by E A Price
“You said that because you think something bad might happen, and you might never get another chance to say it. So no, you take that back right now.”
“I’m sorry, but…”
“You can tell it to me later, in bed, preferably while my mouth is on your pussy.”
“Oh, I’d like that,” she admitted, pressing her legs closer together. She really shouldn’t be getting turned on right now – given the situation she was in.
“Baby, we are getting out of here. No way am I letting you get away.”
“Okay.” She believed him. Just like the day they met. She believed he’d do anything to keep her safe.
“And this may be bad timing, but you look amazing in that bikini.” His gaze roved over her approvingly.
“Maybe we can go to the beach when this is over.”
“Or you can just wear bikini’s around the house – I’d go for that.”
“I’ll bet.”
Zane growled as a woman in a fur stole tried to approach. She quickly scuttled away, leaving Sky wondering if the fox around her neck was a wild fox or a shifter. The thought was horrifying.
“Some of the dicks with guns mentioned a control room. Maybe if you find it, you could turn the power off. Maybe the locks will open.” Long shot maybe, but something needed to be done.
For a moment he looked lost. “I don’t want to leave you.”
“I’m not going anywhere.” She tried to laugh, but it came out as more of a wheeze.
He looked at her for a few beats before slumping slightly. His suit let out an ominous creaking sound.
“Fine. You just stay in your cage.”
“You got it.” Not much choice in the matter. “You be careful, I lo…”
Zane glared at her.
“I can’t wait to feel your tongue in my pussy.”
He nodded. “That’s my girl.”
*
Juliet swished past the guards. She was confident and cool, and nobody tried to stop her. Eventually, after trying numerous doors – most of which were locked – she found a small, messy office. With – yay – a phone.
She could phone Lake and tell him to call in back up. There were a few agents outside the fence who had orders to breach if they didn’t hear from Juliet within an hour, but she hadn’t realized how many innocent victims they had in here. Over a hundred shifters were in cages waiting to be auctioned off like common pieces of artwork. Disgusting.
She knew Christian Hawk was a sleazy bastard. He had to be involved with this somehow. She couldn’t wait to slap some cuffs on him, really make him cry as she squeezed his thin, girly wrists.
Juliet didn’t consider herself to be a vindictive person, but she couldn’t wait to see Christian on trial.
Grabbing the phone she froze as the door opened behind her. She whirled to find the smug bastard smirking at her. She squeezed the receiver, wishing it were his neck.
“You won’t get an outside line,” he purred closing the door behind him.
Juliet, in spite of her five hundred plus years – she never admitted her real age – and in spite of her awesome vampire strength and speed hesitated. Christian was far too calm. She could snap his spine like a toothpick, and yet he seemed to be taking on the role of predator while she was relegated to prey. She didn’t like it. He was far too confident and that worried her.
Slowly, she replaced the receiver and pulled the blonde wig off her head. She shook out her own dark locks, ignoring the way his arousal heightened.
“You’ve been busy,” Juliet said. She meant to say ‘I hate you’ but she had a Freudian slip.
He leaned against the door, one hand in his pocket. “You too, sneaking in here without a warrant. What am I going to do with you?” He virtually licked his lips.
“I can’t allow this to continue. You know I have to arrest you.”
Christian chuckled. “I love it when you get bossy. So cute. But seriously, there’s nothing you can do.”
Juliet’s nostrils flared. “You’re very arrogant.”
“I’m very successful.”
“How do you imagine you could stop me? I’m a vampire, and it’s just you and me here. I’m much stronger than you.”
“Like I said, cute.”
“I look small, but I am fierce.” Her fangs dropped, and she ran her tongue over them.
Hell if that didn’t turn him on even more. She could see his erection pressing against his suit pants. “The fact that you think that is one of the things I like about you… Mary.”
Juliet stiffened. It had been more than four hundred years since anyone addressed her by her birth name.
He gleamed. “Don’t look so shocked. You may have lived a long time, but plenty of others have too.”
