Morgan (11 page)

“Stop,” Finn said, making Ben immediately halt. He trembled where he stood, unable to break free of the Alpha’
s command.
“You are a part of my pride now, Ben Harvey, and in joining me you pledged your allegiance to me. Do you wish to return to Caleb?”

“No, Alpha,” Ben ground out between his clenched jaws. He would not leave Morgan, the very idea was anathema to both sides of his nature.

“
Then let
’s see what information Samson can glean before we decide to kill him for his crimes against your mate.”

Finn’s words rang in his ears as he moved to the viewing window to observe Samson’s interrogation. His cat was soothed that the man was not going to go free. He would eventually be made to pay for laying his hands so cruelly on Morgan.

It was dawn when Samson called a halt to his interrogation, and the pride members who were not on patrol gathered in the station’s conference room. Ben swallowed the bile that seemed to still be burning in his throat as he looked across at Samson. The big man was talking to Finn, his demeanor appearing calm, and unaffected by the cruelty he’d had to use whilst questioning their prisoner.

“Finn forbade Samson from killing the human who abducted and tortured Bethany,” Jason said. “His threats, however, so terrified the man that he managed to kill himself with a plastic knife his first night in custody.”

“Jesus,” Ben said. “
I don
’t know how he remains so unaffected.” Samson turned and looked at Ben. Samson held Ben’s gaze for only a second, but it was imbued with enough sadness that Ben knew Samson did indeed suffered for the pain he inflicted.

He did it only because it was necessary, and in this case, he did it to save Ben’s mate as well as his own. Ben knew Samson would sacrifice his soul, if necessary, to save Bethany, and Ben understood that emotion only too well. No one would again harm Morgan as long as he and his brothers still breathed.

Finn cleared his throat and everyone moved to sit at conference table. “Samson has learned nothing from our unwelcome guest other than he’s terrified of Artur Petrov.”

“His fear is stinking up the entire town,” Evan said. “I hate to think of Petrov ever getting his hands on Morgan or Bethany.”

“We need to know what Petrov wants with his daughters,”
Hunter said.
“This all makes no sense.”

“I did everything I could short of actually killing him,” Samson said, his voice harsh with his cat’s rage. “
And we
’ll get no answers from a dead man.”

“I think that even if you took his testicles again, should they grow back, that he’d still remain silent,” Jason said softly. He rubbed his chin with his fingers as he stood. “I know someone who may be able to get us our answers without having to actually
kill him.
”

“We could ask,” Finn said, his brows furrowing as he considered Jason’s suggestion. “Brody could have him here in an instant, so he wouldn’t be away from Kaitlyn for too long. I imagine he is loath to leave her for even a short period now that she is pregnant.”

“It won’t take him long,” Jason said. “He could have the information for us in minutes. The shifter will have no idea that Aiden is a vampire, let alone what he is capable of.”

Ben looked at Evan who was frowning deeply at him. “He really is
that
good?
” Evan whispered.

Ben nodded at his brother. Once Aiden had their answers, then he would ask to be left alone with the man. He had some arms to break. Just to return the favor.

* * * *

Aiden heard his cell phone vibrating and wanted desperately to just ignore it. Sean was still out on patrol, and Kaitlyn was fast asleep. H
er upper body
was sprawled deliciously over his chest and their baby was kicking lightly at his side. Sighing, he reached for the phone.

“Am I to congratulate you?” Aiden asked, recognizing Jason Reed’s number.

“We have a situation that requires your mind reading abilities,” Jason said. The man was blunt and to the point, as usual. Aiden actually liked that about him. “Bethany is in danger.”

“I take it she has not yet had her baby?”

“It’s a long story, Aiden. Can Brody bring you to Eminence? I wouldn’t ask if we had any other way of finding out the information we need.”

“I can believe that. I imagine you are only asking me because Samson was unsuccessful.” He knew very well how good Samson Reed was at interrogation. If he’d failed, then Aiden really was their only chance of finding out what was in someone’s mind. “I will have Sean return from patrol and go directly
to Brody
’
s cabin. I
’ll be with you shortly.”

He disconnected the call and reached for his partner.
“Sean, I’m needed in Eminence.”

“I’ll have someone cover the rest of my patrol and be home in five minutes. Don’t leave until I’m there.”
Sean answered.

Aiden didn’t take offense at Sean’s protectiveness over their mate. Not three months ago a vampire had come to take her from them. His plans to have Kaitlyn as his own private blood donor and concubine still made Aiden burn with barely controlled fury.

The fact that the offending vampire was very dead did little to temper his feelings of rage. He would never forget how close they had come to losing her forever. Never forget to treasure each and every minute of his eternity with her.

“Is Bethany well?” Kaitlyn asked. She rubbed at her eyes as she sat up. He felt the loss of her heat on his naked chest immediately, and mourned losing the feeling of their baby lying safely between them.

“I’m unsure of what the threat to her entails, but someone seems to have come to Eminence to harm her. Jason has asked for my help in obtaining the information they need. As soon as I’ve discovered all that they need, I will return to you, my love.”

She smiled at him and lowered herself back to his chest to kiss him chastely. “Jason has done so much for us, I’
m glad we
’re able to repay him in this small way.”

Sean ran into the room and swept Kaitlyn into his arms. “Make Bethany safe,” Sean said. “Jason must be going crazy with worry. Her baby is due any day now.”

Aiden kissed Kaitlyn before
quickly
dressing. He was at Brody’s home only a couple of minutes later, knocking loudly on the kitchen door to wake the sleeping bears and their mate.

“I want your mate,” Aiden said.

“You have your own mate, vampire,” Landon said, his booming voice rattling the windows.

Aiden waited patiently, hearing the frustration in the minds of both Landon and his brother, Elliot, as Brody wriggled out from between.

