Walk on the Striped Side

by Jessie Lane

  Now, his mate sat in front of him with a look on her face that said ‘I wouldn’t piss on you if you were on fire’, and karma was slapping him in the face quite nicely with just how badly he’d fucked up. What the ornery woman didn’t know was that she had just sealed her own fate with him, and if she thought she was walking out of this without repercussions then she was sorely mistaken. She’d actually had the nerve to come in here, shove it in his face that she wasn’t just some fragile human, and then even continued by threatening his sister. Oh, hell yeah, she had it coming, and he was going to give it to her good.

  Fuck, yeah. He was going to finally do what he should have done that first night he’d met her; he was going to bend her ass over his lap and spank it. Once he had that sweet little backside of hers all warm and red from his hand, he was going to pick her up and bend her over the end of his bed. When he had her positioned just like he wanted her, he was going to shove himself into that tight, wet heat she had between her legs and fuck her so hard she’d swear she felt him in her throat. Before he was done, she’d be screaming so hard and so long she’d blow that voice of hers out so she wouldn’t be able to argue with him for a few days about anything. Then, just when he felt like he couldn’t take it anymore because he was going to explode inside of her, Gage was going to sink his teeth into the back of her neck and mark her. That crazy ass bitch was his mate and he’d be damned if he walked away from her again.

  She started tapping her nails on the top of the bar and it brought Gage out of his plans for her. Elena had this smug smile on her face like she thought she’d already won the war between them. Wrong. He had fought in more wars than that pretty little head of hers could imagine. She didn’t have a chance in hell to win against him. It was time to wipe that look right off her face.

  “So you’re here for Lulu?”

  That finger of hers kept going. Confident. Strong with its steady beat. Tap. “Yes. Do you know where your sister is Master Sergeant Ivanov?” Tap.

  “Yeah, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to give you that information Demos.”

  Tap. “Why not? Afraid your sister is guilty? Trying to help her hide?” Tap.

  Leaning forward into her space he crooned back. “Let’s get something straight here baby, we both know you’re not any kind of actual law enforcement. It’s not like you can arrest her.” Tap. “So stop trying to act all big and bad like you’ve got some kind of actual power here. No one is scared of you.”

  Her rhythm faltered for a second before continuing. Tap. “I don’t need to be any kind of law enforcement to bring your sister to justice if she’s guilty. All I have to do is turn her, and any evidence I find of her guilt, over to my client. He’ll give her all the punishment she needs.” Tap. “And don’t call me baby.”

  “Oh yeah? And just who is this client my sister should be so concerned about? Baby.” Her eyes narrow, but those fingers of hers don’t falter again. Tap.

  “Our client is one of the Ninth Circle Council members. He also happens to be the brother of the murder victim. Concerned now Purr Boy?” Tap.

  Gage knew his mate inside and out. So when a big grin suddenly spread across her face, he knew it was because Elena had seen the muscle in his jaw tick. He knew Others that weren’t nearly as observant as the woman before him. Tap. “What’s wrong Ivanov? Cat got your tongue?”

  He feels his even white human teeth bite down into his bottom lip. Damn but she was determined to rub his face into all of her revelations about him. Was she trying to tell him that she was disgusted with him because of his tiger? The thought that she might hate him for what he is starts to fray the tenuous leash he has on his inner beast. It’s taking everything he has not to let the animal free to claim the contrary woman that they both want so badly. Elena’s attention is drawn to the bar top between them, and she snorts. He looks down to see what her reaction is about and finds that his long black, curved claws embedded into the wood.

  “Well I hope those suckers don’t pop out while you’re wiping your ass, because that would be awkward.” Tap.

  Alec and Jenna who are standing at the end of the bar bust out laughing. Gage doesn’t laugh though. No, he starts to growl. He knows the sound is low and menacing. Pretty much how he’s feeling at the moment. Snarling in frustration, he watches Elena stare back at him with a mask of indifference on her face. Which pisses him off. She’d never been able to hide her emotions from him before. He doesn’t like that she can do so now when he feels like he’s about to all but burst from what he’s feeling right now. Chagrin. Anger. Hope. Love.

