Page 60 of The Bodyguard and the Alpha
I suppressed the flutter of panic at the thought of the conversation that he was going to want to have with me. The one where he said, hey I know this has been cool, and I bit you, but it was really a mistake. Like a Vegas wedding. One which seemed like a good idea at the time when the tequila was talking but when you sobered up in the morning, reality crept back in.
Yeah, I wasn’t looking forward to that talk. I checked my shields, compulsively making sure that I had covered over the hole Silvio had made. Bastien had barged his way through them before, saying we would no longer have secrets between us, but I needed space. I needed my secrets. I didn’t want him to know how it would crush me when he gave me the inevitable truth. Iknew what was going to happen and Bastien didn’t need me to make it any harder than it was already going to be. We could be responsible adults.
At least I hadn’t told him about the plan to have a baby with him. Being rejected after that would have been just too humiliating.
Baby?Let me in.
Nope. That wasn’t happening. Deflect. Deflect. All our conversations were going to use our voices. Not our mental bond.
Shit. What had I wanted to say? I was rattled, my thoughts scattering like startled pigeons. I tried to rub my aching temples and the awkwardness of the cuffs still on my wrist halted the movement midway. Cuffs. Silvio. Soon to bedeadSilvio, according to Bastien. That was it. “What do you mean? Dead? And why aren’t you trying to implicate Maximilian into the terrorist plot?"
Bastien’s head dropped to my ear and he bit it gently.Silvio hurt you. The only reason he isn’t dead already is because I wanted to get you out of there.
That shouldn’t make my breath catch. It shouldn’t make me hope. But it did.
I swallowed. Took a breath. Waited until my voice was going to be steady. “And Maximilian?”
“If Maximilian authorised Silvio’s actions, he’s dead too.”
I gasped. “You can’t kill him for that.”
Of course I can.
I knew Shifter justice was harsh but I’d suffered no permanent damage (I hoped, hello PTSD) and Maximilianhadn’t laid a hand on me. He hadn’t been in the room when the interrogation began.
“I don’t think that’s legal.”
His lips curled back, displaying his impressive fangs.I. Don’t. Give. A. Fuck.
Chapter 56
Bastien
My mate was in my arms. She was safe. Apart from minor physical scrapes, she seemed unharmed. Outwardly at least. But I didn’t know how much damage had been done to her psyche before I got there.
The rage was like a physical force, ready to rise up like a tide and take me away.
Breathe. We have her. She is here. She is safe.
I inhaled deeply, letting the scent of her hair soothe me.
“I don’t think that’s legal,” she’d said.
As if I cared whether the retribution coming to Maximilian was legal or not. If he’d been party to that illegal interrogation, he was a dead man walking. If he’d put that look of terror onto my mate’s face, was responsible for the fear I’d felt when I sent her my power down the bond. Pieces. His body would be in pieces—
Tiny pieces—
All right, his body would be in tiny pieces before I dropped them into the bay for the fish.
If I was being logical about it, I should find out if he had ordered my kidnap. But he was smart enough to have whispered dissension into some poor fucker’s ear without leaving any trail. And I no longer cared.
Luc had filled me in during the chopper trip over here. From the information they’d collected in the bunker computers and the phones of the men I’d killed, the terrorist cell had been small. They’d been planning the attack for months, and they had a lot of money, but whoever had been funnelling them funds had covered their tracks. Whoever had been pulling their strings, they’d left no electronic trail. But all of the dead men in the bunker had been active members of the Humans First movement, and Maximilian was the head of the movement in the Council. He would have had ample opportunity to whisper poison into their ears without putting anything into a form which could be tracked. Or they could have gone old school and used paper messages before destroying them.
Pinning the illegal interrogation of my mate onto him was going to be much easier. And it had been deliberate. He employed a Mage who tried to mind-rape my mate. To peel open her mind and uncover all her secrets. The procedure had been conducted in his house, with his guards supervising.
I had him.
And once the worm confirmed that Maximilian had given the order for the interrogation—He was mine.
