Tyler POV
Moonrise Entertainment - Tyler's Office (Executive Level)
Nathan Lewis was going to be taking my mate on a trip into archaic wolfen territory and I was getting sex advice from an Alpha Inspector sent by the Council to give my mate a way to band herself away from me.
I was not having a good day.
My pulse was racing enough I knew I would have been fighting my wolf for control if he'd been awake.
I left my desk to go get myself a bottle of water. I ignored the look on my personal assistant's face as I passed her to go into the small comfort room we kept beverages, snacks, and courtesy articles in for offering guests, clients, or subordinates. She probably thought I'd never fetched my own drink in my life.
Unfortunately, she wasn't wrong.
I grabbed the wrong side of the fridge to open the door before growling at it and swapping hands.
The sheer number of beverages stored in the refrigeration unit was absurd.
Rachel POVBella & Rachel's ApartmentThe hard rap of knuckles against the front door dragged my attention from the notebook I was trying to compose in. Caution came to me strangely as I looked out the window to see who the guest might be before moving to open the door. I didn't want to be surprised again the way I had been by Art earlier.I sighed in relief when I realized it was only Nathan.Unlocking the door, I quickly opened it and waved him in with a smile of gratitude as I saw he'd wheeled a suitcase along with him.Trust Nathan to be wonderful enough to come packed to leave within hours of being asked to go with me on a fool's errand.We weren't going into friendly territory either, yet here he was! Ready to go!I would have hugged him if I didn't worry he'd misinterpret my relief for something deeper. I hated myself for using Nathan as a personal shield when I knew he wanted to have me back as his lover agai
Rachel POVDave's DinerBurgers and fries came fast at Dave's Diner. We had to wait longer for the milkshakes, but they came in giant, old-fashioned milkshake glasses with enough shake for a second pour in the stainless steel mixing cups which came alongside. I'd ordered banana while Nathan had asked for chocolate."Is your phone going off again?"My phone had been buzzing angrily every few minutes since our drinks arrived. I'd seen Tyler's name on the screen; I had zero desire to explain to him I wasn't able to talk because I was having dinner with Nathan."It's Tyler. He's persistent. He will also not be any angrier in an hour than he is right now. We can enjoy our meal in peace.""I don't think you get a lot of that with Wright. Peace, I mean."I knew what he meant and he wasn't wrong. Nathan was, on paper and in person, the more pleasant of the two Alphas, but he wasn't the one who made my heart beat
Rachel POVWright House"I don't like living without you." Tyler had never been a romantic man; hearing him confess he missed me made me hotter than his kiss.I responded to his words as much as his lips as we kissed as passionately as teenagers. I stopped trying to find air when I realized I could steal the breath from his mouth easier than breathing on my own. We kissed so long I was dizzy, swaying on my feet enough for Tyler to finally sweep me up in his arms."Can I take you to bed?"He'd never asked me before."Yes."My words were as breathless as I was and I kissed him everywhere I could reach as he carried me into the bedroom we'd shared during our mating. I saw more signs of life as he brought me to bed. I wondered if Tyler was trying to fill the hole I had left behind with pieces of himself spread throughout the empty house.I wondered if he could chisel away enough pieces of himself to forget what pie
Rachel POVWright HouseI was a quivering, limp mess on the bed as Tyler finally took mercy on me. He turned the toy off and tucked it back into its box before placing the gift bag on the bedside table. I had never seen such a deceptive package. The damned thing looked innocent yet carried pleasure almost certainly too good not to be a sin."Good?""Good?" I echoed in disbelief.We shared a laugh as Tyler moved to lie beside me on the bed. He used a hand to pull my skirt back down my thighs to cover me though I was still sensitive enough even closing my legs caused a residual jolt to strike through me at even that slight movement.Rolling to my side, I said, "I am not sure I'm healthy enough for your gift. I'm pretty sure one more minute? I would've had a heart attack."Tyler and I laughed together again as my body settled down. I noticed Tyler was still aroused and moved to my knees only for Tyler to gently press me back down.
