Authors: Jessie Lynn
"Dom, don't fuck with me. Where is she? I know you know where she is and since you couldn't bring her home to me, then you can lead me to her now."
Dom nodded his head. "Yes you are absolutely right, I do. And I must say I am very impressed and amazed by her as well."
When Rafe just glared at him clenching his fists Dom threw his head back and laughed.
"Oh Rafe I truly am going to enjoy watching your mate teach you a great many things." He said shaking his head.
"Dom
you’re fucking with me and you’re wasting my time. Now where the hell is my mate!" He yelled.
“She is actually making sure your sister can't harm her again, and therefore harm you in the process. Again I am very proud of her my friend."
"She what!" Rafe yelled almost going after the alpha, but Ethan and Marcus caught him in time and held him back.
"Shit!" Marcus exclaimed as he grabbed Rafe.
"Aw hell, now you've done it wolf." Ethan s
aid. "Mind giving me the Meat Locker before Rafe rips your head off?"
"Rafe, we can either stay here and fight, or we can go help your mate. Your choice." Dom said ignoring Ethan and shrugging nonchalantly.
"Where is she?" Rafe grated out through clenched teeth.
Dom smiled. "Follow me vampire." He turned his bike and headed back out of the garage, hearing the vampires bikes come to life behind h
im as he knew they would. Rafe was pissed now, but at least he would soon know his mate was safe and actually more proactive about her safety than he gave her credit for.
Ava watched the black car pull into the parking lot and felt her heart leap into her
throat. This is it. She thought. She hoped she wasn't making the biggest mistake of her life and said a quick little prayer for good measure. She looked over at Marie and saw the same thoughts reflecting in her eyes as well. She took a deep breath and squeezed her best friend's hand again.
"Well here goes nothing." She said.
Rachel got out of her car and walked over to the stupid human still huddled in her car. Like that was going to protect her from a vampire. She laughed when she saw the friend sitting right next to Ava. Wonderful now she wouldn’t have to go hunt her down as well.
"What's the matter little mate? Not so brave now that you have to face me for real instead of over the phone?"
"No I never said I wasn't afraid of you on the phone."
Rachel laughed. "Well at least
you’re honest. Get out of the car now." She said back to them.
"Um I think I like it in here just fine. We were supposed to talk remember."
"No you said you wanted to talk, I merely said I would meet you. I apparently failed to mention that I had no intentions of talking."
"Dude she is an evil midget." Marie said. "We could so take her, what are we waiting for. I want to smack that smile off her damn face."
Ava grabbed onto Marie. "No trust me she's a lot stronger than she looks. Just stay right here, Rafe should be here any minute."
Marie looked back at the psycho bitch outside their car. "Seriously what is your damage?" She asked her and immediately regretted goading the woman when she raised a gun at them.
"I said get out of the car now." Rachel growled at them.
"Rachel put the gun down now baby." Michael said coming up behind his mate.
Rachel wheeled around. "What are you doing here?" She shrieked.
"Stopping you from making the biggest mistake of your
life apparently. Now put that fucking gun down before you piss me off anymore and I add more to your punishment than you've already racked up baby." Michael growled at her stepping closer.
Rafe and his boys followed Dom into an abandoned parking lot just o
n the other side of town. As soon as he pulled in his blood pressure skyrocketed. Ava had used herself as bait to draw Rachel out in the open. Holy shit! He was never going to be able to sleep again. He was going to make her ass so sore she wouldn't be able to sit down for a week for this. That is if he could get their asses out of this one now too. He pulled to a stop and jumped off his bike running right for Ava's car. Just as he started coming toward them Rachel turned and fired at him hitting him in the chest and knocking him backward. His last thought was that he needed to see his beautiful one last time.
CHAPTER 45
Michael lunged for Rachel trying to get the gun away from her before she could fire at Rafe, but he was too late again. He wrapped his arms around her and ripped the gun from her hand. He watched Ava jump out of the car and ran for her mate screaming his name.
