Escaping Death

Ace

Leaving Solana behind at home is more difficult than I initially expected. My wolf has been whining in my mind since she slammed the door in my face and there’s a positive linear correlation between the increase in distance between us and the increase in how fucking irritating my wolf is being.

We drove half the day yesterday and every update from Hunter said the same thing — Sol locked herself in my room, Sol was wandering around upstairs, Sol didn’t eat. I haven’t heard from him since dinner time last night and now it’s nearly noon.

I can’t allow myself to regret leaving her there. I can’t think straight when she’s near me, let alone when I can smell how much the others want her and her them. The lust is all-consuming.

But that doesn’t stop Grey from nagging me about it every waking moment. Telling me to go home, not just to bring her here with us but to go and stay home with her.

There’s a desperation to his pleading that has me feeling unsettled, but I’m not overly concerned because one taste of her and he’s been hooked. I need to stay the course, though, and manage his expectations. We are not keeping her. This is a temporary arrangement and then it’s best if she takes off.

My skin heats at the thought alone, drawing the attention of Dean and Eli away from the T.V. in our hotel room and over to me.

Dean and Eli share a meaningful look, smirking at each other over some shared inside joke while Tate doesn’t take his eyes off his computer for a second.

“What are you two idiots grinning about?” I huff.

Eli’s smile grows wider but he rolls his lips in sealing them shut.

“They took bets on how long you’d last before you cracked and teleported Sol over here.” Tate says, taking a pillow to the face for outing them.

“I’m not bringing her here,” I say flatly, attempting to mask how much I wish I could. “She’s already marked for bounty, I don’t need to add fuel to the fire by parading her in front of breeders.”

Satisfaction ripples through the pack bond. Each and every guy in this room agrees, Solana is safer at home than here.

I rub my hands against my exhausted, sleep deprived eyes in a futile attempt to shake Sol from the front of my mind. “Run me through the week one more time.”

“This afternoon we’re meeting Reef’s boss to settle the fallout from the attack on Sol. Friday is the auction so we expect the girls will be moved Thursday. I won’t have a time and location until an hour before the move so we need to be ready.” Tate says.

“Tomorrow?” The other days are all accounted for, maybe I could sneak home and make sure she didn’t kill Hunter. If he doesn’t update me soon I might just kill him myself, the anticipation is draining my capacity to ignore the urge to text him.

“A few minor errands but otherwise it’s open.”

I nod absentmindedly running through the agenda in my head, calculating every minute we’re away from home and how soon we can be back. I check my phone at the sound of every notification only to be disappointed when it’s not Hunter. Fuck, it’s going to be a long fucking week.

***

Forget the long week, it’s been a long day. Reef’s boss is not what I expected. Most of these rings are headed by some idiot scumbag who lives and dies by high risk, high reward transactions. But not this guy. He’s clean, smart, and unreadable — outwardly, at least. Dean was able to pick up on some inner workings of his mind.

The big takeaway is that he considered our score settled. Reef insulted us, we insulted him, he attacked, we retaliated. We also were able to learn that nothing has interrupted their day to day operation. Reef was easily replaced, and so the cycle of abuse continues.

Another thing to add to the list. We thought killing Reef may have crossed that one off but these organizations are like a hydra — you chop off one head only for two more to grow in its place. You need to find the heart.

The guys are sitting down to room service, but Grey is pacing around so anxiously in my mind that I have no appetite to eat. It’s been 24 hours since I last heard from Hunter so I may very well need to teleport home to make sure she didn’t kill him. I’m only half serious about that, I can feel him in our bond so I do know he’s alive. But he’s obviously actively preoccupied with something.

“Just go get her, boss,” Eli says as he tosses back his 15th shot.

I scowl at him but Eli insists, “Grey is so agitated I’d bet that even Dean and Tate can feel him.”

“Is that what that is?” Tate says dryly, but I can feel how hard he’s working to control his flames.

