Hunger's Mate Read online

  Ezra didn’t like the words coming out of Bas’s mouth. He didn’t like the fact that the worst time of his life had just been thrown in his face as if it meant nothing more than a paragraph inserted into a file that every shifter with access to the database could see. And he damn sure didn’t like Bas’s presumption that he wasn’t taking care of business.

  He rose instantly, albeit slowly, his head still a little foggy. He moved around the table, keeping one leg against the cool metal for added support until he faced the FL once again.

  “When this is over, I’m kicking your ass,” he told him.

  Bas shook his head. “Not until I kick yours for being a stupid S.O.B.”

  Ezra’s chest rose, his fists clenching at his sides as he took another step. Bas came closer as well, the man absolutely serious about the fight that seemed to be brewing between them.

  “You’re a Shadow Shifter guard,” Bas said, his brow furrowed, a muscle in his jaw twitching as he paused. “A leader in the Assembly Leader’s staff. You train other shifters to fight for our cause and to be strong, loyal shifters. And yet you can’t even do something as simple as claim your mate.”

  Ezra reached out immediately, grabbing the lapels of Bas’s dress shirt. “Watch your fucking mouth!”

  “Or what? You’re going to do something to me, Preston? What are you going to do to me that you won’t get your ass out there and do to Lawrence Crowe? She’s your mate, dammit, claim her and put a stop to this bullshit because I’ve got an army of Shadows ready to take Crowe and his prototypes down. All I need is for you to get Jewel out of the line of fire.”

  And only he could do that, Ezra thought with a growl. She was his mate. If Bas or another Shadow went in to get her, Ezra would never feel man enough to claim her, he’d never be certain that he could protect what was his. Just as he hadn’t protected Eli.

  He gritted his teeth so hard he thought they might actually break free of his gums. The cat inside roared voraciously, pacing impatiently as the darkness hovered on the sidelines, waiting for Ezra’s defeat. It wanted to control him, and so far it had. But just as Dagar said, Jewel was the one. She was the female that could save him from that darkness, she could save him from the self-imposed hell he’d caged himself into.

  “Get out of my way,” he said finally, pushing past the FL and heading to the door. He was glad that his feet and legs got the message that they were going to get their mate and didn’t give out beneath him. Bas would no doubt have received great pleasure in watching his face hit the floor.

  * * *

  An hour later Ezra had showered and was wearing fresh jeans and a black T-shirt that barely allowed his skin to breathe. On his feet were heavy steel-toed boots. He walked into the small room with Dyson and Bas and sat down in the chair at the end of the table.

  “The herbs the shaman gave you contained damiana,” Bas began. “It’s a drug that originated in the Gungi—”

  “We’ve been over all this before,” Ezra muttered.

  “It’s what created that darkness in you and enhanced your senses. It’s the key to finding your mate and bringing down Crowe.”

  Dyson cleared his throat and continued where Bas left off. “I’ve been running some programs, using the information Ary Delgado uploaded to the database about the drug and its effects. The purified form of damiana has gone through some tribal blessing process before being administered. Nobody really knows how that works since none of us are shamans. At any rate, Ary’s research concluded that the purified version versus the unpurified version of the drug, which is what Ary was given in the Gungi and what we suspect ADAM may have been given, has less permanent reactions. It’s more likely that the mixture you received contained purified damiana, which may also be why the manifestations of your emotions on the surface don’t appear as uncontrollable as the victims of that savior drug, which was mixed with unpurified damiana. It’s still making you pretty angry, edgy, and lethal though.”

  Ezra growled his response.

  “It also gave you extrasensory power as it mixed with your shifter DNA. That’s how you can find Jewel. You’ve had sex with her,” he said, coughing and looking away from Ezra momentarily. “That means your mating has already begun. You’ve exchanged bodily fluids so a part of her is always with you now. You can use that to search for her, to figure out where she is.”

  “I’m not a physic, I can’t just close my eyes and visualize where she is,” Ezra argued.

  “You may be able to, or at least get a feel for where she might go.”

  “She went to Crowe. He has her father so she would go where he was to get him. I know that for a fact,” Ezra told him. “And that’s without any extrasensory crap.”

  “There are two addresses listed for Crowe,” Dyson said. “I found them online.”

  “So we’ll check them both,” Ezra said, standing, ready to leave. His temples had been throbbing incessantly since he’d awakened in that cool, antiseptic-smelling room down the hall. Tereza had assured him the low-dosage tranquilizer that he’d been given would not have any lasting effects. Yet, hours after the drug had entered his system, he still felt like someone was driving a syringe through his skull.

  “Not just yet,” Dyson intervened, his voice a little louder, more authoritative than it should have been considering who he was in the room with. “I mean, um, I have more information,” the young shifter corrected.

  “Proceed,” Bas told him. “And make it quick.”

  Dyson cleared his throat. “This address belongs to a Lilah Melrose. She works at Comastaz and, according to the time clock, everybody at the lab is supposed to punch in when they enter and when they leave. She hasn’t been at work for a couple of weeks.”

  “So what,” Ezra stated, his irritation growing quicker.