"Shit! What have you done baby?" He said turning her to him and holding her face in bot
h her hands. She was crying hysterically.
"Michael, I'm so sorry he scared me." She started to turn to look at her brother, but Michael stopped her.
"No baby don't look at him now." He said pulling her into his arms and holding her tight against him. "I'll find a way to fix this, I promise." He told her as his mate finally held onto him just as tightly.
"Michael." Rachel whispered finally feeling complete now that she was in his arms. Dear Fates what did she just do?
"Rafe!" Ava screamed jumping out of the car and running towards him. "Rafe. Oh God no!" She cried dropping to her knees and pressing on his chest trying to stop the bleeding.
"Ava move let me help him." Ed told her as he kneeled down on the other side of Rafe.
Marcus went for Rachel and Michael. "Rachel Di Luciano you are hereby taken into custody for the attempted and possible murder of Rafael Di Luciano League enforcer." He told her as he reached to take her from Michael. "Michael hand her over, I'll take her from here so you don't have to deal with her anymore."
"Marcus back the fuck off now or I swear I'll kill you. She will not go to trial." Michael growled at him.
"Michael don't make me take you into custody as well. Hand her over now." Marcus said advancing on them again.
Rafe was having a hard time breathing. He could hear Ava crying somewhere, but he couldn't see her.
"Ava baby, stop crying. What's the matter?" He tried talking to her.
"Sshh don't try to talk Rafe, be still baby." She said to him.
She looked up at Ed the supposed demon. "You said you were like an angel, but way co
oler. Prove it right now dammit."
Ed smiled at her. "Way ahead of you sweetness. I was trying to get you out of my way so I can, so back off the vampire so I can do my awesomeness." He started to put his hand over Rafe's chest, but stopped and looked back
at Ava. "You might not want to watch this sweetness."
"Quit yakking and do something asshole!" She yelled at him.
"Kay I warned you." Ed said shrugging and changing to his true form.
Ava sucked in a breath and fell back. "Holy shit!" She said cover
ing her mouth with her hand. He really was a demon. He was bright red and he was almost see through, but his skin looked like it moved like flames dancing. He had horns that came out the sides of his head and curved almost like a ram's would. His eyes looked like they were black holes in his head. But when he looked at you; you could tell they were just solid black eyeballs. He looked like he had long hair, but his hair was actually fire. The flames moved around his horns and down his back. His feet were huge hooves and on each of his fingers were sharp black claws. He had a long tail that looked like it could be a lion's, but at the tip where the hair should be was fire ball as well.
Ed looked back up at Ava. "Told ya you didn't want to see this."
Marie came running up behind her friend and hit her knees as soon as she saw the thing in front of them bending over Rafe.
"My God!"
"God ain't got nothin to do with this one honey." Ed said looking at them and smiling showing his own set of fangage before he touched Rafe's chest and started closing his wound. Rafe yelled as soon as Ed touched his chest and his body went tight to the point of snapping.
"You
’re hurting him!" Ava yelled going for Rafe again to try to push Ed away.
Dom grabbed a hold of her before she could touch the demon. "Ava no he is not. He's helping him I promise you just calm down. You cannot touch him when he is in this form, he will burn your skin completely off. He is pure fire in this form."
Ava grabbed onto Dom. "But please he's hurting him." Ava sobbed turning her head into his shoulder.
"I promise you he is not." Dom reassured her as he wrapped his arms around her and held her close while Ed tended her mate.
"Michael, I will not tell you again. Hand her over right now so justice can be served against her. I do not want to have to fight you, but I will."
"Marcus, we all know I don't give a flying fuck. So you'll have to go through me if you want her, and I can guarantee you won't touch her." Mi
chael said with a smile, baring his fangs.
