Savage Revenge (21 page)

Nathan scrolled through the list of recently dialed numbers, made a mental note of the unfamiliar names, and then handed the phone back to Donovan.

“Can you jump back on the computer and see if you can find out who’s number that really is?”

“The one listed as yours? I’m on it.” Donovan returned to the open office and began typing away.

“See. Here she is.” Sienna moved to stare out the window. “You were worried for nothing.”

Nathan jerked his attention outside and breathed a little easier as he spotted Sage moving up the steps on her front porch.

The door opened a moment later and she stepped inside.

“I was getting nervous.”

She’d had her gaze on the floor as she entered, and jumped at his words.

Her head rose and she glanced his way and offered a small smile. “Sorry, I got caught up with my thoughts and lost track of time.”

But just as quickly as her gaze met his, it slid away. That was the first clue that something was off. The second was the tension that had her muscles wound so visibly tight, she seemed ready to snap.

“So, did you guys discover anything new while I was gone?” Her voice though, was just as bright and cheerful as it always was.

“Come here for a moment,” Nathan ordered softly.

Sage froze and her eyes rounded. He could swear she wasn’t even breathing as she walked over to him.

The scent of another alpha—her brother—slammed into him when she was still several feet away.

He forced his expression to remain the same as he took her hand and asked lightly, “You encounter any mountain lions this time? Species with questionable intent?”

“Nope.” Her voice stayed bright. “Just the usual humdrum of nature and my thoughts to keep me company. Exactly as I like it.”

Son of a bitch. His stomach sank. She was blatantly lying to him. He knew she’d somehow met up with her brother—had she planned it?—while out on that walk. If it had been a random, innocent meeting, she would’ve told him.

“So I really need to get back to my writing, because it’s finally on a roll. But maybe later we could go for a walk together,” she said quickly, before lowering her voice and squeezing his hand. “Spend some time alone.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

She flashed him a smile, but her gaze wouldn’t quite meet his. When she tried to pull away, he curled his fingers around her wrist to halt her.

“Why are you lying to me, Sage?”

Fear—just as strong as it had been the night he’d taken her hostage—flashed in her eyes. She was afraid of him.

“You carry your brother’s scent right now.”

The color drained from her face and realization flickered in her eyes.

“I…I didn’t want to tell you.”

“Clearly. What happened?”

Damn, but he wished he could read her mind. He could see it working. See her carefully choosing her words as her gaze slid to where the Donovans were listening, but trying to give the appearance that they weren’t.

“I intercepted him out in the woods. He was on his way to see me,” she said slowly. “Because you obliterated my phones, he had to physically drive here to see me.”

He smoothed his thumb over her wrist, felt the frantic pounding in there. “What did he want?”

“He wanted to talk to me about…my mating.”

Not exactly what he’d expected her to say, and he wasn’t sure how he felt about it.

“So you
are
arranged to mate with someone. ”

She gave a weary nod, and the unhappiness in her eyes clearly wasn’t feigned.

“It’s happening a bit earlier than I expected,” she admitted huskily.

“How much earlier?”

“By the end of next week.”

Her voice broke on the words, and his chest went tight with anger. With frustration. Sage was set to mate with someone next week. Literally in a matter of days.

His mind struggled with that realization.

But it wasn’t his right to protest, or his responsibility. He’d known sleeping with Sage was a short time deal.

Unfortunately he hadn’t known he’d come to care for her so deeply. That she’d become his damn lifeline in everything.

Shaking his head, he muttered, “Is there any way to avoid it—”

“No.” Her reply was weary, but firm. “It’s pretty much a sealed deal.”

“Do you love him?”

“Love?” She gave a bitter laugh. “Love is irrelevant for me.” She paused. “As I’m sure it was for you. You know very well how this goes, Nate.”

Yeah. He knew exactly how it went. If he hadn’t been an alpha—if aligning their packs hadn’t been such a good political move—then maybe he would’ve ended up marrying for something as novel as love.

But now Alicia was dead, and by his hand. His future was in the air. His freedom. Possibly his life.

