Loving Her (Keeping Her) (13 page)

"Let her in." 
Cassie said, her voice moving to below freezing.  "I think we need a
little girl talk."

"Not going to
happen," Eli said, "She's a jaguar shifter and an evil bitch.  No way
am I letting her anywhere near you.  Especially when you have that look in your
eye."

"Demon."  Cassie
turned to meet Demons eyes.  "Tell him to let her in.  This ends now,
before Ben returns home to find that at the gates of his home."

Demon studied her and then
looked back at the monitor, his teeth clenched against his own anger. 
"Let her in,” he growled.

 "Demon?"  Eli
looked at him as if he'd lost his mind.  "What the hell are you
thinking?"

"Cassie's right.  This
ends today."  He kept his eyes on Cassie’s, but spoke to Eli.  "She's
stupid or arrogant enough to come to our territory, she deals with the
consequences."  Eli cursed but turned back to the monitor.  Clytie moved
up to Demons side, and he pulled her in with an arm around her shoulders.

"What are you
planning?" she asked, looking a cross between angry and worried.

"I'm going to meet her
alone," Cassie said. 

"No fucking way,"
Demon growled.  "Letting you get killed is not going to make Ben happy. 
The bitch isn't worth the risk."

"Eli?" she asked
after some thinking.  "Didn't you tell me you had stun guns that worked on
Shapeshifters?"

"You know I do," he
said, "But Cassie we are fast and jaguars are faster than most.  If she
sees you coming, you will lose."

"She won't see this
coming," Cassie smiled.  It was a scary smile.  Eli had no idea she had a
smile like that inside her.  It made him very happy she was on their side. 
Plus it was seriously hot.  Where did they find these women?  And where could
he get his own?

Once Cassie had
familiarized herself with the stun gun to Eli's reluctant satisfaction, she
went to find the woman who had been cooling her heals for a good twenty
minutes.  Demon had escorted her to a spare room that could be used for
interrogations; it was that uncomfortable.  Three folding chairs in the middle
of the room and Demon leaning right inside the door, which was the most he would
agree too.  He would let her handle it, but he was determined to be there just
in case.  Right now, he was standing where he had been since he escorted her
into the room.  Just glaring at the woman.  Not answering any questions. 
Letting her get more and more agitated as she was ignored but watched with
predatory wolf eyes.

"Clarice is it?" 
Cassandra asked coming in the door and studying the woman with frosty eyes. 

There was no denying she
was beautiful.  Cassie thought again, what a beautiful couple they would make,
this woman, and Ben.  However, hers was a cold beauty.  Ben was all about
heat. 

"I came to speak to
Ben not his pet wolf or his human toy,” Clarice said, her voice condescending,
her eyes dismissive. 

It didn't take shifter
senses to see she was both angry and afraid, and stupid apparently.

"Why in the world
would you think Ben wants to talk to you?"  Cassandra asked, truly wanting
to know how she would think that.

"Ben and I have a
connection.  We always have.  You wouldn't understand," she said, with a
flick of her wrist.  "I just need to talk to him and explain, then you
will be nothing more than a bad memory."

"Well then,” Cassie
said.  Shaking her head at the logic.  "Let me just run off and get him
for you so you can get on with your perfect life together.”  The sarcasm would
have been obvious to anyone else.  "What was I thinking?"

"Be snide if you must,
but Ben will listen to me and I will have him back."

Cassie snorted out a
laugh.  "You actually think after what you did, Ben would want you back? 
Amazing.  At the same time, actually kind of pathetic."

"He's always wanted
me.  We're meant to be," Clarice said.  Her voice turning belligerent. 
"What, did you think you could satisfy him?  A human.  His jaguar and mine
are connected.  We always have been and we always will be."

"Then why did you
accuse him of rape and marry his best friend?"

"That wasn't supposed
to happen.  I never wanted him to leave.  Marshall was supposed to get mad at
him, not go to his father."  Then she shut up.  "I'll explain to Ben
and no one else."  Then she looked Cassie up and down.  "You are
beneath me."

"Get mad?”  She
narrowed her eyes.  "You framed Ben for rape and expected his best friend
to keep it a secret but turn away from Ben?  What would that accomplish, other
than make Ben miserable?"

"Get out."

"Wait; let me look at
this through psycho bitch eyes, see if I can't get it right.  Why frame Ben
with his best friend?"  Cassie looked her up and down, her eyes narrowed. 
"You wanted him all to yourself.  He wouldn't think about why his friend
was turning on him, he would just be vulnerable, and you could swoop in and
sweep him up?  Like a lost puppy.  Just how dumb are you?"