  Unaware of his predicament with reigning in his beast, Elena continues to taunt him and his tiger. “Awww, what’s the matter Mr. Kitty? Don’t be mad and scratch up the furniture. You do that too much and someone might want to declaw you.” Tap.

  “Don’t.” He snarled.

  Cocking an eyebrow, Elena asked. “Don’t what Mr. Kitty?” Tap.

  “Don’t come after my sister because you’re looking for payback. She didn’t do anything to you. I’m the one you want to hurt here and we both know it. And if you tap that fucking finger one more time there will be consequences Elena.”

  She barked a laugh at him. Her pretty smile morphs into an ugly sneer. “Consequences? Just what do you think you’ll do? Scold me like a recalcitrant child? You sure as shit won’t be laying hands on me, because the time where you were allowed to touch me is long gone.” Tap.

  His tiger surges forth in anger. All rational thought is gone. Determined to make their mate listen to them, Gage uses his hands to push himself up and forward, about to lunge over that countertop and tackle Elena to the floor. He never makes it. The barrel of her .45 pressed against the center of his forehead stops him dead in his tracks and sobers both him and his tiger immediately. Not because Gage fears that he was about to hurt her. He’s incapable of physically harming or endangering his mate. The gun stops him because it means that she thinks he would hurt her. And that sad fact rips his insides to pieces as effectively as his claws slash open a deer at dinner time.

  He doesn’t move. Doesn’t make a sound. Hell, he doesn’t even breathe. Just stands there and lets Elena keep the gun’s barrel pressed against his flesh. His brother Alec however is roaring in anger. Instead of standing down at the end of the bar, Alec is now standing just to the side of him as he leans over the bar towards his mate. Threatening to rip out her throat if she doesn’t lower the gun. Her relatives are now braced around her, ready to defend Elena’s safety if need be because Jenna, Adam, Owen, Logan and Kent surround them. Preventing any avenue of escape they might have had. Weapons that hadn’t been visible on the Amazons a moment ago are now waiting to strike if need be. The situation is rife with tension. Everyone is waiting to see what happens next. Instead of being concerned for his own welfare, all Gage can think about is that his mate is now in danger.

  He retracts his fangs and claws, but doesn’t move in any other capacity. Keeping his eyes glued to the bright, determined blue-green gaze in front of him he raises his voice so everyone can hear him. “Back away from the Amazons.”

  He sensed his brother’s and companions confusion. They don’t move right away so he growled, “NOW.”

  They all slowly started to back away from Elena and her relatives, but Gage didn’t move a muscle. There’s no way to tell that if he tried to back away from her if she would pull that trigger or not. Does she hate him that much now that she could kill him? With the .45 this close to his head, it would basically blow it clean off, and there was no coming back from that. Immortality and an advanced healing system couldn’t cure missing most of your cranium.

  Feeling the stirrings of a despair he’s never known before, Gage wonders if he has a chance in hell of fixing things between them. Never taking his eyes off of hers, so that she could see the sincerity he was baring here, he raggedly whispers. “I would never hurt you Elena.”

  Her unflappable mask is back in place so he has no idea what she’s thinking. No way to
know if she believes him. All he can do is stand here, with the cold steel of her gun digging into his skin reminding him of just how badly he’s fucked this all up, and wait for her response.

  Finally, after what felt like an eternity, but in reality was more than likely only a minute, those lush lips of hers part, and she turns all his hopes to ashes.

  “What a lie Ivanov. We both already know that you don’t care about anyone else but yourself, and this hot piece of ass knows better than to trust anything you have to say. If you see your sister, give her my card and tell her it’s in her best interest to call us. If she continues to hide from us, I’ll just keep assuming she’s guilty. And don’t think you can hide her from us, because if I get wind of it, I’ll be back. Trust me when I say, you don’t want me to come back because of that.”

