Oliver (Inked Menace MC 2) (11 page)

17
Chapter Seventeen

“BT52, a pleasure to see you again,” the man she now knew as Dunstan Octavius the Third, said from behind a small wooden desk. A gorgeous woman sat to his right wearing glasses and pin curls. They didn’t look scared at all.

“The pleasure is all mine,” Amara growled, her finger tightening on the trigger.

He showed his teeth, the large pearly whites big like a picket fence, and clapped his hands in front of him once. Half of Amara explored the room with her other senses, waiting for some kind of attack.

“I’m surprised you are alive after my car bomb.” His thick brows rose at whatever expression was on her face. He continued. “Did you think you were free? We’ve always known where you were.” He shook his head and rose to stand, tsking in a childish and gleeful way.

“How did you know about the van?”

“What, and spoil the surprise?”

Everyone closed their mouths to listen.

“Oh come on, you still don’t know?” Dunstan pressed his fingers to his temples. “For a bunch of gifted animals, you sure aren’t too bright.”

“Where do you think Marcus came from? Have you never wondered why he was so quiet and eager to please and do your bidding?”

Amara reacted on instinct, lifted her gun, aimed, and pulled the trigger. His head snapped back, arms going limp by his sides as blood seeped from the hole in his forehead down his face like red tears. He fell back into the chair and slumped to one side.

Maura whistled. “Nice shot. Let me do the other one.”

“I want to do it,” Hammer said, and in her periphery, she saw his arm raise, gun trained on the babbling women currently crying by the dead man.

“He forced me!” she wailed. “I never wanted this. I like your kind. I wish I were you. You’re strong, powerful, and amazing. Nothing at all like us weak humans. I mean, look at him.” She jerked a hand toward her still comrade. “He’s just…dead. You guys come back from death, but him… he won’t because he’s stupid and arrogant.” Amara watched her closely as little purple sparks highlighted her eyes and her hands were making twisty motions that at first glance seemed random, but then Amara remembered Buzz’s words.
She could be a witch.

“Rock, paper, scissors you for her…” Maura said, making Amara roll her eyes.

An exasperated sigh came from Hammer as he lowered his weapon. “Fine. Best of three.”

“Seriously?” Lucky asked. “They don’t seem concerned with the security breech of our prospect.”

Amara’s attention drew down as Oliver’s weight shifted from his front legs to his rear paws, and realization hit her square in the face at the same time as he launched himself over the small desk and attacked the woman, landing half on the wood top and half in her lap. He roared in her face and the unmistakable scent of urine and shit rode the air.

All voices ceased as Oliver’s roar wound down and he snapped the woman’s neck with one swipe of his paws. It lolled to the side, looking every bit like a broken china doll.

He glanced over his shoulder and stared at them all.

“Buzz kill,” Maura muttered.

Oliver licked his lips with an obscenely long tongue.

Hammer was quiet and then he patted her on the shoulder once before he cleared his throat and said, “Come on, let’s get the hell out of here and see what fuckstorm we’ve got to deal with. Grab their hard drives, files, and anything else that might be important. I doubt this is the only place like this one.”

At the front door, after dodging irate and drugged out shifters, Amara and Oliver marched into the cool evening air.

Amara vibrated, her skin tingled in a myriad of places, and her heart did double time as she inhaled the clean air through her nose.

“How are we going to get them all out of here?” Amara heard Lucky ask. She turned her face and saw he and Hammer sitting on a small rock wall with Maura beside them.

A few feet away, Flip leaned against the brick wall holding a limp woman wrapped in a white sheet reflecting the moonlight. Her head lolled to the side as she lay completely unaware of her rescue, her hair like a flame burning bright in the night. And the news of finding her mate. Boy, when she woke up… Amara shuddered and Oliver stepped closer to her, wrapping an arm around her shoulder.

The drugs the scientists used had dulled her animal and she imagined a pissed off big cat once the lady woke. She was definitely some kind of cat judging from the musk.

“You good?” he asked quietly.

“I’m glad they’re dead, but no. I’m not good. I will be though.”

He nodded and played with her fingers. “Wanna go on a date when we get home?”

The word home made Amara’s head pound and she raised her free hand to rub her temple where the incessant rumble was the worst.

Did she even have a home anymore? Would her charter welcome her back without the information they sought? A worse thought intruded on her melancholy. How was she supposed to leave Oliver behind, or would he go with her to Britain? Could she ask that of him?

