Authorized: Mercenary Shifters (Mercenaries For Hire Book 4) Page 6

  The door swung open, capturing my attention. A pale, delicate foot appeared. A bare foot.

  My wolf raged forward, and I reached out, holding her foot before she could step into the glass peppered on the ground. A growl rented the air in warning. The leg attached to the foot twitched as she tried to pull it back into the car. Well that wouldn’t do either.

  Mallory leaned out the door, her dark red hair brushing over her shoulder and tickling against my nose. Her scent filled my nostrils with a heavenly scent that consumed me. Earthy, with oakmoss, it reminded me of home. A deep, instinctual home. In the woods, the dirt under my claws, the heady thrum of life flowing through the trees, and wildlife.

  Her scent carried me away, and I was lost to the moment. Until she pushed on my shoulder and tried to yank her foot back again. I was jarred from my thoughts and forced to stare into her dark forest green eyes.

  Her lips peeled back into a snarl. Thrusting forward, my grip on her foot loosened and she fell on top of me. I fell back onto the unforgiving ground with my mate’s weight resting on me. My wolf grumbled his contentment, but it only lasted a moment before I heard a hiss. Tucking aside my mate’s lush red hair, I peeked around her to see Asher’s eyes glowing yellow with his animal close to the surface.

  Well fuck.

  I bared my sharpening canines at him in a warning. Mallory twisted on my chest, and her knee rammed into my crotch. A puff of air released from my lungs, and a grunt followed.

  Fucking, shit. A blinding pain resounded as she knocked me in the dick again.

  “Stop squirming, mate.” My wolf pushed forward, speaking for me.

  “Arctic breeze?” her sweet voice whispered against my ears.

  Chapter 12

  Mallory

  “Arctic breeze?” I had no other name for him. Mate felt too weighty even if he had just used it but his voice was strained. It was deepened and abrasive as if the vocal cords were being rubbed the wrong way. My father’s voice used to get that way when he had been severely pissed off and his animal rose to the surface. If I met this familiar stranger’s eyes, they’d glow with his animal.

  “I don’t do pet names.” His voice was deep, so very masculine and distracting. I twisted my neck so I was face-to-face with him.

  My mate. A quiet whisper in the back of my head.

  His eyes were molten amber, a mixture of all shades of brown, a never ending rainbow. The sight was hypnotizing. A warmth settled into my blood, a sense of rightness clicked into place. Then his words came back to me.

  My eyes crinkled with confusion, and my lips started to form the question. Instead of letting it out, I untucked my hand, which was pressed between his solid chest and mine, and patted his cheek. Seriously, now was not the time.

  I pushed my hand against his shoulder. Hmm, solid and strong. The thought distracted me for only a moment. When I turned to see Asher, he was still strapped in his side of the car, blood dripping from above his eyebrow where he hit his head against the dashboard. The loud thump of his head hitting it had sent a chilling thrill down my spine.

  On the ride through the city, I pressed Asher, asking him about my sister and her whereabouts. At first, he avoided answering, instead telling me we would get there soon. Then his answers started to change. The sinking feeling in my gut reminded me of my earlier fears. He didn’t have my sister. He confirmed it the moment before I yanked the steering wheel from his grip, forcing the car to ram into a streetlamp. The move had been foolish, sure, but a poisonous anger had leeched into my veins and pumped into my heart. All knowledge had left, and I was left a trembling mass of instincts.

  Instincts that told me if he got me out of the city, I would surely never see my sister again. I would be his as he wished it. Primal instincts flared inside of me and urged me to fight back. The instincts, unfortunately, also flared another round of aches in my bones. The wrenching of the steering wheel was both revenge and a desperate need I couldn’t place.

  I bared my teeth at Asher. It was a move many shifters did when they showed aggression. Even growing up with shifters, I didn’t tend to react the way they did. The move shocked me, but not as much as the pleasure that crossed over Asher’s face. The blood that had gathered above his forehead dribbled down and crossed over his lips, blooding his teeth.

  “Get away from my mate.” Asher’s words came out as a hiss. His animal was close, scales peeking out from under his neckline.

