Pure Claim

by Marie Johnston

  Pointing to the big vampire guard still passed out in the entryway, she said, “He should wake up shortly. Doc said it’d knock him down for a couple of hours.”

  “I’ll drag him back out to the hallway and let him piss himself thinking he fell asleep on the job.” Demetrius grinned wickedly. “It’ll be fun to mess with him.”

  “Nice chatting with you, D. I’ll go out the way I came.”

  “Which is? I’d like to know so I can tighten up security.”

  She waved him off. “Your security’s not bad. But you’ll need to reactivate the alarm by the west windows. And your interior cameras aren’t three-sixty. Just sayin’. On the difficulty scale of B and E, I’d give it an eight.”

  “Noted.”

  Chapter Twelve

  The beefy fist nailed him in the gut again. Rhys doubled over, or at least tried to, being tied up as usual.

  Mastiff stepped back. “Has she contacted you yet?”

  “Yeah, we have mind sex every night.”

  Another blow to the gut. Rhys coughed, his jaw stretched wide in pain. Months of the same old, same old didn’t make it any better. Mastiff hated him more and got a little more brutal every time. Sometimes it took Rhys days to grow teeth back and keep food down before his body healed properly.

  It was worth it.

  They would be even more ruthless to Alex if they got a hold of her. They might not start out as brutal, but her mouth would get them there. He felt powerless not to be able to help her and the issues she had to go work through on her own. He could do this. He could absorb their anger toward her.

  As Rhys’ gut throbbed, a soothing wave flowed through his mind. His brows furrowed, his eyes strained to refocus. Letting his senses flare out, he got…nothing. Something? Wait. It seemed like nothing, but something was there, making his inner wolf rise and take note.

  Whatever it was didn’t feel threatening. Rhys forced himself to look at Mastiff’s ugly face sneering at him. If he scanned around the room, Mastiff might get suspicious. Was there anything to get suspicious about? His gut told him yes, but he had no fucking clue why.

  “Reach out to her.” The Guardian pawn of the council growled, raising his fist in a threat.

  “All right, let me try.” Rhys closed his eyes and tipped his head back. “Okay. She says fuck you.” Rhys opened his eyes so the body part that got nailed next wasn’t a surprise.

  Mastiff’s sneer coiled his lips as he pulled back for more force. Before his anvil fist could reach Rhys’ face, it was jerked back and twisted. Mastiff’s body angled with it, thanks to the strong feminine hand on his shoulder. Using the momentum of the male, Rhys watched as Alex pushed him head first into the wall. Not waiting for the rebound, she booted him in the kidneys.

  Rhys was shocked to see her, but not at all surprised that she was able to get in unnoticed. He wrenched at his chains. He’d been in them often enough, and long enough, to get a good feel for them. Not only were they solid, they were lined with silver. But damn, if he needed to sacrifice a hand to help Alex, he would.

  Before Mastiff could recover from being thrown into the wall and then kicked, Alex withdrew a dart gun and shot a tiny red arrow into the goliath’s flank. With a snarl, Mastiff spun, lashing an arm out that Alex deflected and danced away from. The male gritted his teeth together and charged at her, his fists ready to fly.

  Rhys’ rage launched him at the guard, chair and all. With a yell, he took to his feet and barreled into the male right before he reached Alex. Mastiff stumbled to the side, while Rhys kept toppling until he hit the floor. The force of the hit turned him enough that he fell onto his side. After he landed, Rhys used his feet to spin and kick a leg out to trip Mastiff when he made another lunge for Alex.

  Alex had another dart ready. When Mastiff hit the floor, she pumped the red dart into his back. He struggled to get up and she booted him in the head.

  “Just to be sure,” she said, as Rhys heard the male’s body thud limply onto the floor.

  Rhys let her rich voice roll through him, relaxing him in all the right places, tightening him in even better ones. The throbbing agony in his gut was a distant memory with her in the room.

  He couldn’t see her from the position he was now laying in. But what he did see before he fell was that she looked like Agent X—dressed in tight black leather and armed to her pearly whites with blades and guns.