No. She wasn’t Mary anymore. She wasn’t that wimpy little girl anymore. She left her behind a long time ago. “You’re not stopping me from leaving this room.”
“Actually, I am.”
Juliet screamed as pain shot up her arm, spreading through her body, burning every nerve. She staggered to him, panting as she endured the third-worst pain she’d ever felt in her long life. In her defense for the first and second worst, she’d already passed out.
“What are you doing?” she hissed.
The pain thankfully stopped, and her legs gave out, dropping her to the ground. She tried to crawl towards him, uselessly batting at his shoes as he laughed – the dick.
Christian pulled a small device out of his pocket and waved it at her. “The security wristband causes pain when I press this button. Just something we thought we’d need to keep our customers under control in case they decided to do something stupid like try and inform anyone of what we’re doing here, or try and run away without paying. Given the variety of species of our customers, we made sure it was strong enough to work against vampires.”
Juliet sprawled on the floor, her lungs uselessly trying to fill themselves with air she didn’t need. “You won’t get away with this, the SEA…”
“Hush now.”
Christian kneeled down and ignored her limp-noodle arms as she tried to slap him. He picked her up like a ragdoll and carried her over to a couch, settling her against him with her head in his – yeuch – lap.
“Yes, I know, your friends. For a bunch of predators, they aren’t exactly stealthy.”
His fingers glided through her hair. “Don’t worry; my men will keep them busy, either until they die or we have a chance to leave. To be clear, they can’t get through my security to stop the auction. And all their signals are jammed, so help will not be coming. By the time anyone realizes what’s happening, everyone here will be long gone. Including you.”
She quivered while trying to regain her senses from the pain, but as he leaned down and sniffed her hair, her whole body tensed.
“I liked you blonde, but I prefer you dark.”
Juliet grabbed at his jacket and made a little mewing sound.
“Look at you, as weak as a kitten. I like you like this. After the auction my chopper will pick me up and don’t worry, there’ll be a seat for you. I don’t plan on letting you go anytime soon.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Sky watched with baited breath as the sabre-tooth was led out of his cage. He was planning something, she was sure of it. Kick all their asses encouraged her unicorn. A mental note she tried to send him.
She was already feeling a heck of a lot happier about her escape chances knowing Zane had come for her – her knight in hairy armor. But now she was also worrying about Zane getting hurt – what if he got hit somewhere vital? Like… everywhere. Every part of him is vital. From his dark, stormy eyes, to his soft lips set in a near-permanent scowl. To his eyebrows that were near constantly meeting in the middle because they were always drawn together in consternation, and then there was his scratchy, sexy stubble. Not to mention everything south of the neck. Egad, she loved every part of him.
Okay, horny horsey – focus. Her unicorn huffed but acquiesced. Esca
pe first, sexy times later.
Booker sneered at the surprisingly well-behaved sabre-tooth. Sky had expected much more claw swipes by this point. But no, the huge tiger was still smiling… benignly… yet also somehow evilly.
The gorilla grinned nastily. “Enjoy the rest of your life, kitten. Hope it’s a long one.”
The tiger winked at Sky as four extremely nervous goons led him away. His confidence did give her hope. Hope that some blood and guts were going to get spilled soon. Jeez - her unicorn was becoming surprisingly aggressive. What she wouldn’t give to sink her horn right through that damn gorilla’s chest.
Booker caught her look of hatred directed at him. “Don’t worry, sweetheart. Your turn soon.”
Dick. But he was right. Soon it would be.
Hurry up, Zane.
*
“No entrance,” groused the large tiger shifter blocking Zane’s way.
“I need to take a leak.”
“Bathroom’s other end of the building.”
“I need to take a leak now. I can see a sign for a bathroom behind you.” Perhaps a leftover perk of when the place was used for hockey – plentiful bathrooms. People had to drink lots of alcohol to enjoy hockey, so they needed to go a lot – ergo, the place was full of bathrooms.
