Page 14 of Deadly Ties

“Ah. Arben told you about the missing prince.” He nods, his lips tightening. “I should warn you, Quentin Crouch is cut from the same cloth as my father. It may not be the safest place to take you, and even if we do locate Kellman Prior, it may not be possible to extract him during the ball.”

Arben makes a growly sound that doesn’t just resonate through our bond; the silverware dances across the linen tablecloth, the knives particularly jiggly. “She will never be unsafe again.”

Ferrier smirks, then widens his golden eyes at Arben. “Does that mean you plan to join the social circuit, brother?” My mate gives him his best murderous look, but Ferrier just tosses his head back and laughs. “Splendid! The Fall Ball it is, then.”

Arben

I’ve always considered people fools for chasing happiness. An absence of feeling makes much better armor, and that served me well until about five years ago. I was busy with a target – an abusive alpha with an omega farm in his basement - when Roan Bisha dragged me away on an errand for his daughter. I’d always kept my eye on Elvana – as per my arrangement with her real father – but I’d never entered her home. Since Bisha was lying low before his High Alpha challenge, he’d sent me to hold her hand after a break-in. I’d been irritated, given my wolf was already far too interested in Bisha’s baby, but as soon as I finished the call, I tossed the target in my trunk for safe-keeping, and ran three lights to get there. Little did I expect to find a broken and bleeding angel on her living room floor, red raw bite marks on the soles of her delicate feet.

Despite all the darkness I’d endured over the years - first in a horror of a boy’s home, then later, under the ruthless hand of Jarvis Ferrier – finding Elvana like that had snapped something inside me. To Roan Bisha and his pack, I was an emotionless butcher, ruthless to the core, but mostly untouched by the bloody business I engaged in. They likened me to a doctor, although one dealing in torture and grisly death. But one small girl had ripped away my mask. I was no longer playing a part so I could hide my true motives. Now I didn’t just want to kill, I wanted toconsumeher enemies.

The darkness inside me grew, but to my surprise, so did the light. After tending Elvana through her heat, I no longer wanted to just survive, I wanted to live. And I didn’t just want to help omegas, I wanted to possess one. All those feelings I’d suppressed, the need I’d never acknowledged, had come roaring to life. And from that moment forward I knew Elvana Ferrier was mine.

My mate.

And I’d failed her.

But now I’ve been given a second chance, and I’ve grabbed it with greedy hands. Elvana ismine. And I’ve proven it like the beast I am at heart, knotting her, biting her, taking her in both forms so I am forever under her skin. And I haven’t stopped there. I’ve fucked her against every surface inside my den, and a few outside. I’ve filled her so full of my cum, her perfect strawberry scent is lost beneath my own raging musk. But it’s not just my body that’s desperate to imprint on her. I want her happiness, too…

The man who has looked inside literally dozens of skulls and never seen anything more than gray matter and worm food… is now chasing that fickle, foolish dream.

Happiness.

It's enough to make the clinician in me wonder if I’ve lost my mind.

And maybe I have, because on the night of the Fall Ball, I take the bracelet I made for her with the fangs of her dead rapists and lock it into a box. I dress in a custom tux and collect a corsage from the gardener. I wait at the bottom of my brother’s sweeping staircase, my weapons hidden, my beast leashed. I stand there, nervous, but with a smile I can’t extinguish, and the reason for this transformation is simple.

I want to be Elvana’s happiness.

And then she descends the long staircase like the angel she’s named after. Her dress is a shimmery fabric of tiny beads that move like quicksilver. It’s strapless, so I’m not sure how it stays up, skimming her breasts and hips, and then flicking around her ankles in a gleaming puddle. I know nothing of women’s clothing – the things I picked out for her were recommended by a wide-eyed sales assistant – so I can’t explain its design. Or why it makes her float down those stairs like she has wings. All I know is my heart is thumping against my ribs like a manic drum, and even when Lucas appears at my side, I can’t tear my eyes off his daughter.

“You’ve struck him speechless,” her father notes helpfully, but I ignore his sly grin. I’m too busy reaching out and touching her, just to make sure she’s real. “And I’m not surprised. You look magnificent, my dear.”

He bends to kiss her cheek, and if it wasn’t for the quiver of happiness I can feel in our bond, I would snatch her out of reach.

