Claimed by Love

by Skye Jones

  “Luke’s family belongs to a large pack that owns a huge tract of land. Their territory is unpopulated by humans, so you’ll have total freedom,” Julie said. “We’re not deserting you. We’re giving you time to get used to this before you come back to us. You’ll always be a part of us.”

  “Unless I do something really bad, right? I’ve read about how pack members are ostracized, thrown out for bad behavior in some of the books Taylor gave me,” Will said.

  “You’d have to do something terrible for that to happen.” Luke bunched his hands into fists and leaned on the table, shoulders hunched. “I turned you. You’re my responsibility, and I’ve not taken it seriously enough. This is my fault, not yours. I’ve not kept my eye on the ball.” He walked over to the sink, poured a glass of water, and took a long drink before turning to them.

  “I’ll get Sean back here then we’ll pack up for home.” He jogged out the door.

  Kayley let out a relieved breath and started to clear away the makings of the dinner. No point in cooking if they were leaving. Moments later, the front door screen slammed open. She gave a tiny squeak of surprise at the loud noise.

  Luke stood glowering in the doorframe. “I’m not sensing him at all. Where’d he go?”

  “I don’t know,” she said.

  “What do you mean?”

  “He didn’t say, just walked out the front door.”

  Luke’s jaw dropped open as he stared at her. Moving quickly, he pulled his cell out from his pocket. “Christ. What’s he fucking playing at?”

  Kayley didn’t quite get the emergency, despite her own unease at Sean’s behavior, he was a big boy, capable of taking care of himself.

  Luke jabbed at a button on his phone. A loud buzzing rang out from the nearby worktop. Sean’s cell jumped around on the polished surface, and Kayley’s heart sank further.

  “He didn’t take his phone?” Taylor’s eyes widened. “Why would he leave his phone? You met the other shifters, but it’s still not safe to wander about in strange territory, and if—”

  “I know,” Luke snapped, immediately shutting the other man up.

  “What happened here? What did Sean say exactly? Try to think.” Luke focused on Kayley, his face taut.

  “He didn’t seem himself. He stormed out. I asked if I could have a moment to talk with my cousin, and instead of going back upstairs, he walked out. I’ve never seen him like that. Will lost it, but Sean took everything so personally, got so angry. It surprised me.”

  “He didn’t say anything else about where he’d be, or when he’d be back?” Julie asked.

  “No. He just walked out. As I said Will kind of lost it a bit and he’d been shouting at us. I could see Sean getting angry and I didn’t want a fight.”

  “What the fuck did you say to him, Will?” Luke gritted his teeth.

  “I don’t know. I can’t remember.” Will’s voice trembled, and Kayley understood his fear only too well. Luke positively vibrated with barely restrained violence. “I keep finding myself overwhelmed by all these emotions and sensations, and I can’t really remember afterward, it’s hazy.”

  “He said you and Sean ruined my life.” Kayley dragged her mind back to the words Will had thrown out. “That you’d used Will to get to me, lied to him, and what you’d do to me next would be as good as ending my life. He said Sean had as good as killed me…He called him a murderer…but he didn’t mean it, he’s…” She trailed off at Luke’s expression.

  Luke turned abruptly away from them and walked to the far wall. “You stupid, fucking idiot, Will. Do you know what you’ve said?” Luke didn’t look back at the group as he spoke. Instead, he pulled his arm back and drove his fist forward so hard it broke through the drywall.

  Fear. Real, intense fear tore at Kayley’s insides. She’d never seen Luke angry before, not really angry, and the sight was terrible. He turned to them, his eyes glowing gold, no gray visible anymore.

  “You.” He pointed to Taylor. “Go get the car keys, we’re going looking for him. I know why he left, and I’ll bet my bottom dollar he won’t be far. He’ll be in the nearest bar. Trying to get a buzz on.”

  He turned to Will. “You stay here with Julie. Taylor, Kayley, and I are going to bring him back. And then.” He jabbed one finger into Will’s chest, hard enough to make him flinch. “You are going to apologize.”

  “Come on.” Julie took hold of Will’s arm. “It’ll be okay. Let’s go sit in the library. Don’t worry, boss, I’ll keep things under control here. You guys go get our boy.”

