Mandy shrugged. “Well, it wasn’t your boyish charm or your stunning good looks. Nothing personal, but you’ve never been my type.”
“That’s because Truman is your True Mate,” Celeste said. “And that’s why you never made a move. Because you had this whole secret life going on, and you were forced to deny yourself the wolf you love the most. It’s so romantic!”
“Yeah, it’s been a real joy,” Mandy said glumly. She sighed and stood up, moving away from them. “So, Grant, not that I am confirming or denying, but what’s your next move?”
“Listen,” Grant said to her. “This central database doesn’t have to be a bad thing for lone wolves. I’ll talk to Cliff about it. We could start working with the Network to find placement for lone wolves who have legitimate reasons for wanting to leave their packs.”
Mandy looked at him suspiciously. “You would do that?”
“As long as you understand that a lot of lone wolves genuinely are dangerous, and need to be put down. You know Austin hunts rogues. You know that the only wolves he puts down are mentally ill, violent killers.”
“Yes, I know.”
Grant frowned. “Have you and Austin been working together? Does he know you’re in the Network?”
“Does who know what now?” She blinked at him, wide-eyed and innocent. “The first rule of the Network is…you know the rest of the quote.”
“Honestly, I’m better off not knowing. So will you work with us?” Grant asked. “If we can work with the lone wolves, if they could come to us when they had useful information, we’d all be that much safer.”
Mandy looked at him thoughtfully. “You’d have to work through me. They’re not going to trust easily.”
“You should tell Truman,” Celeste said. “He might be okay with you being in the Network. At least give him a chance. Let me tell you, there is nothing more amazing than being with the wolf that you love.”
“I’ll think about it.” Mandy avoided her gaze.
“No, now,” Celeste insisted. “Don’t make me argue my case. Because if I have to, I will describe to you in graphic detail why Grant is so amazing.”
“No you won’t. You’re kind of a prude,” Mandy challenged her.
“Let’s start with Grant’s oral skills,” Celeste suggested. “I think his tongue is actually double jointed. So what he does to my—”
“Ahhhh!” Mandy shrieked, clapping her hands over her ears, and ran out of the room.
“So you like my tongue?” Grant grinned at Celeste.
Celeste smiled at him. “I love your tongue. I’m in a lot less pain now. You know what would distract me?”
Grant grinned wolfishly. After her shower, Celeste was dressed only in pajama bottoms and a vest top, and he made short work of removing them and tossing them onto the floor by the bed.
He threw the covers over his head with a flourish and slid down her body, parting her legs and nestling his head between them, inhaling deeply as he pressed his face against her pussy.
He started by licking the full length of her slit – long, slow licks that made her ache and writhe. It was slow torture, and he drew it out until she was half-crazy with need. Then he played his tongue over her folds, exploring each ridge and valley, lapping up the honeyed moisture that flooded her core.
She moaned her approval, and he responded by swirling his tongue around her entrance then thrusting it into her cunt, licking her inside and making her squirm. She spread her legs wider, and he pressed deeper, grazing her clit with his upper lip while his tongue danced inside her. She thought she might die if he stopped.
“Oh god,” she moaned. “Oh god, I love your tongue.”
She felt him smile against her most intimate flesh. Then he parted her folds with his thumbs to get better access to her clit, and he lashed the delicate bundle of nerves with his tongue, flickering it rapidly up and down, then switching to swirling movements around the exquisitely sensitive nub.
Celeste cried out and arched against him, pushing her hips against his face, wordlessly begging him for more.
He responded by holding her hips in place, kissing her pussy, rolling her clit between his lips until she was gasping and clutching at the bedclothes.
Then he pulled back for a moment and lifted her leg to hook it over his shoulder. He did the same with the other so she was wide open to him. He took a moment just to look at her, her flesh pink and glistening from his tongue and his fingers working her, making her wet for him. And he went back to work, lapping at her pussy, working her with his mouth until she spasmed, hard, against his mouth, groaning and thrashing her head against the pillows. All discomfort was gone, all thoughts of trouble and danger disappearing as fireworks went off throughout her body, lighting up her core and sending sparks to the very ends of her fingers and toes.