“We had plans for our mate this morning,”
Landon said sulkily, directing his thoughts to Aiden instead of speaking them out loud. Brody was such a sweet person that he’d be horrified if Landon appeared reluctant to help his friend.

“Come, in, Aiden,” Brody said as he opened the kitchen door for him. “Is everything okay with Kaitlyn?” Landon and Elliot were both standing protectively beside their mate and neither of them appeared to be
happy.

He quickly told them what little he knew and Brody immediately agreed to take Aiden to Eminence. The brothers flipped a coin to see who would accompany Brody. Elliot won the toss.

Brody may be a powerful demon, but Aiden understood the deep protective need that drove the brothers to put their mate’s safety above all else. He felt exactly the same way about his Kaitlyn.

* * * *

Cameron watched as Morgan slipped from her deep sleep into wakefulness. She stretched and looked around, her confusion at her surroundings obvious on her expressive face. When her gaze finally settled on him, a huge cougar sitting on the end of the bed, he braced himself for her scream. She surprised him, however, by smiling widely as she threw off the light blanket and crawled over to him.

“I half expected to wake up in the hospital, or in the cheap hotel I was staying at in Lansing.” She kneeled up in front of him, her head level with his chest, and stroked her fingers down his coat. He had never purred before in his life, but the rumbling sound his cat was making as the pleasure of his mate’s touch spread through his body, was definitely a purr.

“I’m so glad it wasn’t all a dream, Cameron. I like the way I feel around you.” He rubbed his face over the top of her head, marking her with his scent. She was his. She wrapped her arms around him and rested her face against his neck.

“I like having mates. I like having a sister. This may sound strange, but I feel whole this morning. Like I’ve been waiting all my life to find you, and to find Bethany.”

His mate seemed to like talking to him while he was in his shifted form. She appeared to be more open and forthright than when he’d been human, so he resisted the urge to shift and let her say everything she needed to say. Once she’d finished, he’d shift and tell her everything he needed to say to her.

“I’m scared, though. Scared that I’ve brought all this trouble to my sister. I’ve put her in danger just when she’s about to have her baby.” Morgan paused and took a deep breath before she continued. “But a purely selfish part of me is just so happy that I’ve found her. After wondering all my life who I am, I finally know. I know my mother loved me, and that she died to protect my sister and me.”

Cameron had known all his life that he was a shifter and that he was loved by his parents, something Morgan and Bethany had never had. His anger toward Artur Petrov deepened.

“
I don
’t know how to be either, you know?” She didn’t elaborate and he didn’t understand the sadness in her voice, in her scent. He stood, letting her arms fall from his neck, and shifted. His human arms then pulled her tight to his chest as her tears burned his naked chest.

“What can’t you be?” he said, kissing her hair as he absorbed her pain.

“
I don
’t know how to be a sister and I don’t know how to be a mate. So far all I’ve done is be a huge pain in the ass.” He growled softly, not liking that she didn’t understand the joy she’d already brought him just by being alive.

“
Then I
’ve done a terrible job of conveying my feelings, Morgan, and I’m sorry for that. With your father’s man being here, and you and Bethany being in such danger, we haven’t devoted enough time to you.”

She stiffened in his arms. “Someone has come already?” She tried to pull from his arms, but he liked her exactly where she was, so he held her a little tighter.

“We are a strong pride, Morgan. Both you and Bethany are safe here. The intruder was discovered as soon as he entered the town. Samson has been questioning him half the night.”

She relaxed against him and sighed deeply. He could almost hear her mind working. He knew that she would decide to leave, thinking she would lead the danger away from Bethany and her baby.

“Do you understand from everything you were told last night about shifters mating for life?”

She remained silent, but nodded her head. He felt her withdrawing emotionally from him. She unwrapped her arms from around him and wiped at her eyes. He let her pull back a few inches before tipping her face up so their eyes met.

“Did Shana tell you what happens when a mate leaves or dies?” She shook her head ever so slightly and moistened her lips with her tongue. He hated to scare her with things she wasn’t ready to hear, but she was a shifter too, and she needed to understand the way shifters mated. The way shifters
loved.

“If you leave us, we will search for you until the day we die. Once we meet our mate, an irrevocable connection is made between us, and she is then the only one we will ever be attracted to. We are then physically incapable of ever being with another woman.

“Once we are mated, if our mate dies, then so do we. Our hearts are so entwined and our souls so entangled that we can’t live without her. I know already that I would die without you, my Morgan. I can feel you inside me and you are now everything to me. I will always fight to keep you safe from
any
danger, not just this one. I fight for you, and for the cubs we will one day have. For our life together.”

Morgan blinked and her eyes began to change. He watched the blue turn to soft lavender as they glowed with the depth of her emotions. He could scent clearly what she was feeling, but he waited for her to say it.

“
You can
’
t die.
” She poked him softly in the chest with one of her fingers. “Just the thought of you, Ben, or Evan being dead makes me angrier than I’ve ever been in my entire life. You are not allowed to die. Do you understand me?”

“Don’t hurt your wrist, baby,” Cameron said. He wrapped his hands around her casts. She was feeling protective and possessive of him, and his cat wanted to purr again.

“Your cat has already claimed us, Morgan. Can’t you feel it?”

She nodded slowly. “I think so. I wanted to leave. But it was only to stop my father from hurting anyone here, especially Bethany.”

“And now?”

Cameron smiled as he already had his answer in her glowing lavender eyes. She was theirs.

Evan knew little about vampires or demons other than that they existed, so he didn’t know what to expect from the two people coming to Eminence. Jason had left a few minutes ago, saying that Brody had to go to the clinic. He couldn’t imagine what sort of help they were going to be if one of them was already injured.