He’d called me a fling. On national—no, on international television. Oh. My. God.
I wrung my hands together, felt my bare wrists. He hadn’t put them on me. He’d been so desperate to do so. It was one of the reasons for our being here today. Yet they were still behind that glass.
I knew Wulf held it together so he could represent the fighters on The Colony favorably. He didn’t want to scare women away from the Brides Program a second time, but still… he held back. He wasn’t saying a word.
“Looks like we have a catfight on our hands and the cuffs are up for grabs,” Chet murmured and moved to his seat once again. “With me, onstage, is Ruth Sanchez, Warlord Wulf’s matched mate from the Interstellar Brides Program. They were matched four years ago, and she regrets her decision to return to Earth. Now she’s back for a second chance. Isn’t that right, Ruth?”
Ruth nodded, her glossy hair sliding over her shoulders. “Yes, Chet. I was wrong. Seeing Wulf these past few weeks with the contestants on the show allowed me to see a different side of him.”
“How so?” Chet wondered.
“Well, when I knew him, he hadn’t been captured by the Hive. Tortured. Integrated.” She reached out, grabbed Wulf’s hand and hugged it to her bountiful breasts.
“Oh, she didn’t,” Willow whispered.
Yeah, she totally did.
“My mate is so much calmer now. Mature.”
“What about the beast that tore up the stage the other night?” Chet wondered. “That was far from calm.”
“It wasn’t the little makeup artist he scented, Chet. I was…” She looked away as if ashamed, then back at the camera. “I was in the audience. He had to have scented me. That’s why he went crazy, because he couldn’t find me.”
Wulf’s knuckles went white as he gripped the chair, but he remained still. Quiet.
“Wow, she’s ruthless,” Genevieve whispered.
Willow nodded.
Yeah, she was. I couldn’t look at them, just stared at Wulf, who remained almost… stony. Why wasn’t he refuting her words? I had no doubt that audiences around the world were gobbling this up as the tastiest fodder.
Had he really slept with her and been too much? I’d seen the dominant, beast side of him, but the more tender lover as well.
“He grabbed Olivia Mercier and took her to one of the back rooms. They… ahem, became acquainted.”
“I’ve been acquainted with Wulf, too.” She offered a small shrug as if she didn’t give a shit. “She’s not wearing the cuffs.”
Yeah, she didn’t give a shit at all. She wanted Wulf back.
Chet didn’t respond, only looked to Wulf.
When neither guy did anything, Ruth stood, slid her snug dress up her thighs a few inches, climbed onto Wulf’s lap, then kissed him.
Willow gasped.
Genevieve took her hand in mine. She leaned close, whispered, “He wants you.”
I stared at Ruth’s body practically glued to Wulf’s. Her hands cupped his face as she kissed him like she had a beast inside her.
I couldn’t see his face, but Wulf’s hand moved to her lower back.
I felt sick at the sight. He was engaging, not pushing her away. Had he been in love with her? He’d said he’d been upset at her rejection, but had he changed his mind now that he’d had a second taste? Was he still in love with her?
Ruth lifted her head, and I could see she had lust—and triumph—on her face.
Wulf turned her so she sat on his lap and he could see Chet.
“Get the cuffs from the case for me?” Wulf asked him.
Chet popped up faster than toast in a toaster.
“I can’t watch,” I whispered. Genevieve took my hand and led me off the set. I was thankful for her help because I wasn’t paying any attention to where I was going. Once we were out in a hall where we could talk, she turned me to face her.
“Are you okay?”
I swallowed back tears. “No.”
“I can’t believe it. He’s going to give the cuffs to her? Now? In front of everyone?”
“I don’t know. Looks like it.”
“Do you really think he smelled her in the audience the other night?”
Was that possible? I knew how he’d been in that back room. Wild and frantic for me. Yet had it been Ruth’s scent that made him wild and I’d somehow gotten in his path? Whatever had happened was irrelevant. It seemed everything that had happened in the past two days was, too. He’d requested the cuffs, and Ruth was pretty much humping his leg like a bitch in heat.