"I don't have to
explain myself to you.  You are nothing but a distraction.  A plaything.  What
would you know about fated mates?"

"Really?"  Cassie
asked, palming the taser tucked into her waistband.  At this point, she could
taste the desire to taser the bitch.  "I know a mate should be like any
other family.  They should love you and support you, want you to be happy.  You
don't care who you hurt, you're no one’s true mate."

Cassie watched as her eyes
went slitted, her face going slightly off kilter. 

"And why go to such
lengths?  Unless you knew Ben wasn't interested, not really.  Is that it?”  Cassie
asked, "He just wasn't that into you?  I mean that's the only thing that
makes sense, really.  You wanted him to suffer, because you were suffering. 
Then you spread that same misery by marrying that poor bastard who believed
you.  Bet that was a fun marriage."  Cassandra smiled her evil smile. 
"It must really suck for you that Ben wants me, a lowly human, more than
he ever wanted you."

"You bitch!"  Clarice
roared while jumping at Cassie’s throat.  Cassie pulled the stun gun and barely
had time to pull the trigger before she was on her, but she got her.  Even as
Demon was pulling her back, Clarice screamed as bolt after bolt of electricity
surged through her body.  Demon let go in a hurry.

Cassie knelt beside her
collapsed form and pushed the gun in tighter, holding the trigger open,
watching her writhe with pain until she stopped moving, then Cassie staggered
back onto her ass.  The adrenaline abruptly leaving her shaky.

The door flew open and she
cringed, seeing both Mac and Ben with fury on their faces.

"What the hell is
this?"  Ben asked, looking from her to the shifter on the floor.  Mac
looked beyond pissed.

Cassie breathed out as
relief flooded her system and she ended up even shakier.  They were all right. 
Then she looked from them to the woman still twitching on the floor, she could
smell burnt fur.  She cleared her throat.  "Well, she started it." 

***

"Damn it Cassie, she
could have killed you."  Ben was livid. 

Beside him, Mac was
silently doing his best to contain his own anger.  First, he had to let that
bastard Sykes live and now he had walked in on Cassie taking on a shifter.  His
wolverine was ready to bust out of his skin.

"You think I wasn't
worried when I found you had sneaked out of the house to go after Marcus?  Am I
going to get a call from the cops asking about his disappearance?"

"We didn't kill him;
just let him know he wasn't welcome here," Ben snarled.  "Don't try
to change the subject.  You had no business confronting that crazy
bitch."  He turned on Eli.  "How the fuck did she get in the gate to
begin with?"

"I let her in,"
Demon said, low from where he was holding up the great room wall.  Clytie had
taken Roxanne outside reluctantly, but Demon had stayed, as had Eli, who really
wanted to be the one outside with Roxanne at this point.

"Why?"  Mac's
voice was the low growl of his beast.

"Because she needed to
be dealt with and I didn't want Cassie outside the gates."

"And why," Ben
asked, jaw clenched, "would Cassie be the one to deal with her?"

"You were gone.  If I
had to deal with her, the bitch would be dead."

"It was my choice,"
Cassandra interrupted feeling the tension mounting.  Every man in that room
turned to her with their animals shining out of their eyes. 
Yowza. 
"I'm
not finished talking about Marcus.  I made it clear that I would handle my own
issues, and you went behind my back anyway."

"Really?  You want to
play that card?”  Ben asked, eyes narrowed, "whose shit is Shawn watching
twitch unconscious on the floor of the spare room right now?"  He crossed
his arms.  "You going to try and say it was your own you were dealing with
when you let a crazy shapeshifter bitch into the house and confronted her with
a taser?  Risking yourself, yet again, I might add."

Cassie opened her mouth to
argue and came up blank.  She blew out a breath and walked up to Ben until she
was close enough to feel the angry energy vibrating off him.

"You're right."

He blinked.  "Excuse
me?"

"I took on Clarice
because I didn't want you to have to.  I was protecting you and punishing her
at the same time.  It's exactly the same thing you were doing when you went
after Marcus without me."  She moved a step closer.  "So you're
right."

He opened his mouth to
speak, but she interrupted him.  "But if I can't be mad at you because I'm
just as guilty, then you can't be mad at me for the same reason."

He clenched his teeth
around his words.  "You could have been killed."

"So could you.  Marcus
is a police officer.  He owns a gun.  So unless you're going to tell me you're
bullet proof, then you were in the same danger."

