by Tara Rose
Landon wanted to shout for joy. He had to sit in the nearest chair because all the coffee he’d had finally lost its effect, and he was close to collapsing on the floor. “But won’t they simply say she gave the knife to them the morning she ran? Jake could say he wiped it clean.”
“Weren’t you listening when they said the last time they saw Saffron was two days before Dennis was stabbed?” asked Nevada. “She couldn’t have given them the knife the morning she left, because by their own admission already, they hadn’t seen her for two days.”
“Thanks for reminding me of that,” said Gary, tapping on the glass.
The jaguars who’d been in the room with the Rosens came into the hallway and Landon heard Gary speaking to them. When they returned to the interrogation room, they carried the plastic bag. As soon as Jake saw it, the expression on his face told Landon all he needed to know.
Nevada clapped him on the back again, and when Landon glanced at him, he swore his eyes were wet. The room erupted into cheers and clapping. It was over, at least as far as Saffron’s name was concerned. Now they could return to Utah and tell her.
Landon wasn’t really watching the commotion in the next room. He was thinking about Saffron, and how wonderful it would be to tell her that her name had been cleared. She’d be upset that one of the men to whom she was almost mated had not only killed her uncle, but also helped frame her for it. But he and Nevada would help her get through that. They had to.
“That’s it…” Nevada charged out of the room and Gary was right behind him, but he wasn’t fast enough.
Landon ran after them as Nevada burst into the interrogation room with Gary and the other men on his heels. The smell was enough to choke him, but he wanted to know what had happened that he’d missed.
“What did you just say, you fucking piece of shit?” Nevada lunged at Jake, and before anyone could stop him, he wrapped his hands around the man’s throat.
One of the men who’d been interrogating Jake, Gregory, and Marc tried to grab Nevada, but Gary pulled him back and held up a hand.
Jake’s voice came out as nothing more than a squeak. His face was already red, and Landon wished he had the rifle with him. This would be over with three easy shots. Enough of this shit, already.
Marc snorted, and Landon glared at him, unable to believe the man could be so fucking cocky after everything they’d been through today. “He said Saffron is a hot little piece of ass, and when we get out of here, we’ll clear her name only if she agrees to fuck us both, when we say, where we say, and in which hole we—”
Marc couldn’t finish his sentence because Landon’s hands were wrapped around his throat. Apparently the coffee hadn’t left his system entirely after all, because Marc turned purple, and Landon heard no sound from his open mouth. His eyes bulged, and his legs kicked furiously under the table. Landon heard his hands banging against the underside of the table. There wasn’t much the man could do with his ankles and wrists cuffed together. What a fitting end. He was going to die chained up like the animal that he was.
A dull roar filled Landon’s ears, and then powerful arms pulled him back. He landed on the cement floor, right next to a fresh puddle of piss. Marc was making soft choking sounds, trying to reach his throat, but no one made a move to un-cuff his wrists. They merely watched him.
Landon glanced toward Jake, who stared from his brother to Landon, and back again. His eyes were filled with resignation and disbelief. Landon had the impression that this was the first moment they realized that they wouldn’t get away with this after all and return to business as usual.
Gregory said nothing. His head was bowed and his gaze glued to the table in front of him. The coward had tried to run out on his own sons. How could the residents of Saffron’s village have feared these three? They were nothing. Barely men, let alone leopards.
Nevada held out his hand and pulled Landon to his feet. “Let’s go. This is over. Unless you want to watch the jaguars kill them, that is.”
“No thanks. I want to get back to Saffron. These pigs will never touch her. Never. That’s all that matters in the end.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Saffron woke up Saturday morning to the smell of coffee, but it was so faint that she was convinced she’d dreamed it. What time was it? She glanced at the clock on the nightstand and was surprised to find it was almost noon. Not that it mattered how late she slept. She had no reason to get up early. She went into the bathroom and decided to take a shower. She hadn’t taken one at all the day before.
She’d waited all day yesterday to hear something—anything—and had finally gone next door to sit with Emme for a while because she couldn’t stand being in the house alone anymore. She hadn’t been able to concentrate on anything.
Drake had been gone all day, and Stephen and Micah were in and out. Each time they came into the house, they told Emme and Saffron they were still waiting to hear as well. The waiting was worse than anything because she had no idea what was going on. Had they found the Rosens and the other members of the League? Were Nevada and Landon all right?
By the time evening had drawn near, Saffron had been so desperate to hear that she’d told Emme she was going to drive Landon’s truck to Passion Peak, even though she didn’t know how to drive. “How hard can it be?” she’d asked.
Emme had made her some tea and urged her to drink all of it, and then curl up in bed with book. Saffron now suspected it had had a sedative in it, but she understood that Emme had only been trying to help. The woman had walked Saffron back to the house and sat in the bedroom with her, talking. That’s the last thing Saffron could remember last night, so her suspicions must have been correct. It also explained why she’d slept so late.
When Saffron stepped out of the shower and began to towel off, this time she couldn’t deny the strong aroma of coffee. Emme must have come over to make it for her. She was too kind to her. Saffron dressed quickly and walked into the hallway, stopping when she heard male voices and whistling. Her heart froze. It couldn’t be… they were back?
She ran down the stairs and into the kitchen, screaming at the sight of Landon and Nevada cooking eggs, just as if nothing had happened, and the past two days had only been a bad dream. “What…when…I don’t understand…” She could barely breathe let alone form questions. She couldn’t stop staring at them. Were they real? Was she hallucinating? Was she dead?
Then they were hugging her, and kissing her, and lifting her in the air and twirling her around. Saffron was laughing and crying at the same time as she tried to make sense of what they were telling her. The League members that had lived in and near the village had all been caught or were missing. Gregory, Marc, and Jake Rosen were dead, and the bounty had been rescinded. Saffron’s name was cleared.