  “Sweet Mother Earth it’s good to see you.” Rhys was glad he could say that. If Alex hadn’t gotten there when she did, his mouth would have been shredded.

  “I noticed you were a little tied up.”

  He heard her move over Mastiff, confirming he was really out. Then her footsteps moved next to him. She yanked him upright with the back and seat of the metal chair and set all four legs on the floor.

  “Damn, he must keep the keys outside the room. I’ll have to get your chains off the fun way.” She squatted down to pick the lock on the chain around his torso that secured him to the back of the chair. He used the moment to look her over.

  She looked fine. Damn fine. Her eyes were still their normal brilliant green, but a calmness had settled into them that he hadn’t noticed before. Her new hairstyle was edgy, but ultra-feminine, just like she was.

  “How did you flash in here?” Vamps couldn’t flash somewhere they’d never been before. Rhys was outraged thinking she had been in the interrogation room before.

  Those vibrant green eyes rose to meet his as she finished her work on the first lock. “Malcolm gave me your beating schedule after he supplied a detailed outline of the council’s facilities. I made sure to step in here and peak around before you arrived.”

  Alex moved behind him to work on the cuffs around his wrists. The heat of her fingers and just having her close was screwing with his senses.

  “How do you keep your scent tapered down like that?” His mind and body knew she was close by and his mating instincts flared, but he wanted to be enveloped in her scent. It dulled the agony of his time spent with Mastiff.

  “It’s a trick Sigma taught us. It’s like using my hypnosis to amplify the other scents around us, so ours becomes camouflaged. Mentally taxing, but effective.”

  He felt tugs on his wrists as she worked on the lock. “Can you teach my pack that?” Then Rhys remembered he was no longer in charge. “I mean, Bennett might think it’s a good idea.”

  She leaned up to speak softly into his ear, causing heat to spiral down to his groin. “Don’t worry, Rhys. Bennett hasn’t warmed up to the commander position at all.”

  He turned his head toward her, his lips inches from hers. The cuffs dropped away. He didn’t waste any time snaking an arm around her waist, drawing her up and across his lap. Draping one leg over, Alex straddled his lap and rested arms over his shoulders.

  Wrapping his arms around her waist, he leaned into her neck to breathe in her subtle wildflower scent. “The council won’t reinstate me.”

  Idly running her fingers in patterns on the back of his head, she unconsciously rocked her hips into him. “They won’t have a say if they’re not around anymore.”

  Rhys jerked his head back. “The council, or the males on it?”

  Alex shrugged casually. “Both. Either. Whatever works.”

  Narrowing his eyes on her, he tightened his hold and rocked his own hips up into her, seeking a margin of relief from the strain behind his zipper. “What does my beautiful mate have planned?”

  A small smile touched her lips at his compliment. “Getting you out of here. Then searching their secret prison.”

  Rhys frowned as he thought it over. “Wouldn’t it have been better to leave me here while you searched the prison? Then my absence, or the attack on Mastiff, wouldn’t set off any alarms.”

  She drew her lips back slightly, baring a tiny amount of fang. The view went straight to his manhood, because his last memory of seeing her fangs was when she ran one down his length. Most. Erotic. Experience. Ever.

  She leaned down to nip hi
s bottom lip. “Did you leave me hanging at Sigma?”

  Rhys groaned and pulled her closer. “Mastiff’s a big pussy cat. I’da been all right.”

  Alex chuckled, running her tongue along his lower lip to catch the drop of blood she drew. Rhys could no longer take it. He captured her mouth with his own. Surprising even himself, he didn’t go further. His lips on her lips. Contact with his mate. It was what his body craved after six months, any sort of contact. Being deprived of her dreams had been the toughest part of his confinement, of her being gone.

  He broke off the kiss. “Are you here to stay?”

  Her lips were a breadth away. “Maybe. I can’t live openly under the Lycan Council as it stands. Whether we replace the council, or come up with another form of government all together, it would depend on if it’s…adequate.”

