Claiming His Mate(18)

Immediately both of them dropped their heads in submission but Wade didn’t cover the way he clenched his fists into tight balls. Yeah, Max had a feeling they were going to come to blows again really soon. Since he had to cover every angle of the missing jewels, he would. And he didn’t care if he pissed these two off in the process.

“You two are going to stay here until Sapphire and Charlie arrive,” Max said as he pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. He hated calling them over here right now, but he knew they were still awake and he needed someone with knowledge of the situation. “While they’re watching you I’m going to tear apart your place. For all I know you took the fucking jewels.” He didn’t know if he believed it, but he didn’t like their story or attitudes and there was no way Lauren was behind this. If she said her pride wasn’t either, then he had to believe her.

Both their heads jerked up at that, shock clear on their faces.

“You can’t be serious,” Wade snapped.

In response, Max tilted his head in the direction of the stairs. “Downstairs, now.”

Glaring at him, they did as he ordered. Once they were gone, he called Charlie then did another sweep of the room and windowsill while waiting for Wade and Naomi’s babysitters to arrive.



* * * * *



Lauren glanced at her cell phone as it rang for the third time. Max again. She silenced the ringing.

Not only had he insinuated that her pridemates might be behind this, but he’d left two of his packmates to watch her. Like what, he thought she’d leave? She’d made a deal with him and after what they’d just shared she expected…hell, maybe she shouldn’t have expected anything. She actually understood that he needed to investigate every angle and if that included her pride, fine. But he’d left two shifters to watch her. Because he didn’t trust her.

That hurt.

Rolling over, she stared at the ceiling, hating the conflicting feelings surging through her. She was more attracted to Max than she’d ever imagined possible. The man was sexy and infuriating and from what she’d experienced very giving in the bedroom. Sure they hadn’t actually had sex yet, but he’d already proved how much he wanted to please her. And she wanted to do the same, to lick and kiss every inch of his delectable body.

But there was more to any relationship than the physical stuff. She’d be leaving soon anyway so why was she thinking in ‘relationship’ terms. Groaning at herself, she grabbed a pillow and held it over her face while she screamed in frustration. The run from the bar to Max’s condo had been too short to relieve her tension. Now she was even more wound up with sexual frustration. It didn’t matter that she’d had an orgasm. That had barely taken off the edge of her hunger.

She’d seen that look in Max’s eyes and she’d been primed for him to thrust inside her, to fill her until they were both boneless from pleasure.

When her phone started ringing again she snatched it up, but frowned when she saw her cousin’s name on the caller ID. About an hour had passed since Max had left but it was still early. She answered immediately. “Hey, Yelena. Everything okay?”

“Um…not exactly.”

Oh, crap. Lauren knew exactly what her cousin was going to say before the words were out of her mouth. There was no other reason for her cousin to be calling. “He knows.” He, meaning her father.

Yelena cleared her throat. “Well, yeah.”

“Is he pissed?”

“I don’t know.”

Lauren blinked. “What?” How could she not know?

“One of the aunts overheard my bigmouthed little brother talking about you and apparently told your mom—who is super angry. But your dad hasn’t said a word to any of us and he knows we’re involved. He hasn’t called us to his home to yell at us, nothing. It’s weird,” she whispered the last part, as if afraid of being overheard.

It wasn’t weird. When their alpha was truly angry he contained his anger until he’d moved past his initial period of rage. He was her father so she knew better than most. He was a good alpha and never wanted to lash out at those he cared about so he waited until his animal was under control. And right now he had to be crazy angry. Lauren was the baby of the family. It didn’t matter that she was twenty-five. Her older sisters were all over a hundred and her parents were over three hundred years old. She’d been a surprise. Her whole family had practically smothered her in their over protective tendencies.

Oh yeah, she knew what was coming. “I’ve gotta go.” She hung up without waiting for a response, not caring if it was rude. Her father was either about to leave for Gulf Shores or had already left. He wouldn’t have told her cousin or anyone else involved. Nope, they would have been able to warn her and he wouldn’t want that.