by Paloma Beck
“Where will you be?”
“I’ll be on the perimeter with the others. The other benefit is that I’ve seen Nassir’s men which means I can make a positive I.D. potentially faster than the others can.”
Paige’s wide-eyed expression and the frown on her face told him this new plan frightened her. “Look at me, Principessa. This decision was made with your safety a priority. Trevor has been training for years to become an agent with TEU. He’s more than capable. Plus, I’ll be a push of a button away.”
Donovan opened his hand and showed her a beautiful pin. It was shaped like the letter “P” and encrusted with tiny, sparkly diamonds. He secured it to her apron and said, “A panic button has been installed on this pin. You squeeze it and I come running.”
“Beautiful and practical. The perfect gift,” Paige teased.
“Nothing is too good for my princess,” Donovan teased right back. Goddess, it was good to be over that awful funk they’d gotten into on the plane ride. She truly adored him.
“Ok. Like I said, the agent’s name is Trevor. His mother owns her own pizzeria in Italy so he’s at least been in a kitchen. Mostly he’s here to guard you but go ahead and put him to work. It’ll make it look more authentic.”
Trevor would appear as one of her assistants, a compromise she had to make since she was only allowed three and Donovan insisted an agent be with her. This meant she was actually a chef short, but Paige was confident enough in her own skills not to need more than two extra sets of hands. Donovan thought Trevor was her bodyguard, but for this event, he’d be more like her gopher. That thought made Paige laugh aloud and Donovan raise an eyebrow in question.
Paige just shook her head. “So, where is this Trevor?”
“Trevor,” Donovan called out and a curly-haired young man walked around the corner.
“Mrs. Sabatini,” Trevor nodded and reached out to shake her hand.
“Oh, wow, you can’t call me that,” Paige laughed, “I think you might be the first person to use that title. Why don’t you just call me Paige?”
Trevor looked over at Donovan who nodded. “Okay. Paige it is,” Trevor said. “Now what can I do to help?”
Paige handed him an apron to match the ones Sadie and Gracie wore. Then she pointed him in the direction of a large storage room, handed him the packing slip and sent him to find her boxes she had shipped the week before. With the muscles that young man had, he could lift her heavy boxes of pans and ingredients. She had no intention of doing this without her own supplies, but getting Sadie to help Gracie move them was so not happening.
“I have to go. I’ll see you tonight. Hopefully by then, we’ll have this wrapped up, Nassir removed and I can enjoy watching you announced winner.”
“Really? You think this could happen today?” Paige’s heart rate shot up, and her hands suddenly grew sweaty. Goddess, maybe she shouldn’t have insisted on coming. What if she put all these people at risk? Her sisters? Her mate?
“Paige, look at me,” Donovan took both her hands in his and leaned his forehead down against hers using their mental connection. “Madden wanted you to come even before I could argue against it. This is our clearest way to capture Nassir and find out exactly what he knows about the Valendite Breed and how he plans to use the information. Nothing that happens during this mission is your fault.”
Swallowing down her doubts and worry, she gave Donovan a tight smile, squeezed his hand and let him go. Paige headed in the direction of the storage room where she could hear laughing. It was time to get to work and win this competition.
* * * *
Donovan spent the next few hours setting perimeter security before they sat waiting for what was to come. Donovan paced. His blood levels were still unstable from being newly mated and he couldn’t seem to sit still. The constant movement helped with the feeling of having disconnected from Paige. He knew he was partly to blame for the argument with Paige on the airplane, and he felt miserable each time he thought back to his father’s words on the plane.
“Son, you are the head of your household. There is much responsibility with that task. Your mate must always come first, even above your own emotions. Find a way to rein them in and focus on her needs.”
His father was exactly right. He’d been out of his mind with worry and hadn’t stopped to think about what Paige was feeling. Even more stupid is that he simply needed to be still and tap into her emotions through their connection to know what she needed.
Caedon’s voice snapped him out of his thoughts. “I’ve got eyes on movement in the third quadrant south, along the alley. Two men in suits. All guests have been entering through the front. These men do not belong.” Caedon moved his hands across the keyboards faster than Donovan could follow. Madden, Seamus and Gage had already spread out over the building entrances.
“That’s my angle, guys, and I’ve got eyes on them now.” Gage stated over the radio.
“Just watch. Don’t make any moves,” Caedon answered.
As if on some kind of unspoken cue, Caedon’s phone rang. The shrill of its jingle startled Donovan as Caedon reached to answer it. Placing it to his ear, he said nothing and waited.
A husky masculine voice came across the line. “I hope you’re prepared for company. We will be there soon to retrieve what you took from us.”
Caedon switched the call to speaker so the man’s deeply accented voice filled the room. He continued tapping away at keys as Donovan stalled the caller.
“Who am I speaking to?”
“I believe you know exactly what I’m talking about and who I am. Now, my boss wants his property and we have come to reclaim her.” The man spoke calmly, certain of himself.
“Reclaim who from where?”
“We’ve got the cabin surrounded,” the man’s heavily accented voice stated.
Donovan muted the phone and told Caedon, “He thinks we’re at the cabin. He fell for it.”
