Morgan (12 page)

While he waited, he stared at the man shackled in the interrogation room. Blood coated what clothes remained on his body, yet he still looked arrogant and defiant. He was confident that he’d die without having betrayed any of Artur Petrov’s secrets.

The interrogation room door opened and a tall, lean man with dark hair and pale grey eyes walked into the room. The man in chains immediately stiffened and rose to his feet, drawing as far away from the newcomer as the chains allowed.

“He knows what Aiden is,” Samson said. Evan turned to see that Samson was now standing behind him.

The open door to the viewing room grew dark as a huge man ducked under the door frame and stalked into the room. A bear. Evan recognized the scent immediately. It had to be Landon or Elliot.

“You can come in now, baby,” Elliot said. He held out his hand, and a slight man with straight blond hair walked into the room and clasped Elliot’s hand.

“This is Elliot's mate, Brody,” Samson said.

“Thank you for bringing Aiden here to help us,” Evan said. “I’m Evan. Morgan, Bethany’s sister, is my mate.”

“
I won
’t tell you anything, vampire. You may as well kill me right now,” the prisoner shouted, drawing their attention back to the interrogation room. He was pulling violently at the shackles around his wrists and blood oozed up from the deep cuts they were making in his skin.

The vampire just stood there watching as the man pulled at his bindings and snarled insults at him in Russian. The vampire stared into the mirror and remained motionless through nearly ten minutes of verbal abuse from the prisoner. Then suddenly, he spun and stared at the man.

“You know my friend, Eamon,” Aiden said coldly, “and you haven’t been treating him very well these past hundred years.”

Evan watched the smooth features of the vampire’s face morph into something completely inhuman. His fangs grew long and sharp, looking as if they’d elongated nearly to his chin. The bones in his face thickened, sharpening his face as his eyes glowed red in their deep sockets.

He reached for the man with hands that were now tipped with long clawed talons instead of fingers. The talons dug deeply into the man’s arms as he picked the shifter up and threw him against the wall.

The chain holding the prisoner’s shackles to the floor broke with the strength of the vampire’s throw. The shackles then fell to the ground, snapped cleanly in two. The prisoner bounced off the wall and dived for the mirrored glass of the viewing window.

Evan instinctively stepped back as the man broke through the window and it shattered from the impact. The man rolled as he landed on the viewing room floor and was on his feet with Brody held against his chest before the first of the window’s glass shards began to hit the floor.

“Step back or this one dies,” he said. He snarled as he stepped back toward the door to the hallway.

Brody disappeared from the man’s hold at the same instant as Elliot took a step forward and grasped the man’s head in his massive hands. He twisted it sharply, then dropped the head onto the glass-strewn floor as he turned toward a soft growling noise that emanated from a corner of the room.

Evan tore his gaze from the prisoner’s body as it slid to the ground to join its severed head. What he saw made no sense.
Elliot
stooped over and lifted a small cream-colored bear cub into his arms as he whispered reassurances of safety to it.

Aiden appeared beside Elliot, his features once more human, as he stared in wonder at the bear cub that was now shaking in Elliot’s gentle embrace. “I’m so sorry I lost control, Brody. Are you hurt?”

The bear cub shook his head and snuggled against Elliot’s chest. Evan was confused, and by the looks on both Samson’s and Aiden’s faces, he wasn’t the only one feeling that way.

“What the hell just happened?”
Evan
asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

“I lost control when I learned something horrific from that creature’s mind,” Aiden said. He gestured absently at the decapitated corpse with one hand.

Aiden looked at Samson, and Evan could scent pain radiating from the vampire. Evan shuddered as he wondered what his mate’s father had done that had so enraged and pained the vampire.

“I also learned what you needed to know about Artur Petrov. Once Elliot has calmed his mate I will tell you everything I leaned.”

* * * *

Ben watched Aiden pace the length of the conference room, as he waited for Brody and Elliot to join them. He was clearly not happy that Brody had been placed in danger. Ben had been standing guard in the corridor, and had not witnessed the attack, but he could see how angry Aiden was with himself..

