Page 8 of The Alpha's Grave Secrets

“And I’d expect more patience from a trained agent, but here we are,” I shrug, biting back worse.

“I’m sorry,” Kato’s eyes soften. “I know this is difficult for you.”

“When I say the man who took me was odd, I mean he didn’t seem to have friends or much of anything going on in his life. He might be able to hide his deviance from the world, but he’s still off-putting enough to be a relatively lonely man.”

Kato writes down what I’ve said in a small, leather-bound notebook.

“I think he works nights. That or he doesn’t work at all.”

“Why do you say that?”

“He only spoke to me in the daytime. The birds were chirping, there were signs of life outside, and the edges of my blindfold had light creeping in.” I squeeze my eyes shut, swallowing hard. I don’t like returning to that place.

Anger burns beneath Kato’s calm exterior. I can scent his rage and sadness, I can hear the elevation of his heart rate, and I find myself watching him struggle with his instincts and his duty for a moment. That’s how it always was with him, but seeing his commitment to his duty stirs up a different set of feelings in me than it did in the past.

Would he be that serious about a commitment to his wife? As a father? Could I ever get over the fear of not knowing if he will come home or not? I sigh, tearing myself away from these fruitless thoughts and clearing my throat.

“He did give me water and food sometimes, but not often. It’s like he forgot that I’d need them to survive, or maybe he didn’t care to keep me alive because he’d intended to kill me all along.”

“When I find the man who did this to you, I am going to kill him,” he finally snaps, letting the mask drop, his teeth are barred and his claws are pressing against the flesh of his hands desperate to escape.

“No,” I sigh, “You won’t. You’ll arrest him and have him prosecuted. You’ve dedicated your life to this country and to upholding its laws. You must continue to represent the law now.”Even if it is likely to get you killed.

Defiance crosses Kato’s face. He grinds his teeth together, but he doesn’t contest what I’ve said. He knows that I’m right. There’s something beneath that defiance, sadness? Longing?

Perhaps he is longing for the life that we could have had together. But in the end, he chose his path and so did I. It doesn’t matter that we are mated.Sometimes, fate has no idea what it’s doing.

“When I was put in that grave, I was unconscious. I can’t tell you how long I was underground before I came around. That’s all I remember for now. I’m tired,” I say, readjusting the pillow to lay back down. “You should go, leave your card. I’ll call if I remember anything else.”

I can’t spend another second alone with you.

“Thank you,” Kato says, getting up, pulling a business card out of his wallet, and setting it on the table near my bed next to the landline. “I might be sworn to the law, Elara, but I am sworn to you first and foremost.”

“And you’ve made your allegiances abundantly clear,” I snap, turning my back to him as I lay down.

Kato’s heart rate quickens as he heads to the door, stopping in the doorway momentarily; he whispers, “I’ll check on you later.”

My heart aches the moment he steps down the hall. Goddess, I want to call out for him to beg him to come back, to beg him to stay by my side. But, what good would that do?

It wasn’t always like this between us. There was a time when our lives were filled with passion, pleasure, and laughter. There was a time when we couldn’t keep our hands off one another.

My skin prickles with heat as I am flooded with memories of nights spent together in the bed of Kato’s pickup truck. The pillows and blankets, a makeshift bed, parked in the middle of a meadow as the stars shine brightly above. We were invincible then.

Our lips swollen, lust dripping from our sweat-soaked bodies. A tangle of limbs. Oh, Goddess, the way his lips trailed down my neck, across my collarbone, and down, down, down beyond my navel.

The aching I felt for him I have never felt for another male. That’s the curse of the mating bond, no one can ever compare. With him, I never had to fake an orgasm or be insecure about the world around us. I would scream at the top of my lungs with him, not caring who might hear us.

No one knows how to touch me, excite me, love me like Kato, and I’m not sure anyone ever will. No one can stretch me and fill me to capacity like he can, while still being gentle and loving. He always knew how to make me feel like the only woman in the world.

Goddess, I gasp for air, drinking in the sick chemical air.Working with Kato is not going to be easy.

Chapter 5

Kato

The coffee pot sputters as a fresh pot brews. We’ve already been through a whole pot, and the team is still having a hard time keeping our eyes open.It’s going to be another long day.

I fight heavy eyelids as I wait for the caffeine to kick in. Papers sprawled across the table, the floor, and the couch in the briefing room.It’s a mess in here.

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