“What?”
He smiled and leaned closer to kiss her gently on the lips. He murmured against her mouth. “My favorite dessert, food, and color.” She felt him smile right before he pulled back. “Hazel is my favorite color because that is the shade of your eyes.” Her heart stuttered in her chest. “And when I said ‘you’–” He slid his hands down her shoulders, along her arms, and took hold of her hands. “You’re my favorite pastime, Kettah. You’re my favorite everything, in fact.”
She was the one to slam her mouth on his now, and the deep growl that left him had her pussy clenching with the need to be filled by him. He slid his hands behind her to cup her ass, and in one effortless move he lifted her off her feet. Kettah wrapped her legs around his waist and tilted her head to the side to deepen the kiss. Right when he reached between their bodies, unbuttoned his jeans, and slid his zipper down the phone on his desk rang. He cursed. She groaned in disappointment, and they both broke the kiss. He slowly let her slide down the length of his body.
“I should let it go to voicemail.” He cupped each side of her face and kissed her again, but just when the phone stopped ringing, his cell vibrated in his pocket.
“Seems like someone really wants to talk to you.” That had a frown forming between his eyes.
With one last kiss he turned away from her, dug his phone from his pocket and answered it, “Yeah?” He was zipping up and buttoning his jeans when his entire body grew taut over whatever the person on the other end was saying. With each passing moment his body grew tenser, bigger, and his muscles flexed. How could a phone call cause his lion to come so close to the surface? “When did they leave?” Another moment that was starting to have her grow even tenser. “Okay. Thanks, Trace.” He hung up the phone, and for several seconds didn’t do anything but stand there, breathing heavily.
“Maverick?” She took a step closer to him. Before she could reach out and touch him he turned and took her hand in his. He was leading her out of the office and toward the hallway with determined, angry strides. Oh God. She knew what this was about. “They found us, Maverick.” She picked up her speed.
“Yeah, baby, but they won’t get you.” He stopped in front of the door that would lead them up the stairs and to the Fort Knox of above garage apartments. But just as he opened the door and took that first step there was a chorus of soft sounds, ones that a mortal wouldn’t pick up, but that a shifter could hear loud and clear. He shoved her forward.
“Go to the closet, and get to the safehouse, Kettah.” He stared into her eyes until she nodded. “And do not stop no matter what you hear.” He pushed her up the stairs, and she stumbled forward, catching herself before she went face first into the wood. The door slammed shut behind her, and she didn’t wait until she heard the sound of violence, which she knew was going to happen any second now.
She reached the top of the stairs, fumbled with the locks Maverick had shown her how to disengage, and pushed the door open. When she had the thick steel shut behind her, and the first lock latched, the sound of the door down the flight of stairs crashing against the wall rang through. Her hands started to sweat as she fumbled with the rest of the locks. A cry left her, and she stumbled back when someone slammed against the door, vibrating the metal with enough force she felt it down to her bones.
“Here kitty, kitty, kitty.” The sound of Konstantine’s voice came through the metal loud and clear. Oh God, was Maverick okay? She knew how powerful her lion was, but she didn’t know how many of Viktor’s men had come. Could he handle that many? “Kettah, baby girl, I can hear you breathing and feel your pulse race.”
Kettah’s heart slammed against her chest, threatening to burst free. That would surely be a better death than what her brother and father had planned for her, which was a horror she could only imagine. She went toward the door once more, grabbed one more, thicker looking lock, and turned it. But Konstantine slammed against the metal again and again. She had to get to the closet before he broke through. Kettah turned and ran through the living room, and just as she reached the end of the hallway the front door burst open and the sound of her brother racing toward her was frighteningly loud. She ran into the bedroom, slammed the door shut behind her, and darted to the closet. But even though the distance wasn’t at all that far, it seemed like miles and miles away. It was like she was stuck in a dream where she was desperately trying to run away, but all she was doing was moving in place. Konstantine burst through the bedroom, and she screamed. The scent of his malice, of his violence and anger suffocated her. She couldn’t let him get her, because even if she fought back, her brother was bigger, stronger, and there was no way she could beat him. Everything else seemed to go in slow motion. Gripping the handle to the escape route, she opened it and saw the secret latch to the door that would lead her to the outside. Konstantine had a hold of her hair and was yanking her away from the closet before she could reach freedom.
