WESLEY
“Let me come with you this time,” Haven said, following me as I walked out of my parents’ apartment, Nolan and Sebastian right behind her.
I stopped in my tracks at her words. “What? No.” I shook my head and turned to her. “Haven—”
“I want to go with you,” she insisted, interrupting me.
“No, Haven,” I said, gripping her shoulders. “It-it will be violent and bloody and gruesome. I have to be someone you won’t recognize. All three of us do. I don’t want you to see me—to see us—like that.”
Even though I had given my word to Lennox I wouldn’t touch him, I still had to put on that mask. I had to be the brutal, cruel alpha. The vicious lycan.
I didn’t know what Sebastian had up his sleeve for Lennox, but I knew it would be something bloody and bordering on sadistic. I had no idea how Haven would react to gore and violence, and I wasn’t about to find out by having her watch us interrogate that piece of shit.
She crossed her arms and frowned at me. “We’re a team. I’m your luna. That’s what that means, right? Facing challenges together? Leading the pack together? Doing dirty work together?”
My chin dropped to my chest. I had nothing to say in response to that. She was right. But it didn’t make it any easier to agree to her request. My first instinct as her mate and as an alpha was to always protect her. To keep her safe. And bringing her with me went against all those instincts.
Sensing my hesitation and change of heart, she pushed forward with her arguments. “You said I’m strong. Sometimes even stronger than you. And I need this. I need to hear his answers and see him locked up for myself. For closure. I can’t let him win. We can’t let him have that influence on our lives.”
She stepped closer to me, her hands coming to my chest and resting there. My lycan turned to putty like he always did when she touched me that way, practically purring under her touch.
“I need to do this, Wesley,” she continued. “I need to. Besides, just think about what it will do to him to see us together. What better torture than to show him you have what he so desperately wants?”
Damn. She had a point with that remark. And while I had promised not to touch him, I said nothing about hurting him emotionally or finding other ways to torture him. My mind raced with all the possibilities, all the ways I could assert my dominance over him and my claim on her if she was in the room too.
And I couldn’t deny the thrill that went through me at her words. At the calculating idea she had come up with in only a matter of minutes. How she didn’t shy away from this darker side of my world but instead embraced it and tried to find her own footing within it.
I met Sebastian’s eyes over the top of her head and jerked my chin towards the stairs, ordering him and Nolan away without a word. They both scurried down the steps, leaving Haven and me alone on the landing.
Once their footsteps faded, I turned our bodies and pressed Haven’s back against the wall. My arms caged her in, and my body pressed flush against hers, a low growl vibrating in my chest.
“You will stay right next to me, touching at least my hand the entire time,” I commanded, my voice quiet and my tone leaving no room for argument. “At even the tiniest hint of fear or shock or nervousness from you, I will have Nolan take you out of the room and back to our house,” I continued. “And you will not hide your emotions from me. You will keep your walls down for me. I want to know exactly how you feel the whole time.”
Her big blue eyes stayed locked with mine throughout my speech, and she nodded at the end, understanding it wasn’t something to push me on or something to argue with me about. That it was real and dangerous and that she needed to be safe. That I needed her to be safe.
My face lowered, and my nose brushed against hers, my lips hovering over her mouth as I growled, “You’re mine, Sugar Plum.”
“And you’re mine,” she breathed back, her body arching against mine. My mouth crashed into hers, and my body pressed against hers as hard as
I could without hurting her. Our kisses were usually tender, sensual, and passionate, but at that moment, I needed to claim and possess. My hand wrapped around her throat, and her head tilted up for me without further prompting, eliciting another low growl from me at her minor act of submission.
It didn’t matter to me that Lennox wouldn’t be able to smell her on me or me on her because of the wolfsbane in his system. My brain wasn’t in charge at the moment; my instincts were. I needed as much of my scent on her as possible. Needed to remind everyone who she belonged to and who I belonged to.
The kiss was brutal and hard, and I wouldn’t have been surprised if I’d bruised her lips. But her returning kisses and touches were just as frantic and desperate as mine. It was like she knew how much I needed this, or maybe because some instinctual part of her wanted to stake a claim, too.
I stood up straight and pulled her body with me, keeping her close with my arms wrapped around her in a vise grip. Her hand moved to my face, her fingers scratching through my short beard as we gave each other one last kiss.
“Are you sure about this?” I asked her as I pulled back just enough to breathe.
“I am,” she replied, nodding, her fingers still playing in my beard. “I really need this, Wesley.”
I sighed but nodded, then released her from my arms, keeping one of her hands in mine as we made our way to the cells.
Inside, Levi, Sebastian, and Nolan waited for us as they stared at Lennox through the window. He sat in his chair, still chained, and glared at the center of the mirror, like he was staring right at Seb and Nolan, even though he couldn’t see through it.
All three of them turned to look at us, and as soon as their eyes landed on Haven, a growl let loose from my lips, and I pulled her behind me to keep her from their view. My lycan was very much at the forefront of my mind, ready to let loose and lash out at anyone who threatened our luna.
“Goddess, Wes.” Seb sighed. “I was just going to say hello.”
“Sorry,” I breathed, cracking my neck. “I’m on edge about this whole thing.”
Haven’s hand reached up and rubbed between my shoulder blades. My body relaxed, surprising me with just how tense I’d gotten.
