Grace’s throat ached with unshed tears and she nodded. Her sister’s future had changed on a dime—nothing about her life would be normal. But she couldn’t afford to think about that now.
“Why don’t you want to tell the father?”
“He’s not a decent person, Grace. I don’t trust him and can’t believe I ever did before. I was stupid. I fell hard for a much too handsome guy who said all the right things.” Anger flashed across her face now. “I’ll do everything in my power to make sure he never finds out.”
“All right. I’ll help you in any way I can. How are you going to keep this from Jocelyn though?”
“I don’t know. Crud.” Aubree’s brows drew together and she shook her head. “I don’t trust her either. There’s no saying what she might get in her head to do to me and the baby if she knew I was pregnant. I wouldn’t put anything past her with all the sick little experiments she does—”
“Wait, which experiments?” Grace fumbled for her sister’s hands, her heart suddenly pounding. Surely her sister couldn’t have been aware of what had happened just two months ago.
But the shock on Aubree’s face and then guilt sent a slow, awful sense of premonition through her.
“Bree?”
“I…you were never supposed to know.” Misery laced her sister’s soft words. “She promised me the tests would help me and that if I did it willingly she wouldn’t try and force you to do them.”
The noise that erupted from Grace’s throat was almost animallike. “No. Dammit, no. Aubree. Tell me you weren’t given those injections.”
Aubree shook her head. “Wait, you know about them?”
“Of course I know,” Grace rasped, pressing her hands to her head and digging her nails into her temple. “I can’t believe this. I cannot fucking believe she’d do this. And you never told me?”
“I didn’t want to tell you.” Tears of pain reflected in her sister’s eyes. “I didn’t want to worry you. And it’s better this way, I’m okay, and at least you didn’t have to go through them—”
“But I did,” Grace rasped. “She blackmailed me into doing them, Bree. Told me she wouldn’t force you to do them if I did.”
“Oh no…”
Grace knew the almost childlike disappointment and dismay on her sister’s face was the complete opposite of the rage brewing inside her own soul.
Fuck it. She was done with Jocelyn Feloray. The woman had gone too far this time—much too far. It was a good thing their aunt wasn’t standing under the same roof right now, or she might not leave alive.
“I hate that you went through that too, Grace. But please don’t be upset for me, I don’t remember a lot of the bad parts, honestly.” Aubree shrugged. “Which I suppose is a blessing, and Drew pulled me out before when I started showing complications from the drug.”
Grace narrowed her eyes. “Drew?”
Aubree’s cheeks flushed and she lowered her eyes. “He’s a worker at the lab, helped out with the transport of the shifter volunteers, I think.”
Holy shit. Maybe Aubree hadn’t been seduced by some horny teenager, but a grown-ass man.
“And let me guess. He’s also your baby’s father?”
Her sister gave a slight shrug. “He took me away from those horrible tests and kept me safe at his apartment. I was so ridiculously grateful…when he told me I was pretty and wanted to kiss me, all I could think of was how lucky I was.”
“Misplaced hero worship,” Grace said grimly. “And apparently an asshole who took advantage of it.”
She wanted to kill them all. Have her own vigilante justice on the pieces of shit of this world—family or not.
What the hell was wrong with people? Just like Grace, her sister had been blackmailed by her own aunt. And some shady fucktard had seduced a teenager and got her pregnant.
“I hope you’re hungry.” Darrius returned to the living room, a couple of steaming plates in his hand. “Pancakes. Eggs. Tea.”
“No coffee?” Aubree asked hopefully.
“I think you should skip it now,” Grace murmured, accepting a plate and balancing it on her lap. “We need to have you see a doctor about this pregnancy.”
“Crud. I’d rather not.”
“Not an option. No niece or nephew of mine is being born without proper care.” Holy hell, just saying those words was still shocking.
Grace stared at the food on her plate and knew it would be a challenge to eat anything.
