Chapter Thirteen
Goddess, if he weren’t already fucking in love with her, he’d have fallen right then and there.
“Why don’t I unfreeze them? We’ll see if they admit to you what they’d planned to do after they realized that their prize had gone missing, and how they react to coming face-to-face with the woman they’d thought they’d killed.
Let’s see if they freak the fuck out or lie like professionals. ”
“What do you mean?”
She looked so damn cute with her head tilted to the side and her hair flowing like a silky black curtain over her shoulder. What he wouldn’t do to have his fist wrapped around all that silkiness as she knelt at his feet.
Her head popped up. The air in the room grew thicker. Shit. It was he who needed to shield his thoughts this time. Or not.
Aurora licked her lips and smiled the sexiest little tilt of her full, fuckable mouth. He nearly strode to where she stood and said screw interrogations and fucked her instead.
“You keep teasing me like that, Vita Mea, and I’ll be damned if I can keep a cool head. You really don’t want to test me on this.”
“Then don’t think things like that.” She poked two fingers toward her eyes, then at him. The action was so funny that he laughed. No female had the ability to make him hard and laugh in the same space of time. “C’mere,” he murmured.
Savage created a chair similar to the one out in the main space of the club.
The large, black, leather seat easily held him with room for Aurora to sit beside him if he’d wanted.
Nevertheless, he patted his lap. Bless the Goddess, he didn’t have to wait long for her to walk to him, swaying slightly as if she knew the effect she had on him.
“Is that a pole in your pocket, Savage, or are you just glad to see me?” she asked.
“I’ll show you what’s in there later, unless you keep wiggling, and I’ll strip us both naked and.
..” He didn’t need to finish his words. The two males who’d come with the crazy Fey were supposed to be myths.
He hadn’t let on how in awe he’d felt in their presence, but he’d be lying if he didn’t admit, at least to himself, that seeing them in the flesh was truly mind-blowing.
They were born with the ability to walk on both sides of the world—in the day and the night.
He couldn’t imagine what kind of power that meant, but then again, they weren’t full-bloods, so in their world, they’d been looked down upon.
He learned long ago that mixing such strong lineages meant combining unbelievable power.
He wrapped his arms around Aurora, thinking of what their offspring would be. Vampire, shifter, and Fey. Fuck. The possibility of children with her made him want to flash them somewhere private.
“Your dick is throbbing under my ass, Savage.” Aurora shifted slightly. The movement gave him a little space, allowing him to breathe easier.
“Hello, boys,” he said after unfreezing the shifters.
The largest of them glared back at him and Aurora.
His bright blue gaze narrowed. Savage gave him a pointed look back, counting all the various ways he could end the punk's life in seconds if he wished it. He wouldn’t even have to worry about hiding the body.
Life truly was good if you were a vampire.
The alpha took a step forward, the anger evident in his fisted hands. The other males glanced at one another, then at Savage and to Aurora with something akin to horror, as if they were recounting their life choices.
Smart wolves.
“What the fuck is going on? Where the hell is our female?” The alpha raised his arms out to his sides, nodding toward Aurora. “Who the fuck is she?”
Savage remained silent as he let them stew in their own doubts and insecurities for a moment longer.
His lips stretched into a smile as he ran his hand in a possessive gesture along his female’s leg.
If this fucker thought he could intimidate Savage with his anger or bellowing, he’d be sorely disappointed.
Aurora leaned back into him. Warmth spread throughout his entire being at the sensation of her showing affection in the face of the others in the room.
Usually, he avoided females who showed possession.
In truth, he’d always felt as though their touch was similar to a thousand fire ants biting through his flesh.
Now, he took pride in the face of Aurora’s simple show of affection.
One of the other shifters clumsily got to his feet, eyeing his alpha as if asking for permission to move. Savage figured they were speaking through their minds. He didn’t give a shit what they were saying since they weren’t his friends, and he didn’t intend to make them his buddies.
The alpha’s eyes blazed brighter as if whatever was said shocked him.
“Mmm, did your little buddy just tell you that my female is the same one he and your little crew tried to kill?” Savage asked.