That was mean, but I couldn’t take it back, not even in my own mind.
“I have to get out of here.” I turned and ran blindly down the hallway. I heard Genevieve running behind me. I didn’t stop until I was out on the sidewalk, New Yorkers all around me.
“I’ll get you a cab.” Genevieve lifted her fingers to her mouth with one hand and let out an earsplitting whistle while flagging down a passing taxi with the other. It pulled up in front of me.
“Thanks, Genevieve,” I said as she hugged me tight.
“Don’t worry, we’ll all get the guys of our dreams.”
When I climbed in the cab and told the driver the name of the hotel, I sat back and wondered if I ever would.
12
Wulf
* * *
Control the beast. Control the beast. CONTROL THE BEAST!
I was doing everything in my power to keep my beast from tossing Ruth Sanchez across the set. I didn’t hurt women and I never tossed one, but the need to do so was almost impossible to resist. Yet I maintained control. Barely.
I’d destroyed one set already. Destroying this one would only prove that deserving fighters from other planets couldn’t be controlled or trusted with Earth females. I owed it to the Atlan warlords who had suffered as I had, Braun and Tane, Kai and Egon and all the fighters from the planets banished to The Colony, to hold myself in check. I was doing this for them. All of this. Every torturous second of my time on this planet.
Except when I was with Olivia. And that didn’t include now. Chet had herded her from the stage along with Genevieve and Willow, as if they were discarded weapons no longer loaded with ammunition. He’d used them for what he wanted and was finished with them.
I knew they stood just beyond the cameras, as Olivia had the other night when I’d discovered her. My mate wasn’t alone, but with the two finalists. I didn’t like her out of my sight, but I had no option at this moment. Chet knew what he was doing. So did the producer. They were taunting me. The beast inside. They wanted this to go on… and on.
They wanted another spectacle. They wanted me to lose control.
I would not give in. So instead of tossing, I stood abruptly, Ruth Sanchez sliding down my body and landing on the raised platform in an undignified heap. She gasped and the audience laughed. While I wished to shame her, as she had blatantly lied and was misusing me for her own fame and gain, I couldn’t dishonor her in such a way. I took her hand and hoisted her to her feet, quickly moving her so she stood several feet away.
During this time, Chet had done as I’d asked and retrieved the cuffs from the glass case. They were my other goal. I would have them in my hands where no one dared take them from me. If he collected them under the assumption I was giving them to Ruth Sanchez, then so be it. If the audience believed I’d scorned Olivia for the lying female who’d long ago rejected me for another, so be it.
They would learn the truth soon enough.
Chet held the cuffs out in front of him. Two sets, one large for my wrists, one small for my mate’s. “Aren’t they beautiful, folks? Prettier than a diamond solitaire.” He winked at the camera. “Especially if they come with an Altan like Warlord Wulf.”
Gritting my teeth, I held myself still instead of stalking over to him and ripping them from his fingers.
“It appears a change of heart has occurred.” Some audience members clapped, others booed. “Now, now. Even Atlans can be fickle when it comes
to love. I mean, when you have to choose between a duckling like Olivia Mercier and a swan such as Ruth Sanchez…”
My beast rumbled at the blatant insult to my mate. I didn’t know much about Earth animals, but I understood his meaning well enough. Chet glanced my way and blanched, clearly realizing he may have gone too far.
“Who will he choose? We’ll find out after these messages,” Chet said quickly, and the camera light went out.
I’d had enough, and I could move and speak freely now that there was a break. I took the two Atlan-sized steps between me and Chet and plucked the cuffs from his fingers. The cool metal felt good in my hands. Reaching back, I clipped my cuffs on the back of my belt and held on to the smaller ones.
“Where is Olivia?” I asked, looking out into the darkness off set.
“You can put them on me now, Wulf. I’m ready,” Ruth said, but I ignored her.
“Olivia, come here.”
She didn’t appear. I waited.
“Olivia?” I called again.