  “So, Crowe’s personnel file lists the same address. His pay stubs go to that address.”

  “He’s living with this female,” Bas stated.

  “Or that’s what he wants everyone to think,” Ezra added.

  “So where would he keep the girl’s father? At his real house or at the house leased to this female?” Dyson asked.

  “If he were planning to kill the father and…” Bas’s words were cut short by the loudness of Ezra’s growl.

  “They’re at that female’s address. He’d want to cover his tracks.” This time he didn’t wait for any more words. He was at the door when he looked over his shoulder and said, “Text me both addresses, the female’s first.” He looked to Bas to say something else but Bas nodded and finished his thoughts.

  “I’ll send teams to both locations. You go claim your mate and when you give the signal we’ll move in,” the FL stated, his face still grim, shoulders squared as if he were ready for a battle.

  Ezra wasn’t going to give him one. Bas had endured a substantial loss tonight and here he was standing in front of Ezra, telling him to go claim his mate, when he could have rightfully gone straight out to kill Crowe and anyone connected to him. So he only nodded to the FL, letting him know that he agreed with the plan and would do his best to follow through accordingly.

  Chapter 19

  The drive to Grand Canyon Village would normally have taken two and a half hours or less. Today, for Jewel, because hell had officially broken loose in her life, it had taken almost four as she’d had to stop repeatedly to fill up the gas tank. What she thought had been the reliable-looking sedan, and better choice of vehicle, actually had a broken gas meter that kept giving the impression that at any moment she would run out of gas and be stranded on the side of the road.

  To make matters worse, she’d been redialing the number Larry had called her from for the past two hours. She wanted to tell him she was on her way, to let him know there was no reason to hurt her father. He hadn’t answered, not one freakin’ time, and she was about to scream in frustration. And fear.

  No, she told herself. That’s exactly what Larry wanted to see. He fed off her fear, had all these years he’d basically hel
d her hostage to his money and all that it could afford her father. He was a sick bastard that she’d allowed into her life, no matter that her intentions were honest and pure.

  Jewel knew that she was partially to blame. If she hadn’t been dancing in that strip club, Larry might not have gotten the impression that she would do anything for money. And if she hadn’t been almost broke with a sick father that she’d sworn to her mother she would take care of, she wouldn’t have been gyrating against men’s rock-hard erections for payment.

  She slammed a palm on the steering wheel as she took the next exit that would take her into Grand Canyon Village. She’d only been to this house one time, the day Larry had brought her here.

  “It’s gorgeous,” Jewel had said the moment she stepped out of the car, lifting her sunglasses and propping them atop her head so she could have an unfettered view.

  The cabin was large with its stone chimney and log exterior, the green roof bright against the afternoon sunshine. Trees surrounded the front of the house and she found herself wondering how much land there was and if there were more trees, a back porch with a swing where they could watch sunsets … maybe.

  Larry’s fingers wrapping tightly around her elbow, pulling her close to him jarred her from that serene thought. That foolish thought, she’d corrected herself. Larry was not her husband and neither was being with him her happily ever after.

  “Let’s go in, the sun’s scorching out here today,” he’d told her before practically dragging her inside.

  “I got this place for a steal,” he said once they’d walked through the door, glossy wood floors greeting them.

  “You already have two homes, why do you need another one?” she’d asked absently as he’d released her arm. She hadn’t hesitated to walk away from him.

  “Because I can have whatever I want!” he yelled back.

  She whirled around to face him, recognizing instantly the switch in his tone. He was glaring at her, his squared jaw stiff, eyes steely. If she let her gaze linger lower, she’d see that he was rock hard. That’s the way it was with him. It seemed violence, anger, everything about his life in the military made him hornier than hell and any time that happened, his attention turned to her full force. He’d never hit or beat her—Jewel figured she should be happy about that fact. But his abuse was still brutal, still painful as it struck with stinging accuracy against her self-esteem and everything else she thought she knew about herself.

  “Okay,” she’d said, her voice quieter than it had been before. With a frown directed solely at herself she’d turned away from him again.

  Big mistake.

  He was behind her in seconds, pushing her against the paneled wall and holding her there. Jewel didn’t cry out, she knew better. Screams, tears, fighting back, all spurred him on even more, making the vile things he did to her too much for her to bear and stay conscious. She’d learned that fainting didn’t help her situation either. What Larry would do to her awake, he would continue without her being coherent. The perverted bastard.

  “Don’t you get smart with me,” he warned and Jewel closed her eyes, trying desperately to keep her voice steady.

  “I wasn’t getting smart. I just wanted to say that this is a great house,” she told him even though her cheekbone—the one smashed up against the wall—was hurting and her lips were smushed so the words came out awkwardly.

  “I don’t need your compliments. I know what I’m doing,” he told her, his breath hot and moist in her ear.

  “Right. I know you are, Larry.” The lie was hard, however, the fear that lived inside her each day was real. If she didn’t do what he said, if she didn’t do whatever it took to keep her in Larry’s good graces, her father would die. There was no way some office job was going to pay her enough money, in enough time to save her father’s life. And if she went back to another strip club Larry would no doubt find her. He’d told her that more times than she could count.

