Hell, Donovan didn’t even know that Sage had been inexperienced and was asking that question.
“Sex was a mutual decision. It boils down to a physical release, and really it was nothing spectacular.” Okay, that was a big massive lie. “Besides, I figured it couldn’t hurt to help keep her alliance with me.”
“Because her brother is an alpha? Smart. Kind of shitty, but smart.”
“I’m going to agree with shitty.”
The angry, hurt, female voice rang out from behind them. They turned just in time for Donovan to catch the black phone that was flung at his chest.
“You left this in the house and have been getting non-stop calls from the office for the last three minutes. I thought you might want to deal with that. You’re welcome.”
Shit. How much had she heard? Nathan replayed the conversation in his head and bit back a roar of fury. Too much. She’d heard way too fucking much.
“Sage—”
“And that whole sleeping together thing that we did?” She rounded on him now and folded her arms across her chest. “Won’t be happening again. I’m sorry it was such an unspectacular event.”
“Sage.”
“Another thing. Let me assure you that my alliance is very much with my brother first and foremost. That never did, and never will, change. Asshole.”
Turning on her heel, she ran back toward the house, leaving him and Donovan standing in silence.
“Well.” Donovan spoke first. “She seems like fun.”
Nathan grunted and shook his head, trying to push aside the guilt that was becoming so familiar in his relationship with her.
“She grows on you.”
Chapter Sixteen
Tears blurred her eyes as Sage made her way back to her house.
She should’ve left the phone on the entryway table where Warrick had left it. Despite Sienna’s protests that her husband would be fine without it, Sage had chased after the two men to return the item.
After entering the house, she slammed the door behind her and strode toward the kitchen, ignoring Sienna’s startled glance from where she sat on the couch.
“Everything okay? Did you catch up with them?”
“Fine. They’re fine. Can I get you some tea?” Okay, maybe her tone was a little brittle, but Sienna didn’t know her. She didn’t know that was abnormal.
“Actually, do you have any coffee?”
“Sure. I’ll brew us a fresh pot.”
Absently, she went to work preparing the coffee for them.
Stupid. She was being so stupid. Why should it bother her so much to know that Nate had had ulterior motives in sleeping with her? That he hadn’t simply been driven by a blinding desire for her?
Add naïve to the list of adjectives she fell under. This wasn’t one of her books, and Nate would never be her hero. It was like he said. Sex. And for a moment she’d thought she was doing okay compartmentalizing that from her emotions.
She’d been considering having sex for months, when all she’d been able to think about was a cute indie musician named Leaf.
God, she could barely pull up his image in her head now. Behind closed eyes there was only Nathan Larson. Large. Intimidating. A little too dominating from his alpha tendencies. A lot dangerous, and most of all, incredibly attractive.
Well. Whatever happened from this point out, sex wasn’t part of it. Her gut instinct told her Nathan was innocent, and she would keep trying to help him prove it. But as for the sexual side? They were done. She couldn’t risk getting her heart hurt.
Heart and brain were separate entities. She’d do well to remember that.
“Sage?”
Soft footsteps announced Sienna’s arrival. Sage turned to find the blonde entering the kitchen, her brows drawn together with concern.
“I realize I don’t know you very well,” Sienna said softly, “but what I’ve seen so far speaks of a courageous woman who can see beyond the surface.”
“Thank you.” She wasn’t courageous though, far from it.
“Nathan Larson is a strong leader. An incredible man and a longtime friend of Warrick’s, and he’s in a whole lot of trouble right now. If you hadn’t agreed to help him—”
“Well, that wasn’t exactly by choice. He forced me,” she admitted, before grumbling, “Initially at least.”
Sienna’s mouth closed, her lips pursing as she absorbed that information.
“But now you’ve decided to help him. I mean, I’m assuming since you contacted us.”
“I never should’ve contacted you. That was a huge mistake.”
“No. It could be his saving grace. There’s only so much you can do to help him,” Sienna said gently. “We have access to so many more doors that you can’t get through, and Nathan would be flagged if he even tried.”
“I hope you can help him.” And then I hope he gets the hell out of my life. Putting everything back to normal. Deadlines. Crushes on silly musicians. All leading up to an arranged mating that her brother was planning.
Only that wasn’t what she wanted. Not at all. She bit her lip hard to avoid the tears that pricked.
“You already have strong feelings for him.”
Sage froze. “Excuse me?”
“Oh crap. I didn’t realize I actually said that aloud. I was just pondering…” Sienna stepped back into her line of vision. “It’s fascinating. I’ve been studying the whole shifter species—trying to understand them more since it’s so new to me still.”
“Yes, I heard about your situation…”
“It’s just that I’ve heard it can be quicker with alphas. The attachment, and that when they find their mate—”
“Whoa. No, it’s not like that,” she said quickly. “Nate is a friend.”
Sienna just arched a brow in blatant dismay.
Flushing, she admitted, “Okay, maybe he’s more than a friend, but we’re certainly not mates. He was intended to mate with someone—”
“That doesn’t mean she was destined to be his true mate if he’d had the right to choose.”
“But he doesn’t have the right. Not really. It’s all arranged for people like us.”
