by Grey, Aspen
“This way,” I whispered to Perry, skirting a low row of fallen bricks that led towards the left side of the building and the driveway. The scents of the men inside grew stronger and I saw that one of the corner windows was shattered open and the thin slats that had kept it boarded up were barely hanging on, the nails that had been hammered through them barely holding onto the wood any longer.
I wanted to gag as I reached up and carefully grabbed one of the boards from the wall. The sound of the nail peeling away from the grout between the bricks was barely noticeable, that’s how loose it was. Perry reached up beside me and pulled another away, opening a hole large enough for us to fit through. I looked over at my mate and nodded. He understood. It was time.
We quickly stripped from our clothes and hid them beneath the bushes in the shadows, then shifted into our panther forms. I went first, narrowing my body and diving straight through the window and into the building. I landed just beyond the shattered glass and stepped aside as Perry leapt in and landed nimbly beside me. We gave each other an affirmative look and turned right, following our noses towards the scents inside.
As we stalked down the dirty hallway, the voices grew louder, and as we rounded the corner, the space opened into an enormous room with high ceilings and banks of blue fluorescent lights above.
Instead of dank, rundown, moldy rows of shelving and pallets, or disused bags of fertilizer, the space was absolutely packed with lines of luxury cars. I spotted cherry red Ferraris, yellow Lamborghinis, what was either a Bentley or a Rolls Royce and a striking BMW that looked like the one Jedrik had but in an odd violet color that I didn’t particularly like.
So this is what Sasha’s into? I thought with surprise as I spied him sitting on a folding table, swinging his legs off the edge like a child.
Beside him were two alphas, both wearing black and white pinstripe suits like mobsters out of an old crime noir TV show, and between both of them was the big boss. He was like a seal stuffed into a red velvet suit, with a whiskery beard that fluttered up and down as he puffed on the thick cigar held between his sausage-like fingers.
“So, Sasha,” the big man grunted, plucking a croissant from the arm of his throne-like chair and stuffing it between his fat lips. “What have you got for me?”
“Good stuff, Cash,” Sasha replied eagerly, vaulting off the table and presenting his cell phone to the boss. “Spotted this Maserati in the garage. Some idiot parked there for the last few days. Shouldn’t be hard to grab it. He comes back in the early evenings. If we pick it up before then—”
“Maserati,” Cash nodded. Sasha smiled, but his happiness was cut short when Cash swatted him hard in the cheek with a backhand and sent him sprawling to the floor. “Didn’t I say no more Maseratis, you fucking prick!?”
Sasha scrambled around on the floor, obviously dazed by the big hit he’d just taken, and for a moment I almost felt bad for him. Almost.
“I’m—I’m sorry, boss,” he stammered. “It’s still a pricey car though…”
“Our buyers are sick of Maseratis,” Cash growled, pushing himself to his feet. “Besides, when enough of them start to go missing, the cops are going to take notice. Do you want that?”
“No!” Sasha replied, pushing himself away from the hulking man as he lumbered towards him.
“You sure?” Cash snarled, kicking at Sasha’s feet.
“No!”
“No?” Cash questioned.
“I mean—yes!” Sasha stuttered. “I mean—I don’t want the cops to take notice!”
This response finally pleased the big boss, and he stepped back and placed one arm on his hip as he sucked another puff from the thick cigar.
Revolting.
The big bastard stank like rotten eggs and bad cologne—the kind frat boys spray all over themselves because they see it on commercials and think “the bitches love it” or whatever. I couldn’t imagine the kind of guy who would go for him. Gold diggers probably. Or guys with severe daddy issues.
“Good answer,” Cash finally replied before turning away and thumping back to his throne. His suit was obviously expensive and a thick gold chain hung from his neck, signifying his wealth. It must have been his goons who showed up outside Jedrik’s apartment that night. And that meant there were more to come.
“It’s bad enough you got two of my boys out of commission,” he growled as he took his seat like a king. “Getting all jealous like a little girl over that old boyfriend of yours. If you wanna keep your job, and my foot out of that tight little ass of yours, you better step up the reconnaissance!”
“Yes, sir!” Sasha replied quickly. “I—I will!”
“Got my entire crew caught up in personal drama,” Cash grumbled. “Where’s this son of a bitch live again?”
“Pacific Beach,” Sasha replied. “I could show you where—”
I felt Perry nudge me and looked over at him as he shifted back to human form. Instead of actually speaking, he mouthed the word to me: pictures!
I nodded and we both quickly darted back to the window. I leapt outside, retrieved my phone from my pants and threw it back inside to Roberto. Then I rejoined him inside.
“So, we’re gonna move these tomorrow night,” one of the alphas was saying as we peered out around the corner again. Roberto held my phone up and began recording a video, panning over the scene and showing the cars, the men and Sasha—all of it good evidence for the cops or any jury.
“Good,” Cash replied. “Sooner we get these out of here, the better.”
Roberto finished filming, looked down to make sure the video was good and then raised the camera up again. This time, he took a picture, and this time—the shutter sound went off.
“What the?”
Instantly, the men’s eyes all snapped in our direction. They saw us. We were had.