“While you both are eating, I figured I’d head out and take care of a few things.” Darrius turned away and grabbed his keys off the desk.
The hairs on the back of Grace’s neck rose. “Care to elaborate on that?”
He gave a hard smile. “No, actually, I don’t.”
The knock at the door saved her from any response.
Darrius pulled it open and motioned for Sienna and Donovan to come inside.
Grace set her plate down and shook her head. “What—”
“Darrius promised us breakfast.” Sienna smiled and strode across the room, giving Grace a big hug. “Hey, sweetie.”
“Apparently my security system is a piece of shit.”
“I wouldn’t say that.” Donovan plucked one of her wooden needles from the back of his arm. “Damn impressive actually. So…food?”
“I’m sorry, but are you here for breakfast, or babysitting?” Grace glanced pointedly at Darrius and then Donovan.
Donovan gave a slight shrug. “We take care of our own, Masterson. And the hell if I’m going to turn down a free meal.”
She had a bad feeling about this. A really bad feeling, actually. The hard glint in Darrius’s eyes and his death grip on the keys in his hands had her stepping forward.
“Wait—”
Donovan caught her arm, halted her advance. “Just let him go, Masterson.”
Her pulse quickened and she shook her head when Darrius met her gaze. He gave a small smile, a quick wink, and then he was gone.
Darrius drove through the back roads of North Bend as if the speed limit was simply a suggestion and the tires on his trucks had wings.
Traffic was almost nonexistent at this hour, and the pink fingers of dawn were only now sliding up over Mount Si.
The rage inside him only grew with each mile he put between him and Grace’s home.
Generally in life he tried to give people the benefit of the doubt. Tried to assume not everyone was an asshole—which was actually kind of a challenge in his field.
But Jocelyn Feloray had just been promoted to Queen Bitch in his eyes. And she was going to start being accountable for her actions.
He pulled up alongside the luxury condo he now knew was her residence a few minutes later.
The front doors were locked, but it didn’t take him long to find a way in, or to override the security code in the private elevator that went to the penthouse.
When the doors slid open, the lush hallway was silent. He made no move to silence his footsteps and just strode purposefully in through the penthouse’s doors.
The electronic blinds were drawn, leaving the opulent living room in near darkness, but his gaze was already sliding over the condo in search of the bedroom. No doubt that’s where the viperous bitch was.
Instinct slammed a cold warning into him a second before a hard body nearly knocked him down. Darrius regained his balance and swung his fist into the jaw of the man coming in for another attack.
His punch connected with a promising crunch that sent the younger man to his knees. But he was quickly back up, hurtling himself at Darrius and wrapping beefy arms around his face in an attempt to bring him down.
Who the hell was this asshole attacking with all the subtlety of a bull in a china shop? He was young and had a pretty face that was now going to be marked up from the punch Darrius had just thrown.
Darrius brought his elbow down on the back of the man’s neck, and was rewarded when he slumped to the ground.
“Very nice, Agent Hilliard.” Jocelyn s
trode out of the bedroom, a red silk robe tied around a tiny waist. “I must say I’m impressed. Though I’m not sure I appreciate you leaving marks on my toy.”
“They’ll fade.” The young man was a shifter, he could smell the wolf blood in him. “I’m surprised you’d let a shapeshifter even touch you.”
“Only because he does it so well. I reduce him to a penis and it works out quite well. I just try to block out what he is.”
“Why? It’s partly what you are too.”
“Hmm. And I try so hard to forget that.” Jocelyn moved past him and into a sparkling, state-of-the-art-looking kitchen. “Can I get you something to drink? Mimosa? Bloody Mary?”
“You’re lucky I don’t end you, Jocelyn. Right here, right now.”
“End me?” She arched a brow as she poured vodka into a tall glass. “As in kill me? How utterly dramatic.”
“Just about as dramatic as trying to ruin the lives of your nieces.” He walked slowly into the kitchen, glancing around.
“My nieces were never in danger.”
“Grace almost died.”
