Money

by Destiny Blaine

  “You don’t get this worked up over sex,” Jagger said.

  “Oh, yes I do. That’s the problem. I’ve been so excited over the past few days that I pretty much forgot to eat, and the two of you weren’t too interested in feeding me.”

  Jagger moistened his lips. He was horny all of a sudden. “Want me to feed you now?” He ran his hand across his pulsing erection.

  “No, I do not,” she said, taking on a serious tone. “Did you meet with Shoc?”

  “Yes.” Jagger took a seat behind his desk, aggravated. They always seemed to fuck on Ariela’s terms. “He’s waiting for you now.”

  “So that’s why you’re horny all of a sudden.”

  Leon and Jagger locked eyes in a disconcerting exchange, acting as if they could transmit silent messages to one another.

  “I’ll be fine,” Ariela assured them.

  “I saw Sanchez,” Jagger said, angst-ridden. “He doesn’t look well.”

  Ariela stepped closer to the desk. “You know he belongs with us.”

  “I’ve always known. I just didn’t want to admit it. When Leon told us others would join us, I became more aware of how I responded to others—particularly the lions brought in for the Rise to Power-Search for Pride production.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me you’d already accepted Sanchez when you pulled me out of Barlo’s casino a few nights ago?”

  “I didn’t exactly accept him then. I knew I would, obviously.” He paused. “It isn’t like we can deny you your mates. It’s fate. If we disapproved, you’d find a way to make your way back to those you need, those you’ll one day love.”

  “Jagger—”

  He held up his hand. “He is your mate, Ariela. He’s in waiting. He’s depressed, and I imagine that has everything to do with you. When you go to him, you must breed with him as quickly as you can. Then, you have to convince him to flee.”

  Leon stepped forward. “Ariela, I don’t recognize the breed of shifters Barlo and his brother Shoc represent, but there’s something disturbing about the access I have into the future when it concerns them.” He pressed his lips together “I think Shoc is like his brother, and he allows me to see only what he wants me to see.”

  “So are they wizards, or shifters?”

  “That’s just it,” Leon said. “I believe we’re dealing with wizards, but I can’t be sure. I don’t think Barlo could shift, and I don’t think his brother can.”

  Jagger picked up his phone and noted the time. “You’re supposed to meet Shoc in his office now. You have twelve hours with him, Ariela. Promise me you’ll be careful.”

  “Yes, I promise,” she said, unwilling to rush to his side for fear that if she touched him then she wouldn’t be able to leave him.

  She turned her focus to Leon. “I’ll be fine.”

  “If you aren’t, roar for us.” He winked. “We’ll muddle through any jungle and find you.”

  Chapter Twelve

  “Ariela, come in.” Shoc Matheson greeted her with open arms. He took her by the shoulders and planted a kiss on either side of her face, before directing her to the sitting area. “It’s so nice to finally meet you.”

  She wished she could say the same, but her instincts were razor sharp and from the moment she’d pecked on the door, her stomach had rumbled in warning. Whatever she had thought might transpire there had taken a hard turn in another direction.

  “I understand you are willing to trade Sanchez for my time.”

  “You don’t beat around the bush, do you?” He claimed a seat and leaned back on the sofa with splayed arms and legs. “Are you willing to do whatever it takes, Ariela?”

  “You don’t waste time either,” she commented, trying to barricade the lioness within. The last thing she needed to do was start with the gnashing teeth and demeaning threats. “What will it take for you to release Sanchez?”

  Shoc stroked the front of his slacks, drawing her attention to his cock. To her surprise, and her relief, there wasn’t a significant bulge in his slacks. In fact, he wasn’t visibly hard at all.

  “Are you excited?” she asked, taunting him deliberately. It didn’t take much for her to understand. He didn’t have a hard-on for her. He possessed a raging salute for revenge, and if he gained an erection at all, it would likely come after he believed he’d gained the upper hand.

  “More than you can even begin to comprehend.”

  “I’d like to see Sanchez.”

