by Haley Weir
A knock on the door interrupted his thoughts and Anders moseyed over to look through the peephole. Brock unlocked the door and pushed it open a second later, not bothering to greet Anders or explain why he had possession of a key to Anders’ mate’s apartment. “What are you doing here?”
“I’m here to move my best friend’s things to the loft before the meeting,” Brock snapped. “She’s too stubborn and prideful to ask me to help, so here I am. I’m not giving her a choice in this. She isn’t running away anymore.”
“You think you’re the reason she’ll stay?”
“And what? You think you are any better? At least I’m her friend.”
“I’m her boyfriend,” Anders informed Brock. “We made it official last night.”
“Yeah, it’s too little too late in my opinion. You’ll screw it up, Anders.”
“I thought we were friends.” He couldn’t believe years of their shared companionship had crumbled beneath the loyalty that Brock had for Sapphire.
“We were until you decided to become like Michael. For a while there, I didn’t even recognize you. Hell, Dorian’s his best friend and he didn’t even understand why you were so adamant on hating her.”
“Michael—”
“Michael knows his secrets,” Sapphire said from the doorway of the bathroom. She was wrapped in a towel that matched her toenails and the steam had reddened her skin to a pretty pink. It didn’t surprise Anders that she was comfortable around Brock as undressed as she was. They had been friends for many years...but an irrational jealousy came to life inside of him.
***
Puffer scampered over to Anders as Sapphire pulled on a pair of jeans beneath her towel and turned her back to fasten the clasp of her bra without exposing herself to the men in the room. Before she could tug her purple tank top over her head, she heard a loud crash from over her shoulder. Sapphire spun around to see Anders holding Brock against the wall by his throat. “Hey!” she shouted.
Legolas and Melby dove for cover beneath the sofa. Sapphire shoved Anders, but he wouldn’t budge. “Anders, let him go.” He finally looked at her and she saw torment in his eyes. She sensed that he was close to shifting, so she ducked under his arm and placed herself between the two testosterone-fueled males. “Hey, I’m right here, okay? No one is going to take me away from you. Let him go and hold me. Come one, Big Bear. I’m getting cold.”
His eyes never left her gaze as he dropped Brock and possessively hauled her against his chest. Sapphire flinched at the look in those whiskey-colored orbs that reflected the light in the room. She kissed him, swallowing the growl on the tip of his tongue and staking her claim on him as much as he had done to her the night before. Anders reared his head back and sank his teeth into the healing mark on her shoulder.
Sapphire arched her back, forgetting Brock’s presence until she met his eyes from where he stood in the kitchen. He shook his head and looked down at his hands. She noticed that his claws had elongated in his need to protect her.
“We have to get going or Michael will hunt us down and make us pay for being late,” Brock said, breaking through the thick fog of desire that filled the room.
“I’m coming with,” Sapphire announced. “Michael and I have a few things to discuss and I want to tell him about my plans to help.”
“What plans?”
“Yeah, what plans?” Anders echoed.
“You’ll find out when we get there.” Sapphire removed herself from Anders’ hold and pulled his shirt on. The mark of ownership didn’t go unnoticed by the men in the room. She shrugged her shoulders. “What? I like the way he smells.”
“I like you smelling like me,” Anders said with a lopsided grin that made him look boyishly handsome despite the beard, and saw a thin trail of hair that she caught sight of the night before. Sapphire licked her lips at the memory of him rubbing the finely etched muscles of his abdomen in his sleep. But Dr. Anders McKinney look just as delectable in the white t-shirt, plaid button up, and borrowed jeans that made him look more like a lumberjack than a doctor.
His raw masculinity made her a little weak in the knees.
“Saph,” Brock snapped. “Today, please.”
“Fine! Geez, I can’t help it that he makes me as scatterbrained as Destiny.”
“I’m glad I haven’t met that particular friend of yours if she’s as bad as this.”
Sapphire stuck her tongue out at her friend and then helped them pack the moving truck full of her stuff. Anders gave her a quick glance up and down. “Do you wear jeans often? I don’t remember ever seeing you in any kind of pants.”
“I don’t wear them really, but I thought they were more practical than wearing one of my dresses or skirts. Do you…do you like them?” she asked sheepishly.
“They show off your figure nicely.” The playful wink he sent her caused Sapphire to drop the box in her hand.
The rest of the move went smoothly with two bears doing most of the work. Brock’s haste was born of anger, but she thanked him for his help anyway. He kissed her cheek and continued to glare at Anders as they entered the loft. Giant windows covered an entire wall from the floor to the vaulted ceiling. Ash wood floors glistened beneath their feet. Frosted glass blocked off an enormous platform bed while the rest of the loft was filled with tasteful modern furniture.
“This place makes my old apartment look like a shoebox with windows.”
“Get showered and changed while Anders and I talk a few things out,” Brock said. “We won’t need to shower this time. One of the cool things about being a bear is that we can turn off our ability to sweat.”
