Escaping Death

Ace

By the time I make it to the bar and turn back around, Eli already has his hands on her. They smile and laugh together with ease, comfortably occupying one another’s space like they’ve known each other for years.

An unfamiliar, weighted feeling creeps through my chest at the sight of them; her lifting to her toes to whisper something in his ear, the way he holds her to him like he has any right to wear her on his arm.

I should have let Dean stay home with her, I shouldn’t have let her come. The only thing worse than watching her curves sway around in that dress, seducing every pair of eyes she crosses, would be her getting hurt – I’ll pretend like it’s just because her fathers have hired us to keep her safe and not because the pull towards her grows with every passing minute. The glass I’m holding cracks beneath my grip so I turn myself away from watching them and order another drink. I can’t allow them to see me losing my control.

I survey the rest of the level I’m on. Tate has vanished and I know I won’t see him again until the job is done. That’s how it works, everyone has their role. Tate infiltrates. He also has a more vicious blood lust than any one of us, it’s not just a job for him – it’s sport.

Dean’s the watcher, he picks up on the smallest details and can help people…see things our way. People mistake him for quiet and tame since he’s so deceptively reserved, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. It’s his disciplined patience that makes him deadly in so many ways.

Eli is our wildcard. He can step into any role at any moment. He does his job like he lives his life; on the edge. What you see is what you get with Eli, he’s spirited and adventurous. Seeing how he shows us his true personality makes knowing what he was like when we found him a bitter reminder of the damage love can do…the damage mates can do.

Knowing I’m only punishing myself by doing so, my wolf drives me to follow Eli and Sol around the yacht. They may as well be the only two people in the world right now they’re so lost in conversation, he spins her around as they dance.

Hunter’s words from earlier in the day echo through my mind and clash with the scene in front of my waking eyes. Here I don’t see the angry, caged animal Hunter described. Here she’s carefree and unguarded. Some of her light and warmth begins to shine through the armor she’s built up around her.

She’s radiant.

And apparently Eli has his own fucking death wish. His lips are on her bare shoulder, traveling seductively up her neck to her lips. Between the rage, and the residual constricting pressure on my chest, I take stock of her body – her arm and bare leg specifically. There’s not a drop of ink on her skin. I didn’t notice until now but her skin looks virginal, the beautiful artwork that decorated her before has been covered up, and covered up well.

I don’t have time to wonder how she did it, nor do I have time to shatter another glass at the sight of them dancing because Tate messages the group that he’s found our mark in a private, guarded cabin below deck.

I make myself comfortable on one of the deck sofas waiting for Solana to come join me while Eli does what Eli does best — adapt. His text that there’s been a change of plans only proves that he’s the man for the job.

My foot taps impatiently on the deck’s floor while I continue to wait and search for Solana from my seat. Hopes that Dean and Hunter found her first are slashed as they casually amble over to the sectional I’m lounging on.

“Where is she?” I ask though I suspect they don’t know either.

“Eli didn’t send her over to you?” Hunter asks, his anger and possessiveness making its presence known.

I shake my head, muttering expletives at Eli’s recklessness under my breath. I swear to the Gods if he brought her anywhere near that Alpha, the one known to force she-wolves into breeding rotations for profit, I’ll cut his goddamn dick off.

Saved by the bell – a notification from Eli appears on my screen telling the rest of us to meet them in the cabin below deck. The Alpha’s cabin. The cabin that, when I burst through the bedroom door, contains three she-wolves in rags awaiting to be sold off as breeders.

My wolf surges forward scanning the room for Eli so I can ask where Sol is, when what do I see? My mate tangled in Eli’s arm. So, not only did he bring her down here, endangering her life and risking her being sold as a breeder if anything went wrong, but now he’s holding onto my mate looking proud as fuck.

My unhappiness diffuses off of me, my enraged aura pulsing out into the room causing the three she-wolves to whimper and whine under the weight of my calling and Eli to disconnect his body from Sol’s immediately.

“You guys handle these two,” I say to the three of my guys who didn’t endanger my mate. “Eli, let’s go.”

Once Eli is near enough I grab a hold of the hands of the three girls and Eli’s shoulder and teleport us off the yacht and back to our office.

“Get them processed and housed,” I growl to Eli but regret it when the she-wolves we saved start whimpering and shaking again.

“Oi cara, you can’t be serious. What’s gotten your tail in a twist?” Eli asks with a laugh of disbelief.

“Not now, Eli,” I snarl. I won’t disrespect these women by lambasting him in front of them for putting Solana at risk of ending up just like them.

“Ace—”

“I said not now!” I snap at him, raking my hands through my hair. “Get them processed and housed, have Don or someone on crew help you if you need. We’ll discuss this at home.” I say more calmly, between fiery breaths.

Eli’s dismay at earning my ire chills my veins through our pack bond. Sometimes I forget that he’s not just the youngest of us, he’s arguably still a fucking hatchling. While the rest of us are centenarians, or damn close to it in Hunter’s case, Eli is only 28 years old.

He’ll be devastated when he learns the truth about Solana. If he knew that Sol and I are mates, I have no doubt he wouldn’t even look at her and it’ll make him regret evenings like tonight. Evenings where he’s just living his carefree life, exactly as he should, exactly as I want him to after what he went through with his mate. Which is why I wanted to keep our being mates quiet until I can reject her and send her on her way back home, and it’s also why I need to get a grip on my control and stop trying to act like she’s mine.

I can’t have my pack and my Sunshine too.

“Damn it, Eli. Come on. I’ll help you.”

Together it only takes us an hour to get the three she-wolves processed and temporary safe housing arranged for them. We let the she-wolves on our crew handle the actual re-location, we may have saved them from one alpha but they don’t trust that I’m not going to turn around and sell them myself.

