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Elroy was strong as he straightened with Grady’s big body draped limply over his shoulder. Anton looked grim as he walked to Mika and gripped her arm gently but firmly. She stared up at him.
“Come with us.”
“Where?”
“The basement. We have holding cells down there in case one of our pack gets out of control. You and Grady are going to be contained there until he finds his sanity and you realize that you can’t run from this.”
Mika shook her head. “No.” She tried to pull out of his grasp but the big man tightened his hold.
“Don’t fight. I don’t want to have to hurt you.”
The anger in his eyes was clear and she didn’t struggle when he tugged on her.
They followed Elroy as he carried Grady toward the back of the house. The dark-haired woman stood in a kitchen when they stepped into the large room. She frowned, taking in every detail with a sweeping glance, and shook her head.
“He’s not allowed in my house,” she said firmly.
Elroy glared at his wife. “Stay out of this, Eve.”
“He’s not allowed in my house,” she repeated.
“It’s my house and you’re my mate. You’ll do what you’re told,” Elroy growled at her. “Go to our room.”
She hesitated, fury on her features, but then she spun away toward another hallway.
Elroy sighed. “Hell.”
“That’s what your life is going to be like until she calms down,” Rave said softly from behind Mika where he followed them. “You spoiled her too much.” Anton snorted. “You should have put your foot down when he first came to us.
You never should have allowed her to prevent him from living here.” Elroy turned his head, shooting his son a glare. “Wait until you have a mate.”
“I’d never allow her to tell me a child of mine couldn’t come into my house.” Anton glared back at his father. “She would have accepted him if you had made her face it when he came. Look at the mess you’ve made, Father.” Elroy moved, ignoring what Anton said, and opened a door. Mika was afraid as she was led down a wide staircase into the basement. It was a full basement that had plaster walls and carpet which made her relax until she saw that around a curve the plaster ended and there were two holding cells with metal walls and thick bars. Elroy walked into one of the cages, Rave right behind him, and they gently laid Grady down on his back.
Anton tugged on Mika, putting her in the other cell. He frowned at her as he released her. She glanced around. It was a ten-by-eight foot cell with a metal cot that 115
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looked welded to the floor, a sink, and a toilet. Anton backed up and gripped the cell door.
“No,” Elroy called out. “She needs to be with him.” Anton’s head swung around. “He’ll hurt her in his condition. She’s not a bitch. If he gets rough with her she won’t heal.”
“We’re chaining him down,” Rave informed him. “She’d have to put something close to his mouth for him to be able to bite her and he won’t be breaking free since the drugs will keep him from shifting. Dad is right. She needs to be with him.” Minutes later Mika was gently pushed into the cage holding an unconscious Grady.
She was shocked when she saw that they’d stripped him naked, chained him face up on the cot, and had just tossed a sheet over his lap to cover him. She looked up at Elroy as he paused in front of her.“You take care of my son. He’s in mating heat.” He leaned down a little, staring directly into her eyes. “If he goes insane and I have to put him down, you will be put down as well. Do you understand me?”
“Father,” Anton warned. “She’s human.”
Elroy straightened, walking out of the cell. “If I have to kill my son over her, she’s dead. That isn’t up for debate.”
“Dad,” Rave said softly. “She’s Omar’s niece and she’s not one of us.”
“I don’t give a damn who she is or what she is,” Elroy snarled. “If Grady dies because she won’t care for him then she won’t leave here alive.” The cell door slammed closed loudly.
Mika spun, watching Grady’s father and brothers walk away. Only Anton turned, glancing at her over his shoulder, and she saw regret for an instant before they turned out of her sight. She gripped the bars, giving them a jerk, but the door didn’t budge.
She was locked in a ten-by-eight foot cage with Grady. She looked at him, staring at him really, seeing that he was still partially changed, the drugs not reducing him back to his normal human-looking self. She shivered, leaned against the cage door, and watched his chest rise and fall.