Stepping from the darkness wasn’t my mate, but Willow. “She’s gone, Wulf.”
My beast howled and pushed right at the surface. I had to stay calm. I couldn’t lose it. Not this time. Not here. If I had to leave the building to find her, I couldn’t be in beast form. I’d be shot. Or on the news. Or both. I owed it to my friends on The Colony to give them a chance. But I had to find my mate. Now.
“Where did she go?” I asked, stepping down from the platform.
Willow wasn’t afraid of me, thankfully, because she came to stand right in front of me. “You had your hand on Ruth’s ass. The woman was kissing you. You asked for the cuffs.”
“Yes, I asked for them so I could give them to Olivia.”
Her mouth dropped open. “Really? Because it looked like you were going to give them to Ruth.”
I shook my head. “I don’t want Ruth. I know now I never did. It was the only way to get Chet to take them from the case.”
She smiled. “That was smart.”
I shook my head. “I want Olivia. Where. Is. She?”
Her smile fell away. “I don’t know. She couldn’t stay and watch you give the cuffs to another woman. You hurt her.”
Fuck. How had this show ruined everything? No. Not everything. Without it I never would have met Olivia.
I spun on my heel and faced Chet Bosworth and Ruth Sanchez. “The cuffs are for Olivia Mercier, my mate. Ruth, never. Chet, I’m done. End the show with that. If I hear you cutting down the other fighters on The Colony, I will be back, and I will crush more than your audio amplifier.”
I cut through the backstage area.
“I’ll help you.” I slowed at Willow’s rushed words, knew she was running to keep up. I looked down into her pretty face.
“Olivia would have gone to the hotel to get the children.”
She frowned at that but said nothing. “Do you know the name of the hotel?”
I nodded.
“We’ll get you a taxi. Come on.” She led the way down a flight of stairs and outside. She waved at a yellow vehicle, which didn’t stop. She waved at another, which also didn’t stop for her. I caught on to what she was doing, and when I saw a third yellow vehicle coming our way, I stepped onto the street and held up my arms. The yellow vehicle stopped.
“Here, you’ll need this.” She stuffed small pieces of paper in my hands. “It’s money for the cab. Good luck, Wulf. Maybe I’ll see you on The Colony someday soon.”
I took her arm and moved her away from the front of the vehicle. “Thank you, Willow. I do as well. You will make a fine mate for a worthy warrior.”
“Thank you, Wulf.” Her smile was a bit shy, and I realized that I truly did hope both she and Genevieve claimed worthy males. They were smart, beautiful women, but not the one I wanted.
Climbing into the back was almost impossible, but I wedged myself in and told the driver where I wanted to go. He took off, thankfully, like a fighter ship from deep space. Hopefully I wasn’t too late. Olivia was mine, although at this moment, she might not believe it.
I had to fix that, and then I could take my family home.
13
Olivia
* * *
Why was I so upset? I’d been telling myself this was going to happen since we met. I’d told him he was mistaken from the very beginning, practically the very first words I ever said to him. I knew something was going to go wrong. Knew it.
Wulf was too good to be true. Too… everything. I was not his type. Gorgeous warrior gods did not go for women like me. Maybe for a fling, to empty their balls, but as something real?
No. They went with women like her. Ruth. While she wasn’t model small, she was exactly the big Amazon woman Wulf needed. This also included expensive perfume, designer clothes, lip injections, expensive spike heels and breast implants. In other words, gorgeous.
The only thing real about that woman had been the triumph in her eyes after she’d climbed up in Wulf’s lap and kissed him. She couldn’t have been any more obvious, and the cameras ate it up. On top of that, Wulf had asked for the cuffs. Supposedly my cuffs. Chet had retrieved them so Wulf could put them on her. His real mate. His perfect match from the Interstellar Brides Program. His true mate. The perfect woman for him.
I couldn’t compete with not only the perfect female specimen but the actual bride test. It had chosen her for him. The test didn’t lie. Wulf deserved to be with the perfect woman. After what he’d survived? Not some overweight makeup artist who had inherited two kids from a deadbeat brother and struggled to pay the mortgage every month.