  “Why does it matter that Sean’s gone out for a while?” Kayley asked as soon as she and Luke were alone. It would be nice to know what the hell was going on.

  “Because it’s not safe. We don’t go wandering around, alone, in strange territory. This isn’t our land and other shifters, maybe even rogues, might be around.”

  “Oh.” Kayley understood the drama a bit more now. “What Will said; why did it hurt Sean so badly? I know he shouldn’t have said it, but Sean’s normally so level headed. There’s got to be a reason he reacted so strongly.”

  Luke surprised her by resting a warm, gentle hand on her shoulder for a brief moment. “It’s a long story, to do with a female from his previous pack. Now’s not the time.”

  “I know you’re angry with me, so I’ll understand if you don’t want me to come along. I can stay here.”

  Luke’s gaze roamed over her face. His features softened, and his eyes dimmed. The gray bled into the gold in a way that fascinated her, despite her pounding heart.

  “I’m not angry with you, sweetheart.” He trailed a finger down her cheek. “I’m angry at the situation. Of course you should come. You’re our mate.”

  “I’m not actually your mate ye—”

  A rough hand tangled in her hair as Luke pulled her in for a swift, hard kiss. “You will be.”

  * * * *

  It took four large measures of Scotch before Sean calmed down enough to think clearly. Sometimes, being a shifter sucked. He wanted to get wrecked, but his metabolism meant the drink did nothing more than take the edge off.

  Christ, but Will telling him he’d as good as ended Kayley’s life had sent him into a mother of a tailspin. Only Luke knew the real reason Sean finally plucked up the courage to leave his abusive alpha after fifty long years. Unfortunately, Will’s barb hit unerringly close to home, dredging up memories Sean fought to forget every single fucking day, thank you very much.

  He cracked his neck, side to side, loosening the tension there and reached for his phone. It wasn’t there. Cursing, he remembered he’d walked out without picking it up. Luke would be stressed to hell. He better get back to the condo.

  “Here you go, sir.” The bartender dropped another drink in front of him.

  “I didn’t order another.” Sean frowned at the man.

  “Compliments of the two gentleman over there.” The bartender pointed to the dark recesses of the bar, where he could barely make out two well-built men.

  Great! A pick up. Just what he needed. As he stood to go, his bladder pressed urgently against his jeans. He’d have to walk by the men to get to the restroom. With an irritated sigh, he picked up the drink and knocked it back, giving the men a salute as a thank you. If they were trying to get him pick-up-drunk, they’d got another thing coming. It would take a whole bottle of Scotch to even make him merry.

  As he moved into the gloom, toward the back of the bar, Sean’s legs wobbled and he crashed into a chair. What the heck? No way should the amount he’d consumed be affecting him so much. Mortified, he tried to walk a straight line but found it near impossible. From the recess of the bar, a familiar scent wafted over him, teasing him.

  Groaning, he tried to force his addled brain to sift through layers of memory and identify it. No such luck. He only knew it heralded something unpleasant. Uncertain, he slowed down as he neared the two men. Finally, their faces came into view, and in that instant his whole world came crashing down.

&n
bsp; “Hello, Seany.”

  The sneering voice sent shards of panic skittering through his mind. Roger Dalton!

  The man had been pack enforcer when Sean escaped from his old alpha all those years ago. What the hell was he doing in Miami? What were the chances of him happening to be in this very bar? As the facts slotted into place, like a terrible jigsaw, Sean panicked. Simple serendipity played no part in this. Roger was here for him.

  Run! He needed to run, but everything slowed down, as if he walked through molasses. His legs wouldn’t work properly. Sheer terror engulfed him and the world tipped on its axis. The bar began to spin, the walls sliding away out of his line of vision every time he tried to damn well focus.

  “Grab him. We’ll take him out the back way,” Roger told the other man.

  Rough hands took hold of him. Sean’s fear began to spiral out of control, he couldn’t drag a proper breath in, and his legs shook under him, weak as jelly. From somewhere deep inside, he dredged up a last vestige of strength and aimed a punch at Roger’s face.