The tiger shrugged. “Area’s off limits to guests.”
“Either let me go down there or I piss on your shoes.”
His bear figuratively cracked his knuckles. His girlfriend had been kidnapped, trapped in a cage and displayed like a piece of meat in a tiny bikini. So yeah, he deserved a break for not tearing everyone he met a new one.
He’d been wandering around like an idiot for ten minutes, but everywhere he went some bozo blocked his way, or he couldn’t get past the electronic locks. Sure he could try and break down the door, but a giant bear might draw a tiny bit of attention.
Seeing the congealing expression on the tiger’s face, Zane decided to modify his behavior ever so slightly. “C’mon, man. I’m here with my bitch wife, trussed up like a hog in this damn suit, and drinking fucking champagne that tastes like cold piss. I just want to get back to her and get out of here.”
The tiger rolled his eyes, but there was a spark of camaraderie. Perhaps he hated suits too. Or maybe he too had a ‘bitch wife’. “Fine, but just be quick.” He stepped aside for Zane
“Appreciate it man.”
Zane got in the bathroom and gasped loudly. “Holy fuck, what is that?”
He heard the tiger lumber towards the bathroom and his bear actually chuckled at the fact the tiger was falling for perhaps the second most hackneyed ploy in the history of ploys. The first being the sick prisoner thing in a jail cell.
As the tiger came in through the door, Zane smashed him in the face with his elbow. The tiger reared back, and Zane charged smashing him into one of the urinals. Blood spouting from his nose, the tiger dropped to all fours and let out a choked snarl as he started shifting.
His bear rumbled, and Zane felt adrenaline course through him. He didn’t have time to shift, but a little bear like strength was called for. His muscles bulged, dangerously stretching his borrowed suit, as he pulled a basin out of the wall. Water spurted out of the pipe as he slammed it down on the half-shifted tiger. Then he did it again, and again and then a few more times just to be sure. The tiger let out a small, wailing meow and collapsed.
His bear roared in his head. That was very satisfying… though that probably wasn’t a very healthy thing. Eh, he’d figure that out later. For now, it was time to impersonate a guard. Number three on the hackneyed ploy list.
Chapter Thirty
The tiger’s clothes were torn from his aborted shift. They were also pretty bloody, but black was very forgiving to that kind of thing. Probably why all the security guards in that place wore only black. That and to look cool. It was why Zane wore mostly black. Okay, it was partially the blood thing too.
Thankfully he still had a black t-shirt under the awful dress shirt Juliet insisted he wore. He took great pleasure in ripping the wig off and snapping the fake glasses
He donned the goon’s bulletproof vest, a utility belt that would make Batman green with envy and took the tiger’s security badge. There were so many security guys running around that he hoped they wouldn’t all know each other, and he would just pass unnoticed as another stone-faced idiot.
The tiger had a real gun and a tranq gun, which Zane also took. He left the tiger passed out on the bathroom floor. Water was still trickling out of the broken sink, but it would probably be a while before anyone noticed, and Zane really didn’t plan on hanging around for much longer. He wanted to get Sky and get out.
Zane strode through the corridors like he belonged and everyone assumed he did. Some other security goons nodded at him, but they didn’t say anything – didn’t ask him who he was, or what he was doing. It was like having an all access pass.
He found his way to an upper level and came out into the main arena. Zane let out a low whistle. The place sure didn’t look like a hockey rink anymore. Where once there would have been row after row of hard, durable seats for patrons to sit, watch and yell at the match, there were now plush seats with privacy walls around them. It looked like a really fancy first class airplane, except… there were tons of them, all circling the main floor where the rink used to be. They were all equipped with small tablets, presumably so everyone could watch the action on them too if they wanted, and Zane guessed they would use them to do the bidding. He squinted – each booth looked like it had a bottle of champagne and chocolate truffles. His bear’s stomach rumbled, but the animal stoically ignored it. No time for that now.
