Page 1 of Raging Heat

1

Caleb

I keepVera against me as tightly as possible, my pheromones flowing out, a low growl in my chest.

Nobody is going to hurt her.

Nobody.

I’ll give my life before any harm comes to her.

For the last six years, the fucker Vera was supposed to marry has been sending people after us, trying to get her back.But their methods were never lethal.They wanted to capture us alive.

Mathew was the first one to succeed.Only, since the bastard didn’t want to properly pay Mathew, he’s now dead.

Which the people from the fucker’s pack clearly don’t appreciate, and they now want the three of us dead too.

Shit escalated really quickly.

Mathew steps between us and Derrick, his voice controlled.“Check the perimeter and all the cameras.Replace them if there’s even a chance that they’ve been accessed by anyone but us.After that, return with Timothy.”

From the corner of my eyes I notice the way he keeps glancing our way, torn between wanting to be with us and taking charge of the situation.

“Will do.”Derrick leaves the office, already barking orders at his people, and as soon as the door closes behind him, Mathew puts his gun aside and comes over to us, wrapping his arms around us.

“I won’t let them hurt you.”His voice is rough and his pheromones are flowing from him, strong enough that I notice them mixing with ours, creating a cocoon of safety.“I won’t.”

“I don’t want to have to run again.”Vera moves slightly, looking up at Mathew, tears in her eyes.

“You won’t.You’re not going anywhere.”He looks at me.“Neither of you are.”

I raise an eyebrow at him.“You can’t keep us locked up in here all the time either.This place might be very fancy, but even a fancy prison is still a prison.”

That makes him smile slightly.“I won’t.While I’d love to, I’m not like that.Not usually, anyway.”He lets out a long breath.“What would you think of becoming my personal security team?”

“What?”Vera steps from between us, seemingly back to herself now, as she looks up at him in confusion.“What do you mean?”

“Well, I can’t keep you locked up in here.And I won’t let you leave my side.So, what better way to make sure that you’re safe while also always within view?”He smiles at her more and then glances at me, questioning.

I pull up my shoulders.“Seeing as we agreed to do whatever you asked of us, if you want us to be your bodyguards, that’s what we’ll be.I don’t see why that would be a problem.”

It’s not like we’ve got much of a choice.We either do what he wants or we’re going to have a really rough time trying to repay him a million quid…

Mathew’s face falls and he takes a step back, looking away from us as emotions flash over his features.“It’s not a command.I wouldn’tcommandyou to put your life in danger for me.I just… It’s the best way to keep you safe, and you’ve got a somewhat vested interest in keeping me alive too.”

He goes over to his desk and sits down in the chair, typing something on the keyboard and the pale light of the screen illuminates his face.He stares at the screen intently, like he’s purposefully not looking at us.

Vera glances my way, troubled, then takes my hand and pulls me along to the other side of the desk.

“If it’s not a command, what is it?”Her voice is soft, but firm.

“A request.”Mathew clicks on a few things and a new set of live feeds from the security cameras show up, giving us a good view of his teams checking each of them and also the rest of the property.The place really is massive.

Then he turns to us, not looking so sure.“It’s a request as yourmate.Since I’m the one who got you into this mess, this is the best way I know how to protect you.”He shakes his head, glancing down, not meeting our eyes, and my heart hurts seeing him so dejected.

“You didn’t get us into this mess, Hubert Russell did.You know that.”Vera’s voice is stronger now.“If you want us with you at all times because we’re your mates, just say so.Don’t hide it behind ‘security threats’ or ‘keeping us safe’.”

Whoo.She’s not holding back, at all.

---