“Who killed my uncle?”
Nevada placed her on her feet while Landon pulled the frying pan off the stove because the eggs had started to burn. “Jake. They found the knife in the trash with your uncle’s blood on it. Jake finally confessed after some…persuasion.”
Saffron held up her hands. “I don’t want to know what you two did.”
Landon scooped eggs and buttered toast onto plates. Nevada led her to the table and pulled out her chair for her. “Even though I don’t drink the stuff, I’ll suck it up and pour you a cup of coffee.”
“All right. I do want to know. What did you two do?” They were acting too calm about the whole thing.
“Nothing,” said Landon. “Nothing at all. The jaguars did it all. We just watched.”
Nevada’s soft chuckle had her narrowing her eyes at each of them in turn, but it was clear they weren’t going to divulge any details right now. Landon placed her coffee on the table, and then both men pulled their chairs on either side of her and took a hand. Saffron swallowed hard. Was there bad news? Had someone been hurt in the capture?
“Saffron,” said Landon, “we have something to tell you. And it can’t even wait for breakfast first. We should have told yo
u this before we left, but…” He glanced at the floor for a second. “But we were assholes. We were afraid. But it’s important that you know we did believe you. I swear we did.”
“It’s okay, Landon. I understand the implications. Even if I was innocent, if people believed I wasn’t, it could potentially put Nevada’s family and his village in danger.”
Landon nodded. “Exactly. Thank you for understanding. But that’s not what we want to tell you.”
“What is it? Did something else happen? Is someone hurt?”
Landon placed his other hand over her mouth. His eyes shone with love. “Just listen, leopard. I love you. Saffron, I love you. I’ve loved you since the first time I kissed you, under that table in the cabin. You’re my mate. I knew it the moment I looked into your eyes. Will you have me?”
“Oh… Landon…” Saffron wiped away tears. “Of course I will. I love you, too. I couldn’t stop watching you that morning. I was so mesmerized that I didn’t hear Nevada sneaking up on me.” Her heart was filled with so much joy that it made her dizzy. She’d waited so long to be able to say it, and now she couldn’t seem to stop. “I love you so much. I wanted to tell you. I wanted to tell both of you.”
Landon pulled her close and stroked her hair. “And now you have. Oh, Saffron…thank you so much.” His voice was trembling, as though he might cry, too.
He released her embrace, and then Nevada brushed a finger along her face. She looked into his dark eyes and couldn’t believe the depth of emotion in them. “I love you, too, Saffron. You’re my mate as well. I knew it from the beginning, but I was too damn stupid and stubborn to accept the truth that was right there, in front of me. Can you ever forgive me? Will you have me? A headstrong cougar?”
“Oh, yes. Yes, I’ll have you, Nevada. I love you, too. I knew you were my mate as well, as soon as you kissed me. I was so afraid to believe it could be true.” Nevada gathered her in his arms and held her so close, she could hardly take a full breath, but she didn’t care. The happiness was overwhelming. She was safe now, and she had her mates. Nothing else mattered.
“Let’s eat. And then we’ll plan a party to celebrate and let the whole community know. Leopards, jaguars, and cougars. We’ll invite everyone.”
“Can we really do that? Where should we have the party? Here, or in Colorado? And when should we have it? And what about the Dom/sub thing? I need to figure all that out. And where will we live?”
Both men were laughing, so she stopped and stared at them. None of that really mattered right now. They loved her and she loved them. The details would sort themselves out in due time. As if reading her thoughts, Nevada took her hands and gave them a squeeze.
“Don’t worry about the Dom/sub thing, okay? We’re all still learning what that means. We have the rest our lives to figure it out. As for where we’ll live, as much as I’d love to stay here, Landon’s job is two hours away, and so is my family.”
“We could build a house,” said Landon. “Somewhere in the hills, halfway between the village and Passion Peak. And we can visit here anytime we want. It’s only two hours away.”
“But I can’t give you children. Are you really okay with that?”
“Saffron, that doesn’t matter to us,” said Nevada. “All that matters is that you love us, we love you, and we’re your mates. You’ll be with us forever. We both want you with us always.”
Landon stoked her hair, and Saffron shivered with lust and love. “For the rest of our lives, Saffron, good and bad, no matter what. We will deal with it together, because that’s what mates do. And we will love you, cherish you, and protect you. No one will hurt you. Not ever. You have our word on it.”
“Saffron, you’re stuck with us,” said Nevada, gazing at her with nothing short of adoration. “You might as well accept it. We love you, and we always will.”
Saffron laughed and cried until she was spent, and Nevada and Landon took turns holding her as she did. The coffee and their food was stone cold by then, but none of them cared. They left it sitting there as they made their way to the bedroom, shedding their clothes along the way.
Saffron fell back on the bed, and both men kissed her, touched her, and fucked her silly until she barely knew her own name. She loved them both with a passion she’d never known was possible, and she always would. They were her mates. She’d known it from the first glance, and so had they. What she’d been told would happen had happened. They were living proof of that.
And now, she had the rest of her life to love, cherish, and honor her two mates, Nevada and Landon. Her two beautiful cougars that had been destined to be hers, and that she would love forever.
THE END
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Tara Rose loves to write about small towns and the quirky people that inhabit them. You’ll find engaging characters, budding romance, intrigue, and plenty of hot, steamy ménage sex within the pages of her books. You never really know what goes on behind closed doors, but her books will take you there, and leave you panting for more.
When she isn’t writing, Tara spends time with her husband—her real-life hero. She loves to cook, collect antique pottery, and she will read just about anything. Tara also plays the cello and loves decorating her house for Christmas.
For all titles by Tara Rose, please visit
www.bookstrand.com/tara-rose
Siren Publishing, Inc.
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