by Maia Dylan
“Jesus, she’s tightening down on me, Tomas,” Diego groaned, his fingers flexing against her hips. “She loves what you’re doing.” Tomas removed his hand, and she whimpered at the loss.
Tomas cursed, and she felt him place the blunt head of his cock against her. “Okay, Pepper, push out, baby, as I push in. That’s it. That’s fucking perfect.” Pepper concentrated on Tomas’s voice, willing her body to relax. “Just a little more.” Tomas’s breathing was heavy and erratic. “There. You’ve got me, niña. You have all of me.”
Her mates held still as Pepper’s body became used to the feeing. There was slight discomfort, but she liked the burn. When she moved slightly, Tomas and Diego must have taken that as the cue to move themselves. When they withdrew, then pushed into her at the same time, she almost passed out at the pleasure. Explosions of white-hot, pleasurable heat seemed to go off within her, and she cried out at the sensation.
She lost focus on anything else that was going on. She could feel her release building within her. Pepper keened as the pace became too much, and all she could do was take whatever Tomas and Diego wanted to give her.
Pepper inhaled as her body trembled on the edge of release and then threw her head back and screamed her pleasure to the world. She felt both Diego and Tomas tense around her, and she was aware of them both roaring her name almost simultaneously as they, too, surrendered to their orgasm.
Pepper cried out again when both her men leaned into her and bit down on their claiming bites, cementing what they were to each other once again. Pepper felt herself come a second time. This time, it was even larger than the first and she knew. This was how it was supposed to be. This was a claiming in the true sense, and the last thought before she lost all coherent thought was that her journey had finally come to an end. She was home.
Chapter Sixteen
“He’s cute,” Pepper sent down their link as she stared at the man Sophia was sitting with in a booth toward the middle of the large restaurant.
“You don’t have to be thinking that any man is cute, cariño,” Diego growled in response.
Pepper hid her grin behind the menu she was pretending to read. “He has nothing on either of you, my love, I promise.”
“Jack and Maurice are not happy about that description,” Tomas’s amused voice came next. “Their wolves are very close to the surface. It’s probably a good thing that we don’t have direct eyes on that table. If he reaches out and touches her, I’m not sure we can keep them out of that place.”
Sophia had not surprisingly chosen a popular family restaurant for her date. It was six o’clock on a Friday night, and the restaurant was almost at capacity. If she were trying to find a safer place to meet someone, Pepper was hard pressed to think of a safer place. The restaurant was on the peripheral of the Plaza District, which housed many eateries and art galleries and had a great nighttime vibe in the city. Tomas, Diego, Jack, and Maurice were in a truck parked a couple of blocks away. Tomas wanted to be close enough to intervene if needed, but far enough away as to be able to stop Jack and Maurice if they tried to take a run at Sophia’s date.
A waitress stepped up to the table. She was probably only in her early twenties, but her eyes were world-weary. She had seen a lot in her years and was too pale, her eyes kept darting around the room, and when she held her pad and pen out to take Pepper’s order, she was shaking.
“Are you okay?” Pepper asked quietly.
The waitress startled slightly and tried to smile, but it wavered until she gave up and simply nodded. “Yes, ma’am. Can I take your order?”
Pepper frowned. “Are you sure you’re okay? You seem… Well, to be honest, you look a little scared.”
This time the woman stepped back from the table. “No, not s-scared at all. I just wanted to take your order, but if you want another server, then that’s absolutely fine. I will go and find someone else to take your order.”
“Wait!” Pepper cried out, but the women had already turned and walked away.
“Pepper?” Tomas asked urgently down the link. “What’s happening? I could feel your anxiety down our link. Is something happening?”
She was still staring at the back of the retreating waitress, more confused than anything. “No, just a waitress who seemed a little off.”
There was nothing for a moment on their link, and then Diego came across, sounding a little harassed. “Sorry, cariño, we had to settle Jack and Maurice down before they came charging in like a couple of linebackers. They thought there might have been something happening with Sophia.”