The former rink looked more like a platform and reminded Zane of an MMA fighting ring. Zane guessed that was where they were going to bring out the unlucky shifters about to be auctioned off. Surrounding it were high wire fences, and outside the fences, there were already a bunch of black-clad mercenaries lolling around waiting for the event to start. Measures in case any of the shifters about to be sold decided to take a leap into the crowd. Zane couldn’t deny he’d probably try that if it were him. And it won’t be Sky growled his bear. No, he wouldn’t let it get that far.
Zane stiffened as a silken voice sounded over the speakers.
“If everyone would like to take their seats, the event will be starting in five minutes. Happy bidding everyone.”
Zane looked up and around. There had to be a control room somewhere. Somewhere he could shut this damn freakshow down. And quickly urged his bear.
*
“Did you hear that sweetheart?” cooed Christian, still stroking Juliet’s hair.
She felt her strength returning, and her fangs dropped, eager to sink into any part of his body she could get her dainty hands on. Part of her wanted to do it to his dick – inflict maximum pain – but she had a horrible feeling he’d actually enjoy that and would consider it somehow intimate. Wanker.
He pulled out his ringing cell phone. “Uh huh. Yes, the sabre-tooth first. Let’s get rid of him as soon as we can. No, I won’t be coming down. I have my hands full here.”
Just as Juliet was about to swipe at him, the horrific pain started again, coursing through her body like a tidal wave and making every part of her want to flee in opposite directions. It made her feel like she was tearing apart. Almost as painful as when she became a vampire. Almost – nothing could quite compare to that.
She snarled in between pants when it finally stopped.
Christian chuckled. “Aww, you’re so adorable when you have murderous fury in your eyes.”
“I bet you’d look good with my fist in your eye.”
He laughed heartily before kissing her, right on her freaking mouth! Thankfully, it didn’t last long. Pulling away from her, he was licking his offending lips at her taste.
Keep going dickweed, she thought miserably. You can’t keep me down forever. Hopefully.
Chapter Thirty-One
The control room was helpfully labe
led as Control Room. Sometimes life was like a Scooby Doo cartoon.
Huh, this was actually going to be easier than he thought. A lucky break groused his bear – finally.
Zane affected nonchalance as he walked into the room. He passed an elephant shifter on his way out who grunted and nodded at him. So he grunted and nodded back. It was almost too easy thought his bear smugly.
Almost.
The control room had a couple of male humans in there – geeks sniffed his beast dismissively. They appeared to be the ‘crew’ - working the lights and the online bidding system. There was a long-legged female snake shifter, with dark smoky looks and a bow shaped mouth. She was in front of a microphone and casting irritated looks at the only other shifter in the room – a huge male jaguar. He was oblivious to the annoyance of the snake and currently pawing at a small, bespectacled human woman, blushing furiously but squeaking in delight.
The large jaguar sniffed and looked up, glaring at Zane.
“Fuck you doing here?” he growled.
The small woman straightened her glasses and carefully extricated herself from the jaguar’s beefy arms.
“Boss sent me,” rumbled Zane. He nodded at the two geeks. “Watch over them two.”
The humans’ eyes widened and the trickle of fear they previously had exploded.
The jaguar didn’t look like he was going to believe it but the small woman tapped his arm. “We’re starting soon; I have to be prepared.”
“You mean I have to be prepared,” drawled the snake shifter. “I’m doing all the work.” She glowered at the human woman but simpered at the jaguar.
The jaguar narrowed his eyes, but it was the human female who responded. “I wrote the script, all you have to do is read it.”
The snake flicked her long black hair. “Anyone can write a script. It takes real talent to read it out over a microphone.”
Zane frowned, but he wasn’t going to jump in the middle of this argument.
“Shut it, Sasha,” said the jaguar lowly. He softened his tone for the human. “Get to work, babe.” He patted her ass and propelled her to a seat next to the pouting Sasha.