“Thanks.” She looks us both over, her eyes lingering on my tux. “You look amazing,” she says a little breathlessly. “I mean, you’re always in suits. But this is next level.”

“Hmmm.” Some of the amusement leaves Lucas’ face. “With those goggle eyes you’re giving each other, it might be time to just let nature take its course. Bisha’s on a side trip to London, so he won’t be at the ball. This might be a good way of softening the news. Let others see you together and report back.”

Elvana looks at me with wide eyes, not able to completely suppress the hopeful bubble in our bond. She wants to walk into that ballroom on my arm. And that makes me hate Roan Bisha with the fire of a thousand suns. “Not yet. I want to have him standing in front of me when he finds out. I want him to see what she means to me. And what I’ll do to protect her.”

Elvana’s gaze dips to her shoes, but then she takes my arm, a whisper of arousal pulsing through our bond. “Okay, but there better be a really good cloakroom, because there’s no way I’m getting through the night without kissing the hell out of you in that suit.”

The growl that leaves my lips makes Ferrier sigh, but then he’s ushering us to the door, muttering about the insanity of mate bonds. I let him have his grumble, and don’t begrudge his moment with Elvana on his arm. Besides, from the in-depth review I’ve made of the building’s blueprints, there are more than enough cloakrooms to satisfy my beast.

The Crouch Estate is a sprawling compound on the outskirts of Hartford, halfway between Ferrier and Bisha territories. It was once an elegant, historic manor, but paranoia and a distinct lack of taste have turned it into an ugly fortress. While Connecticut is technically within Ferrier’s domain, as High Alpha Bisha has command over the state, meaning Crouch has two masters. It has made him both paranoid and greedy, and of all the second-tier alphas on the East Coast, he’s the most ambitious. He clearly sees himself moving up a rung in the future, hence the desire to play lord of the manor with his foolish balls. He might think security is a high priority, but I have intimate knowledge of all the weak spots and how best to exploit them.

Which is at the forefront of my mind as Ferrier’s driver drops me at a dark patch of trees on the circular drive. “If anything happens, collect Elvana and head to the East Gate. Crouch hasn’t got around to reinforcing that section and this tank should be able to take the gate out easily. Once you’re through, use the old service road to get back to the interstate. If for some reason the car is disabled, there’s an old gazebo near the fence-line you can use to get her out. And if she gets so much as a scratch, you’ll be answering to me. We clear?” I feel a throb of alarm through the bond, but it’s Ferrier’s chuckle that makes me narrow my eyes. “You think I’m not serious?”

“Oh, I doubt anyone has ever made that mistake, brother,” he smirks, waving me away from the door. “Now, go lurk in the shadows while I present your mysterious mate to the world.”

I gnash my teeth, but give Elvana a quick kiss, stepping back reluctantly to let the white-faced driver continue up the drive. I hug the road in their wake, slipping in and out of the trees as other guests arrive. It’s a long, frustrating walk – my wolf furious he doesn’t get to track his mate as she enters the building – and I know I’m all teeth when I step out of the tree-line. Which happens to be right into the path of the estate’s valets and doormen.

“Shit! Where did you come from?” A dazed valet takes in my face and goes as white as a sheet. “Sorry, Alpha Marku. Um... do you have a car you need parking?”

There’s an awkward pause as they all peer into the thick foliage behind me. “I’ll be entering by the side door,” I tell them, stepping through their huddle and scattering them like startled hens. “When you announce my arrival to security, tell them I’m armed, and if anyone tries to pat me down, they’ll lose an eye.” I immediately think of Elvi at the auction house, threatening a bunch of alphas with nothing but her shoe. It must soften my mood a little, because I add, “And I’m here for pleasure, not business, so no one needs to bleed tonight.”

Feeling better about clearing that up, I leave them fumbling for their radios and head towards the alternate entrance. Crushed shell crunches under my dress shoes as my gaze sweeps the building. It’s definitely on a historic register somewhere, given the original brickwork under Crouch’s garish additions. Every window has a reinforced steel balcony, and most of the flat surfaces, a surveillance tower. But the foundations are original, and I think of the dank underground rooms I studied on the blueprints. If Crouch really did purchase Kellman Prior, I hope he’s locked up behind one of those fancy balconies and not wasting away in a damp basement.

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