  Although fear should have consumed me, it didn’t. Instead, like a refreshing dip in the sea, a coolness crossed over my skin, cleansing me, freeing me from any dark emotion. A hand tangled in my hair, brushing it aside. Again. My tangled mess was getting annoying. Before I was in coma, I had left it be, too caught in my own depression. And it would seem the nurses and my sister allowed my hair to grow while I was in the hospital, too. Right now, I wanted to chop it all off.

  “Climb over me and get to the truck,” the alluring voice under me demanded. He had my hair tucked to the side so that he could stare down Asher. Though his scent called to me, the muscles under my hands were tense with anger and aggression. A niggling of fear wormed its way into the pit of my stomach.

  A very quiet voice in the back of my head told me to trust him. He was the one from the hospital, he would never hurt me. Mindful of where I jammed my knee this time, I crawled over the top of him like he asked and stood at the trunk of the car. Hopping to his feet in the graceful move of a shifter, Arctic moved in front of me, blocking Asher from my view. But not before I caught a glance of his skin starting to scale out. The heavy weight of a shift pressed against my skin. It made it crawl, roll, and a spark of desire ignited in my heart. What I wouldn’t give to shift.

  The thought made me pause. I hadn’t thought something like that in years. When I was younger, I often asked when my animal would appear. My parents shared a look before sitting down and explaining to me how I was different. It was hard to squash the feeling of yearning from my mind and body.

  Arctic walked backwards, his fingers brushing my sides. He steered me, never taking his sights off the open door.

  “I will not so easssily give up my mate, wolf.” Asher’s voice was garbled as he fought back the shift, his s’s slurring, and hissing.

  Arctic didn’t answer. Instead, he turned so his back faced Asher and crowded me. His hands gripped my hips and continued to steer me backwards.

  “Come.” Arctic twisted my shoulders around and kept his hands there as we speed-walked to the truck with the headlights still on. His ride I guess.

  The saying, ‘the devil you know is better than the one you don’t’ came to mind as he led me closer and closer to the old, beat-up Ford. It was a nice truck, a little rough around the edges, but I tucked my chin in and glanced back at Arctic.

  His rainbow brown eyes still shone with his wolf. His strong jaw was covered in days’ worth of stubble. A proud nose sat above pump lips that begged to be nipped. Wait … what? I blinked away the thoughts and focused on him again.

  His dark brown hair hung over his forehead, in thick, sexy strands. Jeez, he might smell like fresh snow and remind me of home, but it didn’t mean I needed to get all gaga over him. And truthfully, how could I trust him? What was he even doing here?

  “Whoa there, buster.” I twisted around in his grip again, Asher’s car in my sights once more.

  Devil you know. Or this fine-looking devil?

  “That’s not my name.”

  “Um, duh?”

  “It’s Apollo.”

  “Sure it’s not Adonis?”

  He raised a single brow. Damn that was attractive, and annoying. I hadn’t meant to say that out loud, but hey if he was going to be a god, it wouldn’t surprise me that he was the God of Beauty.

  “I don’t do pet names,” he repeated, annoyance lining his eyes. I held in my curt laughter. This really wasn’t the time to be egging him on but it sent a thrill through me.

  “Okay then, Arctic. Who are you?”

  “Apollo,
your mate.”

  Chapter 13

  Apollo

  Surely her animal had to be emerging. Couldn’t she smell me? Recognize me as her mate? There was uncertainty in her gaze, and she kept glancing back to where Asher’s car sat. We couldn’t stay here―he was still shifting, and it wouldn’t take long for his snake to get free from the car. Killing him would be easy, but I wasn’t going to risk Mallory in the process.

  I urged her toward the car again. Mallory didn’t take her eyes off the wreck, so she stepped backwards. Her muscles under my hands were taut with her worry and fear. The scent was sharp and acidic. The urge to soothe her was overwhelming but since I had been the cause, I had no cure.

  “I promise I will get you in contact with your sister as soon as we are in a safe place.”