“Lucky,” she grumbled as she skipped into the bathroom. Unlike the rest of the house that was mostly dusky wood tones with black and white furniture, the bathroom was comprised of dark green marble and bronze. A chandelier hung from the ceiling, casting a warm glow upon the stone tub that rested in the center of the room. The shower looked ridiculously big, but the ‘rainforest’ setting was decadent. She could see why some people got used to a certain lifestyle, but as great as it all was, it wasn’t for her.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
“I take it you’ll be sleeping on the couch, then?” Anders asked as he sat down on the sectional. He leaned toward the cocktail table and snagged a piece of gold-wrapped chocolate from the bowl at the center and plopped it into his mouth. For a doctor who prided himself on his good health, Anders had an insatiable sweet tooth; one that Sapphire White had amplified with her honey flavored kisses.
“No. Sapphire and I have shared a bed many times.”
Anders stiffened, feeling the need to tear his friend’s head from his shoulders and watch his body flail on the floor. “Why would two people who are just friends have a need to share a bed?” he questioned crossly.
“I don’t know if she told you or not, but when Sapphire and I met in college, she was homeless. I used to sneak her into my dorm and we would stay up all night talking until we both fell asleep. We’ve seen each other naked, we’ve shared a pint of ice cream, we’ve told each other our darkest secrets, and…I was her first kiss.”
Anders flew across the cushions and smashed his fist into Brock’s mouth. He climbed on top of his friend and grasped the front of his shirt. “You touched my mate! Tell me why I shouldn’t kill you.”
“Because until a few days ago, she was nothing but a burden to you. Do you honestly think that I would let you hurt her? That I would sit by and allow you to manipulate her with all of this?” Brock taunted. “She has a choice and I’m not sure it should be you that she chooses. I’d rather she spend the rest of her life alone than to think that she isn’t good enough for someone like you.”
“Really? Because it wasn’t you who was by her side every day while she was in a coma. It wasn’t you who held her through the night and took care of her cats. I was the one who saved her life and I continued to do so even when she wasn’t in danger. What kind of person abandons their so-called friend in a time of need?” Anders tos
sed back.
“I was trying to clean up my mess.”
“You mean the fact that you were the one who brought the hunters here?”
Brock shoved Anders off of him and stood over his friend. “Lower your voice.”
“Why? You don’t want Sapphire to know who you really are?” Anders heard the shower turn off and nodded his head. He wouldn’t be the one to end their friendship. Brock didn’t need any help in that regard. “If you stay out of my problems, then I’ll stay out of yours. No dabbling in my relationship, Brock.”
“I’ll tell her when I’m ready.”
“See to it that you do,” Anders replied. He knocked on the bathroom door. “I’ll be down in the car waiting. We should go into KDA together.”
“Alright! I’ll be down soon.”
He strolled past Brock, bumping him with his shoulder as he walked out the door. Anders pounded his fists against the walls of the elevator and kicked the gate so hard that it dented. His breath came out in rough coughs as he took out his frustration on the metal box that held him captive until the bell dinged. When he stepped out into the entrance hall, it took everything in his power not to scream. Anders didn’t like knowing that Brock had kissed Sapphire before him, that he had seen her body in its most natural form and lived to brag about it.
“They didn’t sleep together,” he reminded himself. In fact, Anders did think he could have survived hearing that one of his best friends had known his mate in the way of a lover. Sapphire White was his and his alone, no other man would ever know the comfort of her arms or the heat of her passion.
When Sapphire came down to the car to join him, she kissed his cheek and buckled the seatbelt. “Why the long face, Big Bear?”
“You didn’t tell me that Brock was your first kiss.”
“Did that prick use that against you?” she asked. “What a jerk. I’ll talk to him about it, but yes. Brock was my first kiss. It wasn’t anything special. It was my twenty-first birthday, just a drunken fumble because I confessed that it hadn’t happened yet.”
“But he knows your taste, your smell…”
“No, he doesn’t.” She turned his head and claimed his mouth in a searing kiss that made his heart beat ravenously in his chest. He tried to climb over to her, but he was much too big and the horn blared loudly. She pulled away and chuckled against his neck before moving her lips to his ear. “No one has ever made me sigh the way you do.”
Anders sat back in his seat and closed his eyes to calm the trembling in his hands. He turned the key in the ignition and pulled out of the parking zone. “No one else, Sapphire. No one else gets to kiss you or hold you the way I do. You’re mine.”
“Anders, there has never been anyone but you,” she snorted. “I know it isn’t the same for you, that you’ve had other lovers and relationships, but I’m yours no matter what. Even if we argue, we’ll always find a way back to this.”
Fire crackled in his eyes as he glanced over to her for a second. “And I’m yours.”
She didn’t agree with his confession, just turned to look out the window. Anders didn’t want to think too deeply on it, but it nagged at the back of his mind that she didn’t trust him to tell the truth. “What’s this meeting about?”
“Don’t try to change the subject,” he demanded. “What is it? What’s bothering you? We were getting along so well.”
“I told you more than I’ve told my friends and yet I know almost nothing about you. My hesitance isn’t a sign that I’m giving up, Anders. I just don’t want to put my all into this completely if you’re holding back.”