“Shit!” he hissed, racing down the hallway and back towards the window.
“Who the fuck?” ine of the men roared.
“It’s the pigs!” Cash bellowed. “Get ‘em!”
Roberto was already halfway down the hall when I started to race after him. In panther form, I had a speed advantage over him, and dashed over to the window where an old shelving rack was leaning precariously against the wall. I waited, then as he raced past me, threw myself into the old metal. It cracked once, and I looked behind me to see Roberto chuck the cell phone out onto the grass, shift, and leap through the window, escaping outside.
“There he is!” one of the alphas shouted as he rounded the corner. I watched as the man shifted, tearing out of his pinstripe suit and transforming into a hideous panther with an oily brown coat that made him look like a cross between a slug and a cat. With frightening speed, he dashed towards me.
I slammed into the shelving again—harder this time. The lower leg buckled and the entire thing began to topple. There was nothing left for me to do. As the old shelves crashed to the floor, I leapt through the window and landed on the other side. Roberto, phone and clothes in hand, was sprinting in human form towards the car. He was right to do so. If we lost that phone and the evidence, we’d be fucked and all of this would have been for nothing.
I took off after him, hearing the shouting and clamoring inside as the men tried to get past the barrier I’d created. I reached the car just as Roberto was firing up the engine. He’d left the back window open for me and I dove through it and landed easily on the back seat. I shifted and screamed, “Go!”
He threw the car into drive and floored it. Tires screeching, we sped off into the night.
Chapter Eighteen
Jedrik
It was worse than Wendell had said it would be. It would have been a big ask to track their scents throughout San Diego, especially considering they’d taken their car, but it was going to be absolutely impossible now because of what they’d done; they’d used pheromone blockers.
When we stepped outside, the scent went completely dead.
Idiots!
My heart instantly began to rac
e as a sense of hopelessness and powerlessness came over me. It was something I hadn’t experienced in a long, long time. After cutting myself off emotionally from Sasha, I’d never felt as though the safety of another person was a higher priority than my own. But as I stepped out of my apartment into the night and sniffed the air to find nothing but a cold trail, I was forced to face the fact that there was nothing I could do—and that terrified me.
“They must have—” Wendell began to say, but I cut him off.
“I know…idiots.”
“They don’t want to be sniffed out,” Wendell said, almost to himself.
“They’re going after Sasha and he knows their scent now,” I said angrily.
“Do you have any idea where he might be?” Wendell asked.
“Not anymore.” I shook my head and clenched my fists so hard they started to hurt. “This is the worst thing that could happen. They could be anywhere, and if Sasha was crazy enough to come over here with guys like that—then there’s no telling what shit they might run into.”
Wendell sighed from beside me. “You should go back inside and rest, buddy.”
“How can I do that?” I shouted. “This is my fault!”
“It’s not.”
“It is!” I roared. “If I’d never gotten involved with that psychopath from the beginning, this wouldn’t be happening!”
“Everything happens for a reason, Jedrik,” he said with that hippy tone that made my stomach turn.
“Yeah?” I snorted. “What’s the reason behind this?”
“You never know until you’re finished with it,” he replied like an old sage. “But I can tell you this—if you’d never have dated Sasha, you’d never have turned into the man you are today, which would mean you may never have met Roberto and Perry and realized they were your fated mates.”
As much as I hated to admit it, the guy had a point. Twisting my lips with frustration, I glanced back at him. He raised his eyebrows, knowing he’d gotten through to me.
“Yeah, you are right,” I told him. “But I know that right now, if I don’t do something, my fated mates that took me so long to meet are going to be in deep, deep trouble!”
I had to do something, but I didn’t even know where to start. Sasha had a friend living over in Mission Beach named Josh or John or Jeremy or something, but I’d never met him and only had a vague idea of his neighborhood and what the place looked like. But if I was going to start anywhere, that was my best bet.
“Come on,” I told him, walking over to my car. It beeped as the locks auto-opened for me, but just as I made a move to slide into the driver’s seat, I heard the sound of a car and spun around to see Roberto and Perry speeding up the alley towards me.
Oh, thank God!
They squealed to a halt and I saw they were both naked, meaning they’d shifted at some point. As they hopped out of the car, I glanced quickly over their bodies, searching for wounds or signs of conflict.
“Are you all right?” I almost shouted as they raced over to me. I swept them up into my arms like a father welcoming his children home. I inhaled deeply, searching for the comforting smell of their scent, but they weren’t there. The pheromone blockers had done their job.
“We’re okay,” Roberto replied.
“Better than okay!” Perry added.
“I should kill you two!” I snapped, stepping back angrily and staring at them. “What the Hell were you thinking running off like that? Do you know how worried I was? I was just about to start driving around the city looking for you!”
“We’re sorry,” Perry said quickly, rushing up to me and running his hands over my chest. “But you have to see what we found!”
He pushed his cell phone into my hands and I shot him a confused look, but he unlocked it and held it up, forcing me to see what he wanted to show me. It was a video, and as I watched, I understood.
“You guys got this?” I asked. Roberto and Perry looked up at me with proud eyes, eager for my praise. Of course, I had to give it to them, despite the fact that I was still furious with them for scaring me. I felt a sense of relief as I realized what we could do with the evidence they’d found.
