The Secret (6 page)

When she was naked, he pulled her into the water with him. She went almost docilely, not uttering a sound when he reached for the soap and lathered his cock. Her eyes rounded, and she licked her lips.

“Do you want a taste?” he asked as the water washed away the soap.

She looked up, gaze startled, but nodded, and then she dropped to her knees.

“Ah, Christ,” Carlos muttered from where he peeked in the shower curtain. Declan wanted to laugh. It was his cock she was exploring with lips and tongue and the slightest hint of teeth. And then, yes, ah, Christ. She sucked him into her mouth, cheeks hollowing as she drew him deeper.

Too much. He’d fantasized about her too long. At this rate, he wouldn’t be able to hold back and he was determined to come inside her, to leave his mark on her. He’d thought long and hard about the wisdom of taking such action, and had finally realized he couldn’t love her more, even if she was that girl from so long ago. It felt right to join them this way. Final. Irrefutable. Forever.

He pulled her to her feet and lifted her, pushing her back against the wall. His fingers went straight to her pussy, delighted and thrilled to find her wet and slick and ready. And tight. Then he moved his cock into position. He went slowly, giving her an inch, letting her wiggle and adjust before giving her another inch. She was gasping, rolling her head back and forth against the wall when he was finally seated all the way inside her.

“Does it hurt?” he asked, a little worried at her dazed expression. He was bigger than Carlos.

She moaned. “Yes. But
so
good.”

He grinned. He’d hoped she’d like a bite of pain. He leaned back a little, hoping to find her clit, but was forced to use both hands to hold her up. A small disaster, because he’d waited so long for her he was afraid he wouldn’t be able to hold back. He wanted, needed her to come with him.

Then Carlos was there with them, spreading her lips so they could both watch raptly as his cock slid in and out of her. The sight mesmerized him. Thankfully, one of them was still capable of thought. Carlos exposed her clit, took it between two fingers and tugged. She screamed, convulsing around him, and he lost all control, ramming through her tight folds.

“Do it now,” Carlos ordered harshly, and Declan knew exactly what he wanted. Hips still pistoning, he leaned forward and sucked the skin just above her collarbone between his teeth. Excitement surged in his blood. This was it. Once done, it was unbreakable. There would be no separating him from Sunny. Or Carlos.

His teeth sank deep, and the taste of her blood on his tongue, the emotion that flooded him, made him cry out in triumph, spurting jets of cum into her welcoming body. With a loud keen, she came too, her pussy clamped so hard around him he didn’t dare move.

Chapter Seven

Sunny was lost in sensation, only vaguely aware of them drying her off and tucking her into bed. She drifted for a while, the low rumble of voices carrying to her through the house. Gradually, she woke up and became aware of the enormity of what had happened.

Claimed. Twice over. Once by a lion, once by a wolf. Her soul shrank a bit at the knowledge, cringed in fear. She’d never keep her independence, her freedom, now. She was all too aware of what the bond meant. She would never be able to leave them. Never be able to free herself if they discovered her secret and hoped to exploit it. She hoped to God she never had daughters. The best she could hope for was to find her sister and get her to safety.

She stood slowly. Testing used and sore muscles. Her cat stretched in languid satisfaction. What the hell did it know? She dressed with precise movements, strapping on weapons, pulling on boots. The sense of being on borrowed time rode her hard. Her sister was in danger. The feeling was so strong, it was easy to ignore the blinking lights on the Christmas tree as she passed by the living room. She hovered outside the kitchen door a moment, eavesdropping, before entering.

“I say she goes. Never seen a better tracker,” Asa said.

“No way,” Carlos and Declan said in unison.

She moved enough to get a glimpse inside, saw Asa roll his eyes. “You’re only protesting ’cause you claimed her. Neither one of you is thinking straight. She’s a tactical advantage.”

Even though they didn’t know what she was, didn’t know she was a shifter, the comment made her blood run cold. She stepped inside.

“What’s going on?”

Carlos and Declan gave her the reserved look she’d come to know meant they were holding back information. Thankfully, Asa didn’t feel the same reticence about sharing.