"Bullshit.  She's a
crazy shapeshifter, fast and brutal with ten times your strength."  His
hands went to either side of her head.  "She could have killed you in a
second.  Three of us went after Marcus.  We're trained for this.  We didn't
take chances.  There was no danger from one human, even if he was armed."

"I went in armed with
Demon at my back."  Never mind that she had wanted to take Clarice on by
herself.  That little tidbit wouldn't win her any points.  "And I'm fine."

"Why did it have to be
you?"  Mac asked, his voice a deep burr.  "Demon never answered that
question."

"She wouldn't see me
as a threat and I could get her talking."

"Talking?"

"We recorded her
admitting that she's a crazy bitch who set up Ben."  Eli answered from
where he was leaning at the island.  "Already sent it with your
compliments to the Jaguar pack."

"She needs to pay for
what she did," Cassie said softly.  "And I was the one with the best
chance of getting a crazy villain rave out of her.  I don't exactly represent a
threat.  She was a little too easy to get riled up actually.  Like she'd been
holding it in for so long she was just dying to spew crazy."

"That was your plan? 
Not to get her so angry she attacked, but to get her talking so you could let
the Jaguar pack handle her?"  Mac asked, some of the anger leaving his
voice.

Cassie looked at him and
then quickly away.  "Mm-hmm."

Ben barked out a laugh. 
"Worst fucking liar on the planet."

"Fine.  Yes,"
Cassie said exasperated.  "That was the bulk of the plan, but I really
wanted to taser her too.  Happy now?"

"Ecstatic."  Mac
said dryly.

"Jesus Cassie,"
Ben said, pulling her into his arms.  "Will it do me any good what so ever
to tell you not to do shit like that?"

She wrapped her arms around
his waist and breathed in his scent.  "How about I compromise?  You
promise not to go off to confront crazy exes without me and I'll promise the
same."

"Fuck," was his
answer and it made Cassie smile, despite the tension of the day.  Mac waited
patiently for his turn to hold Cassie until Ben started talking again, his tone
lightening.  "It was really Mac's plan anyway.  I told him you wouldn't
like it."

"Oh, really?"

Mac growled and pulled her
away from Ben and into his own arms.  "Bastard," he muttered while
Cassie laughed, hugging him tight.

 "Whelp," Eli
said.  "Glad that's over with.  What's next on the agenda?  Crazed zombie
attack bats?  Bloodthirsty alpha centaurs?  I'm pretty sure we covered all the
normal stuff already."

"We still have to
deliver Clarice to the Jaguars."  Cassie mumbled, as Clytie peaked into
the room to make sure the yelling was passed before coming in with Roxanne.  "Sooner,
rather than later, I want her out of this house."

"And Bidel is still
out there," Clytie added.  Demon lifted Roxanne to his shoulder when she
raised her arms to be let up.  Then he grabbed Clytie around the waist and
pulled her into his side.  "No telling when he will show up again."

"Fucker," Demon
muttered, his face going rabid.

Clytie gasped but before she
could remind him about his language, Roxanne leaned over his head, hanging onto
his ear until she was looking him in the eye upside down.  "You can't say
fuck," she whispered.  "Clyde says it’s bad for little girls." 
Her face was so serious, Demon swallowed the next curse word that wanted to
release from his throat.  "But I'm seven in October."  She patted him
on the face with one tiny hand while the other kept her in place by her ear
handle.  "Then you can teach me, and Clyde won't be mad."

"Bet you she will,"
Clytie said, glaring at Demon, who shrugged, looking sheepish.

"I'm still thinking
island vacation," Ben said.  His eyes on Cassie in Mac's arms.  "With
private beaches and fruit intoxicants."

"One of our newest
security clients is an island resort, adults only.  And get this."  Eli
said, "Its run by wolf shifters."

"Really?"  Ben
said, waggling suggestive brows at Cassie.  It made her laugh, even as she felt
safe snuggled in Mac's arms.  It was a good combination.  Perfect actually.  Ben
continued, "That sounds promising.  What's it called?"

"Can't remember the
foreign name, but in English it’s "At One's Pleasure."  Can you
imagine it?  A private shifter island on the Caribbean Sea.  Brings a tear to
the eye."

"Who got the
assignment?"  Demon asked absently, his free hand traveling down Clytie’s
back towards her luscious ass.

"No idea," Ben
said, suddenly glum.  "Not me.  Lucas said I was too easily distracted
when I asked for it."

"Imagine that,"
Cassie mumbled.  Widening her eyes at Clytie who laughed.

"Think he might take
it, actually," he sighed.  "I gave him the files of the current staff
and guests and he got all intense.  I guess rank has its privileges."