“I need to get on the phone to Nico and Granger,” Caedon said, “You handle him.”
Turning back to the phone, Donovan played along with the caller’s misperception. “We won’t be returning anything. She’s being taken care of after the poor treatment she received from you.”
“I dare say she enjoyed my treatment of her,” the man laughed.
“You’re disgusting. She was a prisoner and we have no plans to allow her to be captured by you again.” Donovan grew angrier the more he heard the cockiness in this man’s voice, but he knew Caedon needed him to stay on the line.
“Very well then. We shall take her by force. I suppose this means we don’t need you to put the tea on. We’ll just shoot in and grab her.” His words ended and the line went dead. The man hung up.
“I’ve got a lock,” Caedon said. “The call came from about forty miles north of the cabin.” Caedon opened the line to the other men and relayed the message. He worked at getting coordinates in to Nico who was running communications at the cabin.
Gage reported in. “They seem to be doing recon, nothing but poking around and checking doors. Nothing is unlocked except the loading dock. I’ll keep my eyes on them.”
“We’ve got eyes on them here too. And we’ve heard from Nassir. His group seems to be focused on the cabin. I don’t think they’re aware of our presence here,” Donovan reported since Caedon was relaying their new intel to Nico. Donovan had to give Nassir credit for the simultaneous attacks. Had they not been on the top of their game, they may have missed one to cover the other.
“Caedon reporting to Nico?” Madden asked.
“As we speak,” Donovan confirmed. Surveying the monitors again, he spotted what he never thought he’d find so easily. “Fuck. Nassir just showed his face.”
“Location?” Seamus called out.
Caedon ended his connection to Nico and zoomed in on the monitor Donovan was pointing to. A few keystrokes later, a second of holding his breath and Caedon confirmed Donovan’s assertion. “It’s him – a definite match. I’ve run facial re
cognition and its 99%.”
“The bastard is coming right in the front door.” Donovan grabbed his jacket that held his weapons and headed out the door to join the others.
“Gage, hold position. You’ve got the backdoor boys. Now that we have Nassir sighted, take them out – as discreet as possible. The rest of us are on Nassir.” Madden gave the order and the mission was a go.
Within seconds, Donovan rounded the corner to the alcove just inside the front door of the event center. Cautiously, they perched in waiting to see where Nassir would head to once he entered. Every member of TEU wanted to capture Nassir. The last time they thought they had him, only to have him disappear from their grasp when they attempted the handoff with the CIA. They wouldn’t be making that mistake again. This time, they’d be keeping him as a houseguest. Nassir was no ordinary human. Donovan had begun suspecting he may be super-charging himself on Valendite blood and he might take this chance to test his experiments. Still, he couldn’t help but consider that maybe killing Nassir was the better alternative.
“Madden, we’ve got to take this bastard out or none of us are safe.” Donovan’s voice was strong despite his consuming fury. Everything changed now that he had a mate. Missions were no longer fun and games. This threat was all too real and all too personal.
“We hold to our plan. He still believes he took us by surprise.” Madden’s voice came across strong and fierce. It left no room for argument.
Another fifteen minutes passed before Caedon reported movement again. It seemed Nassir was doing some personal surveillance since he didn’t enter the event center immediately. “He’s entering the far left door, VIP ticket in hand.”
“He’s an invited guest. This means he’s got more access.” Donovan thought aloud, “The meet and greet with the contestants is in a half hour. All VIPs are invited to attend the reception. That’s why he’s here today.”
“I’ve removed the two in the back,” Gage’s voice came through the headset. “Clean-up and disposal is happening now. Those boys in black do not look happy with us, Madden.”
“I’ll deal with them later. Circle around and cover the front door. Do everything we can to take him alive,” Madden issued the command, “No deviation in that plan.”
“Okay. Show time. Follow that hall to your left. Second door on right is an empty storage room. Nassir will head that away; and luck is on our side because he’s alone. You’ve got, I’d say, three minutes. Go. I’ll pick up the van and meet you in the back with Gage,” Caedon gave directions and cut the line.
Moving as quickly as they could, the three of them—Donovan, Madden and Seamus—entered the storage room and allowed the door to remain cracked open. It was only moments before they scented Nassir with their heightened Valendite Breed senses.
Madden stepped into the hall and faced off with Nassir. Donovan and Seamus moved to either side of Madden and waited for Nassir to realize who they were.
“You shouldn’t be here,” Nassir spoke, confused by their presence. This confirmed their suspicion he’d believed they were all following the attack at the cabin. “I received confirmation from my men in the United States.”
“There are some men there as well. It was simple to follow your two-pronged attack plan.” Madden glared as he answered Nassir.
“So you’re going to kill me,” Nassir clucked his tongue, shook his head and continued, “Then you’ll have no information. You’ll never know who is aiding me in my search.” Nassir was incredibly pleased with himself.
Donovan wanted to wipe that grin right off his face. “We have no plans to kill you. We’re going to have you as our houseguest for a bit.”
A quick jump in the clench of Nassir’s jaw let Donovan know he’d rattled him. “You’ll turn me over to the US government and still get no information.”