She landed on her back hard, and the air left her in a rush. The crack of her skull hitting the hard wood made her ears ring, and flashes of light bounce in front of her vision. Her brother stood beside her, his sadistic smile promising all kinds of disgusting pain.
“Konstantine, God, I’m your sister.” Survival instinct reared up, but she didn’t even know why she bothered trying to reach the human side of him.
“Little sister, those are only words. Blood doesn’t matter when you betray the family. You’ll get punished like the rest of the cattle that think they can leave. You know far too much about what happens inside of the organization, and that makes you a liability. You know how we handle liabilities.”
Yeah, she did, with flame torches, screwdrivers, and a million and one other forms of torture.
“You’re a sick motherfucker.” She scooted back on her ass, but he didn’t follow her, just crossed his arms over his chest and smiled sadistically at her.
“Yeah, I am, but it’s pretty fucking fun, Kettah. I can see on your face you remember the screams coming from the basement, the sounds of the things we like to do to the ones that think they can screw over a Milokov.” A shiver worked through her, and Konstantine laughed. He got down on his haunches, his smile one of macabre satisfaction. “You have no idea the pleasure I will derive from making an example of you, Kettah, and Father has given me free reign.”
“Did you ever love me, Konstantine?” She stared into his hazel eyes, ones that matched her own. How had he turned out so cruel and evil?
“Little sister, when did you become so weak?”
Curling her hand into a fist, she didn’t think, just swung out and connected with the side of his face. He grunted in pain, and she watched in satisfaction as his lip split and blood welled at the wound. Bringing the back of his hand to his mouth and wiping the blood away, he looked down at the red streak on his pale skin. “He won’t let you take me away.”
Konstantine threw his head back and laughed, and it truly was a sickening sound. “Kettah, that lion is as good as dead. In fact, he will wish he hadn’t faked his own death and just slit his own throat once Father gets a hold of him.”
Viktor was coming? Here? Commotion came from the stairs, and her heart rate increased. Was that Maverick? Had he taken care of things downstairs, or was Konstantine right, and there were just too many of her father’s men for him to handle alone? Her brother kept chuckling, and the sound of something being dragged came closer to the bedroom. Oh God. She covered her mouth as two burly, one of them Sevastian, dragged a clearly drugged up Maverick and threw him onto the floor.
“Sorry, Boss. The fucker was a machine downstairs. He broke Sevastian’s nose, and he nearly took off my left arm.” The shifter she had never seen before let go of Maverick. “Good thinking on bringing the tranquilizer, though. Gave the asshole a triple round, and still he came after us like a pissed off rhino. Finally I hit him two more times, and he went down.”
Konstantine looked down at her, wiped his mouth once more before grinning, and turned to walk over to Maverick.
“You stay the hell away from him.” She tried to push herself up, but her brother was before her in the next second and kicked her so hard in the belly she slid across the floor. Gasping in pain and clutching at her abdomen, Kettah blinked back the tears and forced herself not to throw up. “You asshole.” The words came out of her on a wheezed breath, but that only had Konstantine and the unknown shifter chuckling. She noticed Sevastian by the door, a hard, unreadable expression on his face.
“Huh. I can smell the stink of his claim on you a mile away.” Her brother laughed again. “Not that it wasn’t a little hard in tracking you down once we got to this shitty little down. I’ll give the lion credit, he did a pretty good job of hiding from us for this long, but once we started asking around for the lion shifter, it seemed the only person they knew that fit that description was a Maverick. Hell.” Konstantine looked around. “Looks like he has a pretty nice setup here. Hiding like a coward when he should have just been a male and come to us if he wanted out.” Her brother shook his head. “To fake your own death, use the body of a druggie lion shifter, and was smart enough to make it look like him that burned up in that crash…” He gave her a hard, unforgiving look. “Frankly, it pisses me the fuck off.”