  “I want to show him to you.” He rose immediately and held out his arm. “Let’s take the elevator, shall we?”

  She followed him to a private lift without a word. Once the doors closed behind him and his guards were out of view, he turned on her, blocking her from the only means of escape once the doors reopened.

  “I’m here to negotiate,” she said calmly.

  “And you will, darling. You’ll negotiate, plead, beg, barter, trade, and anything else that is required, because Sanchez is your mate.”

  She swallowed.

  “Ah,” he drawled, stroking her hair. “You didn’t know. They didn’t tell you. That can only mean one thing. Leon can’t see your future, can he, pretty girl?” He petted her head again.

  “What do you want from me?” She wanted to vomit, but she didn’t see where mentioning that fact would help Sanchez. Shoc’s foul breath washed over her like a stench of garbage disposed in a nearby bin.

  “Oh, Ariela. Don’t you see? What I want, I already have.” An evil laugh fell from his lips, followed by a blur of activity—as he withdrew a syringe, and came at her as if he were wielding a jagged blade. She fought like mad to keep him from stabbing her, but in the end, her strength was no match for his.

  He jabbed the needle into her neck and she slumped against him, barely aware of her surroundings then. She was unable to speak, unable to cry out.

  Well if this wasn’t a real bitch. Leon had told her to roar if she needed him. At the moment, she couldn’t even whimper.

  * * * *

  Ariela slowly came to. Sanchez watched her as she nodded her head up and down, seemingly unaware of his presence there.

  As soon as she was fully awake, she jerked her arms forward and back. If Sanchez had been in his human form, he would’ve told her the effort would be in vain.

  She wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon. Barlo’s brother had not only strapped her hands, but he’d cuffed them as well. Then, he’d left the key right outside the cage.

  Sanchez wasn’t an idiot. Barlo’s brother had dangled that key in front of Sanchez’s nose as if he were placing honey in front of a hungry bear.

  Ariela twisted and turned. Her sexy body rolled one way and then another. She shifted her hips often, her discomfort apparent.

  Sanchez wanted to go to her, nuzzle and assure her, but her frightened scent was driving him mad. If he moved any closer, he’d lose his direction, change his goals.

  “Sanchez, you have to shift. They’ll kill us if we don’t get out of here.”

  He released a hard breath before he stretched out on his side of the cage, careful to keep his belly mashed against the concrete floor.

  “What are you afraid of?” She jerked her arms. “Me?” She tilted her head and studied him. “That’s it, isn’t it? You’re afraid of being with me as a man because you’ve spent so much time in captivity.”

  He opened his mouth, inhaled her scent, and released a shaken roar, one followed by a quick head butt to the left. He worked out a few kinks in his neck and decided the lion’s language would have to suffice.

  He wasn’t shifting.

  “I don’t want to die here, Sanchez. Do you?” She jiggled her feet and glared down at her bound legs. “Do you want to watch me die? They’ll kill me in front of you. Shoc wants you to suffer. He wants to watch you bleed, whether it’s your heart, your soul, or your body. He wants to take something from you, and he knows we’re mates.”

  Sanchez’s body went rigid. He gazed int
o his woman’s eyes, his pretty little lover’s perfect face. Why did she seem to understand Barlo Matheson’s brother? How could she possibly know the man? From what Sanchez had discovered from some of the casino’s lion handlers, this Shoc-fellow hadn’t been around. He’d never shown his face there. Most of them didn’t even realize Barlo had a brother.

  “Sanchez, will you shift for me?” She fluttered her eyelashes. “I need you. Please. You don’t have any idea how much I long for you.”

  No more than he longed for her, but he didn’t have another mate to satisfy his needs. Apparently Ariela had a couple.

  Then again, he couldn’t fault her there. A lioness shifter was a demanding creature, with a high sex drive. During her breeding season, it would take a few men to rise to the challenge of her mating demands.

  “Sanchez, please come to me as a man. Show me that handsome face.” She yanked her arms and glared at him with a hint of anger flaring in her eyes. “Save me! Damn it! You’re the only one who can!”

