Page 10

The sound of Ezra’s voice pulled Mae from her sleep. She opened her eyes, but without her glasses it was hard for her to make out much. Her body wasn’t wracked with pain, so whatever he’d given her was helping. The thirst was better. Not gone but better.

“Bring him in here!” shouted Ezra.

She vaguely made out Ezra’s shape and that of several other men. Squinting, she realized one of the men had another person over his shoulder as if the person was a sack of potatoes. It took Mae a moment to realize the person was a man because of all the long blond hair. Hair she’d seen before.

No. It couldn’t be the man from campus.

Could it?

She blinked again, trying hard to focus with no luck.

The hair obscured the man’s face. His wrists were bound with thick silver chains as were his ankles. He was shirtless but had on military-style pants and boots. The man holding him glanced over the top of the blond’s head as he heaved him onto the floor rather unceremoniously. The blond didn’t move, making Mae wonder if he was still alive. His mass of hair continued to cover his face. It took all of her to remain in place and not go to the man.

Ezra bent, checking the blond’s vitals. His gaze went to the guard. “How much did you shoot him up with?”

The other man shrugged. “I don’t know. A lot. He killed a couple of us. Took another eight of us to subdue him and he was only partially shifted. We had to wait until his body reformed fully to chain him. I’ve never seen anything like it. Kept going on about wanting to know where some woman was. I forget the chick’s name—it was a month or something—whatever it was, he was pissed and driven.”

Ezra motioned to the men. “Go. I’ve got it from here.”

“Denis says there are no doctors on duty tonight. Something about them being offsite. Might as well throw this one in a cell. When he comes to, he’s going to be pissed.”

“I’ll put him in a holding cell in here and then check him over to be sure he’s in prime condition for sale,” said Ezra. “After all, Felix loves to sell male shifters, doesn’t he?”

“Yeah, but I don’t think the infirmary holding rooms can handle this one,” said the other man. “He’s a piece of work, and if he breaks free, he’ll rip that female to shreds or fuck her to death. The only shit we had on hand were the tranqs with the sex meds in them. He’ll wake up horny and pissed.”

“I’ll see to it he’s no threat,” said Ezra. “I’ll alert Caesar that we have another item to sell. He’ll see to it the website is updated.”

“I don’t know. Maybe we should call Felix in about this one.”

“By all means, notify him,” said Ezra. “By my calculations, he is at home because daylight is almost on us, probably with several women and men draped over him as he fucks and sucks them. But yes, call and interrupt his feeding to let him know we have another shifter to auction off.”

The other cleared his throat, sounding nervous. “No. I’m good. You keep the asshole in here. I have to check on the redhead. She bit another guy and kicked him so hard in the balls he may never have use of his dick again.”

“Put her in Mae’s cell,” said Ezra, bending over the blond on the floor again.

“You want to move her?” asked the other. “She scares me.”

Ezra laughed. “Tell her I said to go without fighting. She’ll listen.”

“If you say so, man. Bitch is crazy.” He left, and Ezra picked up the blond man with so much ease that Mae gasped. He carried him to the bed next to Mae. Much to her shock, Ezra undid the man’s shackles, freeing him and casting the chains aside.

Mae wasn’t so sure she wanted someone who scared the bad guys next to her. What if he woke up and did as the other predicted? What if he tore her to bits, or worse yet, forced himself on her?

Ezra turned to Mae. “Shh, I can sense your worry. This man is no threat to you. I know him well. That being said, when he wakes, be still until he realizes where he is, okay?”

She nodded and whimpered as her stomach cramped.

Ezra grabbed a cool compress and put it to her forehead. “I know it hurts. Your body is cycling through the toxins. These fools were giving you way too much and didn’t even seem to notice the signs that you were having a reaction to it.”

She caught his hand. “Thank you.”

“Mae, you should know that Caesar is working to coordinate an extraction. There is another facility run by Felix. Just like this one and not too far from here. Caesar and I have to make sure the strike happens at the same time, or the other facility will issue a terminate protocol. That means everyone being held there and here will be killed if there isn’t time to get them all out. We were planning to launch this in several days, but it’s become clear it has to happen now.”

She gasped. “I understand.”

