“No.” Dage wouldn't order anyone to kill the shifter. “Even if she turns into a werewolf, there's a chance we might turn her back.” If not, he'd be the one to take her out. He wouldn't ask anyone else to live with the deed.
“I see.” Conn stepped back from the bag. “If the time comes, it's my job to take her out.”
Not in a million years. They'd deal with the issue if the time came. Dage steeled his spine, his gaze direct on his brother. “I need to thank you for covering my back. When Iâ”
“Completely lost your mind? Completely forgot all your training?” Sweat ran in rivulets down Conn's strong face, his eyes an inscrutable green.
“Yes.”
Conn nodded. “You're welcome.”
Dage lifted both eyebrows. “That's it?” At the very least he had expected a punch to the face.
Conn shrugged. “What else is there?”
Hopefully Dage's talk with his other siblings would go as well. “I guess Moira helped save our nephew's life.” For now, anyway. Dage grabbed a towel off the rack to throw at his brother.
Conn snatched the thick cotton out of the air and wiped off his forehead and chest. “So I heard.” He grinned. “My witch is a good woman, no question about that.”
“Yes, she is.” Dage narrowed his gaze. “Just let me know when you want to go and we'll go.”
“I leave tomorrow.” Conn tossed the towel into a nearby bin.
Dage stilled. “
We
leave tomorrow.”
“No.” Determination hardened Conn's square jaw. “I go. I'll call if I need help.”
Dage shook his head. “Noâ”
“Yes.” Conn set his stance. “Something's going on here. You need to stay.” He reached out and clasped Dage's arm. “I promise I'll contact you if necessary.” He let go, gesturing around the room. “We have a problem here, and I'll be back as soon as possible. But I have this weird tickle at the base of my neck ...”
“Me too.” Dage shifted his focus as Jase loped into the room.
“I've got a weird feeling,” Jase said, a deep frown on his face. “Something's bugging me and I can't quite put my finger on it.” He eyed the destroyed bag on the ground before shrugging.
Kane crossed into the room with a stack of papers in his hands, his eyes a sizzling purple. “Cara's orange juice was infected with the catalyst.” He handed a printout to Dage. “We brought all the food and drink out of Talen's suite before blowing up the residence facility.”
“What about my rooms?” Dage scanned the report.
“A bottle of soda in your fridge was infected with the virus, but no one had opened it yet.” Kane shifted through his papers.
Dage growled. “Somebody managed to infect something in my private suite?” The idea of the enemy being so close to his mate clenched his gut and fired his spine. Did those damn humans who'd broken into the lab find a way into his private quarters? Maybe he should've killed them.
“Yes.”
“Have you informed Talen about Cara's juice?” Dage asked.
“Yes, he did,” Talen answered from the door, stalking inside with a furious scowl on his face. He handed Dage a computer printout. “Here are the names of anyone who had access to both of our suites. Family, friends, guards, and humans.”
Dage smiled for the first time that day. Only five people knew he read minds, and four of them stood in the room with him. Emma was the fifth. “Apparently we need to meet one-on-one with some people.” When he found the traitor, he'd rip off the bastard's head with his bare hands. “We need to speak with the scientists we fired.”
“I've kept track of them.” Talen nodded. “I've already scheduled the times to interview our people. We meet with the guards one at a time first.”
“Good.” Dage cleared his throat. “I wanted to thank all of you for covering my back when I thoughtâ”
“And mine,” Talen said solemnly.
Kane ran a hand through his thick hair, and Jase shuffled his feet. “No problem,” they said in unison.
Jase grinned. “Though I am
never
getting mated.
Ever
.”
A vision swam into Dage's head where Jase stood at an altar with a woman in white. A veil shielded her face. “Don't be so sure.” Dage chuckled and then left them to hash it out, striding down the hallway and up two flights of stairs.
The king quickly lost his smile as he remembered someone had been in his suite at the residency facility. Someone had been close enough to harm his mate. His thoughts shifted to Emma as he pushed open the door to their rooms.
His mate, dressed in jeans and a dark shirt, waited, stance set, hair pulled back. Spiced peaches filled his senses. He cocked his head to the side. “Emma?”
She lifted her chin. “A couple of things occurred to me earlier today, Dage.”
Why did this not sound good? Without question he'd been rough with her in the forest. He deserved a tongue lashing. “Okay.” His blood began to hum with the spirit of her challenge and the need to take her to the floor. Diplomacy squashed instinct inside him. For now.
“I don't take orders from you.” She spoke slowly, clearly as if wanting to get each word exactly right. Her gaze focused hard on his jaw.
“I'm the king, love. Everyone takes orders from me.” Only pure strength of will kept him from grinning. He waited to see how clear and calm she would stay.
“But that's just it.” Triumph filled those stunning eyes when she lifted her gaze to meet his. Finally. “I'm with the man, not the king. The king can kiss my ass.”
