Scotland changed me, though I don’t understand how.”

“Since you’re Alpha and the decision’s all yours” - Gage rubbed the painful knot on the back of his head - “I’m assuming that’s a rhetorical question.”

“Work with me here, man,” Jayce snapped, thrusting long fingers through his hair in sheer frustration. “Shit’s flying all over the place on the islands. Vampires are acting like, well, vampires. I’ve tucked my tail between my legs and personally called for backup from Scotland since I’m several males down on our side.
Meaning
I need your head in the game.” He stared at the blood seeping from Gage’s ear. “Your skull has been cracked open like a boiled egg, and all out of sheer stupidity. What were you thinking? What part of watching your own ass do you suddenly not understand?”

Bren edged the desk, crossing colossal arms over his chest. “I’ve offered to help you hunt your female. In fact, I think every available beast in Dade County has. What are you afraid of?” He grated, even more pissed off than Jayce. “You think I’ll fall in love with your mate?” An impossibility once a Were mated. “Or maybe you really don’t want to find her so you can still pant behind my precious Tatum.”

“I deserve that, though it’s untrue.” Gage released a pent-up breath, nervously drumming his thumb on his knee while staring at the Miami skyline.
His
female’s allure speared him on levels he didn’t know existed, efficiently fragmenting any need for Tatum, and he hadn’t even touched his mate
yet
.
Where are you? Who are you?

Bren looked at Jayce and raised a brow. Jayce shook his head no. “I sense no deception.” Jayce rose, rolling the tension from his shoulders. “So we’ll take your word as truth. You hunted with us and personally brought Tatum back to the Pack when Maestru and his coven took her. But in the process, you defanged the Coven Master. You have to admit that’s pretty personal, even for an attack on your queen.”

“When I saw Tatum’s ravaged throat,” Gage snarled before he could stop himself. “I couldn’t stomach it.”

“Admit that you would have gone dental on him anyway. No matter that he fed on her or not,” Bren demanded, going in and out of mid-trans. Whether it was from the thought of Maestru feeding on Tatum, or the memory that Gage had taken his fangs before Bren got a hold of him, Gage didn’t know. But he didn’t want a one-on-one with Bren’s werewolf while recovering from a cranial fracture. That kind of fight would set him back a few more days. Time was precious when
she
was out there. Somewhere.

“True,” Gage admitted easily, shifting so he could face them head on. He could have gone in, saved Tatum, and allowed her mates to avenge her. But he hadn’t.
He’d
acted as her mate. Ripping fangs from a vampire Coven Master was an act of war only surpassed by the fact that Maestru had committed one himself when he’d taken Tatum in the first place. So one crime washed the other, and no one was fighting
at the moment
. But Gage felt it in his bones. Revenge was coming, and knowing Maestru, it would be long and painful. Normally, he would say ‘bring it on’. Often pain was quite the pleasure.
Oh, but not now
. Not when he had his own female out there who needed his protection. Vengeful vampires could complicate Gage’s life.

Jayce eyed Bren's threadbare control. “Snap out of it or go see Tatum. We have a lot of ground to cover and your Beast can’t release in broad daylight without going to the island. God,” Jayce groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose, “all we need are more human witnesses, especially after that particular stunt you pulled, Gage.”

“With all due respect, Alpha, you are only in your thirties, and you have what’s yours. I'm centuries old, and I finally scented what belongs to me. What was I supposed to do when my Beast found its mate? How was I supposed to tell it to wait and hope that we caught up with her later? What were the odds for
later
, Jacye?"

Bren interrupted, “Maybe we should talk about what really happened yesterday before this escalates.”

He wasn’t discussing his failure with Bren. “She’s here, and she’s close,” Gage said in a distracted voice.

“Of course she is.” Jayce looked at him as if he’d lost his mind. “Anyone can see you’re twitching for your female, and the Pack gets that. We honestly do.” He flattened his palms on Gage’s oversized desk, leaning down for some serious eye contact. “But humans have a problem with werewolves running around all willy-nilly on their rooftops!”

“Point made.”

He wasn't finished, “Without the cover of darkness!”

“Can we drop this?” Staring at three Alphas instead of one, Gage closed his eyes, willing his head to mend quickly so he could hunt
her
in peace this upcoming night.

“Oh, I’m just getting started, pal.” He raised his hand and pointed a long finger at Gage’s nose. “If we didn’t have Beasts in the local police department, all those calls coming in from the locals and tourists would have been investigated. What if those reports had been pushed through?” He closed his eyes and snapped them open again, “We are born of arrogant creatures. No one knows that better than I do. However, the only way for me to drop this is if you drop your pride quite a bit. Starting with accepting the pack’s help,” Jayce’s voice held the honed edge of a lethal blade.

“I don’t need any help -”

The Alpha growled low, flashing his beast, “Blood is pouring out of both sides of your head. You’re not one-hundred percent. Shit, you’re not fifty percent! You require help. At least until you stop bleeding all over the damn place. Don’t even think about challenging this! God help you if you challenge me. In the shape you’re in, you will die before I even get warmed up.”

Gage seriously doubted that, but he threw both hands up in a show of deference before leaning back in his chair. “I apologize, sire.”

“Damned straight you’ll apologize, you unpinned grenade.” Jayce gestured at Heath and Jude Faden. “These two are your best bet: trackers from Ciaran’s bloodline Bane will spare for this week only. They’re on the hunt for Sayer. Last night, I sent him to represent Jordan Marketing at a charity gala located in the Everglades, and he’s been missing since. We expect foul play. Work together and solve both issues. You can utilize their inherent abilities to find what’s yours, and they can use your power to help find our missing male.” He nailed Gage with narrowed eyes brooking no argument. “Starting tonight!”