Sienna gave a slight nod. “That’s true, but that doesn’t mean people don’t stray from their intended paths—”
“Even if Nate is technically available again, I’m not.” She drew in a sharp, painful breath. “My brother has arranged for me to mate with his beta.”
“Oh. I see.”
The thick disappointment in Sienna’s words sent a similar dismal emotion through Sage, and she turned, clenching her hands into fists as she went to check the coffee.
The coffee hissed and dripped as it percolated, the pot nearly full now.
“So how did you guys get down here?” Sage asked, trying to keep her voice steady as she changed the subject. “How did you find me so fast?”
“It was actually really easy. We traced your number, got your name and address, and hopped a plane immediately.”
“The agency isn’t going to notice your absence?”
“We don’t work weekends, and tomorrow we’ll both call in and claim food poisoning or something. We plan to be back on Tuesday.”
“Will you be taking Nate with you?”
“It depends. Warrick and I are taking a huge risk by being here right now. We should’ve turned you in. Had you called anyone else…there’s a good chance Nathan would be on his way to the Elders right now.”
“Or dead?”
“Or dead,” Sienna agreed without hesitation.
That visual hurt. Physically hurt her heart and she struggled to breathe through it. Couldn’t quite stop the tiny whimper of fear.
“I still think you seem awfully close to Nathan for having only known him, what, a few days?”
If that. Sage gave a small shrug.
“We’ve had time to talk.” And have sex. “Being housebound together since Thursday night. We haven’t gotten out much, except when I tried to escape.”
&nb
sp; Sienna’s eyes rounded. “Escape? Meaning he wasn’t allowing you leave on your own free will?”
“Exactly. I tried a few times, actually, to escape.” Her lips quirked. “He took me a little more seriously the third time when I shot him.”
“You shot Nathan? He’s an alpha!” Sienna’s voice rose with disbelief.
“I realize that.”
“Let me understand this. You shot him with a gun?”
“With a Glock .40 to be exact.”
“And you’re still alive?”
Sage laughed, but she quickly sobered and gave a small nod. “Actually, I’m alive because of him. He saved me from being dinner to a mountain lion, and that’s right about when I began to trust him.”
“Amazing.” Sienna shook her head, and disbelief still shone bright in her eyes. “Though it doesn’t surprise me he’d step in to help you, even if you shot him. I’m sure you had your reasons for doing it.”
“Mmm. A handful of them, actually.”
Sienna laughed softly. “Well I’m glad you’ve come to trust him. Whatever method he used to garner your help initially, I’m certain it was due to desperation.”
“Clearly.” She didn’t bother to hide her sarcasm.
“You seem to be getting along well enough now…” Well enough meaning sleeping together. Sage turned away again and grabbed a couple mugs down from the cupboard. She wouldn’t deny or confirm that one.
“Did you guys eat? There’s a bunch of hard-boiled eggs in the fridge, and I have some sandwich meat. Cheese. Just help yourself to anything you want in the cupboard or fridge.”
“We’re fine. Please, I know your schedule must’ve been disrupted quite a bit with Nathan entering your life—”
“I work from home. I’m a writer,” she explained, because the question inevitably came up. “I’ve managed to get some work done, surprisingly.”
“Good, and if you need to work, please, don’t feel you have to keep me occupied.”
Suddenly the offer sounded too good to be true. To claim the need to write, but be able to sneak off to the other room and just be alone for a bit.
All the events of the morning were starting to catch up with her and she was struggling not to crumble under the emotional weight.
“Thanks. Actually, maybe I will if you don’t mind. Feel free to use the computer in my office.” She gestured to the open room that was just outside the kitchen.
“Thank you.”
Sage slipped away, offering an apologetic smile as she disappeared.
Though the temptation to disappear up to her room with her laptop was strong, she didn’t want to be overtly rude, and settled in the living room again instead.
She tried desperately to get back into the story she was writing, but there was a lingering cloud of anger in her heart. Bitterness. But she didn’t fault Nathan for it all, part of it was directed at herself.
Work, Sage, work. You’re on deadline.
Giving herself tunnel vision, she focused on the story in front of her and made herself write.
When the door opened awhile later, she only barely heard it. Only when Nate’s voice filtered through her mind, did she lift her head.
He was in her office with Warrick and Sienna. They were gathered around the desktop computer, with Warrick in the seat typing on the keyboard.
“Be sure to check for any sign of a male child that may have survived,” Nate ordered. “And then if you can find anything in the P.I.A. system on Jocelyn Feloray.”
“I’m on it,” Warrick murmured.
“Thanks. I can’t thank you guys enough for coming after me. You’re saving my ass.”
“Not yet, but we’ll sure as hell try.”
Sage tried to bring her focus back to the book, but the sudden quiet had the hairs on the back of her neck lifting.
She hadn’t heard his approach, but the hand that touched her shoulder had her flinching.
“Let’s talk outside.”
A shiver raced through her at Nate’s deeply voiced command.
She glanced over her shoulder at him, unable to resist a rebellious, “You should try asking nicely sometime. It’s always a string of orders with you.”
“It’s habit.”
“Well break the habit and learn some manners.”