Pepper shot a quick glance in her direction. “Nope, the two of them are chatting, and she is smiling, so all is well there.”
“The waitress was off how?” Tomas asked.
Pepper sat back in her chair. “Hard to say really. She almost seemed scared.”
“Did you get a read on her?”
“No, I wouldn’t do that without consent unless I thought it was necessary, and by the time I thought perhaps there was actually something wrong with her, she had walked off.”
Pepper cast a look around the restaurant. No one seemed to be drawing any attention, and nothing seemed out of place at all. She reached out with her senses, tentatively listening to the thoughts of the people in the restaurant. Most were benign, but she caught the thread of something that sent a shiver down her spine.
“Fucking shifters council think they can threaten me and my brothers.” The voice was filled with rage, the red haze of it making it difficult to pinpoint where it was coming from. “Shifters are fucking gods compared to this human filth. They think to fucking tag us like goddamn cattle! Fuck them. We’ll show them. We’ll show them all.”
Fighting the fear building within her, she pushed her senses out a little further. She was immediately drawn to a man who sat at a table not far from hers. He looked completely innocuous, just a man out enjoying dinner on a Friday night, dining alone, his face buried in a book. But despite his relaxed exterior, she knew his internal rage was redlining. She pushed a little harder at the man and caught the image of explosives. The man was a shifter, something feline, and he had brought with him an explosive device.
Pepper swallowed the lump of fear that had formed in her throat. “Tomas, Diego. I think we have a problem.” As quickly as she could, she shared what she had learned.
“We’re on our way,” Tomas answered, no hesitation in his tone.
“Wait outside the restaurant,” Pepper advised, scanning the rest of the restaurant. “If they see other shifters come running in here, they might blow the explosives.”
“That is not a fucking option, Pepper,” Tomas growled down their connection.
“It has to be.” Pepper caught a similar thought from another man who sat on her side of the restaurant. “I sense that there is a second man with a second device, this one located right next to Sophia’s table. The first man mentioned brothers as in plural, which makes me think there is at least one other. I can find all three, but I need to move. The restaurant is too large for me to cover from where I am sitting. I need to get to the center of the room. Once I have all three, then we can get a plan together. But we need to wait. I’m not going to risk Sophia. I’m going to get her to leave. Tell Jack and Maurice to wait outside for her.”
Not waiting for Tomas to respond, Pepper stood up from the table, embraced all the training she had ever had, and strode, head high and confident across the restaurant, a huge smile on her face. She kept going, sending her senses out as she went.
“Sophia!” Pepper called out as she approached the table. “My lord, girl, it’s good to see you. Ty told me that you were studying here in the OKC, but I never thought for a million years I would run into you.” She sent her senses out again.
Sophia gave her a vague smile, but there was suspicion in her eyes. “Well, I will be sure to let my brother know that I ran into you, Miss…?”
Pepper giggled, hoping she sounded a little more self-conscious and less manic. “Oh,
I’m sorry, I should have realized you might not recognize me. My name is Pepper Gallagher. My sisters are Melaina and Xanthe, and I am a good friend of Rowena’s.”
Sophia’s eyes relaxed at their names, but still seemed perplexed. Not surprising as they had never met face-to-face. “Oh yes! I remember now, you were in the hospital when I visited last. It’s so good to see you up and about.” Pepper found another two men who carried the same vile hatred as the other two men she had already located. Standing in the middle of the room as she was, she could now pinpoint all four.
Pepper sent the location and identity of all four men to her mates. “It’s good to be up and about. Rowena keeps saying I’m getting much stronger—I’m almost back to my quarterback best.” She saw Sophia’s eyes widen. Good girl. It had been a long shot that she would get the code word Rowena and Angel had used back when Baxter had come for her. It had saved Rowena’s live, and she was hoping it would do the same for Sophia.