“Carlos has someone inside. We’re going in tonight.”

Finally. It was difficult to hide her excitement. “I’m going too.” Her voice shook a bit, but if anyone noticed, they didn’t say anything.

Carlos opened his mouth, and she knew it was to protest. She held her hand up, glared at both males. “Forget it. My sister is in there. I’m going.”

Declan and Asa weren’t surprised by her declaration, so she knew Carlos had filled them in. She wasn’t happy about that, but at least it saved time explaining.

“You don’t know that for sure,” Declan said.

He had to be as eager to go inside and look for his brother as she was her sister. Was he trying to spare them both the disappointment if they didn’t find their siblings? Spare her the pain if Jaz wasn’t there?

But she was. Sunny couldn’t explain it, but she knew, and she knew time was running out. “She’s there. And I’m going to get her out,” she said stubbornly.

Carlos cursed under his breath and paced. “You stay right with us. No going off on your own. And you follow orders. If we say get out, you do it.”

She nodded her acquiescence, but she had no intention of complying.

Hours later, she was anxious to get moving. It was almost three a.m., and she was cramped from hours of waiting to move inside the fence. They’d found the least patrolled area and cut away a portion of chain-link big enough to squeeze through in human form.

She exhaled a sigh of relief when Carlos gave the signal to move. She was operating purely on instinct now. They entered a back door, and she ignored a hiss when she broke away from them. Minutes later she found a door down a short hallway and rested her palm on it a moment before twisting the knob.

It was locked, but easy to pick. It opened to reveal deep stairs going down. This was where the Society kept its prisoners. She couldn’t explain the leap in logic other than her reaction to the scents wafting up at her. Terror and pain and defeat and regret. She swallowed a lump in her throat and stepped down, shuddering when she reached the bottom. It was dimly lit, row after row of locked doors like any good dungeon.

There was a single guard sitting behind a desk, apparently asleep. She moved quickly, stealthily, knife in her hand. She dug the blade’s tip in the underside of his chin before his eyes snapped open.

“Keys,” she demanded, sensing the others entering behind her. It made Sunny’s lion nervous, but she knew she could trust them.

Her prisoner took a deep breath, and she knew he meant to scream. She dug the knife harder, turning a trickle of blood into a stream. “I wouldn’t.” She gave him the grim smile borne of years of disappointment in her people. He jerked, tried to nod.

“In the desk.”

Asa moved around them and retrieved several sets, turning to give her a speaking look. She knew what he expected, knew he was right, but taking a life didn’t sit well with her. Even if the man in question was a scumbag. She moved before her hesitation could compromise the mission, slit his throat cleanly, and grabbed one set of keys. She’d deal with the guilt and horror of her actions once her sister was safe.

The first cells were empty, the next few occupied by men in irons. She heard the others snarling their fury and barely restrained herself from echoing them. Iron would prevent shifting and healing. Over time, it would sap away strength and fight and will.

She moved on and discovered the women. Most cringed when she approached, but took off once she’d freed them. She didn’t offer comfort, didn’t ask if any were shifters. None were her sister. Only three doors were left. The first two were empty but ripe with the smells of blood and fear and death. None held the scent of family. Her gorge rose in her throat at the last door; her hand trembled as she twisted the key.

She heaved a huge sigh of relief at the sight of the figure huddled on the bed, at the recognition that flashed in her eyes. She knew they were in trouble when she opened the cuffs and helped Jaz stand. She swayed on her feet. Her wrists were cut up and blood encrusted, and she had cuts and abrasions everywhere that wasn’t covered by her jeans and T-shirt. Sunny felt a heavy load of guilt. She’d been getting laid while her sister suffered.

Carlos stuck his head around the half-open door. “We have to get moving.”

Sunny heard the sounds of fighting coming down the corridor and went to look. Shit. It was the only way out, but there was no way she could get Jaz through in human form. In their smaller animal forms, though, they might be able to slip through. She went back to Jaz and gently took her hands, squeezed her fingers.

“We have to shift,” she whispered, knowing she wasn’t giving only herself away to Carlos, who waited outside.