Jocelyn added the Bloody Mary mix to her vodka. “There were complications with the drug I couldn’t have predicted.”
“Bullshit, Jocelyn.” He gave a harsh laugh. “You’re so damn lucky we don’t have a leg to stand on for a lawsuit. But right now I’m pretty close to ignoring the human justice system anyway.”
“Is that a threat, Agent Hilliard?”
“You’re damn right it is.”
Jocelyn took a sip of her drink and then narrowed her eyes. “I don’t respond well to threats. You realize I could have you arrested. Breaking and entering. Assault. All that delightful business.”
Darrius strode forward until he was just inches away from her. Up close, he could see the resemblance between the three women. All were beautiful and had the same crystalline blue eyes and small upturned nose.
All three were petite, though Jocelyn and Aubree had more delicate frames. Grace was small, but had curves and muscle from the demanding, athletic lifestyle being a P.I.A. agent required.
And then there were the eyes—the windows to the soul. All three women’s eyes told a different story. Aubree’s held an innocence and fragility of being so young and vulnerable. Grace’s a hard defiance and confidence. But Jocelyn’s gaze always shined with a calculation that was pure evil.
“I think I would actually enjoy it if you called the human cops on me, Jocelyn.” He tilted his head and bared his teeth. “And I’ll be sure to let them know how you imprisoned and condoned the seduction of a minor.”
All amusement disappeared from Jocelyn’s gaze. “What the hell did you just say?”
“I wonder how that would go down in the media. The high and mighty owner of Feloray Laboratories blackmails her teenage niece into an experiment during which she’s seduced and impregnated by your employee.”
The glass fell from Jocelyn’s hands, shattering on the floor and spreading red over the ground. It almost looked like blood, the dark red against sparkling black tile.
“Aubree is pregnant?”
Fuck, had Jocelyn not known? Unease slid through him at the thought of having tipped a hand that shouldn’t have been shown. He tried to remember parts of the conversation he’d overheard from Grace and Aubree at breakfast. Had Aubree said something about not wanting Jocelyn to know? Or was his mind creating that?
Shit. Shit, he’d been so caught up with his own emotions he hadn’t even stopped to think what he was saying.
With a growl of fury, partly at himself and the monster in front of him, he strode forward.
Jocelyn backed up, eyes wide, until she hit the counter.
“You don’t touch them. You don’t come near them,” he rasped. “Do you understand? If you so much as try, I will personally destroy you and your company.”
Her lower lip trembled and she shook her head. The blood had left her face and her skin had an unhealthy paleness to it.
“Do you fucking understand me?” he screamed.
“Yes.” Her voice was husky now, her eyes not meeting his, but instead on her little boy toy still unconscious in the other room. “You’ve made your point, Agent Hilliard. Now if you wouldn’t mind taking your charming caveman tactics out of here and let me get on with my morning? Some of us have work to do today.”
He didn’t trust her, but knowing he’d already fucked up by both coming here and threatening her, he turned and made his way out of the door. As he left, he just barely resisted the temptation of kicking the little shit who’d attacked him.
Time to instigate the rest of the plan.
“You’re back sooner than I thought.” Sienna opened the door to him and gestured him inside. “Aubree is asleep and Grace is showering. She’s determined to go into work.”
“I figured she would be.” Darrius strode inside the small house and slid his gaze to Donovan, who was currently on Grace’s computer in the corner of the room. “But I called in for a sick day. Can you keep an eye on her at the office today, Donovan?”
“You know I will. We all will.” Donavan spun his chair around and folded his arms across his chest. “What have you got in mind?”
“I’m taking Aubree to my parents’ house. They’re going to keep her safe.”
“Jocelyn will never allow it.”
He hadn’t heard Grace’s approach, but glanced back to see her drying her hair with a towel as she shot him a frown.
“She will,” he said with grim confidence. After the he’d threatened her ’til she’d probably peed herself, he had a feeling Jocelyn would stay away.