The taxi pulled to a stop in front of the hotel, and I handed him my money in silence, not trusting my voice. The doorman opened the door of the car, and I ducked my head, practically running past him as the tears welled up. I would not cry in the hotel lobby. Would not. I had some dignity left. Some pride. I was not broken.
I had survived worse than Warlord Wulf of Atlan. That was for damn sure. It was amazing how much I hurt over a guy I’d only known for two days. Two days and I was a complete wreck!
The elevator was a welcome reprieve from too curious eyes, and I leaned back, letting my head hit the hard, cool surface on the way up to the twenty-first floor. Lucy would be there, with that knowing look in her eyes. Hopefully she’d turned the television off when things went sideways. If Tanner and Emma had seen Wulf kiss that horrible woman… Well, I didn’t know what I would do about that or what Wulf did when he’d found me gone. No, he wouldn’t go all beast again because his mate had been straddling his lap and sucking the tonsils from his throat.
The ride was over too soon—thankfully no one had gotten on—and I stood before my hotel room door, the Do Not Disturb sign clearly displayed. I expected to hear the sounds of Tanner and Emma even out here in the hallway. Instead an odd quiet made my skin chill.
Unlocking the door with the key card I’d gotten from the front desk, I walked in to find the room silent and dark, the blackout curtains completely closed. The television was off. The lights were off. The room was empty.
What the hell?
I flipped on the switch, and one sad little side lamp lit up next to the bed. “Lucy?”
Alarmed now, I hurried to find another light switch and flipped it on. The bed was a mess where the kids had probably played. The connecting door to the suite I shared with Wulf was closed. Maybe they were in the other room?
I walked toward the door but stopped dead in my tracks at the sight of two feet sticking out of the bathroom door. Lucy’s favorite slipper socks, a pair of fuzzy panda faces staring up at me from the floor. I blinked, then gasped, my brain finally catching up to my eyes.
“Lucy?” Shock slowed my movements as I stepped into the open doorframe to see Lucy bound, gagged and unconscious, lying on the bathroom floor. “Oh my God! Lucy!”
Kneeling beside her, I tore at the duct tape that circled her wrists, but I’d need a knife to cut through. My movements stirred her, and she tried to speak. I pu
lled the tape from her mouth, and she worked to spit one of Tanner’s dinosaur socks out. I yanked the green and yellow sock free.
“What happened? Are you all right? Where are Tanner and Emma? Where are they?”
Her green eyes were blurry, and she winced, clearly not one hundred percent. “You tell me. Who is Jimmy Steel?”
I felt the blood drain from my face, and I dropped down onto the cold tile, trying once again to get her hands free. “No. Impossible.”
Lucy moaned in pain as she tried to sit up, and I hurried to help her. “Call the cops,” she slurred. “He took them. He took Tanner and Emma.”
My hands, which had been tearing at the duct tape around her wrists, froze. “What? What did you say?”
Tears welled in her eyes, and she lifted her bound hands to the back of her head. “He took them, Liv. He took them. He left you a box.”
Panic filled me. Hot. Intense. Frantic. Tanner and Emma weren’t here. They weren’t safe. I had no idea where they were, but I did know they were with a very bad man. Hurting innocent children would be something he’d do and not think twice.
No!
Shit. Shit. Shit. This was not happening. I yanked at the heavy silver tape around her ankles as she twisted her wrists free. “God. No. This is wrong. This isn’t happening.”
“Who is Jimmy Steel?” she repeated.
It wasn’t like I could keep this secret from her any longer. She’d been hurt by him. Bound and gagged. “He’s… he’s a guy Greg owed money. When he died, Jimmy came to me and made me take over the debt. Those errands I ran were drug runs.”
“Oh my God, Liv,” she said, eyes wide with panic. “Where’s Wulf? Turn him loose on this Jimmy guy. He’ll rip him and his asshole goons in half. Literally.”
Bachelor Beast Page 13
