ShiftinDirty-ElizaGayle (16 page)

He pushed off the wall and headed outside. He needed some fresh air to digest this conversation. His most important job was to make his mate happy. Not make her his prisoner. Unlike the Blackwood wolves, he wasn’t going to force her into something she truly didn’t want.
 

Shit.

Something ugly twisted in his stomach as he realized he would have to do something drastic to fix this.

Chapter Sixteen

After consuming more than her fair share of vodka and laughing hysterically with Marcy over her inability to stay on the stool any longer, she noticed that Gage was no longer in the room.
 

“Where’s Gage?”

Marcy shrugged. “Maybe you need a leash for your new boy toy.”
 

“He went outside for some fresh air.” Bhric materialized from nowhere and now stood behind Marcy. Sienna pressed her hand to her eyes and counted to three. She needed to stop drinking.

“Good I could use some too.” She looked at Marcy. “Please stay out of trouble, I’ll be right back.”

“I pinky swear.” Marcy held up her hand and leaned forward and slid off the stool. But instead of crashing into the floor, Bhric caught her and positioned her back at the bar.

“I’ll keep an eye on her.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of,” she mumbled as she headed for the door. She opened it and stared into the darkness, before stepping out onto the porch.
 

Gage was sitting in one of the big Adirondack chairs positioned on either side of the door with his body bent over and his head resting in his hands.

Something was wrong. She felt it.

“What’s wrong? Did you drink too much too?”

He didn’t move, nor did he answer. The unease she felt prickling at the back of her neck grew stronger. “Gage?” She started toward him.

“I think you should do it!” he said.

“Do what?” He wasn’t making any sense.

“This whole mate thing isn’t going to work out for us.”

She was so shocked she didn’t know what to say. Good thing, since the pain in her chest rendered her speechless.
 

“You don’t want me here anymore?”

He lifted his head and met my gaze. “It’s for the best.”

“Just like that you give up and want me gone?”

“You can go with Marcy, participate in the spell and then go home. You’ll have to be monitored for a while to make sure it takes, but you won’t even notice.”

Sienna sagged against the post. She didn’t know what to say, but he had no problem whatsoever expressing his thoughts.
 

“I don’t understand.” She forced the words out.
 

“I’m letting you off the hook. You were at the wrong place at the wrong time and got swept up into something you shouldn’t. We should have let you go days ago.”

“You really want me to go? Just like that?”
 

“Yeah, babe.” His answer came so swift and loud and with no hesitation it became instantly clear he meant every word he said.

Yet, she was still stuck on the words. “I’m not your mate anymore?”

“No.”

Tears burned in her eyes as that one word rattled through her mind. Yesterday when he called her mate she denied it. Tonight he denied her and she couldn’t stop the tears now dripping down her cheeks.
 

She turned away from him, unwilling to look at him anymore. “Why did you put me through this? You were so insistent that I was it for you and against my better judgment I believed you.” She grabbed the post and braced her forehead against the wood. “You let your family give me hope and I stupidly fell for that too. Why? Why would you do this?”

“You have a life. A human life. You need to go back to it.”

“So everything was a lie?” Her body was shaking and she was about to lose it.

“He’s a half-breed, honey. What did you expect?”

A chill swept down her spine. She looked up but saw nothing but darkness. That voice. She knew that voice.

Gage jumped to his feet and snarled. “Get inside, Sienna. Now.”

She started to tell him to fuck off when she caught sight of Gage’s fierce expression as he stared out into the darkness. The clench of his jaw and the strain in his neck muscles did not bode well.

“It’s him isn’t it? The wolf from the bar.”

“Go inside and tell Bhric to get out here.”

“We’re here. I could smell them inside.”
 

Sienna swung around and saw Bhric, Calder and Rafe, along with several other men she didn’t recognize, had appeared on the porch from nowhere without a sound.
 

“Smelled them? Who is them?”

“Sienna, you should go inside.” Gage was growling now.

“I’m not going anywhere until someone tells me what’s going on. Besides, you just told me I wasn’t your mate so I definitely don’t have to listen to you anymore.”

Several heads swung in the direction of Gage, who didn’t bother to take his eyes from the darkness in front of him. “Long story,” he said.

A low chuckle sounded from the parking lot and Sienna whirled back around to see someone emerging from the darkness. No not someone. The asshole from Sweetwater who’d started the fight and then shifted into a wolf, thus changing her life forever.
 

“You!” she yelled. “How dare you?” She started forward only to have her arm grabbed by Gage.
 

“Don’t touch me.” It was her turn to snarl. She was seriously fed up. “I didn’t want to believe and then you made me. Now you’re throwing me away. So. Don’t. Fucking. Touch. Me.”

She focused her attention back on the wolf in the lot. “As for you! How dare you come here. This is all your fault.”

He smiled at her, his white teeth gleaming in the darkness. The bastard fucking smiled.

All the anger and hurt and fear from the last two days came crashing down on her with that one wicked, sarcastic grin. She rushed forward, barely escaping Gage, and launched herself at the shifter. Catching him off guard, they rolled to the ground, her arms flailing, determined to strike at him in any way she could.
 

He grabbed her wrists and yanked him behind her back, before rolling her beneath him. His big, bulky frame cut off her oxygen and she tried to scream and couldn’t.
 

“Why the hell are you attacking me? I’m not the one who lied to you.”

Angry and scared he was about to kill her, she sank her teeth into his shoulder and tore through the skin.