“She has full custody of Bree. We tried, but the courts wouldn’t even let her come and stay with me.”
He offered a stiff shrug. “Trust me, Grace, she’s going to look the other way on this.”
Uncertainty flashed across her face before she gave a small nod. “And your parents, how do they feel about harboring a pregnant teenager?”
“I’ve already spoken with them and they’re waiting for us now.” Not caring that Sienna and Donovan were there—because fuck it, he was tired of hiding it—he crossed to Grace and pulled her into his arms. “They raised four kids, sugar. I’m sure they’ll do fine.”
She didn’t pull away, or even glance at the other couple in the room. Instead she just gave a soft sigh and pressed her cheek to his shoulder.
“Thank you. I’m worried about her. And she’s determined to not say anything to both the father of the baby and Jocelyn.”
Darrius closed his eyes and took the punch of guilt to the stomach. “Yeah, about that…”
“Oh God, Darrius, you didn’t.”
“I wasn’t thinking. It didn’t occur to me that she didn’t know, or that Aubree didn’t want her to know.” He slid a damp strand of hair between his fingers. “Which is another reason I’m taking full responsibility and keeping her with people I trust.”
Grace shook her head, unease on her face. “Shit, I don’t know—”
“I’ll have my youngest brother drive her to school and pick her up.” He grinned. “He’s bigger than me and plays basketball for the UW. She’ll be safe.”
“I guess we don’t have a choice.”
“Trust me on this.”
“I do.” She finally nodded and stepped away. “I have no idea how Aubree will react—”
“I’ll take care of it. Why don’t you head into work with Sienna and Donovan?”
“We’re ready when you are,” Sienna murmured, her bright tone not completely natural with the mood in the room.
“You’re not coming to work today?” Grace’s gaze flickered to him in surprise.
“I took it off to get Aubree settled.”
“Oh, Darrius…”
Seeing the gratitude and hesitation in her eyes, he reassured her the only way he knew how. He pulled her closer and took her mouth in a gentle, reassuring kiss that ultimately had her sighing and Donovan clearing his throat.
“Well, I guess
the word discretion has been eliminated from both of your guys’ library,” Donovan drawled. “You’ve got ten minutes, Masterson. Then we’re leaving.”
Grace nodded, not even the least bit flushed as she moved away from Warrick and back to her room.
“Thanks.” Darrius shoved his hands into back pocket and jerked his chin at the other man. “I appreciate this.”
“We’re happy to do it.” Sienna grinned and moved toward the kitchen, but nudged him in the side. “And I think you two are adorable together. You should bite her soon, before some other wolf does. She’d be a great mate.”
Somehow he didn’t flinch and just managed a slight smile. Donovan, however, grimaced and shook his head.
“Sorry about that. I never told her anything, bro.”
“I know. And I appreciate you keeping my business quiet.” Darrius slapped his friend on the back and went to wake up Aubree.
Any man lucky enough to have Grace as a mate wouldn’t have any idea how good he had it. Unfortunately, Darrius would never be that man.
Chapter Eighteen
“You holding up okay?”
When there was no immediate answer, Darrius cast a glance over at the silent girl in the passenger seat. The truck almost swallowed up her slight frame, and she stared straight ahead with wide eyes and a slightly turned down mouth.
A lost soul.
“I’ll be fine.” She slid her hands to her belly, still flat beneath the jeans and clingy red T-shirt, and didn’t look at him. “Thank you for helping me.”
“Not a big deal.”
“But it is,” she said softly. “You don’t know me. You’ve only known my sister for less than a year. And now you’re taking me to your family. That’s kind of a big deal.”
This girl might be quiet and shy—so unlike her sister—but one thing they had in common was their candor. They didn’t hesitate to speak what was on their mind.
“I care about your sister and there’s not a helluva lot I wouldn’t do for her right now.” He paused. “And that transfers over to those she cares about.”
Savage Betrayal: Savage, Book 2 Page 19