“Oh my God,” Celeste gasped. “To think I lived my entire life without this.” She sat up, smiling. “I need to go check on Jeffrey. First I want to go find Mandy and see if she talked to Truman.”
“I bet she chickened out,” Grant said. “That woman doesn’t have a romantic bone in her body. Trust me, I’ve known her for a long time.”
“We’ll see about that.” Celeste took a quick shower and headed out.
She came back a little while later with Jeffrey, who was carrying an armful of storybooks.
“Did you find Mandy?” Grant asked her.
She flashed him a smile. “Yep. I mean, I started to walk in to her room, and…then I walked back out. She was kind of busy. Let’s just say you lose your bet.”
Chapter Nineteen
Mournful howls rippled through the air, and Celeste leaned back in an overstuffed armchair in her bedroom, stifling a shiver. The full moon hung high in the sky, and all the werewolves were down in the basement, locked in. She hated it. She felt as if Grant and Jeffrey were a million miles away.
It would be hard on them too. Werewolves were meant to run free on a full moon. Being locked up would mean a miserable night of clawing at the walls and door, howling in frustration. It was the only way to be safe, however. On a full moon, werewolves were completely taken over by their animal nature. They were likely to attack any humans near them – possibly even Celeste. According to Grant, he and Jeffrey would know who she was because of their close family bond, but she wouldn’t be safe around the rest of the werewolves.
Grant had hired a security firm that his family had worked with for decades. There were times when werewolves needed security on a full moon, and when that happened, they worked with the Morganstein firm. They paid an enormous fee to the Morgansteins for their discretion.
The minutes seemed to drag by as she flipped through the pages of a book without really seeing it. Finally she set it down.
She walked out of her bedroom and paced through the halls.
When she wandered into the parlor, Norman, the human guard, looked at her in confusion. “How did you come through that door? And when did you change your clothes?”
A thrill of alarm shot through her. Something was wrong. “What do you mean?”
“You just came through the front door a few minutes ago.”
“No, I didn’t.”
He pointed at a hallway that led to the kitchen. “Yes, you did. You went that way.”
Jennifer. She’s in the house.
They heard the sound of shots coming from the kitchen, and shouts of pain.
“Go!” Norman barked at her, but it was too late.
Jennifer came barreling through the door, with Talbot at her side. Talbot pointed a Heckler & Koch MP5 submachine gun at them, and his eyes were blazing with fury.
Celeste struggled to swallow her panic. Norman had pulled his pistol from its holster, but it was pointing at the floor.
“Drop it,” Talbot barked. Norman’s face flushed with anger, but he obeyed.
“Don’t shoot him,” Celeste said quickly. “If you shoot him, I’ll make you shoot me, and then you’ll have no bargaining chip.”
&
nbsp; “Sure, buy him some time,” Talbot sneered. “Jennifer. Restrain him. If he tries anything, I’ll shoot.”
Jennifer didn’t even spare a glance for Celeste. She pulled a pair of handcuffs out of her pocket and ran over to Norman, who looked at her with murder in his eyes. Talbot had just killed his co-workers. She handcuffed him to the staircase railing, then returned to stand next to Talbot.
“Okay, now what?” Jennifer asked Talbot. The howls coming from the basement increased in volume. It was as if, even in their animal state, they knew that something very, very wrong was happening upstairs.
Talbot looked at Celeste, his gaze cold and angry. “You and your mate have made my life extremely difficult. You do not want to piss me off any further. Take me to Jeffrey right now. We’ve already been downstairs. There’s a combination lock on the basement door. You will open it for me, or I’ll kill your sister while you watch.” He waved his gun. All the bullets were coated with silver, Celeste was sure. If she opened the basement door, he’d kill everyone but Jeffrey.
“What?” Jennifer cried furiously, backing away from him. “No! I did everything you asked! I got you into the house! I’m giving Jeffrey to you!”