“Mother fuck,” he bellowed, rearing back and sliding off her.
 

With the blood roaring in her ears and her chest heaving for air, a giant wolf tackled the intruder and wrestled him to the ground, pinning him beneath his massive paws. Two more wolves leaped into the fray and knocked the wolf she knew was Gage off of the other man.

Before she could react or help, someone grabbed her around the waist and ran for the entrance of dark moon. The door swung open a second before she thought they were going to crash into it and she was dumped at Kitty’s feet. Sienna twisted back and saw the tail end of Calder as he ran back outside.

Damn bear. She scrambled to her hands and knees. He couldn’t just throw her in here.

“Don’t you dare move.”

The steely voice of the feline standing over her froze her in place. “I have to get out there. Gage will be killed.”

“You’re not going anywhere.”

* * *
 

“Enough.” Bhric bellowed the command so loud it was probably heard across several counties. And the power behind it made everyone freeze.

“Fucking Blackwood, get on your feet and explain your shit. Gage, stand down.”

Gage did as his leader commanded, but he wasn’t happy about it. He’d been a breath away from ripping out the man’s throat and it pained the animal not to do so.

Luke got to his feet and brushed the gravel and dust from his clothes. “Don’t pull your alpha crap on me, I’m not the one who started it. I came here to warn you when that bitch attacked me.”

Gage growled, moving forward several steps.

“That bitch knocked you on your ass. Shall we invite her back out here for more.”

Rage flashed over Luke’s face as Bhric’s insults sank in. He clenched his fists by his side in an obvious effort to maintain control. “Like I said. I came here to talk. Although in light of this shit I think I’ve changed my mind about the woman. I was expecting the human to be a little more docile.”

Gage snorted. “She’s mine.”

“We have nothing to talk about. The female is a mate. Game over. You and I don’t always follow the rules as set before us, but some rules are too dangerous to be broken. Unless you’re here to start a war.”

“You think those rules will stop anyone else from hunting her down?”

“I think that’s none of your business. Now get the hell off my property before I decide to cripple your pack.”

Luke’s face turned to disgust. “I can’t wait to get out of here, the stench is foul with half-breeds.” He turned his gaze to Gage. “You let me know if you change your mind yet again about the human. Our pack could use a new bitch to use.”

Gage started forward only to be caught by Bhric. “He’s baiting you.”

He held back for now, watching Blackwood signal to the rest of his pack that they were leaving. One by one, bikes roared to life as they each left the lot.

“Why didn’t you mention Simon,” Gage asked.

“Because, I think he was here fishing for something else other than the girl. I got the feeling I should not share anything that might lead to our alliance with the Comyn Clan.”

Gage tried to wrap his head around all that and failed. At the moment he couldn’t think about anything but Sienna.

“Speaking of the girl. I take it you really aren’t letting her go.”

Gage sighed. “Fuck no. I thought for five minutes I could let her make the choice. I lied.”

Bhric clapped him on the back. “Oh I’m pretty sure she chose. Now you just have to fix your shit.”

“I think it’s time to get Marcy out of here before we get any more visitors.”

Bhric stiffened, throwing Gage off. “You think that’s what they were here for?”

His leader shook his head. “For their sake I hope not.”

Chapter Seventeen

The door crashed open and Gage stood on the other side–completely naked. Every nerve in her body lit up at the sight. Pissed at him or not, she was mesmerized by the raw power etched in every sculpted muscle as he strode forward.
 

“Holy shit. It is big.”

If her body wasn’t in full reaction mode, she might have laughed at Marcy’s outburst. Instead her eyes locked with his as he cut through the crowd, making a beeline for her.

When he got close, she took a few steps back unsure what to think of the heated determination stamped across his face. Before she could decide what to say, he grabbed her hips and pushed her against the wall.
 

“What are you—”

Gage’s mouth came down on hers, hard and demanding. When his tongue pressed to the seam of her lips she acted on instinct and opened her mouth. He growled and thrust deep, completely possessing her.

 
Somewhere in the back of her mind she knew they stood in a roomful of people all watching this scene take place. But those thoughts disappeared when he grabbed her wrists and pinned them to the wall next to her head and kissed her even harder.
 

He pried her legs apart with his knee and pushed his pulsing cock between her legs. She moaned, the sound disappearing into his mouth as the onslaught continued until all she heard was the driving rhythm of her heartbeat and his joining into one.

As always, he made her want more. And she was about to take it right here and right now. To her dismay, he suddenly pulled away and looked down at her.

“I lied. You’re mine and I’m not ever letting you go. Fight me if you want, but that’s the hard truth. Never.”

He spared a quick glance behind him before facing her again. “Say goodbye to your Marcy.”

He released her wrists and stepped away. Without saying another word he disappeared up the stairs. She stood there frozen until she heard a door slam upstairs.
   

“It’s time to go.”
 

Sienna turned to Bhric. “What the hell happened out there?”
 

Bhric turned to Calder and nodded his head toward Rafe and Kitty. “Take the human out to the truck. I’ll be there in a minute.”

Marcy hugged Sienna with a big grin on her face.

“Why are you smiling?” Sienna didn’t see anything amusing about this whole situation.

“I love you, babe, but you need to lighten up. Always did. I knew the minute I saw you with Gage he was the one.”

She shook her head. “That’s crazy.”

“Of course it is,” Marcy said. “But that’s what love is all about.”

“But you said—”