Madden took a step forward and Donovan and Seamus moved behind Nassir so he was now surrounded. “We never said we were turning you over. As Donovan said, we plan to have you as our guest. Won’t that be fun?”
The sarcasm in Madden’s voice was not lost on Nassir who seemed to pale at Madden’s declaration. He pivoted to take a step backwards but was stopped by Seamus and Donovan. “You are going nowhere.”
With hands in a vice grip on his arms, Seamus and Donovan followed Madden toward the back entrance where Caedon was waiting. Nassir didn’t put up much of a fight. He suspected the first thing they’d do is scan him for any tracking devices. Once burned, twice shy and all that. Donovan shook his head but mostly, he was simply relieved to have Nassir in their custody. His mate could now enjoy the Coupe Du Monde.
Chapter Eight
They celebrated Paige’s victory in the Coupe du Monde in the most charming Parisian restaurant with all their friends, some of her sisters and Donovan’s family surrounding them. Madden and Gage had flown back to the United States with Nassir but everyone else remained to take part in the Coupe du Monde de la Boulangerie. The competition attracted more than eighty thousand visitors since it was much like a fair, held in conjunction with the Europain. Everyone was in high spirits with the stress of TEU’s mission behind them and the victory celebration at hand.
Still, Paige couldn’t wait to be alone with her mate. Aside from drinking from one another and a quick stolen moment, they hadn’t spent much time together over the last three days. She was more than ready when he suggested she make it an early night.
Goddess, help her but she could hardly make the walk back to their hotel suite with running her hands up and down his muscular chest as they walked. Paris was beautiful at night. Paige knew she should soak in the moment but nothing compared to her mate. She may not have spent a great deal of time with him but his mother joined her for a meal each day and Paige came to understand more about Donovan.
His expression before dinner when Paige had agreed to be pierced tonight was one of dark hunger. He’d spent most of his time since then watching her and growling. Paige suspected his impatience was as great as hers as he hurried them along the quiet streets of Paris.
When they finally made it to the elevator and were gloriously alone, Donovan pushed her against the wall and held her off the ground with his body flush against her. He claimed her mouth in a bruising kiss, bit down on her lower lip and drank in her blood. His tongue sought entry into her mouth and she tasted his blood. He must’ve punctured his own tongue to share his blood as well. Paige sucked on him, pulling in his warm, syrupy blood and reveling in the firmer connection forming between them.
Breaking the kiss when the elevator indicated they’d reached their floor, Donovan picked Paige up and swung her over his shoulder.
“What are you doing?” Paige yelped as she hung with her head dangling behind him.
“I’m taking my mate to bed.”
She kicked out her legs and tried to push off him from behind, but he only held more tightly and brought the palm of his hand down on her ass. The quick spanking stung, but the warming sensation made her squirm into him. She heard him chuckle.
He opened the door to their suite and brought them directly to the bed. He tossed her onto the bed, and just as the first time he’d done this, she was naked before her body made contact.
“Since you told me you’d consent to the piercing, I have planned this, Princess. It’s all I could think about.”
“Will you tell me as you do it?” Paige was nervous, not about the idea of getting pierced but about the possible pain involved. She found it hard to keep the uncertainty out of her voice as it trembled a bit.
“Absolutely. All you need to do is enjoy and I promise I will make it pleasurable.”
“How do you know? Have you done this to other women?”
“No,” Donovan answered sharply, “We only pierce our mates. I would never have done this to anyone else.”
Paige snickered, “I meant since you’re a doctor. I didn’t know if those among your parents’ circle might have used you. You did say the only reason we don’t have to bring in a piercer is b
ecause of your medical background.” Paige grinned as his look morphed in front of her until he looked chagrinned.
“This is just the most precious moment in our beliefs.” Donovan leaned down to kiss her and she noticed how very naked she felt with him still fully dressed. “To answer your question, I have not assisted in a piercing. The piercer must be mated to be allowed to see another’s mate undressed so I’ve never been asked. You will be my only one.”
Donovan walked around the room gathering things she couldn’t see. “Since I know it’ll help you relax, I’ll tie you to the bed. Then all you have to do is feel.”
Paige was aware of how closely Donovan watched her as he massaged each of her arms and legs before tying them to the posts of the bed. He continued to reassure her with his words. “This will also make sure you don’t move during the actual piercing, Princess.”
She tamped down the rush of nerves that single statement sent rushing through her to hold onto the arousal she felt building inside. She was all too aware he could feel her every emotion through their shared bond, so she needed to keep her arousal higher than her anxiety.
“You need to stop thinking so much,” Donovan’s words floated up from between her legs as he stood over her. He ran his finger in a line straight down her body. When he came to the junction of her thighs, he tickled the small patch of blond curls she groomed to hide all but a peek of her folds. “You hide nothing with this. It serves only to pull my attention right to where it should be.”
Donovan’s voice grew deeper, pulling shivers up from Paige’s spine, as he brushed through her curls and found her wet folds. He pressed his finger inside her, thrusting in several times as she grew wetter. Paige lifted herself towards his touch while he kept a pace that brought her to the very edge.