“Stop berating yourself, my friend,” Finn said. He stepped in Aiden’s path and placed a hand on his shoulder. “I’d say ‘you’re only human’ but we all know that’s not the case. Brody is unharmed and you said that Elliot no longer wishes to kill you.” Finn smiled at Aiden and Ben saw a smile tugging at his lips. “Elliot is an interesting man.”

“I may not be human, but I’m old enough to know better, Finn. Had Brody been anything but a demon—”

“
But I am a demon,
” Brody said. He walked up to Aiden and hugged the vampire around the waist. Elliot’s growl made the glasses on the conference room table rattle loudly as they shook on their tray. “Hush, Elliot. It must have been something truly awful to have made Aiden lose control like that.” Brody released him and smiled up at him. “I’m sorry for your friend.”

“Thank you, Brody,” Aiden said. He sat in the nearest chair and watched as everyone followed suit.

Evan
remained standing by the door. Ben could see by the wary looks he was giving both Aiden and Brody that he did not trust the creatures he’d just met. Ben knew them both to be loyal and good friends to their Alpha, Caleb, and he trusted them both implicitly. They had not yet, however, earned Evan’s trust.

“First of all, be assured that I learned everything you needed from Artur’
s Beta,
” Aiden said. “And please accept my apologies for losing control. I will explain it all to you once I have one question of my own answered.”

Ben watched everyone turn their gazes to Brody when Aiden stared at the demon. “My young friend, might I ask what the hell just happened to you?” He smiled to soften the question, but it was obvious he was clueless as to what had happened to the demon.

Ben knew enough about his race to know that he should not have been able to turn into a bear. It was simply against the laws of nature. Shifters were born, not made.

“It happened not long after we were mated,” Brody said. His cheeks grew red and Elliot picked him off his chair and placed him on his lap, wrapping his small mate in his huge arms.

“We were as shocked as you all are,” Elliot said, kissing the top of Brody’s head. “We went to sleep with our little Brody snug and warm between us, and woke up with a bear cub in his place.”

“I’m not a cub,” Brody said. “I’m an adult. I’m just not as huge as you, that’s all.” His blush deepened and Elliot’s smile widened.

“You’re the most beautiful man, and cub, I’ve ever laid eyes on.”

“
My mates don
’t know why it’s
happen
ing,” Brody said. “It doesn’t seem to occur often, just if I’m sacred or worried. Then … wham, I’m a ball of fur. It’s very disconcerting. It took me all day to change back the first time I woke up like that.”

“It’
s fascinating,
” Jason said. “Can I take some blood now and then again when you’re shifted?”

Elliot growled loudly.

“It’s not just fascinating, Jason,” Aiden said. “I think it’s also unique. Although I think a demon mating a shifter is probably also unique. Why didn’t you tell us, Brody?”

By the blush that was making Brody’s normally pale face look almost scarlet, Ben could guess why the demon had not wanted to share his new-found gift with any of them.

“It’
s embarrassing,
” Brody said. “If I’d changed into a dragon, or a huge dinosaur, that would have been something to boast about. But a small furry bear the size of a house cat?”

“You’
re adorable,
” Elliot said. He opened his mouth to say more, but Brody turned a glare on him that kept him silent.

Ben saw Aiden and Finn exchange worried looks before Aiden shook his head. They were obviously concerned about the laws of nature Brody seemed to have broken.

“I’m sorry. I will tell you everything I learned from the prisoner,” Aiden said. All eyes turned to him as he took a deep breath. “The details of Artur Petrov’s depravity, both toward his daughters and to my friend, Eamon Doyle, are not going to make easy listening.”

Ben braced himself for the worst and still found he was unprepared. Nothing he’d ever encountered in his time as a deputy came close to making him ready to hear what Aiden shared. Evan had slumped to the floor in a state of shock by the time Aiden had finished.

“He cannot be allowed to get his hands on either Morgan or Bethany,” Ben said softly.