  With that, she lowers her weapon, but keeps it in her hand at the ready as she departs the bar with the three other women. She doesn’t look back to see that for once, Gage isn’t wearing a mask to hide what he’s thinking or feeling. Anguish is written plainly on his face for everyone to see. But even worse, the fact that she doesn’t look back is a silent message to him. She’s doesn’t consider Gage a threat, and she no longer cares enough to give him a second glance. It’s the last part that bothers him the most.

  CHAPTER-SIX

  Elena

  With her chin held high, Elena marched out of that shifter run bar like she wasn’t afraid of anything. She should be scared. Absolutely terrified even. But the part of her brain where the fear to survive is supposed to be embedded isn’t there. According to her Aunts, it’s part of her nifty Amazon breeding. So, instead of fear she feels damn near giddy on the inside. She’s so freaking stoked right now to have finally put Gage Ivanov in his place that she could do a damn cartwheel!

  She’s aware this reaction isn’t normal, but after everything she’s learned these last few months about what really lives in the world, what exactly is normal? And she could care less that she’s just potentially pissed off a lot of super-fast, seriously powerful supernatural creatures that have the ability to turn into some form of animal and run her down like she’s a happy meal on legs. Nor does she care that they don’t really need to turn into said animal to rip her into teeny tiny pieces. No, the only thing she can think about right now is the fact that she finally, finally, got the chance to give the jackass who broke her heart the proverbial ‘fuck you’. Frankly, she hasn’t felt this good since the last orgasm that douchebag gave her a couple of years ago. But Elena refuses to linger on that sad truth.

  As she reaches the front passenger side door of their SUV, Delta’s delicate hand lands on her shoulder. Her soft voice asks, “You okay?”

  With a wide grin she answers, “Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?”

  Delta’s eyebrows furrow down into a ‘v’ and she cocks her head to the side. “Because you just confronted the man who broke your heart? Maybe because when he told you that he’d never hurt you, implying physically, it was written all over his face that he meant it? He looked almost as heartbroken as you have these past two years. Are you sure he doesn’t care for you Elena?”

  Confused, she stared unseeingly towards the bar’s entrance. Her sister’s questions caused some of her inner joy to fizzle. Could Delta be right? Had Gage really meant what he said? She’d taken in the look on his face when he’d spoken those words, but had chalked it up to him lying because he thought he had to save his worthless furry ass. Not that Elena would have ever pulled that trigger anyways. She’d put that gun against his forehead to send a message. To warn him that she wouldn’t let him hurt her in anyway ever again. But the thought of actually pulling the trigger and ending the life of the man she’d once loved… well, something inside of her just wouldn’t let her do it. She’d spent half of that intense situation silently pleading in her head for him to back off so she wouldn’t have to test the theory on whether she could pull that trigger or not.

  Yet, when he’d said those words ‘I would never hurt you’, any second guessing she’d had went out the window. All of the pain she’d felt when she had overheard him telling his brother Alec on the phone that she was just ‘a hot piece of ass’ and that she wasn’t ‘worth going through all of that trouble to make this something more than that’ had overwhelmed her all over again. It was a fabulous reminder to her heart that this man never cared one iota for her. So she’d buried all of that pain again and went back to business.

  Delta was wrong. Gage Ivanov wasn’t capable of an emotion such as love. And hell would probably freeze over before he ever felt sorry for what he’d said about her. That’s why she was determined to hurt him anyway she could. Right now that meant going after his sister for this murder. If Lulu turned out to be innocent after all, well at least Elena had been a pain in his ass for a while. But if Gage’s sister was guilty, what better way to cause him the level of pain that he had cause her than to hand over his beloved sister of the Ninth Circle for execution? From what she’d heard of the Demon’s ruling Council, they would torture her in ways that would make her eventual death seem like a reward.

  Looking back to Delta she forced a smile she no longer really felt. “Don’t let him fool you little sister. Gage Ivanov wouldn’t know how to care for someone other than himself or his siblings if his life depended on it. Now let’s go home. We need to go over this case file again to see what our next move should be.”

  Elena climbed into the vehicle, buckled up, and looked back to the bar entrance one last time before her Aunt drove them away. The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end and she felt like someone was staring at her from the other side of that tinted glass, but it was probably just her raw nerves making her paranoid.