“This could be it,” I told them. “This could get Sasha out of our lives.”
“That was the idea,” Roberto replied. His eyes were glowing with pride and enthusiasm. I shared his enthusiasm, but I was still angry and my head was spinning. With a deep sigh, I nodded at them.
“Let’s go inside.”
I lead the way and they followed. Wendell came up beside me as I opened the door and whispered, “I’ll give you guys some time alone.”
“Thank you.”
He held the door for us and I stepped back inside, feeling relieved that my mates were back with me and there was potentially a solution to our Sasha problem. I could see my new life ahead of me, and nothing was going to keep me from it.
Chapter Nineteen
Perry
Of course I felt bad for scaring Jedrik, but it hadn’t been intentional. I’d hoped he’d still be sleeping—resting—while we were gone, and by the time we got back we’d have everything we needed and he’d be none the wiser. But of course he’d woken up and come looking for us. I was just glad we got back in time to keep him from rushing around the city on a wild goose chase.
As the apartment door shut behind us, I closed my eyes and smiled, relishing the feeling of being home. It was a strange feeling to have, after only having just met Jedrik, and as I opened my eyes and looked around, I noticed just how beautiful all the furniture was. It looked handmade, from the four kitchen chairs, to the beautiful, gleaming table of rich amber colored wood, to the matching long-legged coffee tables that sat on either side of the windows that looked out towards the ocean. It was then that I realized something.
“Jedrik?” I asked timidly. “What do you do?”
Roberto glanced over at me and I looked at him. I saw the smile in his eyes when he came to the same realization as I had just had: neither of us knew what our new mate did for a living. Jedrik burst out laughing at our question, slapped one knee and collapsed down onto the couch.
“I make high-end, handmade furniture,” he replied, then gestured to his feet. “In the shop downstairs.”
“So you made all of this?” I asked with a new appreciation for the beautiful pieces that surrounded us. He nodded and I was filled with an even greater sense of pride.
That’s my man…
“I sure did,” he replied with pride. “I sell all over San Diego. Del Mar. La Jolla. Downtown. All over.”
“How do you learn to do something like that?” I asked. “Are you self-taught?”
“I am,” he replied with a proud nod. “I was always interested and I didn’t like shopping for furniture, so I just decided to learn on my own. I managed to apprentice at some places across town before finally being able to make my own things. Then I got this shop and the rest is history.”
“So, what you’re saying,” I said with a grin as I straddled his legs. “Is that you’re good with wood.”
Jedrik eyed me with lust and grabbed my butt with both hands and squeezed hard.
“You’re not so bad with it yourself,” he told me, grabbing me by the back of the neck and pulling my face to his so our noses were touching.
“You want me to demonstrate?” I asked, reaching down between our legs and grabbing his crotch where I could feel a bulge already forming. I’d heard people say that danger or high-tension moments can make people horny, and I guess that was true, because after what had happened at the warehouse, when I was fearing for Roberto’s and my safety, I was outrageously turned on for Jedrik and wanted to give myself to him in any way he wanted.
“Mmmhmmm,” he groaned back, his voice strong in his chest like he had taken his panther form. I sniffed his sweet salted caramel scent and sucked gently at his bottom lip as I ran my other hand around the back of his head and gripped a fistful of his hair.
He replied by gruffly grabbin
g me by the wrist and tugging hard, forcing my back to curve until I thought I was about to break, exposing my neck to him. He kissed my jawline, then moved down, kissing and licking towards my chest before pursing his lips around my collarbone. A shiver ran through my body and I suddenly became aware of Roberto as he took my side and began to run his fingers across my back, just soft enough to tickle slightly.
I moaned, mouth hanging open and my hand working quickly over Jedrik’s bulge as it grew and grew beneath his pants. I lost myself in his scent, thinking about what was at stake with our relationship. I’d been marked by Jedrik, but that wasn’t enough. I needed more, and I know he understood what that meant.
I heard the sound of his pants coming down, and I could feel that it was Roberto helping him get loose of them. Then, the immense weight of his cock pressed against my crotch and I felt a wave of heat sprint up my body like gasoline thrown on a campfire.
“You…know what I want, baby?” I asked, my eyes still closed and mouth open to the ceiling. Jedrik’s breath was warm against my cheek as he whispered into my ear.
“I want you to say it,” he replied.
“Yeah?”
“Yes,” he repeated, moving his lips to the other side of my neck.
“I want your seed,” I told him.
“Why?” he asked, teasing me with his lips.
“I—I—”
I was stammering.
Why? What’s wrong with you?
I knew what I wanted. I knew what he wanted to hear and he knew it as well. But I just couldn’t get the words to form in my lips.
“Tell him, Perry,” Roberto urged me, his fingertips tracing the lines of my back. “Tell him what you want.”
“I want…”
“Tell me, baby,” Jedrik moaned.
“I want you to breed me!” I finally blurted out, tearing away from Jedrik’s strong grip and bringing my eyes to his. “I want you to put that hot load inside of me and breed me. Make me yours forever!”