“Getting me in the house is no good if I don’t have the boy,” Talbot spat. He looked at Celeste, and gestured at Jennifer with his gun. “Which leg should I shoot first?”
Celeste smiled at him politely. “Dealer’s choice,” she said. “And please, take your time.”
“Hey!” Jennifer screamed at her, her face contorted with fury. “I’m your sister!”
Celeste shot Jennifer a look of withering scorn. “You are related to me by an accident of birth only. You were going to sell your son.”
“He’d be better off with werewolves!” Jennifer whined. “I tried to take care of him. He’s a freak of nature! I couldn’t hide it any longer, and if the government found out and took him away from me, I wouldn’t even get any money for it and they’d probably just experiment on him. This way, I get the money, and he gets to live with people who know how to take care of him.”
“Take care of him?” Celeste shook her head in disbelief. She looked at Talbot. “What did you want Jeffrey for?”
His lips skinned back from his teeth and his eyes were huge. “None of your business, you little bitch.”
Suddenly, it hit her. How could she not have figured it out immediately? “My God, am I an idiot. It’s a full moon. And you haven’t turned.” She stared at him. “Your ears are pointy, but you’re still human. Why haven’t you turned? I know you’ve turned in the past – Grant told me that you used to flip out and go wolf at a moment’s notice. But something’s gone wrong. You can’t turn anymore, can you?”
“Quiet!” he screamed. He spun around and shot Jennifer in the leg, a short burst that scored the outside of her right thigh. Jennifer screamed in shock and fury, and fell to the ground, clutching at her bleeding wound. Celeste ignored her.
“I think you need Jeffrey’s blood,” Celeste said to him. “Werewolf blood has a lot of unique properties. You’re only a half-werewolf, aren’t you? Probably had a lone wolf parent.”
“I’m a full werewolf!” Talbot screamed. “I have the right to shift! I have the right! I’m stronger than anybody when I have my wolf! I need him back, I need him! I need my wolf!”
“So fifteen years ago, you kidnapped a lone wolf and used his blood so that you could shift,” Celeste guessed. The startled look on his face told her she was right. “How did you know it would work? Research? Legend? Lucky guess? Doesn’t matter. You needed that unique combination. A half-wolf like you. Born of a human mother.”
“My father was the human. My mother was the wolf whore slut who cursed me,” Talbot spat at her. “She used to laugh at me when I was a child. She could shift, I couldn’t, she was so much better than me. It was her fault. Having a human father meant that I couldn’t shift. I need the blood of a half wolf born of a human mother. It’s the only thing that works. It’s my right. I can’t be trapped in a human body. Humans are weak. Humans are inferior. I was born to hunt. To rule.”
“The lone wolf you kidnapped. You kept him prisoner all this time, because whatever effect the blood has, it wears off. Your prisoner must have died recently, so you needed a replacement. Jeffrey.” She shook her head, nausea welling up. “And that’s why you wanted the database. You’d be able to find more like him. You didn’t want to risk ever running out of your supply again.”
Jennifer’s hands were soaked red with her blood. She scrabbled in her purse and pulled out a scarf, tying it around her wounded leg with shaking hands. Tears ran down her face. “It’s not fair, it’s not fair. I did everything you asked. My own son. I would have given you my only child. Why do men always fuck me over? Why, why, why?”
“Quit crying, you stupid bitch,” Talbot spat at her. “It’s just a flesh wound. The real fun comes later.”
“You won’t kill us,” Celeste guessed. “Boone mentioned using us to breed. You know that Jennifer successfully gave birth to the child of a werewolf. Not every human can do that. And I’m her twin, so I’ve got the same genetics. You want to keep us so we could be bred with a werewolf and forced to have more children to serve as your blood supply.” She shuddered in disgust at the thought. Never. She’d never let that happen.
While Talbot was distracted by Celeste, Jennifer slid her hand into her purse again. Celeste saw it out of the corner of her eye.
“I only need one of you,” Talbot said coldly. “I have safe houses all over. I’ve got lone wolves who work for me. They’ll be glad to breed a few little blood donors for me. I’ll keep you in a cage. In the dark. I’ll punish you for everything you’ve cost me. All you had to do was give me that little brat, that was all. I would have paid excellent money for him. We’re done talking here. I want the boy, and I want him now.”