Marcus went for Rachel again and Michael spun her behind him placing himself between his mate and his fellow enforcer. He'd made his decision when he learned she was alive. He would not lose her again and he would
not let her face the council ever. Marcus went for Michael now that Rachel was out of his reach, but Michael was ready for him. He hissed and punched Marcus in the jaw, then grabbed him by the back of the neck and jammed his knee into the vamp's gut forcing him to the ground.
"I said back the fuck off now Marcus." He yelled and before the vampire could come back at him, he punched him in the side of the face, knocking the other vampire out. He grabbed Rachel and took off to her car. He had to get her t
he hell out of here before anything else could go wrong. He wasn't about to let her go to trial. He knew Ed would be healing Rafe and once he was awake, Michael could talk to him and plead Rachel's case. He knew there was no way in hell Marcus was going to listen, and to be honest he'd never fully trusted the bastard anyway, so screw him.
He threw Rachel in the passenger seat and jumped behind the wheel turning the ignition. He slammed it in gear and tore out of the parking lot hauling ass to his safe house
he'd kept for this very reason. No one but him knew about it, not even Rafe. He trusted Rafe completely, but for right now it was best he didn't know the exact location. When he was healed enough they would talk. He looked over at his mate and his hands tightened on the wheel. She was curled in a tiny ball, her body wracked with sobs as tears poured down her face.
He reached over and wiped her cheek.
“Baby I promise I’ll fix this. Your brother will be fine, I’ll talk to him, and we’ll straighten all this out. You won’t go to trial and I won’t let anything happen to you.”
I won’t leave you ever again
he finished to himself.
CHAPTER 46
Rafe groaned and reached for his chest. He felt like he'd been run the hell over and the damn car was still sitting on his chest just for shits and giggles. His shoulder was tight and his head felt like somebody had used it for a punching bag. He groaned again and started to open his eyes.
"Easy Rafe don't try to move too much yet. I don
’t want you to hurt yourself anymore." Ava said.
She settled carefully back down on the bed next to him. She reached out and brushed a lock of his hair out of his
eye. She actually breathed deeply for the first time since she’d seen him get shot now that he was really awake. He’d been in and out of consciousness for the past few days and Ed had kept reassuring her that Rafe was fine and he just needed a little bit to fully heal. No matter what he kept saying, she had still been terrified. There had been so much blood that night and it seemed like it’d taken Ed way too long to close his wound.
"Ava? Baby, what's going on?" He asked really awake now. He looked ove
r at his mate and saw her sitting beside him. She didn’t look good at all and that upset him more than the pain he was in. “Beautiful come here right now. Why in the hell do you look like you haven’t slept in days?” He looked around the room; they were at Lair in his apartment. That was good. At least they were where he could make sure she slept now that he was awake and functioning.
"That
’d be because I haven’t you were shot and Ed had to heal you. He's really kinda scary looking by the way."
"Ed s
howed you his true form? Shit baby, I'm sorry." Rafe said sitting up. “Now come here dammit and let me hold you.” Rafe was starting to get a little annoyed and if she didn’t do as she was told very soon, then she was in for a nice little spanking. Rafe smiled at the thought. She still had a spanking coming for running away and then he was going to get very creative about her punishment for the little stunt she pulled turning herself into bait to draw Rachel out.
Ava shrugged. "No big deal. It was worth it h
aving him heal you. Do you remember what happened?"
"Oh yes I most certainly do and you are in so much trouble when I can get my hands on you beautiful." He said. "Now come here and let me hold you before you add even more to your already large punishm
ent. You scared the shit out of me you know. I swear you better never do anything like that again baby my heart can’t handle it."
Ava smiled at him and moved into his arms. He hissed when she touched his chest. "Sorry." she said trying to pull back, but Ra
fe held on tighter and actually pulled her closer to him.
“Rafe! Your hurt remember. Now let me go so I can get off you so I don’t hurt you even more.”