Bren nodded at the trackers and headed towards the door. “My offer of assistance still stands, Gage,” he threw over his shoulder on the way out. “Keep in mind there’s blood in the water. Your blood. Predators are circling, and your female needs to be under the Pack’s protection quickly.”

“I’ve made myself clear, Gage,” Jayce added. "You’re a mess. Straighten this shit out. You know where I am if you need me. I better not find you faced down in an alley again, especially while still in full transformation.” Jayce followed Bren out to leave the three at it.

Jude walked forward and planted himself in the dense, black leather chair, crossing his ankles on Gage’s desk. “It’s good to be working with you again, Ancient One.”

Gage scoffed, “Hardly.” Sure he was ancient, but he didn’t look a day older than either of them. And he could take on the Scottish duo simultaneously, even while sporting a skull fracture.

“Oh, then how old are you?” Jude had wandered more than his brother had and dropped any detectable brogue.

“None of your fucking business.”

Wisely, Heath got down to brass. “Describe your lass’s scent. We’re wastin’ time better spent huntin’. Night will draw soon enough.”

Gage rubbed a palm over his mouth, salivating at the thought of
her
. He had his mate within a mile’s radius and couldn’t get any closer. No lead, no trail, no way of finding her in a bustling Miami square pulsating with wall-to-wall clubs and rutting, sex-starved humans. Then - when he least expected it - a reprieve turned into a nightmare. “I’ve never smelled anything so beautiful.”

Heath sat in the adjacent chair, stretching his long, jean-encased legs in front of him. The picture of masculine perfection flared silver eyes identical to his brother’s. Ciaran’s bloodline was known for those rare, mercurial eyes. Their Beasts descended from unparalleled trackers, extraordinary shamans, and powerful Alpha’s since the beginning of time. “Beautiful, aye,” he spoke in broken brogue, “you doona give much to go on. All lasses are beautiful to me.”

Jude chuckled softly, tossing his caramel-colored hair over a brawny shoulder. “We’ll be going in circles, then?”

Gage studied his battered but quickly healing hands, shamed to have to explain what happened yesterday, especially since he hadn’t figured it out himself. “I’ve caught her scent in the clubbing district a few miles from here,” he said with utter humiliation, “and I’m going back tonight. It’s the weekend still. Usually humans are repetitious with their weekending habits, upping my chances of catching it again.” He wrapped his arm around the back of his neck supporting his throbbing head.

He had to get a hold of her soon. If more time passed, he didn’t know what restraint the Beast would be capable of when it finally did claim its mate. Centuries of waiting were a bit too long for any creature, much less a nearly desolate werewolf. Gage inwardly shuddered at that thought; hoping whom he was fated to would be strong enough not to run scared when he caught up with her.

Heath tilted his head, studying Gage with open curiosity. “What beat you?”

“Obviously an immortal,” he grated. And there had been more than one considering the power Gage wielded. Very few Beasts could come up against Gage one-on-one. “What human could take me down?”

“We’re you so lost you dinna scent another?”

Gage felt his canines coming down. With an icy glare and a deceptively soft voice he said, “The last I heard, Heath, you weren’t mated.”

He smiled reluctantly. “Are you tryin’ to tell me that you lose all sense of your environs when you find your true lass?”

Asshole.
“Something like that.” How could he explain running under the moon after his first transformation? How could he elucidate taking a woman under him for the first time, delving into her lush body and stroking her intimately? How could he explain the way his canines felt the first time they struck a vein, and he tasted crimson divinity? “I could never describe what it was like when I first scented her. But I will tell you this: It would be easier to describe the rising sun to those who are blind.”

Jude stepped closer. Longing haunted the depths of his eyes. After swallowing a few times, he asked, “Just try.”

“What?" Gage whispered, staring at back at him. He saw pain there. Lots of it.

“Just… No one ever wants to talk about it,” he offered as a way of explanation, “to those of us who remain unmated.”

Gage gingerly pulled his arm from behind his neck and leaned both elbows on his desk. He planted his face in his palms and spoke through his fingers, “It's like something ripped away everything that I was and replaced it with someone far better. I felt what was missing and wanted it with me for all time. My soul mate is out there. I can see how, after all these years; life could lose its redundancy for me. I can see myself being truly happy. I can see myself as a father - a good father, a fantastic father. Nothing like the piece of shit that ran off on me when I was a mere pup,” he explained, pulling his face away from his hands. His father worked every available battle, putting his family second, before finally giving up and never coming home. “And that’s just from her scent alone.”

“Damn,” was all Jude could say.

“On a different note, my werewolf has suddenly evolved, though I can't say that's a good thing. In scant hours, the Beast has strengthened. It’s beyond dangerous. Hell, it’s restless. It’s even frightening. It deigns to take down everything in its path to reach her, and it doesn't care what it destroys in the process as long as it gets what it wants.” He heard this cracking sound. After looking down, he pulled his broken armrest up with his battered hand. A few screws hit the floor, rolling under Gage’s desk. “I’ve got to run.”

“You can’t mist to Sanibel in your condition,” Heath said carefully. The marsh held many private places to run during broad daylight. Ones that weren’t available in Miami, apart from the Everglades. “And we have a couple of hours or so to go before the sun sets.”

“I won’t leave this area.”

“You can sense her, then?”

“In a way, though we haven’t mated, she tethers my Beast. She’s close by.”

“Amazin’, she must be Scottish.”

The corner of Gage’s mouth kicked up. “Let’s hope I find out.”

Jude crossed his arms. “Tell us everything that happened before you blacked out.”