“We’ve decided to catch a flight back to Seattle early.” Donovan approached, his expression sympathetic. “Look into that lead about the child.”

“Wait, you’re leaving?” Sage’s voice rose, and she seemed more alert. “Now?”

Sienna joined the group as she adjusted her purse over her shoulder. “We feel better leaving now to continue our investigation. Especially knowing he’s in good hands with you.”

Something close to panic and guilt flickered across Sage’s face, and he wasn’t the only one who saw it.

“Sage? Is something else going on?” Sienna prodded.

“No.”

But she answered too quickly. Nathan and Donovan exchanged a quick look, and Donovan gave a tiny nearly unperceivable shake of his head.

Shit
.

“Maybe you should give us a moment,” Nathan agreed.

Donovan nodded and caught Sienna’s hand, tugging her toward the door.

Sage’s eyes rounded and her mouth opened, before she shut it and drew her bottom lip between her teeth. Her arms wrapped around her waist and she appeared almost ill.

When the door closed behind them, her shoulders began to shake and liquid filled her eyes.

“Are you crying?”

She gave a fierce shake of her head, but a tear spilled down her cheek.

“What the fuck aren’t you telling me, Sage?”

Instead of answering, she disappeared to the window to glance outside as the couple left.

Son of a bitch. She was clearly hiding something.

“Answer me, Sage.”

“They shouldn’t be out there.”

The words were a whisper, and he almost didn’t hear them.

“You’re lying,” he ground out and tightened his grip on her wrist when she tried to pull away. “This upcoming mating business, is it all a distraction? A lie?”

“I’m mating next week. That’s not a lie. His name is Gus. He’s the beta in my pack—”

“I don’t need to know who he is!”

A slow pounding started in his head, and he clenched his jaw as the wave of angry dismay slammed into him.

On the tip of his tongue was the urge to snarl out a violent rejection to her words. That hell no was she mating with another guy next week.

Next. Fucking. Week.

Beneath his fingers the pulse in her wrist was racing. The faint thundering of her heart reached his hyper sensitive ears.

She wasn’t supposed to end up mated yet. He’d only barely had a chance to spend time with her. Dammit, he’d been the first to make love to her. He’d gained her trust and something close to love.

And now she was supposed to calmly hand her life, body and soul over to some beta named Gus? Maybe it was stereotyping, but he could damn well imagine what a guy named Gus looked like.

She deserved more than a fucking beta. She deserved an alpha who could appreciate the sweetness in her that was diffused with a respectable boldness. An integrity that you just didn’t expect from the curvy little bombshell who wrote love stories for a living.

Like a magnet, his gaze was drawn to the pulse in her neck. Watching as the skin that covered it stretch with each pounding beat.

Wrapping his free hand around her loose ponytail, he tugged her head back and crushed her mouth with his.

Her cry was almost a mix of relief and despair, before she pressed herself against him and kissed him back. Her tongue lashing against his, almost in anger.

There was rage in her kiss, and it made sense. Because the visual of another man claiming her evoked a rage more potent than he could ever remember.

Suddenly she shoved at his shoulders, trying to free herself.

“Enough. I belong to another man now, Nate.” Her voice broke. “This solves nothing.”

“You don’t belong to him. Not yet.” Dammit. With his hand still clutching her hair, he tugged her head back another half inch. The pulse that had been frantic before was almost bouncing now.

With each pulse, the mantra began in his head.

Mine. Mine. Mine.

His canines slid down, and his ability to think became tunnel vision on one purpose.

“Actually, not fucking ever, Sage.”

Chapter Nineteen

Sage’s eyes widened with realization. With fear. “No, Nate.
No
—”

Her words ended on a started cry as he closed his teeth over the pulse in her neck. Biting her hard enough to mark her, but not break skin.

Mine. Mine. Mine.

The mantra reverberated in his head as he claimed a woman he had absolutely no right to claim.

And then, like a brick wall hit by a missile, the thoughts she’d kept hidden began to filter into his mind with rapid-fire speed.

I can’t believe he just did that
.
They’re going to kill him.