Art POVOutside Bella & Rachel's ApartmentI could tell Wright had taken my advice the moment Rachel got out of the back of his sedan. Her smile was a mile wide and the gift bag at her side was the pretty yet discreet kind which came from an intimacy store. I idly thought about calling him to goad him into talking about it, but discarded the notion as soon as it passed through my mind.No man deserved to be mocked for following good advice, especially not when the advice was related to women.A part of me was amused I could deliver good advice regarding women.My past relationships had all ended badly with my last one resulting in a curse I wasn't sure I could shake. Good luck was not the kind I had and sometimes there was no way to come back from a bad trip.Some decisions couldn't be changed. I had learned all about regrets long before being cursed.I caught a whiff of arousal on the wind as Rachel opened the door to her apartme
Nathan POV The Four Seasons "Who is watching Rachel?" I resisted the urge to grab Charlotte by her shoulders and shake the truth out of her only by focusing on maintaining my calm. The eerie feeling of being watched passed as suddenly as it had swept over me; I focused on Char's face to watch her features for any clues as to her meaning while waiting on my answers. Charlotte played the game as well as any Alpha. Better in some ways because males tended to underestimate their female counterparts in wolfen society. I didn't temper my expectations of anyone based on their gender. After all, the person who'd done the worst hurt to me in my life was a female. Rachel would have been kinder to me if she'd shot me with a silver bullet through the head rather than leave me with a gaping hole where my heart had been. "Father is only being cautious. She comes from bad stock, you know, so it's in our better interests to make
Tyler POVWright HouseI hadn't looked at the phone before answering the caller and, as such, Nathan Lewis's voice came as a surprise to me. I recoiled in my chair slightly as he snapped at me about some hypothetical men sent by my father to follow Rachel.I could believe my father would send men to follow Rachel. She was carrying my heir. Her value had gone up considerably due to her pregnancy alone. My father wouldn't let the fact she was my fated mate slide by either.John Wright was a master manipulator in both his business and his personal endeavors. I might be his son, but I wasn't special to him. He would use his skills on me the same as he would go at a business rival."Charlotte didn't know their names? Two of them?"I tried to recall who my father called on regularly to do what he called 'odd jobs.'I didn't approve of criminal enterprises of any kind so John rarely brought those types of associates into my direct sphere of
Rachel POVBella & Rachel's ApartmentTime flew by until I only had about an hour before Nathan was going to show up for his overnight stay at the apartment. I stripped the bed in a hurry, glad I wasn't too pregnant yet for household tasks to be a bother. We only had two bedrooms in the apartment, so Nathan would have to take the bed I'd been using; the least I could do would be to ensure he had clean sheets to sleep on.I blushed thinking about how he might catch a hint of lingering arousal on my sheets if I let them remain. I had showered after getting back from Wright House, but just thinking about my time with Tyler was enough to make me weak in the knees. What had gotten into Tyler?I didn't know where the sudden urge to please me came from though I did wonder if it had anything to do with a certain Alpha Inspector.Come to that, I hadn't seen Art all day, but I had the feeling he was keeping close to me. I didn't know why I was comforted
Rachel POV"The baby is coming!" I criedHow was my baby coming?I'd had pain in my back, but I was used to that by now. I spent all day in the bed. My stomach was so swollen I couldn't see my feet and the extra weight put pressure on my spine.I had not had the first cramp! Where were my contractions? Where was the agonizing pain women all talked about?"Relax," a nurse said as she bustled into the room behind my mother who'd bolted for the hall as soon as I'd first called out.The nurse looked gloriously professional and capable. I wanted her help more than I wanted my next breath of air. I sighed audibly in relief."It's not really my water breaking? Was it just some kind of---accident?" I asked, blushing as I looked at the tablet where the Alpha Council was still hanging on the line on their side.All the male Councilmen looked terribly uncomfortable while the two females both looked amused. I was mortified this had happene
Rachel POVDays turned into weeks in Our Blessed Goddess Medical Center.Mama had taken over a week to detox from the drugs flooding her system. She'd managed to regain her ability to speak after only a few days. She was, however, still taking physical therapy to assist her with strengthening her muscles and bones again after all those years of living a dormant life in the asylum.My body was still fighting against itself. Some part of me -some animal part deep inside- wanted to reclaim the ability to shift, to fight, to run.I knew Rayne wanted to stretch her legs, but I didn't think my wolf was the one calling all the shots. I believed most of the restlessness in my body was from a part of me even more primal than Rayne herself."Have you seen Ethan today?" I asked my mother.Mama looked up from where she had been studying her hands. I knew it would take her a few moments to respond. She'd gotten her voice back, but speech was still not ea
Rachel POV"How is my brother?" I asked again, feeling like a crazed parrot as I clutched my mother to me yet every muscle in my body had gone tense in her arms.Ethan was going to have to be okay, too. I couldn't gain my mother only to lose my brother. Ethan was too young, too vital, and he had too much life left to live.Mama sat at my side on the edge of the bed tangling her fingers with mine while being careful not to pull on my IV lines or interfere with her own. We were a pair of invalids it seemed.I couldn't quite comprehend the situation we were in. Everything felt too surreal. Nothing was going the way I had ever imagined it in my head though I had certainly dreamed of my mother being returned to me more than once."Ethan is still unresponsive," Tyler answered, taking a seat beside me and reaching for my other hand, "He's not getting worse, but he isn't improving at all either. Your mother has agreed to donate blood. The hospital is tryin
