Want her again.
He yanked up his jeans. “I shouldn’t have . . .” Oh, fuck that. He’d done just what he wanted. Lucas cleared his throat. “You okay?”
A slow nod. “Better than okay.” She smiled at him, a ghost of a smile that lifted her lips and chased a few of the shadows from his eyes.
“Next time,” he told her quietly, his gaze raking her. “I taste every inch of you.” The words were a promise.
Her smile dimmed. “You sure there’ll be a next time?” She brushed by him, heading back toward the blood and the scent of death.
“Count on it.”
She glanced back at him. “You sound awful sure of yourself. Especially when we’ve got the devil pounding at the door.”
“Let him pound,” Lucas said. “I’m not afraid of the asshole.” He looked forward to going fang-to-claw with the bastard.
Sarah turned away and hurried inside. “I wish I could say the same thing.” Her whisper drifted back on the wind.
His gaze slid to the left. To the rolling hills and the trees that bordered his land. So many places to hide. So many places to watch.
Lucas let a smile curve his lips as he stared at the hills.
My mate.
Hell, no, she wasn’t Rafe’s.
She wouldn’t let you touch her. Wouldn’t let anyone but me come close.
“Wrong again, asshole,” he murmured and turned slowly toward the house. When he went to kill Rafe, Sarah’s scent would be on his body. And when Rafe died, Lucas would make sure
he
was the last sight the bastard ever saw.
The binoculars shattered in Rafe’s hands.
“We need to get out of here,” Hayden said, voice shaking with nerves and pain.
Rafe didn’t look at the coyote. They’d met at their rendezvous point, just like they’d planned. With one not-so-minor glitch.
No Sarah.
He didn’t have Sarah because she was busy
fucking Lucas Simone
. He threw the shattered remains to the ground and jumped back inside the jeep.
Hayden groaned next to him. The scent of the coyote’s blood was growing stronger. The guy had barely dragged himself out of the battle. Guess the stories about the younger wolf were true. Jordan wouldn’t be as easy to kill as they’d thought. Good.
“He . . . bringing her?” Hayden rasped.
Rafe slammed his foot on the gas and the jeep lunged forward. He glanced to the right and saw that blood had trickled from Hayden’s nose. “He’ll bring her.” It wouldn’t really be the wolf’s choice. The deal hadn’t been for Lucas. It had been for Sarah.
Because he knew all of her weak points, too. Knew them very, very well. Deep inside, Sarah was soft. Pity. If she’d been harder . . .
But, no, she’d showed her true colors. “Sarah won’t leave Dane to die.” Even if Lucas would. “She’ll come with him or she’ll sneak away and come on her own. Either way . . .” His fingers tightened around the wheel.
She’d let him fuck her.
“Either way, we’ll have her.”
“And Lucas?”
His claws burst through his fingertips. “I’ve been waiting years for that bastard to beg.” The time for waiting was over. “Simone and his brother—and any wolf who stands with him—will die.” He’d make sure that death was as painful as possible. After all, that’s just what Lucas had done to his father, he’d made sure Kaber suffered.
Blood for blood.
Get ready to beg, Simone.
“Are you going to trade her?” Sarah held her breath when she heard Caleb’s voice. She couldn’t see the wolves, but—
“Hell, no,” came Lucas’s instant response. His feet thudded on the floor. “How’s Jordan?”
“Still out.” A sigh. Had to be from Caleb. “He’s gonna be all right, though. Dane’s the one we need to worry about. We can’t just leave him. You know what happened before—”
“I know.” Growled.
Sarah turned away from the room and tried to creep quietly away. Probably didn’t matter how quiet she was, though, the wolves would know she was in the hall. She’d just wanted to peek at Jordan before she left, but there was no chance for that now.
He’d almost died for her. When she’d first planned to come after Lucas, she hadn’t thought about the risks she’d bring to his pack. She’d just thought—
Hell.
About myself.
Jordan had nearly died, and if she didn’t do something, Dane
would
die.
The weight of her knife seemed to burn her ankle. She’d taken the liberty of retrieving her knife from Lucas’s room moments before. She’d changed her clothes, tried to ignore the imprint of Lucas’s body on hers, and gotten her weapon back. Because there was no way she’d face Rafe unarmed.
And I am facing him.
Too many bodies were piling up. If Lucas wouldn’t make the trade, she’d make it herself.
Sarah slipped through the open front door, and ran for the SUV. No wolves were out there, and no one called out to stop her.
Fate was finally on her side. The keys were still inside the vehicle. The wolves must have been too distracted when they pulled up, and they’d forgotten to take the keys out. Their mistake.
She hopped inside. She’d heard enough from the coyote during that brutal pre-death interrogation. She knew where to go. And if she could just get close enough to Rafe . . .
This time, I won’t miss your heart.
Lucas’s head snapped toward the window when he heard the growl of the engine. Piers wouldn’t go to the meeting without him—
He lunged for the window, saw the flash of red tail-lights, and
knew.
“Sarah!”
Going after the bastard.
Lucas spun around and almost slammed into Caleb.
“Wait, Lucas, what’s—”
“
Rafe.
” He didn’t need to say more. Lucas shoved past the other shifter and bounded down the stairs.
She’d left. Gone out on her own.
“Dammit, I’m comin’ with you!” Caleb yelled.
Piers stepped from the kitchen, blocking his way. “So am I.”
Lucas didn’t slow down, he just pushed the wolf out of his way. “Why the fuck didn’t you stop her?” Piers had been downstairs. He would have caught her scent, heard Sarah as she fled.
“Because someone needed to make the trade.”
Lucas froze and fired a deadly stare over his shoulder. “That’s not your call to make.”