Sophia had paled, but she maintained her smile. “Rowena loves comparing people to quarterbacks. Her obsession with the Dallas Cowboys is legendary.”
Pepper nodded, knowing that the young woman understood the danger. “I’m on my way to the bathroom, and just wanted to stop and say hi.” Pepper leaned over to give her a hug, her heart aching for her when she felt Sophia trembling. “Go,” she whispered as low as she could, “go now. Jack and Maurice are on their way, and they will meet you outside.” Sophia nodded slightly, and when Pepper stood up again, she turned to the gentleman at the table. “Sorry to interrupt your dinner.”
The young man smiled warmly. “No problems at all, ma’am. It’s nice to meet a friend of Sophia’s from home.” She smiled at him and then turned toward the back of the restaurant. As she stepped away, she heard Sophia mention to her date that she wasn’t feeling well.
“Sophia and her date are coming out,” Pepper advised. When she was almost to the doors that led to the bathrooms, she made a frustrated sound like she’d forgotten something and turned back to face the restaurant. She could see Sophia practically shepherding her date out the door.
“Jack will get her and her date to safety,” Diego sent back. “You should get out, too. Tomas, Maurice, and I can take care of this.”
“No, that won’t work,” Pepper sent back calmly. “These men are hell-bent on making a statement. They will blow these devices out of sheer spite if you suddenly target them and take them out. Not to mention the fact that you would be playing directly into their hands by shifting in front of these people.”
She caught the frustration and the fear pouring from her men down their link. “Then what’s your plan, niña?” Tomas’s voice was practically a growl.
“If I stand in the center of the room, I am able to reach all four,” Pepper said as she moved to get into position. “I’m hoping I can knock out all four men, and if not, I should at least be able to immobilize them before they can get to the devices. Once I have them, you will need to come in and clear everyone out just to be safe.”
Diego cursed long and inventively. “You sure you can do this?”
“We’re about to find out,” Pepper answered. “Give me a few minutes. I am going to have to take them one at a time to ensure I target them correctly.”
“If they make a move toward the devices, I want you to blow their minds, psychically, like you did to Aristos,” Tomas ordered.
“I can’t do that, I’m not that precise. I could end up killing innocents, and I will not risk it.”
Pepper stood and sent her mind out to the man furthest from her. She figured she could lock them down faster the closer they were to her.
“You be fucking careful, Pepper, and you make it out of there safe,” Diego sent back, fear in his tone.
She flooded their bond with love and then concentrated on what she had to do. It took her a moment to work her way into the man who had been sitting closest to her table. When she was sure she was in, she locked him down fast. She saw him physically jolt, and then had to deal with him trying to shift, both man and animal unhappy at being held. She had never held a shifter against their will this way before, and this one was fighting to shift. Pepper felt it like a physical pain in her mind.
She found the second guy and was able to lock him down quicker, but the pain intensified. She got to the third guy and found his mind a little more difficult to penetrate. Either he was shielding naturally or was starting to get an inkling that something was happening to his brothers. Gritting her teeth, she shoved into his mind, locking him and his animal down, but cried out in pain.
“Pepper!” Diego and Tomas called to her, and she could feel them pushing strength down their bond, much like they had the night she had killed Aristos. Desperately, she embraced that strength and some of the crippling pain eased.
She turned to the fourth man and was horrified to see that he was moving toward his bag.
“No!” Pepper called out, and the man spun quickly to look directly at her, hate blazing in his amber eyes. Steeling herself for the pain she knew was to come, Pepper forced way into his mind. He felt the move and abandoned the device. He started moving in her direction.
She screamed her anger at the enraged shifter, shocking the other restaurant patrons, but she had no time to worry about that. She slammed into the man’s brain and locked him down. The pain in her head dropped her to her knees, and again she cried out, but she clung to the hold she had on all four men.
“Now!” she cried down their link.
All she could do now was to pray that her men would get everyone out and the four men knocked out before she broke and gave in to the blackness that was leeching into her vision. If she crumbled before then, then all would be lost, and her journey home would end with a pretty big bang.