Rachel POV"Your mother is doing well considering," Art said."Considering what?" I asked.My body was hot yet numb at the same time. I had a baby monitoring band wrapped around my waist to monitor my daughter, a pulse oximeter to monitor my oxygen and pulse, a blood pressure cuff for exactly that, and two IVs to make sure the hospital had access to my bloodstream as fast as possible "just in case."Saying I felt out of sorts was putting it mildly."Considering the quack caring for her had kept her overmedicated for the last two decades," Art said, shrugging a shoulder, "I think they did all they could to keep her barely conscious to avoid her fighting for her freedom. According to Justice, she can't even speak."I frowned, the muscles in my face moving as sluggishly as the rest of me, "According to Justice? You haven't seen her?"Art shook his head, "No. I distracted the facility attendants while Justice got your mother from her room
Elena POVTime passed based on the light coming in from the only window in my room. I knew the rays of dawn, the brightness of noon, the fires of dusk, and the silver of moonlight at night.Everything else was a guessing game.I've never been allowed a clock or a calendar. I tried to count days by marking them on the wall beside my bed, but they just painted over my marks on one of the days they took me for their tests.'Tests' were supposed to determine how safe I would be in normal society, but they consisted of a series of random questions I couldn't follow with all the drugs in my system.Every time they asked me something I knew there was a right answer and a wrong answer. I just couldn't make my mind identify which was which so I played the part of a mute after a while.If I didn't speak at all, they didn't give me more drugs. I was given a little more autonomy. I was left with books to read and, for a time, paper to write on.I
Art POVEvery breath felt harder and harder to draw in. I couldn't get my head on straight. For some unknown reason, I was more involved with this case of this missing female than any other case I had ever investigated in my career as an Alpha Inspector.I'd rescued children -babies even- and plenty of women before. What made this woman special? What made Rachel's baby so important to me?I couldn't think of anything hurting her child or her without the Alpha instinct rising up in me. I could feel my wolf, Merlyn, bristling all over and I couldn't afford a moment's lapse with the vampire demon sharing my body with my wolf.Merlyn had to keep the vampire in check. We would go on a rampage, drink dry anything with a pulse. I'd lost control once before and it'd been worse than any nightmare I had ever had.Coming back to myself with my belly full of the blood of others, I remembered wanting to erase every memory I had to take away the taste.No
Tyler POVRachel had finally drifted off into a fitful sleep. They'd had to pump her full of icy IV fluids to drop her temperature enough to allow her any peace. Every drop of sweat from her forehead felt as if it were being wrung from the marrow of my bones.I literally ached with the need to protect her, care for her, heal her.But there was nothing I could do."You'll drive yourself insane if you keep pacing out here worrying over what you can't change. We need to get to Elena," Windsor said.I could hear the finality in his tone; I knew he wanted to push me to do something for him. I just didn't know what more I could do for the Alpha Council. What help could I be in tracking this 'Peter' down?I'd never crossed paths with the man to the best of my knowledge."How can I help?" I asked, knowing Art Windsor well enough to realize he would tell me what he needed if I only asked.Art placed his hands into his pockets, walking o
Rachel POV"Why aren't we going to get my mother, now?" I asked, wiping the sweat from my brow with a towel growing steadily warmer with every touch to my skin.Art had brought Richard Campbell's computer along with the files from behind the picture frame. We had an exact location on the asylum my mother was being held at, but we had no access to her. I was still trying to understand why.I prompted, "What is the plan, Art? We can't just let them keep my mother in that hellhole."I knew the place Mom was in had to be terrible. They couldn't be a reputable institution and keep a woman with no illness hostage for two decades. I didn't even want to visit the place much less imagine how my mother could have survived there for twenty years."Are you okay?" Art asked, his expression concerned as he studied me hard enough to make me wipe myself with my cold towel again, "You don't look okay.""I feel hot," I said, "I don't know? It seems to be gett
Rachel POV"What do you mean you don't want to meet them?" I asked, feeling ridiculous even repeating the words aloud, "Lindy, we're talking about your family. Your real, blood family."Lindy shook her head 'no' over and over. Her wet hair slapped against her cheeks and I noticed she was crying now, too. Her gaze was slightly vacant, as if she couldn't understand what she was saying or what was being said to her or both."You---"Art cut me off, saying, "Lindy, do you need something to drink? Some water? We don't have to talk about those people right now. Can I get you anything?""Water," Lindy mumbled.Adam offered, "I'll go get it. Plenty of ice. I've been---well, I haven't been where she's at right now, but I understand enough."The big Beta left the room while the rest of us simply stared at Lindy as if we expected her to do a trick of some kind.I couldn't say I had ever seen anyone look so lost before. Lindy looked the wa