  Gage

  He watched as the SUV drove away. His mate was staring right at him through the door and she didn’t even know it. In that small moment of time, that mask of hers had dropped, and everything she refused to let him see before was there plain as day. He hadn’t just hurt her feelings when he’d ended things between them two years before, he’d broken her. That gutted him. The woman who had awed him with her feisty personality and inner strength while they were together seemed a shell of what she once was. He’d done that to her. And if he didn’t somehow fix this between the two of them, he would never forgive himself for it.

  An irritated Alec snarled from behind the bar. “You want to tell me what that was about brother?”

  Stalking back to the bar Gage grabbed a bottle of high dollar whisky and a clean glass. “Not really.” As he poured himself a generous amount he added, “Besides, we have bigger problems than Elena right now.”

  “Like what? What exactly is a bigger problem than a crazy ass, gun toting, Arnold Schwarzenegger wannabe Amazon who wants your striped, orange hide as a new rug for the front of her fireplace?” Alec snapped.

  “Elena doesn’t like fireplaces.” Gage deadpanned. When he looked back to see Alec’s look of disbelief, he continued. “Lulu, a dead demon and the Ninth Circle Council sound like a bigger problem to me, dipshit.” He threw back his glass and swallowed the whisky in a couple of big gulps. The fiery liquid burnt as it went down his throat, but he ignored it and poured himself some more. Jenna chuckled and he looked over to see that everyone was staring at him. When he saw the curious look on Adam’s face he grunted, “What?”

  “I thought Russians liked vodka?” Adam intoned while eyeballing his most expensive bottle of bourbon.

  “And I thought dogs liked to chase their tails and lick their own ass, but you don’t see me assuming that about you, now do you?”

  Adam growled at him, but Jenna put a hand on his chest to calm him while chuckling. “Don’t bother, babe. Let the cat drink his whisky. He’s going to need it.”

  Adam looked down to his mate in curiosity. “It’s not that bad Jenna. If Lulu is innocent, Gage will figure it out and get her out of that mess.”

  She chuckled again. “That’s not why he needs the booze, babe.”

  “No?
Then why?” he asked her.

  Jenna snorted. “Are you kidding me? Can’t any of you see it?” Jenna looked around questioningly at the group’s confused faces before cackling. “He’s in love with a woman who hates his guts, not to mention she appears to be as gun happy as me! Does no one find this as funny as I do? Just think about it! What are the chances that he’s going to come out of this without at least a few bullet holes? And then we’ll all get to sit around and laugh at him as he has to pop those fuckers out and heal. The Great Gage—Mr. no-one-is-better-at-mayhem-and-killing-than-me—Ivanov is scared of one little non-Other woman! He’s practically shaking in his little fur-lined boots he’s so scared of her!”

  Gage slammed his glass on the bar top and snarled, “She’s damn near six feet tall; that is not little! And don’t make fun of my boots you crotch-sniffing bitch! They’re special ordered through a supplier for the military’s Special Forces and you’re just jealous I won’t get you a pair.”

  Jenna growled at Gage.

  Gage snarled back her, flashing a fang.

  His brother walked up behind him laughing and slapped a hand down on his shoulder. “Don’t worry about it bro, I’m sure you’ll get the Amazon to come around. Eventually. Like when she’s ninety and too old to fight yo-.”

  Before Alec could finish his sentence, Gage reached up, wrapped his hand around the back of his brother’s thick neck, and slammed his head down on the bar top. The bar went eerily silent and Alec’s unconscious body slid to the floor with a thump.

  Then Jenna said, “A hundred bucks says the Amazon tries to skin him the first time she sees his shifted form.”

  Gage bared his teeth at the annoying cop before picking his glass again to take a healthy swallow. He ignored the group of dummies as they started laughing hysterically at him, taking bets on if he’d end up a tiger striped rug, and he poured himself another drink. He’d find a way to get them all back later. Right now he had to figure out how to fix things with his wayward mate. Because part of him was afraid Jenna was right, and he didn’t want to end up as a damn rug.