“Those look like heavy thoughts,” Oliver said, interrupting her diatribe. “Care to share?”

A quick burn stung her eyes, but she blinked and forced them to leave her alone. Ever since her capture, she’d been on one rollercoaster of emotions to another. Angry, happy, crying, relieved… for just one day, she’d like to be steady. Balanced.

The only time she felt somewhat normal was when Oliver made her laugh, or stroked her hair, or fucked her senseless, and damn, did she want to do that again soon. His body was made to please hers.

Laughter bubbled up from her stomach and she hunched over.

“She’s delirious,” Maura said. “Look at her. Poor dove is bat-shit crazy. We’d better get her home before she breaks.” Her booted feet came into view and then she slapped Amara’s back with some force a few times.

From anyone else, Amara would have been pissed, but she knew her sister, and she knew she was goading some sense back into her, despite that nugget leaving the building a few hours ago. She’d lost her mind somewhere between the blood-spattered walls and the huge pile of dead bodies. Amara straightened and wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes. A little grief, a little happiness, a little pain, all rolled into one wet blob.

Hammer snapped his phone closed. “Darius will be here in fifteen minutes with an eighteen wheeler we can load the shifters onto. We’re setting up a…” he closed his gold eyes for a moment and then said, “wake-up house, in Vermont.” He popped his lids open and resumed talking in a low, dangerous voice. “A safe place for our comrades to detox and heal.”

Flash sat away from the group with a white pitbull in between her legs, quietly talking to, and cooing at, the giant beast.

Fifteen minutes later, a huge white truck pulled up to the gate, Buzz and Hammer letting in the caravan. Amara rested on the rock wall and leaned against the bricks, alone for a few minutes, despite Oliver putting up a hissy fit at her request. She needed to decompress and sort through her emotional trauma before she’d be of any real use. He and the others were currently carrying bodies from the labs to the front, laying them out on the grass like corpses.

Buzz worked on a few of the worse ones. While they’d been waiting Lucky had told her about his limited time as a field medic in the service. It made him extremely useful and a calm presence they all needed.

A medium sized man hopped out of the driver’s seat and a tall giant leapt from the passenger side.

She waited.

The driver walked with a surety that bespoke Alpha, and the huge guy stalked with a predator’s gate.

Hammer held out his hand to the man wearing a black skull-cap and hoodie with jeans and sneakers. “Thanks for coming, Darius. We need all the fucking help we can get. It’s brutal.” They shook and parted.

Darius nodded and glanced around. “I rounded up as many blankets and pet bedding as I could find. There is food and bottles of water for those who’ve awoken. It’ll be about a two hour trip northeast to the place we’re setting up for them.”

Hammer lifted his chin. “Thanks. We’ll load up and move out before we get found and arrested.”

The crew stood, dusted off, and got to work just as a dusty station wagon drove up the long drive and stopped next to the idling truck. The door opened, and Amara tensed, along with every other shifter at the site. A mammoth man unfolded from the front seat and stretched his back, tossing his long, waist-length hair over his shoulder. He wore laced tan pants, and a brown leather vest.

Hammer peeled away from their group and marched to the newcomer, holding out his hand. “Thanks for coming, Eagle Day. We could use your assistance.”

“He’s a medicine man and Eagle shifter,” Oliver murmured into her ear.

“I get that vibe,” Amara said and watched the two Alpha’s stalk toward the entrance to hell. The Eagle walked erect, head high, shoulders set, with an innate wisdom and even energy that slid over her skin and made her feel like everything was going to be all right. His head swiveled in her direction, and his direct gaze met hers, seeming to see deep into her soul. He nodded once and then ducked inside the building.

18
Chapter Eighteen

Oliver collapsed beside his mate in the bed of his apartment at the clubhouse and pulled her body close. They hadn’t even removed their clothes as they’d zombie walked through the door.

“I can’t move. We’ll have to have nookie later,” he said to her as sleep claimed his body, making his limbs heavy.

A soft snore answered him and he smiled.

“Love you, baby. Sleep well.”

He felt safe whispering the words out loud, knowing her subconscious would hear him. He was irritated to admit he wasn’t sure how she truly felt about their relationship, or where they were heading. What if she didn’t want to stay? What if she had to go? What would he do?

The heavy thoughts kept playing in his mind like an old movie with no sound. He could only interpret the body language. His gut told him she belonged to him, and his animal had already claimed her. Now all he had to do was convince her to let him love her and that what they had was special.