  He swiped his lips across hers again. “If they seek to control you again?”

  “Exactly.” This time, she caught his mouth and coaxed his lips open.

  Rhys responded greedily, wanting to taste his mate, be as close to her as their situation would allow. Their tongues intertwined, their hands roaming each other’s body.

  Alex was the first to break contact, her breathing ragged. “As much as I want to continue this, we need to move while the big guy is down.”

  Alex was completely right. They had limited time and an unconscious body in the room. It wasn’t like he was trying to argue, but his body was on fire for her.

  “You hit him twice,” Rhys pointed out.

  “He’s a big dude.”

  “If you got the tranqs from Doc, he’ll be down for a while. Doc knows what he’s doing.”

  A smile tipped the corner of Alex’s mouth. “I like that old shifter.”

  Rhys nipped at her lip again. “I think he’s younger than me.”

  She looked surprised. “Really? You look so damn hot, all virile and shit, I forget you’re a few centuries old.”

  He let a stupid grin spread across his face.

  Giving him a saucy grin in return, she stood up and stepped back. He followed, so they were just as close standing as they had been sitting.

  “Are we going to try to get into the prison?” He was healing from his beating already and ready to act physically instead of dream walking.

  Rhys had never been able to break through whatever barrier the council had setup around their main prison. Except for making it into Mastiff’s dreams and coercing the male to show him memories of prisoners, Rhys almost would’ve thought there really was no prison.

  Almost.

  The mental void in the basement of the council’s facilities was a pretty clear indication that there was something down there that the council didn’t want others to get to.

  “I met with Demetrius,” Alex paused as a disgruntled expression crossed Rhys’ face. “Nothing happened.”

  “I know. I just don’t like him.”

  She didn’t bother hiding her smirk. “I think the feeling’s mutual. At least you two can be big boys and work together. Anyhoodles, he said when they overthrew the other Sigma chapters around the country, some prisoners died mysteriously. Like, the vampires running Sigma didn’t want them to spill any secrets about why they were imprisoned. He thinks the councils have had an ‘I’ll bite your jugular and let you bite mine’ agreement, and that maybe the shifters are holding their own people.”

  “That would explain how they found out about you.” Rhys couldn’t believe it. The councils were working together? It was hard enough for the Lycan Council to work with its own people.

  “To take care of those pesky trans-species mates.”

  Understanding dawned on him. Of course. It would appear like any other vampire-shifter hate killing, not a targeted attack. “Who would be imprisoned then?”

  “We’re hoping shifters who either found out the council ordered a hit on their loved one, or are refusing to give up information on where their human or vampire mate is.”

  With that kind of witness, bringing down the council might actually be possible. His dream surveillance could only go so far. A witness to backup what Rhys saw would seal the deal against the council. “I walked in Mastiff’s dreams. I got him to start dreaming about his job. He was torturing a female of our kind. Kept asking where her mate was.”

  “Maybe she’s still down there.”

  Rhys shook his head grimly. “The dream cut off after—” Rhys grimaced at the memory of what he saw. “I don’t think he meant to push her too far, but I got the impression she didn’t survive that round.”

  Alex looked behind her at the prone form of Mastiff. “Should I kill him?”

  “No,” Rhys said adamantly. “I don’t want to give the council any more reason to come after you. Mastiff’s not that bright. He’s the brawn behind the brain. He’ll get dealt with when we go against who’s behind all this.”

  “Let’s chain him up. He can mentally call anyone he wants, but,” she grinned wickedly, “I can fix the lock to this room so it’ll be hard for anyone to get to him.”

  Alex took the male’s feet while Rhys worked on his hands. After the male’s hands were secured, Rhys straightened, eyeing the huge body on the floor. “Do you have any more darts?”

  “Why Rhys,” Alex purred, causing his body to tighten even more, “need you ask?” She withdrew the dart gun, already loaded with two more darts and pumped them both into Mastiff. Rhys couldn’t help the pull of a grin at his lips. Yeah, all that tranq could kill the male and Alex damn well knew it.