The king had every intention of kissing her ass, maybe biting it as well. “Frankly, you've done a piss-poor job of following my orders anyway.”
Her gasp made him want to roar with laughter.
She put her hands on her hips. “I just wanted to make things clear.”
His mate was on the offensive. A true sign of someone feeling defensive. Why? He narrowed his gaze. “It's always a good idea to strive for clarity.” His mind flashed through the last twenty-four hours to seek the reason, and everything in him stilled. Ice pricked inside his veins. How did he not see this before? “Emma,” he breathed.
She took the smallest step back, her blue eyes widening. “What?”
The blood rushing through his ears made it difficult to focus. Fury like he'd never known swept the breath from his chest. A crimson haze clouded his vision. “You knew.”
She froze in place, a soft blush coloring her high cheekbones. “I don't know what you'reâ”
“Stop!”
His barked order had the color deserting her face. He was past giving a shit. “You knew.” Her slight shrug sent a snarl bubbling up from his gut. “You fucking knew the lab would explode.”
“Not until the spring,” she whispered, clasping her hands. “In the vision the smell of tulips always preceded the explosion. I figured I had until next spring.”
He'd assumed she'd been granted a vision seconds before the missiles fired. But she hadn't. “How long?”
“How long what?”
“How long have you known about the explosion?”
Emotions ran across her face as she considered lying. He waited her out. Finally, she sighed. “For years.”
His blood heated and his veins began to burn. Anger whipped through him. Trust. They hadn't come close to trusting each other. The earth rumbled a warning. He stamped down on the need to explode and focused on the woman standing before him. His mate. “You've gone too far.”
Emma readied her stance across the room from the king and gulped in air, searching for a logical way to diffuse the situation. She did what she had to do.
He cocked his head to the side, his rage slamming into her. “You managed to shield the information.” His eyes flashed black. “From me.”
Her own temper began to raise its head. “Why wouldn't I?” She lifted her chin. “You already had me banished from the lab once. I couldn't let that happen again.” The focus of her entire life had been to protect Cara. No way would she stop now.
His nostrils flared. “I should've known. I should've guessed this.” He took a step toward her. “You think I haven't noticed? The way relief fills your eyes when you see Talen taking care of Cara? In case you die?” Dage took another step and the air around Emma heated. “The way you study him for weaknesses. Just in case.”
She frowned. “In case of what?”
“In case he hurts her and you need to take him out.”
Emma wanted to deny the statement but couldn't. The king understood her better than she thought. “I don't want to hurt your brother.”
“You think that's why I'm mad? Really?” Dage's voice lowered to a timber promising retribution. “I'm angry you don't trust me to take care of things. Don't trust me with the truth.”
Furious was an understatement. If she'd ever believed Dage anything close to human, the thought was dispelled in that moment. Fire glinted through the silver in his eyes and a nearly amber energy crackled along his bare arms. Instinct set in, and she eyed the door. Time to run.
“You won't make it.” The set of his chin and lift of his brow dared her to try. His expression promised louder than any words that he
wanted
to chase her down.
“You haven't trusted me, either.” She spoke softly. While she'd rather toss something at his stubborn-ass head, survival instinct kicked in as she faced the animal inside the king. “I understand your anger.”
He chuckled. Deep and without any humor. “You don't understand a damn thing. That ends this second.”
Emma nodded, fighting a catch in her throat, in her heart. He'd leave now.
His head shot up and pure fire swirled through those immortal eyes. “Leave? You think this is over, love?” Anger punctuated each syllable. “No. This actually starts now.”
She took a step backward, for the first time in her life lacking the right words. The force before her stole any logic she may own. “I don't understand.”
His lids half closed, power filling the oxygen in the room. “You will.”
Chapter 28
E
mma's next step back put her flush against the cool rock wall. The pulse of the earth surrounded her in the underground haven. It was no longer soothing, as if mother earth was clearly on Dage's side.
A sudden thought occurred to Emma, and she focused her breathing.
“No.” Dage waved a hand and the air began to swirl around her. “You teleported yesterday. It's too early to do it again.” His jaw set into granite, a muscle ticked along the powerful cords of his neck.
What the hell did he know? Emma drew up power from inside herself and began to concentrate. Her feet stuck to the floor as if bound by weights. “Hey.”
He lifted an eyebrow. “I said, no.”
She struggled to move her feet but they remained in place. “Let me go.”
“No.”
Son of a bitch. She gave him her best glare and instantly yanked the shields up around her thoughts.
A piercing pain shot through her mind. Those shields shattered. She widened her eyes on Dage and gasped, fury ripping through her body. The brand on her shoulder began to burn.
“No more shields.” He drew in a deep breath, lowering his chin, his gaze hard. “Any other new tricks you want to try?”