He looked at Evan and saw his brother was barely leashing his inner cat. He’d almost executed a half-shift that was similar to that of Shane and Josh Walsh, the twin wolves from their home town of Pine Falls.

“Go and let your cat run off some of its anger, Evan,” Finn said. “You’ll be of no comfort to your mate in your current condition.”

Evan left without a backward glance and Finn walked over to wrap Aiden in a one armed embrace. “Thank you, Aiden. We’d know none of this if you hadn’t come to help us. I can’t even imagine how hard it was for you to leave Kaitlyn, and then to learn of Petrov’s treatment of your friend.”

Ben left the other members of his pride to iron out the details of Morgan’s and Bethany’s protection. He needed to get home and hold his mate. Hold her and make certain that he never lost her to her father. What he had planned for his daughters was not a life Ben would subject even his worst enemy to.

* * * *

Evan felt Cameron's mind touch his the instant that he shifted. Cameron was surprised and concerned at the depth of his rage and began asking him questions immediately.

“I need to run. Morgan and Bethany are both safe for now. Ben will be with you soon and I’
ll
come home when I’m calmer. I don’t want Morgan to see me like this. We’ll tell you what we’ve learned together. All of it. Morgan needs to know why her mother risked her life to keep her safe. Why she ultimately died.”

Both of his brothers abided by his wishes, and while he remained linked to them as pack mates, they left him alone to work through his tumultuous feelings of rage and possessiveness. He would extend Cameron the same courtesy once he’d been told of Artur’s plans for their mate.

Having left his car parked at the sheriff’s station and walked to the edge of town before he’d shifted, he then ran for hours. The sun was high in the sky as he eventually made his way down the hill behind the Reed’s home.

The ranch had extensive forested areas surrounding it, as did all the properties belonging to the shifters in Eminence. He crossed the stream below the lower paddock and lingered for a few minutes. He allowed the cool water to rinse the sweat from his coat and cleanse the lingering taint left in his mind by the information Aiden had shared.

Evan shuddered as he leaped to the shore and shook the water from his coat.
How could anyone do that to their daughters? Especially a shifter. They are usually ferocious in their protectiveness of their children.

“I think you need to return now,”
Ben said.
“We’ve tried to shield our emotions from Morgan but she’s become increasingly withdrawn. We can’t get her to eat or drink anything. Cameron is about to call Doc and ask him to come and see her.”

“I’m in the lower paddock. I’ll be with you as soon as I’ve dressed.”

Evan felt guilty for indulging in his anger for so long. He had a mate to care for now and her well-being should always come first to him. He would have to become a better mate because he’d made a very
poor start.

Of course she was worried about her father’s plans for her and her sister. He roared as he ran across the paddock behind the house. The horses in the neighboring field whinnied softly but didn’t flee. They’d grown accustomed to all the cats that were now residing within the training complex beside the Reed’s home.

As Evan approached the bunkhouse that still held all his clothes, he took in the tranquility of the ranch. It was not going to remain like this. Petrov would be coming for his daughters and he was going to find a whole pride of shifters standing in his way.

“Eamon, my friend, why the sad face? Was the service on the flight over not to your liking?”

Artur laughed at his own joke and glanced around the hangar to make sure all of his men appreciated his sense of humor. They were all laughing as they stared at the caged vampire.

“Has he been bled today?” Artur asked the doctor in charge of keeping his pet docile.

“I did it personally,” Dr. Parran said. He handed Artur the key to the cage and stood back to let Artur observe their captive.

“I have a job for you, vampire. If you get me the information I need, I may let you feed.”

The vampire didn’t respond. He sat chained to the chair at the center of the cage, his head slumped to his chest, his heart beating so faintly that even Artur’s shifter hearing found it hard to perceive.

Artur wasn
’
t worried he
’d die though. He’d begun to think nothing could kill the vampire after keeping him like this for nearly a century.

“Load the cage onto the truck. I want to be on the road as soon as possible.” Artur walked to his black SUV. “Still no news of Yefim?”