  His fist never connected. The last thing he saw was Roger pull back as he smirked.

  Sean’s vision grayed out and the world slowly faded to black.

  Chapter 13

  “He wouldn’t simply leave like that.” Luke shouted the words as the bartender cringed back against the wall.

  “Look, dude, I’m really sorry, truly I am, but your guy clearly got himself picked up.”

  They’d asked in three bars before they reached the one where Sean had been drinking.

  Luke growled. Flat out growled, and the bartender’s eyes popped. The almost comic look on the poor guy had Kayley biting back a smile.

  “Like I said, I’m really sorry. Don’t shoot the messenger. He did seem kind of drunk. He’d been knocking back the Scotch.”

  “How many did he have?” Luke demanded.

  “No clue. Jamie served him. Hey, Jamie, come out here,” he called into the back room.

  A short, red-haired man sauntered out behind the bar. Luke growled again, but this time low down in his chest. Kayley could hear it stood right next to him but doubted the men behind the counter would. She marveled for a moment at the odd mix of animal and human vying for supremacy in the man stood next to her, and wondered even more at her lack of shock or repulsion at the mixture. To the contrary, she loved the more animalistic side of Luke. Found it exciting if she were honest.

  The redhead stared at them for a moment, a frown knotting his eyebrows together, then turned tail and bolted straight through the door he’d just entered. Taylor took off in a pursuit so fast he became a blur. The non-human speed was a chilling testament to the preternatural nature of the creatures she stood with.

  “Whhhhat aa…aare you people?” The young bartender looked back at the door Taylor had disappeared through, and then at Luke, face ashen.

  “If I don’t find my partner? Your worst nightmare.” Luke leaned in close, face to face with the trembling man.

  Kayley touched Luke’s arm. “He doesn’t know anything.”

  Taylor came back into the room, dragging the red-haired man behind him.

  “Luke, meet Jamie,” Taylor said.

  Jamie didn’t look too good. Tears flowed down his face and a film of sweat covered his skin. Kayley didn’t care one jot. All she cared about boiled down to one single, burning need. Find Sean.

  “I can smell your fear, boy.” Luke pushed his face into Jamie’s neck and took a deep sniff. “You know what I am, don’t you?”

  Jamie nodded. “You’re one of them, some sort of monster.”

  “What happened?” Taylor’s measured tone seemed to calm the man enough to allow him to speak.

  “Your friend came in and sat there drinking. He looked kind of sorry for himself and knocked a few back but didn’t appear drunk. These two guys came in, stank to high heaven they did. I thought they were bums, so I went to ask them to leave, and they pulled me out the back door into the alleyway. They told me to go back inside and pour a drink for your friend. They passed me a tablet to put in it. I said no. Honest.” His voice rose.

  “Go on.” Taylor narrowed his eyes.

  “Then they…oh God.” He choked out a sob and the hand he brought to his face shook violently. “Their eyes changed and started to glow, and they opened their mouths and showed these massive f…f…fangs. The bigger one, he got a hold of me and put his mouth on my neck. I could feel his teeth digging into me. He said if I didn’t do it I’d die. One of them got a call on his cell. It came from some guy he called Mr. McFarlane. I remember ‘cause he sounded terrified of him, and I thought I never wanted to meet this McFarlane person if these…things were scared of him. Then they…they threatened to kill my family, unless I did as instructed.”

  Luke hissed and scrubbed his hands over his face.

  Kayley’s stomach plummeted to her toes as the implications of the McFarlane name hit her. Her conversation with Sean at the beach, his nightmarish recollections of his first mate, all came rushing back. She looked to Luke, and for the first time since meeting him fear reflected back at her in his smoky gaze.

  Jamie looked around at them, his eyes glassy and wide. “I can’t believe vampires really exist.”

  “They’re not vampires. Neither are we,” Luke snapped.

  “The tablet. You thinking maybe Wolfsbane?” Taylor asked Luke.

  “That’s my bet. If they used a small enough amount, it would knock him out but not harm him. And I don’t think they want him dead, not if they’re working on McFarlane’s orders. What the fuck is he doing here? How the hell did he find Sean?”