Usually Don and the rest of our crew handle this side of things, but I wasn’t ready to let Eli off the hook so soon and I certainly wasn’t ready to go home and face Solana.

Eli and I sit in my office in tense silence, the last of the girls, and the bulk of my anger, having left a few minutes ago.

“Explain to me,” I begin slowly, wisps of smoke curling in through the air as I breathe, “how she ended up in that room.

Eli snorts out a laugh, “so I am being punished.”

My shoulders slump as my lungs deflate with a sigh, “E, if anything had happened to her we’d be worse than dead. She’s not a normal charge, her family is Alpha royalty.”

“That’s the thing Ace, she’s not normal. You wanna know how she ended up down there? That was all her. She distracted the guards, she found the right cabin, she fucking shot them with a tranq! Pulled it out of Goddess knows where…”

Eli trails off, lost in memory. My wolf preens with pride at the image of our mate taking out that scumbag Alpha and his Beta — and doing so in that gown of hers. Fuck, I’m getting hard just thinking about it.

“From now on, just keep her out of our shit. We’re gearing up to go after Nightshade, I can’t — we can’t let her get caught up in that.”

Eli nods his understanding, but still wears the same love sick grin on his face.

“Alright, let’s go home.” I grab onto Eli and teleport us home.

“Everything good?” Hunter asks from his seat beside Dean, unwilling to look at me when he speaks lest he lose to Dean in their video game.

“Yeah, fine. Where is she?” I don’t need to ask, I can smell her in the house and hear her heart beating.

“Shower,” Tate says, appearing right next to me out of nowhere. “I hope you don’t mind, I had to help her out of that dress. Zipper got stuck so I ripped it down the back and peeled it off of her.”

I throw Tate a look that could split a mountain. I know he’s not serious, he’s just trying to rile me up and piss me off. What’s irritating is that it’s working.

A ghost of a smirk tugs at his mouth when he feels my blood begin to boil. Between him and Eli I don’t know who’s worse. They both operate like fledglings, constantly pushing me to my wit’s end. I need to stop reacting to her with the guys, even if it is just teasing nonsense, because Tate picks up on goddamn everything. Every minute detail is ammunition he can use against you. Perceptive little bastard.

I teleport into the bathroom, finding her wrapped in a towel in the still humid air brushing her teeth at the sink — using my toothbrush.

“You know Dean bought you your own toothbrush, right?” Dean bought her an entire wicker basket full of bullshit. Soaps, shampoos, lotions, toothbrushes, etc. I didn’t dig into the basket’s entire contents but I’m assuming it’s more of the same, toiletries and amenities.

That’s Dean though. The caretaker.

“He bought me a vibrator, too, but you won’t see me using that either.”

The water in the air evaporates from the heat I emit after her last comment. I’m warring with myself on whether to punch Dean or thank him for that little addition to her basket.

Her face lights up with a shit eating grin. This fucking girl. I box her in against the counter pressing my palms to the countertop and my hips against her ass. Her ink has resurfaced on her arms and shoulder so I run my nose along the lines of her artwork, leaving trails of goose flesh as I go.

I don’t stop until I reach her neck, the fleshy part where her neck and shoulder meet, where she’d bear my mark if I could claim her.

Sweeping her hair over her left shoulder I’m hit with that scent I’ve come to crave. Before I can think better of it I place a delicate, featherlight kiss to that spot laying claim to her if only with my lips.

“It’s hard to be mad at Eli for kissing you when you taste this good.” My words are barely a whisper against her skin.

“You were watching us?” She pants.

I opt to answer her with a simple nod against her neck because I’m afraid of what would come out of my mouth. Of course I was watching, you’re my mate.

Her heart rate quickens and her breath comes in shorter bursts so I do it again, applying a little more pressure to her skin than before. My toothbrush clatters to the sink as she hastily rinses her mouth.

When she’s done rinsing she tries to turn around to face me, but because I’ve got her pinned her towel catches on the cabinet handle while she rotates, leaving her completely bare once she faces me.

Her hands fly to her chest to cover herself up but I keep my eyes trained on hers. I won’t lay eyes upon her body until she invites me to do so. With our eyes locked in a stalemate, I slowly unfasten the buttons of my dress shirt and let it fall to the floor. Then I pull my white tee over my head and down over hers. My wolf is elated that by accepting my shirt she accepts wearing my scent.

My body is pulled forward, my forehead comes to a rest against hers. Our noses kiss while her minty breath coats my lips, begging mine to feast from the source.

With a grimace and a growl I force our bodies apart and gesture for her to lead us out of the bathroom. I follow her silently through the hall to my bedroom where she pauses at the door and looks at me with confusion.

“What are you doing?” She asks.

I cock my head to the side because I thought the answer would be obvious. “Going to bed.”

“Maybe you should sleep wherever you slept last night.” She asks with withering conviction.

“I’m pleased to hear that, because I slept in my bed last night.”

Her eyes blow wide with shock and her mouth pops open into a sweet little ‘O’.

“It’s okay, Solana,” I purr. “I won’t bite.” When I smile this time I let my canines descend, flashing her the very teeth that would love nothing more than to sink into her flesh.

I lay down in bed first, watching with delighted amusement as she delicately joins me in bed, careful not to get too close.

Oh that simply won’t do.

I throw my arm around her and drag her to me so we’re curled up next to one another, two puzzle pieces that join together perfectly.

Despite her initial protestations, Solana falls asleep in my arms within minutes. An involuntary moan escapes her when her ass molds around my stiffening length.

“I told you last night, Solana, you can’t moan like that.” I whisper against her hair and then kiss her neck once more before falling into a comfortable sleep alongside her.