“You’re safe in here, with him,” said Ezra. “My guess is, anyone who tries to harm you while he’s around won’t have enough left of them to identify later.”

“I don’t know him,” she said, squinting. “I mean, I don’t think I’ve seen him before. He kind of looks like a man I saw once, but I don’t know. I need my glasses.”

“I’ll grab them for you. I have to reach out to Caesar and check on a few things here. I’ll be back within an hour. I’m going to override the door locks, which means no one should be able to get in, but also, no one is getting out.” With that, he left the room, leaving her with the blond.

Mae stared hard at the man in the bed next to her. He was out cold on his stomach. His body, while not moving, still screamed powerful. There wasn’t a spot on him that wasn’t honed muscle. And there was a certain air of danger there—like he could and would still be a threat to all around him, it didn’t matter if he was awake or not. He was also spectacular. She couldn’t tear her gaze from him, a warmth spreading through her midsection, confusing her at first until she realized she was turned on by him.

Not the time. Not the place.

She gulped as the heat returned.

It took her a minute to be able to sit up. When she did, the room spun. She didn’t dare move until it stopped. When it did, she grabbed the pole with the bag of fluid hanging on it, and used it to help steady herself as she stood. The bottoms of her feet hurt as they made contact with the floor.

She whimpered, and the blond man stirred.

There was a long gash on his left torso that looked to be healing over and there were a multitude of bruises on his body. He had to be very tall judging by how he almost overflowed the bed. The urge to touch him was great. She let her hand hover just above his skin, fearful the drugs she’d been given were causing her strange pull to the man. She’d not wanted to jump Brad’s bones. But the blond guy she wanted to leap upon and have her way with him.

She couldn’t tear her gaze from his form. His upper body was stunning, and that was seeing it through a haze without her glasses. She could only imagine the rest of him was too. With as many art classes as she’d taken that had an emphasis on the human form, she’d seen many people nude before, but this man was unlike any she’d ever seen. Unable to help herself, Mae skimmed her fingers over his cloth-covered thigh lightly, heat instantly searing her skin, making her jerk her hand away.

Would she burn him too like she had the guard?

The more she looked at his side and the wound there, the more her chest ached for him. She glanced around, knowing there had to be something in the giant room that could aid him, but she wasn’t much assistance beyond rinsing out a paper cut.

Her breath caught as the man stirred again, rising somewhat on his forearms, his long hair still covering his face. He groaned and then his upper body stiffened, his groan turning into a deep growl. Mae eased back from him rapidly, heeding Ezra’s warning.

He roared loudly, coming up and off the bed as if attached to strings. He went down hard on the other side of the bed, but didn’t sound deterred. “I’ll rip your bloody heads off!”

British?

She’d always been a sucker for a guy with an accent. She shook her head. Still not the time or the place for her hormones to behave poorly.

“Where is she? If you place one hand upon her, I will be your end. Mark my words.”

Mae made a move to go for him, but realized she was hooked to the bag of fluid. Without thought, she pulled the IV from her arm and made her way around the other bed slowly, keeping one hand on it to support herself as she did. She found the blond on the floor, half propped up, facing the floor.

He froze and then sniffed the air loud enough for her to hear it clearly. “Mae!”

He knew her name?

She had yet to get a good view of anything more than his back and his injured side, but she didn’t think she knew him. He tried to push off the floor, but fell again, his damaged side ripping open and bleeding more. Yelping at the sight of him hurting himself in an obvious attempt to locate her, she moved towards him, tripping on the long gown. She fell on him ungracefully. Heat flared through her as she did. She feared she’d hurt him.

The next she knew, he was turned under her, holding her to him in a death clasp, his face buried in the crook of her neck, her body sprawled out on his. It was hard to ignore just how hard the man was all over. For a split second they were nothing more than a mass of tangled hair and limbs.

Finally, he grasped her upper arms gently.

She lifted her head slowly, able to see him now that he was this close to her. Her mouth dropped open. It was the man from campus. The hunk she’d been attracted to.

The man you sculpted.

The man she’d dreamed was coming to help her.

Warmth rushed over her, stealing her breath, her body suddenly pliable against his. He certainly was tall and that was a bonus. At five-eight she wasn’t short for a woman and this man managed to be longer than her.

