Tormenting Her Mate (My Wicked Mates Book 3) Page 4

  “What?” She uncurled herself from the cushions and sat up, ramming her feet back into the uncomfortable shoes. “What do you mean someone is coming here? Charlie?”

  The line went dead and Astrid regarded the phone with disbelief.

  “You raging butthead.” She wanted to kill him. A pen to the eye might just do it, but first she had to find the idiot.

  Would he really send someone after me?

  His own sister?

  God. The idea was less than comforting.

  She eyed the door and noticed in her haste she’d forgotten to lock the deadbolt when she got home. A very persistent Spookly had tried to get out and she’d had to coax him back inside.

  Crap.

  Charlie might be full of it, but she wasn’t taking any chances. It would be just like him to get on the wrong side of some unsavory types and that was all she needed.

  A flash of gray eyes and a blur of memories threatened to spill into her present, but she took a drink of wine and locked them back in the past where they belonged.

  Phone in hand, she scrolled down the contact list to Marcus’s number.

  Should she call him?

  Charlie was no friend of his, she was sure. He said to call him if ever she needed him but using that get out of jail free card held too many strings for comfort.

  Marcus Lupin was a dream. An almost white knight who saved her from what would have been a living hell, but then dropped off the face of her world as the bottom fell out from under her family. No. She didn’t need to go there again.

  Running a hand over her face, she rose from her seat and trudged over to the door to the apartment. She reached for the latch and heard the telltale sound of someone turning the knob a moment too late. The door burst open, the brass door handle colliding with the wall with a dull thud.

  Her animal let out a sharp sound, scuttling to find cover.

  A startled cry burst from her lips and she froze. Pulse yammering beneath her skin, she swallowed. A man with more muscle and black leather than she’d ever seen pushed his way into the room, blocking the doorway. He leveled an icy stare at her and slammed the door shut behind him. Spookly skittered out of the kitchen and out of the corner of her eye she watched his small gray body book it down the hall.

  At least he was safe.

  “You’re Astrid?” He approached, his face set in a stern expression. The animal shining in his eyes wasn’t playing.

  Astrid scented the air.

  Wolf.

  Shitfuck.

  “I… Who are you and what do you want?” She backed away, heart racing. Her heels wobbled as she tried to get her footing on the carpet. She yelped as her ankle twisted, pain shooting up her leg, but the man caught her by the arm, yanking her forward.

  “My name doesn’t matter, fox. You’re coming with me. Now.” He tugged her toward the door and she opened her mouth, a scream teetering on the tip of her tongue.

  His hand immediately clamped over her mouth, his expression murderous. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” He growled. “Your brother might not make it if you start playing that game and neither will you.”

  Cold dread snaked through her and her fox mewled.

  This didn’t feel like a prank. And it wasn’t one of Charlie’s dorky friends.

  What the hell had he gotten mixed up with?

  “I need my purse.” She tried to break free but her assailant held her firmly in his grasp.

  “You won’t need anything. Not where you’re going.” He yanked her forward and pushed her out the door, slamming it shut behind him.

  Oh God. Was he going to kill her?

  Her stomach twisted and she thought about everything she’d ever heard about kidnappings. You went with the perpetrator, it was more than likely you wouldn’t go home.

  Images of being trapped against the wall in that house by Mr. Lupin slammed into her and she grit her teeth, determined not to submit.

  She was done with men thinking they could do whatever they wanted.

  Fuck that and the horse it rode in on.

  But what could she do? The guy outweighed her by at least seventy pounds. Then she glanced down. Her heels.

  Bouyah.

  High time they aggravated someone else’s feet.

  With a cry, she stomped down on his foot, grinding the pointy heel into the top of his boot and immediately slamming her elbow into his windpipe.

  She missed, only grazing him, but as she tottered to the side, she was free to move against him once more.

  “Fuck!”

  He released her as her knee came up, connecting with his manly bits and sending him to the ground at her feet. She ran back into the house, thinking if she had a good enough lead, she could at least dial 911 or something.

  Anything.

  Her fox was jumping up and down, demanding she shift, but she shook her head.

  “Not now.”

  If the wolf caught them, they’d be dead for sure.

  She flew through the doorway, slamming it shut behind her but she heard his roar of a curse as it crashed into his body.

  “Asshole. Get out!” She scurried into the kitchen and grabbed the frying pan that made its home on top of the stove. A glance back toward the door found him almost on top of her and she swung, connecting with the wall, a resounding gong echoing through the small space.

  “Give me that,” he snarled, wrenching the pan from her fingers. He threw it on the carpeted floor of the living room and dragged her toward the door. He opened it, shoving her outside. Her heels wobbled and he gripped her arm, nudging her down the stairs with an inelegant push.

  It was either tumble down the stairs and break something or slow down and walk with the sonofabitch.

  “Let me go,” she hissed. It was dark and all of her neighbors were older and would be indoors. No one would see her. God. He was going to get away with this.