* * * * *
A strange sound made Mika jerk awake, confused at first, and her body ached. Her ass was sore and her shoulder hurt. She frowned, lifted her head, and realized she was slumped in a corner, sitting up, with something hard digging into the pained shoulder.
Her eyes opened and memory was instant as she stared at the man chained to a cot just feet from her.
Grady was staring at her, his black eyes open and still not human. He pulled again on the chains, the strange sound repeating, and then he softly snarled. “Let me go.”
“If I had keys I wouldn’t still be here.” She studied him. “How are you feeling?” 116
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“Like shit,” he groaned.
She watched, fascinated, as his face transformed back to human. He strained, pulling on the chains again, his muscles in his arms and abdomen tightening and bulging as he fought them, but they held. His hips shifted, nearly losing the sheet that barely hid his groin, and that drew her attention to the fact that it was tented by a thick, hard pole of arousal that reached Grady’s waist. She stared.
“Come here,” Grady ordered.
Mika moved but she just got to her feet. Her ass protested from sitting on the hard floor for too long as she moved her legs, trying to alleviate the soreness. She stayed back from him as she shook her head.
“I’m fine right here.”
Grady frowned. “I need you.”
Her gaze shifted to his lap. “I see, and forget it.” Anger tightened his features. “I didn’t call Megan over to fuck her, damn it. I bit you and you’re my mate now. I have been seeing her for months and wanted to tell her in person that we were over. I owed her that much.” It hurt. She turned her back on him, staring between the bars at the other side of the room where the carpet started and she could see white plaster walls. Grady sniffed and a low growl came from him.
“Mika, I swear I wasn’t going to fuck her. She has a key to my place and let herself in. She assumed I called her to meet up for sex but that wasn’t my reason. Please come here. I didn’t touch her.” He paused. “I can smell your pain.” She spun. “Stop smelling my emotions, damn it. It’s rude.” He stared at her. “I need you.” His voice was soft. “I’m still in heat and I’m hurting.”
“I was hurting when you bit me and terrified me. You just left,” she shook her head.
“You destroyed my damn bedroom, Grady. I can’t afford to fix that shit. You took out the damn walls, broke all my furniture, and then didn’t even come back while I waited for you to return. If you’re hurting that’s your own damn fault for going so long without sex. I was there and you chose to stay away from me to go talk to another damn woman.”
“I needed to clear my damn head. You know I didn’t want a human mate, damn it.” His voice deepened. “And after I spoke to Megan I was planning to return to your house. I’ll pay for the damages. Repairing your room isn’t a problem.” What about the damage he had done to her heart? He couldn’t write a check and pay someone to fix that but she refused to say it aloud.
“Mika,” his voice softened. “I need you, babe. I’m in agony. Can you at least touch me and get me off? I am fighting it hard but I’m going to lose my mind soon if you don’t. I can’t take care of myself.” He rattled his chains. “We can discuss this when I’m not feeling like my balls are on fire.”
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Anger burned in her, probably equal to his discomfort, she decided. “Fine.” She closed the distance between them. “It’s always about you, right? It’s about what you want and what you need.” She grabbed the sheet and tugged it off him, dropping it to the floor. “I don’t want you to go nuts since your father said he’ll kill me but when your father lets us the hell out of here, I’m leaving. I’ll help you through mating heat but afterward I want your word you’ll let me leave.” She looked into his eyes. “That’s the new deal, Grady. Your choice. Agree to my terms or I’m going to go back to my corner over there and you can just suffer.”
He sniffed, annoying the shit out of her, after she’d told him to not do that. He frowned. “Come a little closer.”
“I’m pissed off. That’s what you smell.”
“That’s not it. My scent isn’t strong enough on you.” He looked confused. “How many hours have I been asleep?”
She glanced down at her watch. “Nearly two hours.”
“How long since I bit you?”
“It was over nine hours ago.”