"Oh no you don't. That was nothing compared to not being able to hold you." Rafe lifted her hand to his mouth to kiss her fingers. "I know exactly how you can make it up to me though."
"Oh really? And how's that exactly?" Ava asked looking up through her lashes. She had no doubt in mind that she was going to enjoy every bit of his punishments and
whatever his idea was of how she was going to make everything up to him.
Rafe just smiled and pushed her to her back onto the pillows.
“Why yes my beautiful I do. We’ll start with this.” He said and dipped his head and kissed he mate.
Ethan stuck his head
in the door. "I hear voices, so that means sleeping beauty is finally awake. Dude get a freakin room already. I don’t need to see that shit; I have a very impressionable mind you know." He said coming in followed by the others.
"Ethan you have the wor
st timing in the world you know that. And hello. I’m in my room dip shit; you’re the one that’s in the wrong damn place and completely interrupting us." Rafe growled at him and pulled Ava tight against him as he sat back up. His sexy mate just giggled and curled right into him.
“Great he’s brought the goof troop with him too.” Rafe kissed the top of Ava’s head. “Looks like I’ll have to take a rain check beautiful.” He said against her hair as she started that damn petting of his chest again.
"How ar
e you feeling my friend?" Dom asked as he came right up to the bed like he owned the damn thing and sat down on the edge. Gotta love alpha werewolves.
"Like I had a fire eater touch me unfortunately."
"Funny cause that's exactly what I did ass wipe. Don't be such a baby, it wasn't that bad." Ed said coming up beside Dom grinning like a fool.
"Why'd you have to show my mate how ugly you really are asshole, you
’ve scared her for life now you know."
"Gee your welcome for saving you’re sorry ass, vampire. The next time I don't think I will since you don’t appreciate my mad skillz."
"Whatever, you wouldn't be able to live without me and you know it. Everybody knows I
’m your favorite and you’ve had a hard on for me like forever."
“Hey! That is so not fair. I thought I was everyone’s favorite.” Ethan chimed in. “But you can keep the hard on for Rafe though. That’s just a big fat eewww.”
“You’re the one everyone wishes they can forget about old man and I’ve seen you eyeballin Ed’s tail, so don’t try to lie.” Nate said coming in last right after Sloan. “Rafe it’s damn good to see you’re awake and okay.”
Yep those were his boys alright. Rafe looked around. "Where's Marcus and Michael?"
Ethan looked down at the ground and Dom and Ed looked at each other.
"Somebody better spill right freakin now."
"Marcus tried to take Rachel into custody and Michael took off with her. Marcus is with the council now and we have no idea where Michael and Rachel are." Sloan finally told him.
"Fuck!" Rafe said throwing back his head. After a minute, he shook h
is head and spoke "Michael is the best vampire for her to be with. He won't let Marcus or anybody else near her until I can talk to the council so we’re going to let them chill."
"So you
’re not pressing charges?" Ethan asked.
"Hell no I'm not! That
’s still my little sister and I won't fail her again. I will not lose the last of my family because of what Roman did to us. She didn’t mean to shoot me, we scared her and Michael knows that. He’ll contact me when he’s ready and while I’m waiting I’ll deal with the council."
They all nodded their agreement. Dom looked around at the others and knew they were all with him on this. "Well then now that that
’s settled, whatever you need from us, all you have to do is ask my friend." He said placing his hand on Rafe’s shoulder.
"Thanks guys. Now get the hell out of here and let me have some peace and quiet with my mate dammit."
"Ain't gonna be quiet, I can tell you that." Ethan said as they all left Rafe alone with his Ava as he asked.
Rafe looked at his m
ate and touching her cheek, he said. "So have you accepted this whole mate thing?"
Ava laughed at the words he said back to her from only a few days ago. Kissing the inside of his palm, she said. "I have accepted you mate. I love you."
Growling Rafe pushed her to her back. "Good you can show me exactly how much you love me right now. Mate."