  “Your friend didn’t pass out at first.” Jamie wiped his eyes, sniffling into his sleeve like a little boy as he did. “Swayed some on his feet, like he’d gotten drop dead drunk suddenly, and one of them steadied him. I thought maybe they didn’t mean to hurt him. All of a sudden, dude faints and they drag him out.”

  “If he swayed, acted drunk before passing out, it might have been rabies essence,” said Taylor.

  “Rabies?” Kayley’s throat constricted. “Won’t it kill him?”

  “It doesn’t kill us, but it makes us crazy for a period of time,” Taylor explained. “Use a small enough amount, though, and it affects us the same way alcohol does a human, gets us anywhere from merry to passing out drunk. Bottles of water with the saliva of a rabid dog can fetch hundreds of dollars amongst shifters.”

  She shuddered at the thought and swore never to try that one once she’d been turned. Once she’d been turned. Her skin prickled in awareness as she examined the thought. Ever since Sean left, she’d been thinking and acting as if already mated to the two men. The reality was she belonged to them already, and no amount of ‘let’s wait and see’ would change the fact. If anything happened to Sean, it would tear her soul apart. They had to get him back, and she had to let them know how she felt.

  “Come on. We better get back and gather some supplies. We need to track him.” Luke interrupted her thoughts and started to walk out the bar. As he neared the door he turned around and pointed right at Jamie. “Breathe a word of this to anyone and you’re both dead meat. I won’t kill you, but other, less civilized ones of our kind will come for you. And they’ll know if you talk. We always do. If you want to live, keep your mouths shut and our kind won’t bother you again.”

  Once back at the condo, Luke went into action mode, and Kayley witnessed what an impressive leader he made first hand. Despite how churned up he must be, Luke painted a picture of calm determination. Kayley followed him into the library where he pulled a huge case out from behind a bookshelf. Julie opened it revealing guns, Kevlar vests, various holsters, and other weaponry.

  One knife caught Kayley’s eye. Beautifully ornate, it shone so brightly in the room it almost hurt her eyes. She tentatively reached out and stroked a finger along the cold, hard metal.

  “Sean’s,” Luke told her. “We don’t generally hunt other shifters, so a lot of this stuff is pretty useless for ou
r day to day work, but you never know when you’ll come up against an aggressive pack. This knife came from Sean’s old life. He always worried that one day he’d meet McFarlane again, and so takes it with him everywhere we travel. I can’t believe he left the condo alone, without it.” He held it aloft, studying it as he turned it in the air. “Sink this into a shifter’s heart and they’re dead in seconds.”

  Luke caressed the knife, almost lovingly, for a moment before carefully slotting it into a holster strapped to his thigh. Next, he selected two guns. “Silver bullets?” he asked Julie.

  “Right here, boss.” She threw a box of bullets to Luke, which he caught without even looking.

  Kayley watched them readying themselves with fascination.

  “What are we going to do about Will?” Julie strapped her own Kevlar on as she looked at Luke.

  He sighed. “I don’t know. I’m sure he’d never hurt Kayley…but he’s kind of volatile right now.”

  “I could stay? Look after him,” Julie suggested.

  “No, you should go. You’re a better tracker than me,” Taylor said.

  “But you’re a stronger fighter.”

  “I agree with Taylor,” Luke cut in. “I need your tracking skills, and we’re going to have help on the fighting front. I’ve called Hawk. He’s on his way and can be here in five hours. They’re in Bogotá and have chartered a plane. Ten minutes later I got a call on my cell.” He looked around the team. “Dylan’s on his way.”

  “Dylan!” Julie’s hand flew to her mouth. “Where’s he been hiding out?”

  Kayley watched the team. Who the hell was this guy to them?

  “In New York, chasing down a lead, which turned out to be another dead end. He’ll be here as soon as he can,” Luke said.

  “Who are Hawk and Dylan?” Kayley looked from Luke to Julie and back again.

  “They do what we do.” Luke continued to strap a chilling array of weapons to various parts of his body. “We all work for the Council. It’s a government organization, high level, and the members know about our existence. They allow shifter packs land to roam, we return the favor by doing certain…jobs for them. They also hush up any sightings, or other events that might lead to our discovery.”