He started walking towards Celeste. Jennifer whipped a small silver pistol out of her purse, and shot him in the back. He gasped, and swayed where he stood for a long, long moment. Then he slowly crumpled to the floor.
As he fell, Celeste dove at Jennifer and knocked the gun from her hand. Jennifer clawed at her face. Celeste punched her in the side of the head, hard, and grabbed the gun away from her.
Keeping an eye on Jennifer, she pulled the handcuff key from her bracelet and hurried over to Norman.
“You fucking bitch,” Norman spat at Jennifer. “You killed my men. You’ll pay for this.”
“Don’t!” Jennifer screamed. “He’ll arrest me! He’ll give me to the werewolves!”
Celeste uncuffed him. He grabbed his gun off the floor and pointed it at Jennifer. “Just give me an excuse. Please. Try to escape.”
Jennifer turned her tear-stained face to Celeste. “You never cared about me,” she sobbed. “You’ve hated me ever since we were kids. Why did you hate me so much? I just wanted you to love me. You were all the family I had.”
Once, that would have worked on Celeste. Now it just made her want to slap Jennifer.
“Save it,” Celeste snapped at her. “The damsel in distress routine doesn’t work on me. I’ll hand you over to Grant in the morning and he can do what he wants with you.”
“I just saved your life! I killed Talbot for you! Jeffrey’s safe now.” Jennifer started to get to her feet, but Norman took several steps towards her and she sank back down. She sniffled hard. “You owe me for that. You owe me millions, and a new ID and if you give me that, maybe I’ll let you have Jeffrey.”
“Are you kidding me? You think Grant would ever let you have Jeffrey, after what you’ve done? You think I’d let you have him? You only shot Talbot because he shot you first, and you knew he was going to kill you,” Celeste said. “You’ll be lucky if Grant lets you live, much less gives you one red cent.”
“When did you turn into such a bitch?” Jennifer whimpered.
“When I saw what you did to your child. By the way, what was the name of the woman in the car? The one who burned up and died for
you?”
“Laura. I didn’t know for sure he’d kill her. I just paid her twenty bucks to go drive up to the meeting spot and tell him not to try anything funny. I told her if he wasn’t alone, she should just drive off. My leg really hurts. I need a doctor.”
“Suck it up, buttercup. What was her last name?”
Jennifer glared at her. “Pederson. Why does it matter? She was a junkie, and she used that twenty bucks to get a fix. She was a nobody. She didn’t have any family or anything.”
“She didn’t deserve to die like that. And I’m going to make sure that she’s buried with her real name on her grave. So tell me, did you get pregnant with Jeffrey on purpose so you could sell him?”
“No, that came later. I got pregnant so I could shake Grant down for money in exchange for giving him custody. We were going to take Jeffrey and hide out with him and tell Grant I needed ten million dollars if he ever wanted to see his son. It was Boone’s idea,” she added defensively.
“Of course it was.” Nothing was ever Jennifer’s fault.
“And then Grant’s father said he was going to kill me if I had the kid. So Boone found this rich werewolf who wanted him – but I heard him talking on the phone. He was going to let Boone come take me before I even had Jeffrey, and then they’d kill me afterwards. That’s why I was hiding from him.” Jennifer gave her a miserable look. “And I tried to be a mother. It’s hard.”
Celeste’s lip curled in scorn. “Yeah, you did a real bang-up job.”
“Hey!” Norman shouted, his gun wavering between Jennifer and Talbot, who was moving.
Talbot sat up. “You should have used a silver bullet on me,” he wheezed at Jennifer. Blood ran from his mouth. “Regular bullets don’t work on me. I’m a werewolf, bitch.”
And he shot Jennifer in the head, at the exact same time Norman shot him. “That’s for killing my men. I did use silver bullets,” the guard snapped as Talbot fell over.
A Cub For The Billion-were (Alpha Billion-weres Book 2) Page 14