Bright light danced in front of his eyelids as he blinked against the harsh sun and woke from his deep slumber knowing two things. One, he was happier than he remembered, and two, his mate was gone.

Oliver bolted from bed, eyes alert, fists raised, and heart pounding a little too fast for his liking, just as the bathroom door opened and Amara strolled out, naked and dripping wet.

“Sorry, love. I didn’t mean to worry you. I needed to clean the filth from my body. I woke up covered in grime, blood, and gore. It was bloody awful.”

It took a second for her words to penetrate the numb fog of his brain, and then a new awareness swept over him as he stared at her gloriously curved body and leapt to her in one bound, hooking an arm around her waist and bruising her lips with his.

She melted in his arms and satisfaction relaxed his muscles one by one.

“I need you,” she whispered into his mouth.

“Good. I’ve been meaning to show you my awesome tongue bath since I first laid eyes on you and imagined what your juicy thighs would look like squeezing my neck.”

They side-stepped to the bed and Oliver pushed her down onto the soft mattress then dropped to his knees in between her luscious legs.

“So pretty,” he said. “And all mine.” His nails dug into her outer legs as he locked her into place. He lifted his eyes to hers and licked his lips. The daylight made the color of her eyes a smoldering shade of blue and her damp black hair was splayed over her shoulders and framing her perfect breasts.

He inhaled her sweet fragrance, then feasted, making her moan and thrash as he brought her to multiple orgasms over the next hour.

After a large breakfast, the entire Inked Menace crew, minus Flip, sat around the carved wooden table in their chapel. Most of them looked refreshed, and at the very least, clean.

Hammer banged the gavel and all eyes focused on him.

“We rescued seventy-five live shifters and animals last night.” His chin dipped and he drew in a deep breath. “Fifty died.” He clenched his fists. “They had over one hundred and fifty at their facility.” He waited a beat, meeting the eyes of every member, stopping at Amara who sat next to Oliver on the far side of the table to Hammer’s left.

“We owe you a debt.”

Amara shook her head and lifted her hand up, palm out, but Hammer interrupted whatever his mate was going to say.

“The Ruling Council of Elders is in your debt, Amaraynth Delco, for bringing to our attention the mass experimentation done to our kind.”

A hard breath blew out of Amara’s chest and Oliver reached under the table and held her hand, lending her what energy he could. The way she trembled and the furrow to her brow told him a few things about the way Luther ran things across the pond. That would have to be dealt with. She obviously wasn’t used to praise.

His mate cleared her throat and said with a shaky voice, “You’re welcome. I’m glad to have assisted.”

“One more thing. We’d like to have you become a full member of Inked Menace. I’ll talk to Luther and put in the transfer personally,” Hammer said and waited. “We have more labs to find, and shifters to rescue.”

Oliver waited too, the breath in his lungs stilted and hard.

Amara closed her eyes and said, “I’d love nothing more than to join you.”

Oliver’s spirit jumped for joy.

“But I can’t go backward, Patrick. I’m Sergeant at Arms in my charter, a position I worked hard to achieve. It’s something I’m proud of and am not willing to give up.”

“Told you,” Maura said and leaned back in her chair, arms crossed over her chest. “Too bloody stubborn.” She shook her head and then chugged a bottle of water.

Hammer chuckled and rubbed Maura’s hand, almost absently, then he reached into his pocket and pulled out something black and tossed it to Amara.

She caught it in mid-air and as she glanced at the piece in her hand, her eyes went wide and her mouth formed an O. “But…how? Why?”

This time Brick spoke up from the end of the table. “Because Cole gave up his position and will be away from the council for an undetermined amount of time.”

Oliver lifted out of his chair and glanced over her shoulder to see what she held, and to his astonishment, it was the Sergeant at Arms patch.

“All in favor?” Hammer called.

Hands rose. Every hand at the table. He stared gawk-eyed at his brothers and couldn’t stop the smile from spreading across his face as he pulled back his mate’s head and kissed her forehead.

“I don’t know what to say,” she started to say, then stopped and took a sip of soda. “Actually, I know exactly what to say.” She patted the hand Oliver held on her shoulder. “Thank you. I accept.”

Hope bloomed in his chest, and his head buzzed with contentment. His tiger prowled back and forth, waiting not-so-patiently to give her his own version of a thank you. “Welcome home, baby,” he said into her ear and nuzzled her neck.

Amara turned and said, “I knew I was home the moment I saw you.”