  Chapter Thirteen

  As if she’d spoken the magic words, Sanchez shifted into his full male form. A man with an athletic build emerged. Given the hard expression on his face, his square jaw, thinned lips, and furrowed brow, it was fair to assume, he was mad as hell.

  He inched closer, staying low so he wouldn’t bump his head on the bars above them. “Why were you here?”

  She gaped at the gorgeous hunk of male flesh in front of her. “I…I…”

  “You can’t speak now?” He bent forward, his cock extended and nearly touching her lips as he worked with the ties binding her to the container.

  Her mouth watered worse than Pavlov’s dogs might have when they’d been thrown a bone. She blinked at Sanchez’s size. This was some fucking bone.

  He quickly untied her, but her arms didn’t fall to her sides. That was when she remembered she was cuffed as well.

  “Where’s the key?”

  “Over there,” he said, indicating the floor beyond the trap door.

  “Would you mind getting it?” Jeez. Would she have to walk him through every aspect of their forthcoming escape?

  “You were drugged. You won’t be able to shift.”

  He leapt backward when she opened her mouth. Apparently the poor guy thought she was ready to suck his cock. Fact was, she could’ve easily taken a sip or two, but at the same time they had a more important matter at hand—their escape.

  The brief silence turned uncomfortable and he finally asked, “How many mates do you have?”

  “Two.”

  “Oh.”

  “Three, counting you.”

  The color washed out of his cheeks. Apparently he could share her with one. Add another shifter to the equation and he obviously needed a minute to think about it.

  “You’re not in season now.”

  “No.”

  “Do you still want to fuck me?”

  She glanced up. “I’d be happy to if our circumstances were a little different.”

  “Me too,” he said, acting more and more peculiar by the minute.

  “Sanchez, stay with me. Please don’t shift again. You’re my only hope of getting out of here alive, and I’m yours. They want to kill you.”

  “How do you know?” His blue eyes turned a misty color and his pale skin took on a pink tint, sort of like a sunburn.

  “It was all over the news. The morning after you killed—”

  “I didn’t mean to kill him.”

  “I don’t think you did,” she said, eyeing the keys to the cuffs. “Would you please free me?”

  He eased over to the side of the large box and reached through the bars—then screamed as some sort of electrical current charged through his skin. Jerking violently, he released a series of agonized and shattered cries—before he latched onto the key and yanked it inside their confined space.

  “Oh my God,” she breathed. “Are you all right?”

  He shook his arm a few times. Then, with a willful stare, he glared at his arm—and the burn healed immediately.

  “Wow. How’d you do that?”

  “I don’t know,” he said. “I’ve never done it before.”

  “Are you a wizard, too?”

  “No. At least, I don’t think so. Are you?”

  “God, I hope not. I already have good intuition. If I could see the future, I’d drive everyone crazy.”

  “Can your mates see the future?” He reached behind her and released the cuffs. “Can Jagger?”

  She laughed at the way he drew out Jagger’s name. Men were so transparent.

  “Leon has the ability to see the future,” she said, rubbing her wrists as soon as she was free.

  “Really?”

  “Yes.” She scooted away from the bars.

  “Did Leon tell you to expect this?”

  Before she could brace for the impact, Sanchez smothered her lips with his kiss, shoving his hands forward and locking strands of her hair around his fingers.

  Good God, he could kiss! If the man had been in captivity for most of his life, he sure had missed some great opportunities to please the opposite sex. He should’ve shifted for his trainers and kissed them to bribe them. They would’ve freed him, fucked him, or just plain handed him the world.

  Ariela wanted to do all of the above, but at the moment, she’d have to settle for a quick fuck, a claiming Jagger had told her to make happen before they tried to escape.

  Her center heated. Her pussy clenched. She longed to know the feel of Sanchez’s rigid cock stroking her.

  As soon as she wrapped her hand around his length, he pulled back and stared down at their connection. Then, to her surprise, he didn’t waste another second.