“That’s surprisingly not the worst idea Eli has ever had,” Dean chimes in. “The five of us can keep her occupied— I mean safe.”

Grey snaps, pushing himself forward and snarling viciously at the group. Dean and Eli stop laughing instantly, but Tate slams his computer shut and walks out onto the balcony taking off into the night sky.

My phone buzzes angrily in my pocket, the noise grating against my already fried nerves but I regain control long enough to recover the wherewithal to check to see who it is.

Hunter.

“So you’re not dead?” I answer his call.

“You need to come home.” His tone is firm and filled with urgency.

I turn my back to Dean and Eli, walking out onto the balcony for what little privacy I can get. “Everything okay?”

“Yes and no, I think it’s better if you saw for yourself.”

“Hunter, I don’t have the energy for mind games, just tell me what the fuck is going on.”

There’s a long, tenuous silence before he responds. “Your mate needs you.”

— — —

Hunter

I wake to silence and slivers of light penetrating through the blinds on my windows. There are three big differences about this morning. First, usually when I wake up the guys are already bustling through the house, not caring about keeping their noise down – but then again having highly acute hearing makes every little noise sound louder than it is. Secondly, there’s usually not this much light bleeding onto my walls. We tend to wake up early, our enemies never sleep and every hour of our day needs to be time well spent. And lastly, Solana is sprawled on top of me sleeping peacefully.

I glide my fingertips lightly up and down her bare back drinking in her scent. I’ve missed her everyday since I left, but time seems to have dulled exactly how good it feels to have her close to me. Her skin grows warmer each time my hand reaches the base of her back, stops, and moves back up towards her neck.

Her warmth is beginning to border on burning, but I’d rather burn than wake her up and let her leave.

“What time is it?” she grumbles sleepily with her face still buried in my chest.

I lift my phone off of the night stand to check, “it’s noon, Sunflower.”

“Ugh,” she groans, “we should probably get up.” Her words contradict her body as she makes no attempt whatsoever to move.

“We can do whatever you want, Sunflower.” I kiss the top of her head and another rush of warmth floods across her skin.

Her lips sear my skin with every meticulously planted kiss to my chest working all the way down my abs. She’s practically breathing fire by the time she gets to my cock and when her mouth wraps around me, it’s like cannonballing into a hot tub.

“Sweet fucking Goddess,” I hiss between my teeth as she devours my cock. She’s like a woman possessed, bobbing up and down on my length like it’s her last meal. She must hear the pained need in my voice because she releases my cock with a pop of her lips before crawling up to straddle me and impale herself on my length.

If I thought her mouth was hot, her pussy is an inferno. It burns so fucking good though, I can’t bring myself to pull out of her. She rocks herself on me slowly at first but quickly abandons that to bounce up and down on me, impaling herself with my cock over and over. I’m delirious with pleasure, it feels like my heart is going to beat right out of my chest. I gave up the idea that I’d ever get her back a long time ago, but here she is like no time has passed at all.

She rides us into a fast and explosive release, the pulsing of her walls milks me for all that I have to offer. I hold tight to her hips while I get my ragged breathing under control. She collapses against my chest much in the same way she was when she woke up.

“Sunflower, let me run us a bath.” I whisper against the top of her head.

“Let’s just stay here for a little longer,” she hums and slips back into sleep with me following her lead not long after.

It’s another two hours later when I wake up again with a desperate need to use the bathroom, shower, and eat. Had I hoped to spend all day balls deep inside the love of my life? Yes. But we’ve got all week and I need to make sure we have the sustenance we’ll need if we’re going to have more nights like last night.

By the time our early dinner arrives at the door, Solana has joined me downstairs freshly showered and wearing a skimpy tank top and shorts that can barely be classified as shorts.

“Smells good down here,” she practically slurs as she hops over the back of the couch and slides into my lap.

“The pizza?” I ask.