***
Sapphire casually strolled into the office of her arch nemesis and sat in the chair across from his desk. Michael stared ominously at her from where he stood near the window. A soundless tension built in the air until Anders came to stand behind her chair. Sapphire smiled at Michael and waited for the Dorian and Brock to arrive. Once everyone was seated, Michael set the meeting in motion.
“Though we may have had our differences in the past, some of you may be surprised to hear that I am glad to have Sapphire here for what I am about to say,” he began. “Corey Reed paid me a visit.”
“What?” Dorian gasped. “Is this about the recording he sent you?”
“No. This isn’t about Jenny at all. It’s about the four of us.” Michael walked over to his computer and clicked a button. “He isn’t the only one that records conversations. Everything said in this office is archived in case of legal issues.”
Sapphire didn’t recognize the voice that came from the speakers, but it was clear that the man meant business. The indifference of the tone was one she had heard from a few of retired cops that were friends with her stepfather. There was static and then the audio cleared again. “When I capture one of your people—no matter who it is—you cannot save them.”
“Or what?”
“Or this entire town gets obliterated,” Corey Reed threatened. “I will trigger the rampage in all of your little friends until they slaughter the people of Haden Springs just like Anders McKinney did to the doctors and the soldiers at the facility.”
Her head snapped around to look at Anders. He lowered his gaze, refusing to meet her eyes. Sapphire stood up and turned his face toward her. “What did they do to you, Anders? What did those people do?” She refused to believe that he had gone on a rampage and killed people for no reason. “You took an oath not to harm people, but to save lives. Something bad must have happened for you to—”
“Why?” he asked suddenly. “Why can’t you just accept that I’m a monster?”
“Because you’re not,” Michael said before Sapphire could answer. “Listen.” He rewound the audio and clicked a few buttons to amplify Corey’s voice.
“Vanessa worked for Sector A. She was there the same time Anders McKinney was held at the facility. Before she died, Vanessa told me that she saw everything and chose not to act.” The sound of rustling fabric and a chair scraping across the floor boomed through the office. “It wasn’t until a few days ago that I learned that she was the one who locked Nora Burk out of the emergency bunker.”
Anders flinched away from Sapphire.
She walked over to face Michael. “So, Vanessa is the reason those people were killed? That woman locked the emergency bunker and left them to die?”
“That’s what Corey Reed says. I have no reason to doubt him when he works for the man who owns the rebuilt facility: Hydra. That’s who has been sending out contract hunters to track us down,” Michael responded. “Corey claims that his boss doesn’t want us dead, that he’s fascinated by us.”
“Let me talk to him.”
“No!” Anders bellowed. “I won’t let you.”
“You don’t have a choice. I can go to him and pretend to be a double agent. If he sent Patrick to tell me everything else, then he doesn’t want to hurt me. He wants to hurt you, Anders. He must have thought that I would leave you if I knew the truth. Well, he’s wrong, but that doesn’t mean we can’t use that to our advantage.”
“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but Sapphire is right.”
“Michael, you can’t be serious,” Anders protested, but the two of them stood their ground against his anger. “I don’t get a say in this?”
“No, you don’t.” Michael pointed to Brock. You and my pigheaded little brother are the ones responsible for the fact that all of this is even happening. Now your mate and I are trying to clean up the mess you two made.”
Anders punched the wall so hard that plaster dust fell to the floor. He paced back and forth in front of the desk. “That isn’t fair and you know it! I loved Nora!”
Sapphire bit down on her bottom lip and looked away from Anders. She didn’t want to see the anguish in his eyes when he spoke of another woman. Would she ever live up to his first love? Michael gave her a sympathetic look, but he was the last person should would accept pity from.
“She tricked you and lured you into that place to be tortured. You love
an illusion, Anders,” Michael said impassively. “And even though she’s dead and you know that it wasn’t your fault, you’re still paying for that betrayal. You are the one suffering.”
“So what’s the plan?” Anders asked.
“I go up to the mountain on my own, but I wear a wire. Michael can monitor it from his office. I’ll put myself in a position of trust, maybe even try and convince them to recruit me once they see my skills. Whatever I learn about Sector A, Hydra, or anything else important, you’ll know right away.”
Sapphire walked past everyone and sauntered into the elevator. Anders tried to follow, but she allowed the door to close behind her before he could get inside. She needed space to think. How could he still love someone who had hurt him so badly? How could he remember Nora with nothing but fondness in his heart when he had shunned Sapphire at first glance without ever knowing her? It pained her to think that she would never live up to the ghost of the woman who was his betrayer, his lover, and his victim. Nora Burk had owned his heart. In many ways, she still did.
Boots pounded through the staircase beside the elevator as the door opened with a chime. Anders appeared before her, out of breath, but he didn’t say anything. She waited and waited and still no explanation came. No apology. All he said in that moment was, “I didn’t want you to find out like that.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Sapphire checked her phone for what felt like the millionth time in the last hour. She flopped onto her back and stared up at the seemingly endless ceiling. It wasn’t her fault that his secrets had come out and ruined the meeting. Why did he shut her out when she needed him the most? Sapphire needed him to tell her that she wasn’t just a distraction, something to get his mind off of the love he had lost.
