Page 1 of Taming His Mate

1

LUKA

Iknock the back of my knuckles on the door as I push it open, without waiting to be asked inside.

On the other side, sitting behind the massive desk that once belonged to our father is my brother Jarik, the Alpha of Alphas for the east coast monster factions. Sitting in his lap is his curvy little wife, Mercy. He’s currently eating her alive with lips and tongue and the way she’s squirming, quite possibly impaling her with another part.

“Jesus! Don’t you two have a home?” My gaze snaps to the ceiling before I see something that can’t be unseen.

Jarik growls out a string of curses in Serbian, our native language. Sounds of Mercy’s giggles and the rustling of their clothes has me digging my palms into my eye sockets with a groan.

“When I texted you, I didn’t mean you needed to rush over right now,” Jarik growls.

I peek through my fingers to make sure they are decent. He looks mad enough to come at me, but I know him better than that. Behind him, Mercy bends over one of those baby swings that sways from side to side. I didn’t even notice my nephewback there. Poor kid is going to be scarred for life when he gets older if my brother and his wife don’t calm down a bit.

“I was in the area,” I say, watching my sister-in-law lift the tiny creature to her shoulder. He’s so small.And pink.It’s hard to imagine Jarik or I ever being that size. Since little Noa is half human, it remains to be seen how much of the beast gene he might inherit.

“What did you want to talk to me about?” I ask as I cross the room and toss myself into one of the chairs angled across from the desk.

Jarik’s attention is still over his shoulder, where Mercy is now sitting on the overstuffed couch across the room. A rich purr saturates the air when his mate places their son at her breast.

“Jarik! Fucking Christ, can you leave her alone for a damn second?” I shout when he licks his lips.

His purr cuts off and my brother clears his throat as he focuses on shuffling through a stack of papers on his desk before pushing one across to me. “Tonight’s auction line up.”

“And?” I ask without bothering to look at the paper. I already know what he wants to show me.

Jarik narrows his eyes. “I was surprised to see that Isabelle is listed. Would you know anything about that?”

“Why would I?” I’m careful to keep my face expressionless and my voice even.

“So, you’re telling me that after being missing for months, Isabelle has just decided towillinglyput herself up for auction.”

“It would appear so.” My words are clipped as I refuse to admit that I have anything to do with the missing female suddenly showing up on the auction roster. Even though we both know that Izzy wouldneverwillingly auction herself.

Jarik huffs a heavy breath through his nose and takes the paper back, setting it on top of the stack it came from. “What is going on with you, brother?”

Lounging in the chair before him, my only tell that anything is amiss are my twitching fingers. Jarik glances at them then focuses on my face.

“Talk to me, Luka,” he pleads.

“Don’t bother with an interrogation. I have nothing to tell you.”

The less I incriminate my brother, the better. Especially once the vampire faction figures out where their little darling has disappeared to. So far there haven’t been any inquiries into her where-abouts, but I suspect once they get word that she turned up at auction they will stir up a shit storm.

“Bullshit,” Jarik snarls quietly. “She’s been missing since the night she tried to kill Mercy—the nightyouwere last seen with her—and now she suddenly shows up on the roster for auction.”

I shrug, while my mind flashes back to that night. The sight of her with her throat torn out from the blade Mercy put through the front of her neck is burned into my memory. Along with it, the stark terror my beast felt when he lifted her limp body.

I escaped with her to a witch who owed me a favor. Her magic, and my blood, was barely enough to save her. Recalling just how close I came to losing her still sours my stomach.

Time stretches as Jarik and I stare at each other from across the massive desk. It’s my brother who drops his eyes and leans back in his chair first.

“If you’re planning some kind of revenge?—”

“It would be my right, as her mate.” I sit up in the chair and lean forward, “After everything she’s put me through, I have a damned good reason to teach Isabelle some humility.”

“This isn’t like you, Luka,” Jarik says with a long sigh.

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