She nuzzles into my neck, pressing her nose against my marking spot before licking it. “I meant you,” she purrs, sending shockwaves of desire through my veins.

“You barely ate yesterday, I need you to refuel and then I’ll have you for dessert. Sound good?” I nip her ear with my teeth. When I try to reach down and get her a plate she snarls and grips onto me tighter making sure her nose is still pressed up against that sensitive spot on my neck.

“Solana,” I command her in my deepest, most assertive voice, “food first, then we can play all night.”

A delighted purr rumbles from her chest but the only move she makes is to straddle my leg and rub herself against my thigh.

“Fuck baby, you’re insatiable,” I let her capture my lips in a white-hot branding kiss. Fuck she’s nearly on fire. Fox is beginning to yip frantically in my mind pushing me for control to get to her wolf, Shae. Something is seriously off with the two of them and I need to figure out what it is and fast.

I hold her face between my hands so I can look her in the eye. Solana’s pupils are blowing out, eclipsing her flaming irises leaving a thin ring of green fire before the flames reclaim her iris and her pupils condense into needle points. Her eyes oscillate between blown and pinpoints while her hair intricately drains of all color as fast as a cuttlefish’s skin leaving her with her natural pearlescent white waves.

Now I know something is definitely wrong, she’s lost control of her gift, she’s losing control of her fire. I need to figure out what the hell is happening before things get worse but the more I try to peel her off of me the more she claws at me to keep her hold on me.

If I’m going to be able to touch her I need to cool her down, I can only withstand so much of her fire before it becomes too much. I lift her up and wrap her legs around my waist, her arms are around my neck and shoulders so that she can continue rubbing her nose along my marking spot and scenting off of me.

We never make it to the bathroom, though. Ace’s open door catches her attention and she whimpers as she stares in the direction of his room. Curiosity gets the better of me so I bring her towards his room, her whines settling down and turning into strong, steady purring.

If she didn’t literally have her claws in me I would have dropped her as soon as the door opened wider.

“Fuck, no,” I breathe aloud to myself. Everything snaps into place sharp and clear, and it’s far worse than I expected.

“No, no, no. Solana, look at me!” She’s completely lost, her eyes are deep pools of onyx and she’s whimpering in my arms.

She’s in heat.

She’s in heat and she’s built herself a goddamn nest in Ace’s bed. The pillows and blankets that have been disappearing for over a week are all here, each positioned with intent.

There’s only one reason why she’d go into heat – her mate is nearby and hasn’t claimed her. Nature is trying to lure him into marking her and solidify their bond. I don’t have time to be crushed by the fact that Solana has found her mate and it’s one of my brothers, I don’t have time to be destroyed by the fact that one of my brothers has been keeping secret the fact that the love of my life is their mate. My only focus right now is keeping Solana comfortable.

She allows me to set her down so she can climb into her makeshift nest. Immediately her nose dives into Ace’s pillow, purring and whining and searching for the source.

Fuck.

Even if I could keep up with her body’s insatiable need, what it craves is her mate. Her heart isn’t in charge right now, her mind isn’t in charge right now – biology and the bond are making the demands.

Solana tugs me by the waist of my pants towards the bed, divesting me of my pants, kissing my stomach and rapidly descending towards my dick. While she pacifies herself I need to call Ace and tell him to come home, no matter how much it guts me.

Ace picks up on the first ring. “So you’re not dead?”

“You need to come home.” I blurt out more aggressively than I intended but Solana has taken my entire length into her throat.

“Everything okay?”

“Yes and no, I think it’s better if you saw for yourself.” I really don’t have the time to explain this, Solana is going to literally eat my fucking dick off if I don’t cut her off soon.

“Hunter, I don’t have the energy for mind games, just tell me what the fuck is going on.”

If words could kill, these would be my downfall, my epitaph. But I need to put my pride and my feelings aside otherwise the love of my life is going to suffer. Taking a deep, steadying breath I steel myself for what I have to do.

“Your mate needs you.”