  “You know I’m what?” he asked, this time pressing his thick erection into the seam of her ass persistently.

  She knew what he wanted to hear, she’d said it so many times before, to no avail. Agreeing with Larry didn’t lessen the ordeal, but disagreeing with him magnified it. Some days she thought she was in a no-win situation. Then she would talk to her father on the phone, or on one of the days she would be allowed out of the house, albeit not alone, she’d see her father’s face light up as he heard her voice and everything inside her melted. Everything she endured seemed worth it.

  Taking a deep breath she said, “You’re very smart, Larry. The smartest man I know.”

  “Liar!” he quickly replied, thrusting his hand with even more speed down the back of her pants where he squeezed her ass cheek until tears beaded in her eyes.

  “You’re a lying, dirty whore! I don’t know why I let you stay in my house!” he yelled into her ear, his fingers not lessening in their grip. “I was going to let you stay here, you and your dying old man, but now you’ve gone and fucked up that plan!”

  “No,” she said, gasping at the pain yet trying to keep her focus. “Please, this house is gorgeous. You were so smart to buy it and I’m so grateful to you for giving it to us.”

  “I’m not giving you anything, slut!” he roared, his hand slipping from her buttock, into the crease of her ass.

  She’d breathed a quick sigh of relief even though her skin throbbed from the assault. Before she could wrap her mind around the mild respite, he’d pushed his fingers into her, three at a time. Jewel bit her tongue to keep from yelling out.

  “Nothing but what your lying, cheating ass deserves!” he continued to yell. “I give you everything and you continue to lie and to steal from me. You don’t appreciate a damned thing!”

  He was always accusing her of something. Lying about where she went, when she didn’t go anywhere because he always had people watching her—that sleazy, skinny Pierson fellow and most recently some blue-eyed female that always smelled of alcohol. Larry also thought she was stealing from him—what, she had no idea, and he never said. But he’d come into the room at night accusing her of being a backstabber, of treason, of all things. She would have chalked that up to him being drunk or high, but Larry never drank and despised drugs of any kind. Except the gray powdery substance she’d seen in a container that he’d kept in the basement of the house. It had been marked with some sort of symbol and she’d seen him and Pierson dabbing their pinky fingers into the powder, then putting it to their tongues to taste.

  “Larry, you’re wrong,” she’d said through the deep breaths she forced herself to take.

  “No, I’m not! You’re a bitch! So I’m going to treat you like a bitch!”

  In the next instant he’d pushed her pants down to her ankles and rammed his hard cock into her from behind. She’d cried, knowing he couldn’t see her tears as her face was still smashed into the wall as he pounded hard and fast into her. She hated this position, hated the man behind her, wielding all the power over her.

  Jewel screamed as she lost control of the steering wheel, the unreliable sedan swerving onto the shoulder of the road before she realized her recollections had taken her attention from driving.

  But before the sound could escape, the front windshield cracked with the heavy weight of something … or some thing, she thought as she blinked, staring out the window seconds before it caved in, glass showering her. She lifted her arms to shield her face and felt the cold slimy hand of that beast wrapping around the back of her neck. In the next instant she was being pulled from the car, the seat belts tightening around her waist and chest for a couple of very painful seconds before they too gave under the strength of this foul-smelling creature.

  She closed her eyes and kept them that way because she didn’t need to look to know what it was. She remembered it from when she was in that cell. What she hadn’t recalled was this awful stench and eventually, it had her opening her eyes to see exactly what was going on.

  It was still bigger than she
was and probably most of the men she knew. As it set her feet on the ground she got a good look at the clothes it was wearing—military fatigues and boots. But she knew this was no soldier. The thick, clear white liquid oozing from its ears and eyes like tears was proof of that. The fact that it didn’t speak, but sort of moved its head around like she should know what that meant was another indication. She didn’t and she wasn’t sticking around to find out.

  Jewel turned immediately, attempting to break into a run but it grabbed her by the waist, pulling her back. This time she didn’t go willingly. She kicked and screamed and kicked some more. It was all to no avail as the beast started to shake her until she thought she could hear everything in her head rattling around.

  “Release her!” she heard a familiar voice yell.

  The beast stopped immediately but still held her up off the ground.

  “Put her down,” the voice, which she now knew for certain was Larry’s, instructed.

  She was dropped at that point, her body slamming onto the heated concrete. Luckily she’d only been about two feet off the ground so she doubted there would be any broken bones, but her head hurt like a sonofabitch. She was just trying to get up, her knees still on the ground as were the palms of her hands, breathing in and out. And then Larry was there. She saw his booted feet first, watched them as they moved around her. Everything inside her screamed for her to get up, to move aside, roll across the ground, something, anything before he did what she knew he would do. She was too slow.

  The ball of his foot touched the small of her back and she went down once more beneath his weight.

  “You have got to be the stupidest whore I’ve ever met,” he told her as he leaned down closer so she was sure to hear his next words. “Welcome home, baby. I’m gonna love teaching you a lesson.”