Escape (Dark Alpha #4) (6 page)

Arianna drew back a little. Sarra was talking about her parents. It didn’t sound like she had the best childhood either.

Sarra continued, “Not all half-breeds are non-shifters. Some are just like full-breeds in all their abilities. But I didn’t get enough magic in my blood out of the deal, so no shifting for me. And a female who can’t shift? Not exactly sought after as a mate. I don’t bring the right, shall we say, genetic material to the bargain. My blood isn’t fit for parenting. At least not with shifters, and really, probably not with humans either.”

Arianna’s heart was breaking, and she didn’t even really know Sarra. But there was something that still didn’t make sense. “Did Jak know?”

Sarra’s life-hardened face softened a bit. “Oh yeah. He knew. Even back then, even when he was just a kid, Jak was full-on ready to rescue me from my fate. But I knew he deserved better. I’d stitched him up and shared his bed and, dammit, I fell hard for that boy. But I knew I wasn’t the right one for him. He deserved someone who could give him pups and a home and everything he didn’t have with that fucked up family of his. I told him there was someone out there, someone who would be The One for him.” Sarra captured her with her blue-eyed gaze. “He rescued you from something bad, didn’t he?”

Arianna nodded, a lump in her throat.

“And you’re not broken, like me, right?” Sarra held her gaze steady.

Arianna had to look away. “I’m still mated to another wolf.”

“Oh shit.” Sarra leaned forward, rubbing her hands across her face. “I take it back. Maybe Jak has a taste for hopeless cases.” She laughed a little, but it was sad.

Arianna’s chest was squeezing tight. “I can’t give him a family, either.” She looked up at Sarra with tears in her eyes. “Not strong ones, with the protection of a mating between us. Not like he deserves.”

“All right, look here,” Sarra said, her voice rising. “Forget everything I said. That boy loves you.
Do not
send him away just because you can’t have magic puppies together.”

Arianna dropped her gaze to her mug. Was she making a terrible mistake?

“Arianna look at me,” Sarra demanded.

She wiped at her eyes and looked up.

“He thinks you’re
The One.
If you care for him at all, you stay with him and figure out how to make it work.”

Arianna nodded through the tears making their way down her face. “I love him so much,” she whispered.

“Then you’ll figure it out.” Sarra gestured to her. “If nothing else, you’re still mated, right?”

Arianna nodded again.

“Then, as much of a bastard as your mate no doubt is, you’ve still got that magic in your blood. Your pups will have that going for them, even if it’s not Jak’s magic.” Sarra pinched up her face. “I know that’s not what you want. But if you break Jak’s heart, I swear to God, I’ll have to find you and beat you down. I don’t care if you can shift. I’ve got a black belt that says nobody messes with my Jak.”

Arianna smiled through the tears now flowing freely. She didn’t miss how Sarra called him
her Jak.
Her love for him was as clear as anything, and it was the purest kind. The selfless kind. The kind Jak gave to her freely. And Sarra was right. Whatever else happened, Arianna would rather die than do anything to hurt him.

Even if she had to carry Mace in her blood for the rest of her life.

Jak paced the sidewalk outside Sarra’s apartment, phone to his ear.

He had five messages from Circe, the witch who wanted his body, each more threatening than the last. He had
planned
on being well out of her reach by this time today, not just barely recovered from his completely failed attempt to kill Mace. But now he needed her… and pissing off a witch was not the best way to start a negotiation.

The phone was ringing.

It rang four times before Circe picked it up. “Yes.” The chill in that word could freeze the sun.

“Sorry I didn’t make our date,” Jak said hastily, hoping the immediate apology might help. He added a bit of low growl to it, just in case that might help.

“I hope you were dead.” The frost was still in negative temperatures. “That would be an acceptable excuse.”

“Well, if you called my alpha to expose my little secret, you would know that wasn’t far off.”

“Oh?” She was warming a little. “Did you boys get a little over excited with the full moon and nip each other to death?”

So she hadn’t called Gage. Jak blew out a silent sigh of relief. Not that it mattered if she spilled his secret to his alpha—
ex-alpha
—but he didn’t want Gage to know about his connection to the witches. It might get back to Mace and make for trouble with his plan. Which was a terrible plan, but it was the only one he had. And making sure Arianna was forever free of Mace was still more important to him than keeping her for himself.

“No,
little witch,
we’re not quite that stupid,” Jak said, putting more of the sexy in his voice. He needed to get this witch to play nice if his plan was going to work. “However, I did do a rather stupid thing last night that almost cost me my life. Otherwise, I would have returned your calls.”

“Hm,” she said, and she was definitely warming up now. “What flavor of stupid were you?”

“I tried to kill an alpha.”

“And that didn’t go well? I’m shocked.” Then she paused. “Wait… this was the alpha of your little pet, wasn’t it?”

“Yes.” He sucked in a breath through his teeth. This was the hard part. “And that didn’t work out. So I’m back to needing your help, Circe.”

“Are you, now?” She was warming up to a full purr.

“I need to know if you were serious about Arianna’s family sending the bounty hunters after her.”

“Your wolfy affairs don’t interest me enough to
lie
about them, Jak,” she said with disdain.

“How did you know it was them?” he asked.

“Well, that’s for me to know and for you not to worry your pretty little head about.”