Jaz’s eyes widened, her fear easy to read. She shook her head. “We can’t risk it. Too many males here.”

“We can trust some of them. The ones who came with me.”

God, she hoped they could. Carlos, apparently tired of waiting, stepped inside to hurry them up. He looked worried. And confused. Jaz didn’t cringe, but she didn’t move close to him either. The fighting in the corridor had moved closer. She let go of her sister’s hand and put some space between them.

“Now, Jaz. We have to hurry.”

She yanked her boots and clothes off and reached for the change inside her, felt her cat’s euphoria at being freed. When she looked up, Carlos wore a stunned expression that quickly morphed into anger. Trapped inside the cat’s body, she cringed. As far as keeping secrets went, this was a huge one.

She turned and snarled at her sister for hesitating, and the reminder that freedom was close spurred her into action. In less than two minutes, she stood at Sunny’s side in her cat form. Carlos studied them both, his body shaking with what Sunny hoped was not rage. She wasn’t holding her breath. There’d be one hell of a lecture later.

“We’ll distract them so you can slip by,” was all he said for now, however.

They followed him into the shadowed hallway. He strode straight down the middle, joining in the fighting, as she and Jaz pressed as close to the ground as possible and moved through the shadows against the wall. She didn’t allow the sense of triumph to distract her when they made the stairs unnoticed or when they exited the house by the same door she’d entered.

They made it three feet before a voice stopped her, shouting into the dark. “The females! Don’t let them get away!”

She looked for the source of the voice, saw a man she recognized as Burns running toward her, the same man Arthur was after. If half of what she’d heard about him was true, there was no way she could fight him and win, especially while trying to protect her injured sister. He was still several yards away when a wolf barreled into him from out of the shadows. She held her breath, frozen in place for a second. They’d finally found Arthur.

Burns shifted and fought back, howling rage and madness, which snapped her mind back to their precarious situation. The werewolves were fighting between her and Jaz and their escape route. Then she noticed the man she’d seen on her recon trip. He gestured to her to follow him. He stepped out of his shoes, pulled off his shirt, and shucked his jeans before shifting into the form of a giant lion. Then he walked away. Her heart pounded as she led her sister in his direction. This must be Carlos’s inside man.

They skirted around the fighters, sticking to the shadows as they rounded the corner of the house. The lion waited by the fence line, and as she drew nearer, she saw a tunnel had been dug under it. She pushed Jaz forward, nipping at her heels to get her to move past the lion and under the fence, and then she followed. When she turned, the lion was gone. She could only assume he’d left to assist Carlos inside the house.

Once in the swamp, she caught the scents of some of the escapees, thankfully moving in the opposite direction of the one she and her sister needed to go. Some of them were male; she had no idea how they’d react to female shifters. It was obvious the Society was trying to control them. For what purpose, she couldn’t begin to guess. She picked up her pace, snarling and nipping at Jaz when she slowed.

When they reached the small yard behind the safe house, she hid Jaz in the brush while she looked around. Certain no one had been there during their absence, she bullied her sister inside and, after both changed back to their human forms, let Jaz collapse in exhaustion on the bed.

Then she started to clean. There wasn’t enough time to do it properly, but as soon as the men returned—she refused to believe they wouldn’t all make it out—they’d have to leave. The Society might be down, but such a small force of invaders wouldn’t be able to take them out. She doubted even the formidable rage and sorrow of Arthur’s wolf could defeat Burns.

First she packed everyone’s bags, leaving them at the front door; then, wadding up all the bedding from the sofa bed, she stuffed it into a large garbage bag and left it there too. She wanted to remove any trace scent, fingerprints, or DNA from the house. If Burns survived, he would seek out the intruders. Try to reclaim his prize hostage. The others would do what they could to confuse the trail to the house. Thankfully, it was forecasted to rain in a few hours, which would further muddy any scents left outside. But that still left the house. If he was smart—and there was no denying Burns was—he’d look for vacant or short-term rentals in the area. If he found the house it would be easy enough to trace it back to Julian. She couldn’t remove all evidence they’d been there, but she’d do her best.