She set her shoulders, inhaling through her nose. Narrowing her gaze on those sparking eyes, she focused all her power into his mind. His rage and pain had her lifting her head, even as she attacked his mental shields.
He raised an eyebrow. “Be careful what you ask for, love.” His shields disappeared. He laid bare his mind, his heart, his soul.
Agony and loss slammed into her as the lab exploded, as she experienced the raw pain that had ripped through the king when he'd thought her dead. The desperation, the destruction, and the thirst for vengeance. He let her feel it all.
A force within him sucked her deepâinto his soul. She wasn't the only one who had been shielding. Raw, pure power lay at the center of the king's being. Untapped. Dangerous. Absolute. Not even his brothers knew of the competing forces within him.
Emma yanked free. “What are you?”
“Your mate.”
Disbelief had her shaking her head. “You could've destroyed the entire world.”
“What makes you think I wouldn't have?” He raised an eyebrow. “That I still won't?”
Because at the core of that incredible soul lay pure good. Dangerous. But good. “Because I know you.” Complete certainty filled her for a moment. She did know him. In fact, her place existed right beside him.
“Yes. You give me a balance I've so far lacked.”
A balance he needed. A trembling set up along her spine. He'd never let her go.
“Never.” No question, no hesitation, no doubt. Politically as incorrect as possible. But the truth. His gaze met hers and held.
No one was going to dictate her life. Not even him. Lowering her chin, she focused every molecule of her thought into Dage. Into taking his power for her own.
He stepped forward, twisted one hand in the front of her shirt and tugged, ripping it down the back. “Keep trying.” The soft cotton swished to the floor.
She focused harder, a tingling spreading across her skin as she met with success.
Her jeans disappeared. Not ripped, not removed, just ... disappeared. “Careful, love. Take too much and it'll bite you.” His fangs dropped low with the words.
More power burst into her, and she mentally tossed his shirt away. It flew across the room. Desire rose hard and fast, her breasts pebbling against her simple cotton bra. “More.”
“Take all you want.” He flicked open the bra's front clasp, his gaze heating her nipples to a degree that had her stifling a moan. He dropped to one knee, his fangs shredding the cotton panties into pieces to fall harmlessly to the floor.
She drew more power and then tried to use it. He'd frozen her more than once, and she tried to still the king's limbs. He placed one gentle kiss against her mound and then stood, cocking his head to the side. Both hands went to his jeans and he released the zipper, kicking out of them and standing hard and ready before her. “Try again?”
She set her jaw and focused hard. Let's see how the king liked being helpless.
His smile was more of a snarl. A gust of wind tossed her hair around her face. The rock wall warmed behind her. Lights flickered and spiced peaches filled the space. She shook her head. “How are you doing these things?”
“I'm within the earth, not on it.” Dage flicked a glance to her left hand, which rose to rest against the rock wall next to her head.
Damn it. She struggled to lower her arm. It remained in place, her knuckles firm against the hard rock wall. Her other hand followed suit, palm out. “What are you doing?” Her voice came out way too husky. Vulnerability sped up her heart beat.
He shrugged, only the pounding vein in his neck showing he was still pissed. “I'm trying to put this into a framework you understand. Scientific experimentation, if you will.”
“Let me go.” Desire flushed through her.
He lifted his head to scent the air. “You don't want me to.”
Her
mind
wanted him to.
He smiled. “I've tried logic and reason. I've tried understanding and patience. I'm done.”
Soft flames began licking across her skin until every nerve ending screamed for release. Then cold air. She began to tremble with need and clutched her jaw shut to keep from begging.
“Oh, you'll beg.” The arrogant vow accompanied more heat starting at her toes and spreading up her legs. “Soon you'll promise anything I want. Anything I demand.”
A dark flush covered his high cheekbones, and his eyes swirled with too many colors to count. Dage focused on her neck until she could actually feel his mouth on her. But he stood a foot away. “Come.”
The orgasm ripped through her with a force she couldn't have imagined. She cried out, her fingers curling to dig nails into her palms while her wrists remained captive against the wall. She closed her eyes against the intensity, the waves of pleasure tearing her away from reality for a moment.
Dazed, she opened her eyes on him. Temper roared through her again. “You'll pay for this.” Even on the heels of the orgasm, she wanted him. A hollowness echoed through her only he could fill.
He raised an eyebrow. “Not ready to beg? Well ...”
A sweep of his hand through harmless air had a stirring warmth begin under her skin, under her bones to sweep out through every pore. Her nipples pebbled into sharp points of pain. She fought to move. To leap forward and take him to the ground.
The wall turned to ice behind her, the contrast to her heated flesh forcing a whimper through her clenched lips.
“Ah, now that's a pretty sound.” Dage stepped forward and dropped his mouth to her neck, running his tongue lightly down to her collarbone. His hands remained at his side. “Do it again.” He nipped.