“You’re going to need to control that once we’re in the room,” Nolan warned. “He’s going to taunt you. Try to get a rise out of you. Especially once he sees her.”
My lip curled, but I held in the growl threatening to release. I could do it. I could keep myself under control. My Sugar Plum would be safe, next to me or in my arms the entire time.
“Let’s do this,” I declared, walking towards the door.
“Wait,” Sebastian said, glancing at Haven again. “Haven, what… uh… ” His eyes shifted to me and then back to Haven. “Uh… what are you wearing under your jacket?” he asked, crossing his arms and looking at the floor.
“What the fuck?” I snarled, my nostrils flaring. “Just trust me!”
“A tank top?” Haven answered, her brow wrinkled. “Why?”
“You should take your jacket off. Let him see you’re not ashamed of your scars, that you’re not trying to hide them from anyone. Let him see that he didn’t break you,” Sebastian said.
Goddess, he was good. I let out a low chuckle and looked at Haven. She shrugged and said, “Okay.” Then proceeded to unzip her lightweight gray hoodie and hand it to Levi.
The white sleeveless top she wore underneath showed off almost the entirety of her scarring running across and down her neck and across her
collarbone and chest. The raised lines had already faded from a bright, angry pink to a soft peach color, and soon they would be white.
They’d never disappear completely, but that didn’t matter to me. Like I’d told her, they showed how strong she was, showed she was a fighter and a survivor.
“Let’s go.” She nodded.
Sebastian smirked and opened the door. Nolan walked in behind him, followed by me. And the last to enter was Haven. Levi shut the door from the other side, and I linked him to be ready to open the door at a moment’s notice.
As soon as Haven walked in, the atmosphere in the room shifted, as did Lennox’s demeanor. A predatory smile painted itself across his face, and his eyes scanned her from her head to her toes and back again.
“Hello, Haven,” he crooned, licking his lips.
Sebastian’s fist connected with Lennox’s crushed hand. The crunching of his bones filled the room, along with his yell of pain.
“What did my brother tell you about saying his luna’s name?” Sebastian snarled, his fist twisting and pushing down on the top of Lennox’s hand.
Lennox groaned and grunted, his jaw clenching and his breathing coming out in pants through his teeth.
“You said… you wouldn’t… touch me… anymore,” he seethed between his breaths.
I grinned at him. “I said I wouldn’t touch you anymore,” I replied. “I never said anything about them,” I added, nodding at Nolan and Sebastian, who flanked his chair, both staring at him with almost identical looks of excitement and vengeance.
Lennox’s eyes widened as he realized his mistake with his bargain, and his pale skin got even paler under his bruising.
I chuckled and leaned against the wall by the door, pulling Haven in front of me and wrapping my left arm around her waist. My right hand took her chin and turned her face towards mine, exposing the scars on her neck even more.
“Don’t forget what I told you,” I reminded her, the pad of my thumb caressing her bottom lip.
She nodded, her eyes darting to my lips. Without hesitation, I tilted my head down to meet her lips with mine, my fingers stroking down her jaw and her neck, tracing over her scars.
“That’s cute,” Lennox chuckled from his chair, but I ignored him, keeping my focus on my mate, my nose brushing over her cheek as I took in her scent. “Bringing her in here, flaunting her in front of me. But I had her first. I took her virginity. I got to taste and feel her sweet little pussy first.”
The growl I released was cut short by Haven’s sharp laugh. “You weren’t my first,” she said, shaking her head as she looked at him. “I wasn’t a virgin when we started dating,” she told him, her voice and face cold.
Lennox blinked but otherwise didn’t react, his face showing he didn’t care, although I knew it bothered him more than he let on. “Well, I still had you before he did,” he pointed out, using whatever he could think of to hold over me.
But Haven just shrugged, leaning back against my chest with her small body. “Maybe. But he’s still given me something you were never able to give me.”
“And what is that?” he snarled. “An orgasm.”
I bit the inside of my cheek and lowered my head to her shoulder to hide the amusement on my face. The fingers of my left hand spread so my thumb grazed the side of her breast, and my right hand moved to her leg, massaging her thigh through her leggings. Her head tilted to expose her neck for me, and I gave it a small kiss right on her pulse point.
“Damn, she’s good.” Sebastian chuckled through the link. “That’s our luna,” Nolan said, his words laced with pride.
“And you thought it would be too much for her,” Sebastian added. “I think it’s safe to say you were actually more worried about how you’d be with her here than about how she’d be.”
My arms wrapped around her tighter, one across her waist and the other across her chest, pulling her close into my body, as close as I could. The next part was the part I was worried about. Her seeing what we’d do to him to get him to talk.
“It’s going to get ugly,” I whispered to her. “Seb can be brutal. We can leave now if you want.”
“Wes, I told you, I will be fine,” she replied, her hands rubbing my arms and leaving those delicious sparks in their wake. “Trust me on this.”
I inhaled and exhaled, taking in her sweet scent. Seb was right. It wasn’t her reaction I was worried about, but my reaction to having her with us. But I needed to trust her, and trust our bond, and trust that Selene knew what she was doing when she made Haven my mate. My luna.
“Start questioning him,” I ordered Nolan and Sebastian.