  Sanchez pushed her back against the floor, spread her legs with his knees, and plunged inside her with one full-throttled stroke. Burying his cock inside her hot channel, he screwed her with a definite and timed beat, stroking every inch of clenching muscles and tingling tissues.

  “Sanchez,” she whimpered, raking her nails down his arms. She’d needed this. Ever since the first day they’d met, she’d longed for the man—for the shifter to show his face.

  He worked his cock in and out of her body, stroking and loving her, fucking and claiming her. In a matter of seconds her body wilted, succumbing to the pleasure as another mate not only found his place in her arms, but seemed well satisfied to gain his placement there.

  “Well, well, well.” Shoc Matheson’s voice echoed throughout the basement. “What do we have here?”

  Sanchez ignored him. He remained buried inside her, the emergence of the barb now demanding that he finish. He hammered her then with blinding strokes, pummeling her with one thrust and then another, forcing his cock higher every time.

  “Sanchez,” she breathed against his neck, sensing his unwillingness to let Shoc interrupt them.

  “Hurry, boy. It will be your first and last fuck, if I have anything to say about it.”

  In the corner of her mind, Ariela wondered why Shoc didn’t know about their earlier mating. Hadn’t he found Barlo’s recording?

  Sanchez roared to life then. He screwed her with diligence, slapping his palms on either side of her hips and shimming his lower half as he threw it to her in hard-pounding strokes. He slammed against her, pulled out enough so the barb would scrape the inside of her channel, then reentered her again, charging full speed ahead.

  She looked up at him then and touched his face. “We waited too long to enjoy one another.”

  The lion’s snarl was evident then. He turned his cheek to her, and glared at Barlo’s brother. A look of pure contempt flared in his eyes, and he sank inside her again, glaring at Shoc as he filled her cunt with his release, shooting off and jerking like mad. He paused for a long moment before he kissed her goodbye and rose to his feet, his cock still dripping wet from his recent release.

  “Are you trying to prove something to me, Sanchez?” Shoc asked.

&
nbsp; “I will kill you,” Sanchez said calmly. “I don’t want to hurt you. I have no desire to harm anyone—but if you touch her, if you try to harm her in any way, you will die.”

  Ariela shivered as she watched the men square off. She detected the seriousness in Sanchez’s tone. The determination was evident in his stance. He looked like a giant beast of a man, even though his form was somewhat smaller than Jagger’s or Leon’s.

  Ariela was stunned at his newfound confidence. She’d roused something significant within him. As he’d fucked her, he’d transformed. She’d felt the transition, the sudden shift in his attitude and demeanor.

  Was it possible? Had Jagger suspected as much? Was that why he’d told her how important it was for her to claim him as soon as possible?

  Rage settled in Sanchez’s misty eyes. His corded neck was strewn with veins so tight they looked ready to pop. He ground his teeth and snarled at Shoc. “If you have something you want to say, then say it.”

  “I have something to show, actually,” Shoc said, withdrawing his large new techno-friendly phone. He pushed a few buttons, then gripped the device with his hands.

  As Ariela quickly reassembled her clothes she focused on the image, already understanding what Shoc would soon flash in their direction.

  They’d been recorded. Now, Shoc would show them fucking like animals. Perhaps Leon had been right. Maybe her suspicions had been accurate.

  Shoc really had found the earlier recording. His goal was to show how she managed to unleash the best of both beasts—man and lion—while provoking the killer who lived within each.

  Chapter Fourteen

  “I don’t know what you think this proves.” Sanchez wiped cum off the end of his cock, and watched the passionate replay of his earlier lovemaking session with Ariela.

  “For starters, you can’t be trusted when she’s around,” Shoc said, fiddling with the settings on his phone.

  Sanchez’s cock throbbed the second he heard the guttural roars from the handheld device. He clamped down on his teeth and ground his molars. Watching their animal forms work out the carnal sexual frustration left his cock twitching with the memory.