Kettah pushed herself up until she was sitting. “Let’s remember that he could have killed you where you slept, Konstantine. All of you assholes in fact.” She looked at the other two men and snarled. Her cat was right there, ready to protect the male she cared about immensely. He was lying on the floor, his hands twitching, but the tranquilizers that had been injected into him were potent and rendering him without function. His eyes were open, and she knew he could see everything, but couldn’t do anything. Oh God, she had to protect him, had to make sure that even if she died Maverick would be okay. But how could she make that happen when she couldn’t fight off one, let alone three male shifters? Before anyone could say another word, the sound of steady footsteps getting closer and closer had her looking toward the broken door that hung from the hinges, and everything in her screamed when her father walked in. He looked so proper with his pressed grey pinstripe suit and his silver gleaming cufflinks. He glanced around the room with clear disgust, and when his gaze landed on her, and then on Maverick, his smile grew.
“Ah, Kettah, my dear.” He took another step toward her. “You evaded me far longer than I gave you credit for.” He looked over at Maverick who was making small, deep noises, as if he were trying to talk. “And, Marick, I thought you were dead. You’re a smart bastard, I’ll give you that, but it seems that your luck has finally run out.” Viktor smoothed his hands down his chest, and then clasped his hands in front of him.
Her father never liked to get his hands dirty, but apparently this was a special occasion for him. He stopped in front of her, and in a move far quicker than she anticipated, he had his hand wrapped around her throat and had her hauled up. The tips of her toes barely touched the ground, and she clawed the iron-tight clasp he had on her throat, cutting off her oxygen. “It’s truly a shame, Kettah. I wish things didn’t have to come to this, but everyone knows that once you fuck over a Milokov then that is the end.” He brought his arm up, and through the pounding of her pulse she heard the low groan come from Maverick. That had energy pouring into her, and she brought one of her legs back and kneed her father right between the legs. He howled in pain, loosening his hold slightly, but still he didn’t let go enough for her to escape him. How could she hope to save Maverick when it was clear she couldn’t even do that for herself? Her father slammed his fist into the side of her face, and pain exploded along her temple. She went flying through the air, hit the wall, slid down it, and tried to stay conscious, but the darkness was too much of a temptation, and she wasn’t strong enough to fight it.
Chapter Fourteen
Maverick’s lion rose up, pushing through the haze the drugs inside of him, and trying to gather all of his strength. His mate’s pain slammed into him as forcefully as if it were his own, and the sight of Viktor hitting her had rage burning so brightly inside of him it would have blinded the whole fucking town. Someone kicked him in the ribs, but he couldn’t feel anything aside from his mate’s pain and his own anger and hatred. Someone rolled him over, and as his vision cleared, his lion continuing to push through the drugs, he saw the male that he loathed, the one whom he should have killed six years ago.
“Marick, it has been a long time, old friend. Oh, wait, you’re not going by that name anymore, right?” He turned and looked at Konstantine, another motherfucker that was just as vile as his father, and would die by his hands tonight, too. “Son, what does the great lion go by now?”
“Maverick Storm.” There was a hiss in Konstantine’s voice.
“Yes, Maverick.” Viktor looked at him again and smirked. “I like it, but too bad you won’t be around much longer to continue using it.” Another swift kick to his side had Maverick groaning. “Ah, there we go. Coming around I see.” Viktor stared at him for a long few seconds, but Maverick needed every bit of time for his lion to continue to wade through the drugs and come forth. He needed his animal more than ever right now, because he had four assholes he needed to take down. “Konstantine, I want the lion here to see what happens when they fuck over a Milokov, and this should make it even sweeter seeing as my dear daughter has mated with the asshole that thought he could get away from the business.” Konstantine chuckled, but Viktor cut a nasty glare to his son, shutting the cat up instantly. “Go to your sister and make sure she screams.”