Confusion coated his expression as he looked up at her. “Mae?”

“Yes.” Her palms went to his steely chest. She didn’t push off him. Didn’t question how he knew who she was. She just touched him, the warmth continuing. “I dreamt of you.”

His lips twitched and he nodded. “Love, you reached out mentally to me. You let me know I was looking in the wrong location for you.”

“What?” she questioned. The feel of his chest was amazing. She couldn’t seem to stop touching him. As she continued to run her fingers over it, she smiled. “It’s exactly how I sculpted it.”

He quirked a brow. “Come again?”

“Wow.”

“Are you hurt?” he asked, his voice deep.

She just stared at him, unable to think much beyond how close he was. As her fingers eased over his injured side, her breath caught. “You’re the one who is hurt.”

He caught her hand in his and the heat intensified. She locked gazes with him, totally freaked out and excited, all at once. Her statue guy was real and he’d come for her. He was even better in the flesh. She’d not done the man justice in the sculpture. He looked her over, his gaze searing through her.

“I am slightly battered, but fine, Mae. I need to know if you are injured in any fashion.”

She shook her head. “Scared, but not hurt. I don’t feel great. They gave me something that I’m allergic to.”

His hand moved to the cheek where Denis had struck her. The man’s jaw hardened. “Who hit you?”

She dipped her head somewhat. “I’m okay. It doesn’t hurt anymore.”

He ran his thumb over her cheek and stopped at her lip which was nearly all healed over. “I’m sorry.”

She just watched him. What did he have to be sorry for?

The edges of his entirely too kissable looking lips eased upwards. “I should have gone to you the minute I smelled you.”

Had he hit his head or something? Was he crazy? “Excuse me, but what?”

“On campus,” he said.

She blushed. “You remember seeing me on campus?”

“I haven’t been able to get you out of my mind,” he returned, making no move to push her from his body. “I was drawn to you then. I shouldn’t have ignored the pull. I should have gone to you. I could have prevented this.”

She grunted. “No. The jerk who stood me up could have prevented it. Not you. Whoever you are.”

The blond cringed and cast a soft look in her direction. “Mae, it’s me, Corbin.”

Corbin?

Her mind raced and she panted. “The guy who stood me up?”

He winced. “Yes.”

Mae pushed up and off him much faster than her body, still fighting off the effects of all the drugs, could handle. She swayed and the room spun wildly. Suddenly, Corbin was standing as well, yanking her against his powerful frame, steadying her. “Easy, love.”

She felt as if she’d just gotten off a carnival ride. For a moment, she dreaded she’d be sick. The closer Corbin held her to him, the more her stomach eased. She rested her forehead against his shoulder and let him hold her. “You never showed. I waited over an hour.”

He tensed, still holding her. “I’m so unbelievably sorry, Mae.”

She felt it deep down that he meant every word he said. Another thought occurred to her. “I sculpted the same guy my mother insisted I go on a date with?”

He touched her chin, lifting her face so that their gazes met. Confusion knit his brow.

She licked her lips. “I like to sculpt things and paint. I’ve been working for weeks on a sculpture of a man I thought I made up. I didn’t think you were real.”

“I’m real,” he said, caressing her cheek lightly. “I’m sorry I didn’t stay for our date.”

“Why did you leave?” she asked, unable to tear her gaze from his face. Did the man realize how handsome he was?

He cringed. “Part of it was work-related, but another was catching your scent.”

She pursed her lips, not following his train of thought.

He sighed, still stroking her cheek. “I arrived on campus, and I was headed to where we agreed to meet. Then I caught your scent. It did something to me. I know this is no excuse, but from the minute I smelled you, I wanted only you. No other.”

“So you bailed on me?” she asked, totally lost.

“I didn’t know you were you , Mae. I assumed you were already at the Union. My mind didn’t even consider you were my date. You were simply the woman in the yellow dress whose scent drove me mad.”

Her scent did that to him?

She blinked up at him. “If you’d have bothered to show for our date, you’d have figured out I was me.” Saying it felt silly, but necessary.