“I
need
to know, Circe,” he said. “All deals are off otherwise.” He had his suspicions: the bounty hunters knew exactly where to find him and Arianna. When pressed, they squawked Hecca’s name. And now Circe knew who really hired the bounty hunters. That was way too much circling for the bounty hunters and the witches not to be connected. Which mean Circe was somehow connected to Arianna’s family.

Circe was quiet on the phone. “And what do I get in exchange for this information?”

“I’m willing to make you a very happy witch for a very brief period of time.” Jak swallowed down the choking in his throat. This was a trade. A barter. And he didn’t have many other options.

“I like the sound of that.”

“I thought you might,” he said. “Now tell me: how do you know that Arianna’s family hired the bounty hunters?”

“Because, my sexy little plaything,” she said, “I hired the bounty hunters for them.”

Jak stopped his pacing and braced a hand against his car.
“You
hired them.”

“Well, they were offering quite a bit of money to get their beloved sister back.”

The gears clicked fast through Jak’s head. “You used Hecca’s name to make some easy money while ratting out your sister’s favorite pack.” What he didn’t understand was
why?
If he could figure that out, maybe he could use that—

“When you put it that way, it sounds so underhanded.” But Circe’s voice was smug, not worried.

“Maybe this is something Hecca might want to know,” he said. If the sisters were fighting, maybe he could pit them against each other, rather than having to get down and dirty with Circe.

“Nice try,
little wolf.”
Now she was irritated. “But once you left the office, I made sure Hecca was aware of my little arrangement.”

Dammit.

“And I disposed of the bounty hunters,” she sniffed.

He choked. “You what?”
Jesus.
How did he forget that witches were not to be messed with? But again: short on options.

“Oh, it’s wasn’t that bad,” she said with a sneer. “A simple forgetting spell and a bus ticket did the trick. I don’t need the inconvenience of bodies floating in the bay.”

“Glad to hear that.” But he still didn’t understand what her motivation was in this. “So if this isn’t some kind of sister-spat, then why? Why help out Arianna’s family when it might jeopardize Morgan Media’s contract with Red Wolf?”

She sighed into the phone. “Let’s just say I don’t like wolves who kidnap women. You’re tremendously hot, little wolf, but your kind can be so barbaric. Helping to liberate a sister, even of the wolf flavor, has its satisfactions, even if Hecca can’t see the merits of getting involved.”

Jak wholeheartedly agreed, but he was honestly surprised that she cared. Maybe she was lying, but it didn’t seem so—her voice had lost that haughtiness it carried most of the time. And if she meant it, if she was telling the truth, then getting her to help might not be as difficult as he thought.

Time for the big ask. “Circe, I need to meet the family.”

“And I need a little hot wolf action in my office.” Her temper was rising.

“I think we can both get what we want,” he said carefully. “Call up the family. Have them come to your office. I get to check them out, and you get to put your desk to a use for which it was never intended.”

He could practically hear her licking her lips. “Getting them here may be a bit difficult.”

“Make it happen, Circe.” He couldn’t keep the anger out of his voice. If he was going to have to pay up in witch-on-wolf sex, she better not fight him on the details.

“Why exactly do you want to meet the family, little wolf?” Suspicion was creeping into her tone.

“That’s for me to know, and for you to not care about while I’m fucking you in your office.”

She laughed softly. “All right, then. Give me an hour.”

“I’ll be at your office in half that.” He had no idea how long it would take Mace to start looking for them. He could already be on the hunt, for all Jak knew. “We can take care our bargain, then I want to meet the family.”

“Fine.” Her voice was tense again. “Half an hour.”

Jak tapped off the phone and ran the back of his hand across his mouth. He could still taste Arianna on his skin… and he was about to trade sex for favors with a witch. The thought made his stomach turn, but he needed to make sure her family understood the stakes. And would be able to take care of Arianna.

After he was gone.

He took a deep breath and tapped the phone on again. He dialed Sarra’s number. She answered on the first ring.

“Hey,” she said. “What’s taking you so long? We made you tea, and it’s getting cold.”

“I have to run an errand, Sarra.”

His good friend and ex-lover snarled into the phone. “The hell you do.”

“Please, Sarra, just watch over her for a little bit longer. I need to do something, and Arianna can’t be part of it. When it’s safe for her, I’ll call you. Then you need to bring her to me.”

“What are you up to?” Her voice was a whisper now and muffled. She must be hiding her concern from Arianna. Jak smiled: he knew he could count on her.

“I’m going to break her mating bond. She deserves to be free. But don’t tell her yet. I will. At the right time.”

“I don’t like the sound of this.” Her voice was a little louder now.

“Please, Sarra, I’m begging you.”

She sighed. “All right. How long?”

“An hour. Maybe more. I’ll keep it as short as I can.”

“All right. We’ll be waiting.”

“I love you, Sarrabear.”

“Yeah, shut up with that already. I’ve got a reputation as a badass, and you’re ruining it.”

He smiled so hard his cheeks hurt. “Thanks,” he choked out. Dammit, he couldn’t afford to get emotional right now. There would be time for that later.

“Don’t be stupid.” She hung up.

He clicked the phone off, took a deep breath, and climbed in the car.

The drive into downtown to where the Morgan Media offices were didn’t take the full half-hour, so Jak stopped at a coffee shop nearby. He started and then deleted, unsent, a half dozen text messages for Arianna. She didn’t have her phone, of course, so it would have to go through Sarra, and he just couldn’t bring himself to say the things he wanted to. The things he needed to say, before all of this went down.