Maverick tried to move, tried to go to Kettah, but whatever they had shot into him made his human body sluggish. It was like moving through tar, but his lion was making progress. It was just too slow for Maverick’s comfort. Viktor grabbed him by the hair and lifted his upper body up so he could see Konstantine walk up to Kettah. His mate was slouched against the wall, her eyes closed but her heart still pounding fierce and strong. His lion growled and clawed to get free and go to his mate, protect her and tear these fuckers apart until there was only blood and shredded body parts left. But there was commotion behind him, and the sound of grunts of pain, curses, and flesh meeting flesh sounded loudly.
“What the fuck?” Martin, Sevastian, what the hell?” Viktor shifted his body so he could see what was happening, and the two fuckers that had fought him downstairs were currently grappling for supremacy.
“Shoot him,” the one named Martin grunted out, but the other one, a bear shifter, slammed his fist over and over again in the side of Martin’s head.
“Sevastian, stop.” Konstantine lifted his hand, and the sight of his silver gun gleamed under the ceiling light.
“Konstantine, worry about taking care of Kettah. I’ll shoot these fuckers myself.” Viktor dropped Maverick to the ground, and Maverick saw Konstantine move over to Kettah again.
Maverick’s fingers twitched, and he felt his lion come closer and closer to the surface. His beast was almost out, almost ready to tear through his human form and take control. It was hell knowing that Konstantine wanted to hurt his female, and absolute fucking torture when the asshole pulled out a Dark Ops VIN-1 knife from a case at the small of his back. The lion in him clawed faster, moved more swiftly, and Maverick tasted the wilderness moving within him, but he couldn’t shift fast enough, not when Konstantine got down on his haunches and slapped Kettah across the face, waking her so she was lucid when he tortured her.
“No.” The word came out of him on a gruff whisper. Fuck, he needed to get stronger. There was more commotion behind him, and he forced himself to grab onto his strength and push himself up. The sound of Viktor cursing, of threatening whatever was going on with the other two shifters, was loud, but not as loud as his lion roaring out.
“Do it now, Konstantine, before he regains his strength,” Viktor yelled out, and the sound of a gun going off, although muted from a silencer, was the last thing Maverick heard before his lion broke through the haziness of the drugs. Rage churned fast and toxic inside of Maverick. Kons
tantine chuckled, and before Maverick could even blink he was slicing right into Kettah’s thigh. The strong scent of her blood was immediate, and Maverick knew her femoral artery had been damaged in some way. She screamed and tried to move away, but even from this distance he could tell the hit to the wall had rattled her. He shifted, felt his bones break and realign, felt his skin tear and make way for fur, and then he was standing in front of the male he should have killed a long fucking time ago. Martin charged forward, and right before he got to Maverick he saw Viktor and the other shifter fighting. Maverick didn’t give a fuck on what was going on, because it was going to end tonight. Martin reached him with a snarl on his face and his body in the process of shifting, but Maverick was on him before he changed fully and ripped the fucker’s throat out. He roared out when blood sprayed along his mane. There was another gun that went off, but this time it was the shifter Viktor had been fighting with that went down. Blood started to pool on the floor by his arm. Maverick turned and faced Konstantine, who had since moved away from Kettah during everything.
“What the fuck? What the fuck?” There was almost a panicked quality to Konstantine’s voice. Good. At least the bastard knew he was going to die.
“Control yourself, boy,” Viktor snarled out. “Kill him, son, kill him and be done with it.”
“Father, he is fully shifted—”
Viktor hissed out, and the other Pallas’s cat snapped his mouth shut.
“You’re fucking weak, Konstantine.” Viktor turned and looked at Maverick. “You think you can handle both of us, lion?”
Maverick growled low in his throat and glanced at Kettah. She was alive, but the blood from her wound was a steady flow down her leg. He calculated his next moves, knowing that if he went for Viktor, Konstantine would attack Kettah, and vice versa. Konstantine was closer to his mate. “Come on, lion.” Viktor charged at him at the same time he barked at his son to finish her off.
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