Another whimper escaped against her will. Sandalwood and power tempted her nostrils and she breathed in deep.
One fang flirted with her earlobe. “I love you, Emma. But I'll be damned if your actions will put you in danger again.” He lifted his head, his gaze deadly serious, a rock hard erection pressed against her hip.
She struggled to focus. “You have no choice in my actions, Dage.”
He smiled and her heart thumped hard. He inhaled deep. “Come.”
The climax hummed at her core and exploded through her skin, through her nerves until she screamed his name. Pleasure edged with pain while her breath caught in her throat. She plateaued and her lungs expelled all oxygen.
And yet, she craved. “Damn you.”
“Ready to beg?”
Not if the hounds of hell nipped at her ankles.
“We'll see about that.”
His broad hands cupped her breasts and he tugged, rolling both nipples between his fingers. She gasped, her knees began to tremble, and a desperate ache set up in her womb. Her nails bit into her palms, and she fought to keep from moaning.
He lightly pinched and she lost the fight, a low moan escaping from deep within her. His smile combined arrogance and need. His gaze captured hers while his hand slowly slid down her body to tap three fingers against her clit. Hard.
Her knees buckled. He grasped her waist with one hand to keep her upright. He leaned in, his breath hot on her temple, two fingers slowly entering her. “Emma?”
“What?” she gasped, her eyes fluttering closed.
“Your hands have been free for several minutes.”
Damn it. She dropped them to his shoulders, clutching into his heated skin with all of her might. She began to ride his fingers, no longer caring about anger. Or fear. There was only need.
She moaned, increasing the friction. So close.
“No.” He released her, both hands going to her shoulders. He pressed down, applying pressure until her knees reached the floor. Her skin rested against hard stone as she knelt before the king, his muscles bunched, his hands clutching her hair to free her face.
His stance widened. “Open your mouth.”
Her breath caught in her throat. The dark command sent a spark of intrigue through her she'd certainly deny later. His hands tightened and erotic sprinkles of pain cascaded along her scalp.
He wasn't playing.
His erection jutted out hard and demanding. She inhaled the musky scent of male. Licking her lips, she didn't protest when he pressed forward, pushing his cock past her lips, into the heat of her mouth.
They both groaned deep.
She smiled around him and hummed low, enjoying the power. They'd see who begged.
He chuckled deep. “Oh, you'll still be the one begging, Highness.” Desire dropped his tone to a husky growl that made her clit ache even more.
She clutched one hand into the front of his muscled thigh, while the other cupped his balls. Her fingers playing, she increased her movements, slowly taking him deeper and increasing her speed.
His breath panted out and his hands began to direct her movements, encouraging her to take him even deeper. She breathed out through her nose, the king's pleasure wafting over her.
With a low growl, he jerked her to her feet.
“Wait,” she protested, not even close to being finished.
“Later.” His head descended and his mouth took hers, kissing her with a demand that echoed within her own heart. He grabbed her hands and put them beside her head just where they'd been earlier, his knee sliding between her legs to press up.
Oh God. His erection throbbed long and hard against her stomach and she wanted him inside her. Now.
His hard chest flattened her breasts, his mouth devouring her. He lifted her by the waist, carrying her to the kitchen table, his mouth still claiming. The hard oak slapped against her ass when he sat her down. He lifted his head.
A primitive desire lit his eyes, and his need slammed into her. She grabbed his hair and tugged him down to her, kissing him even as she lay back on the table with her legs dangling over the edge. “Now, Dage. Now.”
He lifted his head and balanced on his elbows, those dangerous eyes holding hers. Slowly, ever so slowly, he slid inside her, giving a hard shove halfway to fill her completely. Then he stopped.
She clutched at his shoulders, wrapping her legs around his waist. He wasn't going anywhere.
He raised an eyebrow. “Come.”
The orgasm whipped into her, waves beginning to cascade out through her skin.
“Stop.”
The climax halted. “No.” Her legs clutched him harder, her fingernails digging into his fierce biceps. “No. Please ...” A frantic, desperate need had her seeing stars.
He leaned down, his breath hot against her ear. “Beg.”
Tears filled her eyes and she struggled against him, struggled to get him moving. She
craved
.
Determined silver eyes met hers. She gulped in breath. “Please, Dage, please ...”
He gave a short nod. “Feel this, Emma. Remember it.” Digging his fingers into her hip, he pulled out, then thrust in, setting up a cadence that reached her soul. He pounded for several moments, sweat dripping off his chest, his body bound tight and keeping her on the edge. Finally, his fangs flashed bright and strong and he licked her neck. “Now.”
The force that whipped through her had her back bowing and her voice shrieking his name, surpassing anything human. Her release cascaded through her, and his fangs pierced her neck.