  “Funny, ’cause that asshole said he had her.” Her eyes flashed with anger. Toward me or at Asher I wasn’t sure, but I had to proceed with caution. Mallory was rightfully timid and inside my wolf snarled. She wouldn’t have to be afraid of me. Never me.

  “No, your sister is with a … friend of mine. They mated and went to visit his family in New Orleans.”

  Her lips pressed tightly together. A snarl of frustration threatened to burst through me.

  “I need you to trust me for just a few minutes. When we get to a safe space, I promise I will get you on the phone with your sister’s mate. He can connect you from there.”

  Twisting my neck, I glanced over my shoulder to see a flash of moss brown scales. Fuck. We didn’t have time for this.

  “Mallory!” Her attention was also stuck on Asher’s animal as it untangled itself from the car.

  “Fine! Fine.” Her voice was that of defeat, but she willingly went to the truck. I tried to open the door of the passenger side for her, but she beat me to it. The large python flopped to the concrete as I put my truck in reverse. His eyes watched as we drove away. Mallory sat straighter in her seat and made eye contact with Asher. Slowly she lifted her hand and flipped him off. A snort of laughter worked its way out of me.

  Fearless mate.

  Yes, but also scared. Her fear still tainted her skin with a rotten perfume that made my nose burn.

  “And you can’t call my sister’s so called mate right now?”

  “No.”

  “Why not?”

  Because I want to keep you for myself.

  “I’m driving.”

  “Seriously?” she asked, skeptical.

  “Seriously.”

  Mallory was silent as I drove on. I would have to circle around the city and hopefully throw off any tails we might have. Asher might be consumed by his animal for the time being, but it didn’t mean he wouldn’t have connections out looking for us. A snarl built in the back of my throat at the thought. We would go to Moss’s safe house here in the city, and hopefully in the morning she would feel safe enough with me to leave the city. It was too risky staying here with Asher’s men crawling about.

  My main concern for now was to make sure I got her to the apartment safely. We would decide after that.

  ***

  The car ride had been tense, at best. Mallory squirmed in her seat for the most part, her hands twisted in her lap, her shoulders were curled forward, and her head bent to the window. I didn’t attempt to speak, words of comfort escaped me. Plus, we weren’t out of the woods yet. I wouldn’t offer her false hopes. Promising her the moon when I could not deliver would be a betrayal against the tentative trust she had put into me.

  I had kept to the roads for a couple hours. Mallory’s head knocked against the window a couple times before she woke with a startled jump. I had already lost my mate to a crime-boss shifter, and now I couldn’t even take care of her simplest of needs. She needed a bed, shower, and food. Whether in that order or not I didn’t care but she needed to rest.

  Two hours should give us enough time to get a little shut-eye, shower, and a quick meal before we needed to be on the move again. It would be foolish to head back to the bar, but it had been my first option. Now that was out the window, so I would have to figure out a new plan. No doubt by now Asher had control over his animal and was doing what he could to find my mate.

  I pulled into the parking garage nearby the nondescript apartment building. It was very much Moss’s style. Unnoticeable, but easy access. It was something he drilled into me when I lived with him. It didn’t matter about the flash of the thing but rather its function. Pretty could come later after usability and reliability.

  The building was quiet, not quite on the outskirts of town, but far enough from the hustle of it all. It was on the opposite side of where Asher had been taking Mallory in the first place. It gave me reassurance that we would have a bit more time to hide out in the city. Mallory stirred in her seat as I parked the car. She slowly lifted her head as if it weighed an enormous amount. She blinked several times before she realized that it was just dark in the parking garage.

  “So where to from here, oh savior?” She didn’t look at me; instead, she stared ahead at the concrete wall. Her fear tainted the small cab of my truck and I hated that I invoked it in her.

  “To the apartment. You can shower, get something to eat, and rest.”

  “Thought you said you’d let me talk to my sister.” Her voice dropped with a growl. The rumble continued in her throat until she cleared it, her brows pinching in confusion.

  “Your animal is emerging.”

  “Got that, Arctic Breeze. What about your promise?” She twisted in her seat and glared at me, her green eyes flashing with annoyance.