The thought stunned him so much, he lifted his head and stared down at her.

“Who’s going to kill me, Sage?”

“You marked me.” She slugged him in the shoulder. “What the hell are you thinking? You just
claimed
me!” Her mouth gaped in alarm. “Wait. Oh God, can you read my mind now?”

I didn’t think it could happen this fast
.
He can’t know. He can’t–

He caught her by the upper arms. “I can’t know what?”

They’re out there waiting—don’t think it. He can hear it. Oh God he heard it.

Son of a bitch, someone was outside? Waiting out in the woods where Sienna and Donovan had just disappeared into?

 A trap. She’d set a fucking trap for him.

“Damn you. If you’ve killed them, it’s on your conscience.” He thrust her aside and ran toward the door.

“Nate, if you go out there alone he
will
kill you.” Genuine fear tinged on her words now, and she rushed after him, clinging to his arm.

“Tell me everything.”

“I was supposed to lead you outside later,” she admitted, not even trying to hide her thoughts anymore. “My brother and members of his pack will be waiting, but right now it’s just Gus who was supposed to watch over me. If he sees you he’ll ignore orders and probably kill you on the spot. He knows we’re involved.”

Loving the idea of a confrontation with her supposed mate, he bared his teeth and gave a harsh laugh. “Yeah, well now he’s about to figure out you belong to me.”

Shrugging off her arm, he threw open the door and sprinted outside.

He’d claimed her. Nathan Larson had just claimed her as his mate. The shock, which had held her immobile, finally faded enough for her to come to her senses and run after him.

As much as she wanted to, she couldn’t stop to think about this now.

If she didn’t try to stop Gus, Nate was as good as dead. She hadn’t been exaggerating when she’d made that statement.

No time to think about what it all meant. About what had just happened.

But weren’t you supposed to be claimed during sex? It was a kiss. A damn kiss, and then he’d bit her—marked her. How the hell could she have seen that coming?

She shouldn’t have told him about her arranged mating. She’d thought that by using the mating as an excuse for her obvious distress, he might not suspect he was about to be captured.

She’d been so stupid to think she could return to the house and act like everything was normal.

Leaping off her porch, she didn’t allow herself to shift. She would need her human voice to try and reason with Gus.

But he was an oversized oaf who tended to use little reason and act on emotion alone. And that was being generous to his personality.

She charged through the woods and prayed it wasn’t too late, but a few steps into the forest revealed the situation was far worse than her worse case scenario.

The color leeched from her face and her steps faltered.

Her gaze swung to her brother who was currently circling Nate.

“You promised,” she cried out hoarsely.

“I didn’t trust you, sis. Sorry.” Her brother’s tone lacked the apology he uttered. “Though apparently I was right not to trust you.”

He wasn’t sorry. Capturing Nate with as little drama as possible had never been part of his plan. He’d just been indulging her.

Nate didn’t seem intimidated, and his gaze stayed on her brother. “Go back to the house, Sage.”

“Or better yet, don’t.” Gus came up from behind her and wrapped two beefy arms around her.

“Let me go, dammit!” She kicked back at him, but he swung her into the air so that her legs thrust helplessly in front of her.

“Don’t bother trying to protect your boyfriend.” Gus chuckled in her ear. “He’s as good as dead.”

In an instant Nate sent a leg into her brother’s stomach, sending Jim flying backward and into a tree.

With her brother still struggling to his feet, Nate finally glanced their way. His gaze was so cold and full of violence that cold sweat broke out on the back of her neck.

“Boyfriend?” A chilling smile slid across Nate’s face. “You’re holding
my mate
right now, asshole, and you’ve got about three seconds to let her go.”

Oh God, that had been a mistake. She felt the growl of rage in Gus’s chest, before he shouted, “I’ll sooner see her dead, than be mated to a murdering alpha asshole like you, Larson.”

He tossed her to the side like a twig, and she didn’t have time to get her balance before her head connected against a rock. Pain exploded in her head and she had the vision of Jim tackling Nate before everything went black.

Ouch. Her head hurt like a mother—