He scowled. “I know. Trust me. That is all I’ve thought about since learning you and the woman in the yellow dress are one in the same and that you’d been taken. The night of our date, I was called to work. I had to leave the country and I was gone for nearly two weeks. Mae, I need you to know, if I had it to do all over again, I’d change every action I made.”

She stared at him. “I’d have refused to be fixed up by my mother.”

Corbin tensed. “Mae? You don’t feel a pull to me?”

“Oh, I do, but I’m pretty sure it’s the drugs talking,” she said, easing back from him slightly. “I’d have told my mom no when she pushed me to go out with you. Sorry, but I’m not interested in a man who skips out on dates.”

Corbin winced and took her hands in his. “You said you sculpted me.”

“I did.”

He locked gazes with her. “Before the drugs were introduced to your system?”

Crap. She really wanted to tell herself it was just the drugs making her want to jump the man’s bones. With a groan, she closed her eyes. “Great. My dream guy is a douchebag. Hot and with a great accent, but a douche all the same.”

“Mae, has anyone explained mates to you?” he asked, drawing her attention back to him.

“I know about mates. Why?”

He simply watched her as if waiting for her to answer her own question. As she thought harder on it all, her eyes widened and she yanked her hands free from his. “No way! We’re not. We can’t be. Our mothers forced us to go on a blind date that, if you’ll recall, you didn’t bother following through with.”

“I swear to you, I will spend eternity making up for that with you,” he said, inching closer to her. “For now, will you just let me hold you a moment? I need to know you’re okay and then I’m getting you out of here.”

“You can’t get me out. Not yet,” she said, wanting to be held, but refusing to go to him fully. She was still angry he’d bailed on her. It was childish considering the man had somehow managed to find her after she’d been taken by crazy people, but still, her pride was wounded. “People are working to get me out, but they need to coordinate it so no one else being held gets hurt or killed.”

Corbin eyed her and then tensed, touching his side lightly.

Mae’s anger with him faded quickly. “That looks bad. We should clean it or something.”

“It will heal. Whatever they gave me is slowing my natural ability to heal, and I can’t be certain, but I feel much warmer than normal.” His blue gaze zeroed in on her, raking over her slowly. “And other things.”

She felt the heat rising off him and knew what it was. Drug-induced desire. “Corbin, the one guard said they shot you full of the same stuff they’ve been using on all of us. But that they had to give you a whole lot of it. I don’t know a ton about it, but from what I do know, it makes you desire certain things.”

His nostrils flared. “I desire you.”

She yelped.

His eyelids fluttered. “Your smell, Mae, it drives me mad.”

She didn’t feel like herself either, but she wasn’t sniffing the air like a wild man. He was. She held up her hands. “Okay, take it easy there, big guy.”

He blatantly adjusted his cock and she realized just how big a guy he really was. She also became very aware of the fact the drugs were still in her system. Her mouth watered and she found it hard to tear her gaze from his hand. As she did, she couldn’t look away from the start of sandy blond hair that poked out from the top of his waistline. The deep V-cut of his hip muscles made her feel a little weak in the knees. She touched the back of her neck, positive she’d burst into flames if she kept staring at the man.

Corbin sniffed the air louder this time. “Mae, I can smell your desire.”

“Yes.” It wasn’t the most brilliant response she’d ever had, but it was all she could manage. Didn’t anyone have a shirt they could cover the man with? Maybe a cardboard box? Something? Anything? She was going to burn up if he didn’t cover his upper body and soon. His lower body too at this rate.

He eased closer, coming into focus more for her without her glasses on. That only served to make her want him more. Heat thrummed through her, centering in her groin. She half feared her lady parts would attack the man. If they were able to separate from her, they might very well have done just that.

He put his fingers into her hair, his palms on her cheeks. His lips were so close that she wanted to sample them. His lips met hers and her mind shut off. The moment his tongue found hers, she whimpered and began to rub her body against his as they kissed. She’d been kissed before, but it hadn’t been like this.

This was amazing.

Moaning, she ran her hand down him and stopped when she touched his injured side. The idea of making out with him in a place they were being held prisoner, while he was injured, seemed wrong. She broke the kiss and he tried to continue it.

“Corbin,” she said softly. “You’re hurt and we need to be ready to go when the extraction thing happens.”