  “Girl, you really must have a fucking death wish. Act normal and no one gets hurt.” Her assailant urged her down the walk and into a black SUV waiting in the parking area. As they approached, the door opened revealing another man. He pushed her into the cavernous interior. She fell, sprawling across a sea of leather, her kidnapper sliding in after her. He tapped the driver’s seat. “Go. Now.”

  The vehicle took off with a screech of tires slamming Astrid against the seat. She got her bearings and immediately grappled with the door latch until her kidnapper snatched her hands away. “Jesus, woman. You’re asking for it.”

  “Why are you doing this?” Tears prickled at the corners of her eyes, but Astrid wouldn’t let him see her cry. She dug her nails into the palms of her hands and grit her teeth, concentrating on the sights and sounds around them as the SUV dove into traffic, heading toward the highway.

  “Ask your brother.”

  She would get out of this. She had to.

  And then she really was going to kill Charlie. Death. As in covered in honey on a bed of fire ants.

  He dug a black satin sleep mask out of a bag on the floor and tugged it down, securing it over her eyes. She struggled again and he jerked her hands in front of her.

  “He called.” A gravely masculine voice called out and she struggled again.

  “Stop it, girl. I mean it.”

  The recognizable sound of a zip tie closing around her wrists, and the subsequent lack of movement, pushed the tears from her eyes, dampening the mask.

  “We’re late.”

  “Tell him his prize is acting feisty.”

  Oh my God. They were kidnapping her. Was that old bastard finally going to have his way? After all these years? She dug her shoes into the floorboard and waited. No one was going to rape her. She’d see them in hell first.

  Astrid tugged against the ties and a burning pain shot through her skin.

  Ouch. Her wrists were bound, flesh pinching against the plastic.

  At least the bastards couldn’t see her cry. She focused on her breathing, trying my best not to react. The zip tie hurt an
d if she moved too much, it could cut off the blood circulation from her hands.

  Shit.

  Her animal peeked out from where she had curled up into a ball and Astrid shushed her.

  The drive was over far sooner than she would have expected. The SUV stopped and she was dragged out of the vehicle, mask on and her hands still bound.

  “Walk.”

  She stumbled along where he led her, her heels catching in the spaces between the sidewalk.

  All she could do was pray she got out of this alive. She sucked in a breath and waited to find out where these assholes were taking her.

  Chapter Three

  Hector and Rigo had been gone too long. Marcus paced the floor and flashed Charlie a dirty look.

  His wolf snarled, eager to get on with business.

  “For your sake, and your sister’s, I think you had better reconsider making good on what you stole from me, Charles.”

  “Don’t call me that,” he spat, glaring at him.

  Marcus let the threat of the situation settle back over him and he blanched, realizing his error. Killing him would be easy and no one would be the wiser. He was a no good junky who apparently shared his mother’s proclivity for drugs and booze and his father’s fucked up nature.

  She, at least, had tried to shake the shit and go legit—if she could be around the drugs and pressure of being a nurse without snapping. His efforts had pushed her in the right direction. She just had to stick with it.

  Charlie had no job and a record filled with arrests for petty theft, drugs, and robbery. Who would miss him? Even his sister avoided his calls by the look of things.

  “Should I call our mutual friend and let him know his plan just erupted?” He would find a way to use the information to his advantage. It was how he’d managed to stay alive. Charlie was in over his head and from the panic in his eyes, he knew it.

  There were a lot of swamps between here and the Louisiana border and several of his pack liked to spend their time hunting for gators. Be a shame if he went missing. Like father, like son.

  But even as the thought crossed his mind, the door opened and she was there, standing in front of him looking much like he’d seen her the last time they’d been in each other’s company.

  Astrid.

  The only images he’d seen of her had been photographs but they didn’t do her justice. They never had.

  She was older now and not the sixteen-year-old girl shivering in the dark. Today she wore a form-fitting blouse that hugged her curves, and a skirt that had managed to edge up her thighs in what he could only imagine was a less than comfortable ride over. The heels made her legs look like they went on forever. The perfect length to wrap around his waist while he fucked her. Her long, brown hair framed her face and fell down her back in luscious waves. The warm vanilla scent traveled across the room and Marcus longed to bury his nose in her hair.

  His wolf lifted his head up and whined.

  He shook himself and tried to let it go. His animal instincts were not in control of him. He was not his fucking father.

  “You’re late.”

  “Sorry, boss. Had a little scuff up with our guest, here.”

  Rigo drew her into the room, a noticeable limp in his step.

  Marcus coughed, clearing his throat to keep himself from laughing. That such a tiny woman would take on one of his wolves and win back a few points was impressive.

  The little fox had always been a fighter. That had never changed.

  Good.

  Even with the mask, he knew her. She’d been the object of his fantasies and no other woman had quite measured up to her beauty or her brains. It seemed his father and he did have one thing in common. Only, his father had tried to force his way. Marcus would leverage her brother’s foolhardy behavior. It had only been a matter of time. Charlie hadn’t let his anger simmer quietly, instead spouting to anyone who would listen what he would like to do to Marcus and his family.

  He had only to step into the web he'd created to snare him. The hacker thing did surprise him. He’d figured him for a tire slashing coward at best. The fact that he had to hire kids to do the job for him spoke volumes.

