Page 6 of Trick's Elite

Chapter Four

Trick

Afterclosingthebathroomdoor, Trick dropped his boxer briefs and approached the stall shower. It was newer, but it wasn’t anything fancy. There wasn’t any tile or stone. It was made of plastic, had a curtain, and had a small lip at the bottom to keep the water from invading the bathroom. He reached in and turned the water on as he thought about the situation.

The rage he felt toward her was still swirling in his gut, but his bear was battling with the fact that she was his mate and he wanted to protect her. It was a fucked up feeling to both hate and cherish the same person at the same damn time. How the hell they were going to get to a place where they not only trusted each other but actually felt love was anyone’s guess.

He had spent the entire ride down to the cabin in the woods outside of Vernella, Michigan, lecturing himself about keeping his mind on the mission and not on the swell of her breasts in her polo shirt or the curve of her ass in those fucking cargo pants. It was about as easy as ignoring the citrus scent of her shampoo that had permeated the air in the van. About a half hour into the drive, he’d had to roll down the window and suffer through the December temperatures just to keep himself from getting lost in it. It didn’t help that his bear loved that scent the way Trick loved the smell of leather or of his mother’s peach cobbler. It was home for his bear, and his bear put their mate above everything and everyone else.

That scent had haunted him since the day she drove away, but he soothed himself with the knowledge that he had done his part to keep his family safe. Most of the time, that worked, but it didn’t work at night. No, at night, he remembered all the times he had leaned in a little closer to her to catch that scent, even though his shifter senses could smell it from across the room. Trick would close his eyes and relive those moments, but he always found himself drawn to one memory in particular.

The memory of their first and only kiss was what always had him taking himself in hand and pumping his erection until he grunted his release. He hadn’t jacked off that much since he was in high school. Her lips were plump and soft, and she tasted like the mint of her toothpaste and the butterscotch candies she liked so damn much. He had taken to keeping a handful of them in his pocket, and every time he put one of them in his mouth, he remembered what her curvy body felt like against him. If it hadn’t been for her boss calling her, interrupting things, Trick was sure he would have taken her to bed that night.

He stepped into the water before it warmed up to cool himself off. He needed to get his head on straight and get his bear in line. She was the enemy, mate or not. Until she proved otherwise, she couldn’t be trusted. She was the reason Shortcake was dead and Rex was beaten and bloody. It was her fault, whether she meted out the torture or not.

As the water began to heat up, he leaned back against the wall of the shower and gave himself a stern talking to in his head. It was her intel that led those Elites to the compound and straight to his family. It was her knowledge of the members that gave the fuckers a starting point. And it was her silence that killed one of his family members and nearly killed another. Yes, it was her fault.

Regardless of the attraction between them, she would slit his throat the second she had a chance. He needed to remember that. His mission was important, so he couldn’t risk letting his guard down yet and giving her the opportunity to bolt.Remember who she is and where she’s from, dumbass, or your name will be added to the list of shifter deaths for which she is responsible.

He repeated the litany of her sins in his head until the desire was pushed down, and the anger rose once again.

When he stopped and the vision of her with lips plump from kissing popped into his brain, his cock took notice, and his bear started prowling inside of him, insisting they claim their mate, Trick banged his head back against the wall and groaned.

He was fucked… and not in the way he wanted.

Stella

Stella rested her head on her bent arm on the table and let out a sigh. On top of everything going on with Trick and the Howlers, and her captivity, she realized a few things as she waited for what would happen next. She didn’t have anything. Even if she got away and made a run for it, she wouldn’t get far. No identification. No money. No vehicle. Nowhere to go.

She had been in some shitty situations in her life, even ones she created herself, but things had never been as bad as they were in that moment. Tears fell from her eyes and onto the tabletop.

Pull yourself together, Stella Messer. You are not a damn quitter!

Inhaling slowly through her nose, she gave herself a to-do list. The first thing she needed to accomplish was to earn Trick’s trust enough for him to take the cuffs off her.

Once she did that, she could work on the rest:

2. Money

3. Vehicle

4. A safe place

5. Identification

6. Gather supplies

7. Disappear

She knew that the list items needed to be done in groups. Money, a vehicle, and a safe place were things that would need to happen in quick succession. Then she would have a very limited amount of time to handle the next three items. If she didn’t time it properly, she would end up back in Trick’s hands or the academy would find her.

She didn’t believe the academy would wait too long before they sent agents to find her and the other four Elites. They probably didn’t care about their hunters much, but they would care about whatever information the mission had brought to them.

To Stella, they could all kiss her ass — the academy and the shifters. The quickness with which the academy turned on her after her near failure of a first mission told her that her worth to them was not near what she thought it had been. If she was worthless to them, why would she put her life on the line to safeguard their secrets?

Maybe she would tell Trick everything she knew. What was the worst thing that could happen? Well, the worst thing would be her death once he got everything he could from her, but if she was honest with herself, she didn’t think he would do that. The other shifters? Yes. Trick? No. He seemed to care about her safety, and she was pretty sure it had something to do with thatmatething he kept talking about.

What in the hell did that mean, anyway? If she were living in some fictional world, it probably meant something like soulmate, which is what he claimed, but she didn’t believe in all that nonsense.

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