“Extraction thing?” he questioned, his lips looking entirely too kissable for her willpower at the moment.

“Yes,” she said, staring at his mouth.

He pushed her hair behind her ears. “If you know how much I wanted to be buried deep in you right now, you’d run to the other side of the room.”

She nearly sighed at the sound of his accented voice. It only increased his hotness factor. Not that he needed any help. As she thought harder on what he’d said, she swallowed hard, pink staining her upper neck and cheeks. “Oh.”

He cupped her cheek and she closed her eyes, happy for the contact with him. She tipped her head, resting her face on his palm as she squeezed his other hand. Mae couldn’t stop herself as she started to cry, so happy to no longer be alone in the ordeal that she couldn’t contain herself.

Corbin held her against his very hard frame, his long, powerful arms wrapping around her as he held her to him, her head on his shoulder. He rocked her in place, rubbing her arms. “You’re warm. Too warm.”

“Ezra brought me in here to help stop it,” she said through her tears. “When I woke up, I felt better. But when I touch you there is heat again. I didn’t know shifters could do that.”

“We can’t,” he said. “But I’ve been told it happens between mates.”

She jerked. “I’m not Denis’s mate!”

“Denis?” he asked, his voice deepening.

“The guy I burned. I didn’t mean to burn him. I don’t even think I did it, but he said I did,” she muttered, lowering her gaze.

Corbin exhaled slowly. “Was this Denis trying to hurt you?”

She nodded.

“Then I’m glad you burned him, Mae.”

“But I didn’t. Did I?”

“My guess is you did.”

She eyed him. “Then am I making it hot between us?”

“I think it has more to do with mates than that,” he said. He’d mentioned mates before. She knew what mates were. Any self-respecting supernatural did. What she couldn’t understand was why touching Corbin would cause the heat?

As she thought harder on it, she gasped, her eyes widening. “No!”

He kept hold of her. Had he not, she might very well have leapt away from him and run. “Yes.”

“No,” she repeated.

“I’m close to taking offense,” he mocked.

“No way. No.”

“This is because I stood you up, isn’t it?” he asked, humor in his voice.

Mae stared up at him. “No way.”

He touched her lower lip. “Love, I’m going to get you out of here and then I’m going to prove to you that I’m right.”

Her mind raced with the implications and she gasped. “I sculpted you before I ever even saw you.”

“Because we’re mates,” he said softly.

“You’re saying my mother set me up on a blind date with a guy who just happened to be my mate?” she asked, lifting a brow but staying close to him. He felt too good to move away from.

Corbin groaned. “Trust me when I say, my mother will tell me she knew it all along and I’ll never hear the end of it.”

She couldn’t help but giggle. “Your mother is amazing, but I can picture her saying it.”

“That’s right, you’ve met her. I forgot she told me that,” he said. “I should apologize for her then. I’m sure she overstepped her bounds. It’s what she does.”

“She’s lovely,” said Mae. “She is always so encouraging of my art. I even sent her a piece and a picture of my current one. She’s great. But she is hoping for grandchildren.”

Corbin jerked her against him. His long, thick erection was pressed against her low stomach. “I very much want to give her them.”

Mae nearly bolted from his grasp.

He laughed. “Mae, I’m not going to tear your clothes off. I want to, but I won’t.”

She thought about him doing just that and found her body heating at the idea.

He sniffed the air. “I can smell your desire. If you want me to stay true to my word, please try to control your lust. One of us needs to, and ever since you came into my life, I’ve had no control whatsoever.”

She looked him over, her mouth watering.

He touched her chin, lifting her gaze to his handsome face. “Mae.”

“You look like a male model.”

He sighed.

She squinted and lifted his long hair. “Is it me or is there light pink on your tips?”

Groaning, he rubbed his forehead. “It’s not you.”

“My mate has pink tips?”

His gaze locked on her and she realized that she’d just acknowledged him as her mate. Gulping, she released his hair and tried to step away. He shook his head, invading her space, causing cream to flood the apex of her thighs. He yanked her to him and suddenly his mouth was on hers and she was powerless to stop him.

Not that she wanted to.

As she realized how much she was willing to hand herself over to the man with her, she found herself humming softly as their kiss continued. The more she hummed, the more intense the kiss became.