  Too much hanging out at Torrid.

  The rave club was fast becoming a place he found distasteful, reaffirming his decision to move the pack operation to a more secure location. Today they met here merely for convenience.

  He would get what he wanted. His gaze met Charlie’s and he smiled, letting him guess just what he had in mind for his little sister. After all, his father had tried to sell her once. It seemed he was following in the family tradition. And Marcus needed to get her out of harm’s way. If Lopez thought they could leverage her to control Charlie or him, she would be in danger.

  The mere thought of that drug dealing coyote getting his paws on her made his blood boil.

  He should send her as far away from here as he could, but he couldn’t do it. The one thing standing in the way of pursuing something with Astrid was gone. He could either leave her there to twist in the wind and be destroyed by her fuck of a brother, or he could play the game.

  Charlie should have remembered that Marcus played to win.

  “Second thoughts?” he asked.

  The blood drained out of Charlie’s face. “You bastard.”

  Yes. She was the same girl who had bewitched him all those years ago. The one he’d seen all over town, but he knew he could never be with. For her own sake. The girl who had dared to stand up to his asshole of a father where so many others had failed. Astrid gave him courage. A battered moth beating against the gilded glass that held her, she was the reason Marcus wasn’t dead, killed by the glittering monster that held her captive.

  He had endured that and worse for years. Until he watched as nature ended him and he never had to lift a finger. But he did now. To save her.

  He’d lost track of her for a short while that night and would never forget the terror of not finding her perched on the window ledge reading her book. She’d come close to getting nabbed a second time at the club when she’d come after her brother once again. But then she saw him and ran. It wrenched his soul, but there was no other way.

  Seeing her now was a breath of fresh air, despite the horrendous circumstances.

  His wolf pawed at him, insistent.

  Mate.

  I hear you, buddy.

  Swallowing, he gritted his teeth and pushed down the gut reaction to seeing her and what it was doing to his body.

  This time she had on a blindfold. Her hair was mussed, but the tremble in her lips gave her away. She was afraid. And her hands were zip tied.

  Motherfucker.

  He didn’t want that, but Charlie had given him no choice. He had to win the game.

  “Kidnapped and brought to bear for another’s sins. That seems to be your lot in life, angel.”

  At his words, her spine stiffened.

  “Astrid…” Charlie started.

  “No. You shut up. This is your doing.” Marcus rounded the desk, barely resisting the urge to plant his fist in the prick’s face. Honestly, he didn’t know whether to thank the asshole or have him driven out to the border for gator bait. He'd led him back to the one woman he’d alternatively hoped he’d never see again and wanted with every part of his being.

  His mate. His life.

  “Take the blindfold off.”

  Hector complied. He carefully removed the mask from her eyes, leaving her blinking in the half light. Her gaze found Marcus' and she froze. Mascara had run, giving her a sexy tousled look and his cock hardened.

  “And the zip tie.”

  Utterly fuckable.

  “You.” Her hazel eyes were wide and uncomprehending.

  “Me.”

  “What am I doing here?”

  Her throaty voice made him wish they were alone so he could show her. That little skirt up around her hips and his cock sliding into her tight, hot body.

  Fuck. Already semi hard, his dick liked the idea as much as
the rest of him and he nonchalantly took a file from the desk to cover the wood now threatening to give him away.

  “You might want to ask your brother that.” Marcus leaned against the corner of the desk.

  Her eyes trained on Charlie and the other man winced, afraid to meet her gaze.

  “Well?”

  Charlie had nothing to say.

  “Let go of me.” She shrugged off his men and stalked up to her brother, slapping him in the face without a word of warning.

  His head snapped back and he held his hands up to ward off further blows that never came.

  Astrid turned away from Charlie, her eyes swiveling in Marcus' direction.

  “What did he do?”

  Chapter Four

  Astrid's voice was shakier than she would have liked, but she had to know. There were reasons why people were dragged to places like this and she wasn’t fool enough to think he was innocent. The question was, what the hell was she doing here?

  One slap wasn’t enough and if she didn’t step away from Charlie, she was going to kill him. The greasy reek of fear, foxes and wolves filled the room and she could swear it smelled like urine. The screaming edge of hysteria threatened to take over, but as she looked into the cold gray eyes in front of her, everything stopped. Like the center of the storm, he always grounded her, usually with no more than a look.

  Why? When they’d barely exchanged a few words between them at the darkest point in her life?

  She approached the desk and her breath caught.

  Marcus Lupin.

  She’d spent years dreaming about seeing him again but this was one scenario that never crossed her mind. The other side of that coin held her deepest nightmares and up to this point, she couldn’t think about one without triggering the other.

  Her fox made little barking noises and flopped on her back.

  Mate! Our mate!

  “Traitor,” Astrid whispered. “Knock it off.”

  “Your brother is a thief.” Marcus’ voice was crisp and clear and made her shiver in her darker places.

  “Tell me something I don’t know.” She rubbed her arms and let a breath of air out of her lungs. They couldn’t see how scared she was or she’d never walk out of here the same way she walked in. Too many hours of therapy at school had at least taught her that much.