Chapter Seventeen
“We’re home, cariño.” Pepper sighed and opened her eyes as Diego pressed a soft kiss to her temple. Seeing the house she shared with her mates looming large before her had her smiling despite how tired she felt.
God, it was good to be home. It was hard to believe that they had been gone less than seventy-two hours. It had taken them almost a day to finish up with the Oklahoma police after the incident at the restaurant. After she’d dropped to her knees, Tomas and Diego both ran into the room, yelling that there was a bomb. The customers all ran from the restaurant screaming, but at least heading in the right direction. Despite the chaos that broke out around them, Diego, Maurice, and Tomas moved with speed to the men, and had them unconscious in less than thirty seconds from coming in.
As soon as she felt the last man cease fighting, she collapsed, completely spent. She didn’t quite lose consciousness, but it was pretty damn close. The police arrived shortly after that. Her first waitress had somehow caught wind of the attack and called in the authorities. Her name was Amber Nielson, and, as it turned out, was Sophia’s roommate. Tomas had everything squared away in the restaurant, the devices neutralized and the Duty Manager convinced that Amber had been the one to save the day.
When the devices were safely disarmed, Jack had come back into the police cordon with Sophia and her date. Sophia immediately ran for Pepper. “Oh my God, you were fantastic! Thank you for saving me and well, every single person in this restaurant tonight. You were amazing.”
Pepper smiled shyly at the younger woman. “Thank you for trusting me enough to go. When I used the quarterback code word, I wasn’t sure you would understand it at all!”
Sophia laughed, and behind her, Pepper watched Jack press a palm to the center of his chest. “I’ve heard that story a thousand times and relished every telling. There was no way I wouldn’t have known.”
Pepper and Sophia talked for a few more minutes and made plans to catch up when Sophia was back in Grey River after her graduation. She waved good-bye to Sophia and her date, finally learning the man’s name was Gilbert Lynch. He seemed a little shaken by the event of the evening, but no one could blame him at all.
Diego suggested they stay an
other night in the hotel, but Pepper wanted to come home. She felt a little guilty when she made the request. They were all tired after their eventful night, but thankfully her mates were just as keen to return home as she was so agreed to the three-hour return drive.
When Tomas brought the truck to a halt, Diego slid out and pulled Pepper into his arms. “Why would I want you to walk, when I can carry you in my arms?” Diego answered when she protested that she could walk.
“If you keep doing this,” Pepper said with a sigh and rested her head on his shoulder. “I might not want to ever walk again!”
“Tomas and I are more than willing to carry you,” Diego said quietly.
The three of them walked into the house and made their way up to their master suite. Their house might not be as opulent as the hotel room they had stayed in, but as far as she was concerned, it was perfect. For her and her mates. Tomas’s cell phone rang as Diego was just placing her on her feet.
Tomas answered and put the phone on speaker. “Ty, what’s going on?”
Pepper’s heart started to pound a little faster, quickly glancing at her watch. To hear from the pack’s Alpha at barely two o’clock in the morning.
“Sophia’s missing,” Ty answered.
“What!” Pepper exclaimed. “How? When?”
Ty growled into the phone, a sign that his wolf was near the surface. “After everything that went down at that restaurant, Jack and Maurice tried to insist that they take Sophia home, but she stubbornly refused and left with her date. Jack and Maurice were right behind them. The douche she was out with said good night to her at the damn door and left. A couple hours later, when Amber came back, they heard her scream and ran into check. They found Sophia gone.”
Diego cursed. “Did Jack and Maurice find anything to say that she was taken, rather than maybe left of her own accord?”
“There were signs of a…a struggle in her bathroom.” Ty took a moment to take a breath before he continued, “And the place had been turned over, but not a thing to indicate who took her or where they went. Cassadee can’t reach her.” Pepper frowned. If Cassadee couldn’t get to her, then she was either unconscious or being blocked somehow.