  She looked at him like what? and shoved the gun back into its holster. “Let’s jet.”

  Rhys had no other option but to follow her, she had the layout of the building. Watching the sway of her hips in those leathers, he didn’t mind at all.

  *****

  Alex trotted cautiously into the hallway and led her mate into a side storage room where she had stashed his gear. She felt all girly to his face lighting up when he saw his stuff.

  His intense hazel eyes warmed toward her. “Thank you.”

  “Bennett wanted to make sure you got it back.” She didn’t know why she didn’t want to take credit for doing something nice and thinking about her mate. Maybe it felt too intimate, like she cared. Of course Rhys knew she cared. Maybe it was because she didn’t want to disappoint him even more if she had to take off again.

  Rhys ignored the comment, and the reasons behind it, and stripped his prison shirt and pants off without shame. Alex didn’t bother looking away. The male was glorious in his nudity. Hard, sculpted muscles and—drool ran down her fangs—those little striations along the ribs that acted like a marquis for rippled abs. The muscles around his hip bones, running south, flattened as they reached the jutting member standing proudly between his legs.

  It’s not like she hadn’t seen him before, she’d just never seen him completely nude before, where she could really get a good look. So, damn, why did it have to be there? Why did it have to be now, when she didn’t know if she had to leave him again?

  “See something that interests you?” he growled low. His hooded eyes watched her reaction as he stepped into his pants.

  She cocked an eyebrow and decided not to say anything. Crossing her arms and reclining back against the wall, she took in the reverse strip show he was putting on.

  Covering up that body seemed like crime. As his bare skin disappeared under his tactical clothing, she was rewarded with watching him smoothly and capably go through his weapons. He systematically checked knives and guns, and holstered them all over his body. Gawd, the male was a stud.

  She knew enough not be insulted that he felt like he had to double-check his gear. It was what smart warriors did. She’d have done the same and she had, many times, when E would pop in with her stuff after a bad punishment session.

  Once Rhys was done, he gave her an expectant look, as if waiting for her to lead the way. She had the entire facility committed to memory. It was like a campus, and the building they were in was where the council
conducted all their business. Hence, it was where they kept the prisoners. The less a prisoner had to be moved for a tribunal, the better.

  She wasn’t going to lead him anywhere. Instead, she grabbed his arm and flashed him to the closet she had remained hidden in while waiting for the guard to transport Rhys.

  Suddenly reappearing in the dark, Rhys swayed next to her, trying to adjust after the flash.

  “That’s a handy way to avoid security cameras,” he muttered, giving his head one last good shake.

  “It’s awesome. I can name a ton of times flashing would’ve gotten my ass out of pickle. If Mastiff can remain unconscious and dream of large women, we should have two solid hours. We need to get into the interior prison, find a witness, and get as far away from here as possible.”

  “We’ll need to free everyone.”

  He had to be joking, but Rhys didn’t do shit like that. “Depending on the shape they’re in, we’d be lucky to escape with even one witness,” she countered. If there’s even a witness to the council’s ill deeds to be found.

  “Alex,” Rhys spoke evenly, his tone leaving no room for argument, “I realize how you had to do things in the past. You had to draw the line for self-preservation. I can’t do that. My duty, my nature, is to protect my species. I can’t leave innocent prisoners behind to face the fear and wrath of the council.”

  Rhys’ words sunk in. When she was with Sigma and trying to stay alive so she could kill Madame G, her decisions had often been the lesser of two evils. He was right. If they got into the prison, discovered innocent occupants, it would be on her conscience if they met with a bitter end. Once the council discovered Rhys was missing, their prison broken into—and then out of—they might terminate those left behind in order to keep their secret.

  “Fine,” she sighed. In the dark of the storage closet, her keen eyes picked up the amusement in his. “Malcolm only knew there was a prison, but he’d never been in it. He and Harrison tried to get in there, not realizing how protected it was. Another try and the old bastards would’ve gotten too suspicious.”