  “It’s two o’clock in the morning. I can call her now if you wish, but I can’t guarantee she will answer.” Plus, I needed a bit of time to think of our next plan. Now that I had her, her scent clung to me like a second skin. My wolf was rolling in contentment that our mate was near. He wouldn’t allow anything else than keeping her forever.

  “No, no. It’s fine,” Mallory whispered, shaking her head. Her recent bravo left her in a rush. Her shoulders dropped heavily and the last few days took its toll on her. “Shower sounds good, sleep sounds divine, and I’ll probably eat you pretty soon.”

  “I’d much rather eat you,” I muttered under my breath, unable to keep the thought in.

  “What?”

  “I said, I’d much rather eat you.”

  Mallory sized me up, checking me out head to toe. She hummed under her breath but didn’t say a word about it.

  I got out of the truck and headed around the end of the bed to wait for her to climb out. She moved slowly, glancing around. Her muscles were loose. I didn’t fear she would take off, but wariness drew on her muscles.

  “Come on, Mallory.”

  She nodded and walked to my side. We headed to the apartment building together.

  Chapter 14

  Mallory

  Our steps echoed around the parking garage, but it kept me alert. Awake. Unfortunately, I felt extremely at ease with Apollo. A muscle next to his right eye twitched anytime I called him something other than his name, which made my insides lighten a bit.

  My limbs felt heavy. I had only gotten a bit of sleep in the car and it still tugged at me. Since I had been with Asher, exhaustion gnawed at my muscles, but sleep had eluded me.

  The last couple days should have put me under, and yet in Apollo’s presence I felt more alive. An energy―restless, new, and untamed under my skin. Rolling my shoulders, I tried to shake out this feeling.

  “It’s your animal,” Apollo said. He took in a deep breath through his nose, tilting his head in my direction. “Do you know …”

  A flush crept up my cheeks. Asking another shifter what kind of animal they had was personal. Some animals, like bears or wolves, could smell each unique scent of an animal and didn’t even have to ask.

  “I’m not sure. My parents had been a mix pair. Mazy took after our mother.”

  “I’m sorry, Mallory. First thing in the morning I will get you on the phone with you sister.” Apollo slowed his pace,
matching mine. Cringing, I wondered how he knew where my thoughts had traveled. “Your scent. And you’re an open book right now.”

  “I’ve been spending way too much time with humans.” I thought again on how my legs recovered. Had it been because of finding Apollo? Did my animal speed up my healing? It made more sense than the time I had been in coma. If I had remained latent I didn’t think my legs would have recovered so quickly.

  Apollo’s laugh rang around us in a deep baritone that made something inside of me warm.

  “Come on.” Apollo reached out to me; he hesitated before placing his hand on my lower back. I appreciated that he didn’t touch me.

  I glanced up at him. Goddamn he’s gorgeous. But not in a pretty boy way. No, he looked rugged and wild. Not knowing why or how a quiet growl of appreciation tumbled out of me.

  My eyes widened and I took a step forward, escaping his almost touch. Swallowing my apology, I hoped his animal wouldn’t take the sound as a challenge. His eyes glowed as his animal touched the surface.

  “We should get you inside. I don’t know the extent of Asher’s reach. He won’t get his slimy hands on you again.”

  “Not sure snakes are really slimy,” I retort as we continue our way to the rundown apartment complex. Apollo let out a quiet rumble. Whether it had been a laugh or a growl I didn’t know. Choosing to ignore it, I stood waiting at the entrance. Apollo jogged over, catching up before unlocking the door.

  “Just a key?”

  “Look around you, Mallory. This place is shit.”

  “Are you always this blunt?”

  Arching a brow, Apollo looked down at me as he held the door open only a crack, but the warmth inside felt welcoming.

  “Better get used to it, mate.”

  Instinctively, I flinched. Apollo’s face darkened, and guilt consumed me. While it hadn’t been a reaction to him, the act had upset him. Sucking in a breath as uncertainty and a deeper, more dangerous emotion ran through me, I touched his forearm. The skin on skin contact soothed this anger that simmered under my skin, and his own muscles relaxed a smidgen.