“I’ll ask again, and this time I want a real answer. What the fuck is going on around here?” A growl rattled up from deep within the shifter’s throat.
Scepter moved forward, letting the others grasp the knowledge that Savage wasn’t alone. Although he could handle the males without breaking a sweat, he’d hate to kill them in front of Aurora.
“Why don’t you tell me why you came here with a female in tow first. And before you think to make demands of me again, should I remind you that I can, and will, kill all of you with the snap of a finger.” Savage narrowed his eyes but allowed them to turn the burning red of his beast.
The sound of their shallow breathing filled the room as they watched him.
He couldn’t decide whether he liked their fear, which usually fueled his hunger, or if he detested them for making him flex his power and possibly make his female shrink away from him as well.
They were the ones who’d come to him with a sacrificial lamb after they’d tried to kill an innocent woman.
If they’d had their way, Aurora would’ve died on the side of a mountain.
The thought of never getting the chance to meet his bond mate made him growl.
The shifters flinched back as if he’d shot them with flames.
“I’m right here, Savage,” Aurora whispered, wrapping her arm around his neck, the other she pressed against his chest, right above his heart.
He hated that they’d tried to snuff her life out.
If his mate hadn’t been the tough-as-nails female she’d been born, he’d never known about her.
Hell, he’d never had her hunting him like she had.
“Oh, I’d have hunted you through this life or the next, Savage. Trust and believe that if you don’t believe anything else.”
He gripped the back of her head in one palm, bringing her face close to his. “Woman, you are going to get your ass spanked.”
She wiggled her brows but stayed quiet.
He should’ve been worried that Aurora could read his mind so easily, but like her, he didn’t have his walls fortified.
“I’m still waiting for one of you to answer my question, shifters.
In fact, I don’t give a fuck which of you does it.
Should I repeat myself?” Not like he’d give them a pink slip if he didn’t like their answer.
Nope. They’d get a nice bite on the neck and a long sleep if they were lucky.
There wouldn’t be a funeral or a farewell party with their closest friends and family paying respects.
He thought of the scene from The Silence of the Lambs with Hannibal Lecter.
“A census taker once tried to test me. I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice Chianti.”
“Oh my gawd, you are a geek.” Aurora squealed. “If you had hissed when you said that, I’d have totally jumped your bones.”
“I’ll hold you to that after we finish with these boys.” He cut his gaze to hers.
“I got your boy, bloodsucker,” the alpha said, his voice a deep-throated rattle.
“You don’t want me to force your compliance, boy.
Trust me, I am being much more patient with all of you than I normally would.
If my female weren’t here, I’d probably have already drained all of you and been done with it.
” Any sane being would’ve backed down, but the fool before him puffed out his chest like he had balls of steel. Savage kind of admired him for it.
“I wasn’t part of the killing of your females,” a male with a strong aura said from the side.
A memory flashed through his mind, so faint, half-formed, Savage wasn’t sure whose vision he saw or if it was real. He saw several males surrounding three of his clan. The females were young and vulnerable. Their fear was palpable. He’d promised to protect them, and so far, he’d failed.
“Continue,” he bit out.
“I believe our alpha told you about us finding the young female?”
Savage gave a nod, holding a firm hand on Aurora’s hip. “Let him speak, Vita Mea.”
“He wasn’t part of the group who...who tried to kill me. I think he tried to convince them I wasn’t a liability.”
“Every wolf needs a pack. I’m aware it’s not a good excuse, but for five years, I searched for a place to belong until I found it.
For years, I tried to ignore my shifter side, pretending I was human when in truth I teetered on the edge of shifting in the middle of their world, hoping I didn’t burst into my wolf.
Hell, there were days I could feel my wolf doing his damndest to crawl out of my skin while I fought to push him down.
It was a struggle to control myself until I finally made peace with both halves.
So, if you haven’t figured it out by now, I wasn’t born a shifter.
I settled into this crew, thinking all shifters were like me.
It didn’t take me long to realize, really fucking quick, I was the odd one out. ”
“What’s your name?” Savage asked.
“You want my name before or after?”