Piers swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing. “It was hers. She made the call. I just . . .”
“Let her walk to her own death.” He wanted to rip Piers apart. Piers had been his friend for years, but right then, he wanted to hurt the bastard. “If she dies . . .”
So do you.
The words wanted to come, but he bit them back.
Piers’s lips parted in surprise. Yeah, the wolf understood.
Wasting time.
He whirled around and raced for the other SUV. Sarah must have overheard the location of the drop site. He’d been aware of her while he questioned the coyote. Her scent had been strong, too strong—because she was close.
He jumped into the SUV and gunned the engine. Piers and Caleb were right with him.
“Michael will guard Jordan,” Caleb told him. “He saw us go, he—”
Lucas spun out of the graveled drive.
She came to me for help, so why is she running back to the bastard now?
“What’s the plan?” Caleb asked from the backseat. “I mean, our first priority is Dane, right? He’s pack, he’s—”
Lucas spared him a glance in the rearview mirror. “The plan is that we get Dane back, we get Sarah, and we kill Rafe.” Simple enough to him.
“We should bring more men,” Piers growled.
“The deal was I bring two men.” His fingers whitened around the wheel. “I bring two men. He gets Sarah, I get Dane.” Only Lucas planned to get them both. “If he catches the scent of more than two . . .” The bastard might kill Dane.
Silence. They all knew what could happen.
The SUV hit one hundred and ten miles per hour as it flew down the winding road.
“Do you really trust her?” Caleb asked quietly. “What if this is just part of a setup?”
Lucas didn’t answer him.
But Caleb kept pushing. “If you find out that she’s tricking you, what will you—”
“Lucas would do anything to protect the pack,” Piers snapped, voice gruff. “You know that.”
Would he? He’d spent so many years fighting for the pack—maybe it was time he got something for himself. Someone.
Sarah.
If Rafe had touched her, he’d tear the bastard’s fingers right off his hand.
The warehouse was boarded up, the windows covered, the main entrance blocked with a thick chain. Sarah climbed out of the vehicle, her movements slow, too stiff. She could feel eyes on her, watching her every move. She lifted her hands up high. “I’m not armed!” She could lie, too.
No one called back to her.
Sarah glanced around. All the buildings on this stretch of road had been abandoned. One looked like it had barely survived a blaze. Two others were boarded up, just like the warehouse. She caught the furtive stare of a homeless man and heard the squeak of rats.
But didn’t hear the voice of a wolf shifter.
Sarah crept away from the SUV. “I’m here! Isn’t that what you wanted? Dammit, Rafe, I know you’re watching! Isn’t this what you—”
“Hello, Sarah.” He said her name softly, and she spun around. He stood less than five feet away, dark hair tousled, one brow raised, and his lips twisted in that familiar smile.
“
Rafe.”
“Good to see you again, sweetheart.”
She flinched at the endearment. Rafe sidled closer, that smile still on his lips. His face was deceptively handsome—strong angles, high cheeks, a square jaw. And his body was still as strong and powerful as ever. “Wh-where’s Dane?” she demanded, her gaze trying to search the growing shadows. “I’m here, so let him go.”
“No.” He stood less than a foot away now, staring at her, his nostrils flaring.
Oh, shit.
That damn keen wolf sense of smell. He’d know—
“You really shouldn’t have fucked him, Sarah.” His brown eyes slit.
An engine roared. Her head swung to the side and she saw another dark SUV hurtle down the road.
Lucas
.
Rafe’s fingers locked around her throat. Her heart froze as he leaned in close to her. “Don’t worry. I’m not going to kill him,” he whispered.
Lucas leapt from the vehicle, with Piers and Caleb at his heels. “Sarah!” Lucas charged forward, his eyes already lit with the glow of the beast. His claws were out, up, ready to rip and tear. “Get the fuck away from her, Santiago!”
But Rafe just pulled her closer. He spun her, so that her back was pressed to his chest and his hand still circled her throat. “Sarah’s used to having me near her.”
Lucas snarled and charged at them.
Rafe’s claws cut into her skin. “Another step and I’ll cut her throat wide open.” A rough laugh. “She won’t be any use to either of us then, will she? So I’d suggest you
stand down!
”
Lucas threw out his hand and caught Piers just as the guy ran by him. Caleb waited a few paces behind them. All three men seemed to vibrate with fury.
“Where’s Dane?” Lucas’s hands were at his sides.
“All in good time.” Rafe’s muscles were rock-hard behind her. “You only brought two men. Good.”
Lucas didn’t speak.
“You know I could kill her before you so much as touched me, don’t you, Alpha?” Now Rafe was taunting. “Charmers are no different than humans. One slice—and she’s gone.”
Lucas wasn’t looking at her. The fury of his stare was directed fully at Rafe.
“You fucked my mate, Simone,” Rafe snarled, “and that really, really pisses me off!”
“I’m not your—” Sarah began but his claws dug deeper and her words ended in a gasp.
Lucas looked at her then, burned her with his blazing blue eyes. There was death in those eyes. The savage promise of hell coming. “She’s not yours,” Lucas told him, his voice quiet, a hard contrast to the fury of his stare.
“Do you think she’s yours?” Laughter. “She’s playing you, the same way she played me.”
Oh, hell. “Lucas—” Damn, those claws
hurt.
One hand smoothed back her hair. “Did you tell him, sweetheart? Does he know about your little secrets?”
No, he didn’t.
Lucas was still looking at her, and she knew he’d seen the flicker of her eyelashes. Too telling for someone as observant as he was.
“Did you really think she was just some innocent charmer who’d stumbled into your path?”