From the corner of her eye she saw both Warrick and Sienna turn to gape at them in surprise.
Clearly they weren’t used to hearing anyone talk back to their alpha so blatantly. Well, if they stuck around long enough they’d get used to it.
But Nate didn’t look irritated, just a little amused. Maybe tired. “Will you please step outside with me?”
Going outside with him wouldn’t solve anything. He’d just feed her some lame apology or excuse.
“I’d rather not,” she murmured honestly. “I’m really pushing the deadline on this book.”
He didn’t budge. Didn’t say anything else, but just waited and watched her. Which meant she was going to get jack done with him standing there. Especially wearing nothing but a sheet around his waist again and her fingers itching to trace that defined six-pack on his chest.
“Fine.” She closed her laptop reluctantly and stood. “Let’s get this over with.”
Nathan led Sage outside and to the backyard where the dirt was packed hard and trees were a bit sparser.
“What’s this?” she asked, taking in the line of soda cans along the hillside.
“Target practice. You need to learn how to shoot.” Before he and Donovan had come in, they’d searched her recycling bin for soda cans.
“This is why you brought me out here?” Her lips thinned and her eyes flashed with irritation.
“Do you want an apology, Sage? Because I can give it, but we’ll both know I’m just saying what I think you want to hear.”
“Bingo.”
He pulled a Glock from where it was tucked into the sheet tied around his waist, then set it on the picnic table where two ammunition clips already lay.
“I am sorry you heard what you did, but it was pretty damn close to the truth. It put me on edge to learn your brother was an alpha. I admit I panicked and my first thought was gaining your trust in any way I knew how.”
“By sleeping with me.” The pain in her accusation made him flinch.
But he stood his ground. Used reason. “Are you going to deny that we were already on our way to doing it?”
“No, I won’t deny it. But like I said, sleeping with me in no way made me more inclined to trust you.”
“I realize that now.”
“And sorry if I was unremarkable.” Bitterness clung to her every word. “But you could cut me some slack. I mean, you know it was my first time.”
“Bullshit.”
Her eyes rounded, her lower lip jutted with anger. “Bullshit? Seriously? You’re calling bullshit on—”
“On myself. When I said what we had was nothing spectacular.” His words were soft as he stepped toward her and reached down to cradle her face in his palms. “I lied, because what’s between us is none of Donovan’s business.”
“Oh.” That seemed to deflate her irritation, but she gave a small shake of her head.
“Yes, at first seducing you was about control. But when we were together—” his voice dropped to a low intimate pitch, “—when I was inside you, it wasn’t about that anymore. It was about us. What we have is like nothing I’ve ever experienced.”
Hope flared in her eyes, but then she shook her head. “I don’t believe you.”
“I know you don’t, but maybe you’ll believe this.” He captured her mouth and thrust his tongue deep to taste her. To dredge up a response she clearly wanted to deny him.
She caught his shirt, whether to cling to him or push him away, he wasn’t sure. She seemed to fight the kiss emotionally. Staying slack in his arms and not returning the teasing strokes of his tongue.
But it only took a few moments before he felt her melt against him. Heard the tiny moan of frustration an
d her tongue smoothed against his.
He lifted his head, and stared down at her. Lips swollen, curls messy, and her breathing uneven, she was adorably disheveled after the kiss.
The urge to lift her into his arms and stride into the house, past the Donovans and back to the bedroom hit hard. The realization bothered him more than he cared.
“You hurt me earlier.” Her words were unsteady, tears behind them, as she shoved a mass of curls over her shoulder. “Don’t do it again.”
“I swear I’ll try not to,” he vowed, and pressed a tender kiss against her forehead. “I hate the idea of hurting you anymore than I already have.”
She gave a small nod, and he could see that maybe she believed him a little bit more now. He hadn’t lied. He’d tried to. Initially both to himself and to her, but what had happened in the bedroom had changed everything.
“Let’s get you shooting, Curls, because next time you pull the trigger, I want you to hit your target.”
“I hit you.” She didn’t meet his gaze, still looking a little frazzled.
“In the shoulder, and as you saw, that barely slowed me down. You need to be able to shoot to kill. If someone tries to harm you—”
“Who would try to harm me?” she asked bewildered.
He stared at her for a moment, remembered how it felt to take Alicia’s life, and couldn’t stop the shudder that ran through him.
“Nate? You don’t think…are you thinking you might hurt me?”
She read him far too easily. He wanted to lie and put aside her worries, because he could see that beneath the disbelief there was a hint of unease.
“I don’t know.” He went with honesty, because he needed her to be aware of the potential danger. “The man I was two weeks ago would tell you no, but since that night—since I was injected with God knows what, I’m different. I had moments of…” Crazy rage. Blackouts. “There was something inside me that I didn’t trust.”
“But it’s gone now, right?”
“I hope so.”
Her brows dipped into a frown. “You’d think the drug whatever it was, would be out of your system by now. Do you think it could be residual?”
“The hell if I know. I just,” he hesitated. “I want you to be able to protect yourself from anyone who threatens you.” Brushing her swollen lip with the pad of his thumb, he struggled with the next words. “From me if need be.”
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